Succession Planting

This week, we are talking about succession planting, something we have not mentioned on this website before. So what is it and why do we want to do it? It is planting the same thing each week or every two to four weeks so you can extend the growing season and not have all of one crop ready to be harvested at the same time.

For example, if I am growing lettuce heads, I am not going to plant 100 heads at the same time. I will plant a few each week for the entire growing season. That way, all 100 heads don't get picked at once and then rot away. I can pick a few heads each week and I have enough for salads all spring and summer long.

Here is the link to the David's Garden Seeds® website so you can try succession planting with our heirloom seeds.

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Succession Planting - 5/8-5/14/2023

Lettuce makes for good succession planting. Plant a little each week. Who wants 200 heads of lettuce ready to eat at the same time?

Monday, May 8, 2023

These are some of the garden beds growing over by the Farm Store. Everything is greening up nicely.

Good Monday morning. I started writing this at 7am and then was called away from my office. I lost everything I wrote and my computer went blank and would not come back on. Now it is 10am and I finally got my computer to turn back on.

I am in the Farm Store. It is open and ready for business. One of our team members called in today so I have to mess with orders instead of doing my own work and believe me, I have plenty. We have eggs, plants, seeds, pecan coffee, pecan treats and more so come on over.

All of the animals are doing well and it is already 82° outside. The sky is sort of hazy but there won't be any rain again...

It is our payday so I will be doing payroll a little later, once our accountant figures out all of the hard stuff. Nacho is here with his helpers working out back on various things that David has for him.

It is now 1:10pm and 92°, hot and humid. The mail came and we got an insurance check! Yay! The payroll came from the accountant and the checks have been written. Some of the orders have been filled. I am still working on them, along with others.

We haven't had any customers today at all. I cleaned and refilled the fish pond. Now on to filling more seed orders...

We finally got some customers. It is 4:30pm and 93°. Folks, it is miserable humid out there. Nacho and his people got the two Greenstalks put together but he says they are not sturdy and will blow over so I am afraid to plant them.

About 20 minutes ago, a man came into the store looking for David. He said he had a delivery. I looked out the window and there was a big truck.

I got David and he said the wood mulcher is here.

The wood chipper is being delivered.

Our new wood chipper is not yet working.

The pond is looking so dirty, even though I have been cleaning it out twice a week and we have that ultraviolet filter. I have been putting algae killer in there twice a week. I have no idea what to do anymore.

My legs are hurting and swollen. They have been fine every day for weeks and now, today, they are not. I am glad the workday is almost over. I really need to go put them up for a while.

This branch pile is first on the list for chipping.

I have been looking to see what other Texas Cottage Food producers charge for the goods they make. I do have several things that I can put out soon. I am waiting on labels and jars to get here from Amazon. They were supposed to be here today but there is a delay. Ever since we moved to the country, there is a delay on almost everything I order from Amazon.

For some reason, once the wood chipper was assembled this evening, they could not get it to start. David will have to fix it.

Nacho and his helper are putting the planters together out by the gazebo.

The planters look good out there but not for long. So glad I did not plant them yet.

Succession Planting

Plant enough lettuce each week for your family to use in a week's time. That is succession planting.

So again, let's define succession planting. The way I define it is planting a small amount of a certain seed once a week, every two weeks, or every three weeks, so that every week (or 2 or 3) you have fresh, ripe food. For instance, spinach. Plant enough spinach seeds to feed your family for a week. Then once a week, plant the number of seeds needed by your family to grow a week's supply. When the first of the planted spinach, which takes about 30 days, is ready to be picked, you have four weeks worth that is growing. As long as it is fairly cool in early spring and in fall, you can continue to grow baby spinach leaves for salads and to add to recipes.

Lettuce is the same. Some varieties do better in cooler spring while others do better in the summer months. There are some varieties that will grow better in the fall. Always plant a week's worth for your family at a time and plant and harvest each week throughout the season.

Before you start with succession planting, be sure that your garden beds have been weeded and you have mixed compost in with your soil to give your plants nutrition.

Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Our sweet corn is looking good back in the orchard area.

Good morning. It poured for most of the night and a good deal of the morning. In fact, it is now 11:05am and it is raining again.

