winter harvest

 

It seemed like a good day to open my winter tunnel. I was really curious how things looked after our cold snap down into the single digits last week. Surprisingly, it was not too bad. There were some areas on the edges, especially the north side, with mushy plants. And some plants are doing better than others. But lots of the plants look really good. The kale (Vates) and spinach (Kookaburra) look perfectly happy, romaine lettuce (Trucas) too. The leaf lettuce (Italienischer), escarole frissee, and the daikon radish looked frost bit.

I picked a whole bucket full of greens. I picked a lot of the greens at the edges that were having trouble, and most of the leaf lettuce. I picked the bok choy only because it looked so good and I though why risk it. I didn't pick any spinach. It's still small. I wish I'd planted more and earlier. That said, I wish I'd planted more of everything. We've been eating store bought greens the past month. But this tunnel is a good experiment. More next year!

I'll probably add a photo of cleaned up greens here later. I'm hoping they make a few nice salads. I pulled some salad turnips. These were something I was testing for timing for my app, but "are not to my taste"(yukk). I think my husband like them sauteed just a little. They do look pretty.

a seed give away!!

GIVE AWAY IS DISCONTINUED - We've just come across information that Apple has started removing apps that offer incentives for reviews. Sorry. (1-13-2016)

I have a lot of seeds that I saved from last year. Perfect for a seed give away. Just leave a comment on my calendar app at Apple or Google Play, and I'll send a sample of seeds of your choice, until my collection runs out.

Our apps really are worth trying. There's nothing else like them on the market. Simple, easy-to-use and uncluttered, with no in-app adds or purchases. Enter your frost date and your crops and you get a nice weekly calendar of your planting tasks on your mobile device. There's sowing, transplanting and succession sowing information. The Flower & Herb App will also have instructions for plants that require special sowing conditions. Over 50 vegetables to choose from and over 70 flowers & herbs.

The Vegetable App is here: Apple and Android. When our new Flower & Herb Calendar App will comes out any minute now, and I'll post the link here. (all are $1.99)

The seeds I have are:
Pink cleome
Magenta cleome (one of my favorites)
White New England asters (these are the small wild ones that bloom late in the fall)
Tithonia (Mexican marigold, a giant plant with brilliant orange flowers)
Anise Hyssop (the bees LOVE this)
Judy's Giant marigold (3 ft tall with single orange flowers)
Tromboncino squash (named after a trombone for long curly shape, use as summer or winter squash)
Shung Wang pole beans (a crisp blocky white bean given to me years ago, one of my favorites)
Thai hot pepper (dries easily, nice and hot)
Basil Eleanora (basil downy mildew resistant - I bought a giant package last year)

After you leave  your comment, email your address to me at kathy@skippysgarden.com and I'll mail out the seeds. Thanks!!

my 2016 variety list

I'm getting my 2016 variety list together. It's so exciting to be thinking about planting again! I can't wait.

I went through and sorted my old seeds, threw out seeds that were old. Especially the carrots and celeriac. I like to start fresh with those. Most of these seeds I have already, but I'll still end up with a good order to place. I'll see if I can get everything I need from one or two companies: FedCo and Johnny's. I put a link to this list on my side bar. I'll update it as the season goes. I haven't kept a variety list in the past, just a planting list. I think this list will be really helpful for ordering year to year. Also for keeping track of how the varieties do, what I get tired of, etc.

Arugula
Basil, Eleonora (downy mildew resistant) Basil, Superbo
Basil, Dolce Fresca
Basil, Nufar
Beans, green, Maxibel
Beans, green, Fortex
Beans, green, Jumbo
Beans, pole, Wax
Beans, pole, Shung Wang Chinese
Beans, pole, Gino's Italien
Beans, shell, Jacobs Cattle (...more)

get ready to plant seeds!

We have an update out for Skippy's Vegetable Planting Calendar app. It now has 50 vegetables to select from.

If you haven't tried the app, it's very easy to use. Select from Spring, Fall, or Winter planting season (or all three), enter your frost date, select the crops you plan to grow, and the app creates your personalized calendar. Your planting tasks will be listed by the week. It includes sowing, transplanting, and succession planting dates.

It's a cute little tool to have handy on your mobile device for only $1.99. I do all my seed planting with it. And, I added a like button on my side bar. Please LIKE the app if you've used it!

ordering seeds

I thought I'd be a bit more orderly about this process this year. I usually just order throughout the year as I think of seeds I forgot to buy. This year, I made a list of my favorite seeds - the ones I want to plant this year. I'm going through my saved seeds now to check off ones I already have. I'll put those varieties at the front of my rubber-banded packs of seed types. Maybe I can order most of my seeds now and save on the shipping charges. Oh, such organization!

early morning winter view

2015 garden review

I'm working on reviewing crops I grew in 2015 and listing what to do different (or the same) this year. The list is long so I posted it here: Kathy's 2015 crops review. Once I finish this, I'll draw up my 2016 garden plans.

2015 vegetable garden crop review

Apples: My four little trees are in their second winter. I picked 5 apples from one tree last year, but the trees are all small and need to grow. They seem healthy. In the spring, I sprayed with horticultural oil. I didn’t fertilize, which I think I should do this year. I have ground up leaf mulch directly under the trees and I seeded clover and wildflowers between the trees. I’ll see if that grows this year. It will provide flowers for my bees and the legumes should help the sandy soil. The deer fence around the trees is unattractive and it would be nice to remove or replace it this year. 2016: Dormant prune before growth begins and train after growth resumes in spring. Spray with dormant oil in spring at first sign of green growth. Send out a soil test in early spring and fertilize by their recommendations. Work on legume ground cover below and deer fences.

Asparagus: I have a very small bed (about 5x2 ft) at my community plot. I moved it last spring because it was getting shaded by a lilac. I’d like to buy more plants and give it a much larger space. I don’t know whether it should be at my community plot or at home. I will see how my plans work out for space. 2016: find a bed for asparagus and order plants.
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