R-R-Rad to the Bone

3 September 2010, by gj

Being a Master Gardener doesn’t mean you know everything about gardening.

In reality, it means you are just crazy enough about gardening that you are willing to use your free time and most likely some of your money to help others garden. It means you will try to find the answers you don’t already have, and in the process, you learn -a lot.

So recently I was asked for tips on growing radishes. I have never actually had a lot of success with radishes myself, and whether I did or didn’t, I never knew why. I searched the internet and recommended a good site to answer the questions.
In the meantime I learned:
1. Just because they grow fast does not mean they are easy to grow.
2. Radishes want even watering, about an inch per week.
3. Radishes want even temperatures, not too hot.
4. Radishes don’t like to be left in the ground too long, they get ‘hot’ when they are.
5. They are way too temperamental for a vegetable so small.

That being said, the pictures below are from radishes planted at the same time and grown in the same bed. Go figure.

Our temps this summer were above normal and the rainfall below…guess this one didn’t like my watering:

I don’t even know what caused this:

At least this one has an excuse:

Of course I take all the credit for these two beauties:

Oh, you may be wondering about the title?
Well, if you read my most recent confession, you’ll understand.
This may help:
George Thorogood
Rock on!

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It Takes Two to Mango

8 August 2010, by gj

Actually I am talking squash today, specifically pumpkin; but I couldn’t resist the play on words.

With the drop in the bee population over the last few years, it may be necessary to hand pollinate veggies like squashes to insure a good harvest.
It’s simple enough to do, though I admit I felt a little weird my first time.

Each plant has male and female flowers; it’s easy to tell the difference.
The females are the ones that have little tiny fruit on them.

You need to get some of the pollen from the male to the female. Using a cotton swab (Q-Tip) roll it around inside the male flower – you will see the yellow pollen on the swab.
Then, roll that around inside the female flower, around the center.

That’s it. Soon you’ll be the proud parent of a squash. I know this year we will have at least one pumpkin by Halloween.

Note that squash flowers open early in the morning, so be sure to get to them in time.
More Garden tips.

Happy Gardening!
~GJ

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Sleeping with the Enemy

12 July 2010, by gj

Like any other garden, mine has its share of intruders. I have been pretty successful at keeping out the deer, the biggest garden problem in this area.

To accomplish this I:
(1) planted near the road, that’s where the best sun is anyway, and the deer shy away
(2) make jumping the fence into the garden problematic, i.e., have chairs and sheds and trashcan potatoes and the like scattered everywhere that might be considered a good landing area
(3) plant vining crops like squashes and melons, near the perimeter of the garden, deer don’t like that.
Too much trouble for them, off they go to a neighbor’s yard I’m sure.

Other typical intruders:
Slugs-beer, need I say more? Die happy
Japanese Beetles- hand pick and drop into sudsy water. Unless they are doing no harm, I let them have at the raspberry leaves once the canes are done.
Leaf Hoppers – I start with Hot Pepper spray, but if ineffective I will use Orhto Sevin, the only thing I have found to work absolutely
Then there are the burrowing crits.

We have been able to scare the groundhogs away. We don’t see too many, fortunately. Having a big dog and a cat with attitude helps.

Sleeping with the Enemy? It’s the chipmunks I’m willing to feed. When I first see their holes, I dump hot sauce in the ones inside the garden to put them off, and I put veggie scraps near the holes outside. For me this works every time. They seem to be quite content being fed what they need, and I put the scraps farther away from the garden over time. They are cute too and I like to watch them. I have never had a family two years in a row; they must find another garden the next season. A nice relationship, and I thought that is what the end of this post would be.

I haven’t seen any chipmunks this year, now I know why.

Apparently this year I have something else. Most likely a rat. Whatever it is does not respond to gentle feeding, nor to the hot sauce. It is in fact eating my onions by the bulb. Unstopped, the corn, cabbages and tomatoes will be next.
So, since all other efforts have failed. I’m going to ‘do him in’. Yes, that’s right. I am ruthlessly going to eliminate him from my garden.
If you are expecting a funny punch line here, sorry. I wish there was one.
In 25 years of gardening this is only the second time things were so bad I resorted to a rodent poison. I really hate this. I know SaveTheWorld will hate it too.
I should mention I don’t put it in the beds of course, just in the other blatant areas he has left holes.
I am still offering food outside the garden, he has a choice.
I am really hoping he takes it.

