Awwwww-some anna. Very impressive.

My collards are still just seedlings. Can I suggest a way to use them in addition to cooking greens? My uncle Charlie who passed away at 90-something cooked his collards for the "pot likker" juice which he kept in a jar in the fridge. He attributed his long years and good health to it.

I have found it best taken in small doses and mixed with something like apple juice but it is a tonic and proven to be super healthy. Just a suggestion. And no I don't think kids will love it :-)

Again congratulations on your bountiful harvest.

Denise

Ana, it is so wonderful to see your harvest. You get a+, terrific! And remember they have not seen anything yet. This is only the beginning...

Unfortunately like I told you the Delicata squash did not do well for me either, not for our climate for sure.

As we trying them, we will find out the true winners that are going to come back season after season.

There is always new varieties to try too, and we cannot miss the opportunity to try it ourselves.

Besides everything that comes out of the garden it just tastes better and is good for us, we know how it was grown and that only went from the garden to the table.

Radish are easy, when is warm I plant them deeper. I am ready to sow my second crop now and I will be planting the watermelon variety.

I am also doing a lot of seed saving with my lima beans and musica pole beans. What a great varieties! First time that I tried them here.

Ana, you are a good student and you should be proud of yourself, congratulations on this harvest and the ones to come!

Silvia

Thanks, ladies. It feels good to get a pat on the back from you.

Denise, I like that pot likker idea. I make soups, stews and rice frequently. I could use it as part of the liquid added. I will have to try it. Actually, that is frequently how I use the collards. Just a few leaves in stews or soups, or sometimes mixed in finely with sauteed veggies.

Silvia, I am so happy to have had so many suggestions and instruction from you. And seeds. My radishes are an embarrassment! How deep do you plant yours? Maybe I did not have them in enough sun. I'm worried my carrots are headed the same way.

By the way, how long will the pole beans give beans? The bush beans are really slowing down and I will soon pull them.

Anna

If you have enough beans , blanch them in boiling water for 3 mins and then freeze in zip bags . Your harvest looks better than any store bought veggies !

Ana, I usually plant any seeds one size deeper of what they are. Some seeds like lettuce are almost on top. With some root crops I noticed that when is warm is better to plant them deeper, I also pack them down in the dirt so when it rains or I water the seeds don't come up.

Carrots and beets take a long time to grow,unless there are some varieties that are shorter days. It is a good idea to plant an assortment for that reason.

I planted some short season beets along with other varieties, and this morning I have baby beets already, while the others are still developing.

And the carrots are usually short varieties and longer and I have different kinds and they will take some time to mature. In the meantime the foliage is pretty to look at it.:o)

I prefer pole bean varieties over bush, to me they taste better and produce for a longer season. The same with lima beans.

This pole beans the variety is Musica and it has been one the best romano type that I have grown so far. I planted them in August and have been producing since then.

The same with the limas that I have, they were planted in August, I am saving some of them for future plantings.

Pole beans and lima beans

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Silvia

Go Anna!

Hi Mary,

I have three bags of blanched snap beans in the freezer! Something I thought would never happen. I think the vines are slowing down, though. I'm not sure if it's the cooler weather or if it's just as long as they are supposed to produce, since I've never grown snap beans before.

Silvia, I guess I need to keep trying with the radishes and carrots. In the meantime I'll live vicariously through yours! The musica beans look great. Are they a bit broader than the average pole bean? Those limas are really pretty too. So your pole beans have been producing since August... when are they supposed to stop? Does the cold weather bring them down?

Thanks, Miranda!

Anna

bravo, anna. be patient with radishes. they are the easiest crop to grow (save maybe lettuce). yours will bulb up--trust me. i've recently planted some hybrid radishes (crimson crisp and cheriette). they have done very well-producing bulbs in (no lie) two weeks.

you'll never go back to supermarket lettuce! if you're interested i have some saved seeds of several varieties of salads that do well in fla. drop me a line!

Way to go, Anna!!!

Yes, Silvia and the other veggie guys is an insperation to us all. I always grew some but I have expannded my plants to try many more since I've been learning from them. One I always grew and love is arugala, it's great in salads and soups. I love it's peppery taste. Another is snow peas, a winter crop for me. Great in stir fries.

I never got even one delicota squash. I might try again now. :o)

Thank you Kathy. I also have learned a lot from you and Anna and other gardeners that share their knowledge with us. :o)

Ana, in August I planted 4 varieties of bush beans and 2 of pole. Depending on the space that I have available, I make my choices.

I am the person who likes all beans, filet, romano, shellies, lima, all of them taste good to me. As a child they were my favorite snack.