The wind in the night knocked over one of the new Greenstalk planters so dirt spilled everywhere. I am glad I did not plant them yesterday. Now they have been moved up to the Farm Store deck to be planted.

The wind was pretty strong. Now both gates have blown off due to the wind here.

I have been adding new products and experiences to our cash register and website. Now, once they are grown, you will be able to do the following for a fee:

Pick Your Own In Season Vegetables
Pick Your Own In Season Fruit
Cut Your Own Fresh Kitchen Herbs
Cut Your Own Zinnia Bouquets
Cut Your Own Sunflowers
Combine A Sunflower With Zinnia Bouquet

I will be putting out a newsletter in just a little while talking about what we have available. I will also be making some treats for purchase under the Texas Cottage Laws that will be available in our store on Fridays and Saturdays.

The newsletter for David's Garden Seeds® is now out. I still need to put out one of my own.

Nacho came to the farm again this afternoon. I have no idea what they were working on but the chipper is now working.

It rained a lot several times throughout the day. and it poured just before 5pm.

See the dirt? This is where the Greenstalk planters were but one blew over in the night as they were not on even ground on the mulch.

Now the Greenstalk planters are on the Farm Store deck where they can be on even ground. Hopefully they don't blow over again.

My labels came in from Amazon after getting lost so now I can bake and print out all of the information that the state of Texas wants me to put on my products to sell in the state of Texas. My food items cannot be shipped. They must be bought and picked up in person per Texas Cottage Laws.

I will have homemade vanilla and a lot more soon in the store for your convenience. I am waiting on the tiny jars from Amazon which are supposed to be here tomorrow.

Succession Planting

Malabar spinach is good for succession planting.

Succession Planting means once the first week's crop has been harvested, it is time to plant more of the same in its place.

Another way to do succession planting is to use the same bed to plant different vegetables altogether in the same raised bed depending on what time of year it is. For instance, in Texas, we would grow tomatoes in early spring before it gets too hot. Then, plant okra in the heat of summer, followed by green beans in the fall, all in the same beds.

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Everything is greening up around here from the rain.

Good morning! Can you believe it is already Wednesday? It is 7am. I have been up for a while. Alexa says it will rain at 8am. Of course, her predictions are hit or miss just like the weatherman's. Everything is wet outside so I don't know if we got overnight rain or not. I fed the indoor animals and made breakfast. Now I have to go outside and take care of a bunch of animals.

The outdoor animals have all been taken care of. The chicks are really enjoying exploring their new coop, inside and out. They are still pretty tiny so it seems like a mansion to them compared to the galvanized tub brooder they were in. The one I think is a boy is looking even more different than the others. I say, I say, I do believe we have a Foghorn Leghorn in the henhouse!

I went back inside and washed and refilled all of the automatic pet waterers. I have two for the two back decks and three inside. I have just opened the Farm Store for business so come on by and visit us.

The sky was overcast all day long but we did not get a drop of rain.

It is overcast and humid. We did not get a rain shower at 8am. In fact, it is now 9:15am and there is still no rain.

We got no rain the whole day. Tonight at 9pm, I let the dogs out for their bedtime potty routine. Sue Ellen would not come right away. She finally did and ran into her kennel along with Pamela. I gave Pamela her good night brush her teeth chew. Then I went to give one to Sue Ellen and she dropped what she had in her mouth, a bird. She killed a bird and was going to play with it for a while. I screamed and David came to get it. So sad. Fun times.

Eggs And More

Our egg production will be going up in about 3 months with the new chicks, even higher in about 5 months.

I have 12 dozen eggs for sale in the Farm Store refrigerator. We have 1600 varieties of heirloom seeds, a bunch of plants out in the parking lot (no more tomatoes or peppers), pecan flavored coffees and treats including fudge, and more. If you are near San Antonio, come on by. We have a lot of things growing in the gardens for you to see that are upfront by the store. You don't have to go on a muddy tour to see things now. We have brought the gardens to you.

Succession Planting

Don't plant all of your cabbage seeds at once. Plant a few cabbage seeds every week for succession planting.

Succession planting is mainly for things that grow quickly such as radishes and greens as well as the spinach and lettuce mentioned above. Many things take 90 to 120 days to grow in the garden so you would not consider those for succession planting.

Kohlrabi, peas, bush beans, pac choi, and sweet corn will all do well with succession planting. For the items in this paragraph, plant some every ten days instead of seven days.

