Harvest Monday June 26, 2023

Posted on June 26, 2023 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. It’s an exciting time of year in the vegetable garden, with lots of ‘firsts’ coming in. I pulled the first kohlrabi last week, one each of Terek, Kolibri and Beas. I have these growing in a small bed behind the greenhouse, and they are fairly intensely planted. There should be more to pull in a few days, and they will keep well in the refrigerator until we eat them all.

first kohlrabi of the season

We love our kohlrabi, and one of our favorite ways to eat them is raw. I make a dip from homemade plain yogurt, garlic and a bit of lemon juice and serve the kohlrabi with that. It makes a cool summer side dish that goes with a lot of things.

kohlrabi with yogurt dip

And I also pulled the first giant Kossak kohlrabi from the main vegetable garden.

Kossak kohlrabi

The one in my handed weighed in at two pound after trimming off the leaves. We use most of these big ones for making kraut and kimchi, though we also roast them in the oven for a side dish. I have about 10 more of these sizing up in the garden, and we should be well supplied!

Kossak after trimming

The zucchini is still coming on, and I have begun freezing it for later use. I hope to start a new series this week on preserving the harvest, and I think zucchini and other summer squashes would be a good place to begin.

zucchini harvest

We’ve been enjoying the fresh squash in a number of dishes, including a Zucchini and Tomato Bake I made last week. Our tomatoes are just beginning to set on, so I picked up a couple of purple ones from a local farmer (Helms Greenhouse) who has a truck set up in a parking lot not too far from our place. His tomatoes are are good but not nearly as tasty as our homegrown ones, but they did fine for this dish. It’s a fairly simple treatment, with layers of zucchini and tomato drizzled with olive oil and topped with grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and fresh herbs (basil and thyme) from the garden.

Zucchini & Tomato Bake

Another first was the Artwork stem broccoli. I cut the main head from one plant, and another should be ready soon. The side shoots are the main attraction with this AAS Winner, and it has been a great performer for me here in our garden.

first Artwork broccoli

I set out a few raspberry plants last year and we are getting a handful of berries now. Caroline is a red everbearing variety and we are now getting a sampling from last year’s canes. The new canes are coming up and should give us a bit more this fall, though it might take another year to really get the raspberry patch going. The berries are sweet and flavorful, and this is one of my favorite red varieties. I have grown it in the past but it has been a few years ago when I had it growing in another spot, next to the asparagus bed.

Caroline raspberries

Pizza was on the menu last week and around here that calls for arugula. I’ve gotten several cuttings from this planting in the greenhouse, and should be able to get at least one more before the plants flower and bolt.

arugula harvest

And now for something completely different – baby bluebirds! This is brood #3 this year in this PVC nest box, and 5 of the 6 eggs hatched. I was holding the box like it was the most precious cargo on Earth, even more so than the DSLR I was holding in my other hand. Having three broods is pretty much normal for the bluebirds here, but they got off to a much earlier start than usual this year.

baby bluebirds

Bluebirds need a cavity to nest in, and suburban development brings loss of suitable habitat. That and competition from non-native birds like starlings and house sparrows means they need help from humans. House sparrows don’t like the smaller size of these PVC boxes, and the opening is too small for starlings, so the bluebirds use them with much success. I’ve got this one mounted on a pole in the sun garden with a predator guard attached. We work around this area all the time and the bluebirds don’t mind our presence. They also don’t mind my nest inspections as long as I keep them brief!

bluebird house surrounded by perennials

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please check out what everyone is harvesting!

 


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Harvest Monday June 19, 2023

Posted on June 19, 2023 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. The garden is giving us a variety of goodies to eat now, but for me the star player has to be the blueberries. We are enjoying them atop homemade yogurt most mornings for breakfast, and also enjoying some of last year’s crop in the freezer in our fruit smoothies.

blueberry harvest

I’m still pulling spring onions as needed, and a typical harvest one morning also included zucchini and mini broccoli. The Melody broccoli may indeed be early, but so far the harvest has been small compared to other stem type broccoli I grow which is just now starting to head up. It has been disappointing to say the least.

morning harvest

Melody broccoli

The summer squash is not disappointing though. Zucchini and yellow squash are featured in many a meal, and I have begun freezing it for later use.

zucchini

Tempest squash

I got an assortment of squash one morning, and from top to bottom in the below photo we have Clarimore, Green Machine, Cash Machine, Mexicana and Tempest. We used a couple of them to make Turkey Taco Stuffed Zucchini Boats for dinner last night.

assorted summer squashes

baked zucchini boats

I also cut a few more leaves of the Winterbor kale to go with some previously harvested. I braised those for a side dish to go with fish one night. We also roasted some of last year’s Beauregard sweet potatoes that night, which are still in great shape in storage.

Winterbor kale

braised kale with fish and sweet potatoes

I’ll close with something in the future harvests department. Our container grown eggplants have begun blooming, which means eggplant will soon be on the menu! I have three AAS Winners growing in containers this year: Fairy Tale, Gretel and Icicle. They kept us well supplied with early eggplant in 2022, and I am expecting similar results this year.

