Gardening

I have compiled all of the information and weigh-in totals for the produce harvested from the garden for the 2011 season.  I actually thought this information may have been incomplete up to yesterday – because I had to uncover the patio bed.  I had several lettuce plants still alive under a floating row cover.  I find it very amazing that the plants were able to sustain temperatures under 20 degrees under a floating row cover.  However, when I uncovered them yesterday, I discovered that only a few plants remained out of the 10 or so that were planted.

Germination Data for 2011

Below is the information for seed germination for each variety that was planted.  I went through the garden journal and tallied up all of the seeds planted – within the best of my abilities from the notes I left – and formulated this information.

The “Type/Planting” column indicates the variety of produce that was planted.  The “Total Planted” column indicates how many seeds of each were planted over the year.  The “Total Germinated” column provides the total of seeds that germinated.  The “Percent” column is the percentage of seeds that germinated out of those that were planted.  “Total Days” was formulated based on my journal indicating when the seeds germinated, how many germinated on that day, and how many days away from sowing.  Lastly, the “Average Days” indicates the average number of days until germination for that variety – which is the total days divided by the total germinated.

Last year I went through and did a comparison of each of the types of veggies and their product over the last year.  That took a considerable amount of time to do – so I’m going to do a simpler compilation.

Ventura Celery

• A total of 24 pounds, 8 3/4 ounces of Ventura Celery was harvested
• 11 total plants were harvested – with an average weight of 2.2 pounds each

Copra Onions

• A total of 33 pounds, 8 5/8 ounces of Copra Onions were harvested
• Approximately 132 Copra onions were harvested with an average weight of just over 4 ounces each
• The onions were crowed in closer together this year – which is why the average weight is less.  Onions are also put in the back garden in the holes of the cinder blocks – and the onions simply do not produce well back there – but I’m making use of otherwise wasted space.

Varsity Onions

• A total of 10 pounds, 4 3/8 ounces of Varsity Onions were harvested
• Approximately 20 Varsity onions were harvested with an average weight of 8.2 ounces each
• Size were TWICE the size – on average – than the Copra onions.  But, the Varsity onions were spread further apart allowing for more growth and were placed in full-sun areas.

Best Boy Tomatoes

• The tomato plants were set out too early this year – and had to be dug up and placed in gallon containers..  They were left outside and the deer killed most of them – but two managed to come back and were planted later.  This caused results to be less for the year.
• A total of 15 pounds, 2 5/8 ounces of Best Boy tomatoes were harvested
• Two plants were planted – with an average of 7.5 pounds of tomatoes from each plant
• Approximately 34 total Best Boy tomatoes were harvested – with an average weight of 7.1 ounces each

Better Boy Tomatoes

• Better Boy tomato plants were purchased from the store this year because the Best Boy tomato plants were mostly taken out by the deer.
• A total of 92 pounds, 8 1/2 ounces of Better Boy tomatoes were harvested
• Four Better Boy tomato plants were sown – with an average of 23 pounds harvested from each plant
• Approximately 237 Better Boy tomatoes were harvested – with an average weight of 6.2 ounces each

Roma Tomatoes

• A total of 62 pounds, 13 1/4 ounces of Roma tomatoes were harvested
• Four plants were sown – with an average of 15.7 pounds of tomatoes from each plant
• Approximately 572 Roma tomatoes were harvested with an average weight of 1.76 ounces each

Red Cherry Tomatoes

• A total of 7 pounds, 15 3/8 ounces of Red Cherry tomatoes were harvested
• Only one plant was sown

Anaheim Hot Peppers

• A total of 3 pounds, 4 5/8 ounces of Anaheim Hot Peppers were harvested
• Two plants were sown with an average of 1.6 pounds per plant
• Approximately 59 Anaheim Hot Peppers were harvested with an average weight of 0.90 ounces each
• The plant put on a lot of vegetative growth – but the results were less than desirable.  The peppers were not hot at all and defeated the purpose of trying this variety.  This variety most likely will not be planted again.

California Wonder Peppers

• A total of 10 pounds, 9 3/4 ounces of California Wonder peppers were harvested
• 8 plants were planted – but three died off early – leaving 5 plants with an average of 2.1 pounds harvested per plant
• Approximately 66 total California Wonder peppers were harvested with an average weight of 2.58 ounces per pepper
• Other gardeners this year noted that this was a bad year for peppers.  That certainly was the case for us as well – with over 44 pounds last year down to 10 pounds this year

Red Salad Bowl Lettuce

• A total of 3 pounds, 15 7/8 ounces of Red Salad Bowl lettuce was harvested over the year
• Approximately seven Red Salad Bowl plants were sown – with an average weight of 9.1 ounces each
• Red Salad Bowl lettuce is very nice to add to salads to give it color

Buttercrunch Lettuce

• Approximately 4 pounds, 5 5/8 ounces of Buttercrunch lettuce was harvested
• Approximately eight plants were sown with an average of 8.75 ounces from each
• Yields of Buttercrunch are not all that great – and it is a more delicate variety to keep happy.  Debating whether Buttercrunch will be planted next year.

Simspon Elite Lettuce

• A total of 6 pounds, 12 1/4 ounces of Simpson Elite lettuce was harvested
• Approximately 10 plants were sown with an average of 10.8 ounces from each plant
• Simpson Elite continues to impress and will be one of the varieties grown for years to come.  High producer and it seems like it can withstand the lower and higher temperatures better than the rest

New Red Fire Lettuce

• A total of 5 pounds, 8 3/8 ounces of New Red Fire lettuce was harvested
• Approximately seven plants were sown with an average of 12.5 ounces from each plant
• New Red Fire was a new variety planted this year and has really proven itself.  The colorful leaves make for a nice contrast in salads and the leaves are exceptionally large with a great yield.

Parris Island Romaine Lettuce

• A total of 3 pounds, 11 1/4 ounces of Parris Island Romaine Lettuce was harvested
• Approximately seven plants were harvested with an average of 8.4 ounces each
• Parris Island is a vertical-growing romaine lettuce and is also picky.  There were at least 12 planted but only seven could be harvested as the others bolted and were unusable because of the hot weather.
• Parris Island does not store very long in storage with a shelf life of maybe a little more than a week.  All other lettuce varieties seemed to last at least two or more weeks

Snow Crown Cauliflower

• A total of 11 pounds, 7 3/8 ounces of Snow Crown Cauliflower were harvested
• Eight Snow Crown Cauliflower were harvested with an average weight of 1.43 pounds each
• Snow Crown cauliflower did very well – much better than when I first tried growing cauliflower with the Snowball X variety planted a few years back

Premium Crop Broccoli

• A total of 6 pounds, 6 5/8 ounces of Premium Crop broccoli were harvested
• Seven total plants were harvested with an average weight of 14.7 ounces
• A total of 10 plants were planted – but yields were greatly reduced because they were planted in a partial sunny area and spaced 12 inches apart.

Green Goliath Broccoli

(no picture this year)

• A total of 4 pounds, 12 3/8 ounces of Green Goliath broccoli were harvested
• Harvested from two plants with an average of 2.3 pounds each
• A total of 10 plants were planted but only two yielded.  They were planted too close together and in a partial sunny area.

Cascadia Snap Peas

• A total of 10 pounds, 12 1/8 ounces of Cascadia Snap Peas were harvested
• Approximately 142 total vines were harvested with an average of 1.2 ounces of peas from each
• Cascadia Snap Peas is the winner in the pea variety.  This variety is sweet and the pods are edible.  The pods can be large and plump instead of needing to be picked before the peas get large

Sugarsnax Carrots

• A total of 9 pounds, 11 3/8 ounces of Sugarsnax carrots were harvested
• Approximately 122 were harvested with an average weight of 1.3 ounces
• Sugarsnax was put to the test this year against Scarlet Nantes.  Sugarsnax wins based on taste, color, and yield.  Sugarsnax is about four times as expensive as Scarlet Nantes

Scarlet Nantes Carrots

• A total of 7 pounds, 11 ounces of Scarlet Nantes carrots were harvested
• Approximately 110 were harvested with an average weight of 1.1 ounces each

Easter Egg Radishes

• A total of 2 pounds, 9 1/4 ounces of Easter Egg Radishes were harvested
• Approximately 57 were harvested with an average weight of 0.72 ounces each
• Easter Egg radishes are my chosen radish choice with the variety of colors and good yields

Crimson Sweet Watermelon

• A total of 74 pounds, 14 7/8 ounces of Crimson Sweet Watermelon were harvested
• Six watermelon were collected from three plants – with an average weight of 12.5 pounds each
• First year growing watermelon and Crimson Sweet did a great job.  It does have a lot of seeds, however.

Kennebec Potatoes

• A total of 35 pounds, 1 1/2 ounces of Kennebec potatoes were harvested
• Approximately 82 plants were harvested with an average of 6.8 ounces each
• Very bad yields this year compared to last year.  Plants were planted 8 inches apart instead of 12 inches apart like last year.  Smaller seed potatoes were selected this year and planted whole.

Yukon Gold Potatoes

(no picture this year)

• A total of 15 pounds, 7 1/2 ounces of Yukon Gold potatoes were harvested
• Approximately 51 plants were harvested with an average of 4.84 ounces each
• Most likely will not plant Yukon Gold potatoes again.  Yields are less than Kennebec and we did not notice any difference in taste quality.

Bush Blue Lake 274 Green Beans

• A total of 26 pounds, 2 5/8 ounces of Bush Blue Lake 274 green beans were harvested
• Do not have a total yield per plant because 196 total plants were recorded to have sprouted – but many of them were planted too late or were pulled out
• Bush Blue Lake 274 green bean is the ‘standard’ in green bean production.  This was planted a few years back with good results.  While the results didn’t meet those from a few years ago, it grealy surpassed the yield from last year when using Greencrop green beans.

Honey Treat Corn

• A total of 14 pounds, 11 5/8 ounces of Honey Treat corn were harvested
• Approximately 33 ears of corn were harvested averaging 7.12 ounces each
• Honey Treat corn is a very sweeet yellow variety corn that I’ll grow until I run out of seed.  The seed is no longer produced so I bought a large bag of it in 2011.  The germination rate wasn’t all that great – most likely because it wasn’t sown at the proper time.  The yield would have been much higher – but the wildlife decimated the crops this year.

H-19 Little Leaf Pickling Cucumbers

(no picture this year)

• A total of 11 pounds, 9 ounces of H-19 Little Leaf Pickling cucumbers were harvested
• A yield of 3.85 pounds from each of the three plants
• Approximately 42 cucumbers were harvested with an average weight of 4.4 ounces each
• This variety was chosen to try this year because it is an open-pollinated pickling cucumber – meaning you can save the seeds and get the true plant again

Burpee Pickler Cucumbers

(no picture this year)

• A total of 15 pounds, 5 1/2 ounces were harvested
• A yield of 7.66 pounds from each of the two plants
• Approximately 31 total cucumbers were harvested with an average weight of 7.9 ounces
• Many of the cucumbers harvested were way past their prime as they were not found in time.  This caused a large skewing of these results

Tri-Star Strawberries

• A total of 12 pounds, 8 3/8 ounces of Tri-Star strawberries were harvested
• The yield of the strawberries have dropped by 50% this year.  Plants were three years old and need to be cycled

Below is the full 2011 garden journal.  I keep a copy of it online so I can refer to it quickly.

