Yummy!

Glenda,

So far, I am weighing and writing stuff down too. Like you, I have a feeling it won't last long once I get really busy, but I thought it would be fun to try to keep up with the harvest.

Congrats on the first harvest! Your fresh veggies look delicious. I hadn't looked at the price of asparagus in the store. Wow! It is high-priced this year.

So far, we're harvesting and eating tomatoes, lettuce and sugar snap peas.

All I can say is that home-grown stuff tastes so good that I don't even want to buy veggies at the grocery store any more (and I seldom have to).

Dawn

I picked the first strawberry this evening and shared it with DH. It was still a little tart but I just couldn't wait anymore! I can pick lettuce too but I haven't yet. My peas are a little behind; the first couple of pods are not quite ripe yet.

I may need to raise my price on asparagus. I am selling it for $2.00/lb.

We have been eating spinach, onions, radishes and lettuce as well as the asparagus. No peas ready yet, but the pods are forming. And I saw a couple strawberries turning pink. It won't be long.

Oh, we've had strawberries twice, but they're from our granddaughter's little garden and I didn't weight them or record them. I'd forgotten about them.

The fruit trees have set a great crop. I've been thinning and thinning and thinning.

Congrats to everyone who is harvesting goodies. My question is to Dawn: how to do you have tomatoes this early? What's your trick? I'm still trying to get mine planted and keep up with my 20-month old grandson!

regina, that was my question for Dawn! I am impressed.

I have onions almost big enough.

I got one single plant from a 15-foot row of sugar snaps. I dug down and didn't find a single seed, rotted or otherwise.

Something ate them....I didn't see mole runs but don't know what? I have never lost an entire row of seeds before!

wow, looks delish!!!

I don't have crap come up yet enough that I can harvest! Not a single leaf of lettuce....green with envy.....

Regina,

I used to drive myself insane planting my tomato plants in the ground in March (my average last freeze date is March 27th) and trying to cover up plants to protect them from so-called late freezes and late frosts in March and April. I actually had pretty good success planting as early as March 7th-9th in the early 2000s, but since 2005, the late freezes keep occurring later and later. So, I stopped planting in the ground early, and switched to containers.

In February (usually about mid-Feb.), the early bird tomato plants arrive at stores in north central Texas about a 90-minute drive south of me. So, I drive down to the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area and pick up a few (usually about 6) of those early bird tomatoes. They are in 5" peat pots and have main stems about the size of my little finger. Often, they are blooming when I buy them, or bloom within a couple of weeks of the time I buy them.

I plant them in 2 or 3-gallon pots and set them on the concrete patio that's adjacent to our barn/garage. In the morning I carry them outside and in the evening I carry them into the insulated barn/garage. I never leave them outside overnight even if the forecast lows are above freezing because if I do, the deer and other critters eat them since there's not much green and growing at that time of the year.

Carrying them in and out gets old, but it does mean we're harvesting and eating tomatoes in April every year, so I think it is worth it. Even more importantly, since I have a few container tomatoes to fuss over, I don't feel compelled to rush my own seed-grown transplants into the ground too early.

This year, the tomato plants arrived in the stores in Feb. on schedule, but that was the weekend the huge snowstorm hit north central Texas and, to a lesser extent, extreme southern OK (we only had 8 or 9" here, but parts of the D-FW area had 14" I think) and the IDIOTS at the stores left the newly arrived tomato plants outside in the garden centers (places like Lowe's, Home Depot and Wal-Mart) and all the plants froze. I know this happened because the frozen plants sat there all dead and pathetic-looking for 2 weeks until replacements arrived. So, this year, I didn't get my early tomato plants until the very end of February.

So far, we've harvested from Better Bush, which is always the best early spring producer of those available for purchase in February, and from Husky Red Cherry. Better Boy and Big Boy have some tomatoes on them that are reaching a pretty good size and we'll likely be harvesting them later this month.

