Why is my Pac Choi (Bokchoy) bolting?

Hi everyone, long time no talk! My garden is growing strong this year, especially my luscious spaghetti squash and cucumbers – for some reason they are big, bulky and doing great!

What is NOT doing great is my pac choi (bokchoy). This has actually happened for the last two seasons but I have not been able to figure out a cure. The pac choi I’m using is dwarf white stemmed pac choi from West Coast Seeds.

Every time I grow these guys, this happens:

I water consistently, and I do get edible leaves but the stems are very skinny so as soon as they bolt, I pick the leaves and then the plant seems to be done – so I pull it out.

Any suggestions for me? Do you grow any Asian vegetables such as pac choi? I have been growing more and more Asian veggies(my fiance is Chinese!) and I totally love them – they taste delicious and are easy to use in my cooking. I can’t wait to hear from you guys!

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Garden update: spaghetti squash

Sooooo if you know me, you know that I LOVE SPAGHETTI SQUASH. I adore it because it tricks my mind into thinking I’m eating some delicious carb filled pasta, and oh boy…pasta is my all time fave.

So this summer I decided to give spaghetti squash a try in the garden. I had never grown it before but I thought why not! I planted 4 seeds and they all germinated! They have been growing steadily for weeks now and look what’s happening!!! I think those are baby squashes!

I am a bit worried that they aren’t growing fast enough since it’s almost September and then the temperature will start dropping down.

What is your experience growing squash? How fast do these little squashies grow? And should I be fertilizing or anything? 🌱

Direct Composting

Ok I am oddly excited to write this post!!! Am I the only one who gets giddy over burying food scraps? I have been researching direct composting for a few months now and am dying to give it a try. Next I have to convince my fiancé (yes we got ENGAGED!) that the squirrels and bears won’t dig it up.

We have an old ice cream tub on our counter that we collect food scraps in, but I’m considering getting a metal bin like this.

I feel as if I have so much to learn! Does anybody have advice for me when it comes to direct composting? Personal experiences?

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts! My garden is going to thank me…the soil is lacking nutrients for sure! 🍅🌽

July Garden

It’s coming along!!!…which is surprising since I planted a bunch of seeds in March with no luck.

I am growing spaghetti squash, corn, chinese radish(Daikon) and potatoes. Much different than my previous years!

Now that my seeds have sprouted and they are growing well, I am unsure what to do with my spaghetti squash plants. Help! I have 4 of them(the photo above is my largest one). Do I need to fertilize the soil? Is there anything I need to do to ensure these babies grow me some squash?

My corn seems to be doing alright…all 8 plants are looking strong.

Yes I need to weed

My potatoes are in bags, and the plant themselves are so big that they’ve begun to fall over. I believe they need to flower? I don’t see any signs of this happening so far. Potato experts…what’s protocol for these creatures?

And lastly my Daikon is doing as well as I had hoped…my expectations were low.

It’s been awhile since I posted a full update on my garden, so this is exciting! I have been looking through everyones garden posts and feeling inspired! You people are amazing. Tell me what’s doing well in your garden 🙂 xox

Fertilizing the garden – questions!

OK, it’s time for another garden post. In my last post I asked for tips on what I could improve upon in my garden and almost ALL of you suggested FERTILIZING. Now I can assure you there are about 70 million websites telling me how to fertilize, but they all seem different and some are pretty confusing. IDEALLY I would love to keep my fertilizing natural, but is this possible?

When I began prepping my soil this season I added 3 bags of sheep manure and 1 bag of peat soil to my existing soil with the hope that this would help. In the past I’ve ground egg shells, cut banana peels up, and tossed coffee grinds into my soil but it seems that this is not enough. My partner went out and bought me a bottle of this:I applied it to my tomatoes a few weeks back when the plant began growing fruit but it seems to be just sitting on the top of the soil. Do you use Miracle Gro Shake ‘n Feed?

the fertilizer sitting on my soil

Question for all my lovely gardener blog buddies: how do you fertilize, what do you use and how often do you do it?

Honestly when I started my garden I was focused on growing food, eating food, and growing some more. I had never really considered the ‘complicated’ parts of it such as soil pH, fertilizing and what to do when nothing is growing. Well I know I’m in good hands as you people are truly incredible with your feedback, tips and advice 🙂 I can honestly say it is a joy logging onto WordPress to see how your gardens are doing. Xoxo thank you loves

my potatoes came!