Now that the vegetable plants are near the end of their production I thought it would be nice to take a look back at everything we grew on the campus this year. Even with the unrelenting heat and drought, most everything did well thanks to our grounds staff hauling hoses and sprinklers around everyday.
We began in the spring with cool weather crops like cabbages, onions and lettuces.
Onions
We planted lettuce in various places and have planted more for a fall crop.
Last October we planted garlic which was harvested in June.
When the bottom half of garlic stems turn brown they're ready. We got nice big heads this year and will probably do many more this fall since this is a very popular item.
The asparagus was amazing, it kept coming and coming as many times as the stalks were cut.
When the plants are finished for the year we let them grow tall and leafy to gain strength for next spring's cuttings.
They like sun and it seems they thrived in the heat of this summer.
In March we planted red potatoes in two ways. We filled about 15 black planting bags with compost and eyes of potatoes. As the plants grew we added more soil.
The idea of the bags was a good one. When it was time to harvest all we'd need to do is dump them over and scoop up the potatoes, no sticking a potato fork or shovel into the ground and guess at where they were. No stabbing. But. Sadly. Someone came through our potato area, dumped out all the dirt and potatoes and took them. Left the bags neatly folded. We never got to see a one. Next year we'll try again but put them in a more isolated place, the location of which I am not saying.
But one of our students also built an inground potato bed which did well although again...potatoes must be prized...that's all I can say.
We have lots of basil which is very well received and used.
And sweet potatoes which we will dig up pretty soon.
Green peppers, banana peppers, tabasco peppers, habanero peppers, chili peppers.
Anyone know how to make tobasco sauce?
Maybe we can have a hot pepper eating contest among our Texas guys.
Cherry tomatoes do very well.
And regular tomato which do only so so.
Then there was the squash, honeydew and cantelope.
The several varities of squash was amazing, they kept coming and coming.
Next year we need to plant melons in a much bigger spot to reap a bigger harvest.
Okra! Yes we had okra and it did very well.
This okra variety is red skinned, tastes the same as the green but looks much prettier.
And beans on various fences.
And Kale. Boy do we have kale, it's turned into a year round vegetable, it never sleeps for a season.
Our food service staff has made endless bowls of fried kale and the students demolish it. Healthy eating!
We planted fruit trees last fall and the young trees put out fruit this summer but of course not nearly enough to feed more than a few birds. But we're optimistic that this will end up being a bountiful thing.
We also have cilantro growing in various places as well as sage, chives, thyme, oregano, parsely, rosemary and on and on.
If you have space, it's darn fun to add edibles to your flower pots and flower beds.
No acreage for corn, soybeans and wheat, like the German farmers.
Posted by: Frank | September 23, 2012 at 07:06 PM
corn is for the professionals who can keep out the squirrels and raccoons and who have lots and lots of acreage
Posted by: Diane Meyer | September 23, 2012 at 09:03 PM
Bon Appetit in their July 2012 issue has a great, very easy recipe for tabasco sauce. I'm on my third batch (although my batches are much smaller than their, I just guessed at amounts). Fantastic stuff! I'll be adding other types of peppers to my garden next year--only grew cayenne this year.
Posted by: KathyS | September 23, 2012 at 09:42 PM
Here is the link for the recipe for hot sauce.
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/07/master-hot-sauce
Posted by: KathyS | September 23, 2012 at 10:23 PM
Kathy, thanks! We have so many, this is great.
Posted by: Diane Meyer | September 24, 2012 at 06:02 AM