Going back to the harvest, while they all produced and were good, bush varieties gave one or two crops and they were done, and I planted 2 varieties of romano (they are meatier and richer flavor) one of them is a variety highly recommended by seed savers, and is Garafal d'Oro and guess what, it did not do very well for me, I will try it again in Spring, the beans that I got also they were of the same taste like the Musica.

Snap beans are a warm weather crop and will slow down when hit by the cold. Soon, I will pull mine too and the lima.

Runner beans are good for cold weather, I have those planted now and also fava or broad beans.

The above plates are cooked very easy, I cut the romano beans in small pieces and cook together with the lima for about 5-7 minutes and done with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Ready to use it as healthy snack, in a salad or soup.

Silvia

Anna, your pictures look delicious! All I have gotten out of my garden so far is Kohlrabi and radishes. The second crop of radishes haven't bulbed up yet. I am still waiting for the tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, cucumbers, carrots, butternuts, bush beans, and sugar snaps to ripen...waiting, waiting. I got started late 'cause of the heat here 90° +. Congrats on your garden.

Hi Silvia - Please, where do you get the seeds for the Musica Pole Bean ? I have never heard of them, and I am making up an order from Pinetree Seeds, with 3 varieties of pole beans, 2 are yellow-wax..... I'd like to order some of the Musica .... thanks, sally

Hi Sally

I am including the link to where I got them, the description is very accurate!

They also have them in other places, I placed an order with Peaceful Valley and order more of the same beans for the future plantings, and I will try and save seed too if the weather cooperates.

Silvia

Here is a link that might be useful: Musica pole beans

Hi Michael,

Radishes may be easy for you, but not for me. My radishes don't like me. Are you ready for a good laugh? These radishes were planted Oct. 15th and these are the roots:

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You say you get bulbs in two weeks? These are called German Giants. Not very giant if you ask me. I will try again. I keep picking a couple of plants a week thinking one is bound to have a bulb. There are not that many left!

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Michael, thanks for your offer. You had such luck with the Jericho lettuce that I ordered and planted some seeds. They are starting to come up nicely. I've also planted a couple of other lettuces- capitan and valentine. We'll see how they do. They seem to be doing pretty well, except for the ones the possum gets at night. It's always something, isn't it? The possums love the worms in my garden I guess. Let me know which lettuces you've had luck with and maybe later we can trade some seeds?

Katkin,

I expanded my veggie garden this year too! All inspiration and I think I'm glad. I have arugula too! I just harvested it for the first time for our Thanksgiving salad, and I'm ready to harvest more. I love that taste, but not all my family does unfortunately. I have been planting sugar snap peas for six weeks now and have only a few plants. The cutworms really like them. I just planted more and I am big on the lookout for them and spraying with spinosad to try to get some to get taller than an inch. They are really making me mad. By the way, I would not really recommend the delicata squash. I just pulled them today. They are yummy, but take up too much valuable space for very little yield. Plus, they were getting something ugly. Maybe powdery mildew? I was afraid it would go to everything else. Maybe it already did. I hope not.

Hi Silvia,

I really like beans also. All except lima beans. I am going to try the musica beans. When is a good time to start them? Is late February ok? Is this a good time to plant runner beans then?

Thank-you, Sharbear! I have never ever tried kohlrabi. How do you cook it? I am still waiting for tomatoes, peppers, sugar snaps and carrots too. I would love to see your kohlrabi and hear about it. Please show us your harvests as they arise!

Anna

Tomcath, we should be saying those things to you and Silvia. :) You have really bought out the veggie monsters in all of us. We love your photos and think they are very inspiring. Thanks to the two of you, I now have 3 huge veggie beds. I am expanding the 3rd and looking to make a 4th to grow organic potatoes.

Silvia, your frequent posts and pictures is knowledge to so many of us and we look forward to them so keep 'em coming. Before you and Tom, I thought that successfully growing veggies in Florida was a myth. :)

Anna --- Wonderful!!! Wonderful!!! That is a harvest to be mighty proud of! If it makes you feel any better, I planted Delicata Squash this past spring and it didn't do well for me either. I also like the Musica beans. Tasty.

Christine

Anna- my radishes look just like yours, in fact my carrots and beets looked that way until I went back and added top soil around each carrot and beet. Someone said maybe because of the hot weather in Oct when they first came up but I ripped out all my radishes and started over and now they look the same way again, all tops and no roots. I pulled a carrot with nice green 8" tops and all it had was maybe a puny 1" root- planted seed in 10/15. I think it has to be a soil deficiency. I did my own soil test, nitrogen & phosphorus were low and potassium was high, PH was 7.8 a little high ? I need to add organics which I do as I re-plant. Have you had your soil tested ? I wonder if it is the PH or something else. Anyone else had this problem or know the cure, we would sure appreciate it- thanks in advance.

