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These are what I plan to have in my garden, plus some spares, and others for giving away. The tomato seedlings have been up-potted to 5 inch pots and the peppers to 3 inch pots. I have already given my extra tomato plants away. Next, I will find new homes for the pepper plants. There is not much space under the grow-light when they are moved to the larger pots. The largest tomato plants are the Big Beef and the Better Boy. The Cherokee Purple, Sweet Million and Arkansas Traveller are much smaller.
In the photo below: California Wonder, Socrates, Havanna, Tiburon (Poblano), and Sahauro (Anaheim).
The carrot seedlings below were planted on the 24th of January. It took a solid 3 and 1/2 weeks to get seedlings this size, and they are still tiny. I used one layer of burlap over the seedlings to help keep them moist and aid in germination. I believe I only had to water them twice as we had lots of rainfall. This method seemed to work pretty well. I also used a seed spacer, which is a very simple plastic device, as an aid in getting the seed spaced out nicely. It seemed to work. I have drawn orange circles around the seedlings to help make them more visible. In another carrot patch planted at the same time, I am still waiting to see carrots, and I did not use burlap on the second patch. Using the burlap gave the seeds a distinct advantage. I take the burlap off as soon as I see some indication the seeds have sprouted.
Below are the lettuce transplants. These are mainly Buttercrunch and Tom Thumb. There are also about 3-4 basil seedlings in there too. I forgot they were in the starting tray and next thing you know they were planted too. I don’t guess it matters. There is plenty of time to start more basil. My lettuce seeds seem to get displaced a lot. I usually direct sow them under a light layer of seed starting type soil. If a heavy rain comes, they sail off. Although my garden area does not get muddy, a heavy downfall can produce some standing water for a few minutes and I have seen some of the sandy soil erode. The lettuce seeds just go with the flow and usually germinate, but never where I planted them. So I am getting real good at spotting lettuce sprouts and herding them back where they belong. They are usually quite tolerant of being transplanted any time when they are young. I typically direct sow a few seeds then fill in with transplants.
My soil is workable all the time, so planting dates are determined by having sufficient sunlight and enough growing days such that the plant can mature before our heat becomes too strong and ends the life of the plant. I am not practicing true winter sowing as the northerners do. I have read about some who will place their lettuce seeds on top of the snow, then after the snow melts and the seeds come into contact with the ground, they are able to germinate. We don’t have to do that here. We kind of do the opposite. I plant early so the peas will mature before the heat kills the plant! That means planting in January. The photo on the left below shows the progress to date. The peas are quite happy. Those are Hakurei turnips on the right. The Hakurei is a sweet white turnip. There are two plantings, the ones in back have about a 1 week head start. I have always considered turnips an edible vegetable. I have learned some people don’t eat them, but use them as trap crops. The tops are quite alluring to insects and if the plants are placed on the perimeter of the garden, they can intercept the munchers before the can eat something more valuable. I discovered the sweet white turnip last year when I was a member of the local Community Supported Agriculture farm, or CSA. One of the deliveries had them. These seeds I have planted came from Park seeds. I’ll report back on how sweet they are.
 
Below is a small harvest from the lettuce and broccoli. The lettuce that survived all of the frosts is still producing. The leaves are smaller in February, but I am happy with any at this point. The broccoli keeps producing side shoots.
The potato box was planted on 14 February with some Red Norland seed potatoes. A portion of the sides of the potato box are removed to let the sun in at planting time. I am waiting for the potatoes to send shoots up to the surface. I bought some Ebeneezer White onion sets at the local garden center. I don’t know if these onions have the proper day length for our zone, but I bought and planted them anyway. I placed them along side the peas. Some will be harvested in April/May as scallions. Hopefully there will be mature onions to harvest in late summer.
Last night we got a surprise in the form of some strange white fluffy stuff falling from the sky. We don’t normally get snow so this was quite a surprise to many. Many of the neighbors were out last night after 9 PM to investigate, take photos, and stare in amazement at the huge white flakes. For many, including my son, this was their first time seeing snow. Aside from the cackles and laughing, it was eerily quiet. We accumulated a nice white blanket. Below are some photos. Needless to say, my gardening plans for this morning are postponed.
Snowpeas under the snow.
A small onion patch, with snow.