My in-ground tomatoes have tons of flowers and have set a lot of fruit, but the cold nights (39 degrees here last night, and in the low 40s the night before that) aren't doing them any favors. Still, I expect we'll harvest the first tomatoes from our own home-raised in-ground plants before the end of May.

My goal every year is to have fresh tomatoes from April through at least November, so we're off to a good start. I still have some canned, frozen and dehydrated tomatoes from last year too, so we're in great shape tomato-wise.

If you have flat land and can use plant protectors like Wall O Waters, you probably could put early tomato plants in the ground instead of in containers in February, but all our land slopes too much, so we can't use WOWs.

If we don't get hit by hail, it is looking like a great tomato and pepper year here. Everything is covered in blooms and small fruit. I don't think I've ever seen this many small peppers on plants this early in the year.

We laughingly call my winter-planted tomatoes our 'cheater' tomatoes since we didn't grow them from seed ourselves, which is what we normally do with the rest of the tomatoes....but when we're eating that first BLT sandwich in April, we don't care that it is the 'cheater' tomatoes. lol

Dawn

Wow! A little extra effort, early on, but I sure bet they taste yummy right about now, and well worth the effort. Thx for sharing your tip.

I don't blame you, Dawn, on the "cheater" tomatoes and I've considered doing the same thing myself -- I've just been too lazy to do it yet. LOL Only 2-3 gallon pots? Do you pot up to larger pots once it's warm enough to leave them outside? I've not done much with any of the "bush" varieties but just assumed they'd need at least a 5-gallon pot. If I can get away with smaller ones, my lazy self may just try it next year.

Diane

My little tomato seedlings are really not doing well at all this year. Probably the cool weather we've had.
However, I broke down and purchased 2 plants, one Rutgers, and one Jet Star. They are in 5 gallon buckets, but I may transfer Jet Star to a bigger container - not difficult when doing it to a container rather than the ground.

Anyway, I have little green tomatos on the Jet Star already, and both are the healthiest tomato plants I've ever seen. Lots of flowers and I've been doing the "shake it, shake it, baby" thing with them daily. I'm so proud of these tiny green tomatos, I can't stand it.

I, too, have red strawberries - all 3 of them - on Kenna's strawberry plants. They sure taste good.

The sugar snaps are finally getting some size. I don't know why they didn't take off like they usually do, but we have had some extreme temp fluctuations this spring. I don't normally fertilize them, but I finally threw down some high bloom fertilizer (very low nitrogen since these are nitrogen-fixing plants), and they have begun to really take off. In this case, I thank the cool temps off and on. I probably won't get much of a harvest, but I'll take what I can get.

I discovered a Pokemon pumpkin growing out of the straw bale the other day - fertilized and watered it and it is taking off, too. I probably should get it in some dirt, huh? My straw bales have been weedier this year than others. What is straw made of? Oats, wheat?

Susan

I was sitting at the edge of the garden today and looking everything over. I had weeded almost everything and glanced at the Tumbling Tom plants and thought I could see a tomato. I got closer to the plant and there were several pea size tomatoes on there.

Since Dawn started those Tumbling Tom's one zone warmer than mine, then shared with me, I benefited from the same system as she did by buying in DFW. Even a little tomato will taste good.

Diane,

I usually move them up to large containers (10 to 20 gallons) sometime in early to mid-May. I might do that this week. The small containers just make it easy to carry them in and out throughout March and April, and even though they grow, flower, set and ripen fruit in early spring, the plants themselves don't really get very big until the warmer nights arrive in May so I don't think the smallish pots slow them down. I've put the cheater plants in 5-gallon containers in Feb. some years, but carrying those in and out daily gets old. This week I've harvested six more tomatoes, so am in hog heaven at the moment.

Susan,

Straw is just the dry stalk/stem portion of any grain so it could be anything....oats, rye, wheat, etc.

Lots of people garden in hay bales or straw bales, either letting them partially decompose (while still baled) and planting stuff into them, or sort of cutting or otherwise creating a 'hollowed out' spot within the bale, pouring in some soil and planting something into it. Some people make raised beds or cold frames out of bales of straw with soil in the middle.

