Category Archives: vegetables

Veggies 6.0

spring, vegetables

Today was windy and a bit chillier than this past week, but I took some time  to plant the cold weather crops. Wednesday had been beautiful, sunny and warm, so I had turned the soil over in  the 4’x4′ beds with a pitchfork. There were a few stray parsnips and green onions to remove. Otherwise the soil looked great.

This year I decided to only plant what we really like to eat and what “makes sense.” Even though we use the square foot gardening method, real estate in the 4’x4′ raised beds is precious. There will be no carrots this season since we don’t eat them often enough to give them a 70 day stay in the bed. We also are passing on beets. All our cold crops are direct sown into the soil as seeds.

2015 Spring Cold Crop Lineup

  • Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach
  • French Breakfast Radish
  • Baby Bok Choy Pak Choi
  • All Season Butterhead Mix Lettuce
  • Hollow Crown Parsnips
  • Oregon Sugar Pod II Peas
  • Jolly Jester Marigold

Tee-Peas

Last year we attempted to grow sugar peas up a bamboo tee-pee set atop a large planter. It was quite successful, so we’ll be doing that again this year. In a couple of weeks I’ll put together the container with snow pea seeds with the addition of pansies. This was a fun container idea shared by Rebecca Finneran, aptly named a P-Pot, at this year’s Smart Gardening conference. I’ll also assemble some smaller containers for Bright Lights Swiss Chard and Burgundy Okra.

Jefferson – Gardener, Botanist, and Foodie

education, vegetables

This evening I was able to attend a lecture given by Peter Hatch about Thomas Jefferson’s vegetable garden at Monticello. Peter served as the director of gardens and grounds at Monticello for 35 years. After arriving there in 1977, he helped restore the gardens to their original, grand state with the aid of Jefferson’s meticulous garden and land survey notes and drawings.

Thomas Jefferson referred to the 8 acre vegetable garden as his “retirement garden.” The 1,000 ft long terrace was carved out of the side of a hill and overlooked a fruit orchard and berry patches. This unique location allowed year-around growing since it created a type of microclimate.

Within the vegetable garden, Jefferson planted according to which part of the plant was to be harvested. He kept a garden journal with detailed notes on when vegetables were planted, sprouted, blossomed, and bore fruit. From the slides we were shown of this journal, one could also see the word “failed” written in many columns. This did not seem to discourage him.

The vegetable garden became a type of “Ellis Island” for new and experimental plants from all parts of the world. Jefferson used the garden as a type of laboratory. He often grew vegetables not easily found elsewhere like potatoes, tomatoes, okra, pattypan squash, and peppers. He would document life cycles of garden pests and how the insects affected the plants. Jefferson’s Garden Book is available for browsing on the Massachusettes Historical Society’s website.

Veggies 5.0

spring, Urban gardening, vegetables

With spring running a few weeks behind, we planted the cold weather crops today in the 4’x4′ vegetable beds in the backyard of the Lot. I had ventured out this past week to pick up some new vegetables to try. Those are marked with an asterix below.

The Cold Crop Lineup

Here is what the first round of planting included:

  • Melting Sugar Snow Peas
  • Oregon Sugar Pod II Peas*
  • Hollow Crown Parsnips
  • Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach*
  • Evergreen Long White Bunching Onion
  • French Breakfast Radish
  • Baby Bok Choy Pak Choi*
  • All Season Butterhead Mix Lettuce

From Lot to Pot

This season we will be growing some of the veggies in pots. I picked up some Bright Lights Swiss Chard to plant among the pots and even in the perennial beds because it is so pretty and colorful. It’s a bonus we get to eat it!

Since we love snow peas so much, two different varieties were planted. I also planted a large container with a tee-pee trellis with snow peas. When the snow peas are finished for the season, this large pot will be the home of a tomato plant.