Cowichan Valley Garden Club

Feb 13th February 2021

Vegetable gardening for January:

• Have cleaned the outside windows on the greenhouse and will finish the inside when the weather is a little better
• Have drawn up a calendar for when I want to start seeds in the house and when to start planting outside
• The garden planting map is done with consideration for companion planting and is completed in pencil as there are always many revisions
• Middle of February will start onion and leek seeds in 1 gallon pots in the house, on heat mats
• Also will start several flowers, many to be used in the vegetable garden.  Marigolds, sunflowers, balsam.

Jan 15th January 2021

What I am doing in my Vegetable Garden in January:

• Rescued cabbage that was taken from garden in October with its roots and soil and placed in a bucket in a cool room until now.  Split in half and noted there is a substantial amount of the cabbage that is just fine.  The ugly leaves on the outside just peel off.  There are several small cabbages growing on the stem.   May try to see if more soil and some watering help next time.
• Transplanted lettuce and kale that has started in the greenhouse from the compost spread in the fall.   The seedlings are about 3 inches tall and were moved to a more orderly arrangement on one side of the greenhouse that has had wet compost dug in over the winter.
• Planted Alyssum seed from the overwintered plants in the greenhouse then removed last year’s plants.
• Next week before cold snap will remove the last three winter cabbages from the garden and put them in the fridge.
• Ordered seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  Some seeds were already out of stock so recommend getting your seeds early.
• Beginning of February will plant some Chinese greens such as mizuna in the greenhouse.
• The garlic is up nicely.
• Chinese greens overwintering in the outside garden bed are looking good.

Linda

Dec 12th December 2020

• still doing the clean up of the odd corner not done
• putting lime and manure on any portion of the beds that become empty due to harvesting and then topping with maple leaves
• harvesting carrots, parsnips, Chinese greens and cabbage as needed
• stored a large cabbage with it’s roots and soil in a bucket in a cool room.  Outside of it is brown and dead looking but it seems to be solid.  Will open it in January and see how well it stored.
• grew ginger in an old canner.  The harvest was small but in addition to the new rhizomes the old pieces originally planted were still good.  Got a harvest that is chopped up and frozen but doubt I will do it again as a large harvest requires two years.

Apr 13th April 2020

What I am Doing in My Garden in April 2020

Well, lots of things are happening.  The plants that I had started last month are looking pretty good.  Tomatoes are 6 to 8 inches tall and I have been taking them out to the sunshine for a couple of hours each day. Sunburned them a little bit the first time so am being more cautious.  They are however overcoming my shortcoming.  I will continue running them in and out for longer periods and expect to plant them mid May or maybe a little earlier if it is going to be really nice at night.  The peppers are doing well too and having their daily sun vacation. They also will be going out mid to early May, especially as they will be going in the greenhouse.  Well most of them will be as I have lots.  The fancy hot peppers may just go outside in pots.

I also started cabbage and napa cabbage.  These are looking good and a little better with the outdoor transition than the softer veg.  They will be planted out in a week or so. Just checking the night temperatures which look to be warming.

Also started a lot of onions and leeks in 1 gallon pots.  I mean a lot in each pot! So seeing my error I decided that I would use some tweezers to thin them down to a dull roar.  It worked quite well. I also cut the onions back to about two inches.  They were probably 8 inches long.  I did read that doing that makes them produce more leaves, makes sense, and some growers cut them back twice in order to get maximum leaves.  Every leaf produces another layer on the onion and it seems that a really good onion can have 13 layers.  I may cut some of them back a second time when I plant. A test. I have not cut back the leeks although they are at least 8 inches long. I could not find any solid discussion on whether that was a good thing to do.  I will try to plant both the onions and leeks in 2 to 3 weeks.