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Tomato Tips – Growing Up

10 July 2010, by gj

Tomatoes are a vine crop and can be left to grow that way. However, you are more likely to get rot in your fruit and to have them attacked by numerous creepy crawlers. Pretty much everybody stakes their tomatoes nowadays.
You do have a number of choices on the How-To end. You can buy Tomato Cages that are easy to use. Unfortunately in our area they don’t work very well because our soil is so rocky. It really is hard to find a spot to get even those thin wire legs into the ground deep enough to offer support.

Staking tomatoes is another easy way to grow. Put the stake into the ground a few inches from your tomatoes when you first plant them. Don’t wait, after the plants are established putting a stake in can damage their roots. Use lightweight string, or better yet, strips of pantyhose, to tie your tomato as it grows. You may also want to consider pruning your staked tomatoes, more on that later.

My favorite way to support tomatoes is to tie them to a main overhead support. I moved my tomatoes this year, due to last year’s Late Blight, so cannot show you them on the main support we had in another area. Instead, here is an example using PVC pipe.
You tie the string to the bottom stem, then to the overhead support. As the tomato grows, simply twirl the string around it for support.

And what if I don’t stake?

Related links
Late Blight
Staking Tomatoes
Staking Tomatoes and a Little on Pruning

Categories: garden planning, gardening

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Welcome to My Garden

7 July 2010, by gj

garlic, strawberries, corn, dry beans

peppers, tomato, celery, onions & leeks

potted tomatoes, pear tree, raspberries, dry beans

the onions are maturing too fast due to the heat

some of the dry beans I mentioned in another blog

killing weeds naturally

look close and you will see a canning jar with blue liquid in it, that is Biota-Max that I am testing on the potatoes-that trashcan got the first flowers!

tomato bed handles heat well

I used pots of hot peppers as a wall for the new asparagus bed

these little guys don’t seem to mind!

the hub and I; if we were little plastic garden frog statues that is

6 weeks ago this was brown, 12 weeks ago it was white

I love experiments! (more on this later)

heat wave continues!

some veggies never give up

Well, there you have it. Hope you enjoyed the tour!
Related posts:
The Beans
Killing Weeds
The List
BiotaMax

Categories: garden planning, gardening

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Separation Anxiety

4 July 2010, by gj

I mentioned in an earlier blog that I haven’t had much success growing spinach in the past. Not willing to accept defeat however, I decided to try planting some in the newly assembled (purchased for almost nothing) strawberry bed. The strawberries weren’t really using it yet, and the two do well together.
Well it worked, it really worked. As much as I would like to take credit, I think the combination of the mushroom soil and beautiful weather was the real reason why the spinach thrived.

I have been harvesting the lower leaves and keeping the bolting at bay, until the most recent heat wave proved too much for the tender plants. Time to bring them all in and prep them for winter storage.

It also was time for the strawberry plants to start sending out their tendrils on which the next generation will grow-they needed the room.

Here’s how to deal with your harvest:

So the strawberries are happy, the spinach is in the freezer. So who’s got separation anxiety?
Well, that would be me. You see, I won’t be able to plant the next crop of spinach in the same bed later this summer, and I know it isn’t going to want to be far from those strawberries.
I’m just not sure I can grow it well again, twice in a row?
-Now wait – hold the phone – another challenge?
Hmm, corn to the north, garlic to the west, tomatoes and peppers to the east- aha! the south has it…that broccoli won’t be there much longer, and the swiss chard may prove beneficial. Whew!
Okay, okay…not to worry… the spinach and I…yeah, we’ll be just fine we’ll be just fine indeed.

Categories: garden planning, gardening, ok - so now what?

