Harvest Monday, 10/15/18

The kale plants seeded in March are still with us. Nero di Toscana kale is pictured here along with thinnings of various pak chois.

White moth caterpillars have been a menace this year. I've had to spray with Bt, an organic method of control, multiple times throughout the season. October's temperatures have finally dropped, so hopefully the moths won't be around much longer.

I had already started destemming the Galega de Folhas Lisas kale and trimming the Tall Top Early Wonder beets before I thought to take some pictures. The leaves on this kale are ginormous and the tallest plant is five feet tall. This variety of beet is extremely slow growing, it was planted in June and these are the biggest specimens. It's probably a combination of flea beetles and our hot weather that stunted them.

Both varieties of kale are growing in the shadiest bed. I find them extremely tender, although we don't eat kale raw. They mainly go in soups or just simply sautéed with eggs.

The plan is to harvest sweet potatoes next week if the soil dries out enough. And the Siam Queen basil has been hanging on, we've been eating tons of it in pho. So good, especially with added shrimp which isn't authentic, but delicious nonetheless.

Please join us for Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres.

Eggshells Keep Slugs and Snails from Eating Plants in the Garden

The eggshells are definitely thwarting the slugs in their attempt to eradicate the bok choy that were started in pots from the stubby ends of store bought vegetables. No more bok choy buffet for the slugs.

After just a week, the bigger bok choy has grown by leaps and bounds after the eggshell application. The small bok choy has quickly started to leaf out in just that short amount of time. I thought the plants were stunted from the cold. Nope. They were being munched on. I suppose the eggshells are tough on the soft bodies of the slugs.

Hmm. Now we know what must have happened to the spinach seeds that were planted outside in a pot. I thought they had failed to germinate but more than likely the seedlings were someone's midnight snack.

Planting Bok Choy from the Supermarket Grocery Store

Month old bok choy base planted after using stems and leaves. 

A slug was caught munching on this newly replanted bok choy base, leaves are starting to form.

This cold weather is driving me crazy. I was promised shorter winters when I moved south. It's March and the temperature is still in the 20's (-6 Celsius). On top of it, the wet cold weather is thwarting the spring tilling of the soil, so we can't even prepare the ground for planting.

In an effort to stave off cabin fever, I've been taking bok choy from the grocery store and after using the stems and leaves, the bottoms are then stuck in water or soil to get them to grow again. Since it's an experiment, the supermarket plants have been braving the outside elements and they actually seem to be growing. I caught a slug munching on a plant last night so I went ahead and sprinkled some crushed eggshells around the bok choy's pot. Needless to say, I squealed like a little girl when I reached down and touched it before registering what it was. A very soft squeal since it was late at night.

The larger bok choy is about a month older and first spent a week in water with leaves forming quickly, but no roots so I stuck it in a pot outside. The other one was just set directly into the dirt a couple of weeks ago but a slug was caught nibbling on it, so who knows if it would have formed leaves earlier without slug involvement. Once the weather warms the bok choy should really take off.