The kohlrabi with snow:
Broccolli with snow….
I noticed one of the neighbors was very busy last night… here is the result this morning. Notice the little carrot noses on the floor in front….
Some of the plants in the garden which over-wintered and went into a kind of sleepy dormant stage in December are starting to wake up. The Kholrabi are starting to look alive again. This photo shows what they looked like this morning, the one on the left is much younger than the one on the right. They are obviously adding new growth and look great. They have pulled through everything this unusually cold winter for Zone 8B has thrown at them with last night getting down to 26 after a steady rain. They don’t seem to mind at all. They did look bad in late December/early January, bad enough I almost pulled them up. I believe they suffer more from lack of sunshine than cold.
Inside, the new grow light is being put to good use. Many varieties of peppers and tomatoes are just starting out. Lettuce is in the background.
The peas don’t mind the cold either and look great after popping up just a couple days ago. It is a very nice sight to see. Now, where are those carrots?
I certainly don’t see one of these very often. He was perched on my back fence facing a small creek that runs behind my property line. It had been raining during the day, and temps were cold and getting colder. My son, who is eleven, was the first to recognize it: it’s an owl. I was simply too amazed and grabbed the camera and figured I would identify it later. Sorry about the lousy shot, it is taken from inside the house behind two glass panes and it was overcast that day.
I am very proud of my husband who built me this potato box. Working with wood is not a strong point with him, he is much more comfortable working with cars. So, I know how lucky I am to get one of these. The potato box is new for me and will be an experiment. The idea is to increase production in a small space. I hope to expand on it’s purpose a bit and get a somewhat steady stream of “new potatoes.” I call small red potatoes new potatoes. According to what I have read, potatoes can be harvested at any time, there is no mature state.
The idea is to plant the seed potatoes in the lower 20% of the box, with the side slats, with the exception of the very top one and the two bottom ones, removed. The sun will cause the potatoes to sprout up through the first 6 inches of soil, and breach the surface, and continue growing some nice green vines and leaves up on top. When the plants get to about a foot tall, I can add more soil, or a mixture of soil and straw, and cover up two-thirds of the plant. One-third of the plant must always remain above the soil surface. It seems, according to the experts, the green leafy part is important in potato production below. The potatoes will then grow into the new soil. As the plant grows, I’ll keep adding dirt periodically. At some point, probably 80 days or so after I see the green emerge, I’ll remove the slats near the bottom and go ‘tater hunting. On the following ‘tater hunt, I’ll remove slats higher up. Hopefully, I’ll get some ‘taters.
According to those more experienced at this than me, here are some tips I’ll need to follow: Use a nid- to late-season potato seed, like Red Pontiac or Yellow Finn. I will be using Red Norland, because that’s what the local garden center will have the first week of February, which, according to Clemson’s Home and Garden Center Information page, is when I need to start this experiment. The Red Norland should work OK, it shares the same mid-season classification as the Red Pontiac, which is supposed to work very well. Wisdom provided by others is not to use Gold Yukon or Kennebec. Adding potash and a fungicide is supposed to be beneficial.
Recent activities have focused on getting seeds in the ground. I plant using two planting schedules, one by Clemson Home Garden Information Center, and one published by the local independent garden center, Hyam’s. The Hyam’s plan is more forgiving, with wider planting windows. According to them, I have plenty of time, at least 3 months to plant my lettuce. According to Clemson, for the coastal region, I have until 5 February. I am inclined to be on the early side. The graphic below captures where I am in getting things planted. The blue shaded areas are planted, those with a blue check went in this weekend. The bright pink S indicates I have started seed and will transplant later. The yellow-orange areas mark what I need to plant next, probably this week. The pink areas still need to be planted, but are not targeted yet. Using this little chart makes it really easy to plant in as small as 30 minutes chunks of time, which is all I have at times. I keep it on the computer, and rely on layers heavily to track succession/interplanting/planting status/and even keeping track of the irrigation hoses.
So, what got planted this week? A lot of lettuce, especially the Paris Island Cos Romaine and Buttercrunch. Many, many carrots also were planted. A section of sweet white turnips also got planted.
The harvest is smaller, but much appreciated. I know how these vegetables were grown and prefer them over store bought. They might not actually taste better, but I enjoy them more.
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