Sara's Garden Update

Where's Sara? (And How Are Those Tomatoes Doing?)

2011-08-03T06:25:00.000-05:00

First, I would like to reassure the readers of this blog that I was not abducted by Garden Gnomes. (What a relief!) Instead I started the month of July with a flu-like virus that did a pretty good job keeping me from doing much of anything, including garden activities. Luckily Tom was able to help out with the watering and everything survived; including me! Of course, due to the amount of time that has past since my last post, I have WAY too much to talk about. So I have decided to break down the garden into plant type and give them their own posts.

We begin with the tomatoes! At right you can see tomato alley. The garden is resembling a jungle more and more everyday, so I apologize for the lack of definition. If you click on the photo, it should bring up a larger size that hopefully makes it a little easier to see. Most of the plants are doing fabulous, with ample amounts of green tomatoes. A few, however, have blossom end rot on the fruits and/or extreme cat-facing. While the majority of my blossom end rot issues have been with the potted tomato plants on the porch, there are a few plants in the garden that have had issues as well. One would assume that if there was a watering issue causing the blossom end rot, that all the plants would be affected. That is not the case though. Only a few of the plants from the heirloom mix have experienced the rot while their neighbors have perfectly healthy fruits.

Same thing with the cat-facing. Only some of the plants were affected and even stranger, the cool nightly temperatures that are normally the cause of cat-facing, did not occur when these plants were flowering and fruiting. What exactly caused this anomaly? Well, the local extension office was confused, so we may never know. Chances are that something went awry when the flowers were forming, probably a nutrient deficiency, and the result was extreme cat-facing. (Photo of mild cat-facing above and the more extreme form below).

As I mentioned the plants with the issues are from the heirloom seed mix I purchased. I still have no idea what the plants actually are, and since there have been so many 'bad' tomatoes, there is a chance I may never know! I am leaving the cat-faced fruits in place to ripen, so at least I will know what those plants are, but I have at least one plant that I have had to remove all the tomatoes from, because of the rot. That will probably end up being the true mystery plant. For the potted plants, I finally broke down and bought some fertilizer with calcium in it in hopes that any new fruits will not fall victim to the rot. The fertilizer I chose was Mater Magic. It is organic, feeds for three months, and can be used in pots as well as in the garden. And apparently the cats seem to think it might be worth eating. The container is now empty, but I still have it in my garden bag, and I have caught both cats with their heads deep in my bag intensely investigating the 'new smell'. I wonder if it would help the cats grow "bigger" and "juicier" too! Simon has the 'big' part down, but I doubt he is juicy. I think I will play it safe and NOT feed the cats tomato fertilizer. Though the idea does bring to mind a Willy Wonka inspired vision of a giant, round and red Simon being rolled away by singing oompa-loompas.....

Which brings us to the plants that are doing fabulous! I am anxiously awaiting the first ripe Italian Heirloom tomato. Although an heirloom, it is not from the mix and has not had any issues. The fruits from the Italian plant get to be two pounds (~907 grams) each, so they somewhat resemble a Willy Wonka invention. The photo at left shows four Italian Heirloom fruits with their supplemental support and my hand. As you can see, they are already rather large, but not to the two pound size quite yet. I know that the plant is supposed to be able to support the heavy fruits on it's own, but I did have a tomato fall off from this bunch, so I wanted to make sure none of the other ones fell; hence the additional support. So far so good!

Another variety that is doing well is the Amish Paste. I have four plants of this type in the garden and all of them are heavy with fruits. As a paste tomato, I was under the impression that they would be somewhat Roma sized. What is actually growing on my plants though, are rather large fruits! The picture at right shows one cluster of Amish Paste tomatoes. With my initial size estimate, I was assuming they'd be ripe by now, but apparently they have other plans. I am hoping they don't all go the way of the super-giant Amish paste tomato that I have (below), because if they do, I'll have to use them green or leave them on the vines all winter long! Covered of course, since this is Wisconsin. I was also told (after I planted these) that Amish Paste are prone to blossom end rot. Well, I am thinking that I was misinformed as these guys are perfect. It just adds to the mystery of the varieties that did get affected.

Another plant that is doing really well is the Tigerella. I have two of those and they have more fruits than they know what to do with. They are also at the top of my list at the moment, because I saw signs of ripening yesterday on one of the plants. Yay! They make the top of the list for another reason too. As my alternative to Mr. Stripey, they are out preforming my failed attempts on a major scale. I am very happy with my choice, and I haven't even tasted them yet! I am sure they will continue to please, and I can't wait to sink my teeth in.

(Tigerella plant in its cage above; Tigerella fruit at left.)

As was mentioned above, the plants on the porch have had it rough. There are only three plants that have not fallen prey to the blossom end rot, and as all but one of the three is from the Heirloom mix, it is a wonder that the unaffected number is so high. The non-heirloom plant is the Legend tomato (at right). Tom calls it the albino tomato, because the un-ripe fruits are very light in color. I am hoping that these guys start turning soon, but I guess I will just have to be patient. It is very difficult waiting for vine ripe tomatoes! But it is definitely worth the wait. Nothing beats homegrown!

I will conclude this tomato update with a non-tomato. Soon after my seedlings were transferred into their pots, a sunflower seed from the bird feeder made its way into one of the pots and took up residence. Although the sunflower plant picked an occupied location to put down roots, I decided to leave it there. It is now on the verge of blooming, and I can't wait for it to open. Since it came from the birdseed mix, I am assuming it will make bird friendly seeds. This will of course cause great excitement among the squirrels in the neighborhood, so I am not looking forward to that. But until that point, I will enjoy the bloom and perhaps thwart the squirrels' efforts by covering the flower head when it starts to go to seed. Now to decide what plant to update you on next...

Strawberries and Storms

2011-06-15T02:18:00.000-05:00

Just when we thought the yard couldn't get any emptier, we were hit by a storm this month that produced an EF1 tornado. When we first moved into the duplex, we had to stare at an incredibly ugly tree that sat smack dab in the middle of the hill that is our backyard. My dad was convinced it had been planted to act as a shade tree, but that theory quickly went out when the tree failed to even slightly shade the house or porch at any point during the day. The next guess was that it was to keep the hill from eroding. That theory seems more likely as the tree itself was a rapidly growing, invasive species not native to North America. I'm sure the roots are doing their part to keep the hill in place, but the tree also managed to kill large portions of grass, invite grubs to take up residence below its long branches, and of course provide an eyesore of a view to all who gazed upon it. Not to mention the thrill of trying to mow under the darn thing! So one can imagine the joy that filled our home the night the tree was struck by lightning! (Picture is of said tree after getting struck in 2009.) The lightning strike was confirmation that someone out there, high in the sky, agreed that the tree had to go. A tree 'expert' reviewed the situation and informed our landlord that the tree was a goner and needed to be removed.

By September of 2009, some trees in a neighbor's yard decided they too wanted to join in the fun. Most likely caused by disease or over-crowding, a bunch of heavy trunks and branches fell into our yard and broke the fence in three different spots. (Some of the broken fence shown in photo above.) There was no storm that could be blamed this time, unless it was old damage that finally got the better of the trees. This did not exactly clear space in our yard per say, but it did remove some visual aspects.

Fast forward to June 8th, 2011. I was just minding my own business, sitting and watching the evening storm roll in. I noticed that the wind was wiping things around and I kept hoping my plants were safe. At some point, when I wasn't looking, the tall pine tree at the top of the hill fell down. Just snapped right at the base and fell flat. I didn't hear anything other than the sound of the storm, and I didn't see it at first, because it was dark. (Pine tree still standing at left.) It was so odd and surreal and became even more so the next day when it came to light that there was in fact a tornado. An EF1 tornado is the lowest grade they give, and from the time frame confirmed by the National Weather Service, the tornado sirens that DID go off were after the fact. Rather scary, but I did not see anything that would have indicated a tornado. Except of course the tree that went down! Unlike the first tree that kicked the bucket, this tree loss was sad. It was a rather nice looking pine tree and will be missed!

