A-squash-colypse

 The squash harvest began today with two zucchini where I thought there was only one (both a little larger than ideal, but neither one a baseball bat), and two perfectly sized baby yellow squash. 

There are two Lunchbox peppers close to ripe, or maybe already ripe. I'm not sure how big they get, and they're a bit on the small size. 

Oh, wait, I just looked them up, and I guess they're full size, but they need to stay on the plant a bit longer to turn whatever color they're supposed to end up: red, yellow or orange. https://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/peppers/sweet-peppers/lunchbox-pepper-mix-organic-snack-pepper-seed-3515G.html

Although, the instructions say to pick the first few "promptly" to encourage more fruit set. And it looks like it takes about 3 weeks to go from green to the final color. So I probably won't have the patience to let the first two get to their final color, and I can claim it's for a reason other than impatience.

2026 Harvest

Easter egg radishes: 6

baby bok choi heads:

leaf lettuce: 

alpine strawberries:

lunchbox peppers (12 plants):

Ace peppers (3 plants):

banana peppers (3 plants, new-to-me variety):

Sungold tomatoes (12 plants):

basil:

sage:

dill:

chives:;'[

2026 spring activity

I refreshed the soil in the existing grow bag filled with strawberries and added two more grow bags (with a third on the to-do list). Instead only growing strawberries, half the cells (the bags are divided into quarters) are strawberries and the other half are cool-weather crops—radishes, lettuces, Little Shanghai bok choi. 

The raised beds are now mostly planted, except for the peppers being hardened off: 1) tomatoes and swiss chard; and 2) peppers and swiss chard and summer squash and herbs (in a separate pot). 

As of Memorial Day, I've harvested half a dozen radishes, and a few lettuce leaves. The bok choi, radishes, and lettuces were seeded every two weeks, and I think I'll do one more seeding of the bok choi now, and then another one in the fall. I've never grown bok choi before, regular or baby, so I had to look up the harvest instructions. Apparently it can be harvested by the leaf, start at the outside and working in, or as an entire head. I can do that!

2026 costs

 I could have sworn I'd started this post already, and it's too late to have truly accurate numbers. It's also an expensive year, because I invested in a second raised garden, and all the dirt and compost to fill it. And I topped off the original one, which had compacted as the cardboard and sticks on the bottom decomposed. So I'm just going to skip all of that, and you can assume it was in the $500 range. 

Other guesstimates:

Seeds: about $100

Seed-starting equipment (light/mat): $100

Additional grow bags: $20?

I didn't buy any plants (yet), since I invested in the seed-starting equipment. 

2025 harvest

So, the costs from the previous post were a little over $300, but I'm pretty sure I got a few other little things—little flags to point to ripe stuff, fish fertilizer, replacement basil plants. Let's say a total of $400. And I bought a second raised bed for next year (a little under $100). 

I ended up with a LOT more plants than planned. I already had grape tomatoes, Lady Bell peppers, swiss chard (from seed), zuke and yellow squash (from seed). A friend gave me a BUNCH of tomato plants (3 Sun Gold, 2 Sun Sugar, 1 Juliet, 1 Mountain Pride, 1 Black Cherry) and several peppers (2 Ace, some lunchbox peppers, and a mildly hot pepper, not sure of the variety). 

The tomatoes over-produced, in a summer that was hot and dry, just what they like. I lost track of how many cherry and grape tomatoes we picked. The San Marzanos were also prolific and early; the Mountain Pride were not actually Mountain Pride, but some variety of paste tomatoes, less prolific and late, but really beautiful fruits. The Juliets were also late, but that could be because they were shaded by the more prolific plants. Really good flavor. The Black Cherries took a long time to ripen, but are prolific and really pretty. Not sure they're worth the space though, because the flavor is mediocre compared to either the grape or the Sun Gold (or Sun Sugar). 

The peppers weren't prolific, and several died off (or, really, I gave up on them when the plants showed signs of severe malnutrition). The two ACE plants did okay, and I really liked the Lunchbox orange pepper, but only got one fruit. I don't blame the plants for their poor productivity—they were overshadowed by the tomatoes and the weather was too hot for them at key blossom-setting times.

