Okay. So you had a baby or finished up your dissertation or donated a kidney to an orphan or you had some other excuse. Whatever the reason, you didn’t get the garden put in and now it’s too late. Think again. I was in a nursery yesterday and I saw tomatoes and peppers that looked great for $1.00 a flat. Plant the tomatoes deep and you will probable have fruit before I do. The peppers already had flowers on them. Even if you had a lot of green tomatoes-so what? They’ll ripen indoors or make green tomato chutney or something. You can still find herbs and squash and brassicas and all manner of viney things just waiting for a good home. It’s not too late for onions or potatoes either. I have planted potatoes I picked up at the market (use organic as they aren’t sprayed with sprout inhibitors) and had great results. If they don’t have time to get to full size they will still be good eating. Don’t be shy. Make an offer on a lot of flats. The nurseries want them out so they can get in the summer flowers.
We get so bogged down in the details sometimes that we miss the big picture. And the big picture here is food. I am still planting lettuce and green beans and lots of little plants. Every time I see an empty corner, I tuck something in. It’s better for the soil not to be bare anyway. Seeds are cheap so why not?
The progress on selling my MIL’s house is not good. There are too many houses and no buyers as there are no jobs to move to the area for. We are trying to look on the bright side here. The house is large. It has 5 bedrooms and a good, deep yard with a mature apple tree and some very nice blueberry bushes. We are looking at it as a family resource. It can always be a refuge for family members who find themselves in need of one. It can be heated with wood if necessary which is a plus. We have a big family and space is always a plus, even though I would rather have a barn.
On a side note. I have been cleaning my kitchen in preparation for the canning season. I like to start with everything neat and organized. I had noticed an odor from my dishwasher and when I cleaned it out I found a ton of funky crud under the seals. It was a nasty job but I dug it all out and things smell much better. I use my dishwasher everyday, especially during canning season. My jars sit in the basement all winter and are really dusty when I go to use them. I tend to run a full load on the sanitize cycle so I don’t have to use my limited stove space for sterilizing jars. I have made jams without sterilizing jars and ended up with a mold problem.
June 11, 2010 at 6:55 am
I “had” to go to the nursery yesterday and from what I could see, if my entire garden had been destroyed, I could replant…I picked up a cantelope and watermelon, a horehound I had missed the first time we visited and a beautiful poppy. Plenty of items, they even still had onion plants and even lettuce (not sure why any one would need to buy leaf lettuce plants, but there ya go).
I picked up some meat on sale, so I am venturing into canning land today, good timely tip on the dishwasher…I’ll have to check mine.
June 11, 2010 at 8:41 am
Thanks for the post!! We are bringing in the last of our broccoli and cabbage today, I plan on adding more tomatoes, green peppers and bush beans in that space, Hubby thinks I am nuts I will let him know you told me to do it!! HA
June 11, 2010 at 8:45 am
It’s never too late to plant *something*. I found some lovely, short-season Italian beans that I plant in mid-July or even August for an extra bit of late-season produce. And I have better luck with brassicas, carrots and greens in September than I do in June.
By the way, I finally managed to lay hands on your book, Kathy, and it’s great! You’ll be pleased to know that despite having multiple copies, there was quite the waiting list at our public library. Folks in our area really want to read that book!
June 11, 2010 at 9:18 am
There’s not much we can just get out into the ground here without extensive protection from rabbits, ground squirrels, and quail. They quickly polished off the squash starts and used the soft damp soil for a nice little wallow.
We’re trying some adult tomato plants – moved from containers to ground – and planted some asparagus starts to see how they do. Hubby put in a 3-sisters garden, that still needs to be fenced, hoping to grow it the Indian way with the monsoon rains.
I just saw a friend’s garden with starts put in only a month ago. Thanks to good soil prep, she has a very lush looking area!
June 11, 2010 at 11:48 am
We got the big hoop house up yesterday and even got it all planted. Which always makes us feel better. Still need to plant other parts of the garden. But you are right about plants. Normally here the month of May has started to warm up. And the greenhouse we do use is out of plants by now. But not this year. And those plants are huge. We got cucumber plants with little cukes on them even. But here they didn’t mark them down. But still we got some because we wanted them. Our local place that we do shop always has tomato plants for 50 cents each as long as they last. And they still have some. Now if it warms up and starts gettting sunny those plants will go quick.
Our gooseberry bush is loaded this year so it must of liked the odd year. And the currant bushes have some small berries trying to make as well.
June 11, 2010 at 2:39 pm
I’m still planting my garden. The brand new issue of Mother Earth News had an article about planting winter squash, so that and some pole beans have now gone into the last two beds.
This years garden is all sprawling things as I don’t have the patience for a garden or even canning this year. So tomatoes, peppers, beans & squash is it. The rest is coming from the farmer’s market. I’ll probably dehydrate more than can.
June 11, 2010 at 3:01 pm
I was out weeding the garden this afternoon and came in with a big bunch of volunteer potatoes. Good news as we are all out of last year’s spud. My book is doing really well. I appreciate all of the support.
June 11, 2010 at 3:13 pm
This year we didn’t start a single plant in the greenhouse until the lst of April…a month later than we usually do….and all our plants we the same size as if we’d planted them a month earlier and we didn’t even turn the heaters on which saved alot on our bills. Actually it turned out fine as we give alot of plants away to the neighbors and they never get around to planting as early as we do so the plants weren’t overgrown.
I love volunteers! Drives my hubby nuts as he likes everything neat and tidy while I have floweres interplanted everywhere. I always point out how many of his bees are in my garden enjoying the flowers!!!
June 11, 2010 at 3:19 pm
We’re still planting too! We just made some room for more green onions. And we’re starting more parsley and cilantro from seed too. I like to keep planting those so they last me until fall. Any onions that don’t get picked will overwinter and I’ll use them in the spring. It’s always so nice when the garden stores our food until we’re ready for it!
Thanks for the idea of seeing what is left at the nursery, maybe I’ll go and take a look.
June 13, 2010 at 9:21 pm
Kathy,
I looked for a place to e-mail you on this web-site, but couldn’t find a link. So I’m posting here, even though it is a bit off-topic. I hope you don’t mind my going a bit off-topic.
I finally bought and received a copy of your book. I bought your book because I really like your little blog that you’ve got going here.
It’s a well written book and I think my wife and I will find it a valuable resource in the coming times.
Thanks for the time you spend educating others about independent living and the need to be prepared for nearly any contingency.
It’s a great book!
Have a really great and productive week!!!
June 13, 2010 at 10:34 pm
That’s really nice! Thank you.