Vegetable Gardening

[papaver]

I'm just growing strawberries, rhubarb, and pumpkins this year. And I will plant 15 different types of berries next fall. And a sour cherry tree.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Well I'm excited because I've now got rows of bright green baby leaf lettuce and rows of radish babies all coming up from the seed I planted last week.

I have never grown radishes before, and was flabbergasted at how quickly the seeds sprouted up into seedlings- in only 3 days there they were with sturdy leaves looking all happy and perky!!!

Can you eat radish greens? How do you prepare or eat them?

[coyote]

That is awesome!

Radishes are my favorite plant to grow, very satisfying as they come up the fastest.

[tulip]

GLC--that allee of grapes with the greenhouse at the end is going to be just gorgeous in the summer.

In France, it's traditional to grow roses at the end of every row of grapes. I don't know why, but I think the roses act as a trap crop for some sort of pest. It's very pretty.

[GLC1968]

GLC--that allee of grapes with the greenhouse at the end is going to be just gorgeous in the summer.

In France, it's traditional to grow roses at the end of every row of grapes. I don't know why, but I think the roses act as a trap crop for some sort of pest. It's very pretty.

Really? That's interesting and in some ways, it doesn't surprise me. Grapes do so well here because we have similiar climate to many parts of France (and same latitudes). Portland is known as the Rose city - there are roses everywhere. I've got quite a few types on our property, but I'd like to add a few more since they are so gorgeous and so easy to grow here. Maybe I should research putting a few at the ends of our grape rows!

[OakLeaf]

We toured some vineyards a couple of years ago and they told us that roses are a sentinel plant for diseases (pests?) that can also infect the grapevines.

Looks great! You gotta forgive those goats, that red kale is SO delicious. It's the only vegetable that my dogs ever stole directly from the grocery bag the minute I set it down to put my helmet, etc., away.

I've got basil and chard sprooters today.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I've got basil and chard sprooters today.

Sprooters? Do you mean sprouts coming up from seed?


Ok, so I've been so excited by my new little rows of leaf lettuce sprouts and radish sprouts coming up....I went and bought MORE seeds today and crammed some more new things in real tight wherever there were any bare spots.

I already had the regular red radishes sprouting up from seeding them 10 days ago- and today I put in some new round pure white radishes and some long "French Breakfast" radishes. Also some scallions, some dwarf upright romaine lettuce, and some bok choy. Honestly, I'm hoping they can all grow so crammed in, but I put plenty of organic fertilizer, there's enough sun, and I'm hoping the leaf lettuces and radishes will mature and get pulled/used quicker than some of the slower growing items, and thus get out of the way in time for when other plants get big. I am also trying to stagger the seedings so things don't all mature at the same time.

I read that radishes like some shade when summer starts getting hot, so I planted some rows alongside the tomatoes as well. The tomatoes will get pruned and staked up but they'll still be big and will cast some shade below them.

I had some blue lake bush stringbeans and some bush wax beans already planted, but I bought some beautiful dark purple Italian pole beans and planted them near the fence on the ends and also on the empty trellises near the garage door, not in the garden at all. Last year I actually got some good bush stringbeans producing in that hot dry location.

I saw lots of baby earthworms in the dirt as I planted my seeds in the little garden today- a good sign that they like the organic fertilizer I had hoed in several weeks before. The fertilizer is based on ground chicken poop, chicken feathers, and some added minerals. Yummy!

I am now VERY anxious to get my larger garden put in...but it's proving hard to get the excavator over here to set up the plan.