Every two weeks, plant beets, turnips, arugula, endive, and escarole for more succession planting crops.

Thursday, May 11, 2023

Our strawberry plants are still producing plenty of strawberries.

Eventually, herbs will be growing from these new planters.

Good morning. I went out and took care of the animals and then went exploring in all of my trees. There are a lot of apples and peaches but they are not ready. I took the few I could find that were ready. Unfortunately, David sent one of the guys out and he picked a whole bunch of the unripe apples. I am not happy.

One of our workers picked a bunch of strawberries and more apples even though they were not ripe, a bit of asparagus, and a whole lot of tomatoes.

It is humid and hazy looking with a lot of clouds and the sun trying to poke through. Someone came in and bought a lot of seeds. Another customer bought six dozen eggs and a man took a dozen.

We heard from our trademark attorney. Every several years, you have to pay to renew your trademark. Once you have renewed it twice, it is yours forever. This is just our first renewal and it cost $635.00. We finally got trademarked back in 2018. We began the process in 2016. It is a long one and a very costly one.

We got our truck registration sticker in the mail. That was fast.

The guys got the Greenstalk towers fixed up and moved to the big deck in between the Farm Store and Admin building. They got a bunch of dirt back in it after one of them tipped over on the ground after strong wind. I will be planting these with herbs this afternoon.

Looks like the cell tower coming to our neighbor's yard is happening. They have had people over there working all week. No actual tower yet.

The cell tower is beginning to be installed.

The wasps are starting to move in. So far, I have taken out four nests. They are always right by front doors, aren't they?

We now have 14 herbs planted in 2 Greenstalk planters on the front deck.

Eventually, herbs will be growing from these new planters.

I planted both of the Greenstalk planters out front this afternoon with 14 different herbs on the deck between the Farm Store and the Administration building.

Here is what I planted:

Basil Genovese
Basil Holy Tulsi Kapoor
Basil Lemon
Basil Lime
Chamomile
Cilantro Santo
Epazote
Lavender Vera
Lemon Balm
Peppermint
Sage Common
Spearmint
Thyme Summer
Yerba Santa

These will all be part of "cut your own herbs" as well as the herbs in the hydroponics grow tower in the Farm Store.

This evening, I baked lemon squares and got my vanilla extract bottled into two ounce bottles. . I still have to add the labels, cut the lemon squares and pack more eggs up for tomorrow. It seems we got rid of eight dozen eggs today in the Farm Store.

Kitchen Treats

Here is a 9x13 inch pan of lemon squares before they have been cut. I used to make these when we lived in Colorado Springs when my kids were little. They are a family favorite.

Starting tomorrow, you will be able to buy my homemade vanilla extract as well as my weekend baked treats. This evening, I will bake my first store treat, lemon squares. I have been practicing and giving them to family and friends. I have received many compliments so let's hope that the ones I bake this evening for tomorrow and Saturday are pretty tasty.

The vanilla extract comes in three sizes and is expensive, mostly because of the Madagascar vanilla beans.

I am making all of the kitchen treats under the Texas Cottage Laws in my own kitchen. I do have my required food handler's card and the required labels to sell my food. I cannot ship the food so you will need to come to the Farm Store to purchase it per Texas Cottage Laws. I don't have time to deliver it because, as you know, I am Mrs. David's Garden Seeds®.

Succession Planting

Determinate and indeterminate tomatoes are delicious but succession planting works best with determinate tomatoes.

Succession planting gives you a steady supply of fresh fruits and vegetables all spring and summer long. Succession planting works best for determinate plants. Determinate plants are those that will grow a set number of fruits and then they are finished. Indeterminate plants can keep putting out fruits all season long which means you do not want to pull those up until the season is over.

Most people know that tomatoes are either determinate or indeterminate. Find out before you buy seeds. The tomato seed packets should say whether they are determinate or indeterminate. If not, just Google it and you will find out.

Friday, May 12, 2023

Homemade vanilla extract is made with alcohol and real Madagascar vanilla beans which cost a lot. Get 2 oz bottles of my vanilla for $9.95.