For nightshades in 2026, I'm thinking 3 grapes, 3 San Marzanos, 1 Juliet, 2 or 3 Sun Gold; and then 4 Ace, and 3-4 Lunchbox. I'm hoping to overwinter the 2 Ace and 1 Lunchbox I already have. Plus I need to get some Northern Lights swiss chard—it's just so much more fun to have all the colors instead of the standard green variety. One bed will be all tomatoes, and the other bed will be everything else. 

Nasturtiums were disappointing, and I'm not sure why. They grew a bunch of leaves but no flowers, and they were right next to a chard plant that did fine. The bulk of the swiss chard is still waiting to shine; they were overshadowed by the tomatoes too. The zucchini was, as always, scary productive. I made three batches (two leaves each) of zucchini bread, and I have shreds for 3 or 4 more batches in the freezer. Yellow squash was reasonable, perhaps a little light because of the drought. There were three plants, I think, and that seems about right. Maybe I'll do some sugar snaps next year, hoping to harvest them before the peppers need more space. Perhaps a few early radishes and small carrots too.

I managed to kill off the new rhubarb plants. Sigh. Unexpectedly dry/hot summer. Might try them in a whiskey barrel next time.

Basil thrived in the extra-hot weather. Garlic was mediocre due to insufficient rain. 

Alpine strawberries thrived, somewhat surprisingly given the heat/drought. I'm planning to expand their bed next year, since they were popular and there were never enough. I'm planning to buy a set of heavy-duty shelving to essentially set up a long, low coffee-table-like support for the grow bags on the deck. I've found what I want, just not in a huge hurry to spend the money. It can wait until spring. 

2025 costs

 I've  been mostly container-gardening the last few years (greens and strawberries) plus garlic in the ground, but I'd like to expand a bit. Still a container garden of a sort -- a 4' x 8' x 2' raised metal bed in the side yard (more sun).

Definitely higher costs than returns this year, but I'm doing it mostly for entertainment and getting a wee bit of exercise and the quality of the harvest, rather than cost-saving. The plan is a few peppers, tomatoes (grape, maybe a couple of a sauce variety) a row of swiss chard, and maybe some onions (a friend offered a few plants). Oh, and a zuke and yellow squash. One each. That will more than fill the bed. Maybe a few basil plants? Oh, and thyme. Gotta get thyme plants. 

I'm curious about the costs, so I'll edit this as they accrue. 

• Metal 4x8x2 bed from Amazon: $100
• Sand & garden soil (Home Depot): $125
• Bottom layer of fill (decaying logs, sticks, cardboard, etc): free
• Top layer, composted manure (Ventura Grain): $64
• Mulch (cardboard & clippings): free
• Seeds & starting supplies (ocean state) $26
• Tomato & pepper plants (Garden Patch): $15

                                    TOTAL: $330

Seeds include: 2 lettuces, basil, thyme, catnip, swiss chard, 2 squashes, nasturtium, marigold

Separate from the raised garden, I'm planning to move the one surviving rhubarb plant (possibly divided into three or more) from a too-shady spot to a sunnier spot. Might get a couple more plants to fill in the sunny bed. (Done, from GrowJoy, 2 Crimson Red rhubarb plants, $29). I checked on the rhubarb plant today, and it's thriving. Maybe I'll throw some garlic volunteers in that bed too. I bought a spade to do the transplanting, which cost $32, but hardly seems fair to include in this year's costs, since it's something I've needed  for a while.

I also have garlic plants everywhere! A half-whiskey barrel planted with seed cloves I'd saved. Volunteers out in the old garden bed AND in the strawberry planter containers on the deck and in assorted spots near the deck and the old garden. There's a catnip plant growing in a container in the old garden (need to grow more catnip; adding to list of seeds). 

2022 costs

 Well, last year turned out to be a total bust. Turns out a heart attack doesn't mix well with gardening, even if it's a recovery garden. At least not until AFTER the bypass surgery (which wasn't until October). This year, I can garden. Carefully.

So I'm starting with just a few plants. A six-pack of grape tomatoes, a six-pack of banana peppers (what is it with fruity veg?), a basil plant (or three, can't tell if it's one with three stems or three with one stem each), plus radishes and greens and strawberries growing in planters on the deck. And a new rosemary plant to replace the one that I'd had for a decade or more but was crushed by a falling branch last fall. 