The good news in this story is that no one was hurt and my garden plants did not suffer the same fate as the tree. Not to be outdone though, the strawberry plants have been experiencing their own issues. We are days away from fresh, homegrown strawberries ripe for the picking. This does not mean the berries will come quietly. I first noticed holes appearing in some of the leaves of the plants after fruits had started forming. This lead to an investigation that turned up two different insect pests! One was easy to identify; the spittle bug. Not a pest that one needs to do anything about, since they rarely cause significant damage, and they move on rather quickly. The other pest was a bit trickier to identify and involved contacting an entomologist. Turns out there are Strawberry Sawfly larvae feeding on my strawberry leaves. How these little buggers got to Wisconsin is anyone's guess since they are normally found no further East than North Dakota! Regardless I have been removing them by hand as I find them, and hope the ones I miss hurry up and turn into the primitive wasps they become as adults.

The hand removal technique has had a wrench thrown into it in recent days, because the strawberry fruits have started turning red. This has caught the attention of other, larger creatures who could care less about the leaves. I noticed some half eaten fruits and decided despite the insects, I had to cover the strawberries. So now they are covered. I checked today and there is no new fruit damage! Success! I hope this means we will actually get to enjoy some yummy, whole berries. So far so good!

In addition to the above activities, I finally got all the tomatoes and peppers in the garden. I also did something new this year; I mulched! I have used black plastic 'mulch' in the past to prevent weeds, conserve moisture, and keep my plants' roots warm. This year I put down the plastic mulch in some areas, and cocoa mulch in the areas I normally put grass clippings or nothing. I am very pleased with the outcome. It looks great! And being cocoa mulch, it smells great too. I also made a point to leave space for walking when I mapped out my garden this year, so that I can harvest easier. Though I am not sure if it will work as planned since things have yet to reach their full size. But at least I tried!

Now I leave you with a photo album, because there were too many pictures to post here. Enjoy!

Blog Update June 14, 2011

Click above to see album :)

Weeds And Other Garden Plants

2011-06-01T00:35:00.001-05:00

The month of May brought with it lots of rain, a few nights of frosts, and about a week and a half worth of random 80 and 80+ degree days! This led to the inevitable growth of weeds in large numbers. I have yet to completely rid the garden of the bulk of them (not that they won't come back), but I am working on it. I did clear a rather good portion and then immediately covered it with black garden plastic, so at least I don't need to re-do that section. Now to do the same or similar with the rest of the garden and I am good to go!

Since the temperature did not want to remain stable this month, I decided to delay planting my tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, and watermelon in the garden. But since they were all outside already, I had to do something to protect them when we got two nights of frost in a row. That is where my lightweight row cover came in handy. I simply made a giant tent for my seedlings, and therefore avoided mass death! And mass death is something my peppers had already flirted with earlier in the month, so I wasn't in the mood to take chances. For those of you who follow me on Facebook, you already know about the "pepper incident". For the rest of you and for those who would like to revisit the horror (there is a happy ending though!), you can view it here: Pepper Incident

Even with all the insanity, I did manage to get some actual non-weeding work done. I finished digging those pesky old fence posts out of the garden and put down the plastic for the pumpkin and watermelon vines. I got my lettuce bin half planted (seen at right) and swore at a squirrel just this evening who decided that the lettuce babies looked rather delicious. This prompted the covering of the lettuce bin with more lightweight row cover. (Take THAT squirrel!)

I finished off my direct-sow list with zucchini (first sprout seen at left) and cucumber. When I planned my garden, I didn't realize that the cucumber seeds I got were a variety that prefer to be on a trellis. So next on my list of things to do is build a cucumber trellis using bamboo sticks and twine. Luckily I figured it out before I planted them, or that would have been interesting!

And speaking of trellises, two of my bean plants magically appeared out of nowhere (At right; May 24th). There were signs of one plant peeking through earlier, but that was it. I checked again two days later and BAM! Two plants had come up in a completely different area! And to confuse matters even more, the original plant I saw peeking it's head out of the ground, was still in the exact same position. As though it had pressed the 'pause' button. After seeing today that the 'paused' plant does not seem to want to press 'play', I went ahead and replanted. It seems like I have had that happen every year with one or two bean seeds, even though I am trying a different variety this year. I think they may be toying with me!

Even with the high winds today, I decided to put the pumpkins in their summer home. They were getting way too big for their pots and I didn't want them to become root-bound. I am sure they will enjoy their new home even with a bit of wind. The watermelon seedlings will be joining their fellow super viners in the next few days!

And while I was getting the pumpkins acclimated, I noticed that the radishes looked ready. Sure enough, they were ripe for the picking! Now I don't like radishes, so I can't tell you if they are any good, but one of my radish-loving family members can fill me in and I will get back to you. This is the first year I have grown French Breakfast radishes, so we will have to see how they compare to the round ones of years past!

I ended my day, and month, with the filling of the pots. All 14 of them. The two green ones in the back were already filled, so I am not counting them. One never realizes how many pots one has until they fill those pots with dirt. I think it is safe to say I have more than enough. :)

I hope to return relatively soon with a post or two about accessible gardening and a guide to growing and preserving catnip. Until then, I wish you pleasant growing weather and happy gardening!

Update, Pictures, and Wacky Weather

2011-05-11T09:00:00.003-05:00

It is official! My 'plant indoors' list is complete and I have already gotten part way through my 'plant outside' (direct sow) list. The next few weeks should be pretty busy, depending on the weather of course. It seems that no matter where you are in the world this spring (or fall) it is either too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, too unpredictable, too windy, or all of the above! It is rather nerve wrecking and I think I speak for all of us when I say, "Cut it out!". This week started with temperatures in the low 60's, followed by a leap into the low to mid 80's (today and yesterday). We will end this week with days of rain and below average temperatures in the low 60's, upper 50's. We should return to 'normal' by the middle of next week, but who knows how long that will last! And yet I still feel lucky, because I know there are many gardeners and farmers who have lost everything to this crazy weather. Every time I go to shake my fist at the sky I temper my frustration and send positive thoughts to those hit by tornadoes, flooding, and all other destructive weather so far this year. It also makes me want to work extra hard to grow the best plants I can as a sort of symbolic share-cropping. Here's hoping it works!

As my post title implies I have photos to share! I shall use them as my update guide.

I put in some edging around my strawberries in a hap-hazard fashion. I mainly just want to keep them from spreading and I think it will do the job. Or at least make it easier for me to cut the runners as they try to escape over the edge. The ground wasn't exactly level, so that is the main reason the edging is a little 'off '. I put it in on May 1st (date of the photo), and it is still in place. Those bricks are no longer there, so it is basically on it's own.

My first outdoor plantings in the actual garden were beets, carrots, and radishes. I used the radishes to mark the rows and they were already coming up on May 6th (photo at right). I only planted one row of each with the plan of planting more in a week or two. When I checked yesterday, there were beets pushing through the dirt and I suspect the carrots are close behind! The soil was a bit dry yesterday, but I resisted watering, because of the coming weather. Even with the high temps in the afternoon sun, the seedlings looked fabulous!

Other progress that was made in the garden yesterday, consisted of me getting the bean trellis set up and then planting the beans. Hopefully this new position will not over shade the strawberries. I think it will be fine, but we'll see!

Next I decided to work on removing the old fence posts that are currently where I plan to put tomato plants. These posts were there when we moved in and since we expanded the garden this year, they are now in a bad spot. We discovered that at least one of the corner posts is there to stay. It is actually in an OK place, so that doesn't concern me, but the ones that are not in an OK place need to come out. So I dug and dug and dug until I found the end of the first one.

Turns out the darn thing was about two and a half feet in the ground and so rusted that it bent rather easily (bottom stake in photo). While working on the next one, I was about two feet down when it just wouldn't let me dig anymore. I was hitting rocks and the soil was also a clumping clay at that point. So I just broke it off and left the end in there. And because there was so much clay, I added organic matter when I re-filled the hole. After all that, I decided to wait on the others. Two down, three to go! Ugh.