Happy humid Friday! It is overcast but the sun is finally starting to burn through. It is currently 11:30am and 85° Fahrenheit. You can almost cut through the humidity with a knife, it feels so thick. It has been a very busy morning. I got my two ounce vanillas labeled and brought over to the store. I cut my beautiful lemon squares, packaged, labeled, and priced them. They are on the front counter. I also brought more eggs over to the Farm Store.

Our first customer today bought one coffee, three citronella plants, an Arabica mint plant, and two lemon squares. So he was our first purchaser of our cookie of the day. He also took three of the big citronellas. We still have a few smaller ones and plenty of the big ones. I have to go to the house and package the rest of the lemon bars. I just did not have time this morning.

I am thinking of baking some bread to sell here in the store as well. I do bake loaves of bread that we eat at home and they turn out good. Actually, I have loved to bake since I was 12 and took my first home economics class in seventh grade. The teacher taught me how to read a recipe and how to measure and add the ingredients in order to the bowl. It was a wonderful class that I feel everyone should have to take in school, both girls and boys.

Let's face it, we all eat so we should all know how to cook. Not everyone gets married right away so chances are, at least for a while, a man might live on his own. Knowing how to cook will save him a lot of money. When I was in school, all girls had to take Home Economics, but not the boys. They took Wood Shop but girls couldn't. If a girl is interested in learning how to work with wood, she should be able to.

There should also be classes for everyone on how to balance a checkbook and manage money, how to do laundry, how to shop for groceries, and how to clean a home because everyone should know how to do these things.

I just finished cleaning and refilling the pond. So we spent all of that money having new signs made about not throwing things in the pond. A family came today and bought snacks. They were sitting in the gazebo. I was out behind the pond by this time and a little boy ripped the foil lid off of his Pringles and tossed it in. I told him not to throw things in the pond and I fished it out. The boy said nothing. The mom said nothing. Not an apology, not a don't throw things in the pond or don't litter. Nothing...

I have been spraying wasp nests all week long. I took out six more today by the pond and above walkways so our people and our customers don't get stung. They are really hiding well but then they send their little messengers out flying around. One had the gall to sit on my pond filter when I was going to clean it this morning so I had to kill him before I could clean the pond.

More clouds have moved in. I would love if it just started pouring now but it usually goes around us. I have been told that we are set to get over three inches tomorrow and about an inch on Sunday but it usually doesn't work that way here.

I went to bed at 11pm and no rain at all.

Succession Planting

Every 3 weeks, plant a few melon plants so all of your melons are not ripe at the same time.

Here are some succession planting vegetables and fruit to plant every three weeks to keep the garden producing all summer long:

Melons
Mustard greens
Carrots
Cucumbers

Plant as many as you can use in three weeks because in three more weeks, there will be fresh ones to use. Don't forget that you can freeze or can extra carrots. Carrots store for much longer than any of the others on this list. You can also blanch and freeze mustard greens. Cucumbers make delicious dill or sweet pickles. If you don't know how to can, get a Ball Blue Book of Canning and learn how it is done.

If you are fortunate enough to have a freeze dryer, this can all be freeze dried. I wish I had one. I do have a dehydrator and you can dehydrate everything on the list but cucumbers are way better as pickles!

Saturday, May 13, 2023

One of my peanut plants. They are doing well, the Tennessee Reds, that is. The Virginia Jumbos never came up.

I woke up at 3am and it was pouring with lightning. I woke up again at 6am and it was still raining. I took Ethel outside but it wasn't too bad. Then it came down again. I went out at 7:30am to feed all of the farm animals and it was sprinkling. Yesterday they said that we would get over 3.5 inches today. We got two inches over night. Now it is 11am and we haven't had anymore. They say we will get another half inch but so far, we have not. It has been a very slow day here at the Farm Store.

I have some lemon bars and four dozen eggs. We also have lots of pecan treats and pecan whole bean coffees.

The week sure went by fast, didn't it? Things around here are really growing quickly. My Tennessee Red peanuts are looking good. I weeded some of their garden bed this morning. The bed next to it has only weeds. Not one Virginia Jumbo peanut came up and I planted them exactly the same as I did the Tennessee Red peanuts.

I will be making pork chops for dinner tonight for the Svengoolie movie. I am looking forward to having a day off tomorrow so I can get some work in the house done.

Well, the lemon squares are going quickly. It is now 12:15pm so I will run over to the house and get David some lunch.

