Got the gardening done this weekend... finished transplanting everything, and planted all the new seeds (cucumber, lettuce, carrots, radishes). I opted to try them from seeds rather than starters as the starters from previous years weren't that robust. We'll see how it goes. I'm also leaving my herbs in big pots this year so I can transport them back inside in the Fall. Next weekend is the "build a new pot holding stepped rack" project. Probably out of aluminum, because it's cheaper than cedar. The Swiss Chard regrew on its own from last year... and is now a fucking mutant. It tastes better than it did last year, and didn't die in the ice and snow over the winter. WTF. Go Chard! The tomato plants took a bit of a hit from the frost on Saturday, with the leaf edges showing some issues. Everything else should be fine, so I expect them to survive just fine. And the peppers are doing well, and are starting to fruit like crazy.
I got my garden in today, finally. I have some space left for a jalapeño plant I have to get and then I’ll stagger my beans out every couple weeks for a constant Summer supply. The poke bean trellis was just some shit I had laying around. The pinwheels were a joke for my wife, who for some reason has a thing for them. I got a laugh while I was attaching them, thinking about P. Allen Smith saying something about “adding a touch of whimsy” on his show. ( If you’ve watched you’ll know what I mean. )
I found a place in town that has those big plastic water tanks with aluminum frames for free. Might not be this season, but I'd like to line them up where my bag planters are now for wicking beds. That might be a winter project. Garden area is a bit messy, but at least the plants are looking good!
I'd like to turn them into wicking beds, but I need to source some supplies so this doesn't turn into a hugely expensive project. I've seen posts for free gravel in the next town over. Might even just try a duckaponics experiment with one if i can't get it together for a wicking setup. I've heard that cutting them in half makes a pretty good, heat retaining outdoor duck brooder, too...
Tomatoes throw out roots like crazy. One of these is the yellow brandywine I had to cut since the soil level stem was eaten up, the other is a sucker off my favorite, the San Marzano.These pics are 5 days apart.
Will be interested to see your yellow brandy wine results. They didn’t do well in my area two years in a row. I suspect too hot and too much sun. I just went with two rows of my red brandy wine and two of my paste.
Opalka is the paste I grow. Nice loose soil and they grow great. I like the pepper shape, you’ll get Batman and wutang shaped tomatoes. Taste is really good but I’ve never tasted any other paste so I don’t have anything to put it up against. San marzano are supposed to be really good too.
I looked up pics, they look really nice. Almost no seeds, nice deep red to the center. San marzano are supposedly the gold standard for sauces but I think a lot of it depends on your growing conditions. That volcanic ash in Italy where they originate probably helped their flavor and balance a ton. I might pick up seeds and give the Opalka a try side by side against the San Marzano. I mostly cook with tomatoes.
My Swiss chard is mutant. I’ve never seen it grow up on stalks like this before. And yet it still tastes great. That’s a 10” pot for scale.
Is it bolting? I was reading about kale, and learned it is actually a biennial that goes into flower the second year, triggered by a cold season. Maybe that's what yours is doing?
Maybe? It's going to seed like crazy, so I've been pruning the hell out of it. Regardless, it seems like we have a never-ending supply of chard on hand!
You're right! https://www.vegetablegardenguru.com/growing-swiss-chard.html Never really thought about it, but it turns out it is a biennial. I've already planted a second row from seeds, so we'll see how long it takes for this batch to die off, but hopefully we'll have new stuff by then.
Just keep doing what you're doing! If you let the bolt mature too long it can shunt the nutrients to the flowers and that make the leaves a lot less tasty. But if you enjoy the flavor and keep harvesting the bolts early, they'll keep coming back, attempting to flower. My swiss chard is finally getting to be a good size. The leaves are friggin gorgeous, I planted "bright lights" and have ribs in a pretty variety of colors like yellow, magenta, and light pink. Luckily I haven't needed it... I sure am busy keeping up with all this kale. It is such a good producer once mature and bugs haven't bothered it. I will always grow kale if I have space. I had one bolt due to the heat we had, I think, but the rest are holding out strong. I was thinking about sowing another line of swiss chard in the late summer to enjoy all winter, but I think it'll end up bolting in the spring. I'm going to hold off until next spring and use that space for more turnips/radish/rutabaga