March Madness

The madness has set in. Not college basketball madness. I'm talking spring garden madness. Average temps have been consistently warm for the past few weeks, and I think the plants in the yard believe it is April. Enjoy the following picture tour of March Madness at .09 Acres:

Still harvesting Chantenay Red Core carrots from the garden.

This 18.5 oz carrot dwarfed the 14.1 oz carrot I harvested 2 months ago. I don't have the largest hands, but this octopus-like carrot is ridiculous. This carrot is grown from seed I purchased from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (SESE).

Japanese maple waking up from winter slumber. This tree was a seedling from parent's old house in Virginia Beach. I also gave a second seedling (now about 8 feet tall) to my friends Elsa and Matt in Norfolk.

Gardeners know that mint is extremely invasive. Here is a half-barrel of mint scrambling for more real estate. 

Rosemary. Yum.

Rosemary blooms. Yum?

Cold hardy mache appears as if it will be going to seed very shortly. It doesn't like hot weather.

Arugula in full bloom. I save seed from this plant every year. It's very easy. Just wait for the seed pods to dry on the plant, then cut the flower stalk and shake the dry pods in a brown bag. Voila! Seeds!!

A 4-foot row of various Swiss Chard. This stuff is versatile in the kitchen and grows in all weather conditions.

Ruby Red Chard from SESE.

Kale. I grew my kale exposed all winter. No plastic, floating row cover, or hoop house. Resilient for sure. Try kale soup with chorizo. You won't be disappointed.

Red bunching onion grown from SESE seed sown last fall.

This Calabrese broccoli is destined for pasta with olive oil and garlic.

Winter Density has been the top lettuce producer in my garden for the past two years. The only problem I have is dealing with slugs and aphids that crawl inside the wrinkly leaves. Nothing a little water won't solve.

A row of trellised Fall Gold, Kiwi Gold, and Heritage Red raspberries. These are a must-grow in the Mid-Atlantic and Tidewater area.

Thornless Ouachita blackberries busting loose.

Potted lemon tree preparing to bloom. Looking forward to a better citrus harvest in 2012-13. This past year was disappointing. I only harvested a handful of lemons and limes.

Russian Red Pomegranate (8 feet tall) from Edible Landscaping in Afton, VA.

Russian Red Pomegranate leaves reaching for the sun.

Celeste fig tree (appx. 6 years old) from the now-closed Paradise Nursery. I've pruned this every year in order to encourage a low, wide shrub-like growth. More branches = more figs.

The tip of a Celeste fig tree branch. Notice the combination of new leaves and tiny figs. Some varieties of figs produce 2 harvests per year. The early figs are called brebas.

Another view of the Celeste fig tree. Note the multiple growths on each branch. If I didn't prune, I would have a tall, lanky tree rather than a dense shrub.

My fig espalier at the corner of my garden shed. 3 days ago I pruned off all of last year's vertical growth near the two main horizontal arms. I left a single vertical node from last year's growth in order to allow the new branches to grow from those same locations this year. I will repeat this process year after year. Grow, harvest, prune. Grow, harvest, prune.

Detailed photo of a vertical node extending from a horizontal branch of the Celeste fig espalier. New growth will appear on the rough area of the top portion of the vertical node. New growth will also likely appear elsewhere, but I will prune or rub off the new growth before it negatively impacts the desire appearance of the overall espalier. 

I hope you enjoyed your tour of March Madness at .09 Acres. My apologies for not posting here more consistently during the past few weeks. Work has been eating me alive, and it's great to be back outside again. Wishing you good growing and great harvests in your gardens!

Broccoli Double Vision

I've been eating lots of hefty carrots recently. This should be evident by my last blog post. Carrots contain Vitamin A, which is an essential nutrient for good vision. Despite my prodigious intake of these health-supporting wonders, I discovered that something was wrong with my eyesight this afternoon.

After lunch, I walked out into the rain to plant some radishes in my garden. I was a few feet from my potted Calabrese broccoli when I started seeing double. I could've sworn I harvested my broccoli last month, but sure enough...side shoots of broccoli had sprouted up everywhere! Double broccoli!!

Side shoots of Calabrese broccoli (left and bottom). I harvested the central head of broccoli on January 19. Notice the off-white area near the center of the picture where I cut the central head with a small knife. Exactly one month later I harvested the side shoots.

Calabrese broccoli is no one trick pony. It grows not once, but twice. Exactly one month had passed from the time of my initial harvest to today's second harvest. Here's a close-up view of some side shoots.

Secondary shoots of Calabrese broccoli growing from the side of a potted plant.

