Veggies 101-Lettuce/Spinach/Radishes/Swiss Chard

I currently have two vegetable gardens in my yard.  The first, which I call the "lower" garden, is about 20 feet wide and 30 feet long and is situated very close to our pond.  I also have an "upper" garden which is about 30 feet by 12 feet.  A ten foot wide section of lawn separates the two:

Lower Garden

Upper Garden

These photos were taken last spring about mid May.  Nothing was planted in the lower garden until later in the month when I put in potatoes.  In the upper garden, you can see spinach, radishes and lettuce growing along with some onions.   This year these will be in the lower garden as I rotate them every year, essentially switching the lower and upper gardens each year.

These gardens were not always this large.  When we moved hear in 1992, there was only a very small part of the lower garden still being used, and the upper had completely grown over with grass.  Each year I expanded a little more (which is initially a lot of work).  I probably should start downsizing at this point but haven't given in to that yet.

The vegetables that I plant in mid May are only the ones that can take the early season cool ground and temperatures:

In 2014, I will start the season planting Swiss chard, spinach, and radishes.  As far as Swiss chard, the varieties may have different color stems, but the leaves are what is used so the edible result is pretty much the same for all of them.  Quite of few varieties of spinach exist also, but I haven't found too much difference in them  Some (such as the Bloomsdale Long Standing which I chose) are slower to bolt in hot weather which can be helpful.

Radishes come in different colors and shapes but most of the differences are cosmetic.  Radishes make a great spicy addition to a salad or are tasty as a snack.

Next on my early planting list is lettuce.  There are so many different choices when it comes to lettuce that it be overwhelming to chose what to plant.  In recent years I have been planting the following types:

Loose leaf mixture:

These are several mixtures I found at the Christmas Tree Shoppe (The Lake Valley Seed Company).

Next I will plant a Romaine variety also from the Lake Valley Seed Co.:

Finally, I will plant a Mesclun mix.  So exactly what is Mesclun?  It is a mixture of not only lettuces but of different salad greens that may include arugula, endive, and mustard greens among many others.  There are numerous mixtures available.  If you like your salad a little on the spicy side, I think you will enjoy Mesclun.
Below is an example of a Mesclun mixture:

In my next post I will discuss onions, which is another vegetable that can be planted early.  I have several varieties which I like and usually plant each year.

In a previous post I talked briefly about Winter Sowing.  I hope to start my Winter Sowing this coming weekend and will also do a post on that.  I plan on planting some lettuce using this method.  I think you will enjoy Winter Sowing.

Until next time.

Sorting Through the Vegetable Seeds/Out With the Old in With the New

One of my annual rituals in the vegetable gardening process is to sort through what seeds I have and to decide what to keep, what to throw out, and what I will need to buy for this year's garden. So how do I go about this?

As I mentioned in a previous post, my general rule of thumb in deciding which seeds are still good is this:  I discard any seeds more than one calendar year old.  So for this year's garden I will keep any seeds dated 2013 or newer, and discard any older than that.  I have found this to work well for me even though you will find different ideas of seed expiration dates out there.  Some seeds can last well beyond a year, however I want to make sure that the seeds I'm planting are definitely viable.  After all, it is a lot of work to prepare and to plant and I try to minimize replanting if possible.

So where should you buy your seeds?  I use a combination of seeds catalogs and local stores.  For the most part I now find myself buying most of them locally since I find the prices better.  The catalogs are great if you want a particular variety you can't find locally, such as heirloom tomatoes.  It's fun just to browse through the seed catalogs for ideas and pointers.  They are really more than just a catalog since they contain lots information on how to plant and take care of the many different vegetables. Also, information on which varieties are best for your area of the country can be found.

A few photos of my seed "collection" for 2014 to give you an idea of what I have planned this year:

The last photo shows how I store my seeds.  It's important to store them properly.  As you can see, I store them in a plastic container with a lid and keep them in a cool dry place out of the sun.  Any partial packets I put inside a Ziploc bag and also inside the container.  This prevents the seeds in the opened packets from drying out.

This weekend was also another good birding weekend.  We had a visit from a male cardinal for the first time this winter along with many of our usual species:

Stay tuned.  In my next post I will go over in depth  which vegetables I will grow this year and which I plan on starting ahead indoors.  Also, there are some I start outside in the winter cold using a technique called winter sowing...and it really works!

 

A Good Birding Weekend

The snow that we got last Saturday really brought out the birds in force.  It was the most I've seen so far this winter.

