Raised vegetable garden Started on 10th March 2009
0.87 meters x 1.5 meters.
Brussels Sprouts Mixed lettuces
lettuce from Maine USA
25th April
Notes on each plant:
Carrots: germinated before March 22. By May 5 they are about 20cm high. Very crowded. Second planting on May 5, in three rows. Will thin this group see the difference in carrots. Started thinning and eating May 20 (picture). Second planting failed maybe because of too much shade from the large Brussels sprout plant. White mold like growth started in middle of June, but I’m still harvesting small carrots July 5. Very few carrots harvested.
Rocket: germinated by March 17th. Grew fast. Started eating it in April. About 7 salads with it so far, still going strong. Started flowering in middle of May. Will collect seeds from pods when they are ready. July 5th: still going strong. However there are now so many stems with seed pods that it is a bit hard to harvest the leaves. I plan to try a second planting using these seeds. Huge amount of Rocket harvested and everybody in the family enjoyed it in salads and on sandwiches. Finally finished in August.
Mixed lettuces: germinated after rocket. About 7 salads, starting to thin out some. Planted another garden in back and the lettuce did very well there. One lettuce plant started flowing mid June. July 5th all lettuce starting to flower, no seeds yet. Lots of lettuce harvested. Finally finished in August.
Brussels sprouts: put seeds in little plastic containers germinated about March 24. Grew slowly in containers. Transplanted them April 18. Took several days before they didn’t wilt in strong sun. Then started growing fast. May 5, about ¼ meter high. May 24 biggest plant is about 1/3 meter. July 5: Plants are large and look healthy, but no sign of flowering. Never gave any sprouts. Gave up in September.
Scallions: germinated about March 22. Growing steadily – over crowded. May 5 about 20cm high. Stared thing and eating May 20. Have been eating them continuously. July 5 they are still rather small, but tasty and excellent in salads. Never grew to a reasonable size, much too over crowded.
Maine USA Kale: Planted March 24. Germinated in a couple of days before March 28. Grew amazingly fast. Ate three meals off of them by end of April. Started to flower May 1. May 5 about 2/3 meter high. Being attached by aphids. Harvested all kale on May 20. Left two plants for their seed pods.
Maine USA Leaks: germinated in about a week. Growing very slowly. May 5 about 6 cms high. July 5, they are still too small to eat and not growing. Never got a harvest from these leaks.
Maine USA Lettuce: Germinated in about 2 weeks. Growing very slowly. Have not taken any yet (May 5) Started harvesting this lettuce May 15, still harvesting these lettuce plants July 5. Small harvest, not as much as my commercial seeds.
Maine USA peas: Planted May 24th. Germinated in a couple of days before March 28. Grew amazingly fast. May 5 about 2/3 meter high, no sign of flowers. Flowers appeared about May 10. And then pods appeared May 17. Pea pods were delicious, but the entire harvest was only enough for a small snack. Early June plants attacked by white mold like growth. Removed all plants in Middle of June. At this time I harvested a few seeds. I will try a second planting with them.
Potatoes (from a store bought potato): Planted around April 1 in soil bag with about 10 cm of sea weed for soil. Nothing happened until May1. Now have one potato plant growing really fast. I add more soil each day. 23May new potato plant came up in bag! The bad is now filled with about ½ meter soil. Started second potato garden with two potatoes plants growing well. 1 July. Potato plants dried out from lack of water. Will they recover? July 5 One plant seems dead others seem OK. No flowers yet. All potatoes died with no harvest.
Hot Peppers: 10 March- sowed seeds straight into the soil with the lettuce in the back garden. Peppers started very slowly, but they grew steadily. First flowers on 20May. Harvested first pepper 11 June. Still harvesting peppers late into the fall.
Tomatoes: Planted in plastic containers. Germinated after long period – March 28. Grew very slowly. Transplanted tomatoes 25 April. Growing slowly and seem stunted. Why? May 15 they started to grow more quickly. 24 May they are about 20 cm high, and have some buds!? However, stray tomato plant in garlic/ pansy garden found. It is about a meter high 5 May! Why is this plant doing do much better. Perhaps the soil is richer. Cats have used this area in the past, maybe that is the answer. Planted more tomato seeds in garlic garden on 26 April. Germinated 3 May after less then week. Growing well so far. Planted seeds from store tomato 26 April. Germinated 4 May. 24 May Tomato plant in pansy garden is huge, about 1.5 meters. Has lots of flowers. New seeds are growing well about 10 cms. June 6 lots of tomatoes growing on plant. End of June – suddenly the plant is dying!?? Don’t understand why. Will all the tomatoes ripen? July 1 largest tomatoes starting to turn red. I have doubt that the less developed tomatoes will ripen, but we will see. No tomatoes harvested even though there were so many on the vine. They never ripened.