Before heading inside I took a look at my oregano. As you can see, it looks rather... Dead. (Above) Upon closer inspection, however, you can see that it is slowly coming back and will likely take over the entire container this year! (Pictures at left)

I have both Greek and Italian oregano in there, but I honestly couldn't tell you which is which anymore. They even taste the same to me. I have read that Italian oregano is supposed to be stronger and have a more pungent flavor, but as I said, they taste the same to me. Even Tom can't tell the difference, so I wonder why they say that. If anyone knows, please feel free to enlighten me. :)

Inside we go! Here are just a few photos of my seedlings from May 6th and yesterday (May 10th). First up is one of the Legend variety tomatoes from May 6th. One of these will be in my parent's backyard. However, I do have extras.

Keeping with the 'parent's backyard' theme, we have the Sungold Cherry variety. This photo was also taken May 6th, so this little guy is even bigger now!

Italian Heirloom tomato

Bhut Jolokia or Ghost Pepper catchin' some rays.

Habañero; short but HOT

Jalapeño peppers before I transplanted one of them. They are enjoying their new found space.

Jack-o-lantern pumpkin on May 6th. There are two in the pot now.

Mini overview of some tomatoes and peppers. The tomatoes obviously like to show off their fast growing speeds. (May 10th)

One of two trays in my kitchen window. All transplanted tomato and pepper extras.

And finally one of three trays sitting in the family room, sliding door window. I drew an arrow pointing out how insanely big the Jack-o-lantern pumpkins have gotten in just four days. The tray also includes Sweet Pie pumpkins, watermelon, and more extra tomatoes and peppers. Did I mention I have a few extras? Maybe a few isn't the correct terminology. How about an abundance. Whoops! ;-)

Here's hoping the weather is tolerable wherever you may be.

Tomatoes and Sunflowers

2011-04-20T08:00:00.001-05:00

As my 'start indoors' list gets shorter and shorter with each thing I plant, the weather outside gets crazier and crazier. I would seriously like someone to come stand in my backyard wearing Spring appropriate clothing and attempt to convince me that Climate Change is not real. I will watch from inside, as it is SNOWING out there, and see how long they last. Snow has fallen in April here in the past, but it is not too common, and further North they are getting way more winter weather than is normal for this time of year. Winter weather warnings complete with 6-12 inches of snow are NOT normal for spring! I feel the worst for the Canadians as it appears Spring may skip them this year! Here's hoping we all get to experience summer at least!

Though the weather can't seem to make up it's mind outside, inside the seedlings are oblivious to the temperature roller-coaster and constant change in form of precipitation. Inside they live a relatively pampered life with constant warmth and plenty of light and water. I know they will have to brave the elements at some point, but not until that white stuff stops falling! And the tomato and sunflower seeds I planted a few days ago, have demonstrated their ignorance quite well.

I finally got the tomatoes and sunflowers started on April 14th. I had hoped to get them started on the 10th, but first life got in the way, and then I discovered I only had about 2/3rds the amount of seed starting soil I actually needed. I don't see this 'late' start being too big of an issue as most of the sunflowers and a good number of the tomatoes have already started peeking their heads out. It started with a single sunflower three days ago and has progressed rapidly from there. Out of the 33 cells, 18 already have sprouts. The sunflowers are winning this race with ten of the 18, but I know the tomatoes will catch up! Tom was rather surprised at the speed of the new plantings, but I guess the peppers sort of threw him off with their long germination times. Still, that one sunflower may be on steroids! I'll have to have it tested. ;-)

This year's mix of tomatoes has a 'canning friendly' theme. Since I ended up buying a good number of roma tomatoes from the farmer's market last year, I thought it might be a good idea to grow some of my own. I went with Amish Paste, and discovered something rather amusing. When I was planting the seeds, a large majority of the Amish Paste seeds were stuck, or "pasted" together. I couldn't help but wonder if the term 'paste' was a little more literal than assumed. They are one of the eight sprouts, so I don't think the stickiness is interfering with their germination. I must say it is still rather humorous!

The second type of 'canning friendly' tomato I planted is an heirloom variety called Italian Heirloom. It originates from Italy and produces fruits weighing over a pound each. They apparently have a lot more flesh than seed, so there is little waste when used for canning. Even the photo on the seed packet demonstrates this characteristic. (I bought my seeds at the Garden Expo, but you can get them too at www.seedsavers.org) So basically, if the Amish Paste plants are a bust, there should still be plenty of canning worthy tomatoes to go around! And although they are supposed to take 7-14 days to germinate, one cell of these already has a sprout too!

Now let's move on to the 'not-so-canning-friendly-but-super-fun' tomatoes. The last couple of years I only planted tomatoes that I thought looked fun and yummy. But after two years of canning experience, I thought I had better grow some varieties that worked better for that activity. That doesn't mean completely getting rid of the fun ones though!

Fun choice number one is a relative of Mr. Stripey. I have tried unsuccessfully two years in a row to grow Mr. Stripey. I don't know why, but the fruits just didn't want to ripen, and took forever to get started in the first place! The plant itself did fine, though the first year it fell prey to Late Blight despite being considered a somewhat 'resistant' variety. My choice this time around is another heirloom,Tigerella. Like Mr. Stripey, Tigerella is red with yellow stripes, has a rich delicious flavor (says the seed packet; I'll let you know), and has that wonderful habit of growing to a height of 8-10 feet. One of the big differences between the two though, is that Tigerella produces medium sized fruits instead of large and does well even in cool summers. That will be a plus if we get the amount of rain we got last year! (*Cough, cough* Climate change!)

Next is the mystery pack! I bought an heirloom mix packet with 30 seeds in it and planted two seeds in each of eight cells. I don't have room for sixteen plants, but I wanted to make sure I got at least one plant per cell. And maybe there will be even more pots full of random veges on my porch this year... (Don't tell Tom! ;-D ) Here is what may or may not come up: Aunt Ruby's German Green, Black Brandywine, German Johnson, Giant Oxheart, Mortgage Lifter, Pineapple, Watermelon, Beefsteak, White Wonder, and Yellow Brandywine. I hope I end up with at least a few different colors of tomatoes, so that I can convince my mom that a tomato doesn't have to be red to be delicious. Regardless of outcome, I think I'll do pretty well with any of the above!

And speaking of my mom, I have two different varieties started for her and my dad. The first is a cherry type called Sungold that my mom picked out, I assume, because it says they are "so delicious you won't even believe you are eating tomatoes!". And because she really like cherry tomatoes! The second variety is one I picked out called Legend. I have never tried it, but I picked it because of the following descriptors: Early to ripen; Excellent late blight tolerance; 4-5 inch glossy red fruits that are amazingly sweet; Determinate, so will do well in a container. The Sungold was the first tomato to come up and the Legend variety broke through today. My parents are well on their way to enjoying the literal fruits of my labor.

That leaves us with the sunflowers. I really enjoy sunflowers, and was disappointed that I didn't get any started last year. So this year I planned ahead and got some started so that they will be plants and not yummy seeds when I get them outside. Nothing worse than planting sunflower seeds only to have them carried off by a scavenging rodent or bird! And I should mention these are not edible-for-humans varieties, so they will not be inside the garden. I went with two tall types and one short. The short one was actually a free sample at my local garden store, so that is a plus. Who doesn't like free seeds? That variety is called Teddy Bear and actually resembles chrysanthemums more than the traditional sunflower. No seed face surrounded by petals, but rather a pom-pom type look. They are golden yellow, and only get to 24 inches in height. I may put them in front of the taller ones, or in a completely different area. I have yet to decide!