I do think the cold nights have held back many veggies this spring, but the Sugar Snap peas have loved it here in our part of the state. We've never had such a big harvest of peas. However, they did reach a certain point when they were about six inches tall that they sat and stalled a couple of weeks and didn't seem to grow at all. I think it was the temperatures holding them back because all of a sudden they 'leaped' and went from six inches to 2' seemingly overnight, then sat a week or two and didn't seem to grow, and then 'leaped' again and are now 5' to 6' tall. Each stalling period corresponded with either very cold nights (in the 30s) or very hot days (in the upper 80s). I think our pea production is peaking right now, and I know it will end as soon as the real heat arrives, but we're enjoying it while it lasts.

Dawn

Oh no...don't tell us that Dawn!! My peas have not grown but barely a foot tall! I put more in the ground last week!! My tomatoes are not doing anything either. My bean plants are coming up, the radishes I put in the ground vs the raised bed are growing great!! Still no carrots..none, nada...planted them things March 26th, they are still only an inch tall! SOMETHING is going on in my yard, SOMETHING....I don't know what...

Yeah, Dawn, I know I'll be lucky to get a couple of pods off the peas. I even started them indoors and had them in the garden in early March. They're still only about 18" tall even with the growth spurt from last week. Que sera, sera.

Seems like everyone is off to a good start this year, though!

Butterfly gardening is pretty good so far, too. I have Sleepy Oranges, Hackberry and Tawny Emperors, Red Admirals, and Tiger Swallowtails. Already released my first Hackberry Emperor yesterday!

Susan

Dawn I'm sure the cold nights we've had is the reason my sugar snaps haven't grown any. They have started growing some again. But stalled at 3-4 inches for a long time. And now with the warm temps on the horizon I'm afraid I may never get any. Next year will either be a row cover or a short row in the greenhouse.
Here when you mention straw you had better be pretty specific. For it could be what I call stalks. Some farmers bale up milo and feed stalks. Although they make good mulch if you have a tub grinder not good to lay down as a mulch without some kind of grinding. The stalks are too big. My preference is wheat, oats or barley straw. And loose alfalfa works great. Jay

Susan,

I'm sure it is the cold nights because time-wise your plants are perfect.

Ezzirah,

Peas are strictly a cool-season crop and the cool-season ends quite abruptly here most years, usually in May for us here in southern OK. I'm not sure when it ends in parts of OK further north than us. Peas are one of the hardest cool-season crops to grow successfully here because we go from 'too cold' to 'too hot' much too quickly. I have better luck with peas as a fall planting....sown into warm soil in late summer for a fall harvest, but sometimes you have to cover them up in fall to protect them from an early hard freeze if temps are dropping into the mid-20s.

Last year, the cooler-than-average and wetter-than-average temperatures persisted well into June so the cool-season crops performed better than average and that made me gamble and plant more cool-season plants than usual this year. Whether or not that gamble pays off remains to be seen, but so far the peas at least are producing well. We need for it to stay coolish another 2-4 weeks in order for the broccoli to produce well. I think the potatoes, cabbage and carrots are going to produce well, but the onions were too wet and too cold early in their growth and we will get only a so-so harvest of them.

Peas perform best with air temperatures ranging from the uppermost 20s or low 30s through about 75 degrees. Once the daytime highs are going above 75 degrees consistently, the peas start slowing down. Peas germinate very slowly in the cold ground and often it takes them so long to germinate that the plants don't get large enough to produce much before heat arrives and slows them down. That's why I germinate them inside and transplant them outside...because it gets them off to a faster start.

How do you know if your peas are on track to produce before the heat kicks in? They ought to be large enough to start blooming about 40-50 days after they emerge from the soil. I think mine began blooming about 40 days after they were transplanted and they probably were 10-14 days old when transplanted. (The snow that fell the week after I transplanted them certainly didn't help any.) Peas need moisture once they start blooming so if it isn't raining when they're blooming, give them water.