January 1

• Soaking 12 Ventura Celery seeds overnight
• From experimental sowings three weeks ago, the following are still growing
  • 7 basil
  • 14 Copra onion
  • 13 Ventura celery

January 2

• Placed on seed of soaked Ventura Celery in each of 4 3-packs (12 total)
  • Bottom-moistened the soil for several hours beforehand
  • Placed each seed on top of the soil and watered from the top
  • Placed in unheated greenhouse under cool white premium lights

January 8

• Temperature of growing area is between 59 and 65 degrees
• 5 Ventura celery have sprouted (6 days)
• Transplanted 3 older celery in a 3-pack (moved the ones where two seedlings were growing in a cell)
• Old celery in 3-packs have a white dot on the plastic container

January 15

• 5 Ventura celery have sprouted (10 total, 13 days)

January 20

• Turned on second fluorescent fixture
• Planted 200 Copra onion directly into a seed tray
  • Bottom-fed with compost tea and placed clear cover on
• Bottom-fed all seedlings overnight

January 22

• Transplanted 7 Ventura celery from a 9-pack into 3-packs
• Growing area between 60 and 72 degrees

January 25

• 9 Copra onions sprouted (5 days)
• Cover removed from the onion tray

January 26

• Growing area bewteen 59 and 70 degrees
• 26 Copra onions sprouted (6 days, 35 total)

January 27

• 31 Copra onions sprouted (7 days, 66 total)

January 28

• 34 Copra onions sprouted (8 days, 90 total)

January 29

• Soaked 12 Ventura celery for 24 hours
  • Planted in 4 3-packs, filled tray with compost tea, pleaced cover over
• 20 Copra onions sprouted (9 days, 110 total)

January 30

• 2 Copra onions sprouted (10 days, 112 total)

January 31

• 7 Copra onions sprouted (11 days, 119 total)

February 1

• 3 Copra onions sprouted (12 days, 122 total)

February 2

• 2 Copra onions sprouted (13 days, 124 total)

February 3

• 7 Ventura celery sprouted (5 days)
• Planted 36 Copra onion (finished off last year’s seed packet)
• 2 Copra onions sprouted (14 days, 126 total)

February 4

• 1 Ventura celery sprouted (8 total, 6 days)

February 5

• 2 Ventura celery sprouted (10 total, 7 days)

February 7

• 1 Copra onion sprouted (1 total, 4 days) – total of 127 Copra onions total

February 9

• Planted 126 Varsity Onion seed received from a GardenWeb member into half-size tray.  Lightly covered with soil and bottom-fed.  Seed is one-year old according to GardenWeb member
• The last batch of Copra onion seed appears to have been planted too deep based on bad germination rates

February 10

• 8 Copra onion sprouted (9 total, 7 days) – total of 135 Copra onions total

February 11

• 6 Copra onion sprouted (15 total, 8 days) – total of 141 Copra onions total

February 12

• 8 Copra onion sprouted (23 total, 9 days) – total of 149 Copra onions total

February 14

• 3 Copra onion sprouted (26 total, 11 days) – total of 152 Copra onions total
• 146 Copra onions are still alive (lost 6 onions so far)
• Celery and onions from Deember planting are root-bound

February 15

• 1 Varsity onion sprouted (6 days)

February 16

• 3 Varsity onions sprouted (4 total, 7 days)

February 17

• 3 Varsity onions sprouted (7 total, 8 days)
• Transplanted 12 celery from 3-packs to 16-ounce cups

February 18

• 3 Varsity onions sprouted (10 total, 9 days)

February 19

• 4 Varsity onions sprouted (14 total, 10 days)

February 20

• 4 Varsity onions sprouted (18 total, 11 days)

February 21

• 4 Varsity onions sprouted (22 total, 12 days)

February 22

• 4 Varsity onions sprouted (26 total, 13 days)

February 23

• 5 Varsity onions sprouted (31 total, 14 days)

February 24

• 1 Varsity onion sprouted (32 total, 15 days)

March 3

• Planted 5 Best Boy tomatoes in 5 large orange containers
• Planted 6 Roma tomatoes in 2 large orange containers (3 per container)
• Planted 8 Red Cherry tomatoes in 2 large arange containers (4 per container)
• Planted 4 Anaheim Hot Peppers in 2 large green containers (2 per container)
• Planted 16 California Wonder peppers in 2 4-packs
  • Used saved seed from 2 years ago around the outside
  • Used 2 year-old seed around the middle
• Planted 4 each of lettuce in 3-packs
  • Next to white dot – Red Salad Bowl, Buttercrunch, Simpson Elite
  • Next to 2 white dots – Parris Island Romaine, New Red Fire
• Lettuce, peppers, and tomatoes placed under clear lids with compost tea filled in the tray
• Planted 10 Snow Crown cauliflower in 16-ounce cups labeled “C”
• Planted 10 Green Goliath broccoli in 16-ounce cups labeled “B”
• Planted 10 Premium Crop broccoli in 16-ounce cups labeled “B2”

March 5

• Placed 4 Best Boy, 1 Red cherry tomato, and 1 Roma tomato in heated greenhouse
• Placed all peppers in heated greenhouse
• Greenhouse pan filled with compost tea

March 6

• Transplanted 2nd batch of Ventura celery into red 16-ounce cups

March 7

• 2 Red Salad Bowl sprouted (4 days)
• 4 Buttercrunch sprouted (4 days, 100% germination)
• 3 Parris Island sprouted (4 days)
• 1 New Red Fire sprouted (4 days)
• 1 Snow Crown cauliflower sprouted (4 days)

March 8

• 1 Simpson Elite sprouted (5 days)
• 1 New Red Fire sprouted (5 days, 2 total)

March 9

• 8 Snow Crown cauliflower sprouted (6 days, 9 total)
• 2 Green Goliath broccoli sprouted (6 days)
• 7 Premium Crop broccoli sprouted (6 days)
• 3 Red Cherry tomatoes sprouted – 2 in heated greenhouse, 1 in un-heated (6 days)
• 1 Roma tomato sprouted – in heated greenhouse (6 days)

March 10

• 1 Snow Crown cauliflower sprouted (7 days, 10 total, 100% germination)
• 4 Green Goliath broccoli sprouted (7 days, 6 total)
• 1 Roma tomato sprouted – in heated greenhouse (7 days, 2 total)
• 1 Red Cherry tomato sprouted – from unheated greenhouse (7 days, 4 total)
• 1 Best Boy tomato sprouted – in heated greenhouse (7 days)
• 1 New Red Fire lettuce sprouted (3 total, 7 days)
• Planted 4 of the below in 3-packs
  • Next to white dot – Red Salad Bowl, Buttercrunch, Simpson Elite
  • Next to 2 white dots – Parris Island Romaine, New Red Fire
• Moved the unsprouted Best Boy and Roma containers into the heated greenhouse

March 11

• 1 Green Goliath broccoli sprouted (7 total, 8 days)
• 1 Best Boy tomato sprouted – in heated greenhouse (2 total, 8 days)
• 1 Red Cherry tomato sprouted (5 total, 8 days)

March 12

• Transplanted first sowing of Ventura celery (from December) into the front garden
  • Spaced 10 inches apart, 12 inches between rows
• Used floating row cover doubled up for frost protection
• 1 Red Cherry tomato sprouted (9 days, 6 total)
• Transplanted 14 Copra onions started in December to the front garden

March 13

• Drained compost tea from heated greenhouse
• 1 Simpson Elite sprouted (3 days)
• 1 Green Golatih sprouted sometime in the past couple days (8 total, 10 days)

March 14

• 2 Red Salad Bowl sprouted (4 days)
• 2 Buttercrunch sprouted (4 days)
• 3 Simpson Elite sprouted (4 days, 4 total, 100% germination)
• 3 New Red Fire sprouted (4 days)
• 1 Parris Island from first planting sprouted (11 days, 4 total, 100% germination)
• 1 Best Boy tomato in the greenhouse sprouted (3 total, 11 days)
• Heated greenhouse was only getting up to 70 degrees when the heat mat was placed on a piece of wood.  Put heat mat back in plastic that came with the greenhouse kit and placed the tray over it – as intended

March 15

• 1 Roma tomato sprouted (3 total, 12 days)
• 1 Red Salad Bowl sprouted (3 total, 5 days)
• 1 Parris Island sprouted (5 days)
• Greenhouse is warming up into the 80’s (61 – 83 degrees)

March 16

• Planted 134 Cascadia Snap Peas beside the house
• Planted 200 Cascadia Snap Peas beside the house
• Chicken wire fencing beside the house and behind the garage put up
• Sunny today with a high temp of 62 degrees

March 17

• Planted 4 each of lettuce into 3-packs
  • By white dot – Red Salad Bowl, Buttercrunch, Simpson Elite
  • By 2 white dots – Parris Island, New Red Fire
• Plugged in heating mat to be on 24/7
• Transplanted 10 Venturay Celery into the front garden
• Transplanted 53 Copra onions into the cinder blocks behind the garage
• Planted (15 x 4) + 2 = 62 Copra onions into the front garden
• Temperature reached 73 degrees today

March 18

• 1 Premium Crop broccoli sprouted (15 days, 8 total)

March 19

• Took cauliflower and broccoli outside for sunlight
• Split up the Roma and Cherry tomatoes into separate containers

March 20

• 2 New Red Fire sprouted (3 days)
• 1 Parris Island sprouted (3 days)
• Re-planted 4 Anaheim Hot peppers
• Re-planted 16 California Wonder pepper from saved seed

March 21

• 2 New Red Fire sprouted (4 days, 4 total, 100% germination)
• 1 Parris Island sprouted (4 days, 2 total)
• 3 Red Salad Bowl sprouted (4 days)
• 4 Buttercrunch sprouted (4 days, 100% germination)
• 3 Simpson Elite sprouted (4 days)
• 1 Anaheim Hot pepper sprouted (18 days)
• Greenhouse got up to 102 degrees

March 22

• 1 California Wonder sprouted (19 days)

March 24

• Weather turned very cold and night temps will be as low as 25 degrees over the next few days
• Thinned first two plants of lettuce to one seedling each
• 1 Red Cherry tomato sprouted sometime this week (7 total)
• Placed the California Wonder pepper 4-packs back into the heated greenhouse and placed under a fluorescent light

March 26

• 1 California Wonder pepper sprouted (2 total, 22 days)

March 27

• 1 California Wonder pepper sprouted (3 total, 23 days)
• 1 Anaheim Hot pepper sprouted (2 total, 23 days)

March 29

• 1 California Wonder pepper sprouted (4 total, 9 days)

March 30

• 1 Anaheim Hot pepper sprouted (3 total, 26 days)
• 3 California Wonder peppers sprouted (7 total, 26 days)
• 1 California Wonder pepper sprouted (8 total, 10 days)
  • 4 are from saved seed, 4 from 2-year-old seed
• 18 Cascadia peas beside the house sprouted (14 days)