The taller varieties are Autumn Beauty and Orange Mahogany Bicolor F1. Autumn Beauty grows from 5-7 feet tall with blooms in shades of lemon yellow, subtle bronze, rich wine, and bicolor combinations. And if you let them go to seed, they apparently can be harvested as food for wild birds. The Orange Mahogany hybrid produces 5-6 foot plants with orange and yellow bicolor blooms. Unlike the Autumn variety which blooms in late summer/ early fall, the Orange Mahogany blooms all summer long and into the fall. That means I will have plenty of beauty throughout the growing season!

Looking over my 'start indoors list', I am feeling pretty satisfied knowing that there are only three items left to go. On May 1st, depending on the weather, I will start Watermelon, Pumpkin, and Pok Choy indoors. That will complete my indoor list and we will hopefully be on our way to a great summer. So weather, you had better get with the program!

Peppers- One Month On

2011-04-18T23:38:00.006-05:00

Today is the one month anniversary of the 'Planting of the Peppers'. Well all the peppers except Bhut Jolokia, Cayenne, and Hungarian Wax; The planting of which occurred just two days later on the 20th. And although it can take from 10 days to 5 weeks for sprouts to appear, a good number of them showed their faces rather quickly. In fact, by March 31st some of my seedlings managed to come up, then subsequently die due to damping off. This sort of thing is rather upsetting in normal circumstances, but it is particularly maddening to me.

The first year I started my garden, I also started plants from seed. I was off on the timing, used regular potting soil as starter in peat pots, and did not 'correctly' harden off my plants before transplanting. Everything I did was "wrong", and yet most of my plants lived and thrived! There were no cases of damping off, and the only real issue was the late planting time.

The next year, after doing research, I planted my seeds in a recommended seed starter mix and consulted my new "planting time" list. I used peat pots again, but followed proper hardening off procedures. When the plants were at the point where I was able to leave them outside 24/7, a large number of them mysteriously died. I was sad and confused. I took a few dead looking seedlings to the garden store, and was told the bad news. I had lost my plants to damping off, and they weren't coming back. The advice I was given to prevent the problem from occurring again was to use plastic instead of peat pots in hopes that that would stave off any lingering fungus and possibly reduce excess moisture.

So this year I used seed starting mix in plastic containers. I started everything at the correct time and have been careful not to over water. And yet I STILL had seedlings damp off. And they aren't even outside yet! Very, very maddening!!! From an action and consequences stand point, I have learned doing everything correctly is a bad idea, and doing everything 'wrong' is the way to go. I think the damping off this time may have been due to a lack of air circulation, but that is no different from the last two years either. There is some good news to report however!

On March 31st, I replanted the seeds that damped off. This included two of the Peter Pepper cells, one Habanero, one Garden Salsa cell, and all the Yummy Blend. I also planted the remainder of the Peter Pepper, Yummy Blend, and Bhut Jolokia seeds in round pots for an experiment. I read in two different books that using chamomile tea water to water your seedlings was a way to help prevent damping off. So I made chamomile tea, diluted it, and then let it cool to room temperature before using it to water the seeds in the round pots. Then I waited.

And waited....

Notice the barren cells in the middle. (You can click the photo for larger view. )

I was pretty much ready to give up hope of ever seeing the replanted peppers emerge. In fact I was so concerned about the Yummy Blend, which was planted for my parents, that I went to the store and got another sweet pepper variety and planted that just in case! Everyday I woke up and went to bed staring at dirt. Not seedlings emerging, but dirt. Then on April 16th, I looked at the round pots and my eyes got large.

The replanted and experimental Yummy Blend peppers had come up! Only one of the three seen in the photo at right came up on April 16th, but that lone Yummy Blend seedling was soon joined by two friends. And as you can see, they are doing pretty well. I took the photo this evening after the sun went down, but you can see that I probably should have turned them one more time before sunset. They are Leaning towards the light.

The next pepper to "rock my world" was the Peter Pepper. A single sprout came up two days ago, but I admit my excitement was not AS intense. The main reason for that was because there were in fact Peter peppers from the original planting in one lonely cell of the pepper flat. When the two barren Peter Pepper cells continued to remain that way, I moved two of the three seedlings into those cells. Of course one of the contenders is pictured at left. It has actually been like that, with the seed skin still attached, for several days. It may or may not make it. That would be why it is a good thing the back up(s) has sprouted!

And that leaves us with one round pot to go. Now when I received the Bhut Jolokia, or Ghost Pepper seeds, all I knew was that they can be very difficult to grow and that they need it to be HOT, even more so than their counter parts. Upon picking up another book on chili peppers (the only plant specific books I own), I found out that the 5 week germination time applies to Capsicum chinense. Which is the species of chili pepper Bhut Jolokia falls under. (Other familiar members include Habañero and Scotch Bonnet.) So the fact that I hadn't seen any Bhut Jolokia was understandable. However, with the whole damping off debacle I was getting nervous! My Habañeros had come up with the rest of the peppers and only had that one incidence of damping off. (One of the Habañero seedlings is shown above.) The replant of those in the regular pepper flat did not come up, but similar to the Peter Pepper situation, I was able to move 'extras' to the empty space. With the Bhut Jolokia, I planted ALL the seeds I had and so far had nothing to show for it.

So when I peaked into the mini greenhouse today, my expectations were low. I removed the cover, and saw.... something! Is that? Is that a SPROUT!?!? Still in disbelief, I had to get closer. This involved removing the cellophane I had wrapped around the Bhut Jolokia round pot only, to give it even more heat. Upon removing that it became clear. Houston, we have a SPROUT! :-) Of course my label for the Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper), made the event even better, because it was indeed as

though something 'dead' came to 'life' and said, "BOO!" to me. It was the perfect start to the day and a great Earth Day present!

Here is a LARGE close up of the Bhut Jolokia seedling. SEE! It does exist! < -------

And so I leave you with some pictures of the rest of the peppers.

Here you can see the entire pepper flat. (4/18) The early risers and also the ones that didn't damp off, are much taller for obvious reasons. The cayenne and Hungarian wax are on the far left. (Click on photo for larger image)

Close up of the "tall" club. This includes from left to right, top to bottom: Peter Pepper, Habañero, Mariachi, Garden Salsa (of which the replant came up), Serraño, Jalapeño, Super Chili, and Roster Spur.

Cayenne Pepper

Super Chili Hybrid

Some Like It Hot

2011-03-19T23:53:00.000-05:00

There are many people out there that enjoy the sweetness that a Big Bertha, Fat 'N' Sassy or Pimento can bring them, but there are also those who like it HOT! And of course by 'some like it hot', I mean peppers, not the 1959 movie starring Marilyn Monroe, though perhaps she enjoyed hot peppers as well. And if she did enjoy hot peppers, she would have been very good friends with me. Or at least with my produce! I received my Google Calendar notification earlier this week, that informed me it was time to plant the peppers, so I obliged. And while there are a few of the 'sweet' variety in there, most of what I planted is in the medium to burning range. Because, well, some like it hot!

At the beginning of this week I made a confession to Tom. I informed him that I ordered more seeds. He responded with, "Is there room in the garden?" (What a silly question, I say!)

"Well, no... But that is what this pot that I also just bought, is for!" I answered while motioning to the pot.

He just laughed. Every year the porch gets more and more crowded with pots of "overflow" seedlings, so I think he is getting used to it! These particular seeds were an impulse buy (something I rarely do outside the gardening realm) for a friend. And while some like it hot, there are also those who like it BURNING. I am not one of those, but my friend Jesse, absolutely LOVES all things fire. So when I happened across some Bhut Jolokia seeds, I jumped at the chance to get some. Which I admit, is a bit insane!

Bhut Jolokia peppers are also known as Ghost Peppers or Naga Jolokia and have a SHU (Scoville Heat Units) rating of about 855,000. They were once rated as the hottest chili in the world by Guinness World Records, but have since fallen to third place. For a comparison, Jalapeños normally fall between 2,000 and 5,000 SHU; and Habañeros between 200,000 and 500,000 SHU. So we are talking about a fire in your mouth, don't touch without gloves type pepper. Just what Jesse loves. However, I have heard these peppers can be difficult to grow, so I am crossing my fingers that they make it from seed through fruiting. I will keep you informed as to how it goes!

