The cucumbers will have to come from the store. The mesclun, arugula, onions, tomatoes and radishes will come from the garden. The cucumbers were pretty disappointing this year. Next year they will be taken out of the garden altogether. Maybe they will do better in the front yard. They are not really decorative plants, but having cucumbers or not having them offsets that.
The spinach was planted in the same spot for the 3rd time. Maybe the soil is cool enough now. There were one or two little spinach plants there, so the seeds were just planted around them. There was one nice cabbage plant. It was not in the cabbage row. It probably came from a dropped seed. That plant was replanted to its proper place and the cabbage was replanted as well.
Cool weather has been very slow coming this year. October 21st is supposed to be our average 1st killing frost date. The lowest night temperature we have had has been 39 degrees. It sure would be nice to keep the pleasant weather and have the soil cool down as well.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Showing posts with label spinach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spinach. Show all posts
Friday, October 28, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
April Fools
Some of us do not need a special day to do foolish things. Gardeners are the ultimate optimists. The day is cool but sunny. Maybe we should all go out and plant tomatoes. There are a lot of tomato plants in the greenhouse, maybe at least one or two should go into the ground.
The winter spinach crop is the best we have ever had. The leaves are huge. Ana is making a spinach quiche for dinner tonight. It will have spinach and onions from the garden. It will be complemented with a fresh mesclun salad, also from the garden. The eggs, cheese and pie shell will have to come from the store.
There was another front yard garden article in a magazine I read this morning. The article stressed that front yard gardening is not just a matter of moving the garden from the back to the front. The visual effect of the plants need to be considered.
Russian red kale was getting ready to disappear from the vegetable garden anyway, for not being productive enough. Once that decision was made, the kale took off like a rocket and is producing a lot. It is a very pretty plant. It may wind up in the fall front yard garden. Parsley, beets and basil will go into the front yard this weekend. When the summer garden goes in on the 22nd of April, mammoth dill will be in the front yard planting. Asparagus are also a possibility. The front yard is really more appropriate for permanent plantings anyway. This is not an April fool’s joke.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
The winter spinach crop is the best we have ever had. The leaves are huge. Ana is making a spinach quiche for dinner tonight. It will have spinach and onions from the garden. It will be complemented with a fresh mesclun salad, also from the garden. The eggs, cheese and pie shell will have to come from the store.
There was another front yard garden article in a magazine I read this morning. The article stressed that front yard gardening is not just a matter of moving the garden from the back to the front. The visual effect of the plants need to be considered.
Russian red kale was getting ready to disappear from the vegetable garden anyway, for not being productive enough. Once that decision was made, the kale took off like a rocket and is producing a lot. It is a very pretty plant. It may wind up in the fall front yard garden. Parsley, beets and basil will go into the front yard this weekend. When the summer garden goes in on the 22nd of April, mammoth dill will be in the front yard planting. Asparagus are also a possibility. The front yard is really more appropriate for permanent plantings anyway. This is not an April fool’s joke.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Is It Too Wet to Plow?
The ground was hard and dry enough that the little bit of water it has received over the past couple of days has probably just soaked in and been sucked up by the greenery. If it doesn’t rain more today, a shovel full of dirt will tell the tale. I have enough compost and enough wood to make another raised bed. The ground will need plowing first.
There are so many things that need doing that had to wait on the rain. Hopefully this cooled the dirt enough to plant spinach and lettuce. Fall is also the best time to seed grass and transplant trees. The ground was too hard to aerate and way to hard and dry for tree holes. There probably won’t be time for everything. Tilling the garden and building the raised bed will get priority. Next will come grass seed and the trees will go last.
The 10 day forecast for Charlotte calls for more rain on Wednesday and Thursday. If that comes it will soak the ground too much for tilling the garden, but it should help grass seed and make tree holes easier to dig. The ground may already be too wet for tilling.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
There are so many things that need doing that had to wait on the rain. Hopefully this cooled the dirt enough to plant spinach and lettuce. Fall is also the best time to seed grass and transplant trees. The ground was too hard to aerate and way to hard and dry for tree holes. There probably won’t be time for everything. Tilling the garden and building the raised bed will get priority. Next will come grass seed and the trees will go last.
The 10 day forecast for Charlotte calls for more rain on Wednesday and Thursday. If that comes it will soak the ground too much for tilling the garden, but it should help grass seed and make tree holes easier to dig. The ground may already be too wet for tilling.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Last Day of Summer
…Or so they say. The high for today is supposed to be 94 degrees. The lowest high in the 10 day forecast is 83 degrees. No rain is predicted. The humidity is so low that there is no dew on the grass in the morning. The grass is turning a nice even shade of brown. At least it doesn’t need to be cut.
The topsy-turvy tomatoes seem to be suffering more than anything else in the garden. They get watered every day, but they still have a sad look to them. The peppers and eggplants seem to be thriving. The three cucumber plants that survived the beetles are green and bright, but they are not growing much. Two of them have put out the little runners that they use to hold on to the trellis, but only one is tall enough to reach the trellis.