One of my delicious lemon squares. Stay tuned to see what I will bake for next weekend.

Seed Complaints

Every day, David and I get emails, texts, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter messages about how awesome our seeds are. We are told our seeds have great germination and always grow and what wonderful plants our customers have because they planted our seeds. Of course, these compliments come from real gardeners who know how and when to plant in their area. They also know how to take care of seeds and their gardens. It makes a big difference.

We also get nasty grams from people who just don't have a clue. They say our seeds are no good because they planted them two inches deep and they never came up or they planted them when the temperature was 42° in their area and the plants never came up.

Here is another one: "I soaked the pumpkin seeds for 24 hours, then put them in paper towels. I then placed the paper towels in a plastic bag and put that in the refrigerator. I took it out two days later and your seeds did not germinate."

Well, duh! Of course not. We never say on our website to do any of that. Why would you? Here is a link to our germination tips so you will know how to plant seeds correctly. Stop watching YouTube videos that want you to do stupid things with seeds. Of course, another one is the float test for which we have received many silly notes about how our seeds are no good because they fail some floating test. Our seeds are very good, fresh, heirlooms. Doesn't anyone have better things to do with their time anymore? Why not just plant the seeds correctly and watch them grow? We recommend planting no deeper than one fourth of an inch in soil, not a paper towel or a glass of water. Don't put them in a plastic bag or soak them. Just plant them in warm soil. Give them a little water and in as little as seven to as much as 30 days, depending on the seed variety, you will have tiny plants growing. Just like magic, only it isn't.

I just watered the two Greenstalk planters up front here. Of course, nothing is growing in them yet. They did not get rain as they are under a covered deck. Too bad. No one other than David and me is working here today. It is about time for lunch so I will need to go make David some lunch. Someone is here...

It was the mailman. He brought junk mail and picked up a few outgoing packages.

It is now after 2pm and I have closed the store until Monday morning at 9am. I am off duty until then and I will not be answering any emails, texts, or messages until then that are business related. In the past, I have answered them whenever I got them, if I was awake but that is done. I am at the store for 44 hours each week and at night and early in the morning, I work on the business and the websites. Now I also have the added task of baking each week for the store and creating edible things to sell there. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

I made a delicious meal for dinner and Svengoolie. I made pork chops, baked potatoes, and oven roasted carrots, mushrooms, and onions. I also made a loaf of French bread earlier in the afternoon. It was steaming hot for dinner, crusty and delicious. Unfortunately, Svengoolie was a movie with Don Knotts that we have recently seen so we watched a movie called The Equalizer. I had never seen it before although I have seen some of the TV show by the same name. It was a very good movie except for the bloody killings. I had to look away a lot but it was a pretty good movie. We really enjoyed the meal.

Succession Planting

Succession planting every 30 days works good for summer squash including Tatume squash.

Thirty day succession planting can include:

Swiss Chard
Summer Squash
Zucchini

Swiss chard likes cooler temperatures here in South Central Texas so you do not want to plant it in the heat of summer.

One summer squash plant puts out a ton of squash so watch how many seeds you plant every 30 days. I always blanch and freeze my extra squash so I can have it year round. David likes to can it but I enjoy the taste better when I have frozen it. Of course, as with all veggies, fresh from the garden is best. Don't you agree?

Sunday, May 14, 2023

My son, Matt, brought me a beautiful bag with candles and chocolates for Mother's Day last night.

My gifts.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there. I hope you have a wonderful day. We have been busy doing the usual farm and business chores that have to be done every morning when you live on a farm and own your own business.

Now we need to get ready and go to church.

Church was good. Matt joined us there. Then we had lunch here at the house and watched Equalizer 2. It is now hot and humid outside, bright and sunny and I doubt we get anymore rain.

Succession Planting

Zucchini and summer squash are good plants for succession planting.

Succession planting is a great way to make your summer veggies last longer. Who wants 50 heads of lettuce to ripen at the same time? A little planning of your garden before you start is a great way to avoid silly mistakes like this. Get a notebook and plan everything out including what you want to plant, how much you will need, and how often you will plant it. Don't forget to also plan where each variety will be planted. Take Companion Planting into consideration as well for a successful garden.

Return from Succession Planting to Our Fourth Year

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