My garden is right at what I call the “transition period” this time of the year: we are ending the winter garden, some of the spring vegetables are not quite ready yet for picking and we have yet to start our summer garden planting. The winter vegetables that are still around in my garden are broccoli rape, cavolo broccolo (also known as spigariello), cavolo nero (Italian kale) escarole and chicory.
Cavolo Broccolo (Spigariello)
The spring vegetables that are not quite ready yet for picking are peas and fava beans.
My chickens admiring the fava beans in the garden
Now that the rain is finally at an end here in California we will be getting our summer garden ready. If you haven’t started your seeds yet, you still have time so that the seedlings will be ready for transplant in about a month. Read last year’s post on how to start your seeds if you need a brush-up. And here are two online sites that carry seeds from Italy: www.gardenedibles.com and www.growitalian.com. Also, remember to amend your soil with some manure or compost now, something you need to do a few weeks before you plant your seedlings.
We started our seeds a couple of weeks ago. And last week we made our annual trip to a local farm and picked up about 30 bags of goat manure for my garden and my parents’. If the weather holds up my dad will add the manure and turn it into the soil in the next week or so.
The tomatoes, peppers (sweet and hot) and eggplant seeds have sprouted and will be transplanted in about a month. The romano beans will go directly in the ground next week. I will also plant the potatoes and start my lettuce bed next week.
Did I miss anything? Let me know if you have any more questions. I do hope that you get motivated to plant something. Start small if you have never done this before. Even if you don’t have a backyard, you can plant in your front yard or in large pots on your deck. You will be rewarded with the best vegetables. There is nothing like fresh peas picked right off the plant or a vine-ripened tomato.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
And in the tropics of Australia we are in Autumn and it is our time to get the garden ready. Our winter is the prime time for gardens as our summer is to hot and wet for anything much.
Rosetta,
Garden time comes a bit later here in New England but this year I kept myself busy in the winter by trying winter sowing. This process involves starting the seeds outside during winter using empty water jugs that become mini greenhouses. And the seedlings are supposed to be hardened off because they started life in harsh conditions. So far, I am showing some tiny zucchini and grape tomato seedlings. I also planted cukes, eggplant, pole beans, sweet red peppers, pepperoncini and oregano. I also got all of these seeds from Italy through an importer in Massachusetts called “Seeds from Italy” (www.growitalian.com).
I didn’t have much luck with my peppers last year, so I’m going to try them in large containers this year. Best of luck with your wonderful garden.
Jim
Jim,
If you have space in the garden you should plant the peppers in the soil rather than pots. If you use a large container and plant one or two per container they will do OK but as you know vegetable plants don’t like to be confined in a pot, they do better in the open soil.
You will also need to water more often when planting in containers.
Good luck.
Rosetta, your bread turned out wonderful and I did make the friselle. Unfortuately I had little faith in my starter and thought they would not rise. They did, very well in fact and were too thick so they are quite hard. I posted about them and the bread. I think I will have to soak them for longer. This hasn’t deterred me though. Can’t wait to make it again! The family loved the bread!!!
Rosetta I recently checked your book out of our library here in Charlotte, NC and enjoyed reading very much. I have been gardening a few years and I look forward to making your conserva. My spring garden did excellent, especially the shelling peas, lettuce and carrots. My only disappointment was the fava beans, I believe I started them too late. I grew beautiful fava bean flowers but no beans. I read they need to have weather below 75 degrees to form beans but its much warmer than that here in May.
Jennifer,
I am not sure if it is the warm weather, We have never had that problem but it doesn’t get above 75F here during April (when the flowers turn into beans). We typically pick them at the beginning of May.
Do you grow Plum trees? My father and grandfather alway grew plums trees. They were smaller than you find in the stores. They always said they were italian. I am trying to find a plum tree.
Linda,
I have an Italian plum tree in my backyard. They are smaller and sweeter than the plums you find at the stores.
Ciao mie cara amica,
I read one of your responses about growing peppers in pots. I tried it for the 1st time this year because my contacts in Italy grow there peperoncini in pots, one plant per pot, with great success. So far my success is limited. This may be due to the mistake I made using Miracle-Gro potting soil with top soil. The M-G bag claims that their product is good for vegetables. I did not realize that the product bag does not specify leafy vegetables. There is too much nitrogen in that M-G product in comparison to potassium and phosphorus, and the N promotes leaf growth to the detriment of producing pods.
The peperoncini that I grow are bhut jolokia (ghost peppers) for use in a pureed salsa that is extremely incendiary. I made some of this salsa using 14 store bought red bell peppers that I roasted under the broiler with 3 ghost peppers. Also spicchio d’aglio were added along with olio d’olive extra vergine. This salsa was pureed in a wide mouth jar using an immersible blender. The reason for using a wide mouth jar is to not waste as much salsa as would be lost in transferring the salsa from a standard blender. The puree was moltissimo arrabbiato.
Vivi, ama, ridi e mangia bene!
Scusi, I meant to use ‘mia’ in the salutation of my preceding comment.
A question please… Friends from El Sobrante, Richmond, El Cerrito to my Berkeley haven’t had a fig harvest this year (I have eleven Italian fig trees), I’m wondering if this is true also with you this year? Thank you.