Succession Planting time!

What is succession planting you might ask? Well it is the practice of putting in a new crop as soon as your first spring crop has been harvested. Usually you want to plant some shorter season crops to ensure they will reach maturity before the first frost. Oooorrr you can plant some crops that can with stand some light frost much like the Brussels Sprout and Kale whose flavor is actually enhanced by a light frost or two. A lot of websites and home gardeners will tell you that mid to end of July is a good time to put in crops for a fall harvest. I engaged in my very own succession planting this past weekend. Here is an idea of what Succession planting is and what you can do to achieve it

First, I am feeling a lot better almost two weeks out from my surgery. I go see the surgeon tomorrow so he can tell me where I am at in my recovery and what I can or should be doing. With that being said, I couldn't take it anymore and I went out this past Friday and pulled up a big patch of my carrots and onions. I ate them roasted last night with dinner. Fantastic. My dad was over yesterday to help me with some of the weeding and pulling down of peas and my pea trellis since I still should take it easier for now. But we managed to get the garden all cleared of the weeds that had accumulated and get new seeds planted in the ground. Without further ado, I bring you Gerich Gardens 2013 Version 2.0. Ish.

This is where my carrots, beets and onions were located. It is now home to a Moon and Stars watermelon plant, a row of peas located in back, two rows of bush beans located on the left and two rows of watermelon radish located on the right side of the picture.

An overhead of my Moon and Stars watermelon plant

Moon and Stars blossom. See all of the yellow dots on the leaves? This is by genetic design and where the watermelon gets its name. You see, each watermelon that forms on these plants has a large yellow circle (the moon) surrounded by a bunch of yellow spots (the stars) much like you see on these leaves. Hence, Moon and Stars.

A view of some of my bush beans and swiss chard. The blank area is where my peas were just located. In their place I have planted another round of 2 different kinds of carrots as well as some kale.

Another angle of the last picture, this time with some carrots (which are about ready to be pulled themselves) to the right.

The aforementioned carrots with one of the pole beans that actually didn't get bean rust disease.

Here are my squash plants. Both summer and winter (acorn). They are monsters.

Close up of one of my summer squash.

Softball size acorn squash!

Some bush beans with the squash in the background and tomatoes to the right.

These my friends are Ghost Peppers. Holy hell they even LOOK terrifying. Anyone have any recipes that uses ghost peppers? Pass them along please!

Ye Olde Tomato Corral.

Black Cherry tomatoes not quite ripe

Italian heirlooms still green as well.

Cayenne Pepper plant absolutely loaded with peppers!

Marigolds. My pest deterrent.

My row of basil (Italian and Lime). Yeeeaaahhh... I have a lot of basil...

My garden. Bare as a baby's bottom. But not for long!

Stir Crazy

Unfortunately this post will be void of any fun and pretty pictures. I know those are the money makers but quite honestly since my surgery I haven't had the motivation to get any pictures taken. Soon though.

First things first. I am 6 days out from hernia surgery and am doing better every day. The first two or so days were a pain killer induced blur. The third day was by far the worst as far as pain and discomfort. But since then every day is a bit better and I have regained some mobility. I can sit up and stand up on my own now with only a slight twinge of pain. There is still some bruising and bending over is out of the question still. If I'm on my feet for too long I get sore and laying down with an ice pack sounds way more appealing than it ever should. And obviously it still applies that I won't be able to lift anything more than a few pounds for at least the next few weeks. Which brings me to the point of this post.

I'm going a bit freaking stir crazy here, man. I take daily walks through my garden just to monitor things. My wife has been helping out a bit with some harvesting but it's killing me to see all that could be and needs to be done and knowing I can't do it. Everything needs to be weeded. And then more things should be planted to replace the stuff that's been harvested. My peas need to be pulled down and composted. Gah. I just had an urge to go out and buy a second watering can (one for each water barrel hooked up. They take a long time to fill up so...) and a garden hoe since mine broke the week before my surgery. Even though I can't use these things right now, it would make me feel like I was doing something for the garden. Then I remembered I can't even drive to go get these things. Dumb.

But on a good note, we are actually harvesting things. Carrots are still being pulled. Summer squash is starting to come on faster (despite still seeing a ton of the cucumber beetles on them and in the blossoms. F those things). Bush beans are starting to come in. We've used some cilantro in our cooking. The tomatoes are forming and while still green, should start turning in the next week or so. Basil is huge. And even my acorn squash is starting to form! So all good things there.

Maybe next week I'll be good enough to take some updated pictures. Until then, I can only combat this feeling of being stir crazy with thoughts and plans for the garden for the rest of the year and next year as well.

Hot in the City

88, 90, 92, 93, 87, 87.

What do these numbers mean? They are the highs from today through the next 5 days. If it hadn't before hand, Summer has officially announced its presence now.

The good news is that the garden is (mostly) thriving. Knowing that I'll be off my feet for a few weeks after Wednesday has really lit a fire under my ass to get the garden prepared for being semi neglected.

For starters, I now have two fully functioning 55 gallon water barrels hooked up. They are attached to each other with some tubing so that when the main barrel fills up to near the top, the excess drains into the secondary barrel. The second barrel had some leaking issues with the spout not quite fitting right but I put some silicon on it today and mostly stopped it. There are still some leaks that I will try to address tomorrow after things have dried off. It's pretty exciting! I watered my whole garden using my barrels today. And with hot stretches like the one I'm in now, it's really easy to see the benefits of having some water reserves. I also dug out holes below the spouts so a) the watering can can fit underneath them easier and b) there is a spot for the excess water to go rather than making it a muddy mess around the whole area.