Spent about $50 on the plants plus compost. (Compost has gone up in price by 50%, probably due to transportation costs, so it was $30 for three bags instead  of $20). ETA: just ordered floating row cover to protect the strawberries from birds, so add $10 to the total.

Last year's alpine strawberry plants are doing well, although I'd better get some bird netting soon if I want to have a harvest. Rhubarb plants are bigger and more productive than ever before, although I couldn't find the third plant when I was out checking on the garden this evening. 

I never got around to planting garlic last fall (see above, heart attack and bypass surgery), but fortunately there are at least a dozen plants growing from bulbs that didn't get harvested during the summer. I did pull a few last summer (from planting in 2020), but with not feeling well, apparently I didn't get all of them, and they'll be this year's crop. They're even nicely spaced, since I must have harvested all around them.

The plan for this summer is to focus mainly on yard work, dealing with overgrown areas, more than the garden itself. Things have been let go for too long, and it's time to deal with them. Plus, I need the light exercise as part of my post-surgical rehab. I don't have high expectations for the harvest, just taking a no-stress approach, with gratitude for whatever the plants produce without worrying about maximizing productivity.

Weather has been insane -- colder than normal (but frost-free from an early date) and then suddenly in the 80s, so the tatsoi, that I planted nice and early, didn't grow much in the cold, and then pretty much gave up after a week of August-like weather, and sent up seed stalks. The lettuces and radishes seem less troubled by the crazy weather.

2021 costs

I'm investing a bit in container gardening this year, so the costs will be a little higher, but they won't need to be repeated for another few years. 

 $16.99 Grow bags (two, divided into 4 cells each) 

   22.35 Seeds (lettuce, basil, Alexandria strawberries, tatsoi) 

   20.72 composted manure 

   12.99 potting soil 

     6.50 onion & potato starts

     6.75 assorted seeds: lettuce, radishes, swiss chard

    20.72 composted manure (second set of 3 bags)

I overwintered two banana pepper plants, but expect to buy some bell pepper plants and tomato plants.

If I can find some seed potatoes locally, I have a large planter to put them in. Last year's experiment with left-over grocery store potatoes showed promise, but real seed potatoes and a larger pot would be better. 

I recently cooked some butternut squash and saved the seeds. I haven't had luck with squash lately (critters plus drought), so I'm just going to toss them into a corner of the garden and see what happens with survival of the fittest. 

I also got a flame thrower (okay, flame weeder), mostly for the saplings I'm trying to stop sprouting, but it's sort of for gardening too. 

I planted tatsoi seeds four days ago, because we're having insanely warm weather for March. I'm a little concerned they'll sprout and then regret it when we have some below-30 degree nights this coming week. They're in a planter, too heavy to bring indoors, but I should be able to cover them. I've really missed having tatsoi the last couple of years when I failed to save seed. It should be ready for harvest before regular lettuces. The lettuce did so well on the deck last year that I'm expanding the planting area this year.

Addendum 4/7/21: found cheap seed potatoes and red onion sets, along with  black-seeded simpson lettuce and some random radish and ruby swiss chard (not sure if I have any northern lights left). They may or may not be any good, but I figured it was worth the small cost/effort involved. Not included in the total above is a deck planter for the Greggs, which I plan to fill with lettuce and basil. Maybe an onion or two. I should probably put radishes in it too. But now I need more composted manure first.

End of season wrap-up

 Successes: 

• Planting potatoes in a tub. I didn't get much (drought, using left-over market potatoes), but I can see how it would work well if I did it right! 
• Grape tomatoes -- got a zillion of them from outside the garden for easy access
• Transplanting banana peppers indoors at end of season, so I'll have two (maybe three) really solid plants to go outdoors in the spring
• Thyme is thriving in the bucket in the garden and is at easy picking height
• Black-seeded simpson lettuce grown in a planter on the deck, which never bolted

Not so good: 

• Critters ate all the yellow squash plants
• Drought prevented the banana peppers from producing more than 3 or 4 small peppers
• Drought also killed the dill
• Swiss chard just doesn't like container growing and did terribly

And now it's officially the end of the season. I've brought in all the non-hardy perennials (rosemary, geraniums, peppers) and the sage (just because it was growing in a pot, which might make it non-hardy). 

