Garden update 3/23/2013

In the fall, before the first freeze, I noticed a tomato plant that was popping up volunteer between the rows.  It was obviously one of our heirloom tomatoes that we had composted and now the seeds were wanting to grow.  If you've been following the blog, you might remember me saying that I was going to dig this one up and re pot it as an experiment to see if I could produce tomatoes during the winter.  Well, the experiment was not successful.  I think it is because I don't have a hothouse.  I just kept the plant in the garage.  Although it never froze, it was still too cold to really thrive and produce tomatoes.

Now that the weather has warmed up, I've put it outside and it is loaded up with blooms and is about 3 feet tall.  I guess the experiment was a success as it enabled me to really get a head start on tomato production.  I'll transplant this one in the garden next week and it will be interesting to see which variety it is.

Heirloom Tomato loading up with blooms

Here's another picture that shows a white feather stuck in the midst of the blooms.  The feather was from the other day when we butchered our Cornish Cross meat chickens.  The feathers were definitely flying.  When we are finished butchering, all of the feathers, blood, bones, and guts go back in the garden which will feed the plants.  Everything works together in a cycle and nothing is wasted.

Tomato blooms & Cornish Cross feather

Always at this time of the year, the Fall Garden is about done and we're needing the space that the remnants of the Fall Garden like cabbage, beets, turnips, and kale is occupying.  Here is a nice head of cabbage that we'll harvest for supper tonight.
 

Nice head of cabbage

We like to make egg rolls and coleslaw, but mostly we just cook it down in a cast iron dutch oven.  It may not smell real good cooking, but it sure does taste good!
 

Cabbage in a cast iron pot

Hey, we're not the only ones that like cabbage.  I always throw the outer leaves to the cows and chickens and they wolf it down. 

Animals like the cabbage, too!

I worked up another row and planted another variety of bean that is a family favorite - Dragon Tongue Beans.  These are a yellowish green bean with purple stripes.  It is sort of a novelty with the purple stripes and the name, but they taste good, too.  The purple stripes actually fade away when you cook them unfortunately.


Preparing the seedbed for a row of Dragon Tongue Beans

I dug holes spaced out about 6 inches apart and an inch deep and planted all of the dragon tongue beans.  I gave them a sprinkling with the garden hose to start the seed swelling so that they can quickly germinate.  

Handful of Dragon Tongue Beans

The beans germinate rather quickly, especially with these days approaching 80 degrees.  That really warms up the soil and makes the seeds jump out of the ground.  Perhaps tomorrow we can look at the progress so far of everything we've planted.