March 31

• 2 California Wonder peppers sprouted (10 total, 11 days)
• 5 California Wonder peppers sprouted (15 total, 27 days)
• 10 Cascadia Peas beside the house sprouted (28 total, 15 days)
• Planted four of each lettuce in 3-packs
  • Next to white dot – Red Salad Bowl, Buttercrunch, Simpson Elite
  • Next to 2 white dots – Parris Island, New Red Fire
• Thinned lettuce planted two weeks ago to one seedling per cell

April 1

• 2 California Wonder peppers sprouted (17 total, 12 days)
• 15 Cascadia peas beside the house sprouted (43 total, 16 days)

April 2

• Planted the first two weeks of lettuce eight inches apart in the patio garden
• 14 Cascadia peas beside the house sprouted (57 total, 17 days)
• 1 California Wonder pepper sprouted (18 total, 29 days)
  • 1 per cell finally has sprouted; heating pad turned off

April 3

• Directly seeded 4 x 7 (28) Parris Island lettuce in the patio garden
• 1 Simpson Elite sprouted (3 days)
• 1 New Red Fire lettuce sprouted (3 days)
• Planted 280 Sugarsnax carrots towards the front of the carrot bed
• Planted 260 Scarlet Nantes carrots towards the back of the carrot bed
  • Scarlet Nantes seeds are smaller than Sugarsnax and many holes had two or three seeds dropped in
• 8 Cascadia peas beside the house sprouted (65 total, 18 days)
• Temperatures reached over 80 degrees and it was windy/sunny

April 4

• 1 Simpson Elite sprouted (2 total, 4 days)

April 5

• 1 Cascadia pea beside the house sprouted (66 total, 20 days)
• 1 Cascadia pea behind the garage sprouted (20 days)
• Planted 6 Premium Crop broccoli, 6 Snow Crown Cauliflower, and 6 Green Goliath broccoli in the side garden 12 inches apart
  • Green Goliath is the closest to the patio

April 6

• 18 Cascadia peas behind the garage sprouted (19 total, 21 days, complete total of 85 peas)
• 2 Cascadia peas beside the house sprouted (68 total, 21 days, complete total of 87 peas)
• Temperatures in the mid-70’s today

April 7

• 2 Cascadia peas beside the house sprouted (70 total, 22 days, complete total of 89 peas)
• 13 Cascadia peas behind the garage sprouted (32 total, 22 days, complete total of 102 peas)
• Bad germination of lettuce from last week.  Planted 4 each in 3-packs
  • Next to white dot – Red Salad Bowl, Butercrunch, Simpson Elite
  • Next to 2 white dots – Parris Island, New Red Fire
• Leaving in tray with compost tea in the bottom and clear lid on top
• Planted 44 Easter Egg radishes in the patio garden
• Planted 8 Parris Island lettuce in the patio bed (4 per hole, 8 inches apart)

April 8

• 12 direct-seeded Parris Island sprouted (5 days)
• Transplanted 3rd week of lettuce to the patio garden
• Up to 65 degrees today, fully sunny
• 12 Cascadia peas behind the garage sprouted (44 total, 13 days, complete total of 114 peas)
• Transplanted 10 Copra onion to the front flower bed
  • Closest to driveway
• Transplated 21 Varsity onions to the flower bed

April 9

• 6 direct-seeded Parris Island lettuce sprouted (18 total, 6 days)
• 24 Cascadia peas behind the garage sprouted (68 total, 24 days, complete total of 138 peas)

April 10

• 2 direct-seeded Parris Island lettuce sprouted (20 total, 7 days)
• 1 direct-seeded Parris Island sprouted (2 days)
• Volunteer Kennebec potatoes are coming up in the side garden
• 1 Buttercrunch sprouted (3 days)

April 11

• 18 direct-seeded Easter Egg Radishes sprouted (4 days)

April 12

• 4 direct-seeded Easter Egg radishes sprouted (5 days, 22 total)
• 3 direct-seeded Parris Island lettuce sprouted (4 total, 4 days)
• 2 Cascadia peas behind the garage sprouted (70 total, 27 days, complete total of 140 peas)

April 13

• 1 Red Salad Bowl lettuce sprouted (12 days)
• Transplanted 1 Green Goliath broccoli to the flower bed (closest to the driveway)
• Transplanted 4 Snow Crown cauliflower to the flower bed
• Transplanted 2 Premium Crop broccoli to the flower bed
• Planted 8 Crimson Sweet watermelon in 16-ounce cups
• Planted 8 lettuce (4 per 2 holes) directly into the patio bed of all five lettuce varities
• 5 Easter Egg radishes sprouted (27 total, 6 days)

April 14

• Dozens of carrots have just sprouted (11 days)
• Planted 4 Best Boy tomatoes (2 per container) in the square orange containers
  • Planted outside – embedded in the patio garden
• Pulled potatoes out from storage to be cut tomorrow – many sprouts have already started

April 16

• Approximately 115 Sugarsnax carrots have sprouted (12 days)
• Approximately 97 Scarlet Nantes carrots have sprouted (12 days)
• Potatoes have been cut and are ready for planting
• Storm came through last night and temperatures cooled down into the 40’s
• 2 Cascadia peas behind the garage sprouted (72 total, 31 days, complete total of 142 peas)
• Cold and windy – 44 degrees outside mid-day

April 17

• Transplanted 3 Best Boy tomatoes into the front garden
• Transplanted 4 Roma tomatoes into the front garden
• Transplanted 1 Red Cherry tomato into the front garden
• Planted 6 Kennebec potatoes into the potato bin
• Planted 10 Kennebec potatoes into the 10 black plastic containers
• Planted 66 Kennebec potatoes into the back garden
• Planted 21 Yukon Gold potatoes into the side garden
• Planted 33 Yukon Gold potatoes into the back garden

April 18

• Planted 34 Easter Egg Radishes into the patio bed
• Sprinkled in saved basil seed in two rows in the patio garden
• Approximately 147 Sugarsnax carrots have sprouted
• Approximately 143 Scarlet Nantes carrots have sprouted

April 19

• Some of the Simpson Elite, Parris Island, and Buttercrunch lettuce sprouted
  • Didn’t have time to check because the rain barrel system was leaning and needed fixed before heavy storms came through
• 2 New Red Fire lettuce sprouted (6 days)
• 4 Parris Island lettuce sprouted (6 days)
• 2 Red Salad Bowl lettuce sprouted (6 days)
• 3 Simpson Elite lettuce sprouted (6 days)
• 5 Buttercrunch lettuce sprouted (6 days)

April 20

• Dug up tomatoes into gallon buckets and brought into the house
  • Way too cold outside for them and some may have been killed

April 21

• 1 New Red Fire lettuce sprouted (3 total, 8 days)
• 1 Parris Island lettuce sprouted (5 total, 8 days)
• 1 Red Salad Bowl lettuce sprouted (3 total, 8 days)
• 1 Simspon Elite lettuce sprouted (4 total, 8 days)
• Frosted at night – low between 30 and 32 degrees

April 24

• 8 Easter Egg radishes sprouted (6 days)
• 1 Red Salad Bowl sprouted (4 total, 11 days)
• 1 Buttercrunch sprouted (6 total, 11 days)
• 1 Simpson Elite sprouted (5 total, 11 days)

April 25

• 3 Crimson Sweeet watermelon sprouted (12 days)
• 19 Easter Egg radishes sprouted (27 total, 7 days)

April 27

• 2 Crimson Sweet watermelon sprouted (5 total, 14 days)
• Direct-seeded 4 of each into the patio garden
  • Simpson Elite
  • Buttercrunch
  • Red Salad Bowl
  • New Red Fire
  • Parris Island (planted 2 holes with four seeds each)
• 2 New Red Fire sprouted (5 total, 14 days)
• 1 Simpson Elite sprouted (6 total, 14 days)
• 2 Best boy tomatoes sprouted (13 days)
• Planted 35 Easter Egg radishes into the front garden

April 29

• 1 Crimson Sweet watermelon sprouted (6 total, 16 days)

April 30

• Deer ate tops off of most of the tomato plants
• Purchased 4 Better Boy tomato plants

May 2

• 22 Easter Egg radishes sprouted (5 days)
• 2 Parris Island sprouted (5 days)
• 2 New Red Fire sprouted (5 days)
• 3 Parris Island sprouted (5 days)
• 1 Red Salad Bowl sprouted (5 days)
• 3 Simpson Elite sprouted (5 days)
• 1 Buttercrunch sprouted (5 days)
• Planted 4 Better Boy tomatoes next to the driveway
• Transplanted 3 original tomatoes in the front – unsure of the type
• Transplanted 8 California Wonder peppers to the front garden

May 4

• About 60 basil plants sprouted (16 days)
• 7 Easter Egg radishes sprouted (29 total, 7 days)

May 5

• Soaking 100 Bush Blue Lake 274 seeds through Saturday
• Soaking 75 Honey Treat corn seeds through Saturday

May 6

• 2 New Red Fire sprouted (4 total, 9 days)
• Approximately a total of 110 basil have sprouted (18 days)
• 1 Kennebec potato in the patio bin sprouted (19 days)
• 1 Kennebec potato in the black containers sprouted (19 days)
• 1 Snow Crown cauliflower has died in the side bed
• 2 Yukon Gold potatoes in the side garden sprouted (19 days)
• 19 Kennebec potatoes behind the garage sprouted (19 days)
• 4 Easter Egg radishes sprouted (33 total, 11 days)

May 7

• Planted 76 Honey Treat corn in the front garden
  • Spaced 8 inches apart in 3 rows
• Planted 21 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans in the watermelon bed
• Planted 14 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans in the flower bed
• Planted 62 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans in the front garden
• Spread pelletized fertilizer over the front garden
• 1 Kennebec potato in the bin sprouted (2 total, 20 days)
• 6 Kennebec potatoes in black containers sprouted (7 total, 20 days)
• 1 Yukon Gold potato beside the house sprouted (3 total, 20 days)
• 16 Kennebec potatoes behind the garage sprouted (35 total, 20 days)
• Temperatures have finall been geetting over 75+ degrees – a few weeks of cool temperatures

May 8

• 4 Kennebec potatoes in the bin sprouted (6 total, 100% germination, 21 days)
• 2 Kennebec potatoes in black bins sprouted (9 total, 21 days)
• 1 Yukon Gold potato beside the house sprouted (4 total, 21 days)
• 11 Kennebec potatoes behind the garage sprouted (46 total, 21 days)

May 10

• 16 Kennebec potatoes behind the garage sprouted (62 total, 23 days)
• 3 Yukon Gold potatoes behind the garage sprouted (23 days)
• 2 Yukon Gold potatoes beside the house sprouted (6 total, 23 days)
• Planted 35 Easter Egg radishes in the front garden

