Winter Garden 2019!

[kappydell]

mary just cuts it back with her chain saw.  don;t know if that is good or  bad, but it works for now.  Dont want it getting overly invasive.  We have large stands of it along side our country roads if I need more.  I was playing with some - it is quite flexible when green and small so might weave nicely.  Mary is frustrated by the high heat & humidity killing our tomatoes the last 2 yrs .  Here is hoping it works!  i did not know it could splinter so I'll be wearing gloves

[Jeepers]

I've read where bamboo is very invasive too. Just keep a close eye on it. 

[kappydell]

picked 6 bok choy 'heads' (made quite an arm load) and dehydrated it down to a 1 qt jar.  Today Im making more powdered mustard greens - those leaves are HUUUUGE  (one would feed a couple people, they are that big.  Measured one at 16 inches by 11 inches, just the leaf not the stem.  6 plants was plenty. Checked my radishes....picked one....nice & round & red and about the size of a pencil eraser so far.  Broccoli is starting to make heads with the warmer days (mmmmmmmm).  

I will pick a couple of the remaining bok choy and give them to my pastor tonight after mass.....only a couple less to cut up and he will love fresh greens as always.

 

(Yes I know collards are traditional, but bok choy is what is ready... at least it too is green, like money.  Maybe it will work to attract good luck, too, LOL)

 

Edited December 31, 2019 by kappydell

[kappydell]

Now that bok choy is all dehydrated, the major producers in the garden are collards, mustard and kale.  The cabbage is showing some stress signs, do not know if it got frozen or what, but brown spots on the outer leaves.  Had to explain to Mary that it is a savoy cabbage and it is supposed to look wrinkly, lol.  It is heading up nicely.

We harvested first  broccoli heads today, and pulled a few scallions to go with and took the to a dear friend.  She ;loves broccoli, her husband hates it, but puts up with her cooking it when we get it fresh.  She says the taste between fresh and store-bought is incomparable (no kidding!)  We also cut the first lettuce for her husband, he loves lettuce (she doesn't).  To each their own.  

2nd planting of radishes needs thinning now, also the spinach and the Jersey Wakefield cabbage seedlings.  Kohlrabi is getting its first "adult" leaves - it is coming up slowly but surely.  So tomorrow morning, before the rain hits I will be thinning things before breakfast (and taking the thinnings in for my stir-fried rice, of course).  I think I may put in a row of bunching onions so they will be ready when we have all the scallions out.  Mary's touchy stomach cant do a lot of onions so one or two bunching onions slice up just enough for one person (me) and look prettier than the plain white ones, too. 

I scored some frosting pails from the grocery stores, so I will also be collecting recycling materials to make wicking planters out of them.  That way we can put in determinate tomatoes (growing them in successions) and move the "pots" to less hot areas when the heat comes on this summer.  Ditto for bush string beans.  They both quit bearing once the temps get over 80 degrees....and we have triple digits much of the summer.  So we will want to move them to a more shaded area in the heat of full summer.  I'm trying to get as much of the garden self-producing before I go to hospital to get back fixed.  I'm also dehydrating and powdering greens like crazy, so I have some green powder to shake into my (institutional) food which usually has a dearth of green veggies.  I admit it, I am addicted to greens.....

Edited January 11, 2020 by kappydell