GardenerScott

Check out Gardener Scott on You Tube

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 15:23:00 +0000

One of the best things about gardening is how little it changes over time. Sure, every year brings new plants and seeds. And new methods and techniques come along as technology advances. But the basics of how we garden tends to stay the same.

My blog posts cover many years of gardening and the information is still good in most cases, but I've moved on to demonstrating and discussing my gardening recommendations on video.

My Gardener Scott YouTube channel now has more than 100 videos in its library and new videos are coming out every week. You can see how to do many of the things discussed in these blog posts. And you can hear why the information is accurate.

Enjoy all of these posts, but I encourage you to check out the many videos that can make your gardening easier and more successful.

https://www.youtube.com/gardenerscott

Are You a Gardener?

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 21:05:00 +0000

Gardening is a mindset that doesn’t require soil or seeds to develop. Anyone who enjoys the exquisite taste of an heirloom tomato fresh from the garden has the innate ability to be a gardener. If you like to smell roses, or lilacs, or honeysuckle, you have the makings of a gardener. If you like vegetables of any kind, gardening may be in your blood. Even if you don’t like vegetables at all you are ripe for becoming a gardener. Essentially, gardening is for everyone.

Gardening is one of the few things in life where you have complete control over why you do it, when you do it, where you do it, and how you do it. And after you’ve done it you have something to show for your labors. Successful or not, you have accomplished something unique.

A giant pumpkin in the Galileo garden

At this point, many people counter with their lack of a green thumb or even the possession of a black one. My counterpoint is that I have killed more plants than many gardeners will ever grow. I gardened for decades before becoming a master gardener. At that point I learned of the many things I had done wrong for so long. But that hasn’t stopped the devastation. With increased confidence I planted, and killed, many more plants. I continue to make mistakes in gardening. It’s part of the process.
Sure, I would prefer to always be successful and never cause a plant pain or death, but gardening is not just about success. It is about partaking in an activity that has been proven to enhance the enjoyment of life and even prolong it. Gardening is good for you.

Too many people think that to be a gardener they must have a plot of land dedicated to a time-consuming activity. Nothing can be further from the truth. A single pot on your patio with a live plant in it makes you a gardener. If that single plant is a tomato or pepper, you are a vegetable gardener. If it is a marigold or daisy, you are a flower gardener. If it is basil or thyme, you are an herb gardener. If you have a plum tree in your yard and harvest the fruit, you have a mini orchard and are a fruit gardener.

Plums on my plum tree

Once you’ve acknowledged that you’re probably a gardener at heart, by thought or through demonstration of what you grow, you can begin to expand your gardening knowledge and think about adding more plants to your repertoire. If you already have that plot and are growing a vegetable, herb, or flower garden, think about what you can do to grow and experience more.

Winter is a great time to think about your gardening plans for the year. Consider adding another pot on your patio, or taking out some lawn and adding a vegetable bed, or venturing into the addition of fruit trees. Spend indoor time during the cold months researching and learning. Talk to the people you know who you consider to be gardeners and ask them for advice on how to begin.

When done with the foundation of a little knowledge, gardening takes less time than most of your everyday activities but can be far more rewarding. Extra time and effort can lead to ample enjoyment and satisfaction. And at the end of the day you can call yourself a gardener.

For the last two years I have been gardening on a full-time basis for a phenomenal school garden project. As a result, my blog postings have suffered. I plan to rectify that by sharing of our adventures in gardens that are planted by and for children. I call myself a gardener and am sharing that mindset with a new generation. I look forward to the days when these students call themselves gardeners.

Check out my extensive library of gardening videos to make you a better gardener:
https://www.youtube.com/gardenerscott

Deter Deer with Camouflage Gardening

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 16:33:00 +0000

A deer-proof garden is essentially non-existent, but a highly deer-resistant garden is attainable with a little effort and planning. One key is to practice “camouflage gardening“.

Camouflage gardening is the practice of using plants that animals don’t like to deter them from eating plants that they do like. Camouflage gardening is mostly focused on deterring deer, but can work for rabbits, squirrels, and even dogs and cats with appropriate plantings. I must point out and stress that this deters animals like deer from eating desirable plants, it doesn’t prevent them from eating anything.

Deer exploring my new vegetable garden

Think of it as constructing a castle or defensive military position. The plant you want to protect is in the center of the defensive zone. It’s surrounded by a barrier of deer-resistant plants. For superior defense you layer zones with additional rings of protection. You’re not building walls to protect plants but using plants to protect plants.

There are certain plants that deer, and similarly many other animals, don’t like. Deer tend to avoid plants that are strongly aromatic or bitter tasting, that have a milky or sticky sap, or that have prickly leaves or are tough and hairy. When they encounter these plants they tend to ignore them and move on.

Deer are browsers that amble from plant to plant looking for something they like. If a plant isn’t on their list of favorites, they’ll keep looking for one that is. This assumes that they have an adequate food selection available. When conditions are bad, as in drought years or when habitat is reduced, they’ll eat almost anything to stay alive. In spring pregnant does will eat almost anything.

Deer look everywhere for food

To get the best protection and to help minimize problems during bad years, the outside protective zone, which is the first that deer encounter, would have a plant that is highly resistant to deer. This layer should have plants that are aromatic with an odor that makes them walk away. You create a scent barrier that prevents them from smelling desirable plants. Lavender, mint, salvia, beebalm, rosemary, and cedar are some plants that have a smell deer avoid and are also rarely eaten.

Salvia and yarrow are deterrents

The second layer of protection would include bad-tasting or toxic plants. The idea is that if they wander past or through the first protective zone they’ll come across plants that they don’t want to eat. Holly, juniper, feathergrass, zinnia, and barberry are rarely eaten. Plants like elderberry, poppies, bleeding heart, lobelia, and larkspur can be toxic. When deer encounter these plants they should go in the opposite direction.

A third layer of protection is to offer a suicide zone. This is a grouping of fast-growing plants outside the protected area that are less deer resistant. Honeysuckle, trumpet creeper, morning glory, and clematis are plants that deer will nibble without decimating the plant. Flowers that reseed prolifically fit in here too. Planted strategically, these plants can lead deer away from more desirable beds.

With a simple two-stage protection planting plan, deer will come across your landscape, realize they don’t like the smells and tastes, and keep on walking. If they’re curious or extra hungry, they’ll try nibbling on what they find but if they don’t like it they’ll realize this whole yard isn’t worth their time and effort and will move on to your neighbor’s yard. They never make it to the roses or tulips or young fruit tree that they would devour.

Adding a suicide zone gives them someplace else to go as they walk away from your garden. They may eat a few clematis or morning glory flowers as they avoid the aromas and tastes of the other zones. Asters, petunias, and small sunflowers give them something else to nibble, and will grow back soon.

My sunflowers were sacrificial plants

As you plan a camouflage garden you don’t need to think in terms of clearly defined rings of plants. The first and second protective zones can be intermingled, with aromatic plants planted among bitter and toxic ones. The concept is that one plant deters the deer and when they move to a second plant it deters them too. Ideally every plant they encounter within a defined space is a deterrent and they never move through it.

When you have a mix of plants with many deer deterrent properties it creates a synergy where the entire garden becomes highly effective at deterring deer. A wide spectrum of aromatic plants can confuse deer to the point that they seek a more simple, clearly identifiable source of food… like the big expanse of tulips down the street.

To be most effective camouflage gardening needs to be as year-round as possible. If the plant you’re hoping to protect blooms or buds before the others, deer can find it. Your deterrent plants need to be in position and producing their deterring effect.

For example, for early spring your garden border is planted with dwarf juniper, rosemary, sage, or artemisia — plants that are still fragrant even when they’re dormant. A fragrant groundcover like thyme covers the area. A large planting of daffodils, plants deer typically don’t eat, brings early color and helps create another deer deterrent barrier. Irises come next, another plant deer typically don’t eat. At the center of your display for height and color are your tulips, a plant that deer love to devour.

Depending on variety, you may have irises and tulips flowering together which adds extra confusion to the deer. It’s not a perfect solution. In a good year your tulips are spared; in a very bad year everything is eaten.

I’m planting my new landscape with entire beds of deterrent plants. One bed has lavender on one side and various spirea on the other. Miscanthus grass provides height and interest. Purple coneflower and yarrow add color. Apache plume fills the center for added texture color and interest. It’s highly satisfying to see deer tracks in and around the bed and not a single plant is disturbed.
Another bed has creeping phlox, artemisia, dwarf pines, salvia, yucca, columbines, irises, and daffodils; again, there are tracks but no damage. Next year’s new beds will have similar plantings.

A young deer walks away from new beds

We have a resident deer population. They even bed down among the gambel oak trees in our backyard. I’m hoping that they’ll get used to encountering so many plants they don’t like that by the time I plant young trees and a few other less-resistant perennials they’ll have learned to go some place else for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Already I’ve noticed more tracks walking around my deer-resistant beds than walking through them.

Some neighbors never go away

For your camouflage garden, research deer deterrent plants. You won’t need to sacrifice color, smell, texture, or height. Select plants that you like to grow normally. Then design your beds and landscape with those plants as the first barrier. Continue with plantings of other deer-resistant plants that you want in your landscape. Personalize the space. You don’t need to grow plants you don’t like.

Camouflage gardening isn’t foolproof. The only sure way to protect plants is with a physical barrier. For prized plants and young trees a fence or metal wall is the only sure deer proofing. Used together, camouflage and wire fences can allow plants that deer like to eat to become large enough and established to the point they don’t need a fence.

Camouflage gardening works best in a large landscape or garden with enough space to allow planting the necessary barrier plants, but even in small gardens the same principles can be beneficial. Make plants that deer and other animals avoid your first line of defense. Hide your other plants with smells and tastes that deter deer. With a little planning and a lot of luck you may be able to enjoy plants that you’ve had problems with before.

Check out my video on how to deer proof your garden on my video channel:

https://www.youtube.com/gardenerscott

When to Plant Bulbs in Fall

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 17:04:00 +0000

Though they bloom in spring, flower bulbs that are planted in fall are known as "fall bulbs". Popular spring-flowering plants like daffodils, tulips, crocus, and hyacinth are fall bulbs. Allium, scilla, anemones, and Asiatic lilies are planted in fall too. With a seasonal range of three months, when to plant fall bulbs is a question many gardeners struggle with.

Daffodils are a welcome sign in spring

Timely fall planting allows roots to develop before the ground freezes and prepares the plant for quick spring growth and flowering. If you plant too early the bulbs may use critical energy reserves and can begin to send up new shoots, exposing the young growth to winter kill. Prolonged exposure to warm, moist soil may promote fungal problems and rot. Plant too late and root growth may not be enough for the plant to flower properly.

To flower in spring, fall bulbs require exposure to cold temperatures. This chilling period triggers them to break dormancy when temperatures warm in spring. It's all about planting early and warm enough for the bulbs to begin developing, but late enough for them to stop developing shortly after to start soaking in the cold.

Tulip bulbs need to be planted in fall

There is no single right time for all gardeners. The proper time for planting fall bulbs may be September in Wyoming or North Dakota, October in Colorado or Kansas, November in Oregon or Nevada, and December in Virginia or North Carolina. Gardeners need to find out what's right for their individual gardens; one-size-fits-all advice from gardening books or magazines may lead to incorrect guidance.

Cooler soil temperatures are a primary indicator for proper planting time. Ideally, soil temperature needs to be below 60F; a temperature of 55F degrees is perfect. The problem for the average gardener is that few gardens come with soil thermometers. As a guideline, soil temperatures usually cool to this target after a few weeks of nighttime temperatures regularly between 40 and 50.

There are also natural indicators that some gardeners use:

Plant just after fall foliage peaks
Plant when you no longer hear crickets at night
Plant when you see flocks of birds heading south
Plant when you regularly need a jacket to work in your garden
Plant the week after you smell your neighbor's fireplace for the first time
Plant when you have to turn your car heater on in the morning
Plant when your dog moves from the shade to the sun
Plant when your grapes are ripe
Plant on Columbus Day, Halloween, Veteran's Day, or Thanksgiving (depending on your zone)
Plant garlic on the first day of school
Plant after you blow out your lawn sprinklers

These suggestions are very unscientific and rely on local conditions that may not match your climate. But if you find a natural indicator that works for you, use it.

Some gardening experts recommend planting bulbs six weeks before a hard, ground-freezing frost. That's a little too hard to predict for many regions. If unseasonal warm weather lingers, bulbs may end up waiting in the ground for the cold to arrive for two months or more. That's much too early.

Planting within a few days of your average first frost date is a good guideline. That's what I typically use. The average first frost date means that historically half of first frosts occur before that date and half occur after. For me, that's the first week of October. By that time cool nights have cooled the soil but there are still enough warm days ahead to keep the soil warm enough for root development.

Check with local gardening experts for recommendations on planting fall bulbs. Diane Brunjes, Certified Colorado Gardener and the gardener for the Horticultural Art Society of Colorado Springs, recommends October planting versus September for our area too. In our climate, "It's too warm early in the season," she says. She's right.

A little too late is usually better than a little too early. There is a four to six-week target window for planting bulbs, but as long as you can still work in the soil it's probably not too late. Crocus, scilla, and snow drops do better planted earlier. Daffodils, hyacinth, and tulips can handle late planting. In fact, tulips can be planted in frozen ground and will probably still do fine.

Irises aren't true bulbs and do best planted in late summer or early fall

If you miss the ideal planting time and still have bulbs you purchased, plant them anyway. Most bulbs will dry out and be worthless if left to sit in their bag over the winter. They stand a chance of growing while in the ground. Plant them and hope for the best; you may be surprised by the results.

If you're still wondering when to plant your bulbs take a look around your garden. When you walk outside at night are you cold without a jacket? Have your pepper and tomato plants withered from frost? Are your raspberries fruiting? Are mum flowers drying on the plant? These are all signs that the season is changing and winter is coming. Don't delay too long. It may be the perfect time to put those bulbs in the ground.

“The simple answer is that bulb planting season starts once your soil temperature reaches about 55 degrees Fahrenheit,” says Tim Schipper of Colorblends, a Connecticut-based flower bulb wholesaler that sells direct to landcare professionals and home gardeners across the country.
“The problem is, who knows what their soil temperature is?” he adds.
Schipper knows that nature provides other indicators that tell us when conditions are just right for bulb planting. To him, fall planting season begins when nighttime temperatures average between 40°F and 50°F.
He recently asked his customers to share their own “natural guidelines.” Here are a few of their tips for knowing when it’s time to plant bulbs:
•   Fall foliage has moved just past peak
•   Crickets no longer chirp
•   Squirrels are digging in acorns as fast as they can
•   Birds start to group and depart
•   You start turning on the heat in your car
•   The air smells of wood smoke
•   Grapes are ripening on the vine
•   You blow out the irrigation system before the winter freeze
•   The hostas start to lie down
•   The air has that organic, decaying leaf smell
•   The dog moves from a cool to a sunny spot in the yard
•   The kids start putting on their jackets without being nagged by you
“Of course life doesn’t always go on schedule,” admits Schipper. “Though it’s not great to plant too early, you can usually get away with planting a bit late. Once soil temperature reaches the optimal level, you still have a six to eight week window to get bulbs in the ground before it freezes hard. So whether you forgot to order, or decide you want more, it’s generally not too late to buy and plant if you can still work the soil.”
- See more at: http://www.hortmag.com/weekly-tips/how-to-know-when-it-is-time-to-plant-bulbs?et_mid=639548&rid=236992853#sthash.VMChhMHB.dpuf

You can see my video demonstrating bulb planting on my video channel:
https://www.youtube.com/gardenerscott

Understanding AHS Plant Heat Zones

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 16:28:00 +0000

What are AHS Plant Heat Zones? They're the counterpart to USDA Plant Hardiness Zones. USDA Plant Hardiness Zones are based on average cold temperatures of winter and the AHS Plant Heat Zones are based on average hot temperatures of summer. Hardiness Zones help gardeners determine if a plant can survive their region's winter extreme temperatures while Heat Zones help determine if a plant can survive their summer extreme temperatures.

The American Horticultural Society coordinated with the same people who helped develop the USDA Hardiness Zone map to develop a Heat Zone map based on temperature data from the National Climactic Data Center. Daily high temperatures from National Weather Service stations throughout the United States were compiled for the years 1974 through 1995. In 1997 they produced a national map representing their findings.

The result is a map that color codes the country into 12 zones that indicate the average number of days when the temperature is above 86F degrees (30C). These are "heat days". Zone 1 has an average of less than one day per year above 86 degrees while Zone 12 has an average of more than 210 days above 86 degrees.

Why 86F (30C) degrees? That is the point that many plants begin to experience distress and potential damage from sustained heat. Above this point plants can drop blossoms, drop leaves, fade in color, reduce fruit development, and possibly die. Some plants won't die right away but will be stressed for so long that each year they perform less productively than the year before.

Many plants will wilt in heat, but will recover once temperatures fall. Sustained heat can have a serious physiological impact on some plants and triggers a lingering decline to ultimate death. Knowing how a plant will handle hot days is the reason for the AHS Heat Zone Map.

Most gardeners are familiar with the USDA Hardiness Zone system and look for the number on a plant tag when selecting new plantings. I live in Zone 5 and always make sure new perennial plants are at least hardy down to -20F degrees that the zone represents. I prefer plants hardy to Zone 4 for the occasional extremely low temperatures we get that approach -30F in winter.

I'm in AHS Plant Heat Zone 5. That represents 30 to 45 days above 86F degrees. I prefer to select plants for at least Zone 6 for the recent hot summers we've had; Zone 6 allows for 45 to 60 days above 86F. This year we're definitely encroaching on Zone 6 heat days.

Plant growers and distributors that include AHS Plant Heat Zones on tags will list both zone ranges. You'll now find a listing like "3-9, 6-1". That means the plant is suitable for USDA Hardiness Zones 3 through 9 and is suitable for AHS Heat Zones 6 through 1. Many plant catalogs are also including this information in their plant descriptions.