Anna, oops. We at the Kohlrabi bulbs and some of the leaves last night in a salad. I saved some of it for soup. I mostly eat it raw though. You can cook the greens just like Kale and the bulb just like turnips(you have to peel the bulbs).

Oh one more thing...radishes usually have the top of the bulb visible when they are ready. Just leave them there until you can wiggle them and see that there is a bulb. Maybe you planted them too deep?

Hi Ana

February should be about right to plant beans in my zone 9b, watching the weather for no frosts.
Now that is getting cooler, I have runner beans planted, rampicante di spagna, scarlet emperor, winsllet runner. They can be eaten young as snap beans or later as shellies.
Runner beans, carrots, nasturtiums and fava beans on the other side.

From looking at the radish picture, it looks kind of spindly, maybe is not getting enough light? Also don't forget to fertilize before you plant them.

Trini, I am so glad that more of us are trying veggies and that my small contribution has inspired you. Thank you. And I am looking forward to see pictures of your veggie garden coming up.

There was an article in the paper yesterday about greens that we buy at the store. Everybody should be informed.

Here are some of my lettuces, this one is for containers, for those of you who don't have beds available.

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Steve
I do succession planting in the beds, something gets harvested, something different goes in, and always add more organic matter and fertilizer.
I don't go by inches either. Relax, don't be too technical, this is for fun and also our health.:o)

Just to make you happy, I went and measure my carrots lol and they are over 18 in and don't have a root yet. Beets are about the same or shorter, some varieties don't have a root yet, but the early varieties at the same height do.

Beets and carrots

Silvia

Here is a link that might be useful: radish

Hi Trini, thanks, but don't forget Christine, Michale and all the others here too. We've all learned from each other.

October was ridiculously hot, too hot for radishes. With the right conditions they can be ready in 20 days, but when it's been too hot I've had them take 80-90 days!!! Leaves 10" long! Leave them alone for another 30-45 days before you call it quits, then you'll know for sure.

Tom

Thank you Silvia - Thanks, what a fantastic Seed House, and I love the illustrations for the veggies, I love the broad Roma-type pole bean and Musica sounds delish..... sally

The lettuces are so pretty!

Thanks, Tom! Wow, I definitely don't deserve all that commotion, but you are very nice to be so encouraging! By the way, I have most of my tomatoes in your pot-in-pot method. I know your method has changed now, but it is so far doing well for me. The only mishap I had was when we got 4 inches of rain and the first buckets were flooded. I had to take the inner ones out. Fortunately, the plants were still small and not reaching the trellis yet, so it worked out. I have put a big rock at the bottom of each now. Thanks for all your instruction!

Christine, thanks. If you and Silvia did not have great luck with the delicata squash, then I don't feel bad. I have such a small space that it needs to give more if it is going to take up that much space.

Silvia, thanks for the info on the runner beans. The vines are very pretty with the little flowers. I am glad you all are educating us on what the best time of year is to plant all the different things. Thanks also for the radish information. By the way, your lettuces are just beautiful!

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions on my radishes. I will leave these for at least one more month and plant some more in a sunnier area.

Anna

Hi friends

Check out the lettuces too, I have the Ruby & Emerald for containers.

Silvia

Here is a link that might be useful: lettuce

Silvia, thanks for sharing that Renee's Garden source with us. Those lettuces are just eye-poppingly beautiful!

Here is what I harvested for tonight's dinner. Again, all green...will I ever have red or yellow or orange to show? Anyway, this is just plain-old grand rapids lettuce, some arugula rocket for a little spice, and a little bit of chives to chop on top. Of course I will put other stuff, mainly tomatoes and peppers, but those aren't from my garden... yet.

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Anna

steveb --- I have a soil meter that I was using to check my garden pH that read 7. Well, I recently had my soil analyzed and the pH was really 7.8 like yours. Way too high! Add sulfur to get your pH down. Your goal is 6.4 pH. I recently bought a pricey professional digital pH meter so I can monitor my soil better. A lot of the high pH comes from compost and my well water which is 7.9. Anyway, steve, the first priority in any garden is the pH.

Silvia --- What is the variety name of the bright red lettuce? Very attractive. How much cold can the runner beans take?

Anna --- It's just fine if all of your veggies are green. That's nature's color!

Tom ---How's your garden going now that the weather has cooled down?

Christine

Hi Christine,

I've been madly converting to 5 gallon SWCs on the weekends for the spring, bucket-in-bucket which is initially labor intensive so unfortunately I've fallen behind on my spraying and since I'm so buggy here all my cucurbits are toast. The snowbirds are here again so I'm working 50 hours a week which doesn't leave much time for daily watering, so I'm working on installing an irrigation system during my week off later this month...looking forward to a better spring :-)

Happy Holidays everyone, it may seem that this is a little early but it's time to start getting in the spirit!

Tom

Good luck with the irrigation system, Tom.

