Seeding and Transplanting - In The Garden September 29th

[Catherine, The Herb Lady]

Dear Folks,

Just seeded the next two rows in a new bed I opened up.
Red Celery and Licinato Kale
Beets, parsnips, carrots and breakfast radishes.

I also put some sugar peas in next to a bush bean I transplanted last
week to another garden, which I have to finish opening up.

I started seeding in on September 17th for onions, root vegetables,
and some kale. I also at that time put in a couple of transplants of
borage and boc choi.

Why did I put another row of root crops in? It is called successive
planting. Unless you are a farmer wishing to grow pounds of produce
all at once for market, residential gardeners can plant produce crops
successively in small batches every 2-4 weeks so they have a
continuing, harvest that is also volume management for their tables.

While lettuces, greens, kales and chards are all capable of cut-and-
come-again crops, where you can get 2-6 cuttings out of a plant, root
crops coming ready all at once can be a store and use challenge. If
the point is to have maximum freshness from your garden, successive
planting is the trick.

Could you keep the root veggies in the ground until you want to
harvest them? Sure, they get bigger, although sometimes 'pithy' and
occasionally bitter, it can be done. I once let a beet I missed just
go and go and go (I was curious) - the root eventually reached about
10 inches across and I really did not think it was usable, but I had
Deane (who is the beet lover) use his machete to slice it into 1 inch
'steaks' and I pan cooked them until tender - took a while! However,
he declared them wonderful in taste. I would not recommend it though,
successive planting is better.

Successive planting works best during the fall to spring growing
season. Since radishes are mature in about 30 days, just put a new
seed in the hole of the one(s) you pull. I harvested my first
breakfast radish a few minutes ago, planted on August 31st. Have you
had radishes the french way? Trim, wash and dip one side in butter
and a couple of grains of coarse salt. The flavors are super!

PLANT NOW:

Root crops, lettuces and greens, cool weather annuals like dill and
cilantro, start seeding in the edible cool weather flowers
(nasturtiums - mine are already sprouting from self-seeding, pansies,
borage, stock, alyssum, violets, and calendula). The flowers attract
the pollinators for maximum pollination of your garden.

I have more lectures/classes being scheduled and will share those with
you when I have times fixed.

When choosing stone fruit trees, do you know your chill hour index for
your neighborhood? This information is absolutely essential to ensure
you choose trees that will fruit for you instead of giving you just
flowers.

Check out my "What's A Chill Hour..." booklet on my publisher's site
(available in print or download):

http://www.lulu.com/product/file-download/whats-a-chill-hour-help-in-choosing-fruit-trees-in-the-desert-southwest/2519906?productTrackingContext=author_spotlight_37238_



Have a great day in the garden.


Catherine