For me, an ideal plant would be something like "4-9, 7-1". That means it can handle the cold of the Hardiness Zone 4 and the heat of Heat Zone 7. My garden is well within both ranges and the plant should do well.

There are some limitations with the AHS Heat Zone map. Because it is relatively new and unknown, there aren't many resources available to make it easy for you to identify your zone. You have to try and determine exactly where your city falls within the zones on the national map. Apparently the AHS had a tool for determining exact locations, but the zone finder application is nowhere to be found now. I haven't been able to find any other source for finding Heat Zones by zip code like the USDA map has.

You can look at the map at: http://www.ahs.org/gardening-resources/gardening-maps/heat-zone-map

At gardening resources.com I found a breakdown of the Heat Zones by state, which was a little easier to read. You can find it here: http://www.gardeningplaces.com/heatzonemap/

Over 15,000 plants have been coded for heat tolerance. As more plants are coded and more companies begin listing both USDA and AHS zones on plant information, you can expect more gardeners to become familiar and comfortable with the conversion to a two-zone system.

For many of us we choose our plants, put them in our gardens, and then see how they do. For various reasons some plants do well while others struggle. Using both zone maps for selecting plants can help us put in plants that will not only grow well, but will thrive.

If some of your plants didn't do well in summer it may be because they weren't able to tolerate your garden's hot days. That may be an indication that they're inappropriate for your region. Understanding and using the AHS Heat Zones can help prevent similar problems in the future.

Link to the AHS Heat Zone map: http://www.ahs.org/gardening-resources/gardening-maps/heat-zone-map

Link to gardeningplaces.com state maps: http://www.gardeningplaces.com/heatzonemap/

Sow Cool Season Plants in Summer for a Fall Crop

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 17:01:00 +0000

Two harvests in the same growing season are easy to accomplish. Many gardeners sow and plant in spring, spend summer tending to their crops, harvest in early fall, and then wrap it all up and wait until spring to repeat the same process. With little effort you can double your garden's output with sow, tend, sow, harvest, tend, and then harvest again. Then you can spend winter satisfied that your garden played double duty to produce all it could.

Chard is a great fall crop

In late summer you sow seeds for cool season plants that will grow as temperatures begin to decline. They'll be ready to harvest after the first frosts have appeared and long after the last tomatoes were pulled from the vines. There is no need to create new gardens; you use the same beds you do now.

Cool season crops are primarily the ones that provide leaves, stems, and roots for harvest. These crops include:

Arugula, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, collards, endive, fennel, kale, kohrabi, leeks, lettuce, mustard greens, onions, peas, parsnips, potatoes, radishes, spinach, turnips

Peas, especially snow peas, are good in fall

Many gardeners grow these plants in spring and hope for a slow start to summer so the plants will mature and be ready for harvest before high heat causes them to bolt and their taste turns bitter. We take advantage of their natural ability to tolerate low temperatures by planting early.

We can also use that ability to plant late. The mature plant tolerates the low temperatures of fall, there is no risk of bolting, and many people believe many of these crops taste superior after exposure to frost.

Those of us who sow in early spring and hope the soil has warmed enough to initiate germination are ready for a percentage of our seeds to never grow. Those of us who sow in late summer are pleased that the warm soil provides speedy germination with little seed loss.

Early seed and plant care is different when you plant late. In spring there is less need for extra watering; lower temperatures mean less evaporation and there is always a chance of rain or late snow. In summer, the heat requires more gardener attention to maintaining moist soil conditions for seeds and young plants; you may need to mist or water the plants two or three times a day in harsh sun.

Temperatures above 80F (27C) will cause broccoli and spinach to bolt quickly. Sowing in a shady spot or setting up a row cover can reduce this concern.

Once the plants have a few sets of leaves the need for watering becomes less than in late summer. While early plants need more water to combat the increasing summer heat, later plants require less water as the decreasing temperatures bring comfort. The plants are less stressed in fall. They grow in the conditions they like best; they're called cool season plants for a reason.

As long as the day temperatures remain about 10 to 15 degrees above freezing (40F - 50F, 4C - 10C) you can expect the crops to continue growing and producing. When the day temps remain below 40F (4C) the plants may begin to suffer. Careful harvesting will still produce results. The center of the plant may still have new, tasty leaves while the exterior leaves look frazzled.

Hard freezes, cold days, and icy conditions will adversely affect most cool season crops and will spell the end for your second harvest, but you can delay winter by mulching heavily with straw and using a season extender like cold frames, cloches, or plastic tunnels. I use my hoophouse system to harvest well into November and even December.

Broccoli and beets ready for overnight protection

Some crops like cabbage, kale, and spinach can do well, even in snow. With heavy mulching, beets, leeks, and parsnips can often be overwintered and harvested in spring (I've done this).

Use your entire vegetable garden for fall planting. If you have a cool-season spring bed for broccoli, spinach, or lettuce and then let that bed remain filled with bolty, straggly, dried plants throughout the summer, rip those plants out and sow again for a fall crop.

Your tomatoes, peppers, and melons will decline in cooling weather. Anticipate their decline and sow seeds among those plants, in the same beds. When the first frost zaps your tomato plant, cut it out and let the cabbage and broccoli growing nearby overtake that space.

Root crops won't be as big as spring plantings, but may be tastier. Try growing small, thumb-sized carrot varieties or harvest them young before the ground freezes. Beet roots will be harvested when they're just a few inches big, but the beet leaves can be harvested continually.

Beet leaves are edible and tasty

Garden pests can be less of a concern for a fall garden. Many insect pests are less active, if not gone, in fall. The weeds will spend all summer attacking aren't active in fall. Even deer seem to be scarce as they make their way to find a winter bed.

While growing a second crop in the same season sounds like extra work, it doesn't need to be. Summer garden beds should be cleaned up before winter so insects don't have a place to overwinter. That clean up works well to prepare the beds for fall crops.

You'll spend a few more days in the garden watering and harvesting, but is that really a bad thing? Fall gardening allows you to do more of what you like and for me that's a good thing.

Link to "Extending Your Growing Season with Mini Greenhouses"

How to Make a Garden Gazing Ball

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 17:42:00 +0000

I used to think garden orbs were a little kitschy until I decided to make one myself. Every gardener personalizes their garden in their own way and it seemed like it was time for a garden orb in mine.

My gazing ball

Gazing balls, garden orbs, gazing globes, and garden balls are all names for a shiny sphere that adds an element of color or reflection to a garden space. They can be made from a number of different materials in a variety of sizes, but for mine I used a bowling ball that I purchased from a local secondhand store.

The first step is cleaning the ball. I used isopropyl alcohol to remove years of bowling alley oil and palm sweat from the ball.

Cleaning the ball

Second, the finger holes and engraved letters need to be filled. I used wood putty. Not all wood putties are the same; some aren't intended for large holes and will crack when dry. I used a wood putty formulated for filling gaps with minimal shrinking and cracking. You can also use plaster or caulk.

Fill the holes

You want to leave one hole open for mounting the ball in your garden. I left the thumb hole open because it's larger than the others and gives more options for mounting.

To reduce the amount of putty I needed, I filled each finger hole with rolled newspaper first. This left a depth of about 1/4 inch to fill rather than the original two-inch hole. You may need to do this in a couple steps. Fill most of the hole, let it dry, and then add a final fill.

Newspaper fills the space

After the putty dried I sanded it. The idea is to have the filled hole flush with the exterior curve.

Sanding the dried putty

After driving a length of rebar into the ground I set the thumb hole on it and began painting the ball. Be sure to choose an exterior paint because the orb will probably be exposed to weather outside. For this ball I selected a metallic gold paint.

Painting with spray paint

For extra weather protection you can cover the ball with polyurethane after the paint dries. You need to use spar varnish that is specifically formulated for exterior use. Simply brush it on the entire ball.

Use spar varnish for exterior applications

At this point you can consider the project finished and display your shiny, colored ball. My problem is that many used bowling balls have gouges and scrapes that detract from the smooth, shiny surface I desired. For this gazing ball I opted to add color and texture with the addition of colored glass stones from a craft store.

Using a clear, exterior grade caulk, glue the glass stones to the ball. It just takes a dollop of caulk. Press the stone to the ball firmly. The weight of the glass will cause it to slide down the curved surface if you don't hold it in place for many minutes. I found that a large rubber band placed around the middle of the ball not only marked a straight line, but also helped hold the stones, reduced their slide, and didn't require me to waste time applying continual pressure.

Placing glass stones

You'll need to let the first layer set up and dry before moving on. The weight of more than one row will be too much for the rubber band and many pieces will drop off, but with the first row intact it provides an anchor for successive layers. After a few hours of allowing the caulk to set it should be strong enough.

Continue adding rows of stones. I found it best to do two or three rows at a time and let the caulk set before moving on with more rows. After the upper half is dry, turn the ball over and finish the second hemisphere. I used an egg carton to support the ball while I was working but a large bowl, pan, or wood template would work too.

Covering the ball with stones

This project took about four days to complete with me completing layers periodically through the day.

When the entire ball has had a few days to dry completely it's ready to place outside. Rebar is an easy mounting rod. Galvanized pipes can be used and can be painted to match the ball. Copper pipe adds a nice touch and brings an eclectic look when is develops a patina.

Their is no limit to the colors and designs that you can use to make gazing balls. After the gold ball with colored glass I made a silver one with clear glass stones.

My silver gazing ball

Next I'll break up an old mirror and grout the edges after mounting the pieces to the ball. It will be a truly reflective orb.

With a little imagination, a bowling ball, and minimal crafting skill, you can have a gazing ball of your own.

The Best Tips for Growing Tomatoes

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Sat, 11 May 2013 14:33:00 +0000

Tomatoes are the number one home garden crop in the United States. As a result, tomatoes are the home crop that can cause the most trouble for gardeners; something is always wrong with our tomatoes. We all want the perfect tomato, but getting it to harvest can be troublesome. Here are a few tips to help you get the most from your tomato crop by understanding more about this wonderful red (or orange, purple, yellow, or green) orb.

1. Tomatoes are either determinate or indeterminate.

Not all tomato plants are the same so it's important to know what kind you're growing. Determinate tomatoes are also called bush tomatoes. They seldom grow more than three or four feet tall and often don't require any additional staking or support. All of the fruit reaches maturity at about the same time so the harvest will only last over a period of a few weeks. If your plant suddenly stops producing flowers and fruit, even when everything else is perfect, it's probably a determinate variety.

Indeterminate tomatoes may also be called vining tomatoes and can grow as much as eight feet tall. They don't produce fruit all at once but rather they provide fewer fruit at any one time, but over a longer period of time. Indeterminate tomatoes will usually give you a harvest until the first frost in fall.

How you grow these different types of tomato can impact how successful you are. For container gardening, like in pots on a patio, determinate tomatoes are the way to go; indeterminate ones can quickly overrun your space. If you like to "put up" tomatoes in quart jars or as tomato sauce, determinate plants will provide a harvest that you can can right away. If you like to have a few tomatoes to enjoy with your meals throughout the summer, indeterminate is the way to go.

2. Select the best heirloom or hybrid tomatoes for your garden.

Many gardeners believe heirloom tomatoes taste better than hybrids. That can be a matter of personal preference, but there are other obvious differences between the two. Typically, heirloom tomatoes have more problems with diseases and pests; hybrids have been developed to overcome these limitations. Heirloom tomatoes tend to take a long time to reach maturity and harvest; hybrids can be selected with very short "days to harvest".

If you have a garden in an area susceptible to tomato diseases, you may want to select a hybrid tomato with letters after its name (like VFN); the letters identify resistance to disease. If you garden with a short growing season, you can select hybrid varieties that will ripen early.

Hybrids tend to follow a pattern of red, round fruit. If you want to grow purple, orange, yellow, or striped tomatoes, you'll probably want to look for unique heirlooms. Determine what you want in a tomato and then find the variety that fits, whether its heirloom or hybrid.

3. "Days to Maturity" and "Days to Harvest" are important.

Seed packets or plant tags should give you an idea of how long it takes the plant to reach harvest. That is the number of days from the time you put the transplant in your garden, not the time from when the seed was placed in soil. Even a robust plant from a nursery can take more than two months to provide fruit. If you garden in a region with late springs and early falls, you may only have about four months to adequately grow tomatoes (my season is about 134 days). If you select an heirloom plant that takes 120 days to harvest, there will only be a few weeks for harvest before the first frost and if it's an indeterminate plant there will still be many unripe fruits on the vine when cold hits.

Match the plant with your garden for best results. A tomato that takes "80 days to harvest" can provide fruit for two months more than an heirloom beefsteak tomato. Of course, if you have a very long growing season your choices are virtually endless.

4. Tomatoes need sun and air.

Selecting the proper location for your tomatoes can make the difference between healthy plants and sickly ones. Tomatoes need full sun; that means at least 10 hours a day and more is better. Even a little afternoon shade can have a big impact on plant growth and harvest. Of all your garden plants, tomatoes should have the sunniest spot.

Many of the disease, virus, and fungal problems that plague tomatoes can be corrected by increasing airflow around the plants. Don't plant too close to other plants. With air circulation the leaves can dry out and not fall prey to the diseases that require moist conditions.

Disease is always ready to strike

5. Garden soil needs to be warm to plant.

Tomatoes are a warm season plant and need warm soil and warm nights to begin growing. If planted too early, the plants can be stunted and even killed by cold soil temperatures. Some gardeners recommend planting when the air temperature remains above 50F degrees (10C), but that may be troublesome because the soil temperature at root level, six inches and more, can still be below that. Research has found that the best soil temperature is 70F; tomato roots will not grow at all below 50F.

I recommend waiting a few weeks after your last frost date to put in transplants. I also suggest using a temperature probe in your soil. Wait until the soil is closer to 60F to plant; at least 55F. You can accelerate soil warming by covering your garden bed with a plastic sheet for a few days before you plan to dig.

Check soil temperature

6. Well-drained soil is nice, but amended is better.

Tomatoes do best in amended soil. A well-drained soil is nice to avoid pooling water, but if the water drains too quickly the plant and fruit can suffer. Tomatoes will grow in clay soils as long as they don't remain soggy. The best way to correct poor soil is with organic amendments like compost. A loose, healthy, amended soil will grow bigger and better tomato plants.

7. Pinch off flowers and fruit when you plant.

Many gardeners select young plants with flowers or small fruit on them when looking for tomatoes in the belief they'll get fruit faster; nurseries grow and price them accordingly to entice you. You can actually delay the development of future fruit by choosing a too-mature plant for your garden.

The main role of the plant is to produce fruit and it will expend most of its energy to that task. However, for new transplants root development is the most important task. If you put a plant with flowers and fruit in your garden bed, root development will be reduced while the plant focuses on ripening the fruit. That means that your plant may not be strong enough to handle the heat of summer and all remaining fruit development can suffer. You'll get a better harvest if you let the plant grow strong in its early days

8. Bury the plant when planting.

Tomatoes can grow roots along the stem and you should use that ability to your advantage. More roots tend to make for a stronger plant. Placing the plant in the soil with more stem buried than in the original pot will ultimately provide better results.

Pinch off lower leaves next to the stem, leaving the top four to eight groups of leaves at the top. If you have amended soil in a region with steady rain, place the plant vertically in a deep hole with only the leaves above the surface. For poorer soil and in regions where your irrigation may be the only water source, place the plant in a slanted trench so that the stem is horizontal; you can gently bend the top towards vertical and hold it in place with a small soil berm.

9. Tomatoes don't need as much water as you think.

Consistent moisture levels are more important than amount of water. Many gardeners think of tomatoes as tropical plants that need watering every day. Diseases, blossom end rot, and cracked skins can be the result of poor and inconsistent watering practices. Frequent, light watering can result in poor root systems.

Tomato soil should be moist all the time, but not wet or soggy; think of the moistness of a wrung-out sponge. With amended soil you may only need to water every three of four days. Of course, very hot and dry conditions will require more watering, but physically check the moisture level of the soil before assuming more is needed.

10. Overhead watering can encourage disease problems.

When you water, try to avoid sprinklers or hand watering from above. Almost all of the diseases that affect tomatoes are soil borne. The fungal spores and bacteria are just waiting for a way to reach low leaves and splashing water is the perfect mechanism. Even a drop of water falling from a lower leaf can release these tiny organisms from the soil surface and infect the plant.

Drip irrigation and soaker hoses can drastically reduce tomato diseases. These watering methods get water directly to the roots without any of the nasty side effects of overhead watering.

11. Mulch can help produce perfect fruit.

Mulching with a light, organic material can reduce the problems with soil and watering. Mulch helps to maintain a more consistent soil moisture level. Mulch also acts as a protective barrier so any water falling off the plant hits mulch and won't release soil-borne pathogens.

I like to use straw or herbicide-free grass clippings for tomato mulch. The light material allows air and water to reach the soil while helping to keep soil temperature and moisture more consistent. It will also decompose and amend the soil for the next season when I till it in at the end of the year.

12. Fertilizer may hurt your harvest.

Proper fertilization is critical to getting a harvest and improper fertilization may result in no harvest at all. With rich, amended soil you may not need any additional fertilizer. If you do fertilize, you need to do it differently at different times.

As mentioned above, root development is important for young plants. Adding a fertilizer high in phosphorus to the soil at planting can help in that development. As the plant grows and nears fruiting, a potassium fertilizer will help in fruit development.

The problem most gardeners encounter when fertilizing tomatoes is by using a fertilizer high in nitrogen. Nitrogen encourages big, bushy plant growth at the expense of flowers and fruit. If you fertilize and get a beautiful plant with no fruit, this is probably your problem.

