Fall Radish Crop

The Radish seed planted 3rd week of September are maturing and I’m harvesting a few most every day.
All parts of radishes are eatable, green tops are often over looked by many in north America.

Radish greens are the edible tops of the radish plant, and are commonly eaten as a vegetable in Korea and China.

A member of the Brassicaceae family of cruciferous vegetables, radish greens are nutritious and enjoyed as mature leaves, microgreens, or radish sprouts.

Per cup (128 grams) cooked, radish greens contain about:

Calories: 70.4
Carbohydrates: 8.3 grams
Protein: 4.5 grams
Fat: 3.5 grams
Fiber: 2.3 grams
Potassium: 16% daily value
Magnesium: 28% daily value
Iron: 7% daily value
Vitamin C: 77% daily value
Vitamin K: 171% daily value

Radish greens are low in calories but are a good source of protein, iron, and potassium. They are also rich in magnesium, vitamin C, and vitamin K.

Radish greens have a pleasant taste similar to mustard greens, but they can range in flavor from slightly bitter to earthy and spicy.

Mature radish greens are prepared in a similar manner to other leafy vegetables, and radish microgreens are used as garnishes or to enhance salads.

Here are some ways to eat radish greens raw or cooked:

Add to salads, soups, or stews.
Top sandwiches or toasts like avocado toast.
Prepare in a cooked or fresh dish with radish roots.
Blend into sauces like pesto or marinara.
Add to casseroles.
Steam or sauté and eat as a side dish.

Beets and Turnip harvest will start in a week or so. I’m a big fan of pickled beets spiced with clove. I think I will have enough beets for 12 – 15 pints pickled beets. I pull beets small no larger than about 1 1/4 inch in diameter and turnips no larger than about 1 3/4 or maybe 2 inches in diameter. Large beets/turnips with tops go to the chickens.

Grin I add beet greens to my turnip green at 1 part beet to 2 or even 3 parts turnip greens.

Happy Fall Gardening

Green and Red Fence

Yesterday it was a pleasant 80% with little wind. Fall is here so I made a trip to a small creek about 15 miles west of here. I have been watching a clump of red trumpet vines waiting for it to cool so I can dig and transplant some of them on my north fence.

No I haven’t lost my mind. Trumpet vines are not invasive here in the hot dry corner of Southwest Oklahoma. Without supplemental water they will be dead in a year or two.

I got 3 vines dug and transplanted, with luck they will bloom in 1 to 3 years giving a nice green vine covered fence with a lot of red blooms from mid to late summer when most other flowering plants are finished.

Wow… 80% Friday, woke-up to 45% this morn.. Grin went to bed with the windows open, this morning I was looking for my insulated underwear.

Happy Fall Gardening

Daffodils are in the ground

I ordered 150 bulbs from Holland Bulb Farm that they describe as Mixed Daffodils for Naturalizing. They are a bit small but at $0.30 a bulb I can wait a year or so for them to reach full mature size.

I planted clumps of 3 to 5 bulbs scattered around the base of several trees. I don’t know much about Daffodils but Texas A&M said that clumps can live 30 to 50 years. Grin…. with proper care.
So I’m hopping this is a onetime investment.

Temps are still in the mid 90’s (29%C). My weather guy is forecasting a cool down into the high 80’s after today.
Yeah.. we have a good chance of 1 to 2 inches (25-50mm) of much needed rain in the next 24 hours.

Happy Fall Gardening

Autumn is upon us

A few days and Fall Equinox arrives on Saturday, September 23, 2023, at 02:50 A.M. EDT in the Northern Hemisphere. After a more or less normal hot dry summer I’m looking forward to cooler day’s and our Fall rains.

For us Fall weather arrived on the 9th of September with temperatures cooling 30-35F from the past weeks 100F+ degree days. The cooled air brought in a nice much needed 1 1/2 inches of rain.

Taking a chance I dry planted my Fall crop of Radishes, Cabbage and Turnips. Cabbage and Turnips can both stand a lot of cold temperatures so I’m hopeful for a nice late Fall, early Winter crop. My dry planting worked out well, we got a nice soaking rain only 5 days after planting.
Cooler weather has reduced the Grasshopper horde as well as all of those other garden loving insects to a manageable level.

If you are unfamiliar with the term Dry Planting it’s the process where you wait until the soil is very dry. If the soil has any moisture the seed will germinate then die from lack of water. Grin, Dry Plant and then hope for a slow soaking rain to germinate your seed and get your crop off to a good start developing a good root system before soil starts to dry again.

Cooling weather has sent many Dove and Hummingbirds south for the winter. The last of my welfare birds usually migrate south by the end of September or first week of October. I’ve been stocking up on hen scratch and black sunflower seed when I find it at reduced prices to supplement feed the Dove, Cardinals, Quail and Mocking birds that over winter in this area.

Monarch butterfly migration is under way. I’m seeing more and more every day. Got to enjoy them while I can, they will soon be gone until next springs migration north.

Happy Autumn Gardening

Summer vegetables!

It’s the 8 day of June and I have been harvesting radishes, 3 types, french breakfast, icicle and cherry bells for about 2 weeks.

Zucchini and straight yellow squash are producing bushels of squash. This abundant harvest has allowed me to feed my family and a small village of 2500 and still have surplus to feed the horse and donkey.

Lettuce was a failure, planted to late and summer heat got most of the lettuce crop. I’ll try again late this fall.

Happy Gardening

2022 Gardening Season

National Weather Service is forecasting snow today. It’s hard to be thinking of garden planting on days like today, but time is running out on getting the garden well tilled, compost and manure tilled in to the soil.

Garden soil is very dry, we have had less than 2 inches of rain in the past 3 months. This makes working the soil difficult at best.

