Back with a Veggie'ence: The 2016 Season Begins

We are back! After a year off, the soil is rested and the compost piles are overflowing. The MVG will be a little smaller this year due to the continue drought in California. However, we are ready to come back with a veggie'ence!

We started off by mending the aged and weathered boards of the garden beds. The garden beds were then filled with compost and organic soil.

After a few visits to our local nurseries, my mother purchased and planted the following vegetables:

• Blue Lake Bush Beans
• Early Sunsation Pepper (bell peppers) grown by Kawahara Nurseries in Morgan Hill, CA
• Lady Bell Pepper (bell peppers) grown by Upstarts Organic Seedlings in Santa Cruz, CA
• Pepper Yolo Wonder (bell peppers) grown by Fredriks Nursery in Ripon, CA
• Tomato Roma grown by Cal Color Growers in Morgan Hill, CA 
• Tomato San Marzano grown by Fredriks Nursery in Ripon, CA
• Thai Basil grown by Fredriks Nursery in Ripon, CA

We also planted a variety of veggies by seed.

• Bitter Gourd Green Skin (Kitazawa Seed Co.)
• Bitter Gourd Hybrid Melon India (Kitazawa Seed Co.)
• Bush Beans Classic Slenderette (Renee's Garden)
• Early Sunglow Hybrid Sweet Corn (Ferry-Morse Seed Company)
• French Baby Bush Beans Nickel Filet (Renee's Garden)
• Sugar Snap Peas (Burpee)

top - bitter melon; middle - corn

top - bell peppers; middle - tomatoes; bottom green beans

Regardless of the drought, Fuyu has grown leaps and bounds. She is full of flowers and fruit this year. Many of her fruit is falling each day due to the amount of fruit she is bearing. We are keeping our fingers crossed and hope for a big persimmon harvest this year.

small green persimmons

Remove the carcasses! Prepare the soil!

MVG full of veggie carcasses

I spent some time preparing the main garden for this season's crops. There was lots to do and I had little time to spare. I was able to get the entire main garden ready in five hours with the help of my dad, the lawn mower, and our trusty rototiller.

 Phase I: Clearing and Trimming

First, clean out the garden beds. I pulled up all of last season's veggie skeletons and placed them in the grass.

Second, I forked the soil in the garden beds. This allows me to see and pull up any roots I may have missed while giving the soil a quick aeration.

Third: I pruned back all of our herbs. The herb garden grew out of control this winter. The rosemary, oregano, and sage plants were huge. I want fresh tender shoots this season so I trimmed down the herbs to the base. The plants look dead but they will grown back. I try to prune down herbs at the beginning of the spring and fall seasons. All trimmings were placed on the grass.

Phase II: Compost

 

TO THE COMPOST BINS! My dad does a wonderful job making homemade compost from their kitchen scraps and yard clippings. This makes my job very easy. I just fill up the wheel barrow with compost and shovel it into the garden beds. I used two full compost bins worth of compost in the garden beds.

Weeks before starting the MVG preparations, my dad placed piles of leaves on the dirt where we plant our corn field. The leaves break down quickly and help keep weeds at bay during the winter months. Plus, the extra nutrients from the leaves will help prepare the soil for the planting of seeds and plants.

Phase III: Mixing, mixing, rototillin'

First, I mixed up each garden bed. I want to make sure the compost was fully integrated into last season's soil.

Second, I added additional garden soil on top of the freshly mixed soil and hosed everything down. The MVG falls prey to many intruders (bean robbers, renegade squirrels, and alien invasions). The layer of top soil protects the rich mixture below in the event an intruder decides to dig or nest in the freshly made garden beds.

Third, my dad brought out of storage our small yet powerful rototiller. We mixed up the leaves and soil in the corn field. The leaves kept the ground soft and moist (not wet) which made the tilling process quick and easy.

MVG before preparations

MVG after preparations

Phase IV: Clean up!

Cleaning off the dirt from the rototiller blades and the garden tools is important but I had a huge pile of plant carcasses on the grass. With my dad's trusty lawn mower and some gardening sheers, we chopped and mowed down the dried plants and fresh herb clippings in 20 minutes. All of the waste was then dumped into the empty compost bins.

The main garden is ready for plants and seeds. We just received our shipment of plants and seeds from Burpee and are mapping out where to plant each item. Now for the fun part... planting, watering, pickings, and EATING!

MVG open for business!

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