At left you can see the pepper flat that I planted this week. Included in the flat are (in no particular order): Habañero, Peter Pepper, Rooster Spur, Super Chili, Jalapeño, Serraño, Garden Salsa, Mariachi Hybrid, Yolo Wonder, Fat 'N' Sassy, Sweet Hungarian mix called Yummy Blend (for my parents!), and the sticks with a ghost and the word BOO on them, are where the Bhut Jolokia peppers will go. You may notice that there are four empty spots with no sticks on the far left. Those may end up being more peppers.... Once again, NO there is no room left in the garden. However, I received free seeds with my Bhut Jolokia order, and I hate to let the cayenne pepper seeds go to waste! Yes, I think I need to join an over-planters anonymous group. Or maybe start one!

And speaking of planting, (or was it over-planting?), the next items on my list to get started indoors are celery, leeks, and red cabbage. That is a task that should be completed by Monday at the latest. You may remember that I have had green onions growing now for a few weeks, and you are probably wondering what is happening with them. Well, I am not entirely sure. At first they were doing REALLY well! Standing up straight and enjoying life to it's fullest. Then, they fell. Just bent over and took a nap. I thought maybe I over watered them, so I stopped all water and vented the tall lid that is on them. I have been watching them, and they have started making second leaves and those leaves are once again reaching for the sky (or ceiling as the case may be). So did I kill them? Are the coming back to life? We shall see. I am hoping they rebound and do well, but I fear I may have messed this one up. This is the first time I am growing onions, and I know they can be difficult, so that may be what I am coming up against. Here's hoping they make it!

Onions and Seed List

2011-03-01T01:09:00.001-06:00

There was sun streaming in the windows all day today and it caused the kitchen and living room to get up to 76 degrees! Even though it is still rather cold outside, it felt a bit like summer inside, and that is something worth celebrating! It also gave the furnace a break since there was no additional heating necessary. And of course, the onion seedlings rather enjoyed their sunbath. I hope they aren't too disappointed when the sun disappears behind the clouds once again in the coming days. I have been doing the 'sun' dance, but I guess it only has minimal effect. Our forecast for the rest of this week consists of rain/snow mix followed by snow and then a 'chance' of snow. Winter just does not want to give up quite yet!

Regardless of the current weather outside, I am still forging ahead with my garden activities inside. My onion seedlings are doing very well and are actually quite a bit taller now than in the photo at left as they have since 'unfolded'. I had to replace the lid that was covering the seedlings with the tall dome lid, so that they would have more upward growing space. Hopefully they will not out grow that before I can leave them uncovered.

In other seedling news, I finally figured out when to start my peppers indoors. Last year a few of the varieties I planted almost didn't fruit and ripen before the cool fall temperatures crept in. To combat that issue, I want to start the peppers earlier. After consulting the "starting time" list for my area that I got from my local garden store, and then doing some frost date research online, I have decided that March 15th would be a good day to plant. That is earlier than the list I have suggests, but I followed the list date last year and it obviously didn't turn out too well! I figure if nothing else, I will just have larger than normal seedlings ready for transplant. I would rather have that 'problem' than under-developed plants!

I also thought I should put a list of what I am planning on planting this year on my blog, so that all of you know what I am in for! Here it is:
Basil - Large Italian Leaf; Always a useful herb, and rather tasty!
Beans - Climbing French, a pole variety. They are also 'stringless' and I love green beans.
Beets - Detroit Dark Red. I may get another variety as well, but I haven't decided yet.
Cabbage1 - Red Acre. I did tried to do cabbage last year, and it didn't turn out as planned. This year I am investing in row covers to keep out the bad bugs and also the tree debris that plagued my cabbages last year!
Cabbage2 - Pok Choi
Carrots - Scarlet Nantes. I was excited when I received these in the mail from the Seeds of the Month Club. They are a shorter variety and apparently are "tolerant of mismanagement". I'd say you can't go wrong!
Catnip - I have to plant this because our cat Simon refuses to even touch store bought catnip. However, he LOVES the stuff I dry from the garden. He is the ultimate catnip snob!
Celery - The variety is called 'Utah'. Also from the Seeds of the Month Club. I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about growing celery, but I decided to give it a go. Hopefully it will be a success!
Cucumbers - Boston Pickling. I was excited to get theses in the mail as well! I confess; I don't like cucumbers. However, I do LOVE pickles and was planning on picking up some seeds for pickling cucumbers. It is like they read my mind!
Dill - Because you can't have pickles without dill! Well you can, but they wouldn't be dill pickles.
Leeks - Giant Musselburgh. They get to be 9-15 inches in height and up to 3 inches in diameter. Hence the name Giant.
Lettuce - Several types. I really liked the variety from my local garden store that I planted last year, and the container I used seemed to work out well. I will probably also plant the two varieties that came in the mail as well, because I enjoy a diverse salad.
Onion - Tokyo Long White. A green onion. Good by themselves or in recipes!
Oregano - The massive oregano octopus should come back again this year.
Parsley - Also already out there, though not an octopus.
Peas - These may or may not be used. I haven't decided. The issue is that I am not too fond of peas, and have found that they are not like cucumbers. You can't just pickle your way to something better. There are people who really like peas though, so I may grow some for them.
Peppers - I am now going to list all of the different pepper varieties that are making it into the garden (or in pots on the porch) this year: Serraño del Sol Hybrid, Early Jalapeño, Yolo Wonder L Bell Pepper, Sweet Canary Bell, Super Chili Hybrid, Peter Pepper, Burning Bush Hybrid (Chichen Itza variety Habañero), Rooster Spur, Garden Salsa, and maybe Hungarian Wax. I will obviously have to decide here pretty quick if Hungarian Wax will be making the cut.
Pumpkin - Sweet Pie for sure and then it is between Jack -o- Lantern and Batwing.
Radish - Round Cherry and French Breakfast.
Rosemary - I have some indoors at the moment, but I may replant some outside.
Spinach - Tyee Hybrid.
Squash - Spineless Beauty Hybrid (amusing name!), and Costata Romanesco, an heirloom variety zucchini, thanks to a fellow gardener and blogger Gardening Jones. (Thanks!)
Thyme -Lemon Thyme.
Tomatoes - Once again there is a list, though not as long as the pepper list: Amish Paste (Roma), Tigerella (See previous post for detailed info), Italian Heirloom, and a few seeds from an heirloom mix I got. The heirloom mix is 'for fun' since I have no idea what will come up. The Amish Paste and Italian Heirlooms are for canning, though I am sure there will be plenty left over to eat as well! And the Tigerella is a 'for fun' that I know will be delicious!
Watermelon - Sugar Baby! Once again I was super excited to receive this in the mail, as I was going to buy some anyway. Cut back on my to-do list.

There is one thing that I would like to try growing again that is not on the list. That would be Spanish peanuts. The only thing is, I am thinking it would be better to grow them in a container, like potatoes, so that I can have some really good soil for them. The soil in the garden is not the best for peanuts and I think that is what caused my peanuts not to do too well last year. They didn't branch out much and would do better with a looser soil. If I decide I have to have them, I will get a container such as a garbage can and put them in there. I will let you know!

And last but not least, I listed no flowers. There will be some though, so I will update you on that as well. This post is already long enough without taking you through the list of flowers! They aren't going to be directly in the garden with the vegetables anyway, so I guess they can have their own post. Now to see about some more sun dancing!

Garden Expo And Garden Graph

2011-02-21T03:24:00.000-06:00

This last week started with a great visit to the Garden Expo, continued in an upward direction with warmer temperatures and melting snow, and has ended with.... FREEZING RAIN! Ugh! Well at least there was one bright spot in this thing we call winter. The freezing rain is expected to turn into snow over night and everything outside already has a nice coating of ice on it making for some sparkling twigs! But we mustn't focus on such chilly things, so let's see what is happening in the land of gardening!

