Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Until we can begin gardening again!* I can't wait!

*Unless you live in the Southern hemisphere or California.

Oh I already have mad plans. MAD. PLANS!

Isa, what's it like in Omaha? Are you able to harvest kale or anything else from your garden in winter? But I'm with jewbacca, this is a time for dreams and plans, and an intensive assault on seed catalogs that have arrived, and online for ones that haven't or won't be mailed to me.

It's almost strawberry season here!

Nah, too cold. I have some kale that got snowed on but it's not harvestable. I know you said in another thread to keep it until next spring. That's what I'm doing but, uhhhh, I don't remember why!

WHAT!!!

If they survive the cold, in Spring they'll produce lots of flower buds, sending out more and more as you harvest. You can use them like mini broccoli and they're fantastic in stirfrys. Harvest before the buds open. It may just get too cold for them entirely, but even if the growing point dies, if the stem is still viable your plants may send out sideshoots.

My game plan includes:

Spring: March
Start Tom/Peppers/beans/herbs indoors
plant sunchokes
peas, lettuce, greens

April-May
Sweet potato slips from greenhouse
Transplant tom/peppers/beans/herbs
harvest garlic start new garlic & onions for fall harvest

June
Finish Peas, start another crop for fall harvest
Twittle thumbs watching tomatoes

July
Harvest/maintain

August
start greens

Sept
Harvest maintain

Oct
Harvest maintain

November
plant garlic
harvest last of greens

Dec-Mar Impatiently wait

* I don't know if I'll mess around with carrots this year.

Listen, you northern hemispherers. I just finished harvesting this
http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx? ... 94%28OG%29
and it was amazing.
Blue corn. IN A CONTAINER. Grew knee high, was the cutest damn thing. It wasn't the sweetest thing I've ever had, but corn! In a container!

PICS!!!! Us container peeps wanna see this.

I live in a mountainous part of the bay area and don't really get any direct sunlight this time of year, can I grow anything? Even in the summer I only get morning sun, what should I try to grow? This time of year it gets about 60 during the day and 35-40 at night. Cn I grow herbs? I really, really need to start my own cilantro.

I need some major container gardening mojo!

I am going to try to start everything I can't sow directly indoors this year, rather than getting starts. I am pumped.

Rosemary, sage, thyme, and oregano should be able to withstand that kid of weather/sun if they're already established.

I hate to tell you this but Florida strawberries are already on the grocers' shelves. The Florida Strawberry Festival is in February.

We are harvesting incredible arugula and some radishes right now. We have lettuces, spinach, leeks, broccoli, beets in the ground. Not sure when they will be ready. It is cold at night, so growing is slow. Just found out our soil is too acidic so once we get that adjusted, I'm sure things will take off. Fred has started spring tomato seedlings and artichoke plants inside.

What's your method for this? Sunny window?

Fred bought a big baker's rack. For Christmas I bought him inexpensive fluorescent light fixtures and full spectrum bulbs. That is how he's going to try it this year.

*brag alert*
i am in the southern hemisphere and you should SEE my black russian tomatoes!! the bigger ones are all around a pound in weight each! so delicious :D

I planted some of last year's tomato seeds this week in a tray on the windowsill just in case they are still alive. My mother got me some seeds for Christmas, which look more interesting that the ones I bought myself last year. Courgettes that look like green ping-pong balls! Purple mange-tout!

Isa, get yourself some sort of tray insert and tray w/o holes, use starter plugs or seedling mix. Get a simple florescent shop light and make sure you have a propagation mat underneath it to expedite the germination process. The light from your window will cause leggy growth, and seedlings need 24h light until they grow past their first few sets of true leaves.

I've already gotten my Seed Savers and Botanical Interests seed catalogs in the mail. Droooooool. I have way, way too many seeds already so I'm not letting myself order anything unless it's a brand-new type of fruit or vegetable, but I'll be starting my first herbs and other ultra-early seedlings under my beautiful giant 400W HPS light over the next few weeks. Yay!

On Dec 31st I took down the tomatoes plants, harvesting 16 green tomatoes in the meanwhile. The enclosed balcony gets sunny and they continued to grow and produce, but it was getting ridiculous. However I saved the tops which had the healthiest-looking leaves and flowers and put them in a glass, if they start the roots I don't need starters this time. Last summer I accidentally broke a healthy branch and just stuck it back into the pot, and it's still growing strong.

This year besides the herbs which are still going from last year I want to plant some bell peppers and eggplants. No more zucchini, they just don't so well enough in the pots. And maybe it will be the year when I finally manage to get some lettuce growing, it's been at least four years of trying with no luck, either in the garden or in pots. Unbelievable!

Reading this made me extremely happy.

Annak, what's the pH of your soil/medium? So weird you can't grow lettuce. Do you try to grow it in the extreme heat? Try a mesclun mix--great variety and results.

I don't think I'm going to be able to garden this year and it makes me very sad. I'm used to maintaining 3-5 gardens each year and now I won't have any to maintain.

I can't wait for the farmers markets to reopen, though. I have that to look forward to!