Very nice, Anna!

Now we all have one MORE inspiration-inspiring gardener to learn from!

Suddenly, I'm hungry for a fresh picked raw green bean....

wt

Anna - of course you deserve praise, you've done well :-)

Silvia - that pic of the "container" lettuce is gorgeous. Is that the Ruby & Emerald Duet?

Miranda - I've been putting off the irrigation system because I hate micro-sprinklers, think I found a workable solution, check this out if you have 14 minutes to spare, if not here's a print link.

Tom

I watched it. Seems simple enough.

Hi Tom

Thank you, and yes the container lettuce is Ruby&Emerald duet, and like they said they are resistant to heat. I have been picking lettuce for quite a while. Especially since Cheryl has one huge salad daily, she said they are detox.:o)

I also have some other lettuces planted, italian lollo rosa, it is very buttery, and one that is a south american variety, that is so hardy you can do anything to it and still looks good. I don't know what kind of variety it is, but I am growing it like if it was leaf lettuce.

Lollo rosa on top left and the other lettuce bottom right.

All of us should be planting lettuces and greens that we like, they don't use much space in a container and also they are short season.

Silvia

Silvia ---Your greens are something to behold.

Last weekend a lady passing by my yard asked me about this vine growing on my fence. Well, at the time I had 2 almost ready to pick chayotes hanging from one end of the plant. When I went out to the street to pick them today, I found the one that the lady had her hand on missing. I didn't see her take it, but, I do have to wonder. It's a risk that I take growing on the fence along the street. Well, on the bright side, I still have one left.

Christine

Thank you Christine.

Remember about my avocados? The last 3 were mysteriously dissappeared and they were inside the fence!lol

They did not take Cheryl's atemoyas because they probably were not familiar with them.

Around the trail, they are some wild bananas and they were fruiting. The neighbors and Willy were making jokes about going to cut them. Next time we went around the area the bananas were gone! And it wasn't the neighbors.

You should grow something spiky on the fence, like the horned melons? they will need a glove to pick them!lol

We are having a cookie party tonight and we are making a tatsoi salad, and if it comes out good, I will post the recipe.

Silvia

Bummer about the thefts, my only problem right now is squirrels picking cherry maters, and raccoons picking bananas, I can't call it stealing for these critters since it's nothing but nature at work....

Anna, about the radishes, this was a post I made just before summer. If nothing else leave them in to see if you get edible pods, although this time of year I doubt seriously they'll bolt....

Tom

Hi friends

This salad is not only very healthy, it is delicious!

Tatsoi, blueberries, pomegranate, dried cherries, sunflower seeds, feta cheese and a dressing of grapeseed oil,a little maple syrup and white balsamic vinegar.

We will be making cookies after 7pm, anybody wants to come? :o)

Silvia

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Wow, Silvia, looks lovely and sounds amazingly delicious. I would not even care about the cookies with a menu like this! Your greens look picture perfect also. I hope I can get some planted this weekend.

Tom, that is fascinating! I did not know about the pods being edible and actually tasty. Gives me hope that one way or the other I'll be able to get something out of the radishes. I have different seeds now, too, so I will try again soon.

Christine and Silvia, I have caught my neighbor's lawn people with my lemons last year and getting ready to cut off my only pineapple at the time. My dog alerted me and I ran out there and caught them in the act. I asked for the lemons and told them not to come back. I also told the head guy. This was not the first time things had been missing from my sparse garden. I have not seen them in my yard this year, not yet anyway!

Anna

Oh Silvia, that salad looks to die for! Honestly, I'm sitting here salivating over that picture :-) :-(

Tom

What a great salad Silvia! I didn't know about the radishes seed pods either...thanks for that info...
Tom, do you still have arugula seeds? I would love to give that a try...I have never tasted it. Did you get the card I sent to you?

Thank you all for your nice compliments.

Ana, we prefer to make the tatsoi salad for parties because the greens keep their shape, they are also called spoon, even with the dressing look fresh after a few hours, lettuce would not do that.

It also tastes mild which is a plus for many dishes. If you don't already have is a good idea to buy a salad spinner to keep greens fresh anytime you need it. Like today, after we went shopping and came back tired, Cheryl had a dish with leftovers roasted veggies and tatsoi, everything warm from the microwave in 5 minutes.

We bought some nice colorful containers like the chinese take out for everybody to take cookies home after they baked them.

Tom, we should all grow greens like I said before, all you need is a container.
I made Willy today a salad of tatsoi, tomatoes, red onions, calamata olives, tuna, with a little bit of olive oil and lime juice. And I mixed it with hot pasta, he said it was delicious! It took 10 minutes.

Cheryl was saying, I wonder why more people don't grow this green? It is better than spinach. Fresh from the garden or cooked.

Silvia