Because of my relatively care-free harvest and positive experience with broccoli this year, I am planning on growing multiple varieties next fall. In addition to Calabrese, I will be sowing seeds of Super Rapini broccoli raab and Romanesco broccoli.

Broccoli varieties for future planting at .09 Acres.

I definitely recommend home-grown broccoli for every gardener, beginner or advanced. You will be pleasantly surprised with your harvest if the plant is grown in compost-rich soil and kept moist. Here's a list of the pros and cons of growing broccoli:

PROS:

• large central heads of sweet, tender broccoli
• secondary harvest of side shoots 3-4 weeks after main harvest
• unbeatable flavor compared to insipid store-bought broccoli
• extremely tolerant of hard frosts and variable weather
• can be grown in large pots
• beautiful blue/green foliage

CONS:

• young plants are prone to attack by caterpillars
• needs steady supply of water as a seedling
• large size when mature (appx. 36" in diameter in my garden) 
• long time from seed to harvest 

14.1 Ounce Carrot

I usually don't like posting about the same topic twice in a row, but I don't have a choice. You have to see the ridiculous carrot I harvested yesterday.

14.1 ounce Chantenay Red Core carrot.

I was blown away when I plucked this Chantenay Red Core carrot from the garden. It is the largest carrot I've ever grown and weighs in at a respectable 14.1 ounces! The craziest part is that I didn't pay any attention to it after I planted it last fall. Sure, I watered religiously the first few weeks to make sure the soil was moist, but other than that I didn't do anything special or attempt to grow large veggies. No fertilizer, no plant growth hormone, nothing.

The above picture doesn't really do it justice. Some people have large hands, others have small hands. Mine are somewhere in the middle. So I decided to take another photo for scale and perspective.

14.1 ounce carrot meets a 12.0 ounce Newcastle Brown Ale.

People like me who never go to the gym and enjoy a beer or two sometimes joke about doing 12 ounce curls to stay in shape. I think I may toughen my workout by doing some 14.1 ounce curls instead.

Here's one final photo of the carrot. It's looking a little drab after spending the night in the fridge, but it is still a heavyweight.  Check it.

14.1 ounce carrot meets a 1/2 gallon of Stonyfield milk.

Seriously. That's a single carrot holding its own against a 1/2 gallon of milk. No Photoshop. Anybody else hauling trophy root vegetables from their garden?  

Area 52: Growswell

WARNING: No flavors were harmed during the growing of these life forms.

Date: January 30, 2012

Time: 5:27pm EST

Location: A tiny vegetable garden in southeastern Virginia

Description: A humble backyard gardener, eager to add some flavor and nutrition to his evening salad, harvests a carrot. The carrot pulls easily from the fluffy composted garden soil. He shakes off some loose soil, trims the top, and then rinses the carrot. A textbook appearance. Eager to eat a second carrot out of hand while preparing his salad, he reaches back into the garden. He tugs on a green stalk, but the root does not budge. He pulls harder, and the carrot only seems to resist even more. "Feels like this thing is gripping the earth," he thinks to himself. After uttering a few foul oaths and grunting harder, the gardener finally extracts something unfamiliar.

Uncertain of what he just harvested, he holds the unknown item under a bright beam from a spotlight on the house for a closer inspection. The hair on the back of his neck suddenly tingles and stands on end, and his skin crawls with goose bumps. A dull thump is heard as he drops the thing at his feet. A shriek rings out into the night. "Dear god what is this thing?!"

Fearing that he has created a monster, the gardener runs inside the house, bolts the back door, and turns off the lights. After taking a few seconds to gather his thoughts and steady his breathing, he realizes there is only one logical reason for this aberration: It was deposited in his yard by creatures from another planet!

In a panic, he dashes back outside and scoops up the perfect carrot and anomalous beast. He snaps a quick photo to document the alien creature. He saves the picture on a memory stick. He wants proof of its existence. 

Then the gardener hears a knock at his front door. Already panicked, he begins to get suspicious. The gardener stashes the memory stick in his dirty laundry basket and runs back to his kitchen, camera in hand. Suddenly, government agents come crashing through the front door, their silhouettes illuminated by the glow of a dozen unmarked black Chevy Suburbans. Simultaneously, he hears the thump of propeller blades overhead and men in black fatigues swing down on ropes and smash through his windows. Special Ops troops surge into the fenced yard and begin shooting at all vegetables in the raised beds. 

It was over in seconds. The camera was destroyed and the broken bits confiscated. The gardener could find no trace of the perfect carrot and its deviant alien counterpart. Completely gone. Scientists quickly followed with all kinds of analytical gadgets, probing and sampling the soil and confiscated vegetables. The interrogation began, but was brief. Regardless, it took the boogeymen mere minutes to set up a safety perimeter and restrict all access to the newly designated AREA 52: Growswell.