Look for a fertilizer with higher numbers in the second and third position. The numbers on a bag or box of fertilizer represents the percentage of nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium (N-P-K). A higher first number will spell doom for your harvest. You'll find specialized tomato fertilizers with ratios of 3-4-6, or 5-6-5, or 4-7-10, or 18-18-21. Note that the first number (nitrogen) is never the highest. In my opinion, better tomato fertilizers would be 15-30-15, or 6-24-24, or 8-32-16.

13. Heat can reduce harvest.

If days and nights get too hot, tomatoes will drop blossoms and no fruit will form. Tomatoes grow best when the temperatures are between 70F and 90F degrees. When day temperatures are above 95F, or night temperatures remain above 75F, fruit won't develop. You can take every step above, but if it's too hot in your garden you won't get any tomatoes.

14. Pinching suckers may not always be the best idea.

Many gardening "experts" say to pinch off all suckers that develop in the crook between the main stem and branches. While this won't hurt the plant, it may not be as necessary as proposed. The key is knowing whether the plant is determinate or indeterminate.

Indeterminate tomato plants can get very big. Pinching the suckers can focus growth where you want it so the plant doesn't become too cumbersome while focusing plant energy for developing large fruit along main branches. Leaving the suckers on the plants will produce more foliage and potentially smaller fruit. Because the fruit is produced over a longer period, allowing it time and energy to grow big may be beneficial. Fewer, bigger fruits can be a good thing.

Determinate tomato plants don't require any pruning and removing suckers can actually reduce harvest. Tomatoes can develop on the branches that grow from the suckers. Because a determinate plant produces all of its fruit at the same time, more branches and more flowers means more fruit. For many gardeners wanting to preserve their tomatoes, more may be better than bigger.

15. Use a strong trellis.

There are many options for trellising tomatoes and it's worth spending the time and money for a sturdy one. While a single metal rod or flimsy wire cage will support a young plant, a mature indeterminate plant loaded with fruit will soon flop to the ground, damaging fruit and exposing the plant to all of those disease-causing soil pathogens.

I like to use heavy-gauge steel cattle panels to form a curved trellis over the entire bed. Home improvement centers sell steel lattice panels used for reinforcing concrete; these can be cut and bent into strong towers to support tomato plants. 4 x 4 wood posts set in the ground can be used to train vines on strong wire strung between them. Whatever you use, ensure it can handle the weight of a big plant.

16. Rotate the location of your tomatoes.

As mentioned earlier, the pathogens affecting tomatoes reside in the soil. Once a plant is infected the soil is infected. Continuing to grow tomatoes in that same location the next year means that those new plants are very likely to be infected.

If your garden space allows, it is best to avoid planting tomatoes in the same bed as recent tomatoes. Time will dissipate the pathogens' viability. Wait at least three years between plantings in the same bed. Ideally, wait at least seven years between plantings. The more you can rotate with longer periods between, the less likely you are to encounter the same diseases.

17. Harvest before the fruit is overripe.

Tomatoes should be harvested when they're ripe but before they soften. Left too long on the vine, tomatoes can become mushy and bland. Green tomatoes can continue to ripen after they're picked. For that reason it's better to pick a little early rather than a little late.

The fruit may crack or develop circular rings near the stem when they've been left on the plant too long. Because the fruit often grows in clusters, you can use these signs on one fruit as a signal to harvest nearby fruit.

As indicated by these tips, tomatoes can be a finicky crop. A little too much water, a little too much heat, and a little too much fertilizer will affect your crop. I grow in a very challenging environment and I regularly meet gardeners unwilling to try tomatoes again after a disappointing season or two. It can be a challenge, but there's a reason tomatoes are the number one home garden crop. When you do it right, few other garden crops can be so satisfying.

Planning a Deer Resistant Garden

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:19:00 +0000

There is just one way to have a deer proof garden -- plant everything within the borders of a strong fence eight feet tall. For the rest of us, the best we can hope for is a deer resistant garden. Like all animals, deer have foods they prefer, foods they tolerate, and foods they avoid. The key for gardeners desiring a beautiful garden that deer walk past is to select plants in the latter category.

Shasta Daisies look great and are deer resistant

Let me qualify what "deer resistant" means. A deer resistant plant is one that deer do not eat as a primary food source. They may chew a few buds and occasionally pull off a leaf or two, but the plant is allowed to reach maturity with little molestation. Deer are browsers and will nibble on what they find; deer resistant plants are the ones they test and then walk away from.

It's important to acknowledge that deer, like all animals, will eat anything if they're hungry enough. Deer resistant plants are not a normal part of their diet, but under drought and low vegetation conditions deer will devour plants they have ignored for years. A doe with a new fawn won't venture far from it, so she will feed on less-than-desired plants nearby. Also, there are plants that hungry deer will only eat in winter and leave alone the rest of the year.

Purple Coneflowers are usually left alone

It's also important to acknowledge that deer will go out of their way to indulge in a garden offering plants they consider delicious. A garden loaded with roses, azaleas, geraniums, hosta, tulips, and fruit trees screams to the deer that the smorgasbord is open. The problem is that many gardeners also desire those same plants in their garden. Trying to maintain this kind of garden in the presence of a local herd can be nerve-wracking.

A deer resistant garden can be abundant and beautiful, but it requires careful plant selection. As I begin planning the landscape for my new house my focus is on gardens that will give me everything I want while denying the numerous deer a tasty lunch.

Deer tend to avoid Black-eyed Susan

As with all garden planning, there are important steps to take to get it right. An analysis of sun, shade, water, soil, USDA Hardiness Zone, and available space is critical to a good garden plan. Plants will do best when they're matched with the proper soil and location for their growth habits. Once this analysis is done, plants can be selected.

Generally, deer don't like plants with a strong aroma or with thorns or spines. They tend to stay away from decorative grasses. Many native plants are resistant to deer in areas where deer are native.

An assumption in growing deer resistant plants is that there are other food sources available to local herds. When deer have access to water and plants they like, they'll leave less desirable plants alone. When their only food sources are deer resistant plants, then that's what they'll eat. That's why there are so many conflicting discussions by gardeners as to whether a plant is deer resistant. For every gardener who has never had deer eat his plants there is another gardener who has deer eat every one of hers.

Salvia is universally acknowledged as deer resistant

Let's begin with deer resistant plants for full sun locations. Lucky for me, many of the plants I like to grow are naturally deer resistant; I have a minor deer problem at my current house and have never had a problem with these plants:

Agastache
Allium
Artemisia
Barberry
Columbine
Coneflower
Coreopsis
Daffodil
Dianthus
Foxglove
Gaillardia
Hens and Chicks
Lantana
Lavender
Penstemon
Potentilla
Rose Campion
Rudbeckia
Russian Sage
Salvia
Shasta Daisy
Snapdragon
Spirea 'Magic Carpet'
Yarrow
Yucca

There is no lack of color, texture, and variety in this list. All of them are very resistant to deer in most landscapes. Many of them require little irrigation, which is a plus in my arid region.

Here are some plants for shade or partial shade areas.

Allium
Ajuga
Astilbe
Bleeding Hearts
Coral Bells
Fuchsia
Monkshood
Peony

I don't currently grow these plants but will in my new landscape. I also plan to add:

Apache Plume
Buddleia
Fountain Grass
Miscanthus
Pampus Grass

The key to identifying deer resistant plants for your landscape is to conduct a little research. Many county Extension offices have fact sheets for local deer resistant plants. The internet allows cross referencing this government information. I easily found that New Jersey, Minnesota, and Colorado Extension information matches my own experience with the plants listed above.

Daffodils are on everyone's list of deer resistant plants

One of the best sources for local information about deer resistant plants is to ask a fellow gardener. Find out what your friends have trouble with and what they have success with when deer are involved.

I have a gardening friend who likes to grow Arborvitae and has to fence in each plant to prevent damage; Arborvitae is on the list of plants deer like to munch. I've tried to grow cherry, apple and plum trees in my current landscape and the deer have devastated them; they'll even push through the protective netting to nibble the buds. Those of us who have built structures to try and keep deer out will gladly share our experience.

Asking for advice can save valuable time, energy, and money. Geraniums cover the gamut of deer preference. Some varieties of geranium are like candy to deer while others are like vinegar. Find out what your friends are growing and copy their successes. I haven't seen Asian Lilies on any deer resistant plant list, but in my neighborhood they leave all of mine alone.

My lilies are left alone by deer

It's possible to get away with tricking deer. A few plants that they might eat may survive if they're planted among groupings of plants that they avoid. They'll tend to leave the whole group alone when they see an abundance of deer resistant plants.

I also believe in creative sacrifice. If you want to grow plants that deer may like to eat, also grow plants that they definitely like to eat. Grow plants like wild strawberries, raspberries, Virginia creeper, and sunflowers as a friendly offering. When they venture into your yard they'll gravitate toward those tasty morsels and are more likely to leave your treasured plants alone.

My offering to save my vegetable garden

With proper planning and plant selection, maintaining a successful and beautiful landscape in the presence of deer is not only possible, but easy. Choose deer resistant plants and let your gardens prosper.

Home Garden Crop Rotation

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 19:50:00 +0000

Growing the same crop in the same location year after year can deplete essential soil nutrients in that area, subject plants to harmful diseases, and adversely affect the crop's growth, health, and production. To avoid this, for thousands of years farmers have practiced two, soil-enhancing, growing methods. The first is allowing a field to lie fallow. Periodically after harvest, plants are turned into the soil and allowed to decompose for a year; essentially it is in-place composting.

The second method is crop rotation. Different crops are planted in different years in a single field. For home gardeners, allowing a garden to remain unplanted goes against the very essence of why we garden so practicing crop rotation to prevent a cycle of diminishing harvest is the best idea.

Crop rotation is used to keep soil from losing nutrients that a specific plant needs. A plant like corn needs a lot of nitrogen from the soil. When it is planted in the same spot repeatedly, it will ultimately deplete all available soil nitrogen, committing a slow suicide. On a commercial level, farmers add tons of nitrogen fertilizer to soil to artificially feed the plants. On a local level, home gardeners add nitrogen fertilizer to their soils when they notice reduced plant growth too.

Effective home garden crop rotation can drastically reduce the need for supplemental fertilization and helps maintain a healthy, balanced, nutrient-rich soil. For organic gardeners it is almost a must.

My garden is different each year with crop rotation

The concept of crop rotation is simple. Crop A is planted in year one, Crop B is planted in the same location in year two instead of Crop A, Crop C is planted in year three instead of Crop A or B, and so on until the cycle is repeated.

The simplest cycle is a two-crop rotation where a plant like corn is planted one year and a crop like peas is planted in the same bed the next year. Then the cycle repeats each year with corn followed by peas followed by corn followed by peas; each cycle is completed in two years. A three-crop rotation takes three years to complete. A seven-crop rotation takes seven years.

The selection of the plants for each year is the most important aspect of crop rotation. To be effective, each successive planting should grow differently than the previous planting. In the two-crop example above, corn grows in a spot, depleting soil nitrogen. The next year a legume like peas is planted to replenish soil nitrogen. Many legumes have root nodules that harbor beneficial bacteria that takes nitrogen from the air and fixes it into the soil.

Peas and similar legumes add nitrogen to soil

In a home garden, legumes are a great choice in an easy crop rotation cycle. Peas, beans, lentils, and soybeans provide a nice harvest while adding nitrogen to soil. Other plants like clover, alfalfa, and vetch don't offer a harvest, but have the same beneficial properties. I use vetch in my garden as part of my crop rotations; the vetch is attractive with pretty little purple flowers. After a season of growth that fixes nitrogen into the soil, the plants are tilled in to add additional organic material.

Vetch in my garden

I like to practice a three-year crop rotation in my garden. In recent years I've done a tomato-pea-cucumber cycle, a garlic-pea-spinach cycle, and a beet-bean-cucumber cycle. In each of those cycles I also grew vetch. Vetch can handle cold weather so I sow it in fall after I've harvested and cleaned up a bed. The vetch grows into winter and again in early spring; I turn it into the soil about six weeks before planting the new season's crops. For plants with early summer harvest, I'll sow vetch and allow it to grow during the remaining summer and early fall.

A basic three-crop cycle of sowing plants that produce nitrogen, followed by plants that are heavy nitrogen feeders, followed by plants that are light feeders is easy to start.

A four-crop cycle is also easy if you divide plants into groups. Fruiting plants like tomatoes, cucumbers, and pumpkins is one group. Leafy plants like spinach, kale, and broccoli is a second. Root vegetables like carrots, beets, and potatoes is a third. Legumes like fava beans, peas, and lentils is a fourth.

Squash will make way for another crop

Another important reason to rotate your crops is to reduce disease and pest problems. Tomato plants are very susceptible to soil-borne pests and pathogens. In the first year of planting a new bed, tomatoes often do very well, but after being in the same spot for a period of years they suddenly seem to have problems with early blight, fusarium wilt, or leaf spot. The fungus or bacteria that causes many potential tomato problems lives in soil.

Once a plant is infected it spreads that pathogen into more soil. Any new plants in the bed will become infected and help spread it further. Crop rotation breaks this cycle. An infected plant may adversely affect soil, but if there is no new plant to spread the fungus, bacteria, or virus, it will eventually diminish and no longer cause problems.

This works because the pathogens are plant specific; tomato disease will not affect corn, peas, spinach, or pumpkins. Crop rotation helps keep plant problems from becoming established in your garden. Before tomato pathogens develop, another plant like beans grow in the bed, then a plant like spinach is planted before bean problems develop.

Knowing what plants you want to grow and the most likely diseases in your region will help you determine the best cycle. Many fungi that affect tomatoes remain viable in soil past three years so a four-crop rotation is recommended. By the time tomatoes are planted again, the threat is gone.

It's important to be aware of plant families when planning and planting. Tomato, eggplants, and potatoes can be susceptible to the same pathogens. Tomatoes and peppers have similar problems. For that reason similar plant families should not be included in a crop cycle; avoid planting tomatoes and peppers or tomatoes and potatoes in the same bed within a single crop cycle.

I practice a three-crop cycle because it's easy to plan and easy to do. It reduces the potential for problems, but isn't foolproof. If I do encounter problems in a bed, like tomatoes, I'll make note and transform that bed's cycle into a four-crop or five-crop model.

Occasionally I get lazy or behind in planting and repeat crops in a bed. Problems don't automatically develop, but I do try to get back on track for the next year.

For virtually flawless results, a seven-crop cycle can be followed. There are very few pathogens or pests that will survive seven years in soil. Extra effort should be taken to insure adequate legumes are added in the sequence. If you have the space and the inclination to develop this more-complicated cycle plan, seven is the magic number.

Home garden crop rotation also provides a great opportunity to amend your garden soil. Because you're cleaning up each bed before planting a new crop, the addition of compost is easy to do as part of soil preparation before sowing or planting. Tilling in the spent plants from the previous season, like I do with vetch, also adds important organic material to soil.

Only perennials like rhubarb stay in the same spot

The combination of crop rotation and soil amending acts to maintain a healthy soil environment. Beneficial soil bacteria and organisms thrive while harmful ones diminish and the microorganisms help make soil nutrients available to plants, enhancing overall garden production.

It does take a minimal amount of extra time to plan and initiate a new crop cycle. Depending on the size of your garden you may have to forgo certain crops in some years if there isn't enough space for a complete cycle for all garden plants. I accept these limitations as a tradeoff for a better garden overall. Occasionally doing without chard or parsnips or butternut squash is okay.

Home garden crop rotation is easy to do and has many benefits. While you're planning your next garden, think about doing it a little different than last time.

Starting a New Garden

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 17:10:00 +0000

Dreaming of, planning, and building a garden are my favorite aspects of gardening. I like selecting plants, tending to them, and enjoying the fruits of my labors, but it's the actual garden development and construction that gives me the most satisfaction. Standing quietly, looking at a bare spot for hours or days, and envisioning the potential that lies in the soil offers me a true connection with the process of creation, growth, and fulfillment.

Many flower, grass, and xeriscape beds have adorned my landscape over the years and planning the steps through completion have evolved with each of them. Staking out a space and bringing it to bloom is fascinating, but it is in the development of vegetable gardens that my true gardening spirit soars.

I've enjoyed the effort and success of two major vegetable gardens. One began as a rock-covered slope that evolved into a productive, terraced, lush and verdant space. Over the course of eight years it progressed from barren, sandy soil to an amalgam of beneficial amendments producing healthy plants in a challenging environment.

The gardening site in the beginning

The finished garden

The second garden began as a sun-baked patch of prairie sod and evolved into a deer-resistant, biochar-infused, raised-bed nirvana at 7,500 feet elevation. Three years of labor have just begun to lay the foundation for future growth.

The starting point

A transformed space

Now I have the opportunity to birth a third vegetable garden. Last week we closed the contract on a house back in the city of Colorado Springs and will begin the move in a few months. The new garden spot will be a full 1,000 feet lower in elevation and grant me two to four extra weeks in the growing season. It too has deer and a new challenge, rabbits.

A bunny in the front yard

A previous resident had a good-sized vegetable garden there many years ago, but it is overgrown and in great need of repair. A rusting iron skeleton of hoops cover a large bed that will soon support a plastic cover protecting the plants beneath. The basics are there, and it offers great potential.

The forgotten garden

Huge stands of scrub oak cover the lot in intertwining masses. Dying, spindly pines and harshly-hacked junipers fill forgotten spaces. Ignored lawns are now nothing but eroding dirt. Supposedly-decorative rock smothers large spans of abused soil. It is a perfect gardening palette and I'm thrilled for the opportunity to create a beautiful landscape.

Already I've spent long minutes standing, observing, and imagining. The ground is currently frozen, but the process of clearing the brush, cutting straggly trees, and terracing the slopes will start soon. As soon as the soil is warm enough to work, amending and improving begin.

The barren back yard

As with past gardens, I'll document each step. I'll discuss the missteps and successes. I expect to make mistakes along the way, but also to learn many new things. On these pages, photos and words will share my thoughts and spread my knowledge.