I have been working on final preparations on the garden beds, with only a couple left to go now.  Since I added manure and lime in the fall I have just removed leaves, added compost and some kelp and alfalfa meal, then a little dig in.  Not really a dig, just a mix.  Then put leaves back on where we have drip hoses.  Merv is redoing 3 more beds and adding more drip hoses.

Along with sorting out the beds I have been planting a little each day so that by the end of April most of the garden will be planted aside from the bedding plants.  So far I have carrots, parsnip, beets, radish, peas, Chinese Broccoli, and kohlrabi in.

I will plant kale, more greens of different varieties, sweet peas and whatever else crosses my mind this week.  I will start melons, cucumbers and squashes in the house in a week.

I did start lettuce, radish, pak choi and various greens in the greenhouse about a month ago and they are doing very well.  The lettuce I overwintered is providing a good supply and of course last year’s kale is providing an abundance.

So happy vegetable gardening.

Mar 11th March 2020

What I am doing in the Garden March 2020
Weather has been cool so not rushing to plant outside.

• This Friday planting my new starts – tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, ground cherries and tomatillos.
• Onions and leeks up well in house, also ginger.
• Making sure all the areas in the garden have manure and lime. Some were left out in the fall because they have vegetables we were eating.
• Merv will start replacing two more of the current beds with roofing metal beds as the wood is rotting.  Also replacing sprinkler watering with drip hoses every foot as the beds are replaced.
• Will plant some of the carrots, beets, kale, chard, parsnips, cabbage and kohlrabi soon.
• Will plant lettuce, some Chinese greens, zinnias, marigolds and alyssum in the green house and see if they will get going even though it is cool.
• Planting pink and white dandelions for salads.

Oct 13th October 2019

Vegetable Gardening in October

• The last of the large peppers in the greenhouse are still ripening, will watch and then dehydrate them most likely still green but good for cooking
• Currently we are picking the end of the second crop of figs on our Desert King tree, the final scarlet runner beans, an odd cucumber.  Tomatoes under cover are OK, but the bigger ones have been picked and are in the basement to ripen slowly. Will take most of them out soon.
• Good crop of carrots and parsnips under netting. Grew well this year with no carrot rust fly and sand added to the soil.
• Will start mulching the beets and carrots so they won’t freeze.
• Kohlrabi that didn’t fill out very well over the summer have filled out well now since it is cooler.
• Raspberries have old plants cleaned out and the giant stalks are tied down to the top wire. Currently producing but slowly.
• Time to get ready to plant your garlic, we will do so in the next couple of weeks. Plant them 6 inches apart with about an inch or so of soil on top. Then mulch with leaves.
• Have witches tongue and crispy mint lettuce up and will move it to a new bed after we get the manure and lime in it.
• The broccoli planted from seeds in July is growing strongly. It was supposed to be summer purple sprouting broccoli but the sprouts are only purple dots. So have covered and will see if it withstands the winter and sprouts in the spring.
• Still harvesting the later crop of cabbage.
• Will be putting manure and lime on all the beds soon, then put leaves on top. At least that is the plan. It is a little difficult in areas because there are several fall/winter crops still and will have to work around them.

Sep 22nd September 2019

September 2019 – Garden Club Vegetable Talk

• Planting fall greens such as Mizuna, Lettuce, Radish, Pac Choi, Winter Peas, Mustard, Spinach
• Picking beans, tomatoes, tomatillos, cucumbers, ground cherries, fall raspberries, plums, grapes, eggplants, peppers and second crop figs
• Making sauerkraut from the cabbage 4 ½ gallons today
• Drying off onions and garlic for storage
• Saving seeds from tomatoes, ground cherries and lemon cucumber
• Letting lettuce go to seed so it will come up as an early crop in the spring
• Freezing and dehydrating crop, currently making grapes into lots of raisins, tomatoes and figs as they come along
• Starting to clean out areas and fill the compost bin
• Making copious notes in my garden book about what to grow and not next year, things to change and wish list.
• Sent in a soil sample for testing on a couple of beds I am not happy with.
• Had our first crop of nectarines this summer, very delicious.
• Cut down one plum and some nut trees and are starting to shop for other fruit trees to replace them.