As the final project, I planted a bunch (twenty? forgot to count, some larger than others) of garlic seedlings that I'm hoping will go straight to full heads next year. They sprouted from bulbils near my deck, and I didn't want to lose them when I was clearing that area over the summer, so I put them in a pot, and they grew exuberantly. It's a little late in the year to plant garlic, but they had such amazing roots that I think they'll be fine and should be off to an early start in the spring. If not, I haven't spent any money on it (and barely any time), so it's no big deal. But if it works, I may do it more intentionally in the future, because those roots were really amazing. More than they can grow in a few weeks from an October-planted clove.  Probably too labor-intensive for commercial growing, but may be just right for home growing.

Over the winter, I plan to cut down a bunch of weedy saplings (in the garden, as well as too close to the house), and then next spring, I'm getting a flame thrower (okay, just a flame weeder), in part to deal with the weedy saplings to stop them regrowing, but also for the garden, so I can reclaim it a bit. I'm also toying with putting a couple raised beds in the side/front yard where there isn't morning sun, but lots of afternoon sun, probably more total than in the back yard. One for growing tomatoes/peppers/basil, and one for squash, onions, and swiss chard. Oh, and green beans. I miss home-grown green beans. The latter bed will need a critter-proof top. 

Late, but not really

Memorial Day weekend is the traditional planting time for warm-weather crops like tomatoes and peppers, so the nursery was almost out of plants when I went today. Except it's not really late; it's just that Memorial Day was early. It's probably better to say that these plants can safely go into the ground the last weekend of May, which is the next two days. So I'm right on schedule.

Or I would be if I'd done any bed prep before now. The weeds have pretty much taken over.

I'm not planning a big garden this year. Just half a dozen each of grape tomatoes and banana peppers, some lettuce and swiss chard and herbs (in containers), plus some yellow squash if the critters don't get to them, and maybe some butternuts (ditto on being subject to critters). I've also got, for the first year since planting 3 years ago, lush rhubarb plants. (Forgot to get a pic; will try to remember and edit tomorrow.) I'm also experimenting with some potatoes that sprouted in the kitchen. I remember reading that they're treated to prevent growing, so I'm about to find out if it's true. They're planted in a bucket, so I can keep topping it off as (if) they grow, and, in theory, have a whole bucket full of potatoes in the fall.

So, yesterday I got some dill seeds, since it's been a while since they self-seeded, and planted them in a bucket with some pre-existing thyme. Today I bought six-packs of grape tomatoes, banana peppers, and yellow squash, for a total of a little less than ten bucks.

I'm expecting rain over the next 24 hours (ridiculously humid weather since yesterday), so no watering yet. I'm hoping to plant the banana peppers (the only seedlings left) tomorrow in between showers.

It should be a cheap growing year, since I already had two bags of compost. I bought some potting soil for the outdoor containers, so that's another five bucks or so. I've already got copper fungicide for the tomatoes. Oh, but I bought a new lopper and a new rake, so that's another fifty bucks or so, but they need to be amortized for the next ten years or so. I may also decide to get some mulch, but I'm not sure I'll need it. There's a pile of grass clippings I can grab, and that may be enough for the small beds I've planted this year.

A different kind of recovery

Lots of people are thinking about starting vegetable gardens this year, and it seems like a good time to get back to my own garden. This recovery won't be a financial one (despite the economic crash and hardships) but more like a recovery of our footing, after such a massive upheaval in our normal lives from the novel coronavirus.

The last couple of growing seasons weren't great, mostly because ever since contracting Lyme disease from ticks in my own back yard, I hadn't been particularly enthusiastic about spending time out there. I think I'm ready to venture out again.

I was out puttering around in the garden today, the first nice day in what feel likes six months. Two (of three) rhubarb plants are looking better than ever, so I weeded around them and added a bunch of composted manure, and will toss some mulch around them the next time I'm out there. I also transplanted the third plant (which broke into two, so now there are four plants, albeit small ones), which wasn't doing well in another location. It too got a bunch of manure to be followed by mulch.