Garden seed has arrived. I plant mostly summer, warm/hot weather vegetables in the spring and a few cooler weather vegetables like turnips, collards and beets in mid to late July for fall harvest.

I needed a few canning jars and lids for the up coming canning season. Much to my surprise jars don’t seem to be in short supply but quality Mason/Kerr and Ball jar lids are difficult to locate.
I finely after many attempts managed to buy 5 dozen regular and the same number of wide mouth Ball brand lids from Walmart.

Be aware that some brands of jar lids on the market have been reported to have up to a 50 percent failure rate.
In this event your only choices are to refrigerate and consume those jars of canned fruits/vegetables in the next few days or to replace the lid and reprocess those jars in the hope they seal on your second try.

Happy Gardening

Old Hens… Chickens not people

Before you purchase your chick(s) look 2 years in to the future.

For some people chickens only serve two purposes, primarily a source of fresh eggs, second as a source of fresh meat.
But for some they become pets no different from the family dog. This is where looking into the future is important.

Chicken commonly live 5 to 7 years, however it is not uncommon for them to live to the ripe old age of 10 or more years.

Egg production starts at about 24 – 26 weeks of age (6 months) and will decrease sightly every year after that. By 3 years of age it is likely to the point that you will need to replace your laying hens.

What do you do with them at this point in time? Sell them? Give them to an unsuspecting friend or neighbor? Butcher them to be served for Sunday dinner?

If you have become attached to them for what ever reason butchering them is not an option. However you must decide if the pleasure you get from their presents is worth the reduced or no egg production and the daily cost of feed and maintaining a safe and secure living space.

All is not lost. Even with reduced egg production they are still good weeders and eat every insect find and can catch.

Hint: Keep Them As Broody Hens/Mothers
If you own a broody hen (or hens), consider using them to hatch a few eggs. Those old hens will be perfectly happy sitting on some eggs all day, and it would save you the cost of buying an incubator.

Happy Gardening

Germination Chart For Annual Flowering Plants

Germination requirements (light and temperature) vary among the different flowers and vegetables. The various crops also differ in the length of time from seed sowing until the seedlings are transplanted outdoors.

The following chart provides germination information for many of the commonly grown annual flowers.

Annual	Germination Temperature (Fahrenheit)	Lighting	Days to Germination	Weeks Sowing to Planting
Ageratum (Ageratum houstonianum)	70-75	L	7-10	8
Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus)	70	L	7-14	8-10
Wax Begonia (Begonia x semperflorens-cultorum)	70-75	L	14	10-12
Annual Aster (Callistephus chinensis)	70	L-D	7-10	6-8
Vinca (Cathranthus roseus)	70-75	L-D	14	10
Cockscomb (Cleosia spp.)	70-75	D	7-10	6-7
Bachelor's Button (Centaurea cyanus)	65-70	L-D	7-14	8
Cosmos (Cosmos spp.)	70	D	5-7	4-6
Lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum)	75	L	10-14	14
Globe Amaranth (Gomphrena globosa)	70	L-D	14	7-8
Sunflower* (Helianthus annuus)	70	D	5-7	3-4
Strawflower (Helichrysum bracteatum)	70-75	L-D	7-10	6-8
Impatiens (Impatiens wallerana)	70-75	L	10-14	8-10
Annual Statice (Limonium sinuatum)	70	L-D	7-10	8-10
Melampodium (Melampodium paludosum)	65-70	L-D	7-10	7
Four-O'Clock (Mirabilis jalapa)	70	D	5-7	6-8
Flowering Tobacco (Nicotiana alata)	70-75	L	10-14	8
Geranium (Pelargonium x hortorum)	70-75	D	7-21	12
Petunia (Petunia x hybrida)	75	L	7-10	8-10
Moss Rose (Portulaca grandiflora)	75	L	7-10	10
Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia spp.)	70	L-D	7-14	10
Red Salvia (Salvia splendens)	70-75	L	10-14	8
Mealycup Sage (Salvia farinacea)	70-75	L	10-14	8-9
Creeping Zinnia (Sanvitalia procumbens)	70	D	7-10	6-7
Coleus (Solenostemon spp.)	70-75	L	10-14	8-10
Dahlberg Daisy (Thymophylla tenuiloba)	65-70	L	14	8
Nasturtium* (Tropaeolum majus)	65-70	D	10-14	5-6
Zinnia (Zinnia elegans)	70	D	5-7	5

*Sunflowers and nasturtiums do not transplant well. Both should be seeded directly into peat pots.

Light conditions during germination are critical for many annual flowers. The seeds of some plant species require light for germination. (In the table above, annuals that require light for germination are designated with the letter L in the lighting column.) After sowing these seeds, lightly press them into the germination medium, but do not cover them. The seeds of other flowers require darkness (D) and should be covered with the germination medium. Finally, those designated L-D should be lightly covered, leaving the seeds as close to the soil surface as possible.

Category: Horticulture
Authors: Richard Jauron
Iowa State University

Links to this article are strongly encouraged, and this article may be republished without further permission if published as written and if credit is given to the author, Horticulture and Home Pest News, and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.

Garden Vegetable Germination Chart

Vegetable Germination Chart

Hummingbird migration sighting map – March 7, 2021

Hummingbirds will soon be arriving all across the USA. It’s time to find and clean feeders and prepare for the birds arrival.
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Soil Temperature is more important than calendar date

Soil Temperature is the true key for better and quicker seed germination. Soil Temperature is equally important when your plant seedlings. With the right soil temperature seedlings will quickly send out roots and become well established healthy plants.

To day my soil temperature at 4 inch depth is 48%. Time to plant cool weather loving crops like onions and garlic for fall harvest.

Here is a planting chart with some of the more common garden crops and the best soil temperature to plant.