Harvest Monday December 23rd 2013

Hello everyone. Hope everyone has been well this past week. I unfortunately and fighting a sinus infection. It always seems that December no matter where I live I have cold/flu/sinus problems around christmas.

This week has been slow per usual considering the problems I have been battling here but I have been doing a LOT of research and learning some of the mistakes I have been making. I for sure need Row covers here for tomatoes and peppers. And cucumbers that don't need bee's. Also for the rest other than herbs, onions, lettuce, carrots and the like, I definately have to use chemicals on cold weather items like cabbages etc. Beans seem to do ok here unless you have cold wind. My bush beans in pots though do not look well at all. Still working on that one. So here goes. A lot of the same as I always post..just different week and different pics..lol

Carrots. I have a LOT planted that I'm waiting on and since I really don't care how big or small and I love using them weekly I went ahead and grabbed the rest out of a small raised circular pot that I was growing them in so that I could go ahead and plant another longer variety that I need space for. These will be yummy once I figure out what I will use them for.

 The last of Some pepper plants that I will be taking down. Some I will just clip short where new leaves are forming and see what happens. The rest will be tossed. They are caribbean red. Serrano, Habanero, Hawaiian chili's (tiny but super hot) and the thin long ones that I know the name of but can't bring it to mind. I will be sitting on the couch later and go, "OMG...how could I forget the name of those super popular peppers!"...lol Anyway. I've noted that I can only successfully grow the Hawaiian chili's with no problems. The only ones I can grow and pick very young without finding the larvae in are the Habanero's and the Serrano's. I have some babies growing now so hopfully by the time they are bigger and start to flower, I will then have floating row covers for them all. And if they do well, I will expand to a lot more. One step at a time though. 

Here is an onion that my dog Kia pulled from a pot while jumping and running through our small back yard. She gets very excited at times even when we take her out running daily. She is part ridgeback and runs up to 35 miles an hour. We are still learning to leash train her as well..lol

Im shocked at how many beans I got this week considering how the pole beans have looked. I can't believe I'm this excited about a handful in one week...lol In kentucky i would get two handful's every other day! lol  And the sad looking BUT NOT INFESTED by larvae green pepper..lol It looks as if they tried to get in but wasn't able. The last one I picked looked similar and it was fine and tasty. 

A small bunch of green onions. I cleaned them and gave them to my neighbor. She just loves them and that is worth more to me giving them to her when she appreciates them so much. Last summer when cherry tomatoes were growing in my garden I had so many that we couldn't keep up with eating them. I would give her half as well. She appreciates the garden fresh food. Not everyone these days are very welcoming to neighbors just coming to their door with produce. They are leaving in Jan. I will have to stalk out another neighbor to give to.

My last lettuce until more grows in. I started a kratky method hydroponic system for lettuce and other various veggies. An experiment of sorts to see what happens. I will make another post on that soon showing all the materials and choices I made that may or may not work. An experiment for sure..lol 

And just a little update here on the new 2X6 bed that I pictured in another post. 

I had ordered onion plants online. 3 varieties of short day onions. Most are in this bed and the rest are in the other 4X8 bed that I had the cucumbers in. (the cucumbers didn't make it) I was only suppose to get approx 50 or so plants. But ended up with a tad over 100! Im really excited about them because I actually did the reading about onions here..what I should plant..and when!! Maybe a true first success in the making? I don't know..We will see..lol Also in that bed up against the edge I have planted more snow peas. That is why the homemade trellis is there. I also planted more snow peas in pots to the left of this bed..and more in the 4X8 Bed as well. I hope they grow as well as last time. Last time i just didn't seem to grow close to enough plants. 

OK..so that is it for this week. I will be posting later this week about a Giant African Land Snail that we found in our lawn the other day. When I read about it..It really freaked me out..that and ITS SIZE...The shell alone is HUGE!

Thanks to Daphne for posting Harvest Mondays. Be sure to head over there to check out everyone else's blogs and progress.. here is the link  

http://daphnesdandelions.blogspot.com/2013/12/harvest-monday-december-23rd-2013.html?showComment=1387825682691#c1893323011248230197