This will be my biggest gardening undertaking to date. An entire landscape screams to be transformed. In the vegetable garden the positive transformation may be quickest to observe, but it won't be the only space encountering a new life. This effort will be years in the making and I anticipate the results with joy.

Join me as the adventure begins.

How to Read a Seed Packet

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:53:00 +0000

Ordering seed packets online or picking up a few as you wander through a garden center is a nice way to get motivated for spring planting. The colorful photos in catalogs and the eye-catching store displays can get our gardening fingers twitching. One of the best things about buying seeds is that almost everything you need to know about the plant you want to grow comes with the seeds. Seed packets house a wealth of knowledge and can make the planting and growing process easy.

Some of last year's seed packets

Reading and understanding what the seed packets say can be a bit daunting and hard to understand for new gardeners. Even experienced gardeners can be thrown for a loop by some phrasing. By focusing on the important pieces of information, you can start sowing your seeds in no time at all with everything you need to know in hand.

A wealth of info on a packet

Some packets will show this information as an image instead of with words, but the information is the same.

Images can replace words

Here are 20 things to look for on a seed packet before purchase and at the time you place seeds in soil. Most of it is usually on the back side of the packet.

1. When to Sow. You'll find terminology for when you can begin growing the seed different on different packets; each seed supplier wants to be unique. Look for key phrases like: "Start Indoors"; "Sowing Indoors"; "Sowing Outdoors"; "Direct Sow". This is where you find out the best time to begin growing the seeds. Some seeds can be started indoors while others should only be sown outside. Finding this out as soon as you buy the packet is important for determining a planting schedule.

Some seed packets will be very specific by saying something like, "start seeds 3-4 weeks prior to your last frost date," or "start from seed indoors 4-8 weeks prior to the last frost of spring," or "sow after all danger of last spring frost and soil has warmed thoroughly." This makes it easy if you know your average Last Frost Date (see the link to "Know Your Last Frost Date" below).

If the packet says something like, "direct sow after danger of frost", that means plant outside only. If there is no mention of starting seeds inside, that also means you should sow outside only.

Others will include information for both starting indoors and for sowing outdoors. For those seeds you can do it either way.

2. Where to Sow. This is a very important piece of information too. If the packet says "sow in fertile soil in full sun," that's what you need to do for best results; don't sow in unamended soil in the shade and expect anything good to grow. "Direct sow in well drained soil" means that full sun isn't as important as the soil. Take the time to prepare the site for your seeds.

For starting indoors, the assumption is usually that you're growing in a nice soil medium or potting soil so packets will rarely tell you to do that. The packet may say something like, "place in a warm location and keep moist" or "do not let the soil dry out." That's an important clue to keep an eye on the seeds and new sprouts so they don't dry out and die.

3. Seed Depth. Different seeds require different conditions to germinate; you can't plant everything the same. Placing the seed at the proper depth will improve germination results. The "Seed Depth" or "Planting Depth" will usually be described in inches. If it's a specific number like 1/2", try to get close to that depth when you sow. If it's a range like 1/2" - 1", you have a little more leeway, but you still need to get within that range.

"Surface-sown" or "lightly cover seeds" means you don't need to place seeds in a measured hole; you can sprinkle them on the soil surface and sprinkle a little soil over them to keep them from blowing away.

4. Seed Spacing. Packets will also be very specific about how far apart the seeds should be sown. This helps ensure that the plants will have enough room to grow. Often it's expressed as a range of inches that the seeds are apart from each other, along with how far apart rows should be. While many traditional gardens may have plants 6"-10" apart in rows that are 2'-3' apart, you can usually plant a block of plants in a bed with everything 6"-10" apart from each other; it comes down to how you garden, with rows or blocks.

The packet may also tell you to "thin plants" to a certain spacing. This provides a number for how far apart the final plants should be. For example, onions can be sown close together and after germination should be thinned to 5"-7" apart for bulbing varieties or 2" apart for bunching varieties.

5. Days to Germination. Knowing how long it takes for the seeds to send a sprout to the surface helps you determine if conditions and seed viability are good. It also tells you if you should relax and not worry while the plants are growing. Some seeds only need a couple days to germinate while others may need a couple weeks. Don't assume something's wrong if you don't see plants right away.

Packets will give a specific range of days for "days to germination" or when "seedlings emerge." Within this range of days you should begin to see little green seedlings begin to break through the soil surface. If at the end of the range you still don't see plants, that's when you should become concerned. The soil heat or moisture may be wrong or the seeds could be bad. Give it a few extra days before you completely sow over again.

A few years ago my squash seeds were late in germinating and I became concerned. Just about the time I began to sow again, the first seedlings emerged. My guess is that we had a few cold nights that lowered the soil temperature enough to delay germination.

6. Soil Temperature for Germination. This information is only available on very thorough seed packets like those from Territorial Seed Company. The soil temperature needs to reach certain levels for all seeds to germinate. As mentioned above, if you sow when the soil is too cold it will affect how well the seeds germinate.

Most seed packets cover this subject with the general information described in "When to Sow" as described above.

7. Days to Maturity. This may also be expressed as "Days to Harvest" and may be the most important bit of information on the packet for vegetable garden seeds. This is how long it takes for the plant to reach the point when it begins to produce fruit. What's critical to know about this number is that it is based on when the plant is in the outside soil. Though seedlings may be growing for weeks inside, the days to maturity don't begin until transplanting outside. For seeds sown directly in the garden, it is the point when the plant has true leaves.

The reason this is such an important number is because many gardeners may not have a growing season long enough for specific plants. Many varieties of garden plants like melons, heirloom tomatoes, and winter squash have very long days to maturity. On average, my growing season at high altitude is about 130 days. If I try to grow a plant that takes 120 days to mature, I'm pushing the limits of my growing season and probably won't get any ripe fruit.

As important as this number is, it is just a guideline and not a definite timeline. Typically it is the number of days when you should expect fruit, assuming everything about your growing season is average. If you've had great conditions and you've done a great job caring for your plants, you may get fruit sooner. If you've had cool weather and the soil is marginal, it will probably take longer.

Before sowing seeds, have a good understanding of whether the plant will grow to maturity in your specific garden.

8. Light requirements. This goes along with "where to sow." Look for "sun", "full sun", "shade/sun", or an image of the sun on the seed packet. This guidance isn't for where you plant the seed, but rather where the final plant needs to be. Consider how the sun moves during the growing season in your garden, particularly if you have trees or fences. You may sow a seed in a spot with full sun, but at the end of the season that spot may end up in partial or full shade. The plant can suffer if it doesn't have the light requirements listed on the packet.

9. Growing Tips. Many seed packets will provide additional information about subjects like transplanting, weeding, how to water, pollination, thinning, and mulching. This varies greatly between seed companies. If there is extra information on the packet you should pay special attention to it because it is unique and probably important.

10. Fertilization. Few seed packets include this information, but it's nice to know. If you find it on the seed packet you're looking at, you're probably dealing with a company that cares about more than just selling seeds.

11. How to Harvest. This is another helpful piece of information found on few seed packets. This can be beneficial for plants like peas or beans that have different tastes and textures depending on when they're harvested. Suggestions for the size at which to harvest squash is helpful too. You'll seldom find this kind of information on seed packets for common plants like tomatoes that are colorful at harvest, but it's nice to find on less common plants like parsnips (A Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company seed packet says to harvest parsnips "in autumn after a few light frosts have mellowed and sweetened the creamy-white roots").

12. Diseases and Pests. Information about diseases and pests may be the rarest information on seed packets, but it shows up occasionally. If a hybrid is particularly resistant to a common scourge it will often be mentioned. It may also be mentioned in the form of acronyms after the plant's name, particularly in tomatoes. "VFN" on a tomato seed packet means the hybrid is resistant to verticilium wilt, fusarium wilt, and nematodes. You can find out what all the codes mean with a simple internet search.

13. Seed specifications. All seed packets should tell for what year the seeds were packaged. This may be the second most important piece of information on the packet and is often overlooked. This is usually printed on one of the flaps that seal the packet, either top or bottom. It may be printed in big letters on the front. Regardless of the location, find it before you buy.

Seeds don't last forever and some only remain viable for a year or two. If you end up buying a packet of seeds that is a couple of years old, you may end up with a very low germination percentage. Try to always buy seeds for the year you plan to plant.

Some packets will list the percentage of germination you can expect and how the long the seed life is. This is helpful if you don't sow all of the seeds and want to save the packet to plant next year. I save many seeds from one year to the next because many packets come with more seeds than I can use; I accept a lower germination rate with older seeds.

14. Botanical name. Many seed packets include the Latin name of the plant so you can increase your scientific knowledge. This can be helpful for conversations with botanists, but in practice I don't know many gardeners who use Latin descriptions on a regular basis. Probably because of that commonality, I'm finding that fewer packets include the botanical description and are opting instead for common names. Even when it is included it is often a generic title; on two different seed packets from Territorial Seed Company, one for shallots and one for Spanish onions, only the common name for bulb onions, "Allium cepa", was listed.

15. Blooms. Like for vegetable fruiting, many flowers seeds will include the blooming period. It is often expressed as "summer", "midsummer", "fall", or something similar. This is very helpful so you know how long it will take for new plants to flower and for how long the flowers will be produced.

Typically this is information on annual flower seeds. For perennials expect information about how long it will take for the plant to produce flowers; it could be one to two years after sowing.

16. Preservation. Ferry-Morse seed packets include a "preserve by" method on packets so you have an idea of what to do with abundant crops. This is great for new gardeners or new preservers so they understand that there are alternatives to eating everything right away.

17. A picture. Almost all seed packets have a picture of what the plant, fruit, or flower will look like at maturity. The picture is often intended to grab your attention for an impulse buy in box stores and garden centers. It may be a photo or drawing; I prefer a color photo so I can know what to look for at harvest.

Be sure to read the text throughout the seed packet to fully understand what you're planting because some companies may post the same picture for different varieties. I have several packets of tomato seeds from Baker Creek with the same display of various tomatoes on the front; only a sticker with the name of each packet’s tomato variety differentiates them.

Some companies like Livingston Seed will have clear plastic on the front of the packet along with a photo. This helps you see the actual seeds so you know their quality and quantity.

18. Weight. It's pretty universal that seeds are weighed in grams. Initially this may not mean a lot to you other than give an idea of how many seeds are in the packet; 3 grams of sunflower seeds will produce a few dozen plants while 3 grams of radish seeds will produce hundreds of plants. I find it most useful when comparing the price of seeds from different companies and for determining how big a packet to buy. I know 1/2 gram of onion seeds will do me fine and I don't need to buy more.

19. Contents. Look at what the packet actually contains. Some packets will actually tell you how many seeds are in them. Along with weight this gives a good idea of the space you need for all of the seeds. Read carefully. I bought a relatively expensive packet of monster pumpkin seeds only to discover three actual seeds when I opened it; it forewarned me if I had looked at weight and contents more closely.

When you're buying a blend, the photo is often misleading. I've purchased flower seed blends that look great on the front, but when you read the contents you find a list of plants that may be far different from the image. Also for flower seeds it's beneficial to read the contents so you don't buy a blend that may include an invasive species for your area.

For vegetable blends, particularly salad blends, reading the contents will help you identify the plants as they grow. It's nice to know you like the purple leaves in your garden, but looking at the contents of the seed packet can help you identify it as "Orach" (this happened to me).

Also note if there's any filler in the seed packet. "Inert matter" is anything except seeds. "90% inert matter" means it is only 10 percent seeds.

20. Company Name. Pay attention to the name of the company selling the seeds. You may find a favorite for quality, price, information, or find that certain packets have limitations. I love the seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company, but I find their seed packets to be hit or miss. Some of their packets are filled with helpful info with a conversational tone that is easy to read, but others are often stingy with information. It helps that their catalog is about the best in the business.

For beginning gardeners I often recommend the seed packets at garden centers from companies like Burpee or Ferry-Morse. Their packets have nice, visual representations of how to sow seeds, along with the important basics.

Ultimately selecting a seed packet comes down to the gardener buying what he or she wants to grow in their garden, but if you like the seeds and like the information on the packet it helps to remember the company that gave you a good product.

Those are the 20 things you can expect to find on seed packets. I've yet to find a company that includes all of them on a single packet. Decide if certain factors are important to you and look for those factors when you get new seeds. If you don't fully understand a statement, number, or picture, refer to my descriptions above and do a little more research on your own.

I recommend saving seed packets after you've sown all of the seeds. I keep each year's seed selection in a box during that season so I can refer back to the packets if I need to be reminded about a variety or to confirm important things like days to harvest, especially when the fruit is slow to set.

Write yourself notes on the packets so you can refer to them in the future and know which ones you liked, or not. They're like mini encyclopedias of gardening information. These little envelopes usually provide everything you need to get the seed in soil and begin growing.

Link to "Know Your last Frost Date"

The Best Birder Book

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:40:00 +0000

About a year ago I began "birding". Birding is a common term for bird watching as a hobby; birdwatching and birding are interchangeable words. It's all about people paying attention to birds in their environment. Birdwatchers can be called birders. Though the term "birder" is usually reserved for someone who is very serious about birdwatching. In practice, I'm more a birdwatcher than a birder.

Watching a hummingbird

My interest in birding began with the 2011 movie, "The Big Year". It starred Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson as fanatical birders. I liked the movie and the appealing story of a passionate group of people traversing the globe in search of unique birds. Hundreds and hundreds of different species of birds. The movie was a critical and financial failure, but it motivated me to venture into a new arena.

Arriving home from the film, I instantly began paying attention to the birds in my landscape. There were big ones and little ones. Plain ones and colorful ones. I knew the robins and doves and jays, but it wasn't long before I realized I had no clue what I was doing when it came to unfamiliar birds. Without formal training or reference material, I couldn't identify most of what I was seeing.

I researched birder books. My friend Deb recommended a few field guides of birds in my area and I followed her advice. A Field Guide is a very handy book filled with pictures and descriptions to help in identifying birds. Most are pocket-sized guides that can be taken into the field, literally.

I chose three books and decided to compare the attributes of each as I learned about birding. They are: "Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America"; "National Geographic Field Guide to Birds"; and "Birds of Colorado Field Guide" by Stan Tekiela. I discuss each book below. All of the books are written with the assumption that the reader doesn't know what kind of bird they're seeing and the field guide will help identify it.

Three field guides

"Kaufmann Field Guide to Birds of North America" is physically the largest of the field guides and doesn't fit into a jacket pocket easily, though it's fine for a day pack. It includes birds from throughout North America. This means that it has a shorebird section even when its owner resides in the Rocky Mountains. That translates into many wasted pages for an amateur birder like me.

It has a nice section in the front of the book that tells "where, when, and how to find birds." Designed for a beginning birdwatcher, this part explains just about everything you need to know about looking at birds, choosing binoculars, documenting finds, and bird conservation. It's a marvelous section for beginners, while experienced birders can skip this part and use just the reference material.

Kaufmann has the most interesting Table of Contents of the field guides. It's pictorial. The hardest part I found when using all of the field guides was in trying to find the bird I was looking at within the book. When you spot something you want to be able to identify it quickly. Kaufmann groups birds by their primary attributes and shows actual photos of these groups in its table of contents. Groups like "Chicken-like Birds", "Wading Birds", and "Typical Songbirds".

Kaufman's index

When you see a bird you look for a picture of it within these groupings in the front, then turn to the section that offers more information about it. The table of contents color-codes each group and the rest of the book has headers and tabs that match the respective color code.

When you flip to the corresponding section for any given bird, you see many more photos. The book has more than 2,000 images. Each section begins with basic identification factors of the major bird groups in that section. In successive pages you look for the photo that matches the bird you're seeing and then read about it. Generally, the book has water birds first, then large birds, and then progressively smaller birds.

Similar birds are listed together. On one page you'll have descriptions, to include the taxonomic name, of Barn Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Cave Swallow, Bank Swallow, and Northern Rough Winged Swallow. There are photos of each for comparison. One of the best attributes of this field guide is that it often displays photos of juveniles and adults, in resting, flying or nesting postures. That can make identification much easier.

A typical Kaufman page

The text for each bird describes its attributes. Characteristics of size, activity, nesting, and flight are mentioned when appropriate. It highlights distinctive coloring on wings, head, and body to help in identification. For some birds it describes their voices.

For each bird, a small map of the United States depicts its range. The range map shows migration areas and where the bird is in summer and winter. This can be very helpful because identifying birds is harder than it seems. Many look quite similar. If you have a preliminary identification and the range map matches where you are viewing the bird, it helps confirm your guess. However, if you identify a bird and it doesn't normally reside in your location, that means you should continue looking for a bird that does match.

At the end of the book, all of the hundreds of birds represented are listed in alphabetical order with a little box preceding each. When you see the bird you can check the box. This is a very effective way to keep track of your birding.

"The National Geographic Field Guide to Birds" is compact and easily fits into a jacket or your back pocket. National Geographic has many field guides available for different regions of North America. My book is the Colorado edition; field guides are available for Michigan, New York, the Carolinas, Arizona & New Mexico, and other locations.

This field guide has a brief section at the front that describes how to use the book. It explains "field marks" and shows where to look on the bird for physical identification features; places like the head, wings, and tail. It does not include any information for a beginner birder on how to bird watch.

National Geographic uses the table of contents and two indexes at the back of the book to help in bird identification. The contents page is just a list of primary bird families with no pictures; sections like "Swifts", Shrikes", and "Swallows". If you are a beginner and have no idea what kind of bird you're looking at, this is useless. For an expert this can be a quick way to turn to the appropriate section.

In the first index, birds are grouped by color. You determine the color of the bird you're looking at, look at the small thumbnail images within headings like "Mostly Black" or "Mostly Brown" or "Prominent Yellow", and then turn to the page corresponding to your guess. The second index is just an alphabetical listing of the birds in the book with a small square to check off when you see it.

