Sunday, August 21, 2011

planting update and garden map as of August 13

The attached map highlights changes that we have made in the last few weeks.

Departures
  1. We have had to pull almost all of the kale and collards because of a flea beetle infestation.  The only kale from the first planting that was unaffected was a small patch in Bed 22. We left a few collards in the north end of Bed 11 and some kale in Bed 9; however, we'll probably pull all but the plants in Bed 22 next week.
  2. We also pulled up almost all of the plants that had gone to seed, including radishes in Beds 12 and 14.
  3. We recently harvested all of the beets in the western half of Bed 14 and half of the potatoes from Bed 10.
  4. We pulled the pea plants from Bed 19 and resowed the bed half with New Zealand Spinach (a heat-tolerant variety) and half with broccoli. None of the broccoli seeds germinated, so the eastern half of the bed is free.

Arrivals
  1. We planted a lot of cabbage. In Bed 9, we planted Copenhagen Market in the southern third and Red Acre in the northern third. In the middle of Bed 14, we planted a few Early Wakefields.
  2. We also planted varieties of carrots. In Bed 12 (our traditional carrot bed), we planted Royal Chatenay in the southern third and Asian Kurota in the northern third. In the eastern end of Bed 14, we planted Tonda di Parigi, a variety that produces stubby, round carrots.
Circling the airport

  1. Because nothing else really seems to grow in the shady end of Bed 19 but lettuce, we plan to plant lettuce there in the next couple of weeks.
  2. We want to try to grow broccoli this year. We plan to replant Bed 10, and maybe Bed 11, with broccoli sometime near the beginning of September.
  3. We'll need to plant fall crops soon to replace crops currently in Bed 17 (pole beans), 22 (blue potato), and 20 (summer squash and cucumber). 
  4. Because we'll lose access to municipal water in late October or early November, we'll also need to plan for the green manure crops that will grow as ground cover in the winter.