The day started out with a nice surprise.  We spotted a Cooper's Hawk in the tree in our side lawn. A few weeks ago I caught a glimpse of the same bird but didn't get a good enough look to identify it.

The Cooper's Hawk is a medium sized hawk that is known to prey on smaller birds at feeders.  I was disappointed to read that, but I guess it's the circle of life.  It didn't seem to stay around for long near the feeders but it probably lives on our property.  I didn't get a photo myself, but below is a nice shot of one from the internet:


  

The rest of the weekend I observed the normal variety of birds for our yard including blue jays, juncos, chickadees, American tree sparrows, house sparrows, woodpeckers, nuthatches, and goldfinches.  As far as the woodpeckers, I spotted a hairy, downy, and red-bellied variety.

Below are some of the photos I captured:

So until next time, happy bird watching.  I would love to hear from my readers as to which species you are observing in your area.

In my next post I will return to vegetable garden planning.

A Great New Birding App for iPhone

This week has been a slow week for bird watching.  Although we've had two or three decent snowfalls this winter of about a foot each, warm spells have followed each time completely melting what we had.  So was the case this past weekend.  Everything was green again until last night when we got back about an inch of the fluffy white stuff.  It looks like we're heading into a snowier and much colder weather pattern over the next week or so which will definitely increase the bird feeder activity.

This morning I did snap a quick photo of two dark-eyed juncos resting in the grape vine:

I recently discovered a great new birding app for iPhone from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/Page.aspx?pid=1478

It allows you to figure out what bird species you may have seen based on size, color, and where you spotted them.  It also customizes a bird list based on your current location.  You can also just simply just look up a particular species.  It has beautiful photos, thorough information and I must say so far I'm impressed with this app.  It would be great for kids and novice bird watchers allowing you to determine what particular species you saw and making the process fun.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a joint partner with Audubon in the Great Backyard Bird Count, which I referenced in my January 13th post, "Welcome to My Blog."  I have used Cornell's online bird identification tool many times during the GBBC.

This weekend I will try to take some more bird photos and also continue talking about the vegetable garden planning process.  As always your comments and suggestions are appreciated.

A Great Garden Planning Tool

Sometimes the hardest part of planning a vegetable garden is figuring out where to plant each vegetable and how much you'll be able to fit in the space that you have without overcrowding.  For many years I used pencil and paper or just winged it , both of which actually worked out fine most of the time.

A few years ago I discovered a great tool especially if you like working on your computer.  Even though there are numerous garden planning programs available, I have been very happy with the Jung Seed Co. Vegetable Garden Planner (web based software) which can be found at:  http://gardenplanner.jungseed.com/

It is fairly simple to use and costs $25 per ear.  It is a great way to keep a record of your garden each year including the varieties you plant, where you plant them and even comments on each variety.  Video tutorials can be found on the web page to help you get started.  Below is an example of a garden plan.  The image quality will be much better in the actual program.



Stay tuned, much more to follow.  I welcome any comments, questions, or suggestions.

Here Come the Seed Catalogs

Well it's that time of the year again.  The seed catalogs are arriving daily.  Actually I started receiving them around Thanksgiving.

I have quite a few I receive and they are all good sources for seeds, supplies and general information.  So far this year I have received the following catalogs:


 

http://www.burpee.com/





http://www.johnnyseeds.com/





http://www.jungseed.com/





http://www.gurneys.com/





http://www.parkseed.com/





http://www.tomatogrowers.com/





http://www.harrisseeds.com/



I apologize as some of the above images aren't from the current year catalogs as I had trouble finding them, but none the less these are all good sources for your vegetable and flower seeds and supplies.  This year is my first year trying the Tomato Growers Supply catalog as I am a tomato lover, especially the heirloom varieties.  I will post more on heirloom tomatoes this winter/spring.

I use a combination of catalogs and shopping at my local farm store when purchasing my seeds.  I am usually able to get the ordinary "staple" seeds locally, but for specialty items I use the catalogs.

Many people wonder about the shelf life of seeds.  My general rule of thumb and one I have had success with is each year I discard any seeds that are 2 years old.  So for this garden year of 2014, I will toss any seeds from 2012 but keep those from 2013 or newer.

In the next post I will talk about garden planning and crop rotation, etc.  I have discovered some useful tools to plan your garden space and to keep track of what you plant each year and where.

Until next time happy garden planning and don't forget the bird watching.