The first picking of the peas only produced a couple of quarts. The second picking produced a couple of pounds. The third picking, today, will produce even more. You have to harvest them promptly once they're the right size or the sugar starts converting to starch and they lose their sweetness. I try to cook and use them or freeze them the same day they're picked. This week's weather is perfect pea weather, so maybe everyone's peas will grow, bloom and start producing if they aren't already.

Jay, Your cold nights are hanging on so long that I am afraid y'all will go from winter to summer overnight.

I didn't think about stalks....not many grow milo here any more, but then our county has made am amazing conversion from farming to ranching in the last 10-15 years or so. There's not many farmers left in our county except for a few who grow melons and then, of course, many of the ranchers grow winter wheat. In fact, whear harvest time should be coming up later this month or early in June, assuming hail or excess rain doesn't ruin the crop as it so often does. The biggest crop here anymore is hay, and some folks just south of us in north central Texas already have cut and baled the first hay cutting of the year. If the weather holds, they'll get at least a couple more.

Sometimes (usually in a drought year) I'll have a rancher stop by and ask me if he can have my corn stalks to feed his cattle after I harvest the ears. I always say yes, even though I'd rather have their mass for my compost pile, because I worry about everyone having enough to feed their cattle during drought. Stalks might not be worth much, but I guess at times like that, they are better than nothing.

Dawn

Dawn stalks serve as a good filler. The feed value isn't real high. When baled if done right after harvest you get lots of leaves also. But when ground like in a tub grinder and mixed with other feed they serve as a good roughage filler. During the severe drought of the last few years I saw more baling of the corn stalks around here. But didn't see any last year. The one reason I mentioned them is I've seen gardener's get them and then ask me why I'm so sold on mulch. Especially when they are trying to till in a several inches of it. You and me are used to handling them from growing sweet corn ect. For a gardener not used to them they usually don't like them or the looks of them. And I have to explain to them they got stalks and not straw so you handle it differently. One thing about them is they have some weight and tend to hold better than straw in our winds. Jay

Thanks for the cheater tomato info, Dawn. It never occurred to me to plant in a midsized pot until it's warm enough to leave them out. Duh! I may just try that next spring, thanks!

Diane

So, It's been 43 days since they were planted, and they are not even close to blooming, or even the size up the trelis the package said they would get....what do I do?

Jay, I assumed they were filler more than anything else, so thanks for confirming that. He only asks for them in a drought year which is, of course, when he's having a hbard time filling up those cows' tummies. I can see where someone not used to stalks might not care for them as mulch. They don't look and handle the same as real straw but I guess their heavier weight would be an advantage, especially in your wind. I've noticed a lot of folks want their veggie garden mulch to look as nice as the mulch in ornamental beds....and that's just not gonna happen in my garden. I feel like the beds are beautiful as long as no soil is a-showing and no weeds are a-growing. Sometimes it looks like I've deliberately mulched every bed with 3 different kinds of mulch on purpose...but it is just a matter of using whatever is available at the moment.

Diane, With your greenhouse, the possibilities are limitless. You probably could dig up some tomato plants in Sept., pot 'em up, cut 'em back a bit, and keep harvesting tomatoes in Dec. and Jan., stretching your season a bit at that end too!

Ezzirah, How tall are they?

Dawn

I don't keep good records so I hope I am remembering this correctly, but I think for the last two years, I had almost all of my pea harvest during the month of May. This year mine are still small and aren't blooming. Some of that is because I planted later, and some because of weather. Most years I have them in the ground early enough that they get snowed on a few times while they are small and I have never covered them during cold weather.

I am curious about the broccoli. Is anyone harvesting yet? Mine hasn't even started to head yet. Am I just behind?

I didn't look at the broccoli today, but as of yesterday none of it was heading yet. The plants are a good size and look great, but I think the cold nights and relative lack of recent rainfall may be holding them back a bit. My broccoli was late last year....I think I didn't harvest until sometime in June which is really, really late for us here....but we had that whole flooding rain thing going on and everything stalled for most of May.