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This is My Garden – This is My Garden on ‘Shrooms

20 June 2010, by gj

Last summer I had what I could only describe as The Worst Garden Ever.
The weather didn’t help- It only hit 90 degrees once, it rained almost every weekend, and on a lot of the weekdays too.
The bugs were nasty and a chipmunk took up residence.
We got Late Blight on the tomatoes, and we got it early- Seriously, that’s how bad it was.
I was determined that no matter what the weather, I was going to have a great garden this year.
I’ve noticed in previous years that whenever I put in a new bed, filled it with top soil mixed with composted manure, that it fared better than all the rest; even though I amended the soil similarly in the other beds.
I’ve been hearing about the benefits of mushroom soil for quite a while now. I decided to check it out and went down to the local nursery. The gentleman there told me he put it in his garden last summer and when everyone else (including me) was complaining he was getting great veggies. He did suffer through the Late Blight, but his garden handled the weather well.
Sure, rub it in.
So I ordered a load of the stuff mixed with top soil.

My garden is quite large so getting it all in the beds in time to plant took both Mandolin and me making numerous wheelbarrow runs. It was close, too. The last beds (actually ‘hills’ for the squash) went in 2 weeks ago.
This is the best thing I ever did for my garden. I cannot believe the difference it has made, and it is only June. Granted, the weather has been great; but even still the result is amazing.

I picked onions today – that usually doesn’t happen until July.

There are flowers on the cantaloupe, the pumpkins, the tomatoes, the potatoes, the peppers.

The broccoli has little heads on it. Other years by the time it did it just bolted, it was so far into the summer.

The beans sprouted so fast, some in as little as four days. They’re now getting ready to flower.

I feel like I’m in one of those time lapse films – where every day is like 10 seconds. It’s making my head spin.
Must be a side effect of the ‘shrooms too.

Categories: gardening

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Winning the Weed War

19 June 2010, by gj

Things to do:

pick up more plants
build new raised bed
plant veggies
kill weeds
kill weeds
kill weeds
kill weeds

I always go into a slight withdrawl when I get all the vegetable garden planting done. Partly it’s because I know that, for a while at least, there will be nothing to do but fight the pests; and one of the worst is the weeds.
Weeds multiply so fast when you are busy with other gardening chores playing in the dirt. They can take over before you know it.

Outside the beds I like to use cardboard and newspaper to ward them off. Cardboard takes longer to biodegrade so keeps the weeds away longer. The down side is that it is somewhat harder to work with and it can be slippery until it settles in. I use this more in the less traveled areas and use thick layers of newspaper in the higher traffic spots.
Mulch on top keeps your garden looking good just fabulous.

Inside the beds I prefer to use newspapers and straw, or hay when straw is not available. Hay does contain seeds that will sprout. It is easy enough to flip it over at that point, not letting it take root. When it sprouts in the fall I let it go. It helps keep the weeds away then, and again in the spring as it self-mulches the beds. If you are not amending the soil it is okay pretty darn smart of you to just clear spots to plant and leave the hay on the ground.

Weeding is always a little better when you see it as work fun.

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Beans for Peanuts

6 June 2010, by gj

I’ve planted about 2 ½ pounds of assorted dry bean seeds (pinto, kidney, navy and black) this year on the cheap.
I bought dry beans like those pictured below from my local grocery. The price was about $2 per pound, about what you would pay for a packet (1/8 pound) of seeds at your local nursery (or more through the mail with shipping charges added).
I planted in beds that total about 20 ft. x 4 ft. I expect this will provide the three of us (bean lovers) with enough beans for homemade hummus, baked beans, three bean salad and bean soup for the entire year.
“What?” you may be thinking. Yes it’s true…and it gets even better:
Since the beans are seeds, I expect to also have enough seed left from my harvest to plant next year. So for approximately $5 we could theoretically have enough beans for the rest of our lives.
“What???” You may be shocked and amazed but it’s true.
These beans will never become soup, but their kids will.

Dry beans are easy enough to plant. Just drag your trowel through the soil to make a small trench. Throw in beans. You can take the time to carefully set them in but I don’t. They seem to handle overplanting very well. Cover the trench and water. I try to plant mine before a rain.