Fairy Tale eggplant blooming

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please check out what everyone is harvesting!


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Planting Sweet Potatoes

Posted on June 14, 2023 by Dave @ HappyAcres

With a bit of work and effort I got the sweet potatoes planted here last week. That is normally one of the last things to get planted in the vegetable garden, and I usually get it done sometime in late May to early June so I am pretty much on schedule. Sweet potatoes are an easy to grow crop here, and they require a fairly long growing season and warm weather. We can easily supply both of those conditions, and they usually do quite well for me.

getting ready to plant

Another thing sweet potatoes like is a well-drained and loose soil that’s slightly acidic, and not too fertile. I like to make a ridge of soil that is 8 to 10 inches high and about as wide before planting, so the edible roots can form there. Our soil is a silty loam, with good levels of nutrients (including both phosphorus and potassium) according to recent soil tests, and I never add fertilizer to the bed before or after I plant sweet potatoes. Too much nitrogen tends to make for vigorous vines but small, spindly roots. For a heavier soil, the ridge might need to be a bit higher. And if soils are lacking in nutrients then modest amounts of fertilizer may be needed.

sweet potato plant

In years past I bought slips for planting, but the last few years I have made my own slips using sweet potatoes from the previous year. If you order sweet potato slips, they will often arrive in the mail looking wilted and you might wonder if they will live. The slips are tough though, and should do just fine if kept well watered until they are established. To read about how I start my slips, you can read Starting Sweet Potatoes, while Sprouting the Sweet Potatoes has tips on how to encourage them to sprout earlier. The are several advantages to growing your own, starting with the fact they take off faster since they have a well-developed root system. They also won’t have disease problems, assuming you had no issues the year before. And another good thing is: they are free!

spacing out the plants

Based on several sources, the recommended spacing between plants is anywhere between  12 and 18 inches apart. I’ve experimented with several different spacings over the years, and I now try and set the plants somewhere between 15 and 16 inches apart in the row. I like to sit the pots down the row before I start planting to make sure there’s room for all the plants I want to grow. This year I set out 29 plants in a ridge that was about 40 feet long, which averages just over 16 inches between plants. Setting them farther apart generally results in larger roots, at least in my experience, while planting closer can result in smaller roots but possibly a bit higher total yields. This year I am growing the Murasaki, Purple, Beauregard, Korean Purple and Bonita varieties.

all planted

I set the plants a bit deeper than they were growing, firming the soil well around each plant. If you are setting out slips they should be planted 3 to 4 inches deep. Then I give them a good watering, and I’ll keep them well watered for a couple of weeks until they start to grow. I tilled up the bed the day before planting, and I was able to make a ridge and get everything planted and watered in just over an hour.

firming soil around plant

planted in ridge

And that is the how I plant our sweet potatoes here at Happy Acres. In our garden the vines are rarely bothered by pests, but if it weren’t for the fencing they would likely be nibbled on by rabbits, groundhogs and deer. I also rotate my crops so sweet potatoes and other vegetables aren’t grown in the same place every year. Once planted, they need about an inch of water per week either from rainfall or through supplemental irrigation. In a few days I will be laying a soaker hose down the length of the bed, and mulching with cardboard to help conserve moisture and keep down the weeds.

For more information about growing sweet potatoes check out these sources:

Sweet Potato Growing Guide (Southern Exposure Seed Exchange)

Growing Sweet Potatoes in Missouri (University of Missouri)

How To Grow Sweet Potatoes (University of Illinois)

The Sweet Potato (Purdue University)

 

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Harvest Monday June 12, 2023

Posted on June 12, 2023 by Dave @ HappyAcres

It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. This week we have some new additions to our harvests, including some we eagerly await each year. Our blueberries have begun ripening, and we got our first taste of them last week. For those not familiar with growing them, the berries grow in clusters that don’t all ripen at the same time. That means harvesting them takes a bit of time, and my wife usually does most of that. We enjoy them at breakfast time with our homemade yogurt, or mixed with other fruits for a snack. We freeze any extras, but these first ones will likely all get eaten quickly.

first blueberries

cluster of blueberries

Another first was hot jalapeno peppers. I picked a pair of Pot-a-peno peppers (say that three times fast!) from a potted plant. These have just the right amount of heat to add a little zip to many dishes, including the bean tacos we had for lunch one day. This 2021 AAS Winner does great for me in containers, and also gives us peppers earlier than the ones planted in-ground. They are tasty when ripe, but I couldn’t wait that long for these first ones.

Pot-a-peno peppers

We also saw the first zucchini set on last week, a light green Middle Eastern type called Clarimore that has a mild flavor. This one is always an early and dependable performer for me here.

Clarimore squash

And that first zucchini was soon followed by another, this time a dark green one I’m growing for the first time called Noche. It’s not quite as dark as night like the name would suggest, but it is a definitely dark green with glossy skin. The spineless plants make picking painless too. Of course, in a couple of weeks we will be freezing extra zucchini like we do the blueberries. The frozen squash does well in soups and stews, and I even use the frozen zucchini in my fruit smoothies.

