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Harvest

I am in full harvest of my winter crop, and thought I would give those of you
who live further North something to look forward to.
	Since my last harvest report (the summer crop that I was so disappointed with)
I have had nothing but fresh and tasty garden veggies. I even had some fruit and
leaf crops in January. I wonder if that guy who compared his Summer Crop to mine
is ready to match Winter Crops?
	The singel Brussel Sprout that I planted in one square this time last year
started producing about November and has given me at least one large meal each
week since then. It's 8 feet tall and still growing! I cut some repeat shoots
and started them in December and they already have some small sprouts! Next year
we will have TOO MANY! The 4 Broccoli which were not in the nematode infested
beds have produced continually, usually about a meal every other week. If the
others had not died I suspect I would have a freezer full.
	The lettuce that bolted in June and Dried to seed in July, reseeded itself and
I have been having small salads all winter and larger ones since Feb. (4 squares
thinned to 4/sq). Of course the New Zealand Spinach grew throughout the season
(4 squares along a fence), but it was nice to have some lighter tasting lettuce
too.
	Peas (12 sq's on a trellis) and beans (12 sq's of bush beans) are almost ready
to pick, but I have been tasting them for almost a month. I have more Habenero
peppers than I can use (4 plants at 1/sq, but growing over the edge of the bed)
but my neighbors are afraid of them since last years unfortunate episode 8-)...
	Strawberries have been sporatic, but my new layer of compost and fish emulsion
perked them up and I will have some jars of preserves if I can keep Alexander
from eating them as soon as they show the least hint of red (8 sq's growing wild
with Cherry tomatoes trellised over them). I had a bowl full of peanuts from one
plant set into 4 squares but I replanted most of them. Next year I should have
plenty. The Sweet Potatoes (4 sq's, but they took over and busted out of the
ground!) did MUCH better than I expected and I lost most of them to poor storage
methods. I had about 30 large (2 lb) tubers but only had about 5 meals. Next
time I leave them in the ground. I replanted them so that the excess vines will
run out into -my- yard instead of the neighbors! That will cut down the work as
I can just mow them instead of carefully trimming them every week.
	Slightly off topic, I have been trying to grow fruit in a limited space. I have
what I refer to as Square Yard Fruit trees. I trimmed my Parson Brown Orange
tree to limit it's production to what I could reasonably use (total of 12-5 gal
buckets this year in 9 sq yards), which made room for the BeeHive (1 sq yd) and
a SunGold Peach (4 sq yds) which fruited last year (Lost 30 peaches to Fruit
Flies) and is already in full bloom this year (I have my traps and netting
ready) I have a hedge of Pineapples (a long 20 sq yds) that I just saw a hint of
a fruit spear on one of yesterday! My project for this year is Kiwi. I have two
Issai self-pollinating vines and have room for a heavy trellis between the Peach
and the house (3 sq yds). My Dew Berry vine growing over the front door (1 sq
yd) has little fruits on it already this year and I made room for a BlueBerry
hedge out along the Front wall (30 sq yds). I have two types of Bananas along
the south wall which both tried to fruit this year, but I cut the flowers to
prevent it. And I planted figs along the North wall which I hope to train into a
hedge against that wall.
	It's difficult to grow much on my little 1/3 of an acre, but I hope to pack in
as much as I can. All my neighbors bring me their lawn clippings now so I am
making more compost than I can use so far. And the one neighbor who is using
Chem Lawn is thinking about stopping since I won't take her clippings and I
think she is getting embrrassed...
	BTW, I found that my homemade Fish Emulsion is a great Compost starter! I had a
pile that wasn't heating up in spite of a good amount of green (no manure
available), but a gallon of dilute fish juice had it steaming in a few days.
	All in all an encouraging season... this is the start of my third year in this
house and I am pleased with the progress. When I bought it, it was a Chem Lawn,
bare grass yard with Square boxwood hedges. Now the Boxwoods have been
re-incarnated as Bonsai and 50% of my Grass has been replaced with garden. I
have resident wild life (Black snakes, frogs etc) that was totally absent even
last year.
	Now if I could just grow Squash without it going to the borers!
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