May 11

• A couple of strawberries were picked
• 152 Sugarsnax carrots are still alive
• 150 Scarlet Nantes carrots are still alive
• Total of 132 basil sprouted; thinned back to every 6 inches
• 1 Kennebec potato in the black containers sprouted (10 total, 100% germination, 24 days)
• 6 Yukon Gold potatoes beside the house sprouted (12 total, 24 days)
• 4 Kennebec potatoes behind the garage sprouted (66 total, 100% germination, 24 days)
• 2 Yukon Gold potatoes behind the garage sprouted (5 total, 24 days)
• Picked 1 3/4 oz of New Red Fire lettuce from 1 plant
• Picked 6 oz of Simpson Elite lettuce from 2 plants
• Picked 3 7/8 oz of Buttercrunch lettuce from 3 plants
• Picked 3 3/8 oz of Red Salad Bowl lettuce from 3 plants

May 12

• Planted 3 Burpee Pickler cucumbers in 16-oz cups labeled “B”
• Planted 3 H-19 Little Leaf Pickling cucumbers in 16-oz cups labeled “C”
• 5 Honey Treat corn sprouted (5 days)
• 7 Bush Blue Lake 274 sprouted (5 days)
• Temps reached into the mid 80’s for the past 3 days

May 13

• 5 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans in the watermelon bed sprouted (6 days)
• 5 Yukon Gold potatoes beside the house sprouted (17 total, 26 days)
• 14 Yukon Gold potatoes behind the garage sprouted (19 total, 26 days)
• 2 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans in the flower bed sprouted (6 days)
• 3 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans sprouted in the front garden (10 total, 6 days)
• 9 Honey Treat corn sprouted (14 total, 6 days)
• 15 Easter Egg radishes sprouted (3 days)

May 14

• 3 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans in the front sprouted (13 total, 7 days)
• 2 Honey Treat corn sprouted (16 total, 7 days)
• 1 Bush Blue Lake 274 bean in the flower bed sprouted (3 total, 7 days)
• 1 Bush Blue Lake 274 bean in the watermelon bed sprouted (6 total, 7 days)
• 1 Yukon Gold potato beside the house sprouted (18 total, 27 days)
• 2 Yukon Gold potatoes behind the garage sprouted (21 total, 27 days)
• Much cooler today; only reached 57 degrees

May 16

• 2 Yukon Gold potatoes behind the garage sprouted (23 total, 29 days)
• 2 Bush Blue Lake 274 green beans in the front sprouted (15 total, 9 days)
• 15 Easter Egg radishes sprouted (30 total, 6 days)
• 1 Bush Blue Lake 274 bean in the flower bed sprouted (4 total, 9 days)

May 17

• Picked 3 5/8 oz of Buttercrunch from 3 plants
• Picked 3 1/4 oz of Red Salad Bowl from 3 plants
• Picked 4 1/4 oz of Simpson Elite from 2 plants
• Picked 5 1/2 oz of New Red Fire lettuce from 3 plants
• Picked 9 Easter Egg radishes – 4 5/8 oz

May 19

• 8 Yukon Gold potatoes behind the garage sprouted (31 total, 32 days)
• 3 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans in the front garden sprouted (18 total, 12 days)
• 2 Honey Treat corn sprouted (18 total, 12 days)
• 3 Crimson Sweet watermelon were transplanted to the watermelon bed

May 20

• 3 H-19 Little Leaf Pickling cucumbers sprouted (100% germination, 8 days)
• 2 Burpee Pickler cucumbers sprouted (8 days)
• Planted 50 Honey Treat corn in plastic 3-packs
  • Placed in garage in trays filled with water with lid over the top
• Temperatures have been near 80 degrees for the past couple of days

May 22

• Temperatures hit almost 90 degrees today
• Transplanted the Red Cherry tomato and another tomato from the gallon buckets to the front garden
• Picked 4 5/8 oz of strawberries

May 24

• 4 Honey Treat corn sprouted (4 days)
• All 34 Yukon Gold potatoes in the back have sprouted

May 27

• Temperatures dropped into the high 50’s
• 4 Honey Treat corn sprouted (8 total, 7 days)
• Picked 8 Easter Egg radishes – 7 1/2 oz
• Planted 40 Easter Egg radishes in the front garden
• Picked 1 Ventura celery – 2 pounds, 9 3/4 oz
• Picked 3 pounds, 7 1/2 oz of Tri-Star strawberries

May 28

• Planted 50 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans in the front garden
• Picked 2 5/8 oz of oregano
• Picked 11 1/4 oz of Red Salad Bowl lettuce (3 plants)
• Picked 15 3/8 oz of New Red Fire lettuce (3 plants)
• Picked 8 1/4 oz of Buttercrunch lettuce (3 plants)
• Picked 1 pound, 7/8 oz of Simpson Elite lettuce (3 plants)

May 29

• Planted 15 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans in the watermelon bed

May 30

• Picked 5 1/4 oz of Cascadia Snap peas
• Picked 3 Easter Egg radishes – 3 oz
• Picked 2 pounds, 14 7/8 oz of Tri-Star strawberries

May 31

• Transplanted the 8 Honey Treat corn into the front garden
• Planted 45 Honey Treat corn in the front garden
• Temps in the high 80’s the past two days

June 1

• 27 Easter Egg radishes sprouted (5 days)
• Picked 8 3/8 oz of Cascadia snap peas

June 2

• 7 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans sprouted (5 days)
• 7 Easter Egg radishes sprouted (34 total, 6 days)
• 1 Bush Blue Lake 274 bean sprouted in the watermelon bed (4 days)
• Picked 1 Parris Island Romaine lettuce – 1 pound, 1 7/8 oz
• Picked 1 Ventura celery – 3 pounds, 2 1/2 oz
• 2 Honey Treat corn sprouted (10 total, 13 days)

June 3

• 5 Bush Blue Lake 274 green beans in the watermelon bed sprouted (6 total, 5 days)
• 13 Bush Blue Lake 274 green beans in the front sprouted (20 total, 6 days)
• Picked 1 Snow Crown cauliflower from the flower bed – 1 pound, 2 3/4 oz
• Picked 11 1/2 oz of Cascadia peas
• Picked 1 pound, 6 3/8 oz of Tri-Star strawberries

June 4

• Picked 10 7/8 oz of New Red Fire lettuce from 3 plants
• Picked 9 1/8 oz of Red Salad Bowl from 3 plants
• Picked 12 oz of Simpson Elite from 3 plants
• Picked 10 3/8 oz of Buttercrunch from 4 plants

June 5

• Transplanted cucumbers to the back garden
  • Burpee Pickler (2) closest to the house
  • H-19 Little Leaf Pickling (3) further from the house
• 1 Bush Blue Lake 274 bean in the watermelon bed sprouted (7 total, 7 days)
• 3 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans in the front sprouted (23 total, 8 days)
• 16 Honey Treat corn sprouted (5 days)
• Picked 1 Ventura celery – 2 pounds, 4 5/8 oz

June 6

• Picked 1 Premium Crop broccoli in the side garden – 10 oz
• Picked 1 Snow Crown cauliflower from the flower bed – 1 pound, 15 1/8 oz
• Picked 1 pound, 1 7/8 oz of Cascadia peas
• 7 Honey treat corn sprouted (23 total, 6 days)
• Picked 14 Easter Egg radishes from the front garden – 10 7/8 oz

June 8

• Picked 1 Snow Crown cauliflower from the flower bed – 2 pounds, 2 7/8 oz
• Picked 1 Premium Crop broccoli from the flower bed – 1 pound, 13 1/2 oz
• Picked 15 3/8 oz of Cascadia peas
• Picked 9 3/8 oz of Tri-Star strawberries
• 3 Honey Treat corn sprouted (26 total, 8 days)
• Picked 7 Easter Egg radishes – 3 oz
• Picked 2 Ventura celery – 1 pound, 8 5/8 oz + 2 pounds, 7/8 oz

June 10

• A total of 34 Honey Treat corn sprouted out of 45
• Planted 13 Honey Treat corn in the front
• Planted 50 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans in the flower bed
• Picked 2 Ventura celery – 1 pound, 6 1/2 oz + 3 pounds, 3 1/8 oz

June 12

• Temps cooled down into the 70’s today
• Main stem of Simpson Elite is bitter – but the rest is fine
• Picked 13 3/4 oz of New Red Fire from 5 plants
• Picked 1 pound, 4 oz of Simpson Elite from 5 plants
• Picked 13 3/8 oz of Buttercrunch from 5 plants
• Picked 14 oz of Red Salad Bowl from 5 plants

June 13

• Picked 3 Premium Crop broccoli from the side garden – 1 pound, 4 3/8 oz
• Picked 1 pound, 3 7/8 oz of peas
• 1 New Red Fire lettuce broke off at the top – 1 7/8 oz
• Picked 1 Premium Crop broccoli from the front – 1 pound, 8 1/8 oz
• Picked 11 Easter Egg radishes from the front garden – 9 3/8 oz

June 15

• Picked 1 pound, 5 5/8 oz of Tri-Star strawberries

June 17

• Picked 1 Snow Crown cauliflower from the flower bed – 2 pounds, 2 oz
• Picked 2 Ventura celery – 2 pounds, 5 1/4 oz + 3 pounds, 1 oz
• Picked 1 Green Goliath broccoli from the side garden – 1 pound, 12 7/8 oz
• Picked 2 Snow Crown cauliflower from the side garden – 1 pound, 6 1/2 oz + 1 pound, 2 7/8 oz
• 16 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans in the flower bed sprouted (7 days)
• 3 Honey Treat corn sprouted (7 days)

June 19

• 6 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans sprouted in the flower bed (22 total, 9 days)
• Picked 7 1/8 oz of Cascadia peas
• Picked 5 Easter Egg radishes from the front – 2 7/8 oz
• Transplanted 2 Best Boy tomatoes into the front garden

June 20

• 4 Honey Treat corn sprouted (7 total, 10 days)
• Used mulched leaves around the front half of the corn bed
• 1 Bush Blue Lake 274 bean sprouted in the flower bed (23 total, 10 days)

June 22

• Picked 1 pound, 3 7/8 oz of Tri-Star strawberries
• Picked 12 5/8 oz of New Red Fire from 3 plants
  • Two plants were pulled
• Picked 1 pound, 8 1/2 oz of Parris Island from 3 plants
  • All three were fully harvested and pulled – stems were long and lengthy
• Picked 1 pound, 5 oz of Simpson Elite from 6 plants
  • Very bitter on the main stem but the leaf portion is fine
• Picked 1 pound, 9 1/8 oz of Buttercrunch from 5 plants
  • Pulled all five plants – very stalky
• Picked 10 5/8 oz of Red Salad Bowl from 3 plants
  • Picked all three plants
• Picked over a dozen stems of oregano – 8 1/2 oz

June 23

• Picked 1 Ventura celery – 1 pound, 14 1/2 oz
• Picked 10 3/4 oz of Cascadia peas

June 25

• Picked 1 Ventura celery – 1 pound, 6 1/2 oz
• Picked 2 Snow Crown cauliflower from the side garden – 9 3/8 oz + 13 7/8 oz