AREA 52: Growswell, VA.

"Why Growswell," the gardener asked? 
"Because that thing grows well here," the agent said.
"WHAT grows well here?!" the gardener yelled. Before he could even finish his sentence, they were gone.

After the agents left, the gardener returned to his laundry basket and fished out the memory stick. Fearing for his own safety, but fearing for the safety of the planet if he didn't tell his story, the gardener uploaded the picture of his carrot and the extra-terrestrial being to his blog to offer proof of its existence.

A Chantenay Red Core carrot of classic appearance and creature from another planet.

The image of the alien grown in the gardener's backyard has now gone viral, carrying with it the intrigue it rightly deserves. Shrouded in mystery, the backyard vegetable garden alien now stands tall amidst the ranks of fabled beasts like Sasquatch, Loch Ness, the alien sighting at Roswell, and the carrot mustache. But know this: Nothing is as scary, intriguing, or mysterious as AREA 52: Growswell.

A Jekyll and Hyde December

.09 Acres is having an identity crisis this December, and I fear that Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde are living in my garden shed.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the well-appointed garden shed at .09 Acres. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Let's start with Dr. Jekyll, shall we?! The vegetables at .09 Acres are much like Jekyll. They are mature and respectable. The lettuces and chard are good looking, tasty, and protected by the mini hoop house. The carrots, beets, and broccoli are doing just fine while prominently exposed to the elements. At this point in the year, they are all content in their beds until harvest. I'm not one to boast, but my greens look like they belong in a gardening catalog. If you were to walk by the lettuce bed, you might even respectfully tip your cap as if you were passing Dr. Jekyll on the street.

On the flip-side, my fruit trees, shrubs, and brambles are behaving in an irrational and unpredictable Hyde-like fashion. The inconsistent weather, much like Mr. Hyde's strange potions, is triggering all kinds of strange reactions from the plants. Raspberries continue to mature on a  semi-regular basis almost like it's early fall. The Celeste fig tree and espalier dropped all their leaves weeks ago. In contrast, my Violette de Bordeaux and Negronne fig trees are still covered in leaves and figs. It is quite grotesque to see them growing side-by-side. My Red Russian pomegranate is the only "normal" tree in the yard, having gone dormant in November. But who knows...it may be inwardly lusting for some sinister transformation.

A little bit of Jekyll, but certainly a lot more of Hyde at .09 Acres.

If .09 Acres is Dr. Jekyll (and Mr. Hyde), I guess that makes me Jekyll's loyal servant Poole. This December I've been out in the yard early in the morning and late in the evening to cover the greens in plastic. I've also changed quite a few things in the yard to keep Jekyll happy and productive. I dug up and potted my in-ground blueberry bushes and replaced them with a young Angel Red pomegranate tree (visible on right side of above picture in middle of straw mulch). I also transplanted a Peter's Honey fig and an unknown fig from my yard to my aunt and uncle's property and replaced them with Strawberry Verte and Hardy Chicago figs (visible on left side of above picture in middle of straw mulch).

Hopefully this will decrease the likelihood that Mr. Hyde shows up again at .09 Acres, but I may be losing my mind in the process...

Frost Protection

We had our first frosts of the year in late November. Two or three of them. Fortunately all the fall/winter veggies survived, but I'm making preparations to protect the crops once the temps remain consistently cold.

Last year I constructed two experimental mini hoop houses in mid January after the frost had already taken a nasty toll on the greens. This year I expanded the idea by building one long, continuous hoop house.

PVC hoop house frame built over raised beds of lettuce, spinach, chard, and other tender greens. Plastic will be attached soon.

Currently only the PVC has been added to the raised beds. I used 10-foot sections of 1/2" PVC pipe and pushed it directly into the soil within the raised beds. I bent each pipe by hand over the bed, forming the "ribs". I then attached the "ribs" to a long "spine" with plastic zip-ties. The structure is fairly strong and will withstand wind and snow. We are expecting warmer weather for the next 5 days so I likely won't secure the plastic covering until sometime next week.

Note how the PVC is pushed into the soil against the interior sides of the raised beds. No screws, brackets, or fasteners are required. It's an easy, effective, and inexpensive setup.

I only opted to cover my more tender vegetables like lettuce, arugula, spinach, and chard.  I did not cover the kale and root crops like carrots and beets. They are, however, heavily mulched with a thick layer of wheat straw for protection. They withstood just about everything last year and I'm hoping they do the same this year.