Color-coded index with images

Each bird in the book is given two pages with a large photo of the bird on the first page, usually in a resting position. The heading of the second page identifies the bird's taxonomic name and general size. It begins with "Field Marks" that describes primary physical coloring. There is a color-coded, seasonal range on a small state map. Paragraphs on "Behavior", "Habitat", and "Local Sites" follow. The description concludes with "Field Notes" that describe a unique characteristic of the bird, often with another image.

Typical bird page

Similar birds are usually described on successive pages. So the American Tree Sparrow is described, you flip the page to the Chipping Sparrow, and then turn to the Vesper Sparrow next. This can be helpful in comparing similar birds to decide on your specific subject, but it's not consistent. The House Sparrow is described 40 pages later in the book, in its own section, right after the Evening Grosbeak, a totally different kind of bird.

The "Birds of Colorado Field Guide" by Stan Tekiela is slightly larger that the National Geographic book, but still pocket-sized. It has a thorough section in the beginning for beginner birdwatchers. Like National Geographic, Tekiela offers field guides for many locations throughout North America.

The first section is "Why Watch Birds in Colorado?", with very specific details about the state and how birds fit in with terrain, habitats, and weather; I assume he includes similar detail for other regional books. The guide includes sections on observation strategies, bird coloring, nest building, and migration.

The first page of the book is an index that lists birds by prominent color, like National Geographic, with similar headings like "mostly gray"or "prominent green" and directs the page for that color. There are no pictures of birds. The corner of each descriptive page corresponds to that color, so that the "mostly black" birds have a black tab on the page and the "mostly black and white" birds have pages with black and white tabs. This helps in thumbing directly to that section once you become familiar with the guide, something National Geographic lacks.

Tekiela's color-coded index

Within each color section, the pages are organized with smaller birds listed first. That can be helpful with identifying some birds because the 6-inch Black Rosy-Finch is at the beginning of the mostly-black section while the 30-inch Turkey Vulture is last. But I find it hard to differentiate between a 5-inch bird and a 6-inch bird, so you have to thumb through every page of the mostly-brown section to find the numerous types of Sparrows.

Like National Geographic, each bird gets two dedicated pages with the first page being a large photo, usually of a resting bird. When the male and female differ greatly, there is often a photo of each. The second page has the scientific name, a small range map, and descriptions of: size, the male, the female, the juvenile, nest, eggs, incubation, fledging, migration, food, and a comparison of similar birds. Helpful information about the bird's activity, song, features, or history are included in a helpful section at the bottom called "Stan's Notes". The book concludes with an alphabetical index with a check box for keeping track of identifications.

Typical Tekiela bird page

Of the three books, I found the "National Geographic Field Guide to Birds" to be both the most difficult and the easiest to use. While being the easiest to carry, it required that I have some basic understanding of the bird I was watching to be able to identify it. Many of the descriptions only included a single photograph and the subject birds were rarely in that pose. The text adequately described prominent coloring, but it was often hard to understand for a beginner (i.e, "Underparts whitish with bold dusky bars; bar on tail in males").

That being said, the primary index was color coded and had a small image of birds so I could thumb to the suggested page with a good feeling I was headed in the right direction. For a birdwatcher who wants to know what that brown bird is, this was the easiest way to find the bird in a guide. I could find the suspect bird quickly, but couldn't always be sure I was reading about the same bird.

"The Birds of Colorado Field Guide" was similarly easy to use but required looking at multiple pages once you found the appropriate color section. The information in the beginning of the book is very good and the layout of each bird's description was easy to read.

This book and the National Geographic book were very similar in their descriptions and include specific location information about where specific birds could be found in Colorado. Surprisingly they each include birds not found in the other, and don't list many birds that probably call Colorado home. For example, Tekiela has a two-page spread on the Olive-Sided Flycatcher while National Geographic has nothing; National Geographic has a brief mention of the Cordilleran Flycatcher in the Field Notes of the Western Wood-Pewee, while Tekiela has nothing. These are the only two Flycatchers mentioned in either book.

"Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America" is easy to use and has both Flycatchers described, along with many more. However, the small national range maps are difficult to read, so I can't quite tell if Hammond's Flycatcher, Dusky Flycatcher, and Gray Flycatcher reside in my part Colorado, but they are definitely birds in this state, something the other two books overlook.

Overall, I give "Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America" the best score for a beginning birder's field guide. The thousands of photos make identification relatively easy and while the birds aren't categorized by their color, the index of basic size, shape, and family is easy to use after a few tries. While it includes many birds that I will never see, it does offer the opportunity to take it on a vacation and identify birds throughout the country. Most important, while I have to wade through birds that are irrelevant it is very inclusive of birds in my region.

The specific descriptions aren't as thorough as the other books, but do include good information for identification. The front sections that talk about binoculars and bird physiology are very important for a beginner. Kaufman's was the best for me to positively identify a bird.

What I found in practical birdwatching was that no single field guide was completely adequate. While Kaufman made final identification surest, it was best to use the books in conjunction with each other for the entire process. National Geographic made initial guesswork easy, then a referral to Kaufman made it definite.

This morning I encountered a woodpecker on our big Ponderosa Pine tree as I fetched the morning paper with Lily. I looked at it closely and took a photo.

Today's woodpecker on the trunk

I began with the National Geographic field guide and, using the quick index, was able to identify it as a Downy Woodpecker within about 30 seconds. Using Stan Tekiela's guide took a few seconds longer and led me to a page for the Hairy Woodpecker; the key factor is the size of the bird, the first characteristic listed in that book. There is also a page for the Downy Woodpecker so I was able to thumb back and forth comparing the two birds and tentatively ID it as a Hairy Woodpecker. Score a point for Tekiela. Tekiela has photos of both male and female birds for each type. National Geographic only has a photo of the female Downy Woodpecker, but has a small image of a male Hairy Woodpecker in the Field Notes at the bottom of the page.

Turning to Kaufman's guide involved thumbing through quite a few pages before finding the woodpeckers, definitely more time than the other two, but only by a few seconds. It has side-by-side male and female photos of both birds. The text for Hairy Woodpecker begins: "Like a bigger version of the Downy, usually less common, requiring bigger trees." It goes on to say, "...can be told from Downy by much longer bill, larger size." The tree it was on is the biggest in the neighborhood and it had a long bill. Kaufman got straight to the most important factors and confirmed my identification. Home Run by Kaufman.

Because "National Geographic Field Guide to Birds", Colorado edition, and "Birds of Colorado Field Guide" by Stan Tekiela are so similar, there are virtually interchangeable. For a beginning birdwatcher who needs to learn about the activity, Tekiela's guide is clearly the best between these two. It has more photos, better explanations, and allows for better comparisons.

There are many other birder books on the market and many field guides. These were recommended to me and I'm comfortable in recommending them to others. When seeking a good field guide, my experience suggests that an easy, color-coded index is best.

Quick, easy-to-read descriptions are ideal. There were many times that I spotted a bird and pulled out my field guides. Often, by the time I finished reading the description, the bird was gone and I couldn't confirm identification. Becoming familiar with a favorite guide and learning to use it quickly would help in those situations.

Regardless of the guide, I suggest you get one and begin birding. It's fun, gets you outside, and keeps you active. Before you know it those little boxes in the back of the book will be checked off in great numbers.

Chicken Phrases in Our Speech

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 18:43:00 +0000

Chicken behavior permeates what we say and when we say it. I didn't fully appreciate how much chicken culture has influenced human culture until we began to raise hens this year. I found myself describing the behavior of the chickens by using literal phrases that I'd only used figuratively before.

Jo is our smallest hen. She was a straight-run chick so we had to wait until she began maturing before finding out whether she was a rooster or hen. A beautiful, multi-color, Easter-Egger, she began laying small white eggs and our questions ceased. After only a month of laying she suddenly stopped. That change coincided with the loss of some of her long, black tail feathers in a round patch on her back; it revealed bare skin and an apparent increase in her stress level.

Jo's feathers are beginning to grow back

I guessed that she got too close to the fence and a fox nipped her. That was until I saw Lucy, the big Rhode Island Red hen, pecking at the bare spot. It was instantly obvious that Jo was "henpecked".

I knew chickens establish a hierarchy of dominance, but wasn't aware of how it was functioning in our coop. Obviously, big, red Lucy "ruled the roost".

Lucy is the boss

This was confirmed later when I put some yellow squash from my garden into their chicken run. They all ran to the delicious vegetable, but only Lucy began pecking at it. When the other hens stuck their beaks in, Lucy pushed them away. There was a definite "pecking order" and Lucy was number one.

As the other chickens backed away quickly, frustrated and flustered, it was apparent that Lucy had "ruffled their feathers" and "got their hackles up".

Lucy gets first peck

Those chicken-based phrases are ones I've used and are commonly heard describing human interactions. A timid husband is henpecked because his wife rules the roost. When the kids go for a car ride the oldest gets shotgun because of their pecking order. If Aunt Helen gets stuck in the back it ruffles her feathers.

There are many other phrases we use to describe ourselves. Chickens prefer light spaces and familiar areas to sleep. When the sun goes down they’re “chicken” about the dark as they enter the coop and "come home to roost". That being said, they don't like being "cooped up" for long periods of time and often will "fly the coop" if given the chance.

The hens are anxious to get outside each day

The hens we have typically won't sit on eggs for long periods expecting them to hatch. After Jo's feathers grew back, she began laying eggs again. Unexpectedly one day she sat on her "nest egg" for nearly 30 hours straight. I couldn't get her out of the nest box. She "brooded over" that egg. It was almost as though she was acting like a "mother hen". My wife was finally able to coax her out with special chicken treats.

It wasn't long before her tail feathers began to disappear again along with a regular supply of little white eggs. We were left with an "empty nest" with those eggs gone.

No eggs in an empty nest

We have just a few hens and have had few problems when collecting eggs. We haven't worried about "putting all of our eggs in the same basket". We've never dropped an egg and haven't had to worry about "walking on eggshells". And of course we've never had "egg on our face".

All of these phrases have obvious origins. And their transference to human actions are easily understood. When you see the bare dirt of a chicken run it's easy to understand why bad handwriting looks like "chicken scratch". Chickens are relatively inexpensive to raise; after all, the cost of their food is just "chicken feed".

We don't have a rooster so we don't have to worry about "counting our chickens before they hatch". We use the eggs regularly so we know that "you have to break eggs to make an omelet". And we know that a "good egg" is home-raised.

Many other animal actions have factored into human speech, but I have to believe that chickens have had the most impact. I can think of no other animal that formed the basis of so many common English phrases. Obviously with that much influence, chickens "have something to crow about".

More Gifts for Gardeners

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:50:00 +0000

Gardeners are a giving group. As the growing season progresses, we're more than willing to share our flowers, produce, seeds, and advice to anyone willing to partake. We give our time, labor, and effort to build gardens and grow plants of every type. After giving so much during the growing season, it's nice to receive thoughtful gifts during the holiday season.

In my previous article I discussed some of the simple items and tools that many gardeners might like to receive. There are many other potential gifts for the gardener in your life and today I propose a few more.

Two gift ideas top the list and are quite obvious, as I was reminded when the last article was published. Plants and seeds are the basic ingredients that make what we do possible. They're the foundation of the garden and few gardeners would refuse them. The hardest part is trying to figure out what to give.

The easiest way to do give green is with a gift card or gift certificate from a local nursery. Many gardeners go over budget at planting time because there's always another plant they'd like to try. Being able to make those purchases without budgetary concerns is a great gift.

While I'm not a fan of gift cards normally, I recommend this method because gardeners can be picky about their plants. A plant given with the best intention may not be appropriate for our specific gardens. While orchids are beautiful, I don't have the facilities to grow them properly and while the gift of a live plant would be appreciated, the plant would begin a lingering death as soon as I touched it. Many other plants that can be purchased from catalogs won't survive my dry, hot summers or harsh winters. For gardeners like me a gift certificate makes more sense.

Seeds are a better option than live plants at Christmas because there are many more to choose from and they won't die before it's time to sow. I recommend Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (www.rareseeds.com) and Territorial Seed Company (www.territorialseed.com) as good online sources. Take the time to determine if the plant that comes from the seed will survive in your region before buying. For the best success, select seeds that you know your gardener already grows.

There are many sources for ordering seeds and plants

Another basic, yet great, gift is a book about gardening. I have a pretty substantial gardening library, but there are always new books coming out with new ideas and techniques and I'm always willing to learn more. If your gardener has expressed interest in a particular type of gardening, find a book on that subject. Lasagna gardening, square-foot gardening, hydroponic gardening, roof gardening, container gardening, and bio-dynamic gardening are just a few of the topics that would be new to even experienced gardeners.

There are many great reference books that should be part of every gardener's library. Here are a few: "A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants" from the American Horticultural Society; "National Garden Book" from Sunset Magazine; "The Practical Gardener's Encyclopedia" from Fog City Press; Reader's Digest "Illustrated Guide to Gardening". These are just a few of the books that I reference regularly.

For a flower gardener interested in beginning to grow vegetables, buy a book on vegetable gardening. For a vegetable gardener buy a book about flowers. For all gardeners, buy a thorough book on composting. I'd suggest you take a look at the books they already read and enjoy for an idea of appropriate subjects, and so you don't duplicate any.

Magazine subscriptions are another nice option for readers. I subscribe to eight different magazines and go to the library to regularly read the ones I don't get. I prefer sitting in my own chair, in my own house, when I settle in to read and look at the great garden photos so a subscription is better for me. One of my favorites is "Garden Gate"; it's well written and always has information appropriate to my gardens. Another good mag is "Horticulture"; the photos are amazing, though most of the articles are written for gardeners who don't live in the mountains. For Western gardeners, "Sunset" focuses their gardening articles to regional specifics, though gardening is just one part of the magazine that also includes sections on travel and cooking.

"Gardening How-To" magazine is a nice resource for gardeners, particularly new gardeners. It is written for the entire U.S. with some region-specific information. It's produced by the National Home Gardening Club, of which I am a lifetime member. Membership in the club includes the magazine and access to their very informative website. The gift of membership might be a good idea. Check them out at www.gardeningclub.com.

While I proposed garden art in the last article I neglected to mention the most basic decorative garden component. Pots and planters are readily available year-round and easily used by gardeners. A pot that is brightly-colored, uniquely-crafted, or over-sized can look great as a garden focal point. Pots can be moved around by the gardener until they find the proper home and there are always enough plants to fill them. Even if your gift ends up in a hidden garden corner you can expect that it will be used.

The pot is what makes this garden art unique

If your gardener is a social animal or you would prefer they leave the house occasionally, consider giving the gift of club membership. Many cities have gardening clubs and they usually have a membership fee. Sign your gardener up. Locally we have an Iris Society, a Rose Society, and a Horticultural Arts Society. There are neighborhood garden groups. There are volunteer gardening groups for schools and churches. Do a little research and see if there's a group, club, or society that matches your gardeners strengths.

While I could spend a great deal of time listing the great power tools that I'd love to own or the large structures I'd love to build, every gardener is different and my desires may not be ideal when it comes to your gift purchases. Take a look at your gardener for the best gift ideas. If he's always complaining about his torn jeans, buy him a new pair. If she keeps harping about the weeds or an area that needs to be cleared to make a garden bed, give the gift of your time in the garden.

The best gardening gifts are the ones that come from the heart. Taking a little time to ensure your gift matches what your gardener needs will make your efforts memorable and welcomed. While the tools are nice, the books are good, and the seeds will grow, it truly is the thought that counts.

For other gift ideas and many gardening videos check out my video channel:
https://www.youtube.com/gardenerscott

Link to:

National Home Gardening Club
Baker Creek heirloom Seeds
Territorial Seed Company

Gifts for Gardeners

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 19:18:00 +0000

Gardeners are pretty easy to please. We find enjoyment in getting our hands dirty and find that the simplicity of nature can be quite beautiful. While there will always be an expensive plant or tool that we drool over, inexpensive and thoughtful gifts are usually very welcome.

For those looking for a gift for a gardener friend or family member, the following suggestions should help you make a wise decision. Be aware that a good gift doesn't need to cost much and each gardener's personal tastes and gardening methods should be taken into consideration when choosing. There are some snobby gardeners out there, but most of us aren't.

At the top of my list is a good hat. Granted, we can be vain and picky about our wardrobe and selecting the perfect headgear is important, but if your gardener doesn't wear a hat they should. The sun can be very damaging and my own skin cancer attests to the worst-case scenario. A wide-brim hat needs to be on every gardener's head. A gifted hat can change the way they garden and could save their life.

My favorite gardening hat

On a lighter note, the gift I always look for in my Christmas stocking is a nice pair of leather gloves. While I enjoy the feel of warm soil on my fingers, I wear gloves for most of my gardening tasks. Digging, weeding, constructing, and clearing brush are all tasks that are made easier while wearing gloves. I will buy a three-pack of cheap cloth or cloth-leather gloves for a few bucks, but laying down a couple sawbucks for a nice leather pair doesn't happen often. When I have a good set I'll use them until they're worn out. That's why I hope for a new pair at Christmas each year.

These gloves have seen better days

My shed and garage are filled with garden tools, but most of them are still the ones I bought when I first began gardening years ago. And back then I didn't really know what I was doing so cheap tools seemed a good choice. I still make do with hand tools that have broken handles, bent spines, or dull edges. It makes sense to buy new ones, but that's too much effort. A gift isn't any effort at all.

Pruners are a good example of a tool that many gardeners need upgraded. There are many wonderful hand pruners that are ergonomically designed with cushioned handles. Deadheading and small pruning chores are easier when the tool is comfortable. A little information about a gardener's personal preference can help when choosing hand pruners. There are basically two kinds: bypass and anvil. While each type has its purpose and usefulness, some gardeners have a clear preference. For pruning live plants, I prefer bypass pruners because I think anvil pruners can damage plant stalks and stems. Luckily many stores sell hand pruners with both types packaged together.