June 27

• Picked 12 7/8 oz of Tri-Star strawberries

June 28

• 20 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans in the front sprouted (47 total, 8 days)
• Picked 2 pounds, 1 oz of Cascadia peas

July 2

• Pollinated approximately 15 ears of Honey Treat corn from 11 plants
  • 5 have 29’s on the clothespin (used to help determine when the corn should be harvested)
  • 2 have 30’s on the clothespin
  • 4 have 1’s on the clothespin

July 3

• Picked 1 Premium Crop broccoli from the side garden – 13 7/8 oz
• Picked side shoots from Premium Crop broccoli – 4 3/4 oz
• Picked Green Goliath from the flower bed – 2 pounds, 15 1/2 oz
• Picked 2 pounds, 4 1/4 oz of Cascadia peas
• Temps have been in the 90’s for the past 3 days
• Picked 14 1/4 oz of Tri-Star strawberries

July 5

• Picked 1 Ventura Celery – 3 pounds

July 6

• Pulled all of the Cascadia peas next to the house
• Pollinated 4 Honey Treat corn – all have a “6” on the clothespin
  • A total of 28 ears look like they may mature from 15 plants

July 8

• Picked 1 pound, 2 oz of Cascadia peas
• Picked 2 pounds, 12 1/8 oz of Bush Blue Lake 274 beans
• Picked 9 oz of Tri-Star strawberries

July 9

• Planted 50 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans in the flower bed

July 10

• Cut extra sucker growth off Honey Treat corn plants
• Labeled 3 Honey Treat corn with “11” on the clothespin (2 plants) and “9” on the clothespin (1 plant)
• Harvested 8 Copra onions from the front garden – 3 pounds, 15 1/2 oz
  • 2 pounds, 7 3/8 oz without the top leaves
• Harvested 8 Copra onions from the back garden – 1 pound, 5 1/8 oz
  • 11 7/8 oz without the top leaves
• Cut off the good green onions and dehydrated them

July 11

• Picked 13 Copra onions from the front – 5 pounds, 8 5/8 oz
  • 3 pounds, 7 1/8 oz without tops
  • 3 onions (not included above) were rotten
• Picked 5 Varsity onions from the flower bed – 3 pounds, 12 3/8 oz
  • 2 pounds, 7 5/8 oz without the tops
  • 1 onion (not included above) was rotten
• Picked 10 Copra onions from the back – 2 pounds, 1/4 oz
  • 1 pound, 3 3/8 oz without tops

July 12

• Picked a few stalks of basil and cut the flowers off
• Picked 2 pounds, 11 7/8 oz of Bush Blue Lake 274 beans
• Picked 1 Red Cherry tomato

July 13

• Picked 13 Copra onions from the front – 5 pounds, 15 1/4 oz
  • 4 pounds, 1 3/4 oz without tops
• Picked 3 Varsity onions from the flower bed – 2 pounds, 3 3/4 oz
  • 1 pound, 8 5/8 oz without tops
• Picked 3 Copra onions from the flower bed – 1 pound, 9 1/2 oz
  • 1 pound, 1 3/8 oz without tops
• Picked 21 Copra onions from the back – 5 pounds, 3 oz
  • 3 pounds, 2 1/8 oz without tops

July 14

• 17 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans have sprouted (5 days)

July 15

• Picked 16 Copra onions from the front – 6 pounds, 1 7/8 oz
  • 4 pounds, 3 7/8 oz without tops
• Picked 1 Copra onion from the flower bed – 6 5/8 oz
  • 4 7/8 oz without tops
• Picked 5 Varsity onions from the flower bed – 3 pounds, 15 5/8 oz
  • 2 pounds, 12 1/4 oz without tops
• Picked 7 Copra onions from the back garden – 2 pounds, 1 1/2 oz
  • 1 pound, 1 3/8 oz without tops
• 11 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans have sprouted (28 total, 6 days)

July 17

• Picked all remaining (19) Copra onions from the front – 10 pounds, 4 1/2 oz
  • 7 pounds, 3 oz without tops
• Picked all remaining (7) Varsity onions from the flower bved – 5 pounds, 5 3/8 oz
  • 3 pounds, 8 oz without tops
• Picked all remaining (6) Copra onions from the flower bed – 3 pounds, 14 oz
  • 2 pounds, 12 3/4 oz without tops
• Picked all remaining (7) Copra onions from the back garden – 2 pounds, 12 oz
  • 1 pound, 11 1/4 oz without tops
• Picked 1 Roma tomato – 1 5/8 oz
• Picked 1 7/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes
• Picked 2 pounds, 10 7/8 oz of Bush Blue Lake 274 green beans

July 20

• Picked 1 pound, 4 1/2 oz of Bush Blue Lake 274 beans
• Picked 10 Roma tomatoes – 1 pound, 2 5/8 oz
• Picked 3 1/2 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes
• Picked Honey Treat corn – total of 12 plants yielded 21 ears
  • 10 @ 4 pounds, 9 5/8 oz
  • 11 @ 5 pounds, 6 1/8 oz

July 22

• Picked 2 Burpee Pickler cucumbers – 13 1/4 oz
  • One is very yellow and way past it’s prime

July 23

• Picked 1 Roma tomato – 1 7/8 oz
• Picked 1 pound, 7 3/8 oz of Bush Blue Lake 274 beans
• Picked 8 Anaheim Hot Peppers – 6 1/8 oz
• Picked 2 1/8 oz of Bush Blue Lake 274 beans
• Picked 12 Roma tomatoes – 1 pound, 5 oz
• Picked 11 Better Boy tomatoes – 6 pounds, 5 oz

July 26

• Picked 12 Honey Treat corn – 4 pounds, 12 7/8 oz
  • Some did not look fully finished but the ears were still sweet
• Picked 5 1/4 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes
• Picked 4 Better Boy tomatoes – 2 pounds, 7/8 oz
• Picked 9 Roma tomatoes – 10 3/4 oz

July 9

• Picked 1 H-19 Little Leaf Pickling cucumber – 4 5/8 oz
• Picked 10 Roma tomatoes – 1 pound, 2 7/8 oz
• Picked 13 Better Boy tomatoes – 5 pounds, 11 3/8 oz
• Picked 4 3/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes

August 1

• Something got in and ate all of the remaining corn in the front (neighbor says it was a raccoon)
  • Cut down all remaining corn (what a shame)
• Picked 7 Better Boy tomatoes – 3 pounds, 8 oz
• Picked 20 Roma tomatoes – 2 pounds, 2 3/8 oz
• Picked 6 7/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes

August 3

• Planted lettuce in 8 3-packs downstairs (3 seeds in each – making a total of 12 seeds used for each variety)
  • Next to white dot – Simpson Elite, Buttercrunch, Red Salad Bowl
  • Next to 2 white dots – Parris Island, New Red Fire, Simpson Elite

August 4

• Picked 1 Burpee Pickler – 14 7/8 oz
  • Yellow and past it’s prime
• Picked 5 Kennebec potatoes from 5 black buckets – 11 3/8 oz
  • 3 of the 5 buckets were rotted out – overwatered
• Picked 28 Roma tomatoes – 3 pounds, 4 1/8 oz
• Picked 15 Better Boy tomatoes – 4 pounds, 14 5/8 oz
• Picked 4 5/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes

August 5

• 4 Parris Island sprouted (2 days)
• 8 Simpson Elite sprouted (2 days)

August 6

• Planted 72 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans in the front garden (much too late for planting)
• Picked 12 California Wonder peppers – 1 pound, 9 3/8 oz
• Picked 42 Roma tomatoes – 5 pounds, 1/2 oz
• Picked 5 Better Boy tomatoes – 1 pound, 9 7/8 oz
• Picked 10 Anaheim Hot peppers – 6 7/8 oz
• Picked 3 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes
• 6 Parris Island sprouted (10 total, 3 days)
• 4 New Red Fire sprouted (3 days)
• 11 Simpson Elite sprouted (19 total, 3 days)
• 3 Buttercrunch sprouted (3 days)
• 2 Red Salad Bowl sprouted (3 days)

August 7

• Picked 1 Burpee Pickler – 8 1/8 oz
• 2 Parris Island sprouted (12 total, 4 days)
• 2 New Red Fire sprouted (6 total, 4 days)
• 3 Simpson Elite sprouted (22 total, 4 days)
• 5 Buttercrunch sprouted (8 total, 4 days)
• 2 Red Salad Bowl sprouted (4 total, 4 days)

August 8

• Picked 70 Roma tomatoes – 7 pounds, 14 7/8 oz
• Picked 30 Better Boy tomatoes – 11 pounds, 6 7/8 oz
• Picked 5 5/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes
• 2 Simpson Elite sprouted (24 total, 5 days, 100% germination)
• 2 Buttercrunch sprouted (10 total, 5 days)
• 1 Red Salad Bowl sprouted (5 total, 5 days)

August 9

• 1 New Red Fire sprouted (7 total, 6 days)

August 10

• 7 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans sprouted (4 days)
• Picked 52 Roma tomatoes – 5 pounds, 10 3/4 oz
• Picked 14 Beetter Boy – 5 pounds, 8 1/8 oz
• Picked 3 3/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes

August 11

• 20 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans sprouted (27 total, 5 days)

August 12

• Picked 4 Burpee Pickler cucumbers – 1 pound, 12 3/8 oz
• Picked 31 Roma tomatoes – 3 pounds, 7 1/2 oz
• Picked 20 Better Boy tomatoes – 7 pounds, 14 1/2 oz
• Picked 5 1/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes
• Picked 2 California Wonder peppers – 4 7/8 oz

August 13

• Harvested Kennebec potatoes in the potato bin (6 plants) – 4 pounds, 1/2 oz
• Picked a few Sugarsnax carrots and they are very small (not ready for harvest yet)
• Harvested the row of Yukon Bold potatoes behind the garage – 9 pounds, 8 1/2 oz
• Harvested Yukon Gold potatoes beside the house – 5 pounds, 15 oz

August 14

• Harvested 2 rows of Kennebec potatoes behind the garage
  • 12 pounds, 1/4 oz
  • 12 pounds, 5/8 oz
  • 4 pounds, 4 3/8 oz
• Picked 28 Roma tomatoes – 3 pounds, 2 1/8 oz
• Picked 25 Better Boy tomatoes – 8 pounds, 14 7/8 oz
• Picked 4 3/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes

August 15

• 13 Bush Blue Lake 274 beans have sprouted (40 total, 9 days)

August 16

• Picked 1 Crimson Sweet watermelon – 8 pounds, 3 1/2 oz
• Picked 13 Roma tomatoes – 1 pound, 7 5/8 oz
• Picked 5 Better Boy tomatoes – 1 pound, 12 5/8 oz
• Picked 2 7/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes
• Picked 2 Burpee Pickler cucumbers – 11 1/4 oz

August 20

• Picked 39 Roma tomatoes – 4 pounds, 4 7/8 oz
• Picked 3 Better Boy tomatoes – 11 3/4 oz
• Picked 2 3/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes
• Picked 2 pounds, 11 oz of Bush Blue Lake 274 beans
• Picked 3 Burpee Pickler cucumbers – 1 pound, 11 1/4 oz
• Picked 5 H-19 Little Leaf Pickling cucumbers – 1 pound, 7 7/8 oz

