Carrots and Cilantro

It's rewarding to have some things in my garden grow the way they should! I love going out and cutting off some cilantro or lettuce when I need it. The carrots are ok, but not as flavorful or dark orange as they should be. I will be revamping my soil before this upcoming Spring planting season and that should improve the quality dramatically. GOOD QUALITY SOIL = A GREAT PRODUCTIVE GARDEN, that is one major thing I have learned in the last year.

Dirty carrots

Cilantro

Update on my Garden

During the winter time it seems that nothing too exciting has been happening in the garden. But, I have used lettuce and cilantro from the garden and both are great! All the tomato plants have been pulled out after a rough freeze we had in the past weeks. Here are some photos of what I have growing.

Sweet Peas

Cabbage, Cilantro, Romaine Lettuce, Carrots

Bush Beans

Romaine Lettuce, Cabbage

The citrus has been great on the Navel Orange tree closest to the house. The 2 Valencia Orange trees struggled and didn't produce much. The tangerine tree is bursting with fruit and are getting ready for eating now.

My Little Corn Harvest

I took down all but one stalk of corn and harvested these:

I was happy with it considering it is my first time harvesting corn. I have learned some things that should help it be even better in the future. I think I waited a little too long to harvest them because they were not as juicy as I think they could have been.

Today, I planted Iceberg Lettuce, Romaine Lettuce and Cabbage in the soil where the corn was. It gets good sun compared to the spots where the other cabbage and lettuce plants are slowly growing. I didn't account for the sun changing positions during the winter when I first planted those and now they are shaded for a good portion of the day by our orange tree.

Speaking of the citrus, the oranges are turning orange and should be ready in a few weeks.

The grass is turning brown too, since we decided not to plant winter seed.

Better

I picked another cob of corn today and it looks much better than the first. It had no bugs and is also very sweet.

I also recieved some guidance from a friend and more experienced gardener. He said that the pollination process of the corn cobs mostly depends on wind to allow the dust and particles from the tassels to fall down on to the silks of the developing cobs. So, that fertilization process is necessary for the kernels to form correctly. It is ok to help this process along too, if necessary.

Funky Corn

What is wrong with my corn? It is missing rows of kernels and it also had a little caterpillar/worm eating it inside. How dissapointing!

  

Here's how the other vegies are doing so far.

Peas

Lettuce



Bush Beans

Seeds are Becoming

I am pleased to write that my garden is in good shape at this current moment. The seeds I have planted are growing and becoming what I hope for. The corn has been growing rapidly and has gotten so tall. Each time I go out to water, the tassels are being pollinated by a few bees, which is fantastic. The corn cobs are already developing and looking moist and good.

 

I found this weird creature yesterday. His camo is called "bird poop". I took him far away from the garden, but didn't have it in me to smash him.

Planting

I planted these today:

Anticipated Harvest Dates:

Spinach - November 22nd

Cabbage - December 17th

Cilantro - est. November 15th

Iceberg Lettuce - December 22nd

Carrots (batch#2) - December 22nd

We had some crazy weather a few days ago and although I was worried when most of my recently planted seedlings were under half a foot of water, I think many of them survived. I see carrots, romaine lettuce and bush beans growing. I haven't seen any peas popping up yet. I may need to replant them. The corn got really tattered and the stalks were laying down after the storm. I picked them up vertical and stepped around the bases to secure their foundation. They seem to be healthy as of today and I see tassels beginning to form in many. I really am hoping for some corn this season.