Goodbye winter crops. Hello compost.

Morrison Victory Garden - bare and in transition

Today was warm and sunny. I took full advantage of the 70 degree weather and began uprooting the winter crops and covering the garden in compost. Spring is coming soon and the MVG needs to be in prime condition for the plants and seeds.

brussel sprouts are ready for a steam bath

I harvested the last head of cabbage, an extra large cauliflower, a basket full of brussel sprouts, 10 pok choi, a handful of radish, and large pile of mustard greens.

final winter harvest

onions are slow but growing

The only items left in the MVG are onions, kale, and bitter melon vines. The onions will be ready in a few months and the kale is still growing well in both cold and warm weather. I plan to uproot all onions and kale once the summer crops are ready to plant. I am keeping the bitter melon vines up just in case there are any Mantodea egg sacks attached to the vines. I will keep the brown vines up until late April. I hope this gives any nymphs time to hatch, dry out, and feed.

largest cauliflower of the season (9" diameter)

I spread our homemade compost across the entire row crop area. We are expecting showers and rain in the next few weeks. I plan to mix in the compost with the rototiller once the rain has subsided.

adding homemade compost

RIC - I chopped up all uprooted vegetables and have placed them into the compost bins. Until next year winter veggies, you have made the MVG lush with color all winter long.

Rest In Compost winter greens

2012 MVG Fall Crops

MVG transitioning into fall

The fall season is here! Last year, I planted mustard greens and radish when the weather turned cold.  This season I decided to plant mustard greens, radish, and much much more.

The following has been planted in the Morrison Victory Garden. Items in green are being grown by seed.

1. Russian kale
2. Dinosaur kale
3. Winterbor kale
4. Snowball cauliflower
5. Broccoli romanesco
6. CA Stockton red onions
7. Yellow Spanish onions
8. Red acre cabbage
9. Gold mark cabbage
10. Jade cross brussel sprouts
11. Swiss chard
12. Sugar snaps
13. Spinach
14. Napa cabbage
15. Minowase Radish
16. Giant red mustard greens
17. Southern giant mustard greens
18. Joi choi
19. Red choi
20. variety of lettuce

I was disappointed in how many of my spring seedlings did not grow up to be big and strong.  I decided to visit my local nursery to find most of my fall vegetable plants.  There are a few seeds that I knew would do well in the garden and I sprinkled them in with the nursery bought plants. This is the biggest and largest variety of fall crops the victory garden has ever seen. I hope to be eating lots of greens and steamed veggies in time to celebrate Thanksgiving.

winterbor kale with lettuce

The eggplants and bitter melon are the only summer crop still producing delicious veggies.  This summer has produced a great deal of bitter melon.  In previous years, my family was lucky if we grew a dozen bitter melon.  Now, we have three gallon bags of frozen bitter melon to consume over the winter season.  This is not counting the many that were eaten during the summer.  My mother loves to stuff the bitter melon with meat and make soup.  I am sure my house will smell of boiling bitter melon and pork this holiday season.

jade cross brussel sprout

I have included a final count of our frozen and canned produce.  This season, I did more canning than freezing. Our 2012 harvest is smaller in size, when compared to our 2011 season, but we made up for it with variety.

2012 MVG Summer Stock
Frozen
3 - gallon bag bitter melon
5 - quart bag bean mix (burgundy, scarlet emperor, and blue lake)
5 - quart bag corn kernels
2 - quart bag strawberries
3 - quart bag plums

Canned
4 - quart salsa
15 - quart garlic pepper veggies
10 - quart bread and butter veggies
4 - pint bread and butter veggies
8 - quart plums (heavy & light syrup)
2 - pint plums (heavy & light syrup)
3 - quart pickled garden veggies
4 - quart dill veggies
2 - pint dill veggies

hot pepper plants are back in pots

Victory Garden Spotting!
The Mantodea warriors are still fighting the good fight.  I have recently spotted three full grown warriors while watering the garden.

Can you find him in the oregano? He is looking at you.

The warm fall weather and newly planted crops have drawn the adult mantodeas out of hiding.  Look at how much they have grown.  Remember how small the nymph Mantodeas were?

Mantodeas are very friendly