Beans are a very healthy source of protein (much better for you than meat) and are high in fiber. A diet high in fiber is good for a lot of what ails you.
We really love them too, most especially as hummus. You can use a variety of beans to make it.
Pick the beans as the pods become plump for fresh eating, or let them dry on the plant.
Beans produce more the more you pick, so have at ‘em. Dry or fresh you just open the pod to get the beans.
As for the downside of beans – since they are high in fiber they will produce gas. When my youngest was little and Mandolin Jones would pass wind, he would look to the sky and say “Ducks, did I hear ducks?”
Poor girl went to kindergarten a little confused, thinking that’s what a duck was.

More on growing Dry Beans
Homemade Hummus
Other seeds from the market

Categories: garden planning, gardening, vegetarian

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Planting Seeds for the Future

2 June 2010, by gj

Let me introduce you to Dirt Digger. He is a wonderful father of two lively and lovely kids, and he is also addicted to gardening.
Flowers, that is.
I don’t fully understand it (you can’t eat flowers, can you?) but then, to each their own.
I do understand his enthusiasm and I really enjoy reading his blog. Here is one of my favorite posts, reprinted with his permission:

Getting the Kids Involved

I am a gardening loner.

Just me hanging with my plants is all I need. My happy place.

I can get lost for hours if left to my own devices, and it never gets dull or tiring. It is like a form of meditation where nothing else exists.

If it were possible, I would perform yoga in the garden among the plants, but then I would truly qualify as “creepy guy” (although it would be funny as hell to watch).

Lately, though, I have paid closer attention to the need to get kids involved with gardening and the great outdoors knowing it will have a profound influence on them. In the past, my first reaction was to nod my head in approval only to quietly say to myself  “No thanks, they’ll just complain and eventually make their way to the swings.” or  “I know they’ll run for the hills at the first sign of any insect”. I resisted allowing them into my domain where they could only screw it all up.

Well, I have accepted that I can have it both ways – ONG time and ONG time with the little ones. The kids may only hang for a short period of time, and it may seem like they were unaffected by our interactions, but I have recently witnessed two events that refute that notion.      

First, a few photos with me and the kids and our recent project: 

We planted a bunch of annual seeds in containers (mostly Zinnias) and planted a few tomato, basil and pepper plants in containers as well. They dug the dirt, planted the seeds and watered  – not always in that order however.

The kids lasted about twenty minutes, with my daughter a bit more interested and involved. She especially took to planting the actual seeds. They did make their way to the playground eventually, but I felt like I made the effort to really make them a part of the process. Kudos to me.

Now on to the two recent events I mentioned earlier:

Story #1 – Early last evening, I was out on the back deck moving containers around like a frickin mad scientist trying to find that “right look”. I felt like I was on the “Price is Right” where I would complete an arrangement, pull a lever and then see if I won (the show is so in my blood from days off from school when I was younger – and I still take issue with the Showcase Showdown rules … but that is for another day … I digress). As I was moving a container with newly sprouted Zinnia leaves I completely dropped it and everything fell out of the pot. Like a mature adult, I kicked the pot and cursed like a mutha f’er. What I didn’t realize, was that my daughter was watching out the back door and she ran away crying. I assumed she didn’t like seeing her Dad act like such a baffoon, so I ran in to apologize and calm her down. Well, the adult meltdown apparently meant nothing to her as she told my wife through her tears that “Daddy ruined the seeds.” Wow, we are making some big time progress here!

Story #2 – While waiting for the school bus this morning, my son spotted a weed that had sprouted a daisy like bloom. He immediately yanked it and asked me to put it in water for Mom. Now he has done this before so it wasn’t a complete shock. What was shocking and I swear on … something … he actually told me to remove the leaves from the bottom of the flower before putting it in water. Are you kidding me? Next he’ll tell me how to cut a rose stem on an angle so it will then grow outward.

My wife loves to get the kids involved when she bakes and she has experienced the same thing I discussed above. It may seem like a futile task and it may seem like they could care less but dammit if they don’t surprise you with what they have retained.

Note to self – keep educating and opening their eyes to new things.

Dirt Digger’s Blog
Gardening with Kids

Categories: addiction, gardening

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