First Harvest of 2010... radishes!

They're not big... The radishes were e planted in mid-February. This bed wasn't amended (with compost), nor were they even fertilized. (Mental note: have some compost always on hand in the future... you might find yourself suddenly planting on a warm February day.)

But... it's not even May and we're starting to have fun pulling food out of the ground and eating it. :)

Satya discovered that radishes are "SPICY!!"

Amaya chopped some up and put them in the fried rice we had with our salmon. (Yum!)

Good times.

First harverst (radishes) nearly ready....

Winter was *warm*. Amber's gamble during an over warm Feburary day - the last frost may actually have happened - plant and see if things turn out.

Things indeed have; Another week or two and we'll be munching fresh radishes. YUM! Cyrus is excitited - that boy loves radishes pulled straight from the ground.

New Year! Try again...

Well last year the postings became few and far between as the weather turned nicer..... but it's a new year!

Other than a couple of weeks in the middle of December, our winter has been mild. We started planting about half way through February, and we have some lovely sprouts to show for it at the end of March.

Amber and the kids started the ball rolling in our 'triangle bed' with some radishes and carrots. I finished off the bed with some broccoli, bok choi, and salad greens. I also added some fennel and marigold seeds to the mix to see if we can do better work with complementary plantings that attract some beneficial insects.

We had some stuff planted in this area last year... but this year we built up the bed and amended the soil.

Amaya and Cyrus helped me plant some flowers, more carrots, swiss chard, and (I think) some romaine. We still have half the bed to amend and plant.

The potato boxes have been planted as well. Last year the potato crop was... unsatisfying. I've since learned that you really can't let the greens shoot up more than 3 inches before you mound up the dirt. The thing is- once potatoes start growing up, they grow super fast. I'm resolved to be much more attentive (and aggressive) with getting them mounded up this year. I'd really like the fingerling crop to be good....

French Breakfast Radish Harvest

The French Breakfast radish harvest has proven to be a lovely early crop. Cyrus apparently loves radishes (at least this year he does).

(an email)

"Your son is a fellow radish lover. The kids each picked one this morning, which I was annoyed with until they washed and ate them! I was surprised, so I said: If you like them, you may pick them whenever you want. One at a time. And that's what Cyrus did for like 10 radishes. I guess they call them french breakfast radishes for a reason. =)"

Cyrus harvesting the last of the French Breakfast radishes....

Satya hasn't proven to be a radish lover like Cyrus and I, but this is a fun photo all the same. :)

Final harvest for the French Breakfast radishes were about two weeks over due. Not really too bad considering the winter/spring we've had. I'll definitely look towards radishes as being an early garden gem in the future.

Radish Harvest!.... (Not quite)

Yesterday was the 30 day mark for our French Breakfast radishes. (Top front row, right hand side.) They're a little behind schedule... but not by much. 23 days after planting we were thinning the crop and enjoying the sprouts in dinner salads; so we've discovered that planting radishes has a two-fold harvest! :) I'm not too bothered by the delay in maturation, this is the beginning of spring after all... planting this variety again in mid-summer will be interesting study.

The peas directly behind this crop of radishes are the faster 55 day Sugar Sugar snap peas. We'll have to put up the lattice for those reasonably soon. I think that we may be able to get one more planting in front of these snap peas - but it will have to be something with a fast maturation. Once the snap peas get bigger, the space in front of them will be overwhelmed and will have to be left alone for the rest of the season.

A second crop of radishes, "White Icicle Heirloom" was just planted in front of the 90 day Sugar Star snap peas. These are super fast- just 23 days. (!!) I'm trying to get better about off-setting the plantings so we have continual harvests, so I only used half the pack. At the same time, this is the first planting where I was really trying to be mindful of seed dispersion and spacing so as not to waste seeds. (This was a bit tricky for assistant Cyrus, who was not particularly mindful as to how the seeds landed...)

I've been researching succession planting- which is different techniques for maximizing the space you use. Thanks to the calendar, I'm able to quickly see what has been planted when- so that makes planting in timed intervals much easier. Another succession planting technique is re-seeding a space immediately after harvesting a crop. (A cold season/warm season planting) This will take more research to make sure the vegetables that get planted are complementary in terms of soil management. There's also inter-cropping, which involves two or more plantings in the same space at the same time that complement each other. The Three Sister's technique, developed by the Iroquois is an example of this. I'd really like to try this if I can get the new terraced garden done by the beginning of June.