This year, based on the transplanting date and DTM of the plants, I 'should be' harvesting from mid-May through late-May. I have no idea, though, if that will actually happen. At this point, I'd say the broccoli is going to be late again, and that's assuming the temperatures don't spike too high too soon and cause it to bolt.

A family who lives between us and Thackerville has already had their broccoli bolt big-time and their plants are smaller than ours. I'm guessing they planted earlier than we did and got hit too hard by very cold nighttime temps at the wrong stage.

My broccoli isn't heading up yet, either. It's my first time growing it so I was afraid I did something wrong. I was out there today looking at it, wondering if I should give up and just pull it.

My pak choi bolted already.

Diane

I have two broccoli plants that have headed up and begun to flower while the heads were still pretty small. Another larger and healthier plant has a head on it but I'm not sure when to pick it.

Ok, so here goes mine.
The kids and I just picked about a pint and a half of strawberries. I brought them in, washed them up and put some sugar over them for strawberry shortcake. Made some homemade pound cake and there was just enough strawberries for all 5 of us to have a serving. And, I got a little extra with it being Mother's Day!!!
So, the strawberries are the only things that we've harvested. I'm like some of the others and still trying to get things in the ground. Just got all 15 of my pepper plants in the ground today and am still working on the raised containers for the toms. Also, working on trellis' for the cucumbers, yellow squash, loufa gourd and cantalope. Believe it or not, I have something that came up volunteer. I think it's either watermelon or cantalope. But, either way, I'll take it!! Had four total plants come up. YEAH!!!

Carol, my broccoli plants that you gave me haven't gotten too much bigger. I think this weather is our problem. In the 80's one day and down to the low 60's the next. We just need to come together and pray for this weather to straighten up and act normal. But, then again, what is normal for Oklahoma, right!?!? lol.

OMG, eating fresh homegrown............there's nothing like it. I'm just disappointed bcz I didn't get asparagus in the ground. Is it too late to get some in?

My zucchini are doing very well. I have picked off a few blooms already to make sure they have a strong root foundation before they start producing. My FIL told me to do that. Hope it works and they are very productive. We love zukes!!!

Well, that's all I have for now. I will say I was going to try lettuce but didn't do well with my seedlings so I decided to throw them out. I did, however, pot up a herb pot with cilantro and basil in there. I love to give them a light brush and smell the aroma! mmmmm!!!

Garden blessings to all!
Melissa

Harvest it before it flowers. Normally, you wait and harvest it when it reaches the correct size you'd expect from that variety, but if it is your first time to grow any given variety, you don't necessarily know what to expect in terms of size. You harvest broccoli when the heads are tight and compact. The flower buds should be tight, green and not beginning to open up and flower. If the head is becoming loose, i.e., the florets are starting to separate, then it is past its prime and about to flower and you should harvest it immediately.

If you know what variety you have, then you can google and find the DTM and the ave. size in inches of the head and use those to help gauge if it is ready to harvest.

To harvest, cut the stem 6-8" below the head. Leave the plant in the ground. The plant normally will begin producing small side shoots that you can harvest and eat. They'll stay small, but will taste fine. Side shooting will continue until the heat shuts it down.

Dawn or Dorothy or some of you successful broc growers...Do you just blanch and freeze? Do you mind explaining how you prepare it for the freezer. I have only planted enough in the past to eat fresh, but if mine is successful this year, I will need instructions. Thanks.

There's nothing to it. Remove the leaves. Cut into appropriate size pieces, depending on whether you're freezing it as spears or chopped.

OPTIONAL: If you're concerned there might be cabbage worms or something hiding in there, soak it in a saltwater brine (1 cup of salt to 1 gallon of water) for about 20 to 30 minutes. The critters will emerge.

Rinse and drain well after optional brine soak.

Blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes (small, chopped pieces) to 4 minutes (large pieces). Cool. (I like to pour the hot broc into a stockpot of ice water to cool it fast, or you can let it cool naturally.) Drain.

Pack into freezer containers of your choice. Seal containers. Label. Date. Freeze.