Bypass pruners with uncomfortable handles

Trowels are another common gardening tool that may need an upgrade. A good quality hand trowel can last a lifetime, but few of us have one. I have different trowels and they all have problems. My favorite, with a nice, wide, padded handle, was discovered by Lily the Lab when she was a puppy; the handle is now chewed up. On another, the wood handle has separated from the metal blade and I spend as much time sticking the two pieces together as I do digging in the soil. A sturdy, ergonomic trowel would be nice to have. There are skinny trowels and wide trowels and they all have a use.

Trowels are a must have

I discovered a wonderful weeder years ago and remarkably I'm the only gardener I know who owns one. It's a stirrup hoe, also called a Hula Hoe. It's amazingly easy to use and removes small weeds below the soil surface. Every year I use it when weeds begin to sprout. It eliminates most of them before they become a problem. It's a tool I think every gardener should own.

A stirrup hoe is great

Another nice tool is a dandelion weeder. It has a forked tongue on a long, narrow spine designed to dig along the root of dandelions and pull out the entire plant. It works. You can find them with handles long enough to use while standing, but I prefer the hand-size ones. They are great for dandelions and many other long-rooted weeds. Every gardener should have one.

Dandelion weeders work well

Many other garden items are nice to have, but seldom purchased by the gardener. I'm always in need of plant markers. Galvanized metal ones with zinc or copper nameplates are very attractive, but I haven't purchased many because they're a bit extravagant. I own a few, but find myself using cheap aluminum or plastic ones. If I had more of the fancy ones I'd use them.

Cheap plant tags don't always look good

Plant ties are similar. A twist of twine is all that's needed to hold a plant to a stake, but I recently saw Velcro plant ties. They're reusable, strong, and a great idea. For a gardener who wants a fancier plant tie than twine, Velcro could be the answer.

The simplest items can be the most useful. I never seem to have enough staples in my garden. I'm talking about the galvanized metal staples that are six or eight inches long. I use them to hold bird netting, soaker hoses, and plastic row covers in place. By the end of the season many of them "just disappear." Very inexpensive, they're a wonderful stocking stuffer.

Good staples are hard to find

I tend to think that a gardener can't have too many bird feeders. While some gardeners don't want birds in their garden, I do. I have hummingbird feeders, and suet feeders, and seed feeders. Especially in winter, birds can use the thoughtfulness of a gardener who supplies free food. Bird feeders can be simple or fancy and in all cases can be a nice gift.

Decorative bird feeders look nice

I love garden art, and I do think that is one thing there can be too much of in a garden. But a few tasteful pieces can be fun and add character to a garden. Last year my wife got me a nice, welded iron, tricycle plant stand. It blends nicely with the other scattered pieces of art in my landscape and I think of her every time I see it.

A welcome gift

There are many catalogs and stores brimming over with wonderful gift ideas for gardeners, but it’s often hard to choose the right gift. The suggestions above are just some of the useful garden items that make my gardening experience better and can make your holiday shopping easier. Gardeners aren't hard to buy for and we'll accept anything useful in the garden.

San Diego Botanic Garden

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 18:05:00 +0000

The mission of the San Diego Botanic Garden "is to inspire people of all ages to connect with plants and Nature." After strolling through its incredible 35 acres, I am inspired. I've visited many gardens, both small and large, and I always try to imagine what the gardener was thinking during plant selection and placement. The horticulturists responsible for the San Diego Botanic Garden were apparently channeling heaven as they constructed the park.

Real, not plastic

It's amazing! I felt like I was experiencing natural nature and the actual habitats represented in the many earth zones throughout the garden. While enjoying the shade of monstrous bamboo, I was transported to Asia. Then suddenly I forgot I was walking through a botanic garden and felt like I was discovering a passionate gardener's home garden as a pond and vibrant flowers appeared.

Walking through the bamboo garden

Bananas, pomegranates, grapefruits, avocados, and other mysterious, exotic fruits dangled enticingly in the subtropical fruit garden. Around the corner I stumbled upon an expansive herb garden with "living" sculptures that made me want to sit, relax, and sip a little Sangria.

A "living" Mariachi band

Many large cities have botanic gardens that represent their region and highlight local plants. With the construction of greenhouses and pavilions they can grow and display non-native plants. San Diego is blessed with a temperate climate that mimics disparate locations of our planet. Without a single greenhouse they can showcase Mexico, Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Asia, and Central and South America. All of their gardens are in the open air.

The San Diego Botanic Garden began as "Quail Gardens" in 1971, and the address and local signs reflect that start. In 1993 they lost financial support from Dan Diego County and the non-profit Quail Botanical Gardens Foundation, Inc. was formed to operate the gardens. The current name was instituted in 2009.

Stewards of the environment, new parking lots have permeable surfaces to reduce runoff, solar panels produce electricity, green roofs cool buildings while reducing water runoff, and of course all plastic, paper, and metal is recycled.

They've constructed the botanic garden using water wise gardening methods. Through the use of recycled water, weather sensitive controllers, and low-water sprinklers, they use and display remarkable ways to save valuable resources. Prunings and leaves are shredded and composted and reused naturally in the gardens as mulch.

A weather controller proudly displayed

The entire Garden is very user friendly and educational. There is an obvious attempt to encourage local gardeners to replicate the plantings. So many civic gardens operate with an attitude of, "look what we've grown and you can only look at." San Diego Botanic Garden operates with an attitude of, "look what we've grown and you can too."

A tutorial on using rocks in the garden

I find that approach very appealing. I don't live anywhere near San Diego and am inspired to try some of their designs and plantings in my gardens. I recognized plants that grow well for me already, but in new displays and settings. The creative gardener in me is already planning new beds and new designs for next year.

I can grow a similar succulent bed

A separate children's garden makes gardens fun with a tree house and outdoor activities for the little ones. I've always believed that capturing the positive spirit of gardening for children benefits them and us.

So often in professional gardens one wanders through, admiring the beauty, while stupefied by the plants. Everything mingles together with no identification of the individual components. That experience is non-existent in San Diego. Everything is exquisitely labeled with an abundance of interesting plant information. On the few occasions I saw a planting with no identifying sign, a quick search revealed information hidden under a branch or limb of a neighboring plant. They're unobtrusive and blend in well.

Everything is labeled well

The design of the self-guided tour allows visitors to experience the gardens at their own pace and allows lingering. A walk on a boardwalk overlooking natural, native zones ends at an overlook of the garden, the town, and the beautiful Pacific Ocean. A spectacular waterfall and meandering creek lies hidden in a back corner of the gardens. Imposing and interesting sculptures from professional artists are mingled with the plants and are available for purchase.

Waterfall in a jungle setting

The San Diego Botanic Garden doesn't reside in San Diego itself, but rather in Encinitas, California, about 30 minutes north of the city proper. There are few signs announcing it's location so I recommend getting directions ahead of time or relying on a GPS.

At this writing the admission price for adults is $12, with a $2 parking fee. I found a 50% off coupon in the magazine "101 Things To Do In San Diego", which can be found in most local tourist centers and visitor bureaus. The $14 total price my wife and I paid was the best expenditure of our vacation.

I don't know when we'll get back to San Diego; our last trip was two years ago. Even with that uncertainty I'm sorely tempted to become a member of the San Diego Botanic Garden. Even though I won't be able to use the benefits, I can help an organization that is doing everything right for the world of plants and gardening.

If you're a gardener, and planning to visit San Diego, check out the San Diego Botanic Garden. If you live in or near San Diego county, consider becoming a member. You'll be a richer gardener for either choice.

Link to San Diego Botanic Garden

Biochar Works in the Garden

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 19:06:00 +0000

Biochar enhances plant growth and is ideal for short-season gardens. In my experimental garden bed, biochar added an extra two weeks to my harvest schedule. For many of us who grow in challenging regions, that can be more than 10 percent of our growing season.

Biochar is reported to improve the development and growth of plants. Most of the benefits have been reported through anecdotal evidence so I decided to conduct as scientific an experiment as I could to prove or disprove the claims. I've written about biochar before and about the beginning of this experiment (see my article "Using Biochar in the Garden", June 4, 2012).

I was convinced by others on the internet that biochar could improve my garden, but I wanted to prove it to myself, and others looking for statistical analysis. With a calendar, metric ruler, and scale, I set out to document the effectiveness of biochar. I must acknowledge that a new friend, the daughter of very good friends, is a strong advocate of biochar and is a director at Soil Reef Biochar, a company selling and marketing the product. That had no effect on my analysis.

Using 100 percent biochar from Soil Reef Biochar, I amended the soil in one half of a four feet by eight feet raised bed. As a control effort, the other half of the bed remained unamended, aside from an addition of compost that the entire bed received one year earlier. As mentioned in my earlier article, I inoculated the biochar with beneficial bacteria. After amending the soil I let the bed rest for three days, keeping the bed's soil moist in the process.

Amending with biochar

In each four feet by four feet half I placed 24 'Straight Eight' cucumber seeds at the recommended depth, spaced approximately six to eight inches apart in a grid. 'Straight Eight' is a common slicing cucumber that I've had success with in the past. Normal germination ranges from 3 to 10 days with about eight days being the norm. Maturity is reached in about 50-75 days with about 60 days being the norm.

The growing season in my garden at 7500' elevation (2285m) is short, typically ranging from 110 to 130 days. Late frosts are common in spring and delay sowing and planting of warm season plants. My seeds were sowed on May 30, 2012, and I began the diary of plant development at that point.

The first obvious difference in the biochar side of the bed began with the germination time and rate. On June 3, five seedlings broke the soil surface. That is four days after placing in the soil, half of the typical germination time. The first non-biochar seedling appeared on June 4, but the biochar germination rates exceeded the other half. Here are the results for the germination of each side:

                                Biochar seedlings                               Control group seedlings
June 3 (Day 4)                     5                                                               0
June 4 (Day 5)                  13                                                              1
June 5 (Day 6)                    19                                                             13
June 6 (Day 7)                    23                                                             16
June 7 (Day 8)                    23                                                             18
June 8 (Day 9)                    23                                                             19

All of the biochar seeds sprouted earlier than the expected germination time. After nine days, 23 of the 24 seeds sprouted on the biochar side, a 96% germination rate. Only 19 of the 24 in the control group sprouted, a 79% rate. The soil was kept consistently moist on both halves and no pest damage was evident. There is no clear reason for the lower germination rate of the control group.

Seedlings on the biochar side

It's obvious that the biochar plants got an earlier start than the control group and that advantage carried through for the rest of the experiment.

On June 25 (Day 26), I measured the height of all the plants. The average height of the biochar cucumber plants was 7.53 cm. The average height of the control group was 5.34 cm. In an effort to avoid skewed numbers, I deleted the measurement of the smallest and tallest plants in each group before averaging. The biochar plants were 41% taller than the control plants.

Measuring a seedling

At this point I thinned the plants to 14 in each half of the bed. Each section's plants were staggered in four rows spaced about one foot apart. This spacing is closer than commonly recommended, but not out of the ordinary. It does add a minor stress factor.

All of the plants were watered at the same rate and received addition of a balanced liquid fertilizer on days 26 and 37.

On July 6 (Day 37), I measured the plants again. The biochar plants averaged 16.2 cm and the control plants measured 12.22 cm. The biochar plants were 33% taller than the control plants at this point.

The test bed with biochar on the right

The first flower appeared on a biochar plant on July 15. The first flower in the control group appeared on July 21; eight flowers were on biochar plants at that time. That six-day difference continued the trend of accelerated growth in the biochar plants.

All of the fruit was harvested when it was at least 18 cm (7 inches) long. The average in both groups was 19 cm (7.5 in) at the time I picked them. I harvested the first fruit on a biochar plant on August 10 (Day 72). The first fruit on a control plant was harvested on August 22, 12 days later.

A cucumber from the biochar experiment

The accelerated growth in the biochar bed allowed me to begin enjoying juicy cucumbers almost two weeks earlier than a standard garden bed in my garden. I harvested four biochar cucumbers before I picked the first one in the control group.

It should be noted that the maturity/harvest point of the biochar cucumbers was at 72 days, at the high end of normal maturity and past the expected 60 days. The control group reached maturity/harvest at 84 days, well past expected maturity. This isn't unusual in a high-altitude garden. Our summer nights are cooler than gardens at lower elevations and this temperature variation delays maturity of many warm season plants.

Test bed nearing harvest

I expected that the biochar cucumbers would be bigger and more robust that the control group, but that wasn't the case. The average biochar cucumber was 19.14 cm long and weighed 272.2 grams. The average control cucumber was 19.02 cm long and weighed 279.1 grams. The control group cucumbers were about 2.5% heavier, but that isn't statistically significant with my measurement methods. Basically, the cucumbers in both groups were about the same size at harvest.

Ultimately I harvested 13 cucumbers from the biochar plants and 12 from the control ones. The stress of growing the plants close together reduced the potential number of fruit, but that was partially intentional so I wasn't overrun with cucumbers to measure. I was also on vacation for 10 days during the middle of the experiment and our house sitters enjoyed a few cucumbers that weren't measured.

I had the first frost damage to my garden in the middle of September at about 110 days into the growing season. Though I covered the cucumber bed with plastic and was able to keep the plants alive for a few more weeks, the cooler weather effectively ended new growth and flower and fruit development. There were still a number of cucumbers, of varied sizes, on the vine when I let them succumb to the climate.

I think the results of this experiment are clear. Biochar speeds and enhances germination in cucumbers. The earlier germination and effect of biochar in the soil leads to greater plant growth rates. This enhanced growth results in earlier flowering, fruiting, and harvest in biochar-amended garden beds.

Biochar offers a clear advantage to gardeners like me who have concerns about short growing seasons. For gardeners in warmer climates and more gardener-friendly regions, two weeks of extra harvest time may not seem like much, but for me it's substantial. My tomato beds are almost always two weeks short of reaching full maturity.

We can infer that the results of this experiment with cucumbers can be carried over to other plants in the garden. I've started another experiment using biochar in one bed of cool season plants and no biochar in another bed of the same plants. The biochar plants are already larger than the others.

Next year I'll add biochar to my tomato beds and I anticipate bigger growth and earlier harvests. I plan experiments to determine if the ultimate harvest amounts of biochar beds is larger than non-amended ones.

Biochar adds an exciting component to gardening. As advertised, it does influence the growth of plants in a very positive way. Currently about 10 percent of my garden is amended with biochar. I look forward to the day when all of it is enhanced.

Link to my article "Using Biochar in the Garden"
Link to Soil Reef Biochar

How to Save Plant Seeds, Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 19:24:00 +0000

After seeds have been gathered from garden plants, it's time to remove them from the stem, flower, pod, husk, pulp, or shell that protects them from nature's destructive elements. If left in place, the forces of wind, sun, snow, rain, and insects and animals will separate a seed from the withered plant, drop it to the ground, and gradually wear down a seed's covering so it is ready to germinate and sprout. For gardeners saving seeds, we can separate the seeds in a controlled manner so they're ready to grow for us as soon as we sow them.

This is the most time-consuming aspect of collecting and saving seeds. But it is a necessary part of the process.

The simplest and most common way to separate dry seeds from the plant parts holding them is to pinch the dried pieces between your fingers until the seeds fall out. Besides allowing them to mature, permitting the seeds to dry out before collecting them makes this effort easier.

Collecting Marigold seeds

This method is very effective for many annual and perennial flowers. For these plants, the dried flower head is bursting with seeds. The same parts that you're deadheading are the ones that hold the seeds. Some, like Marigolds and Zinnias, maintain their flower shape as they dry. Gently squeezing the dried flower heads releases the seeds.

In the vegetable garden, big seeds tend to be the quickest to collect. Crush a pod of peas or beans and the dried, hard seeds inside separate easily from the thin exterior shell. These kind of seeds are sturdy and you can grab a bunch and roll them in your hands until the dried pods are pulverized, leaving behind the seeds.

Collecting green bean seeds

The same procedure works for smaller dry seeds too. A pinch of the fingers separates the seeds from the plant pieces. Usually the color of the seed is different from the rest of the plant so you can tell which is which.

Some seeds are easy to separate

One of the biggest issues with separating seeds this way is that you're left with a lot of small, broken plant pieces when you only want the seeds. A second step is necessary to separate the seed from the chaff. Again, it's easier with big seeds.

I separate my seeds on a blank sheet of paper. It's a piece of cake to see the seeds, move aside the chaff, and put the seeds in a clean, dry container. I remove big seeds from the paper with my fingers and leave behind the small bits. Then I lift the sheet and pour the remains into my compost bucket.

It's the opposite for most small seeds. I collect the seeds on the sheet of paper, remove the larger pods or plant pieces, and pour the seeds into the clean container.

Pouring seeds in a jar

I like to work in small batches that give me control over collecting as many seeds as possible. Working on a few pieces at a time, I separate the seeds, remove the waste, and clean off the paper.

You can put a large amount of pods, stems, or dried flowers in a bowl or bucket and crush the mass to shred it. When the protective shells break apart, the dried seeds will fall to the bottom for collecting. You can also put the seeds and plant pieces in a paper or cloth bag and roll it around to crush what's inside.

To me, this tends to create a big mess and it takes just as much time to separate the seeds from the pulverized plant pieces because so much of the pile is waste material. Also, regardless of how much you pound it, there are always some of the seeds clinging to pods and stems and you still need to comb through the mass to separate and collect all of the seeds.

You can try a few methods to separate the chaff from the seeds if you choose to do a mass crushing method.

Pick out as many of the larger pieces of chaff as you can and place the remaining material in a bowl. Shake and roll the bowl. Seeds tend to be heavier than small chaff and will sink to the bottom. It's like panning for gold where swirling the mixture separates heavy and light pieces.

