Broccoli

This is my first year attempting to grow broccoli. So far, the broccoli isn't doing so well. But I think this is because it's in such close proximity to the boysenberry and strawberry plants. It probably does need more room to grow, but space is tight until Cam and I built more boxes or raised beds.





The broccoli leaves are getting eaten by something... I'm not sure what. We've been spraying organic insecticide but the bugs continue to come. I've read that aphids and caterpillers love to eat broccoli leaves, and that a good way to get rid of them is sprinkling cayenne pepper powder on top. I may try that, if I see more holes in the plant.

I am wondering if my moisture problem in the beds are not good for the broccoli. They do like well-drained soil. The soil mixture in the beds retains moisture very, very well. Hmm...

It might be too warm for broccoli... I guess we'll see how it does.

Fall Crops

No new photos from the garden today, but my musings for fall crops. In SFG Box # 3, all of the corn has died from lack of water. Partial my fault, I moved the sprinkler, so it only hit box 1 and 2 and missed box 3 completely. It has been fixed now, but time to pull the dead corn.

And to replace the corn, I have four empty squares. What should I plant?

Here are my ideas:

-Broccoli
-More carrots
-Garlic
-Lettuce
-Spinach
-Peas

Anyone have any other suggestions?

I've never planted broccoli before, so it will be a fun experience. I plan to plant the seeds in small containers and transplant the seedlings at a later time. I read that was the best method.

We do have carrots in the garden, but we haven't pulled them. We don't know how long to wait before pulling them. We want nice-sized carrots to eat. So should I plant more carrot seeds? They take so long to grow.

Below: The carrot leaves before the zucchini got huge and covered them up


Tina from In the Garden had an amazing garlic harvest earlier this year. She said they were pretty easy to grow, so I'm gonna give them a try this fall. Tina--When is the best time to plant the garlic?

I grew lettuce in the garden earlier this year, and I had a nice harvest... until the slugs started eating the lettuce leaves. That was rather disgusting. I think this time around, I will not attempt another lettuce head variety. Maybe I'll experiment and grow romaine or iceberg. I love romaine lettuce... Maye red lettuce.

Below: My beautiful and yummy lettuce before it bolted and became inedible


We grew spinach this spring too. They were delicious when we ate them, but sadly, as soon as it got hot, the spinach flowered, and then died. Yikes. I may give it another go-around.

Finally peas. I planted them from seed this summer, but I guess the heat got to them, and they all died. I think they will be better suited this fall.

Below: The healthy seedlings before the heat got to them


Who knows if I'll actually get around to planting all these vegetables, but who knows? I just might!

Thanks to Dan from Urban Veggie Garden Blog for the info about fall crops.