The Ambitious Gardener: February 2015

Last harvest of fall carrots

Happy New Year!!! It's been relatively quite in the garden since my last post in October 2014. My fall plantings of carrots, kale, lettuce, spinach and onions was very prolific. To the left was my last harvest of carrots. I'm having a bit of an issue with the soil turning grey and hard about 3 inches down so a lot of the carrots seemed stunted in growth. I will have to research this problem because I am having to replace whole squares with new soil. This should not be, as the beauty of the Square Foot Garden is only having to replace small portions with new compost, not the whole square.

I finally harvested the Kale and made a nice soup using the carrots and onions from the garden also. It was really good but I'm not too crazy about Kale and will probably not grow it again. For anyone who does like it, it is an extremely easy plant to grow so give it a try.

A few weeks ago I set up the greenhouse and started some seedlings of tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, various flowers and green onions. They have all sprouted with the exception of the black beauty eggplant and I have reseeded them.

Two types of potatoes are now in large containers and I am hoping to see sprouts very soon. We've had some really cold weeks here in North Florida so we'll see if it has affected my spuds.

I am also trying asparagus for the first time this year. I have designated a permanent spot for these Delicious spears, as they will hopefully produce

for many years to come. I will need to be patient though, these baby's need a few years before you can reap any harvest. I will keep you posted.
Artichokes are another beauty I will be trying once again this year. I am going to plant a few seeds in large pots and keep my fingers crossed. :)

Other than the above, there's been a lot of needed clean up, mixing batches of soil containing various composts, peat moss and vermiculite (Mel's Mix), it's a winner! I also added a new raised bed - 2 x 6' and will use for the Cow horn peppers, tomatoes and some herbs. I'm thinking about adding one more 4' x 4' this year also to use just for squash and zucchini as they take up the most room of any other veggie.

Almost forgot to mention, the Brussel sprouts planted last fall are just now producing sprouts. I'm sure there's a reason for this. I don't know how long the sprouts take to develop and when to harvest but I am babying them now, again praying they continue to thrive and I can harvest yummy sprouts!