Separating dill seeds in a bowl

This method can work well for medium size, sturdy seeds that can be easily detected. Particularly when the seeds are bigger than the plant material, separating a lot of seeds this way may be preferable. For seeds that grow in umbrellas, like cilantro, dill, and parsnips, there is little plant material with many seeds and the bowl fills quickly with seeds.

I find there are always stem pieces that are the same size as or smaller than the seeds so a secondary separation is still required. Putting the mixture on a sheet of paper and picking out the seeds from chaff still works well. Tweezers may be necessary when fingers are too bulky.

For some seeds that are definitely heavier than the pulverized chaff, a little breeze can help. While leaving them in the bowl or while slowly pouring them out, gently blow across the surface so that the chaff is blown away and the seeds fall to a collecting mat. If you're mechanically inclined, a small fan set on low may achieve the same effect. Depending on the strength of the air, the chaff can be blown around quite a bit and create a widely-distributed mess.

For small seeds, a screen, colander, or sieve can be beneficial. When you place the chaff and seed inside and crush it all, the small seeds will drop through the holes leaving larger pieces behind. This is an efficient way to separate the big pieces, but you still have small chaff mixed with the small seeds.

Using a colander to separate dill seeds

For most wet seeds, the process is easy and straight-forward. Scoop the seeds out of the fruit and separate them from the pulp. Many wet seeds are large so they're easy to work with. Washing the seeds and pulp in a bowl of water works well to separate the seeds with your fingers.

Scooping out squash seeds

Squash and pumpkin seeds are a breeze. Pull them from the flesh of the fruit and place the seeds on a paper towel or sheet of newspaper to dry. You want all of your seeds to be dry before storing so you don't have rot or mold problems.

Drying squash seeds

Other wet seeds that are encased in a very wet, fleshy pulp, like tomatoes and cucumbers, need to be fermented before drying the seeds. This helps break some of the protective covering and encourages better germination later on. For these types of fruits, place the seed and pulp in a bowl and leave them alone for three to five days. They'll ferment and a mold will develop on top. At that point scoop as much of the mold and pulp off as you can, then add water and mix it all up.

Watery pulp like cucumbers may need fermenting

Viable seeds will sink to the bottom while bad ones will float. Gently pour off the water and unnecessary pulp. Add more water and agitate until you have separated the clean seeds from the rest of the residue, being careful not to pour out the good seeds. Place the seeds in a sieve with smaller holes than the size of seed and rinse well. Then place the seeds on paper to dry out.

Don't try to accelerate the drying time by putting seeds in the oven or near a heat source. Just let them air dry naturally. Larger seeds will take longer than smaller ones. In a week or two the seeds will be dry. Have patience.

When the seeds you've collected are dry, they're ready for storage. Choose a clean, dry container as your storage vessel. Many gardeners use paper envelopes. They're easy to write on which makes it easy to identify the type of seed and the date you saved it, both important things to know when you're ready to sow later on.

I like to use small, glass jars and bottles. I label them with a strip of masking tape. It's a good way to recycle household items. I also think jars do a better job of maintaining a dry environment; exposure to liquids will soak an envelope and the seeds inside. Seeds are alive and need some exposure to air, but the amount in a jar should be enough.

Some of the containers I use

You want to store seeds in an environment that is free from moisture and relatively cool. Moisture can ruin a batch of seeds. A refrigerator is a good place to maintain the proper conditions. A cool garage or shed works well too.

Most seeds can remain viable for three to five years after collecting, though they'll do best the sooner they're used. Proper storage conditions, like in a refrigerator, extends the storage time. It's best to keep seeds from different years separated in storage. That's another reason to label them. You'll know which ones are oldest and can choose to sow those first or discard them if the viability is in question.

Allowing plants to produce seeds and then collecting them is totally natural and easy to do. By adding this task to your annual gardening list you can establish a seed bank of your own and enable yourself to sow next year's garden from this year's or last year's crop. This makes your garden self-sustaining and will save you big bucks over time. I like those options.

Check out my previous articles for the entire process for saving seeds.

How to Save Plant Seeds, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 19:38:00 +0000

Saving seeds from the garden is easy, very cost effective, and allows you to selectively grow quality plants. There are many activities that gardeners consider standard tasks for a successful garden, like soil preparation, irrigation, fertilization, weeding, and fall clean up. I don't put my garden to rest at the end of the season until I've added "collecting seeds" to my chore list.

Vetch pods with seeds

The first step in saving seeds is to let the plant do what it is programmed to do. Let the plant develop seeds. Many gardeners snip off the flowers of their herbs, pull up cool season plants that have started to bolt, and harvest root vegetables in their first year. These are normal gardening practices and there is nothing wrong with them, but they eliminate an opportunity to continue growing the same plants in the next year with free seeds.

All plants will produce seeds. Identifying the part of the plant that contains the seed is usually elementary, but varies by plant. Look for the seed in or near the flower. For flowers that turn into edible fruit, (like tomatoes, peppers, squash, tree fruit, peas, beans), look for the seed inside the fruit. For plants that offer up another part to eat, (like roots, stems, leaves), look for the seed to develop in the flower itself; carrots, beets, radishes, celery, rhubarb, chard, spinach, lettuce, and kale all produce seeds in their flowers. Ornamental perennials usually produce seeds in flowers too.

Sunflowers produce obvious seeds

Collecting the seeds is simple, but determining when to collect them may not be. For a seed to be viable and able to grow into a plant, it needs to be fully formed. Just because a seed looks like a seed doesn't mean it is ready to sow. The key is knowing when it should be collected. Basically, let the seed or fruit that contains the seed remain on the plant as long as possible to help it mature appropriately.

Green beans drying on the plant

Seeds will be either wet or dry at maturity. Wet seeds are the ones surrounded by fleshy or pulpy plant material of a fully mature fruit. These are the fruit parts that we often eat, including the seeds. Seeds in tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, and many squashes are wet and usually require effort to separate them from the flesh or pulp. A completely ripe fruit will provide viable seeds.

Though some seeds are the goal of the harvest, like peas and beans, they are not suitable for saving and sowing in their young, edible phase. These are actually dry seeds from a collecting perspective. For them to be fully formed and ready for sowing, they should be left on the plant until the pod dries out and the seed begins to dry.

Pea pods drying on the plant

Seeds that develop directly from a flower are dry seeds too. They should remain on the plant until the pod or husk that forms is completely dry. Many seeds can be collected slightly early, before completely drying, and they'll continue to mature, but some, like plants in the mustard family, will not. It is best to leave developing seeds on the plants as long as possible.

While wet seeds are gathered wet, the key to dry seeds is that they dry on the plant and remain dry until sowing later. If sustained rain, snow, or fog threatens when it's time to collect seeds, it's better to gather them while dry, or in a stage of drying, than to run the risk of mold and rot setting in. Dry seeds can be damaged or ruined if moisture permeates them at maturity.

Collecting seeds isn't much different than harvesting fruit and vegetables. I enter my garden with a paper bag already marked with the type of seed I'm collecting. Then I snip, pluck, or break off the seed cluster into the bag. I focus on one plant and try to harvest all of the seeds before moving on to another.

Collecting radish seed pods

Some seeds, particularly large ones, can be easy to collect. Pea and bean pods are easy to grab and break off from the plant; radishes offer up nice little pods too. Corn cobs are one of the biggest seed containers you'll gather.

Seeds that develop in clusters from little flowers are slightly more effort. Cutting off the entire cluster is usually the easiest way. Dill, parsnip, and cilantro produce little umbrellas of seeds that are easy to cut off. Spinach, basil, and thyme produce little seeds along the stem and are easiest to gather by cutting off that part of the plant. Onions and leeks produce globes of seeds and the entire ball can be cut off.

Leek flowers with seeds at the tips

After I've collected dry seeds, whether in pods or clusters, I fold over the top of the paper bag and store it along with the others in a cool, dry place. In my case that's on shelves in my garage. I'll leave them in the bags to finish drying completely. When they're ready, the seeds will need to be separated from the protective coverings.

Bags of collected seeds

For the wet seeds, it's a similar process, with a few key differences. The seeds are still collected from their pod or cluster, but it's in a moist, robust form like a cucumber, tomato, or squash. If you attempt to let the fruit dry out to collect the seeds you'll end up with a stinky, mushy goo before the seeds are ready. Wet seeds are best separated from the fruit and allowed to dry individually.

Most of these fruits will change color as a sign that the seeds are ready to harvest; they will no longer be green. Tomatoes will be a deep red (or orange, yellow, or purple depending on the type). Peppers will turn red. Pumpkins will turn orange. Cucumbers will turn orange. Eggplant will be a deep purple (or white). The point is that when the fruit reaches its zenith of color, it's usually the right time to collect seeds. Often the fruit loses its best flavor and texture at the same time.

At that point cut open the fruit and scoop out the seeds to remove them from the fruit. The seeds will usually need to be scrubbed, rinsed, or fermented to completely separate them from the pulp. You want to get individual seeds that can be dried and saved.

Scooping out cucumber seeds

You can expect that all seeds will need to be separated from some type of covering. Whether it's a pod, husk, cluster, or pulpy fruit, the covering needs to go so only the seed remains. Depending on the plant and seed type this process will vary. I'll cover the different ways for isolating the seeds and preparing them for saving in my next article.

Collecting seeds involves just a few steps. Let the plant produce seeds, allow the seeds to mature, remove the seed and its covering from the plant, then separate the seed from its covering. Most of the work is done by the plant while you wait and do other gardening chores. When the process is complete you're left with seeds ready to sow the next season or share with fellow gardeners. A saved or shared seed has a definable history that you may not discover in anonymous seed from a retail package.

Knowing where my seed comes from and being part of the process brings me even more in touch with the plants I grow. For an avid gardener, collecting seeds is as much a part of the gardening experience as amending soil with my own compost, using reclaimed organic mulch, practicing integrated pest management, or any of the many other beneficial garden practices available.

How to Save Plant Seeds, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:38:00 +0000

Saving seeds from your garden is easy. With very little time and effort you can save yourself much time and money. I've been collecting seeds in my gardens for years and consider it one of the most important aspects of gardening.

Rhubarb going to seed

Saving plant seeds can reduce some gardening costs dramatically. Last year I spent over $100 on seeds for my vegetable garden. This year I spent nothing. Granted, last year was the first major planting of my new, big, vegetable garden. And this year I sowed many of the seeds left over from last year's big purchase. But sowing seeds that I collected enabled me to continue growing plants that do well in my garden, at no additional cost.

I've grown green pole beans in my garden for about 12 years. The only time I bought green pole bean seeds was about 12 years ago. At the end of each summer I save some of the bean seeds and the next year I plant them. I foresee repeating this process until I'm no longer able to stick my finger in the soil. One purchase of green pole bean seeds over a decade ago has produced a legacy of innumerable plants and dozens of jars of pickled green beans.

My green beans

Vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers all produce seeds that can be saved and sown. If you discover a plant that you like, that performs well in your garden, or that has expensive seeds, you may be able to continue growing it at no additional cost.

At this point it's important to discuss important concerns about saving and sowing garden seeds. First, some plants are patented. A plant patent protects the rights of its inventor and prohibits reproducing the plant asexually. That means you aren't legally authorized to propagate such a plant from cuttings, divisions, grafts, buds, and all other asexual propagation methods. However, seeds are a sexual form of propagation and aren't covered under patent protection. Therefore, some gardeners hope to reproduce patented plants from seeds.

This raises an important second concern of collecting seeds. Seeds from hybrid plants will not grow true to the parent plant. A hybrid plant is almost every one with a fancy, copyrighted name. Virtually every patented plant is a hybrid. Plants with extraordinary color, shape, size, and growth characteristics are often hybrids.

Hybrid plants are created by cross pollinating two parent plants. The resulting hybrid offspring may have characteristics of the parents or may have completely different attributes. Because of genetic variation, the seeds of these hybrids will produce a mix of offspring that may not resemble the hybrid parent at all. To produce an exact reproduction of a hybrid plant, asexual reproduction is necessary; hence, the legal limitations of patent protection.

The only way to be ensure the seed you collect will grow into the plant you're trying to reproduce is to collect seeds from "open-pollinated" or "heirloom" plants.

Open-pollinated plants are the ones you see all around you in nature. The flowers bloom, insects and wind transfer the pollen to other flowers, seeds develop, and those seeds grow into the same kind of plants to start the process all over again. Collecting and sowing open-pollinated seeds will usually produce replicas of the parent plant.

"Heirloom" is the name that the gardening industry has given to these kind of plants. Many plant growers and nurseries recognized long ago the value in producing seeds and plants with consistent characteristics. Seeds from heirloom plants can be saved and when sown will grow into the same plant. Thankfully, heirloom plants aren't patented.

It's also important to recognize the biggest limitation with collecting seeds from open-pollinated plants: they open pollinate. That means that if you're growing one heirloom tomato next to another heirloom tomato, they will cross pollinate. The seeds will produce hybrid plants and may not resemble either of the parent heirloom plants. If you want to collect true seeds from open-pollinated plants you need to be sure they haven't been compromised or contaminated by another, similar plant.

With a focus on collecting open-pollinated plant seeds, the next thing to know is how the plant produces seeds. Annual, biennial, and perennial plants will all provide seeds, but not all in the same way.

Annual plants complete their life cycles in one year. They grow from seed, mature, flower, set seed, and die. Many of our garden plants fall into this category: tomatoes, peppers, squash, peas, beans, cucumbers, lettuce, basil, dill, cilantro. You'll be able to collect these seeds the same year you plant.

Biennial plants have a two-year life cycle. They grow from seed, mature, lie dormant in winter, grow, flower, set seed, and die. Many of the biennial plants we grow in the vegetable garden are harvested before they produce seeds: parsley, carrots, beets, onions, and parsnips will only seed when left in the ground for a full year. Flowering plants like Black-eyed Susan, Foxglove, Forget-Me-Nots, Sweet William, and some Hollyhocks are biennials. You have to wait a year to harvest seeds from these plants

Parsnips setting seed in their 2nd year

Perennial plants live longer than two years. They grow from seed and mature, but may take a few years before they flower and set seeds. Once they do, they can be expected to flower virtually every year. In the vegetable garden, asparagus, artichoke, and rhubarb are the ones most gardeners know (I treat horseradish as a perennial too, leaving it to return each year and harvesting as needed). The number of perennial flowering plants is too numerous to list.

Plants flower and produce fruit after pollination. The fruit may be large and edible or small and almost imperceptible. In many perennial flowers the fruit isn't much more than an enlargement at the base of the flower where the ovary is. Some fruit may be pods with the seeds inside. Some may be husks. Some may connect to feathers or parachutes. Most of the fruit we eat has seeds inside (with the exception of strawberries); in some the seeds are edible (pomegranate) and in others they may be toxic (peaches).

Regardless of how big the fruit or how big the seed, the process of saving seeds is basic. You remove the seeds from the fruit, allow them to dry, place them in a clean container, label them, and store them in a cool, dry location. Some seeds will only remain viable for one year while others remain viable for centuries; it all depends on the plant.

Many seeds need exposure to cold temperatures before germination, also known as vernalization. If the seed you're saving is from a perennial that can handle cold, hard winters, it probably needs to be stored in temperatures below 50F degrees (10C) for a period of time. Usually, four to six weeks in a refrigerator is enough. I store my seeds in an unheated garage or shed through the winter.

I'll cover the procedures of how to collect and save specific seeds from a variety of plants in my next article.

While I save many seeds and grow much of my garden from them, I'm not advocating that you take business away from nurseries and seed companies.

In exchange for the opportunity to begin growing a new heirloom plant from a seed that a seed company provides, I'm more than willing to let them sell me hybrid seeds that I can't reproduce. There are also many heirloom plants that don't do well in my garden, but I don't know that until I've tried. The price of that seed is written off as a failed experiment.

If I can save seeds from a plant I've grown successfully and reproduce it in the future at no additional cost, I will. But this represents just one aspect of gardening costs. I'm continually on the lookout for new plants to try in my garden. Some are heirlooms and some are hybrids. Some are seeds and some are plants. Each year I try new things. While I didn't buy any seeds this year, I did buy a number of plants.

Saving seeds spotlights the ability of the gardener to find a specific plant that can be grown year after year with continued success in an individual garden. In my garden, only dill, cilantro, beans, and pumpkins are plants that I grow every year from saved seeds. This year I've also collected seeds from cucumbers, radishes, leeks, parsnips, shallots, beets, peas, vetch, and spinach. Some of those may return for years to come and some may fade away.

I'll continue saving seeds and sowing them in an effort to find plants that provide me what I want, whether it be fruit, flowers, or some other result. It would be great to find another plant like the green beans that I've come to love so much for the many years of pickled green beans they produced.

Saving plant seeds doesn't take much effort, but can pay huge dividends. Join me in my next article to find out more about it.

Plant a Fall Crop

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 15:59:00 +0000

Sowing and planting in summer is a great way to get the most out of your garden space. I just sowed beets and broccoli in early August and will be able to squeeze in another crop of vegetables before winter snow and hard freezes put an end to my growing season. The plants mature in fall and provide a nice second harvest. This fall crop allows a garden to produce a full second season.

Beets are a nice fall crop

My lettuce and spinach beds were pretty well spent after the plants bolted and went to seed. Many gardeners would clean up those beds and let them lie fallow until spring, but I used that space to plant another crop. That essentially doubles my garden output without increasing its overall size.

The key is understanding the difference between cool season and warm season garden plants. Cool season plants are the ones we usually plant in spring. They include cabbage, lettuce, spinach, kale, peas, radish, beets, and chard. These plants can handle an occasional bout with cold temperatures. Warm season plants are the ones we plant after the last frost date. They include tomatoes, peppers, vine squash, and melons. When those plants experience frost they shrivel and die.

We can sow cool season plant seeds in early spring because the young plants aren't killed by late frost. Many gardeners know that it takes awhile for many of those seeds to germinate because of cold soil temperatures. When they do begin to grow, their productive season can be short because the heat of summer tends to affect them adversely and they flower, go to seed, and fade quickly.