August 23

• Picked 1 Best Boy tomato – 11 1/8 oz
• Picked 1 Better Boy tomato – 9 3/8 oz
• Picked 17 Roma tomatoes – 1 pound, 9 1/2 oz
• Picked 5 1/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes
• Picked 6 1/2 oz of Bush Blue Lake 274 beans

August 25

• Picked 1 Burpee Pickler cucumber – 1 3/8 oz
• Picked 1 H-19 Little Leaf Pickling cucumber – 2 1/8 oz

August 27

• Picked a dehydrator-amount of basil
• Picked 4 1/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes
• Picked 6 Roma tomatoes – 8 3/8 oz
• Picked 1 Better Boy tomato – 7 1/4 oz
• Picked 1 Best Boy tomato – 5 3/8 oz
• Picked 6 pounds, 1 oz of Bush Blue Lake 274 beans

August 28

• Picked 4 Burpee Pickler cucumbers – 2 pounds, 12 oz
• Picked 4 H-19 Little Leaf Pickling cucumbers – 15 5/8 oz
• Picked 1 Crimson Sweet watermelon – 13 pounds

August 31

• Picked 2 Burpee Picker cucumbers – 14 5/8 oz
• Picked 6 H-19 Little Leaf Pickling cucumbers – 1 pound, 11 5/8 oz
• Picked 7 Roma tomatoes – 11 5/8 oz
• Picked 2 7/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes
• Picked 1 pound, 5 5/8 oz of Bush Blue Lake 274 beans

September 4

• Picked 3 Best Boy tomatoes – 1 pound, 12 5/8 oz
• Picked 2 Better Boy tomatoes – 5 1/2 oz
• Picked 4 Burpee Pickler cucumbers – 2 pounds, 3/4 oz
• Picked 1 H-19 Little Leaf Pickling cucumber – 5 3/8 oz
• Picked 7 Roma tomatoes – 8 3/4 oz
• Picked 1 7/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes
• Picked 2 pounds, 5 7/8 oz of Bush Blue Lake 274 beans
• Picked 1 Scarlet Nantes carrot – 1 7/8 oz
• Picked 1 Crimson Sweet watermelon – 16 pounds

September 8

• Picked 1 pound, 1/2 oz of Bush Blue Lake 274 beans
• Picked Roma tomatoes – 12 3/8 oz
• Picked Better Boy tomatoes – 2 pounds, 12 5/8 oz
• Picked Best Boy tomatoes – 2 pounds, 14 3/4 oz
• Picked 3 7/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes

September 12

• Picked 11 H-19 Little Leaf Pickling cucumbers – 3 pounds, 9 oz
• Picked 2 Burpee Pickler cucumbers – 7 3/8 oz
• Picked 1 Crimson Sweet watermelon – 4 pounds, 11 3/8 oz
  • The watermelon was cracked down the side when it was picked from the vine – no good

September 16

• Picked 2 Burpee Pickler cucumbers – 12 3/8 oz
• Picked 1 H-19 Little Leaf Pickling cucumber – 2 3/4 oz

September 17

• Picked 5 Anaheim Hot peppers – 8 oz
• Picked 1 pound, 3 1/4 oz of Bush Blue Lake 274 beans

September 19

• Picked 2 Roma tomatoes – 2 7/8 oz

September 21

• Picked 1 Burpee Pickler cucumber – 8 5/8 oz
• Picked 4 H-19 Little Leaf Pickling cucumbers – 1 pound, 1 5/8 oz
• Picked 1 California Wonder pepper – 2 7/8 oz
• Picked 7 Roma tomatoes – 11 7/8 oz
• Picked 1 Best boy tomato – 13 oz
• Picked 2 Better Boy tomatoes – 14 1/8 oz
• Picked 14 1/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes

September 25

• Picked 122 Sugarsnax carrots – 9 pounds, 11 3/8 oz
• Picked 109 Scarlet Nantes carrots – 7 pounds, 9 1/8 oz

October 1

• Tore down cucumber vines
• Picked 2 Burpee Pickler cucumbers – 15 1/4 oz
• Picked 8 H-19 Little Leaf Pickling cucumbers – 1 pound, 12 3/8 oz

October 2

• Picked 7 Best Boy tomatoes – 3 pounds, 5 7/8 oz
• Picked 24 Roma tomatoes – 2 pounds, 7 3/8 oz
• Picked 3 Better Boy tomatoes – 1 pound, 5 1/8 oz
• Picked 11 3/4 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes
• Got down to 34 degrees last night with frost on the roof

October 3

• Picked 1 Crimson Sweet watermelon – 14 pounds

October 10

• Picked 11 Best Boy tomatoes – 3 pounds, 15 3/4 oz
• Picked 42 Roma tomatoes – 4 pounds, 5 oz
• Picked 20 Better Boy tomatoes – 7 pounds, 1 oz
• Picked 1 Red California Wonder pepper – 4 1/8 oz
• Picked 12 1/4 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes

October 11

• Picked 8 Anaheim Hot peppers – 7 1/8 oz

October 12 – 21

• Was on vacation – neighbor took some tomatoes that were not weighed
• Temps for the past two nights got around 34 degrees

October 22

• Picked 8 7/8 oz of New Red Fire lettuce (2 plants)
• Picked 5 3/4 oz of Red Salad Bowl lettuce (1 plant)
• Picked 4 3/8 oz of Buttercrunch lettuce (2 plants)
• Picked 7 5/8 oz of Simpson Elite lettuce (4 plants)
• Picked 12 5/8 oz of Red Cherry tomatoes
• Picked 15 Roma tomatoes – 1 pound, 10 1/8 oz
• Picked 13 Better Boy tomatoes – 12 pounds, 4 3/8 oz
• Picked 9 Better Boy tomatoes – 3 pounds, 7 5/8 oz

October 23

• Cleaned up garden area; tore out watermelon
• Picked 1 Crimson Sweet watermelon – 19 pounds

October 25

• Picked 2 California Wonder peppers – 4 3/8 oz
• Picked 2 Best Boy tomatoes – 1 pound, 3 7/8 oz
• Picked 9 Better Boy tomatoes – 2 pounds, 15 oz
• Picked 72 Roma tomatoes – 8 pounds, 5 7/8 oz

October 30

• Temps almost frosted during the past two nights
• Tore down all pepper plants and basil
• Tilled in leaves yesterday into the watermelon and side gardens
• Picked 28 Anaheim Hot peppers – 1 pound, 8 1/2 oz
• Picked 48 California Wonder peppers – 8 pounds

November 5

• Tore down all tomato plants

November 9

• Harvested 1 Parris Island lettuce – 6 1/2 oz
• Put frost blanket over the lettuce

November 17

• Picked 5/8 oz of Buttercrunch from 1 plant
• Picked 3 5/8 oz of Red Salad Bowl lettuce from 1 plant
• Picked 11 3/8 oz of New Red Fire from 2 plants
• Picked 12 7/8 oz of Simpson Elite lettuce from 4 plants

November 20

• Turned over the last 5 potato containers into the front garden and found 1 pound, 3/8 oz of Kennebec potatoes

December 4

• Picked 8 5/8 oz of Simpson Elite lettuce from 4 plants
• Picked 6 oz of New Red Fire lettuce from 2 plants
• Picked 2 7/8 oz of Red Salad Bowl lettuce from 1 plant
• Picked 10 3/8 oz of Parris Island lettuce from 2 plants

Well, everything else in the garden has been taken down and pulled out.  The fencing and deer netting has all been taken down and some leaves have been tilled into the side garden and the back garden.  Hopefully this weekend I’ll be able to till in more leaves into the front garden.

This is the latest into the year that I have been able to “garden” – all thanks to the floating row covers that I purchased at the beginning of the year.

I have one of the covers over the lettuce that is still growing well in the patio garden.  We have had a couple of nights down to 28 degrees so far – and the lettuce doesn’t seem to be bothered a bit.

We have four Simpson Elite, two New Red Fire, one Red Salad Bowl, one Buttercrunch, and two or three Parris Island lettuce plants under the floating row cover.

It has been about two or three weeks since we last got some lettuce – and so more was picked today.  Just about two pounds worth between the plants.

Iceberg lettuce at the supermarket continues to go up in price.  The wife went today to stock up on some things and saw that lettuce is now $1.29 for a head.  It used to be 89 cents to 99 cents most of the time.  Good thing we still have some lettuce we can harvest!

This weekend was a little bit of garden cleanup time.

Yesterday – Saturday – I worked on mulching leaves that were in our yard and the neighbor’s yard.  Luckily, the neighbor had someone mow his lawn and his mower has a bag on it – so they just dumped the mulched leaves near the forest area behind the house.  That was perfect for me!  I’m kind of thinking that may be a good investment – because it would be much faster to simply mow over a big pile of leaves and have them mulched up in a bag – then using the leaf mulcher/blower and do it by hand – which takes hours!

So, the watermelon area and the side garden had a good helping of leaves all mulched in.  So far, that is the only area done.  I wanted to get the back garden done today.  Another neighbor has a huge pile of leaves with a tarp over them.  I thought the neighbor was saving them for her kids – but I was told otherwise.

Today, I got all of the basil pulled out of the patio bed.  The basil plants were dropping their leaves and the plant was past it’s prime.  This year we only got a large spice container full of dehydrated basil – whereas last year, we got the same container filled – plus two or three smaller containers.

Alas, all of the pepper plants were harvested as well (you can see in the photo above that the two Anaheim Pepper plants that were in the blue tote are no longer there).  There was only a pound and a half of Anaheim Hot Peppers (total of 28 harvested):

And lastly, there were five California Wonder pepper plants that have always harvested very well in years past.  Unfortunately, three died shortly after they were put in the garden so that would have immediately reduced yields by 38%.  But, we got much less than that this year.  There were a total of 48 peppers that were harvested – totalling only 8 pounds.  For the year, that puts the number of California Wonder peppers under 10 pounds.  In years past, it seems we at least get around 50 pounds of peppers.

So, all of the peppers were bagged up in freezer bags and put in the freezer.  Some were put in the fridge so we would have them fresh.

I’m quite surprised this year.  We have not yet had a frost!  It has been pretty close (the past two nights were about 34 degrees) – but it has not yet hit the freezing point.  So, the garden still has the tomatoes and lettuce plants outside.  Some of the tomatoes are still in the process of getting a little bit of color on them.  It is always a shame at the end of the year when all you have left are green tomatoes – and it always seems like there is at least 20+ pounds of green tomatoes left.  We don’t have any use for green tomatoes.  Some folks do fry them up – but we haven’t acquired a taste for that.

This week saw another huge crop of tomatoes!  We were gone for a little over a week and when we returned, a lot needed done.

For starters, we finally got a lot of rain.  The rain barrel system was completely filled up when we got back home – and no leaks – so everything was put back together well after the maintenance a few weeks back.  It was also quite windy a few days – and some of the deer netting in the front yard was down – and allowed some deer to get in and nibble on things.