I expected the asparagus to be up, because I keep hearing of other gardeners in the state starting to harvest the spears in the last two weeks. I must have a different microclimate (maybe they have raised beds, and I don't), because they usually sprout in early May for me. It is early May, but apparently still too early. Or else my neglect has finally killed them, but I tend to think that every year, and it's just me being anxious for fresh asparagus. When eaten directly in the garden, or within a few hours of harvest (as opposed to days) it's excellent uncooked. Sweet and just a little crunchy.

Ironically, last fall was the first time in probably 20 years that I didn't get around to planting the garlic for this year's harvest. We won't be deprived though, because I have millions of volunteer plants. The heads will be small, because they're too crowded to grow to full potential, but perfectly edible. At some point, I'll transplant them somewhere with better spacing, to be next year's main crop.

Garlic for 2019

Planted 79 cloves (all Russian, I believe) today. Also somewhere between 100 and a 1000 bulbils (also mostly Russian), although "planting" may be an exaggeration -- more like tossed them all on a lightly dug up patch of ground and covered up so no one could see the evidence of the mess. Except next spring, it's all going to sprout and look like a little rectangle of newly seeded lawn, so my laziness won't be invisible any longer.

The bulbils are intended as a nursery for future plants. I'll transplant them in the spring, most likely, but not plan to harvest them until 2020 (when my garlic farm cozy mystery is released!).

Costs for 2018

This is going to be a sparse planting year. I'm having trouble getting inspired after last year's encounter with Lyme-carrying ticks. Plus, the garden area has gotten increasingly shady as trees have grown around it.

So, I'm keeping both planting and costs down.

So far:

Onion sets:  $3.99
2 tomato varieties (grape and San Marzano), red sails lettuce, swiss chard bright lights, banana peppers, basil, at $3.19 each = $19.14

Total: about $23

The lettuces, swiss chard and some of the basil was planted in the "annex" next door.


Updated to say that the investment was largely a net loss. Except for the garlic crop, which was pretty much the same as past years, except a higher percentage of the Russian variety compared to the German variety, everything else was essentially a loss. Got maybe a handful of grape tomatoes, a dozen or fewer banana peppers, no swiss chard (planted in a planter with unexpectedly terrible soil), no onions (due to drought at key growing times). Got some basil, which was frozen with olive oil for perking up winter meals.

Fall planting for 2018

I'm still not recovered from my resistance to being outside after getting Lyme Disease this summer and seeing far too many deer ticks (including one that got on me just a week or so ago).

But I finally got the garlic planted for next year. Except I forgot to count how many cloves I had. Probably in the 60 to 75 range for the Russian variety. We'll see when they come up next spring. And I forgot to set aside some seed cloves of the German variety, so I decided not to worry about them, since I've got volunteers all over the place in order to continue the line. I did have a handful (maybe twenty cloves?) of the German variety, and I did toss them into the garden. They were on the small side, though, so not likely to be much of a harvest from them next year.

Recovery versus recovery

My garden suffered this year while I was recovering from some health issues (Lyme Disease, among other things; I became part of the statistics on the increase in incidence and wasn't at all inspired to go outside where I might get munched on again by a disease-bearing tick). It didn't help that we were in drought for much of the summer. Plus, there was more critter damage (wiped out the green beans and swiss chard), now that my garden cat is gone.

Here's the dreary harvest totals (and most of the harvest is from spring and early summer, before the Lyme and drought hit):

asparagus: 18 stalks
rhubarb: 2 1/4 pounds
Russian garlic (smaller heads due to drought): 61
German garlic (also smaller): 60
Shallots: 4
Grape tomatoes: 6 handfuls
black raspberries (plentiful, but I was too sick to harvest): 1 cup
yellow squash: 2
zucchini, pumpkin, butternut, swiss chard, beans: 0
paste tomatoes: less than a dozen
basil: 2 cups
dill: produced seeds, but not harvested due to being sick

Planting 2017

So far, we've got:

80 Russian garlic (planted in 2016)
60 German garlic (planted in 2016)
6 shallots (planted 10 in 2016)
the usual rhubarb and asparagus (perennials)
the usual perennial herbs (sage, rosemary, thyme, chives)
bramble patch for black raspberries (perennial)
6 banana peppers
16 New Ace peppers
5 cherry tomatoes
6 Roma tomatoes
a row of green beans (not up yet)
a row of swiss chard (not up yet)
3 or 4 yellow squash (not up yet)
dill in a bucket (with nasturtiums)


I still need to plant a zucchini or two for zucchini bread and maybe bread & butter pickles.