From left to right: Buttercrunch, Winter Density, Parris Island Cos, and Rouge d'Hiver lettuce. Spinach is barely visible farther down the bed. This hoop house will function like a mini refrigerator once it is covered with plastic, protecting the vegetables and keeping them cold but not frozen.

Colorful head of Rouge d'Hiver lettuce.

Ruby Red Swiss chard. I planted these seeds on September 15, but they took a long time to germinate because of very hot temperatures in late September and early October.

Not everything in the garden looks great right now. I had a heck of a time battling  caterpillars on my broccoli and kale. Fortunately they only seemed interested in those two plantings and not the other veggies, but it didn't take long for them to completely defoliate this poor plant.

Kale that was completely devoured by caterpillars. Lots of carnage and not a lot of leftovers.

There are a handful of chemicals and products (organic ones too) to battle these beasts. I did buy a bag of powdered Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), an organic bacteria that is effective on caterpillars, but I got lazy and never applied the stuff.

Now I just need somebody to play Taps on the trumpet while I add these remains to the compost pile and pay my respects.

Enjoying the Fall Garden

Like many people, I started out as a spring and summer vegetable and fruit gardener. Warm weather meant planting and harvesting. Cold weather meant waiting for next year's harvest.

It took me a few years and lots of trial and error to realize that cool season gardening can sometimes be the most rewarding gardening of all. The most notable differences between fall and summer gardening in Zone 7b are comfortable temps, very few bugs and pests, care-free veggies, and generally easy tasks. 

In its simplest form, fall gardening consists of sowing seed (in late summer), watering, mulching, more watering, and harvesting. That's just about all there is to it. Some hardier crops even survive repeated frosts and in a location like Newport News, VA, a productive four season garden is a realistic goal. 

I took the following photos of my fall garden at .09 Acres on Halloween, 2011.  

Long rows of Buttercrunch and Winter Density lettuce.

Young Rouge d'Hiver lettuce sown in succession with other lettuce varieties to extend the harvest. Succession planting spreads out the harvest over a few weeks or months.

Long Standing Bloomsdale spinach. This is my first attempt at growing spinach. I found that warmer soil temps in late September definitely hindered germination, but the spinach seems much happier in early November.

I had spotty germination of my carrots. Notice that the center two rows filled out nicely while the outer rows (far left and far right) are fairly sparse. I'll have to wait and see how they do this year. Last year was an amazing year for carrots.

It's tough to beat good beets. Here are four short rows of Detroit Dark Red and Chioggia beets. These are still quite young and probably need another month to grow. I thinned them in mid-October to allow the beet roots to grow larger, and I added the thinned greens to a salad. Definitely a great addition.

I am growing kale from seeds I saved (this spring) from last years kale plants. I battled tiny caterpillars for a few weeks when the plants were young, and you can see some of the leaf damage they caused in this picture. 

I am growing broccoli in two large pots and in a raised bed. I'm curious to see whether it grows better in-ground or in the pots. I can't remember if I planted Calabrese or Waltham broccoli. I have to check my seek packet. I may have started these seeds too late for the plants to mature in time to produce harvestable broccoli, but only time will tell. The tiny caterpillars that hit my kale also like the broccoli. Damage is visible on the right-most leaf.

Apple mint growing in half a wine barrel near the gate to my yard. It has made an amazing comeback from the crippling heat of mid-summer. This plant thrives in mid-late spring, suffers through summer, then regrows with a vengeance in fall. This entire barrel grew from a small rooted cutting I dug up from a yard where I previously lived. Mint will take over the world if it's not contained, but it's also a must-have in any yard.

Russian Red pomegranate ready for harvest. There are appx. twenty of these hanging from my 4-year old pomegranate tree. I can't say enough good things about this tree.

Negronne figs that definitely will not have enough time to ripen before the first frost. This tree keeps growing larger and producing more figs. Next year should be an amazing harvest. 

Two unripe Eureka lemons hanging from a small branch on my potted tree.

New foliage on my Eureka lemon. It usually starts out with a reddish tinge, then turns bright green as the leaves grow and mature.

More blossoms keep appearing on my potted Bearss lime tree. Citrus flowers are arguably some of the best smelling flowers in nature. My lime tree is currently holding about 10 limes. After last year's harvest, I thought it could've grown 50 limes this year. But a strong gust of wind knocked it off a table in early spring and snapped off the main trunk. I'm pretty sure I cried when I finally found out what happened.

Baby Bearss limes growing from recently pollinated flowers. I won't be dining on these limes for a LONG time!

What are your favorite fruits and veggies to grow in the fall? Are you thinking about adding additional cold-weather protection like floating row covers or plastic-covered hoop houses to extend your harvest into the winter? Fall is finally here so welcome it into your garden.