Sowing these same seeds in late summer results in quick germination in the warm soil. There is no cold threat to the young plants and they grow quickly. As they mature and begin to fruit an occasional early frost may threaten, but the larger plants can shrug it off easily. There is absolutely no threat of high temperatures causing the plant to bolt so they produce fruit until they die.

That's one of the greatest advantages to planting a fall crop: the production of fruit is often longer and greater than spring crops. These plants often relish the cool temperatures and rather than respond poorly to hot days they respond richly to cold days. Many people think these plants produce tastier produce after they've been exposed to cold.

Treat your second season garden just as you would a spring one. Before planting, amend the soil and prepare the bed. A good dose of compost or aged manure is a nice boost to soil that has already been used for a recent crop. You usually have plenty of time to do this from when the plants fade in mid summer to when you plant in late summer.

I amended one bed with biochar

Mulch becomes an important factor in the success of a fall crop. Mulch moderates soil temperature. In a spring planting for summer harvest, the mulch helps keep the soil from getting too warm. In a summer planting for fall harvest, the mulch helps keep the soil from getting too cool.

Be aware of different irrigation needs than you may be used to. The seedlings and young plants are beginning to grow when it's still hot out. A new spring bed may need watering twice a day to keep the soil moist. A new summer bed may need watering four or five times a day to stay moist. To help keep the soil from drying out quickly, I drape fabric over the bed to shade the soil until the plants establish themselves and the days begin to cool. Row covers and shade cloth are ideal.

Recycled patio umbrella for shade

Once the plants mature, their water needs will be less than the same plants in early summer. In the cooler days of fall, there is less evaporation and water loss due to transpiration. Mulch can mask the true level of soil moisture so be sure to physically check the soil before you water. Over watering and drowning roots is common in second season gardens.

Be ready for different growing characteristics. When I sowed beet seeds in spring it took almost two weeks for the first sprouts to appear; even cool season plants need the soil temperature to be warm enough to effectively germinate. The beet seeds I sowed in summer germinated after four days.

Many root crops are well suited as second season crops. Carrots, turnips, parsnips, beets, and radishes do well when planted up to two months before the first frost. For me that's early August, but for many gardeners that time extends into September or October. A thick mulch helps keep the ground from freezing early and affecting the growth and harvest of the roots.

Cabbage, green onions, spinach, cauliflower, snap and snow peas, should be planted a little earlier to ensure they complete their growth before cold sets in. For me that was mid July, but for many gardeners that time is now.

Tough greens like endive, mustard, chard, spinach can handle cold well. Chard, in particular, grows in snow and has a nice sweet flavor as a result.

Second season gardens offer advantages that are easy to overlook. The cooler temperatures affect weeds and garden pests too. Less weeding and pest management chores are definitely welcomed by most gardeners. Often, it isn't until you're reviewing the success of your growing season with the snows falling that you realize how easy the fall crop was to maintain.

When you use a method for extending your growing season you may be able to harvest vegetables well into December and winter. (Check out my March 2, 2011, article "Extending Your Growing Season With Mini Greenhouses").

Some of these cool season plants will continue to survive even in the harshest winters. I left my leeks, onions, shallots, beets, and parsnips in the ground through the winter. They all came back and began greening again when the spring warmth returned. The leeks and parsnips that had a winter to rest were twice the size of ones harvested before the ground froze hard.

Thick mulch helped these leeks and shallots overwinter

If you're interested in a second fall crop but don't want extra effort, just let your spring crops go to seed. My spinach, arugala, radish, and lettuce plants flowered, went to seed, browned, and faded. I collected some of the seeds and pulled the plants. Many of the seeds that scattered on the ground have sprouted and are ready to give me a second harvest. It helped that I amended and turned over the soil in those spots for the beets and broccoli, and I'm willing to let the volunteers share the same bed.

Not all seeds germinate in the beds

Whether planned or by accident, take advantage of the growth characteristics of cool season plants and enjoy a second season. Grow a fall crop.

Link to "Extending Your Growing Season With Mini Greenhouses"

Return of the Weed -- Purslane

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 16:55:00 +0000

The purslane is back. As I've mentioned before ("Weeding Your Garden", July 27, 2011), I consider this particular weed a garden scourge. I worked hard to eradicate it from my garden and thought I was successful, but it has returned with a vengeance.

A new purslane plant

Purslane has a long taproot and tolerates poor soil and drought conditions. It's ideally suited for my landscape. A succulent, purslane is resistant to most herbicides used in home gardens. It can propagate from little stem and leaf pieces left behind after pulling it. Its small yellow flowers can bloom throughout the year, any time after a rain or good watering, and quickly release dozens of seeds and they can remain viable for 40 years.

Purslane is not native to my neighborhood. My previous garden was inundated with it and I spent many hours pulling the prostrate plants because no other method of weed control is as effective. When I brought some transplants from that garden to the one I have now, purslane seeds tagged along.

Trying to gain a foothold

Soon after putting those transplants in my new garden, purslane would occasionally pop up nearby and I was quick to eliminate it. I thought it was effectively eradicated because it's been more than a year since I pulled the last plant. Then I literally stumbled into a seldom-traveled section of my garden and discovered it covering the ground. With its detested image burned in my mind I searched to determine its range and soon found it in the prairie grass outside of my garden borders too.

Without my immediate effort to take control, I could imagine it taking over and running rampant through the landscape. I pulled every plant I found and scoured the yard for every possible foothold. Most importantly, I've repeated this effort every day since the first discovery.

Purslane is not a good candidate for the compost pile. The possibility of plant pieces or seeds finding their way into other garden areas through the compost is too great. Discarding it is the only option. Rather than throw it in the trash, I decided to let the chickens take care of the problem. Purslane is eaten in many areas of the world as a nutritious salad vegetable and my chickens loved it.

There are many weeds that can quickly take over a garden. We've all seen fields covered by dandelions and know they can be difficult to eliminate from a lawn or flower bed. It takes dedication, work, and often years to remove their presence. And even when it appears a weed is gone, it can return without constant dedication and vigilance.

I'd grown a bit complacent when it comes to purslane in my garden. My vegetable and flower beds are as weed-free as they can be because I pull little weeds when they first sprout in the mulch. The paths between my raised beds and the areas surrounding them aren't so clean. Weeds grow with more freedom in those spots and I deal with them all at once every month or two in the summer. That's how purslane crept in so quickly.

Now I have to be more proactive if I want to stay ahead of this invasion. The best way to eradicate a weed is to keep it from flowering and going to seed. When all of the weed seeds that are already in the soil sprout and begin to grow, kill or remove them before they can reproduce. There may be thousands of seeds that make the effort, but when the last one is gone the entire species is gone. If a single weed is allowed to set seed, the whole weed control process has to begin again.

I have no idea how many seeds are out there. Purslane seeds don't germinate when they're buried deep in the ground. Tilling and turning over the soil brings dormant seeds to the surface to sprout and that normal gardening activity is bound to introduce more weeds into my garden.There are many days of pulling ahead.

Walking through my garden is a daily activity. I check for new growth, flowers, vegetables, and fruit every day. Now those normal tasks join with purslane detection. I've resolved to eliminate it. It won't be easy, but it is necessary.

Link to "Weeding Your Garden."

Easy Chicken Raising

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 18:13:00 +0000

Raising chickens can be easy and virtually labor-free. Though we check on them and collect eggs daily, the amount of time I spend on raising chickens averages about 15 minutes per month. Watering and feeding the chickens only requires about five minutes per month. It doesn't get much easier than that.

Labor-free chicken rearing takes planning and preparation, but when done well it pays great dividends. I have much more time for gardening and other household projects.

There are three primary tasks that chicken farmers spend the most time on: feeding, watering, and cleaning. If you can make those tasks automatic, your labor time is virtually eliminated.

I started by designing an automatic chicken feeder. There are many commercial feeders on the market, but they can be costly, take up a lot of space, and require regular filling. I designed my chicken feeder to be part of the coop, taking up very little space. My chicken coop is built with the studs 24 inches on center; the gap between studs is perfect for a feeder.

I began with a simple wooden tray to fill the space at the bottom of the feeder. This tray extends beyond the studs by two inches and holds the chicken feed. Simple 1 x 4 pine is glued and nailed to make a sturdy box. I mounted the box between the studs at 12 inches above floor level; this a good height for a full-grown chicken.

A simple wooden tray

To reduce labor even more, I cut a horizontal hole in the wall of the coop so I can fill the feeder from outside the coop; I don't have to go inside to feed the chickens. A 1 x 4 board on hinges acts as the door and bent sheet metal fills the gaps so I can pour the bag of chicken feed without it spilling everywhere.

Feeder door in coop wall

To finish the feeder I covered the entire gap inside the coop with a sheet of plexiglass. I happened to have a sheet the correct size, but this is the most expensive piece for building the automatic chicken feeder if you have to buy it.

The finished chicken feeder

The automatic chicken feeder holds an entire 40-pound bag of chicken feed. Depending on how many chickens you have, this can give you many weeks between fillings. Fill it once and let the chickens eat when they're ready. Sure, they spill some of the feed when they eat, but they'll peck most of it up later. This type of feeder has an advantage over others because you can easily see when it needs refilling.

Easy to see feed level

For an automatic water system I purchased chicken nipples to install in PVC tubing. There are two basic styles of chicken nipples. For one you drill a hole in the PVC pipe and screw in the nipples. My research found many customers not entirely satisfied with this type because of the potential for leaks. I went with the second type of chicken nipple which is a saddle type.

There are many companies selling both types of nipples in ranch stores and on the internet. For just a few dollars you can buy a bag of either type of chicken nipple and set up your automatic waterer.

For the saddle-type chicken nipple waterer, you drill a hole and snap the nipple in place. It's important that the hole in the PVC is perfectly cut. I found in my first effort that I chipped one edge of the hole by drilling too quickly and the chip caused a small water drip when the nipple was in place. When drilled and placed correctly there is no leaking.

Chicken nipples on PVC pipe

The PVC pipe with the chicken nipples is attached to a bucket. I used a four-gallon, food-grade, plastic bucket that I got for free at the supermarket. The bakery department gets their frosting in these buckets and they'll gladly give away the empties.

PVC pipe and bucket

I cut a hole in the coop wall big enough for the PVC pipe, with nipples on, and inserted the automatic waterer. The bucket is outside the coop so I can fill it without having to go inside the coop.

Little space needed for water

I also build an automatic chicken waterer for the run so my chickens have water when they're outside too. Two buckets, each with four gallons of water, lasts my chickens for weeks. I add ice on hot days and freshen the water every two weeks, but they could go much longer if necessary.

To make cleaning the coop easier I practice the "deep litter" method of managing the coop litter. The concept is to use pine shavings, or a similar organic material, as litter to help keep the chicken manure off the coop floor. As the manure builds, you add more litter. The chickens walk and scratch and mix the manure with the litter. This method only requires cleaning the coop once or twice a year.

I use pine shavings as my primary litter, but to help cut costs I also use coffee chaff. Coffee chaff is the leftover organic waste from roasting coffee. Many coffee roasters will gladly give you a bag of chaff. I find that the light chaff helps keep the litter dry by absorbing much of the manure moisture and helps it clump so it doesn’t stick to the floor.

Coffee chaff litter

Over time the litter and manure begin decomposing. When you're ready to clean the coop, after six months or so, you remove all of it and add it to the compost pile. The litter and manure, partially decomposed, will become compost in very little time.

I also made an automatic feeder for oyster shells. Oyster shells add calcium to the chicken diet and are good for layers. I used a 2-inch PVC pipe and cut a 1-inch cutout on one end. Then I attached a 4-inch PVC cap to that end with wood screws, after pre-drilling holes.

Attaching base

The cutout allows the oyster shells to spill out the bottom of the pipe, but they won't overflow the cap that is about 2-inches tall. A pipe 30 inches long will hold a 5-pound bag of oyster shells. That provides calcium for many weeks until filling again.

Oyster shell feeder

A couple holes drilled in the side of the pipe allow for mounting the feeder in the coop. First drill a hole bigger than the screw head, then drill a smaller hole the size of the screw shaft. This allows for the feeder to be slipped over a screw in the side of the coop and then fit snugly when the PVC slips over the screw.

Mounting holes

I have the automatic chicken feeder, the automatic chicken waterer, and the automatic chicken oyster shell dispenser lined up on one wall of the coop. It's one-stop shopping for the chickens.

Feeding wall

All were designed for mature chickens so I had to add steps while the chickens were young so they could reach everything. The little chickens figured it all out very quickly.

Drinking and eating on steps

With the automatic feed and water systems and deep litter method, the chickens basically take care of themselves. For someone with little time but a desire to raise chickens, any or all of these can make raising chickens virtually maintenance-free.

I mentioned the chickens take about 15 minutes of my time per month. That's about three minutes for adding water to both buckets and two minutes for adding feed, though it really takes less than that. I spend about five minutes adding pine shavings or coffee chaff and swapping out clean newspaper under the roost. That leaves five minutes that I bank for coop cleaning later. At the six-month point I have 30 minutes accumulated for removing the litter and manure.

This amount of time is based on just a few chickens in a small coop and attached run. For larger flocks and bigger coops it will take more effort, but these automatic chicken methods should reduce labor when compared to traditional feeding, watering, and cleaning methods.

How to Propagate Strawberries

noreply@blogger.com (GardenerScott) — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 19:08:00 +0000

Few garden plants are as easy to propagate as strawberries. And you can multiply them for free. If you have strawberry plants and want more there are three basic methods to do it, but one stands out as ideal for home gardeners.

Strawberries are easy to propagate

The first method of propagating strawberries is by division. Many strawberry plants will develop additional crowns at the base of the plant. These crowns can be separated into new plants. When done carefully and properly, a mature strawberry plant can be grown from each of these lateral crowns, but often the mother plant is compromised and dies in the process. Division requires expertise and precision, yet only produces a few new plants for each mother plant.

The second method is to grow strawberries from seed. Each strawberry fruit is covered with seeds and those seeds have the potential to become new plants. Like with most viable garden seeds, proper soil, proper water, and proper light will produce a plant. This is a great way to grow many plants if you have the necessary germinating and growing space and equipment. The biggest concern is that most strawberries in gardens today are hybrids and that means the seeds from those plants will not grow true to the parent; new plants from seed may be dramatically different than the plant you're trying to copy. While propagating from seed with heirloom strawberries is an option, it's not the best one.

The easiest, most familiar, and best propagation method for home gardeners is to grow new plants from runners. Horizontal stems appear from the base of mature strawberry plants and new plants will grow from the nodes at the tips of these runners, or stolons. Roots grow from the nodes when they rest on soil.

A strawberry runner

A single parent plant can provide many offspring in just a few years and each new plant is genetically identical to the original plant. Many gardeners call them daughter plants (see my blog "Should I Call You Mother, Daughter, or Sister?" link below).

When left alone, runners will develop into plants at varying distances from the main strawberry plant depending on the length of the runner and where it contacts soil. Gardeners have great control in this natural process by directing the runners or by potting them. I do both.

If I have a bare spot where I want a new strawberry plant and a runner is headed in that direction, I'll spend a few days keeping it above the soil, on mulch, and when it gets to a spot I'm happy with I'll let the tip rest. To ensure it stays where I want it, I'll use a small metal garden staple to hold it in place.

Staple holding the tip of runner

This is a very easy way to expand a strawberry bed, but it has limits because the runners will only extend a limited distance from the mother plant. To fill in spaces far from the mother or to create a completely new strawberry bed, I recommend potting up the runners.

The runners are flexible and easy to direct into a small pot filled with quality garden or potting soil. I reuse small plastic pots from nurseries. I've used yogurt containers with great success; just punch a few holes in the bottom of yogurt cups for drainage.

Fill the pot with soil, place the runner on top, and hold it in place. I make small staples from stiff wire to do this because they stay in place very well; I find that many commercial garden staples are too long for small pots and it's cheaper to make your own. You can also use a small stone, sticks, or anything else that will hold the runner in contact with the soil.

Staple holding runner in pot

Do not cut the runner. Leave it connected to the mother plant. Water the small plant regularly, along with the rest of the strawberry bed. After a few weeks, roots will fill the pot and the new plant is ready to transplant. At this point, trace the runner to the base of the mother and cut it. You can trim the runner from the young plant too or just leave it to dry and break off later.

Remove the plant and soil from the pot and transplant as you would any other garden plant. Have your hole ready, place it gently, and backfill it with soil.

Rots develop quickly in a pot

When planting a mature strawberry plant it's very important that the crown stay above soil level. Burying the crown can lead to rotting that will kill the plant. Transplanting these new plants is a little more forgiving because they're still developing the crown. Just place the soil level of the pot at the same level as the soil in the bed and you should be good.

New plant should be level in the bed

Many strawberry varieties will send out multiple runners from a parent plant. Some will only send out a few. You can grow plants from every runner, but the mother plant is spending a lot of energy to get the little plants growing so helping to direct that energy to just a few plants is better for the new plants and the mother. After you've selected which runners will become plants, prune off the others.

Along the same line, individual runners will continue to grow even when the first node has begun to grow roots and sprout a young plant. It's normal for a single runner to produce three or four plants. For the best and strongest growth it's a good idea to prune off the tip of the runner once you have an initial node growing in a pot.

That being said, I will often pot up multiple plants from a single runner if it is healthy, sturdy, and obviously growing well. The new plants at the different nodes will grow at different rates so be sure both the initial plant and the last one in line are growing well before you separate them from the mother and transplant them.

Two plants from one runner

With propagation, a few strawberry plants can quickly fill in a small garden bed in a single season. By controlling how and where the mother plants send their runners you can ensure each plant has the best chance for survival and production.

Link to "Should I Call You Mother, Daughter, or Sister?"