Noche zucchini

I cut more curly kale last week, this time the hybrid Winterbor. I used it to go in a batch of kale and sweet potato hash I cooked one night for dinner, using some of our Purple sweet potatoes from storage. I blanch the kale for about five minutes before adding to the sweet potatoes after they are cooked, and then let them cook together in the cast iron skillet until well heated. That’s as close to a recipe as I have for this easy to cook favorite.

Winterbor Kale

Kale and Sweet Potato Hash

And I pulled another one of the Forum onions to use in various dishes. I am impressed with this variety, since it makes big green tops and we use a lot of the tops in cooking. This one was a useful addition to the bean tacos and a frittata we had for lunch yesterday.

Forum onion

The arugula in the greenhouse is struggling in the heat but I managed to get one more cutting for use on a pizza. I’m keeping the container well-watered, and I hope to get a few more leaves before it bolts.

arugula harvest

Another first harvest was a couple of spears of Melody broccoli. It’s my first time growing this mini broccoli, and though the first ones were early I haven’t seen any more setting on just yet. I also have Burgundy and Artwork planted, along with the broccoli/cauliflower cross Jacaranda which did well for me last year.

Melody broccoli

In non-harvest news, our resident bluebird pair have been quite busy so far this year. They had two broods fledge already, and the female has laid six eggs in nest number three. I’m assuming it is the same female, though it’s impossible to know for sure. Regardless, that’s a lot of young bluebirds coming out of that nest box and it is a joy to me to see and hear them here pretty much year round.

bluebird eggs

I’ll close with a new flower that just opened up, a Japanese Iris called Fortune. At least that’s what the label said when I bought it, although it looks nothing like the one on the website! It’s lovely though, and it adds a bit of color to the pollinator and butterfly garden area.

Fortune iris

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please check out what everyone is harvesting!

 


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June Garden Update

Posted on June 8, 2023 by Dave @ HappyAcres

Today I want to give an update on the vegetable garden and how it’s doing here in early June. The last couple of weeks I have been busy fertilizing, spreading compost and planting. At this point, I have everything planted except the sweet potatoes, and I hope to get them set out by the end of this week. The bed with brassicas was planted out in late April, while the other end of that bed was planted with bush squashes in mid-May when the soil warmed up a bit. That is a no-dig no-till bed that is covered with weed barrier fabric, like most of my beds this year. The brassicas are getting big now, and I have sprayed them with a B.t and neem oil combo several times to control the cabbage moth caterpillars.

brassicas in bed

Some of the cabbages are even beginning to form heads already, and the giant Kossak kohlrabis are sizing up nicely too. Slugs have not been an issue so far, no doubt partly due to our drier than usual weather conditions. I’m growing the early cabbages Green Presto and Quick Start this year, along with the somewhat later flathead variety Sweet and Tender.

cabbage heading up

Kossak kohlrabi

There are a few weeds that sprout up in the planting holes I cut in the fabric, but they are easily controlled. I find there are less weeds than with my old method of planting and mulching using newspaper covered with straw. The fabric is also easy on my aging knees when I have to kneel or crawl around to plant or weed!

weeds in planting hole

broccoli after weeding

The bush squashes I planted at one end of the brassica bed have been blooming for about a week now and are starting to set fruit. The light green Clarimore zucchini is the first to set fruit this year, with the yellow squash Tempest not far behind. I planted two bush acorn types (Goldilocks and Starry Night) in the bed also and they have just started blooming.

Clarimore zucchini

Tempest squash

I planted another bed with small-fruited tomatoes and slicing types on 5/14, and those plants are really growing. I am using my cages made from concrete remesh material, which I have been using for several years now. This is another no-dig no-tell bed, as are all the beds this year except the one where I will be planting sweet potatoes.

Purple Zebra tomato

The rest of the tomatoes, mostly paste and processing types, are in another bed along with eggplants at one end. I got those planted at the end of May.

Granadero paste tomato

I used the remesh cages for the indeterminate types like Juliet and Granadero in this bed, and the folding metal cages for the short vine tomatoes like Health Kick and Plum Regal.

Health Kick tomato

I set out the pepper plants a few days ago. They are looking good so far, and since we have entered drought mode here I went ahead and put a soaker hose on top of the pepper cages.

pepper plant

I’ve found that running the soaker hose along the top of the cages works well when the plants are small. Careful placement of the hose results in the plants getting well watered. Once the plants get bigger, the canopy of leaves will prevent the water from getting to the roots and I will run the hose along the base of the plants.

soaker hose

The last thing I got planted was the pole beans, which went in this morning. I used my trenching hoe from Lee Valley Tools to make a shallow trench and loosen up the soil just enough to get the bean seeds sown and covered. I watered this bed in by hand after sowing, and I will run a soaker hose along the length of the bed in a day or so. I’m growing all heirloom type beans here except for the 2017 AAS Winner Seychelles.

making trench to plant beans

Tomorrow I will begin getting the bed ready to plant sweet potatoes, which will involve loosening the soil with a tiller and then making a ridge about 8 to 10 inches high and wide before setting out the sweet potato plants at the top of the ridge. I hope you have enjoyed this tour of the garden here in June, and I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!

 

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