The lettuce has taken off – and we harvested a little over two pounds of lettuce yesterday.

And here is the harvest:

Next was to pick the tomatoes.  There were over 15 pounds of Better Boy tomatoes, over a pound of Roma tomatoes (and they haven’t all been picked yet), and almost a pound of red cherry tomatoes.

As you can see, they are not fully ripened up – but the weather is getting cold and I wanted to ensure they were picked before they went bad.  There are still TONS of green tomatoes on the plants.

As for the Anaheim Hot Peppers – they still are going well – but they just did not impress me.

Same is the case with the California Wonder peppers this year.  We’ve always had huge yields – but this year left more to be desired.  We’ve only taken a few peppers from the plants this year.  I think it is because they were too crowded  out by all of the tomato plants.

Believe it or not, the Ventura celery seems to have had a growth spurt – so there are a few of those remaining.  You can also see a Best Boy tomato in the front – although I didn’t stake it up so it has fallen over (and has been this way for months now).

And lastly – today (Sunday) – I did some yard work.  The lawn was in desparate need of being mowed (mostly because of the weeds) – and I finally got the weed-eater out for the first time this year to trim around everything.  While doing so, I also tore out the Crimson Sweet watermelon plants and took down the big of fencing between the house and garage that protected that garden.  The final Crimson Sweet watermelon of the year – and by far the largest – weighing in at 19 pounds!

Well, we at least have been spared from freezing temperatures for the next week.  On Thursday and Friday of this past week, temperatures got very close to freezing (about 34 degrees) – but didn’t cause any damage to the plants.

This week was a strenuous week with having to work on the rain barrel system.  If you recall, I added a whole second part to the rain barrel system that allowed the system to double in size – going from six barrels to 12 barrels.

When I put  up the first part of the system, the posts were dug in and concrete was then used to backfill the holes.

Unfortunately with the second part of the system, I was cheap and filled the holes back in with dirt.  That bit me pretty good.  Early in the spring, I came home from work one day and saw this:

While that picture doesn’t look too great, the whole top part of the barrel system shifted to the left and was on the verge of collapse.  Back then, I emptied the barrels and got a few bags of fast-setting concrete mix to try to back-fill the areas around the posts.  Unfortunately, this just didn’t work well and over the summer, the system slowly began shifting again.

Just a few days ago – on Thursday – I then started work on the barrels.  I had to empty all of the barrels, take down the boards that held the barrels up, chip away all of the concrete I had put around the posts, then remove all of the posts.  Believe it or not, gettin the posts out of the ground was fairly simple because they had moved around so much.

In the below picture, you can see where I’ve removed everything except the posts.  See just how far those posts are leaning to the left?  Even with the concrete I put down, it wasn’t enough.

Now, I have all of the posts pulled out – and this is where I stopped for Thursday.

On Friday, I then dug out the post holes again and made them fairly large sized so there would be plenty of concrete to hold the posts in place. I didn’t take any photos on Friday – but did take a few on Saturday.

On Saturday, I had the intentions of getting the posts in place and all level – then put the concrete in.  But, the weather wouldn’t cooperate.  It is said that you shouldn’t pour concrete or let it sit in temperatures lower than 42 degrees if it is not cured.  Well, Saturday night into Sunday morning was going to get down to about 34 degrees.  Yes, 34 degrees already!  Heck, the tomatoes and peppers are still outside trying to ripen fruit and it is almost freezing already!

So – Saturday just saw me getting all of the posts all leveled and straight – then adding the braces across the top and bottom.

Amazing.  Look how much straighter those posts are now – and the barrels are snugly hugging against the side of the garage.  That is how it should be!

Below – I got a close-up of the holes that were dug.  Not only did I dig the holes, I also made a trench between the two holes that can also be filled with concrete.  By basically allowing the concrete for the two holes to be connected through that trench, that will give even more strength.  I think I’m over-building this a bit – but I certainly do not want to do this again!

Bright and early on Sunday I got outside and starting putting in the concrete.  Well – the first hole/trench area (very left of the picture above) took 5 bags of concrete – all by itself!  I only bought 6 bags from the store.  Made my commute up to the store to pick up another 10 bags of concrete (luckily it was on sale for 4 bags for $9).  Upon arriving home, the other two holes (middle one and right one in the picture above) took about 4 bags of concrete each.  So I have two extra bags left over now.

But, I don’t think this is going to be moving anywhere from now on!  Weather man says we won’t have any rain until next weekend – so that gives the concrete a good week to cure and harden up before weight will begin being applied to the barrel system.

Well, the only thing left to do will be to put the compost tea making barrels on the boards running along the bottom of the posts.  I most likely will get that done later today.

Got some time to get outside and finally get all of the carrots in the carrot bed taken out.

This year, I grew two different varieties side-by-side for comparison testing.  The first variety was the Sugarsnax hybrid carrot.  The Sugarsnax hybrid carrot was said to be sweeter and have more vitamins in it than other standard carrots.  The second variety was Scarlet Nantes carrots – which is a standard, open-pollinated variety.

The Sugarsnax carrot seed is about twice as large as the Scarlet Nantes seed – as I found it pretty difficult to only drop one Scarlet Nantes carrot seed into each “hole” when I was sowing them.

The downfall of the Sugarsnax variety is the cost.  I chose to do a comparison using Scarlet Nantes because Fedco Seeds said that in 2010, it was the most popular selling carrot seed – with over 5,000 packets ordered totalling 200 pounds of seed sold.  The Scarlet Nantes seed – when I ordered it in early 2011 – was only 80 cents for a 1/8 ounce (approximately 3.5 grams) package of it – which was much more than I needed to plant.

The Sugarsnax carrot – remember is about twice as large – so you get even less seed.  A 1 gram – yes – a 1 gram – packet of Sugarsnax was $1.40.  Not only was the cost almost twice as much, you are getting approximately seven times LESS seed (1 gram versus 3.5 gram – but the seed is twice as large).

OK – so am I going to be that picky?  Well, we’ll see after the tests.  80 cents versus $1.40 for a packet of seed is cheap – considering you go to the store and buy a pound of carrots for $1.50 or so.

Alright – so I started digging up the Sugarsnax carrots first – and here are some nice pictures of them.

So you see a nice big pile of Sugarsnax carrots above with long carrots and green foliage.  Very healthy carrots.  You can see that I’ve cleared out exactly half of the carrot bed (there is a white PVC pipe that was used to separate the two varities so I knew where to stop).

The Sugarsnax carrots definitely are good-looking carrots with 6+ inch roots that taper to an end.  For the most part, they pulled out cleanly and did not have any knubs or other inconsistencies – except the one below.

Wow – I got two Sugarsnax carrots with one seed!  First time that has happened and both sides of the carrot are in great shape.

OK – moving on to the Scarlet Nantes carrots.

Hmm – the carrots are not as orange (meaning they don’t have as much beta caroteine as the Sugarsnax variety) and they definitely – on average – are shorter.  The Scarlet Nantes carrots also had some knubs and inconsistencies in them – but still not too bad.

Now, let’s look at the piles “side by side”.  The Sugarsnax pile is on the bottom and the Scarlet Nantes on the top.

Not fully a fair comparison since the Scarlet Nantes are further back in the picture – but they are shorter and the foliage wasn’t as thick.

After getting them all cut up, they looked pretty filthy.

Sugarsnax:

Scarlet Nantes:

Both Sugarsnax and Scarlet Nantes are said to have a ready-to-harvest time period of 68 days – so just a little over two months after planting they should be ready.  I found these numbers highly off – and for the 2009 and 2010 growing season, they were planted in mid-April and harvested in early August – with approximately 105 – 115 days before harvest.  This year – we had horrendous heat and almost no rain during the July and August months – that the foliage looked very bad and the carrots were not developing.  Therefore, this year they were planted around April 14th and were just harvested today – September 25th – for a total of approximately 163 days of growing.  I was very afraid the carrots would be unedible and “woody” as I’ve read others say about carrots that were not dug up in a proper time, but they turned out just fine!

And now, for the weigh in data.

There were a total of 122 Sugarsnax carrots harvested (a total of 280 were planted and approximately 152 that germinated)

• Germination (152) to number planted (280):  54% germination rate
• Number harvested (122) to number planted (280):  44% success rate
• Number harvested (122) to number germinated (152):  80% harvest rate

There were a total of 109 Scarlet Nantes carrots harvested (a total of 260 were planted and approximately 150 that germinated)

• Germination (150) to number planted (260):  58% germation rate
• Number harvested (109) to number planted (260):  42% success rate
• Number harvested (109) to number germinated (150):  73% harvest rate

I like numbers and comparing things that way, can’t you tell?  So the above shows the germination rate of the Scarlet Nantes was a bit higher (but those numbers are highly assisted by the fact that I dropped two and three seeds into at least half of the “holes” they were planted in).  But, the success and harvest rate of the Sugarsnax is superior than Scarlet Nantes

Weight

How about weight comparisons now.  The numbers are of just the usable portion of the carrots – so they were taken after the foliage was cut off:

• 122 Sugarsnax yielded 9 pounds, 11 3/8 ounces (approximately 1.27 ounces per carrot)
• 109 Scarlet Nantes yielded 7 pounds, 9 1/8 ounces (approximately 1.11 ounces per carrot)

Amazingly enough, I’m quite surprised that the ounces per carrot are that close.  I expected the Scarlet Nantes to be under an ounce each based upon the size/length of them.

Taste

I washed one of each carrot variety and then used the carrot peeler to remove the outer “skin” of the carrot.  My wife then tried them and I told her “A” and “B”.  The first time around, Scarlet Nantes was “A” and Sugarsnax was “B”. Upon first taste, she said that she liked A – Scarlet Nantes – better.  Then after trying a couple more nibbles, she decided that “A” definitely tasted more like a traditional carrot – but “B” was sweeter.

I then went back to get a few more pieces and said Sugarsnax was “B” and Scarlet Nantes was “A”.  She immediately knew that I switched them up because of the sweetness of the Sugarsnax.

I also then tested them and prefer the Sugarsnax over Scarlet Nantes – specifically because of the sweetness (hey, I have a sweet tooth!).  I thought that Scarlet Nantes had just a hint of a bitter flavor because it is certainly missing the sweetness.

Both carrots had the same texture and both were quite crunchy – so no differences to indicate there.

Appearance

As previously noted, the Sugarsnax carrots have long slender roots that taper to a nice point.  They had very little inconsistencies – except at the end where they reached the bottom of my growing container and started to curve.  The Scarlet Nantes carrots did have more inconsistencies and “warts” growing on the side than the Sugarsnax.  The Scarlet Nantes also were not as long (in general) as the Sugarsnax.

Sugarsnax have more of an orange tint – meaning it has more vitamins.  Here you can see a color comparison after the carrot was washed and peeled:

The Sugarsnax is on the left and the Scarlet Nantes on the right.  You can see a difference in the orange hue of each.

