It’s April 1 and it’s officially time to plant my vegetable boxes! The first weekend of April is absolutely my favorite weekend of the year in the Napa Valley. Forni-Brown in Calistoga officially opens and sells their heirloom starts, which is an event that Vicki and I never miss. They are open to the public for 6 weeks in April and May, after which they only serve local restaurants.
However, I got an earlier start than usual this year. Last weekend I went to Petaluma’s Cottage Gardens for the first time and couldn’t resist buying my tomato, cippolini onion, mache and arugula starts. I planted all of them in my boxes last weekend.
I also bought a new interior plant growing rack from Garden Supply for my San Francisco home and started my Seed Savers seeds about 3 weeks ago. Last weekend I transplanted the radish, beet and lettuce starts from that effort. This weekend, I planted my zucchini and bush & climbing beans starts. My carrots are still inside on the racks getting a little bigger before planting. (Note to self: start the seeds earlier in the year, ideally in February).
I prepared my vegetable bed soil last winter, by giving my beds a break from the hectic production schedule last summer and adding all kinds of goodies. Check out my post on the great products I added to the soil over the winter.
In planning the placement of my vegetables this year, I rotated the beds for each vegetable from where I planted them last year.
Here’s my plant list this year:
Box 1: Broccoli. I put one bed of Marathon broccoli in this box over Thanksgiving weekend which I purchased from Van Winden. We have already eaten two heads and have two more ready to pick this weekend. (Note to self: plant another box and start them two weeks earlier, so I have more of them and they can be enjoyed for a longer period of time).
Box 2: Radishes and Lettuces. In half of the bed, I planted four varieties of radishes from Seed Savers seeds: French Breakfast, Holmes Royal Red, Early Scarlett Globe, and Plum Purple. In the other half of the box, I planted, arugula, mache, Lolla Rossa, Flame, Bunte Forellenschluss and Merveille des Quartre Saisons lettuces. This box is perfect for lettuces because they get a little shade from the adjacent peach tree.
Box 3: Herbs. I went crazy with herbs this year and planted several: Curly parsley, Italian parsley, English thyme, rosemary, watercress, purple & grey sage, Golden Weeping marjoram, chervil, garlic chives, French tarragon, lemon thyme, sweet marjoram, cilantro, sorrel, Greek oregano and dill. I like having them in a box a little closer to the kitchen; they will probably be used more this year compared to last year.
Box 4: Gold Coin Cipollini onions. I have a half box of these onions, with room to spare for the carrots when they are ready to be transplanted.
Box 5: Beets and Peppers. I planted Seed Savers Detroit Dark Red and Burpee’s Golden beets this year. As I only started them from seeds 3 weeks ago, they’re a little small and probably would have benefited from a little more time under the fluorescent lights…but I was impatient to plant them. They seem to be doing alright so far. I planted several hot varieties of peppers in the remaining space in this box: Jalapeno, Big Jim, Chilhuacle Negro, Diablo and Ancho peppers – all recommended by Forni-Brown.
Box 6: Cucumbers. I wasted no time at Forni-Brown to buy my favorites: 1 Tsuya (a slender, long Japanese variety) and 3 Persian cucumbers. Both varieties are sweet with thin skins – perfect for salads. I couldn’t find these seeds at Seed Savers, so I waited for the starts which are always available at Forni-Brown.
I also tucked in two plants in the corners: Aruba & Spanish Paprika peppers.
Box 7: Peppers. I’ve experimented with different varieties of peppers, but the ones I always love and come back to are padrons, so I bought 8 of them again this year. I couldn’t find the seeds for these delicious peppers from Seed Savers so I waiting for the Forni-Brown starts.
Box 8: Bush Beans. I planted 2 Provider and 2 Empress bush beans in this box. The Seed Saver catalog’s description of these two were hard to resist!
Box 9: Bush Beams. In this box, I planted 4 Kentucky Wonder bush beans, which are always delicious. They were only name I recognized from the long bean list at Seed Savers.
Box 10: Pole Beans. I planted 6 pole beans in this box – 3 Ideal Market pole beans and 3 French Climbing beans from Seed Savers seeds. French beans are my husband’s favorite, so I always have to have them!
Box 11: Eggplant. I planted 6 Shoyu eggplant – the slender, long, black-skinned variety which is tender and delicious. I also planted 2 Heirloom Rosa Bianca eggplant plants, pictured below. Rose Bianca is known for its colorful, light pink-lavender fruit with white shading, and non-bitter taste.
Box 12: Tomatoes. In this box, I planted 1 Brandywine, 1 Super Sweet 100 and 1 Early Girl tomato plants, which were starts from Petaluma’s Cottage Gardens.
Early Girl Tomatoes
As last year, I planted basil with my tomatoes – as companion plants. Check out this article which describes the benefits of growing these two plants together: “Does Growing Tomatoes With Basil Make the Tomatoes Sweeter?” . In summary, planting basil with tomatoes 1) may make tomatoes taste sweeter and 2) will increase tomato yield because basil repels may of the pests that can attack tomato plants.
Box 13: Tomatoes. In this box, I planted 1 San Marzano, 1 Prudens Purple and 1 Marvel Stripe – all starts from Cottage Gardens. Basil is around the perimeter of this box just like Box 12.
Box 14: Zucchini. The main purpose of my zucchini is for steaming as a side dish for my meals, so I have been searching for the perfect variety each spring but haven’t yet found it. This year, I planted 3 Black Beauties in this box. Here is the description of Black Beauty in the Seed Savers catalog, which sounds like the perfect variety for my needs.
- Organic
- Glossy, green-black skin
- Best when eaten under 8 inches
- Excellent variety for freezing
- Summer squash
- 45-65 days
“A 1957 All America Selections winner developed by John Scarchuk at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Compact ever-bearing bush plants are loaded with glossy green-black fruits with firm white flesh. Best eaten when under 8″ long. Excellent variety for freezing. 45-65 days”.
Box 15: Flowers. In reading about bees last weekend, I decided to dedicate this box to bee-loving flowers. I purchased a flower mix packet from Van Winden and sowed a couple hundred ‘Save the Bees’ seeds in this box. I also added 4 nasturtium plants in the corners – Whirleybird Gold (yellow-colored) and Tip Top Alaska (peach-colored) – so we could have some edible flowers this year. My bees should have a great time this summer – and help out our vegetable garden.
Box 16: Raspberries. I planted 4 raspberry plants last year and they have completely taken off! I should have a lot of raspberries this summer. To protect them from birds, I purchased a cage made of netting from Garden Supply, which happens to be the exact same dimensions as my boxes. It should fit perfectly and protect those delectable berries from theft by opportunistic birds!
Box 17: Strawberries. My strawberries returned this year, so no need to replant. I can see them already beginning to produce fruit, so there was no need to do anything with this box.
And that concludes my 2017 vegetable planting. Now comes the fun part – watching it grow and cultivating my crop… What will you plant this year?
