radishes – Page 2

April shower bring May vegetables?

May 2, 2023May 2, 2023Posted in GardenTagged beets, carrots, community garden, denver, Denver urban gardens, Garden, peppers, radishes, seed starting, soil, squash, tomatoes, vegetables, yard, zucchini1 Comment

Well it’s shaping up to be another year of trying a little bit of everything to see how it goes.

The garden

The community garden is having our second monthly work day this weekend. The water is officially turned on for the season, which means things will really pick up soon! I’m still planning to keep the sensitive babies out of the ground for another few weeks but will start hardening them off soon.

My new plot

I’ve settled in to my new plot, and started committing to a layout. I installed two very tall trellises on the north end made from concrete rebar mats and u-posts.

I’ve also added a low tunnel running north to south which I plan to use for all of my non-pollinating plants like greens. Last year I had some bug problems with greens, and I’m trying out a breathable row cover that will keep out the bugs. I’m not interested in having to spray them. I think neem oil is gross.

Soil gloop

Everything is going pretty well except the soil in this plot is VERY different. It doesn’t drain well and is quite “gloopy”. Cohesive. Sticks together, packs tightly when wet. This has some implications for irrigation. I don’t think my plan to use ollas is going to work well in this soil. It just seems like the soil will plug up the pores in the terra cotta. I’ve already employed trenches to channel the sitting water, and may pivot to a drip system.

I anticipate all new challenges and adventures this year as a result. I took my old soil for granted. My old plot was located where compost regularly got dumped for years and was much easier to work with.

I’m considering getting a soil analysis from the Colorado University extension, and trying to figure out what help my soil might need.

Progress

So far, in the plot: (as of May 1):

Volunteer rhubarb, asparagus, dill, and cosmos
Seeds: carrot, lettuce, spinach, chard, parsnips, beets, snap peas, arugula, radishes
Transplants: cabbage, Brussels sprouts, shallots

Seedlings and prep

So far seedlings (as of May 1):

Winter sown: echinacea, poppies
Started indoors, brassicas: broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts
Started indoors, nightshades: tomatoes (currant, pink ping pong, San marzano, cherry hybrid), peppers (biquinho, poblano)
Started indoors, flowers: marigold (saved seeds from last year!), calendula, zinnias (saved!), nasturtiums
Started indoors, herbs: pineapple sage, rosemary, Thai basil, lemon basil, tulsi holy basil
Started indoors, alliums: green onions, leeks, shallots

Just started in biodegradable pots (May 1):

Luffa
Zucchini
Winter squash

On deck to direct sow after frost:

Beans
Cucumbers

Peppers. I put them outside for gardening and something munched on them!

The great tomato-cide

I was out of town for 7 days. I left plenty of water for the tomatoes to be ok (not thriving but ok) for 7 days. Unfortunately I left a window open right by my thermostat and it went below freezing most of the time I was gone, the heat ran A LOT, and my grow room is the hottest room on the heat run.

So, I came home to a tomato blood bath. Even gnome was stressed.

I left a Timelapse running all week so I even got to watch them die. Luckily adding some water perked many of them back up, and after a week many recovered. In addition to the recovery, I started with so many seedlings that a few losses were not catastrophic. I am amused and undaunted at this point. Sorry, tomatoes.

Old friend

I swing by my old plot every so often. To my surprise the spinach I planted last fall is still alive! All of the alliums are also thriving like they never missed a step.

Official final harvest 2022

November 20, 2022November 20, 2022Posted in GardenTagged beets, carrots, community garden, denver, Denver urban gardens, Garden, radishes, vegetables1 Comment

Yeah, I could probably keep growing my root veggies in the grow tent but I’m calling it for the season.

Here’s what came out of the ground today. Beets are sadly not grown in but beautiful nonetheless. Carrots all planted at the same time had wildly varied growth rates! Watermelon radishes made a good final effort. Overall I would say that I should have harvested some greens pre-frost (they got kind of icky), and should have started everything earlier to make sure they were farther along before the frost. I also believe that they’d continue to grow if left in the grow tunnel.

General update

I found out a few weeks ago that I got approved to move to a larger plot. It’s about 33% larger as far as I can tell, and all one rectangle instead of two separate ones. It also appears that I will not have to worry about planting dill, as it comes with its own crop.

Final look at the plots before calling it a season.

Weekly garden digest 10/25 +

October 25, 2022October 29, 2022Posted in GardenTagged beets, community garden, cool weather crops, cucumbers, denver, Denver urban gardens, Garden, radishes, squash, vegetables, weekly garden digest 2022, zucchiniLeave a comment

I started writing this update a few days ago, and already, with a few cold nights, so much has changed!

Silver slicer cucumber took a steep nose dive

Retirements

Harvest and other developments

The major development is the construction of my mini warm house for radishes, carrots, beets, and spinach that are still growing. They should be fine without it for a bit longer, but I’m using this as a learning experience. I already learned that plastic trash bags are unwieldy and shower curtains are the way to go. My neighbor also has a pole along the bottom seam on both sides which is a pro move to hold the ends down evenly.

For the frame I ordered a small segmented kit on Amazon to try things out before investing a bunch of money (and storage space!) on a bigger structure. I still have pieces left, I may add more cross pieces to make it stronger. The great thing about this is I can take it apart and store it in essentially a shoebox when I’m not using it. Storage space for all of my garden gear is becoming an issue since I don’t have a garage.