I finally got a graph made. You can click on the photo at left to see a bigger version of the finished product. I can't say it is 100% "the" finally layout that will be in my garden, but it should be pretty close. Upon viewing the graph, Tom's first comment was, 'what are you going to put in the big space on the right?'. Well, that is technically for the vines that will eventually want to take over the garden, but I may put in some beets in the beginning so that there isn't a giant empty spot. No one likes wasted space in a garden! And since the vines will take a while to grow, there should be plenty of time for some beets to mature. You may also notice that the garden looks much more rectangular than last year. With the new fence that we installed, the garden is finally more normal in shape, and I was able to safely make a rectangular graph!

As I mentioned, we did make it to the Garden Expo. It was my first time going, and I definitely will plan to go again. My main focus for the trip was to see if there were any interesting seeds I may want. Of course there were TONS of seeds, and I did want most of them. However, I had to focus and only get a few, since most of the garden was already spoken for. I zeroed in on hot peppers and heirloom tomatoes for possible treasures. I was not disappointed!

There were several different choices and the difficult part was not grabbing every seed packet that looked interesting. Since I already had some of the standard hot peppers, I decided to get something that I haven't tried before. After going back and forth between Thai peppers and a variety called Rooster Spur, I decided on the Rooster, because it has purple leaves which will add a fun color to the garden even before any fruits form. The peppers themselves are only two inches in length and turn red when they are ripe. I expect they will have a bit of a bite, as the seed packet describes them as HOT. Should be good for adding to chili and possibly salsa and hot sauce!

Next stop was the tomatoes. After looking at several different kinds I picked out an heirloom variety called Tigerella. As the name implies, the fruits are red with orange stripes. It neglects to say how big the fruits get on the seed packet, but upon investigating the world wide web, my suspicions were confirmed that it produces a medium sized fruit. So not a beef steak size like the Mr. Stripey tomato. Apparently the two are very similar, especially in taste, and with a predicted plant height of 8-10 feet, I can see the relation! I can always trim it down though, so we will see. Nothing like using a step ladder to harvest your tomato plant!

Satisfied with my Tigerella choice, I turned to leave the tomato section when something caught my eye. "Italian Heirloom" I had to check it out as my dad is Italian and anything Italian and food related makes me think of my dad's side of the family. My Italian grandmother did not have a garden, but she was quite the cook, and I think she would have liked these tomatoes! The seed packet reads like a salesman after my own heart. "Outstanding heirloom from Italy"; "Fruits weighing over a pound!"; "Ideal for canning" with "very little waste and easy to peel". Had I not been in a public place with several strangers within earshot, I would have said, 'Sold!' out loud. I then decided I had better leave the tomato section before more packets made their way home with me!

I did pick up two more vegetable items before ending the seed search. Giant Musselburgh leeks and Climbing French beans. I needed to get some green beans as it was, and the Climbing French variety looked good. I also decided getting leeks again would be fun, but this time I got big ones as is indicated in the title. And not to be outdone by their edible cousins, I got a few flower choices as well. I am still pretty determined to turn our steep hill into a prairie. We will see how that goes in year two of the mission!

And finally in this never ending post I get to some plantings! I planted some green onions which can be seen at right (there are more, but I decided to crop the photo). You may be wondering what all the pictures in the rest of this post are of, as I just sort of threw them in there with no explanation. Starting at the top after the graph photo we have what I like to call, 'preparation'. You can see the plastic seed trays I have purchased so far, as well as seed packets, my garden notebook, and some measuring devices. The next photo down is of the long table I purchased to put my seedlings on. Four trays will fit comfortably, and as you can see, they will get some good sun light!

Next we have the 'planting room', aka the laundry room, where I planted the onions and will do the rest of my indoor plantings. The pot in the photo is an old pot I use to mix the soil with water, so that it is moist when I put it in the trays. And yes, I do keep my seed packets in a box in alphabetical order, with an index card (baring the correct letter of the alphabet) separating each section. If only I was that organized in all areas of my life!

And that last photo before the plantings is more fir fun than anything else. I was just overcome with joy when I saw GRASS!!! that I had to take a picture. I will be referencing that photo often in the coming days as I wait for the grass to re-appear. Before it got dark tonight, that spot in the photo was already freshly covered with a thin, but most likely persistent, layer of snow. Repeat after me: Spring is coming! Spring is coming!

Planting Time!!!

2011-02-05T23:47:00.000-06:00

After neglecting my blog for months (oops!), I am back! Now we'll see how much time I leave in between this post and my next post to determine if I really am "back". :-) And since mostly nothing in the way of 'gardening' has occurred since my September post, I feel just fine moving on to the here and now! So here goes...

I can tell it is 'that' time of year by the commercials on TV advertising commercial grade herbicides and other similar products. And by 'that' time of year, I of course mean planting time! But Sara, have you looked out your windows lately? Particularly after the HUGE snow storm that hit and is now pummeling the East Coast? Yes, yes I have. And as I stare out over the 4 foot snow drift that sits on my back porch, I imagine green grass and vegetable plants heavy with ripe fruit. And I know that some day, months from now, I will no longer have to imagine it, because it will be real! But not without some careful planning, and that begins now!

So far I have collected several seeds, mainly from joining a seeds of the month club. The club has been providing me with four packets of seeds a month! (Seed Club which I highly recommend!) I have also purchased Jiffy 5063 Seed Starting Mix - 16 Quart Bag, some plastic trays, and a long skinny table that will sit behind our couch in the sun with the seed trays on top. In addition to these items I picked up some hot pepper seeds (they do not send hot pepper seeds from the seeds of the month club), and plan to get some more items next weekend at the Garden Expo! (http://www.wigardenexpo.com/) And last, but probably the most important for the planning process, I have made three graphs of my garden plot. I have yet to fill them in, but at least I started the process! I made three graphs so that I can change my mind and not have to cross things out. The graph making process involved going to the store to get a yard stick, because my 12 inch ruler wasn't quite long enough. And that was making each foot of my garden only half an inch! I wanted to make each foot a whole inch, but it turns out my paper isn't long enough for that.

I hope to have pictures up as soon as I plant my first seedlings. That should be within the next couple of weeks! Until then, happy gardening!

Autumn Approaches

2010-09-14T22:00:00.002-05:00

Although autumn has not officially started here in the Northern Hemisphere, the signs that it is just around the corner are everywhere. The weather is cooler, trees are starting to turn colors, and hibernating critters are frantically collecting as much food as possible for the coming winter. The plants in my garden are showing signs that they are wrapping up for the winter as well. Some dieing, others ripening the remaining fruit on their branches, and still others kicking into high production gear. Everyday I head out to the garden now is a bit of an adventure, albeit in a different way from Springtime.

Once again, I neglected to post on here in a speedy fashion, and have actually been thinking about posting for quite some time. I told Tom that it is almost like delaying a homework assignment, only there is no due date! I guess my procrastination is showing. How embarrassing! Good thing I don't apply the same tactics to my garden work! After the trimming of pumpkin leaves in my last post, it came to my attention that I should probably do a LOT more trimming. So all of the pumpkin vines and both remaining zucchini plants got a major leaf cut. After I was done, my garden looked naked. Tom asked if everything was going to die because of all the trimming, and I assured him that things would be O.K. He gave me the, 'I'm not so sure' look. Everything has survived since the event though, so I think I am safe!