Well, that is all about carrots.  Our verdict is – continue growing the Sugarsnax carrots.  Yes, the cost – in general – is about 7 times as expensive as Scarlet Nantes – but by the time we can only plant less than one packet (1 gram) of Sugarsnax yearly for $1.40, it is worth the cost.  If you consider a pound of carrots at the store at an average cost of $1.50 each, it would cost us $25.50 to purchase 18 pounds of carrots (production this year out of the garden) versus buying a packet of Sugarsnax carrot seed for $1.40.

The garden is slowly in decline.  The weather in Central Illinois has certainly cooled down considerably – so much now that the weather reports that we are sometimes 14 degrees cooler than average for this time of year.

Because of that, the warm-weather crops – like peppers and tomatoes – have slowed to a crawl.  They still have plenty of unripened fruit – but they are not ripening up at all.

The other side of the front garden has been abandoned.  I was attempting to grow some additional Bush Blue Lake 274 green beans – but the bugs completely ate them so I stopped taking care of it – and took down all of the PVC in the area for the watering system.

There still is a few celery plants that are surviving – but it won’t be anything that we can use.

The green beans in the front yard are also in decline as well.  I did get about a pound of green beans from them – but they are not looking too well.

In addition, the Tri-Star strawberries in the front yard haven’t really bounced back either.  I think it is going to be almost time to replace all of the strawberries – which is a shame.  They are about three years old now and I attempted to re-plant the runners to keep a fresh supply of plants, but the very hot summer wiped a lot of them out.

Meanwhile, in the back, a few volunteer potatoes have sprouted.  Of course, they won’t make it through the winter – but it does show that even the smallest potatoes that are left in the ground will come back up.

The Sugarsnax and Scarlet Nantes carrots have really exploded in the past few weeks!  The carrots have been in the ground for well over 120 days now – so they most likely are woody and unedible – I’ve yet to dig them up!  But, the green tops have really began growing lately.

We’ve finally managed to get a bit of rain over the past few weeks as well – still not nearly where we should be for this time of the year (and our city is on the verge of putting mandatory water restrictions in place).  So, the rain barrels are completely filled up again – but I’ve not had to water the garden lately because it seems we get enough rain so it isn’t necessary.

Onto the lettuce.  Unfortunately I did plant the lettuce seedlings out a week early and over half of them scorched and died out.  So, this is what is left – and at least they still are growing.

We also have a few Anaheim Hot Peppers on the plants.  But, these peppers are just as mild as the standard California Wonder pepper – so I don’t find it worthwhile to plant another pepper type that has the same flavor.  I was hoping it would have just a bit of heat to it to put in the salsa – but no such luck.

I then did pick the peppers and a few cucumbers from the back garden after taking all these photos.

And lastly, a few pictures of the Crimson Sweet watermelon.  The watermelon vines are also in decline as well – although they are sprawling everywhere.

As you can see, there is one watermelon in the front – and an even larger one in the back (not seen here).  I did pick one of them just before taking the picture above – and somehow it split on it’s own.  It wasn’t nearly ready for harvest – so it was thrown on the compost pile.

Well, that is all for this blog entry.  As you can see, the number of posts have been slowing down since there isn’t much going on.

Wow!  We finally managed to get some rain!  We have not had a good rainfall for over two months!  On Saturday and this morning on this Labor Day weekend, it seems we got about 3/4 an inch of rain.

My 660 gallon rain catchment system is about 3/4 full.  Of course, it is getting to the end of the season now and probably half of my usable gardening areas have been harvested and cleaned out.

Not a very good picture – but this is a photo looking inside the first barrel where all of the water first comes in from the gutters.  It looks like it isn’t too terribly full, but it is about 3/4 filled up.

I haven’t made a post in quite a while.  Things have been quite busy here lately so I’ve not had the chance to sit down and get all of the picture compiled and added to the site.

We’ve harvested two Crimson Sweet watermelons thus far.  They definitely have a lot of seeds in them – but they are not hybrids so you can save them and re-plant them next year.  I’ve read where the watermelons get up to about 24 pounds – but one of them was around 8 pounds and the other at 13 pounds.

There still are at least three watermelons on the vine of decent size.  This shows two – but one of them is small and the other is fairly large.  They are growing on the driveway.

We also have been receiving a plentiful supply of cucumbers.  I certainly do like the Little Leaf Pickling cucumbers now that we are getting them – it just took quite a while!  The cucumbers are very small and after I get home from work, it is nice to cut one of them up with a little bit of ranch dressing for a snack.  The Burpee Pickler cucumbers are smaller than regular cucumbers – but they are twice or three times the size of the Little Leaf Pickling cucumbers.

The cucumbers are still growing in the back garden.

Last weekend I decided it was time to get the lettuce seedlings planted into the patio garden.  I got the tiller out and fluffed up the soil a bit and then planted them in.  Before doing that, I had to thin out the seeds to one per cell – which yielded us some “micro greens” that we ate with a salad the same night.

After they were all thinned out, they looked pretty good.

Then they were planted in the patio garden.

Then, this week, the temperatures got up into the high 90’s and low 100’s for four days!  That unfortunately did some damage to the lettuce.  Luckily I still have three Simpson Elite plants still in the trays as backups – since I didn’t have room to plant them.  Just in one week and those hot temperatures, I lost about seven plants – if not more.

Can you believe that I still have not picked the carrots?  In years past, I would have picked them a month ago.  I bet they are going to be no good now.. as one person told me – they will most likely be woody.

Heck, even on the very far right corner of the carrot bed, there are two of them that have flower heads on them and may produce some seeds!

The Anaheim Hot Peppers have finally had a few of them get fully ripe and turn red.  Unfortunately, half of them were wilted up and left on the plant too long – yet again.  I just can’t seem to figure out these peppers – and I very well may not grow them again.

The California Wonder peppers in the front seem to finally be putting on some peppers of their own.  I did spread some epsom salt around each of the pepper and tomato plants a few weeks back – not sure if it helped any.

Last week, we harvested a big bounty of green beans and basil.  We finally got about six pounds of green beans as the temperatures had been cool over that period and caused the plants to put on a second set of beans.

And for the basil:

Down near the road, the green beans are producing – but they seem to be dieing at the same time.  The bugs have really obliterated them.  After the corn was all taken out in the front, I put in two more rows of green beans there – of which about half of them germinated.  Now there is nothing left of the plants – except the stem – because the bugs ate everything off of them.

And for the last few pictures – the front garden looks a mess with all of the tomato plants.  We were getting over 10 pounds of tomatoes everytime I went out there a few weeks ago – now we are lucky to get a pound every three-to-four days.

Notice the Ventura celery to the left?  I took out all of the celery over a month ago – but yet some of them didn’t want to stop producing and actually started putting on a bushy-celery plant.

Well, that is all for this blog post.  It is finally nice that the temperatures have went down and that we got some RAIN for once in over two months.  The cold front that came in will keep the temperatures in the 70’s over the next week – at least that is what the weatherman says.

Over last weekend, it was time to pick all of the potatoes!  However, we are not impressed with the result – but we will take what we can get!

On Saturday, I pulled all of the potatoes out of the potato bin on the driveway along with the two rows of Yukon Gold potatoes.

In the potato bin, there were six Kennebec potatoes that yielded just over four pounds.
As for the Yukon Gold potatoes, there were two long rows of plants – probably 44 or more in total.  Only 15 pounds were obtained from them.

On Sunday, I then got outside about 7:30 AM when it was very nice out and worked for two hours digging up the last two rows of Kennebec potatoes in the back.  There were 66 Kennebec potato plants in the back garden – and they yielded just over 28 pounds of potatoes.

Here are the Yukon Gold potatoes that were harvested.  They are all cleaned and ready for eating.

As for the Kennebec potatoes harvested on Sunday:

The potatoes were all planted about eight inches apart this year.  Last year they were planted a foot apart.  So, there are a number of factors that I need to figure out:

• Did the long drought this year cause less (even though they were watered regularly?)
• Did the extreme hot temperatures this year cause less?
• Was it because the potatoes were planted too closely?
• Was it because we chose small seed potatoes when purchasing them so we could plant the whole seed potato without cutting them in pieces?

There is a rumor that says if you use small seed potatoes, you’ll get less of a harvest.  Last year we did get larger potatoes and cut them in pieces – but this year I opted to get smaller ones to get more ‘bang for the buck’ since we paid by the pound.

So, the back garden was transformed from this:

To this after everything was picked:

Looks much cleaner now!  The cucumbers are still doing OK – and we finally have some cucumbers on the Little Leaf H-19 Pickling vines!

While picking the potatoes in the potato bin, I pulled up a couple of Sugarsnax carrots that are just beside the bin.  I was not impressed.  All of the carrots have been harvested by now for the past two years – but this year they will stay in the ground for much longer.

Those carrots look bigger than they are; they are simply tiny!  I noticed this year that the green foliage of the carrots simply were not growing up against the netting that covers the carrot bed.  In previous years, they were pushing on the netting to try and get more room.  Not this year.

Just a few days before, we had been inundated with tomatoes.  We were averaging at least 15 pounds of tomatoes every other day last week!  So, we got out the jars, canning necessities, and made some salsa!

We made exactly 8 jars of salsa using this recipe:

1. 30 ounces of tomato paste
2. 1 quart of lemon juice
3. 12 pounds of tomatoes
4. 7 cups of chopped onions
5. 3 pounds of chopped peppers
6. Other flavors such as oregano, basil, chili pepper, cilantro, seasalt, and pepper

We were a bit lazy this year with making the salsa – and the salsa is much chunkier.  Still, it took a good four hours to finish the salsa.  The salsa needs to sit in a bath canner for 30 minutes and then by the time we cut everything up, peeled the tomatoes, and cooked the salsa, it takes a while!

What else did we do while making the salsa?  Well, it was time to start the next batch of wine!  So, the new batch of wine was also started.

Not much to see there – but today is the day I need to take it out of the primary fermenter and place it in the secondary fermenter.

So – what did we use to make the salsa?  Well, here are the harvests from last week that we used.  We had A LOT of tomatoes.

And that is not all!

You can see a couple of California Wonder peppers in there along with some Burpee Pickler cucumbers as well.

Well, four more pictures to share.  I’ll just run through the front garden real quick showing the tomatoes – and then the row where the corn was – which is now planted with Bush Blue Lake 274 green beans.  I think they were planted too late – but we’ll see if they produce anything.

And then we have the three Crimson Sweet watermelon plants that still continue to take over the driveway.  There are now a total of FIVE watermelon from the three plants.  I actually harvested on two days ago – and it weighed in at just over 8 pounds.  Although the “average” weight for Crimson Sweet watermelon supposedly is twice that weight.

And the Anaheim Hot Peppers over in the container next to the patio is doing well.  Still, some folks say that the peppers are getting ‘sun scaled’ – since I sent in some photos of the peppers with brown spots on them.

And for the last photo – the lettuce seedlings.  The lettuce had been sitting under lights in the basement for a couple of weeks and I decided it was time to put them outside to get some real sun.  The weather has been very nice lately – in the mid 80’s.  But the past two days saw temps reach about 90 degrees again – so I’m surprised that the lettuce seedlings are putting up with the temperatures.

Well, that is all for this edition of the blog.  It was time to make a post since it was two weeks since the last post.