The spring tatsoi went to seed due to some unusually hot weather.

I'm waiting another week or two before starting the butternut, so it won't get too big before the garlic it shares space with is harvested.

The garlic count above doesn't include some transplanted rounds of Russian, and there are quite a few of those.

I waited too long to plant snap peas due to variable weather. I'm considering planting a fall crop.

No onions this year. The local nursery has changed hands, and they only offered white onions, and I prefer growing the red ones.

Costs 2017

Local nursery $9
(6 each: banana peppers, cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes)

Ventura Grain (composted manure) $19

Different local nursery $12
(16 New Ace peppers)

Seeds from Johnny's:

We must cultivate our gardens

In recognition of the incompetent and dangerous forces that are in charge of the American government as of noon yesterday, the idea of a "recovery garden" has an extra layer of meaning for me now. I'll be cultivating my garden, both literally and figuratively in the coming years.

In addition to the reckoning I've given in the past for my literal cultivation, I'll be documenting my figurative cultivation.

In the last two months, I've donated to Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center, who will all have an increased burden in the coming years. I've been knitting brightly colored chemo caps as a contribution to the health care system, which will be under attack in the coming years.

Yesterday, at the time of the inauguration,  I was marking my opposition by donating to a food pantry, to help what I anticipate to be a growing need over the coming years as income inequality is exacerbated, and more people fall below the poverty level.

My main focus going forward will be on issues relating to access to health care. The health care system is broken in so many ways, and the first steps that were taken in the last eight years in order to fix it, the things that were finally coming to fruition and making a real difference in people's lives are now on the verge of being undone, sending the system into chaos and threatening many, many lives.

There are promises to create a better system for all, and I hope I'm wrong that the promises are lies, but in the meantime, I will be cultivating whatever seeds I can find to improve access to good health care.

Fall planting for 2017

In a marathon of digging, compost-spreading and planting, I got the garlic into the ground (a little late, since I aim for the second half of October, but it's only 3 days after that). Still need to get all the garlic rows (and the 10 shallots I also planted today) mulched.

Tally: total of about 150, broken down between 80+ of Russian and 60+ of what was supposed to be German, but I mixed up the heads during the harvest, so I suspect that at least half of them are Russian. I'm not too worried, because we still have a ton of the German stock growing wild, so I could always transplant them into a new bed and let them grow to their potential. I also have a significant number of rounds of the Russian variety that were transplanted in the summer and have sprouted, some of them to about 3" high, although I didn't keep count.

Big change from last year, when only 30 or so were Russian and 75 were German.

One thing I noticed today that I hadn't before -- the papers on the Russian ones are a lot tougher than the German ones, making it harder to break the heads apart for planting. Probably not noticeable when breaking up a single head for cooking, but annoying when breaking up double digits' worth of heads.

Worst Garden Ever

This summer was absolutely, positively the worst gardening season I've ever experienced. Hot and dry. Everything withered. Truly pitiful harvest:

• asparagus (before drought): 40 stalks
• rhubarb (before drought): 1 pound
• German garlic: about 60 (smaller than expected)
• Russian garlic: about 30 from previously planted cloves, another 30 or more from rounds. Kinda' lost count. They were small enough that it was hard to tell which were Russian and which were German
• Snap peas: a dozen or two
• Green beans: 2 quarts (two separate plantings)
• summer squash: 5
• butternut squash (from volunteers; purchased plants died): 4
• Kabocha squash: 0
• banana peppers: half a dozen, puny
• Ace peppers: half a dozen, puny (and the nursery where I got the variety has closed, so I don't know what I'll do for plants next year)
• onions: 30 white (small to average), 20 red (small)
• shallots: 9, but only good for replanting
• Cherry tomatoes: best crop, but still far fewer than in a normal year
• swiss chard: 3 plants. Puny.