Jun 26th June 2019

What Am I doing in My Veg Garden June 2019

• Thinning all those rows planted last month, beets, chard, carrots, kohlrabi etc.
• Planting more carrots and beets
• Moving new seedlings to permanent places on the cooler days. Some of these were raised in furnace ducting filled with soil. Includes lettuce, sui choi, celtuce, multi colored spinach (an amaranth) and winter turnips
• Taking out plants past their prime such as mizuna, lettuce and other greens to make way for the new seedlings
• Pinching out the indeterminate tomatoes and tying them up
• Weeding and of course eating as many as possible, currently dehydrating purslane to grind up for soups
• Keeping a close eye on which plants are being eaten and taking care of the culprits
• Setting up the shade cloth and making sure to put it out on very hot days
• Setting up climbing structures for cucumbers and squash
• Picking strawberries, raspberries, rhubarb and lots of greens
• Watering and being obsessed about who is not doubling quickly enough
• Clean out your deep freeze to be ready

May 13th May 2019

What is happening in the veg garden this month        May 2019

• The greens, cabbages, etc. are growing well.  Planted out the Pink Chinese Celery and it is doing well.  Purple lady bok choy has developed well and I will be transplanting some of it.  Hoping to collect seed from some of this spring batch.
• Onions and leeks planted, about 150
• The peppers, tomatoes and eggplant starts are all doing well and the tomatoes and tomatillos particularly are very tall, 2 ½ feet, so I will plant the tomatoes, tomatillos and ground cherries out on Friday and the others in the greenhouse and outside in a couple of weeks.
• I have started squash and  cucumbers. I have found they do better starting them from seed in the house.
• The beans will be planted about mid-month.
• More carrots, beets and Kohlrabi will go in again about mid-month.  The first sowings are started. Some beets self sowed and I have thinned and transplanted them.
• Zinnia and French marigold seedlings are doing well and some of these will be moved to the flower beds in the front yard and the rest will stay in the veg garden for color.
• Planted fresh parsnip seeds in the new carrot fly free bed which will be covered this year.  Do have some large ones left over in the other bed and will save some for seed.
• Still getting some of the beds ready, seem to be planting as I go.
• Watering!!

Apr 11th April 2019

What I am doing in the Garden April 2019 – Linda Hohenacker

Weather has been hot in March, but now cool and wet with the odd hot day.

• Planted outdoors Chinese greens, radish, chicory, endive, peas and sweet peas.
• Transplanted lettuce that over wintered and new Chinese Cabbage to greenhouse.  Overwintered lettuce outside is doing great too.
• Planted seed for Zinnias and French Marigold in greenhouse to be planted out to gardens later.
• Currently plant sitting my new starts – tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, onions, leeks, cabbage, Chinese pink celery, ground cherries and tomatillos
• Having trouble with some pepper seeds I think I must learn how to save them as must be taking them too soon before the pepper is really ripe.
• Have started adding organic steer manure and compost to top of beds, not digging, and will add the fertilizer I make when I go to plant each bed.
• Strawberries and raspberries cleaned up nicely and manure, compost and fertilizer added.
• Merv is replacing two of the current beds with roofing metal beds as the wood is rotting.  Will be ongoing. Also replacing sprinkler watering with drip hoses every foot as the beds are replaced.
• Beets and lettuce are coming up nicely in place where I saved seed last year.  Will sort them out and keep as much as possible.
• Will plant some of the carrots, beets, kale, chard, parsnips, cabbage and kohlrabi soon.
• By end of month will hopefully plant the onions and leeks out and also the cabbage and other cooler weather plants started in the house.
• Will start cucumbers and squashes in the house.
• Have my soil report back from MB labs now have to figure out what needs to be amended in the beds.