I did have to remove one of my zucchini plants today, but it was due to wilting leaves, not lack of leaves. Basically it had the look of, "I'm done!", so I listened. There is still one zucchini plant left in the garden, and it still has fruits growing. I'll leave it there until it too tells me it's time. I really hate pulling plants out, but I know it is for the best. When they are done, they are done, and if they have diseases on them that is all the more reason to get them out of there. With that in mind I also removed the Tumbling Tom Tomato plant that was out in the garden. That poor little plant not only seemed to have stunted growth, but it also had a terrible case of septoria leaf spot. All of the fruit it had produced ripened and was picked and it wasn't making any more, so I figured it would be best to remove it. Especially since I still have healthy tomato plants out there with green fruits. And my Tumbling Tom plant on our porch is doing great, so it wasn't really a loss. I also trimmed a bunch of branches from the giant Mr. Stripey plant. Basically I was hoping that by trimming some of the branches, it would force Mr. Stripey to focus on ripen his fruits, not continuing to get bigger. No word on the success of said experiment yet, but I will keep you posted!

A funny thing happened when the temperature starting consistently being below 80 degrees Fahrenheit; the pumpkin flowers opened wide and stayed open, all day. It was somewhat shocking to me, since I was only out in the garden at a time of day when it was hot out, but it does make sense. Of course I expected to see many new pumpkins starting, but that hasn't happened. There are a few more watermelons in the making, and many new flowers on both vining plants. I am hoping that the pollinators stay around long enough, and the temperatures stay high enough for both plants to bring more fruits to maturity. Pumpkins are a fall crop, so there is still plenty of time for them.

With lower temps, I figured the hot peppers would start winding down. However, they are still producing new flowers! That happened last year too, but I planted late last year, so it was expected. This year, I guess I am just lucky. I was very impressed by the Habañero pepper that started ripening just as the temperatures decided to dropped into the low 40's at night, and continued to ripen fully. I have read that Habañero plants ONLY ripen in hot, hot weather with full sun. Turns out they can ripen in 'cold', cloudy weather. Of course I have only had one ripen so far, so we'll see if my theory holds out for the rest of the peppers.

My cayenne plants, which have had green peppers hanging on them for quite some time now, have decided to express-ripen. Everyday I go out, there are more cayennes ready to be picked. I am a little disappointed by this behavior, because my mom and I could have used these late bloomers a little earlier! We made a batch of hot sauce that called for hot red peppers. Well, I didn't have enough cayennes at the time for even a half batch, so we ended up making whatever-hot-pepper-was-around hot sauce. And although we only used enough ingredients for six half-pints worth, we somehow ended up with ten! Oops! It was a fun experience though, and I am thinking this recipe will turn out better then the one we used last year. We also got to use my great grandmother's sieve that she used to use to make apple sauce. I hope she doesn't mind that we made hot sauce instead!

All of the other pepper plants, the jalapeños, Hungarian wax, Tabasco, Nu Mexico Big Jim, Peter pepper, pimento, and green bell, are still making flowers and new peppers. One of the jalapeño plants and two of the Hungarian wax, seem to be done, but who knows. A couple of the Tabasco peppers finally ripened as well, so I am just waiting for the rest of the 200 or so remaining Tabasco peppers to follow suit! My two bell pepper plants on our porch are doing great as well. The tequila pepper plant is still producing peppers, though I have picked quite a few. The other plant has finally revealed its true identity. I knew its mature color was not supposed to be green, so I have been waiting and waiting for at least one of the peppers to change color. Turns out they are Hershey bells! It only took them all summer to work that out. I figure it is worth the wait though, and there are several peppers on the plant at the moment. Soon I will have a bunch of purpley-brown bell peppers and nothing to do with them! :-D

If you are still reading, I would like to say thank you. Delaying blog updates is a bad idea when you like to elaborate as much as I do. This would be an excellent time to get some popcorn or other snack if you have not done so yet. A good snack might be peanuts; boiled or roasted. To be more specific, Spanish peanuts. In fact I may be able to help you in that regard. Two of the three peanut plants I have in the garden appear to be doing what my little information card tells me is the signal of harvest time. The leaves are turning brownish-yellow and upon digging with my fingers a short distance, I saw what appeared to be a mature seed pod. Since I have never grown peanuts before, I want to be as sure as possible that they are in fact ready before digging them up. However, I also don't want to leave them in the ground too long. I have seen pictures of other people's harvested plants, and they have green leaves still. This causes me more confusion and doubting. I guess I should probably just dig one of them up and see what happens. That way I will know for sure and can either harvest the other two plants right away, or let them stay out a bit longer. I hate to harvest the 'tester' plant, and have it be not ready though. Oh the dilemmas of new plants!

As far as interesting garden news goes, that just about covers it. I did have the unfortunate experience of finding some sort of flying ant like insect swarming around one of my Chinese cabbage plants today. I immediately stopped what I was doing and went to get my organic insecticide. There was no way I was going to let those bugs have my cabbage! Especially since the zucchini plants prevented all of my cabbage plants from growing earlier in the season, and they sat in limbo until I trimmed everything. Now that they are growing correctly, I would like to be able to harvest them! Still not sure it that is going to work out, but I can hope. At least I know what not to do next year, and that is always useful. And now I leave you to the pictures that I spent a great deal of time trying to par down, so that you didn't have an album of 300 or so to go through! It may be my favorite part though!

^---Click Me!!!

I'm Not Dead! ... And Neither is That Pumpkin Plant

2010-08-31T05:04:00.000-05:00

I said to myself, "I will post to my blog tomorrow, I promise!" Well I said that several days in a row and then I got sick! That further delayed the posting. But the good news is, I am not dead!

After reviewing my last post, I realize that much has happened in the way of the pumpkins since August 18th. The harvested Sweet Sugar Pie pumpkin that sat patiently on my kitchen table, finally got used. My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on the 22nd and got treated to a homemade pumpkin pie! For this being my first time making a pumpkin pie from an actually pumpkin, I was trying to keep my expectations low. Well, it turned out to be the best pumpkin pie I have ever eaten! And to my surprise, the small pumpkin yielded one and a half cups pumpkin "gulp" (technically puree) in excess! I essentially had enough for one and a half pies from that one small pumpkin. Good to know, because the next pumpkin that will be harvested is slightly bigger. Most likely a two pie pumpkin! I may need to plan a dinner or dessert party. Hmmm....

In addition to a possible event in my home centering around pie, I may have to find a bake sale or charity event (or all three!), because I keep finding more pumpkins that have gotten pollinated! It is almost as if the plant knows that fall is just around the corner, and it has finally decided to start cranking out the pumpkins like there is no tomorrow. And of course the Mega vine is still continuing its pursuit of garden domination, and has not only reached the fence opposite its starting mound, but it also continues to send out perpendicular mini vines! I would not be surprised if it ends up using the entire garden space once the other plants have met their end. The mystery remains as to how all these new pumpkin upstarts are getting pollinated, but I know it is not bumble bees. I watched a bumble bee dance in front of two separate closed pumpkin flowers; smelling the nectar, but not being able to get to it. Not to worry Mr. Bee, there are plenty of other flowers that are open and in need of pollinating in the garden still. Though none quite so big and tempting.

There is one thing that may stop my Mega vine in its tracks and end its reign; powdery mildew. The area around the pumpkin mound is well shaded and seems to be blocked off from most of the breezes that make their way through the rest of the garden. This, combined with the wet and humid weather we have had all summer, has lead to what I call 'mosquito corner' and great conditions for powdery mildew. In an effort to curb the spread and effects of the fungus, I trimmed a large number of leaves off of all three vines in mosquito corner, and sprayed all the other leaves with Bonide Copper Fungicide. The rather short Batwing plant got the most dramatic make over, with almost all of its leaves gone. When I was sick, my mom came up to help out. One of the things she did was water the garden. Although I was rather out of it, I was lucid enough to warn her that when she got up there, she would notice a TON of leaves were missing. FYI, I did that, not an animal. And not to worry, that pumpkin plant in the middle is not dead, it is just a little naked. No plant resuscitation required!