My main carrot and beet area is still doing fine after last weeks thinning. I suspect in a week or two they will be ready to pluck as well. That area will next harbor a fall crop of spinach and lettuce and maybe even some Watermelon Radishes which I've heard are better suited as a fall crop.

Speaking of things being better suited as a fall crop, as I mentioned in the last post, my lettuce crop had bolted and went away. However, I have since cleared all of that space of any and all rouge weeds and laid down a layer of my own home made compost. I may have also mentioned that all of my broccoli and cauliflower I planted for the spring grew really really big and then never formed any actual broccoli or cauliflower heads. I have heard it said before that those are both notoriously difficult to grow AND that they are better suited for fall. At least here in Michigan. I've learned my lesson about trying to grow them in spring. SO, what I have done in the space that previously grew my lettuce is planted round two for a fall crop of Early Snowball Cauliflower, Broccoli, Colorful Cauliflower and Brussels Sprouts. I also planted this combo on my side bed by my garage. I'm doing a little experiment....

This site gets limited morning sun but full midday and afternoon sun

This site by the garage gets morning sun and some afternoon sun

I want to see which, if either, will grow better this fall.

My peas are winding down and I suspect with this weeks heat wave that they will wither fairly fast.

In their place I think I may plant some beans and carrots. I'm not sure if I'll do pole since the trellis is already set up for their climbing nature or if I'll do bush. 

Speaking of carrots and beans...

Here is my second round of carrots which are a few weeks from being ready. The poles to the right are for my pole beans. The poles themselves seemed to be working fine until I had to pull most of my pole bean plants due to them having Bean Rust. I was pretty sure that is what it was just by looking at them but a quick search confirmed it. So in the garbage they go. Composting will just spread the disease.

Here is one of four of my huge squash plants. I have a feeling I will have a lot of squash soon

This is my miniature acorn squash, also huge. 

Both rows of squash

My dad came today and helped me get my tomatoes staked up. I thought we were just going to tie each plant up to it's own stake. He had other plans which were far more fancy than I thought.

It's my very own tomato corral! 

Now my tomatoes have their very own fence to lean against and grow on. I had to tie a few to the wood just to keep them from falling but the rest seem to have fallen right in line. I think this will do just fine.

My volunteer tomatoes growing from out of one of my compost piles. 

 I was still able to collect some compost from the same pile the tomatoes are growing out of and spread it on the garden today.

My pepper plants seem to be doing just fine. 

More peppers next to some marigolds and my tomato corral.

This is behind my tomatoes. These are my basil plants, Italian and two lime ones as well. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be swimming in it soon.

And last but not least, my side bed.

I cleared this bed from the peas and broccoli. Today I laid on some compost and planted beets, Swiss chard and romaine lettuce. So that is the last of it right now.

Here is to hoping that all of my new plantings get off to a healthy start. It should be hot enough to germinate everything pretty quickly. The problem with that is that once they sprout, this heatwave might be enough to wilt them before they even get a chance to get started. Keeping them well watered will be a challenge after Tuesday. May just have to use the hose until then. Either way, I'll try my best to not let the heat of summer kill my crop.

Things That Happen

Right smack dab in the middle of my first full year/full scale urban gardener endeavor, I'm hit with the news that I have an umbilical hernia. It doesn't feel all that great when doing a lot of bending, which gardening tends to entail. I'm seeing a surgeon on Thursday to schedule a surgery. The recovery time is a bit slow. A good 3-6 weeks before I can lift anything over a few pounds or do anything that would entail a lot of flexibility such as gardening or picking up my son. So knowing this, I made today the day where I went and did a big garden clean and harvest. It may be my last chance to do so on my own this season, depending on when the surgery is scheduled. Plus I took a walk in my neighborhood today and met/chatted with a fellow gardener and that gave me another boost of motivation. So hi to Ann, if you are reading!  

Let me first comment on some things that I unfortunately do not have pictures on right now. My tomatoes are booming. Again (last year they turned themselves into a registered jungle). I had all the intentions of staking them and then summer happened and I lost track of time and didn't get it done. My dad said he will come over Sunday and get it done for me as the pushing the stake into the ground and the bending over and etc etc just isn't a good idea (despite me doing it today which I am already, a mere 30 minutes later, paying for). They are starting to lay over and crush some of my peppers and basil, all of which are doing amazing thus far! 

My pole beans are making a slow climb of it. They are climbing but I expected a more rapid growth rate. We'll see. Perhaps a dose of fertilizer will help that out. My bush beans are coming along nicely though. Also, my Zephyr summer squash and zucchini are coming in great with some being ready to pick in a few days. My acorn squash are also getting big leaves on them and developing nicely thus far. 

My lettuce is done until the fall crop comes along. The spinach is all about done as well. The peas are still producing but I'm seeing a fall off in rate and amount and some of the shoots are starting to yellow on me, signalling the end is near for them. 

Now on to today's harvest. 

My Chioggia beets with a random little albino one. They may be a little on the smaller side but I'm just glad to have a harvest after what they looked like a month or two ago due to the leaf miners. 

My Burpee Golden beets. 

Chantenay Red Cored carrots. 

Paris Market globe carrots

Purple dragon carrots. Love the coloration/variation on these carrots. 

Mini Purplette red bulbing onions. These have done so awesome whether transplanted or started from seed outside. Highly recommend. 

So there you have it! A great harvest so far. I still have about 1/3 of all of these left in the ground to develop more before another harvest. Some of them were crowded on space and now that the space is freed up, I'm hoping the thrive and beef up. Or maybe it's veggie up? Either way. If I missed any information that you are curious about, just ask! This post is rushed to be done before my son wakes up from nap so I may have skimmed over some details. I hope you enjoy. I know I am.