Thanks Dawn. That is about what I thought so that should be simple. So far I haven't seen much insect damage on anything, but judging by the number of "grubs" I am seeing in the ground, I will probably have a bunch. Of course, some may be good bugs also, I guess.

my peas are about 12" tall...I walked out there yesterday after I posted and saw 1 flower. Maybe the weather?

Ezzirah,

Once they start flowering, they generally kick into production pretty fast. Mine started blooming maybe a month ago when they were about 18" tall and are 5-6' tall and at peak production now so clearly they put on lots of upward growth at the same time they were flowering and setting peas. It sounds like maybe yours are about to go into that growth/production cycle.

Depending on what variety you planted, you have plenty of time to get a good harvest if the weather doesn't get too hot too fast. This week's forecast rain should help them grow and produce. Above all else, avoid feeding them anything that has nitrogen in it or you won't get many flowers/peas. All they need now is moderate moisture and moderate temperatures, so keep your fingers crossed and hope for cooperative weather.

Dawn

My peas are probably 3 feet tall and FINALLY covered in blooms. They grew a foot and the blooms appeared overnight this past week.

I grow broccoli rabe and spent a whole morning last week harvesting and putting it up, as it was starting to bolt.

Am also covered up in spinach, buttercrunch lettuce, arugula, mesclun and mache. Have been having a good harvest of the broccoli rabe and greens every 7 days since the 15th of April. Having the fresh greens is fabulous; or it WAS before the kids all showed up for Mother's Day and took most of it home! Just wish I had tomatoes and cukes to go with them. I have probably a dozen green tomatoes on my 12-inch tomato plants. Mostly Lemon Boy and Arkansas Traveler, I think. Think maybe mid-June for first harvest?

I'm stealing Dawn's idea for early tomatoes next year. I haul my patio tropicals in and out of the garage all spring, who's going to notice a few tomatoes? Thanks, Dawn.

Marcy

Marcy,

It sounds like your early harvest is a great one! I hope the harvest remains that bountiful all year long.

I have another one for you....overwintered peppers!

A couple of years ago, I had ornamental peppers planted as understory plants in very large pots that contained 6-8' tall brugmansias. I overwintered them in the garage, dragging them outside for sunshine on warm days. The brugs did great and only 1 froze back so hard that it died (on an 18-degree night). Some of the brugs bloomed on and off all winter. The amazing thing, though, was the ornamental peppers!

The ornamental peppers dropped their leaves and appeared dead after overnight lows dipped into the teens in December of that year. I figured that when spring arrived, I'd pull out the dead pepper plants and toss them on the compost pile. However, in January the plants began putting out new growth. They grew slowly, but steadily, and were in bloom by May. So, you just know I had try overwintering an edible pepper this past year....

I brought in a sweet pepper in a 3-gallon pot in December and kept it in the garage at night, and out on the patio during the day. It was a Red Beauty Sweet Bell Pepper and was about 20" tall after I pruned it back when I dug it and put it in the pot. This pepper stayed green all winter although it lost most of its leaves after the overnight low dipped down to 6 degrees one night, probably in late Dec. or early Jan. By late January, new leaves were coming out and it bloomed and set one pepper, which I left on the plant until it turned red. I just harvested that one red bell pepper recently. In the meantime, the plant is covered with flowers and small peppers right now! I'd always heard you could overwinter peppers indoors for earlier spring production, but never imagined it would be so easy.

So, next fall, if you have space to overwinter one, why not dig up and pot up a pepper plant or two and see if they overwinter for you. It has been a fun experiment and and one I intend to repeat next year, but with more than one pepper plant.

Dawn

The strawberries started coming in about 10 days ago, and the harvest is ridiculously plentiful. We've been enjoyed strawberry spinach salad, with sugared pecans gathered in the fall. Mother's Day dessert was strawberry shortcake.

So far I've put up 4 batches of Low Sugar Strawberry Freezer Jam, and 18 half pints of Chocolate Strawberry Jam. Yum!

Yum, yum, yum!