Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Friday, September 19, 2008

What's growing?

Sugar pie pumpkinsI know y'all probably don't care too much about what I have growing in my backyard, but I'm pretty excited about it and wanted to share. Plus, this acts as a recorded catalog of what I have so I can look back on it later. And, I really need to update the sidebar list.

Anyway, I generally announce here and there what I'm planting so I thought I'd create a complete list so you can see how it's possible to squeeze in a bunch of stuff into an urban lot. I still have quite a bit more yard to work with and quite a bit more lawn I can put raised beds into so there are always plans for the future if I want to expand the volume.

Okay, here we go! These are listed in no particular order.

Vegetables
Black Krim tomatoes
San Marzano tomatoes
Sweet Million cherry tomatoes
Napa cabbage
Viroflay spinach
Nero Di Toscana kale
Purple top globe turnips
Bulls blood beets
Mixed mustard greens
Broccoli raab
Black beauty zucchini
Cucumbers
Leeks
Early Italian purple garlic
Yukon Gold potatoes
French Fingerling potatoes
Oregon sugar snap peas
Anaheim peppers
Cayenne peppers
Sugar Pie pumpkins

Fruits
Tristar strawberries
Meyer lemon
Dwarf fig negronne
4 x 1 cherry (Rainier, Lapin, Bing, Sweetheart)
Bluecrop blueberries
Olympia blueberries
Catawba grapes
Pinot Noir grapes

Herbs
French tarragon
Genovese sweet basil
Italian flatleaf parsley
Dukat dill
Berggarten sage
Rosemary
Dark leaf oregano
English lavender
English thyme
Bay laurel
Spearmint

Whew! I think I've got them all. I ripped out a huge rose bush yesterday and hope to plant a dwarf Honeycrisp or Akane apple tree in its place. I still have a bunch more work to do in the yard to get it where I want it, but at least this is a start!

I'm going to try to keep the winter produce going this year. It just takes a lot of daily planning since we tend to not go out back when it's cold and it gets so dark early during the winter that I generally don't want to rummage around out back to get food and herbs when I'm making dinner.

Speaking of winter vegetables... what's your favorite winter vegetable?

19 comments:

Jenn said...

Do you have pictures or a diagram of how your garden is laid out? I'm really pushing it at 12' x 16' -- I can't take up more yard, but I would love to have kale and potatoes and stuff. Just no space.

Am thinking about putting in some raised beds for stuff that doesn't require a ton of direct sunlight for next season and am also getting a cold frame (have to get plastic (yikes) sheeting to cover it for winter).

Tara said...

Butternut squash and rutabagas! AND, I actually have room to grow them now! Ooh, and greens. Actually, on the whole, I think I like winter veggies better than summer veggies.

Cave-Woman said...

How much space are you growing all of you goodies in?

Also--have you tried a potato bin? I hear good things about space management/productivity with them.

Anonymous said...

that's amazing! planting a garden will definitely be on my list for next spring - and that list was such an inspiration.

my favorite winter vegetable is fennel (i think that's winter!). it's a new taste for me but i can't get enough!

Anonymous said...

My favorite winter vegetables are carrots: purple, pink, white, and yellow (in that order).

@jennconspiracy: Here's a small yard that might give you some inspiration - they're growing potatoes using just one foot (and growing vertically). Here are instructions for how to build the "potato condo."

Theresa said...

I never get tired of potatoes! Baked, mashed, whipped, fried, stuffed - mmmm...potatoes! I got quite a good harvest of potatoes and I didn't even hill them very well because I had no clue what I was doing.

I am thinking of doing the potato bin thing next year - I've even heard that you can do this with a stack of tires. You add a tire and dirt when it's time to hill the plant, and then remove the tires one by one as you want to harvest them. In colder climates like mine the tires are good for heat absorption too.

MissAnna said...

Thanks for posting the list! (I'm in Renton so this'll help me next spring). Ditto on the diagram comment though--when you get the chance would you show us how you laid everything out (especially relative to sun exposure?)

Also, if I'm going to rip up lawn for a garden, is it better to do so now and leave the dirt exposed all winter or just rip it up in the spring?

Anonymous said...

Favorite winter veg = collard greens...no contest...also chickweed, which is considered a weed 'cause it needs no help what so ever...it is a yummy and extremely nutritious salad green. It just started coming up here in NC and will grow all winter and into spring...the rabbits love it and will choose it over my kale and collards :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Crunchy!
My "tomato project" has been successful this year! I planted 4 early varieties in 3 different places to see what would give the best yeild, if any. I finally have some quantity to deal with! I pulled my brussels sprouts out yesterday-- they were covered with a mildew or pest I don't have time to deal with.

Current crop:
Jet star, Bloody Butcher, Mariglobe, and one other tomato
summer squash and zucchini-- not sure which varieties finally had yield-- it's in my log
beans are setting to dry

I'll have more time next summer and more plans to expand.

Miss Sub said...

color me impressed!

TDP said...

Butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and yams are my favorite winter veggies. Like Tara, I also enjoy rutabags, but only if they're mashed in with red or white potatoes.

I need to look at that potato condo thing. Seems the one thing I planted this fall that is going gangbusters is the potato I plunked into a container!

Laura said...

MissAnna - you should try the no dig method from "the Urban Homestead" for covering over your lawn. I haven't tried it (I'm renting) but it seems as though it would work like a dream. Much less back breaking work, anyway.

I so want to try tater tires! That may be next.

Beets are my latest fav. I 'm not growing any yet though.

Hey Crunch, how long does it take for you to get fruit from a dwarf fruit tree? Are the trees very expensive?
I would like to do an espalier on the front of our rented duplex. But I don't want to spend a ton of money and not get fruit until a few years later. :D

Anonymous said...

Theresa, I planted potatos in tire stacks this year. I haven't dug them up yet, though, to see how they did (we forgot to water for, uh, a while, and never did get all the dirt into them we intended.)

BUT - even though I have a lot of tire planters, the tire stacks of potatos apparently crossed the invisible line between decoration and trash. I'm fighting a city citation for using them. If people can see your tires, put something decorative around them!

Sharlene said...

Soooooo.....incredibly....jealous.....

Crunchy Chicken said...

Once I get my act in gear, I'll draw up a diagram of what's where. For the most part I have three 4' x 4' raised beds where the veggies grow. The herbs and trees are planted in borders around the lawn. The potatoes are in plastic storage bins.

Crunchy Chicken said...

Missanna - I would rip it up in the spring since you'll have regrowth of some sort over the winter.

The other option is to be extremely lazy and cover the patch with cardboard boxes and/or newspaper and it will kill the lawn underneath.

Crunchy Chicken said...

Laura - the more mature the tree, the more expensive they are. I generally buy trees that are a couple years old (except for my super mini fig tree), but they are not that expensive - less than $30.

Dwarf trees produce, again dependent on their age. Usually the year after planting our cherry, blueberries, figs they all have been productive.

Unknown said...

The way you are presenting the whole description of your garden, it is amazing and you are creative person and you are urging people to grow more vegetables in the garden that is major purpose of your blog. I really appreciate your effort.

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Anonymous said...

favorite winter vegetable? that's a tough one. Whichever happens to be on my plate at the time. Probably a toss-up between parsnips (I leave them in the ground all winter) and butternut squash (store in the garage). I'm growing rutabagas for the first time, but they haven't "bulbed-up" yet.