Today we picked up a package from USPS. After a long wait for our hatch date from Meyer Hatchery our Jumbo Cornish Cross Broiler chicks have arrived. They are only two days old and completely unscaved even though it’s January and we just had a couple of freezing days. I was hoping that our nice weather would stick around a bit longer but thankfully the temperature did not dip too low. We completed our brooding boxes a little over a week ago. We put the heating lamps on the night before and the temperature was just right to get them…
Harvesting White/Yellow and Purple Cauliflower
It has been a little over 2 months since I transplanted the cauliflower into my raised beds. After a lot of hard work they are finally ready to harvest. I can’t wait to eat them with some ranch dressing. I faced multiple challenges growing these plants. The biggest challenge was slugs eating my plants. They mostly came out during the night after some rain so it took me a while to figure out what was happening. All I saw was huge holes in the leaves of my cauliflower. I bought a black light to help me see bugs at night…
Planting Radish
I planted radish seeds mid April. There was a slight chance of frost but I decided to press my luck. As the weather got warmer I figured the soil will be warm enough and worst case I can always cover the seeds with plastic. I haven’t grown radish before so I was excited to get started. The seeds germinated pretty quickly. I believe they germinated in under a week. I planted other greens at the same time an none of the other seeds germinated. I believe about 80% of the seeds germinated leaving me with some bushy spots. I may…
Cauliflower Update
I planted my cauliflower seedlings in April. I knew it was too early to plant but we had over a week of warm weather so I decided to go for it. I got 4 different varieties of cauliflower some of which I am growing in containers. I got white, green, purple and orange cauliflower. This is my first time growing cauliflower so I am learning as I go. About a week after planting the temperatures dropped and we got a lot of rain. There was even talk of snow. I had to cover the plants until the weather warmed up.…
Transplanting Tomatoes
It has been two months and one week since my tomatoes germinated. I have been waiting to transplant these tomatoes for a couple of weeks, but I had to wait to harvest my Pak Choi. Check out my older posts for more info on the planting process. #tomatoes I fed the tomatoes regularly using liquid organic fertilizer. I watered the tomatoes every day using a 1G spray bottle. Every 2nd or 3rd watering I used the fertilizer. I had another 1G pray bottle on hand pre-mixed with the fertilizer. Check out my product’s page for the exact fertilizer I use.…
Pak Choi – Joi Choi
In April we bought some Pak Choi seedlings from the Brooklyn Market. I tried to plant some seeds in growing pods but they came out very tall and thin. They had a hard time standing up. I planted 7 trays and even the ones that I had placed under the light did not look as good as these ones from the market Pak Choi can withstand colder temperatures which means you can plant it outside much earlier than other plants. Most of the other plants will go in the ground end of May. To take advantage of multiple harvests we…
Spa Mint Water Recipes
Everywhere in my garden I can see fresh mint popping up. The rich green leaves are hard to miss even amidst the tall unmowed grass. Some people can confuse mint for weeds as it is very hard to kill even without watering. But a quick smell test can set you straight. All you have to do is rub your fingers on the leaf to smell the nice mint aroma. Mint can also be medicinal. Mint tea can calm an upset stomach. To make the tea simply cut up some mint leaves and boil them. You can also use dry leaves…
Planting Cauliflower
We had a few days with warm weather so I decided to plant the Cauliflower I bought a week earlier form the Brooklyn market. It was probably way too early for outdoor planting (April) but I figured I would give it a go. Worst case scenario I would need to figure out how to cover it. Since its been already over a week since I bough these it is hard to say if these seedling would survive much longer in their current container anyway. I planted the Cauliflower in one of my smaller raised beds. The bed has full sun…
Tomatoes @ 4 Weeks
A little more then 4 weeks ago I planted seeds of 4 tomato varieties. Two heirloom varieties: Abe Lincoln and Red Currant. I also planted a hybrid 4th of July tomato as well as a cherry Gardener’s Delight. I planted all of these in 16oz cups. I used 2 stacked cups. I put some wholes on the bottom on the inside cup to allow water drainage. The second cup acted like a saucer. Each cup was filed with my own soil/fertilizer concoction I will talk about in a separate article. Each cup contained 2 seeds. I stored the cups in…
Gardener’s Delight Tomatoes
This year I decided to plant tomatoes from seed. Last year I bought my plants in Home Depot and this year I wanted to save some money. I figure if it doesn’t go well I can still buy small plants right before it is time to transplant them outside. I choose 4 different varieties one of which was a cherry-tomato Gardener’s Delight. Started the seeds directly in soil using a 16 oz cup. I used two cups, inner one with a whole in the bottom. Did this on March 17th hopefully its not too early! Days To Harvest: 67-68Days to…