The soil is still too warm for planting lettuce and spinach. None of the fall carrots or beets has germinated. The kale and turnips were spotty. The mustard and radishes are growing well. The onion sets were put out last weekend. They have done nothing. The mustard should be large enough to pick next weekend. Everything requires daily water.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
The topsy-turvy tomatoes seem to be suffering more than anything else in the garden. They get watered every day, but they still have a sad look to them. The peppers and eggplants seem to be thriving. The three cucumber plants that survived the beetles are green and bright, but they are not growing much. Two of them have put out the little runners that they use to hold on to the trellis, but only one is tall enough to reach the trellis.
The soil is still too warm for planting lettuce and spinach. None of the fall carrots or beets has germinated. The kale and turnips were spotty. The mustard and radishes are growing well. The onion sets were put out last weekend. They have done nothing. The mustard should be large enough to pick next weekend. Everything requires daily water.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Is It Really September?
The ten day weather forecast calls for 95 degrees today (Sept. 1), 93 degrees tomorrow and 98 degrees on Friday. The weekend cools to the low 80’s and next week shoots back up to almost 90. There is no rain called for, despite the coming hurricane. This is going to bring problems for the garden. Pollen does not set well above 90 degrees and the soil will be too warm for most of the crucifers from the fall planting to germinate.
What should be done about the fall garden? The beds or rows are ready. The seeds have been bought. Everyone is excited. Maybe a mixed approach is best. Planting half of the seeds now and leaving the other half for another couple of weeks. It should be ok to put out the cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts plants. They will need lots of water though. Spinach and lettuce will be a waste of time, space and seeds. It will be better to wait a week or two before planting them.
My dreams have been haunted with fresh spinach ever since the spring crop bolted. The mesclun did not die. It just disappeared. The complete salad will not have cucumbers, because the battle with the spotted cucumber beetles was lost. There are new plants coming up; but they are ragged. Extensive research on the internet has yielded quite a few organic remedies for these little buggers, but none of them are better than about 60% effective.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
What should be done about the fall garden? The beds or rows are ready. The seeds have been bought. Everyone is excited. Maybe a mixed approach is best. Planting half of the seeds now and leaving the other half for another couple of weeks. It should be ok to put out the cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts plants. They will need lots of water though. Spinach and lettuce will be a waste of time, space and seeds. It will be better to wait a week or two before planting them.
My dreams have been haunted with fresh spinach ever since the spring crop bolted. The mesclun did not die. It just disappeared. The complete salad will not have cucumbers, because the battle with the spotted cucumber beetles was lost. There are new plants coming up; but they are ragged. Extensive research on the internet has yielded quite a few organic remedies for these little buggers, but none of them are better than about 60% effective.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Where Have all the Flowers Gone
The sugar peas are chest high. They have no blossoms yet. It seems that they are of a size to have flowers by now and possibly even some pods. The sugar peas were our first garden construction of the season. 4’ bamboo poles were placed in the ground at the corners. 12’ poles were put at the top and bottom and string was woven between them like a cats cradle. We hope to facilitate and extend the harvest this year. Normally the peas lay on the ground and are very hard to find for us but not for the slugs. The vines are damaged harvesting the peas.
The spinach has been very prolific this year. Normally we get all we can eat; but no more. This year we have frozen some and given a lot away. No e-coli in home-grown spinach. The pepper spray seems to have worked pretty well to keep the critters away from the crops. There was 1 ½” of rain Saturday night, so the mess needs to be re-applied.
The corn is 1’ high and except for the first depredations, it has been left to grow. Some of it was side-dressed with compost this weekend. Some was not. It will be interesting to see how much difference the compost makes, if any.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Friday, September 18, 2009
Soil Temperature and Germination
I planted spinach and chard five weeks ago. They did not come up. I planted spinach chard and cabbage three weeks ago. They did not come up. I planted spinach, chard, onions and kale Saturday. Yesterday only the onions had not come up. The cabbage from three weeks ago is coming up. I used the same type of seed for the spinach and chard each time. The important variable is probably soil temperature.
Since the 5 week and 3 week seeds have still not come up, I will report the other variable. The seeds planted Saturday were in a raised bed and the soil temperature should be more sensitive to changes in air temperature. Here is a web page that list optimal soil temperatures for different seeds. http://tomclothier.hort.net/page11.html . This tells us that the Cabbage can germinate at a higher temperature than the Spinach. When I looked carefully at the beds last night, I also realized that the arugula and radishes had germinated. The mesclun mix had not.
That could be because of the lettuce requiring a lower temperature.
The really good news is that the arugula is almost ready to be picked. That means we can have a salad with peppers, tomatoes, arugula, radishes and cucumber all from the garden. How rare is that?
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
Since the 5 week and 3 week seeds have still not come up, I will report the other variable. The seeds planted Saturday were in a raised bed and the soil temperature should be more sensitive to changes in air temperature. Here is a web page that list optimal soil temperatures for different seeds. http://tomclothier.hort.net/page11.html . This tells us that the Cabbage can germinate at a higher temperature than the Spinach. When I looked carefully at the beds last night, I also realized that the arugula and radishes had germinated. The mesclun mix had not.
That could be because of the lettuce requiring a lower temperature.
The really good news is that the arugula is almost ready to be picked. That means we can have a salad with peppers, tomatoes, arugula, radishes and cucumber all from the garden. How rare is that?
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
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