And how about everyone else in the garden? Well I have picked two of the three watermelons that were growing, and they are/were very delicious! I highly recommend Sugar Baby watermelons, especially if there are a small number of people who will be consuming the fruits. Since there are only two at my house, a large watermelon is just a bit too much. In addition, my refrigerator can only hold so much produce, and we like to chill our watermelon before eating it. They weren't joking when they said the Sugar Baby watermelons are 'icebox' size! I think they would even fit well in a dorm fridge! I am also happy to report that I have spotted two more watermelon fruit upstarts on the vines and flowers continue to pop up. I am hoping they grow quickly and are able to beat the first frosts!

I also picked my first Nu Mexico Big Jim pepper, but have not tasted it just yet. The rest of the pepper plants are pumping out more fruits on a daily basis, and are on my list of things to can next. I also have several green tomatoes that are slowing ripening, and my zucchini plants just won't quit! I await the yellowing of my peanut plants' leaves, which supposedly is the indicator of ripe peanuts, and suspect the color change will come with cooler days. And despite what I have been told, my bean plants that were planted in May are still producing beans. Apparently they are supposed to stop at some point before the end of summer and new plants are to be planted. Well, two years in a row with two different species, I have gotten the same result. Never ending beans!

And for those of you who are visual like me, Pictures!
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Gunner, Borers, and Mice?

2010-08-18T22:37:00.001-05:00

Before I even went outside today, I was greeted by the neighbor's dog, who came on our porch and looked at me with his sad eyes through the sliding glass door. This has never occurred before, so I was a little confused. I started to wonder if any one was home next door. I even went out and gave Gunner some water, because he looked thirsty. It turns out that the neighbor was 'home' (well one of the two anyway), he just happened to be socializing with yet another neighbor, outside the fenced-in portion of our duplex lawn. So basically, Gunner was simply looking for someone who could let him inside and he noticed that I was visible from the glass door. This was the first time that the cats got a close up view of Gunner, and Gunner of them. Zephyr was curious, but somewhat apathetic, and Simon was curious and defensive, though not as bad as when there is another cat out there. Gunner didn't seem to notice there was anything alive in the house other than me. I guess he probably figured the cats couldn't let him in. Well Gunner, I really can't let you in either, but I would at least be better at finding someone who could!

After I figured out that Gunner was not alone and would be O.K., I went about checking on what needed to be harvested. I picked one zucchini and a few peppers, and decided to let everything else keep growing/ripening. The pumpkin that is out there is showing a tiny bit of orange, and appears to be bigger than the other pumpkin pie pumpkin I harvested. I guess that is a good thing, though there are no other pumpkins that have started. I have seen many more shriveled remnants, but that is it. :-/ Even with the addition of more pollinators via my flowering oregano, there doesn't seem to be an increase in pollination. I am not even sure how I would hand pollinate either, because the flowers don't really open. I guess the ants aren't doing their job!

The other thing I am up against with the pumpkins are squash vine borers. I read something that said they should be done by now, but I think the article lied. When I was out Monday, I brought up my insecticide to use on the zucchini vine. It was at that time when I noticed an adult vine borer in the pumpkin area. I immediately sprayed it in the face! I then went along the entire length of all three pumpkin vines (including the Mega vine which is most likely 40 ft long), and sprayed. There does appear to be some damage on parts of all three vines, though not like on the zucchini plant that died on me. I can't really tell if the damage is due to age or something else, so that confuses the matter as well. And all three pumpkin plants continue to gain length as well as hold their leaves up, so I am thinking I may have prevented any major damage. I sure hope so! There is an added bonus too that the Batwing pumpkin plant I have planted off the porch has NO damage what-so-ever, so if all else fails, I will at least have Batwings for Halloween!

And in other critter news, I put out more coffee after seeing some slug damage. The rain we got last week washed what coffee was there away, so there was a need to re-apply. I also got treated to the nice aroma of coffee when I went out in the garden today, two days after application! Mmmmm, coffee! I then went inside and drank tea as I am not much of a coffee drinker. It smells nice though!

My update on the broken air conditioner, is that it is no longer broken! The A/C repair guys came out Monday and got us back up and running. When they were finished, one of the guys came and told me that the reason the A/C broke was due to the mice who had moved into our outdoor A/C unit and made a nest. They also chewed several cords and caused refrigerant to leak out (the mice, not the A/C guys). In my moment of surprise, I didn't think to ask what they did with the mice. I realized later, that that was probably best, because I don't think I wanted to know. I am hoping that when they went and got our hose, that they were using it to 'scare' the mice out and then seal any holes. I did not go out and look at the unit after they left. That was on purpose. We will stick with the mice alive and scared theory.

And the obligatory photos, because I habitually take them!
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Mosquito Buffet

2010-08-15T23:00:00.001-05:00

So our air conditioning decided to stop working this weekend. And on Saturday morning no less! So that meant it was the prefect day to go outside, since it was about the same temperature inside as it was outside. Yuck! And after two days of heat advisories, followed by a day of rain, I needed to go out and harvest things anyway!

I started my garden activities checking for ripe fruits and I found quite a few. Jalapeños, poblanos, Hungarian wax, green bell peppers, zucchinis (yet more!), tomatoes (including one Big Boy!), and some more green beans. I also decided it would be a good idea to spray the tomatoes again with my Copper fungicide, and to spray the squash plants, since they have some mildew on the leaves. I wanted to get more insecticide on my cabbage, since they have actually been growing now too! Because of the spraying, I harvested a few tomatoes that were orange-ish instead of red. You need to wait seven days after spraying to harvest. It is supposed to rain again by Friday, but that could always change. Better get it done while there is sunshine.

Another interesting tid-bit is the strange dance I saw in my backyard. It was evening, and so the sun was starting to get low in the sky providing plenty of shade. This meant the mosquitoes were coming out in droves. There is a steep hill between the house and the garden, so there is quite a bit of grass that is mostly undisturbed on a daily basis. There, on the hill, I saw a swarm on dragonflies dancing around, mostly right above the grass. I was in awe! I have never seen so many dragonflies in one place! I had to look up their diet to confirm what I thought was happening; mosquito hunting. Because I have a movie function on my camera, I sat down in the grass and filmed it. The dragonflies went buzzing past my head as though I wasn't even there. It was crazy! I can only hope they make a dent in our mosquito population. I might have to make a sign that says, "Dragonflies Welcome! Come get your free mosquitoes!" Here is a link to the video for your viewing pleasure. I wasn't really sure what to say, so I said, "Dragonfly swarm". I feel a bit silly about it. Oh well! Link--> Dragonflies!

And some photos too!
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Canning, Pumpkins and a Frog

2010-08-14T22:36:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday, my mom came up for more canning. We decided to do more Zany Zucchini Pickles, as well as zucchini bread (baked, not canned). The plan was to double the Zany and bread recipes in order to eliminate as many zucchinis from my fridge as possible. Somehow we still managed to have some left over! My mom had to leave early, so she was not around for the actual 'canning' part. Which is unfortunate, because it was quite the experience!

First, I did something a little different than normal. Instead of warming the canning jars in water, I ran the dishwasher. The instructions for canning say that that is a viable option, so I figured it would work out. I also timed it so that the dish washer would be finished about the time I would need the jars. So I got a couple jars out, filled them accordingly, and then went to put them in the water-bath canner (the huge pot in the picture above). First jar went in fine. Second jar made a sound like gun fire two seconds after I placed it on the rack inside. I jumped, and swore, and then went to remove the jar. That is when I started swearing more. The bottom of the jar had blown off, so when I was lifting it out, the contents of the jar emptied into the water-bath! I didn't know what to do. Should I empty the water out and start over? Or leave the icky water in, and just remove the chunks? Since I wasn't sure if there were glass shards or not, I decided to empty the entire canner and start over. To my surprise, the colander only caught one piece of glass. It was almost as if a laser had been used to cut off the bottom of the jar; it was that exact! And yes, I thought about that in the middle of all the insanity. Must be the scientist in me!

I guess the good news is I was finally able to finish the canning. The bad news is, I had to wait for the water-bath to heat back up before I could process anything. All in all an hour was added on to my project. Not very happy about that. Hopefully the pickles still taste ok, especially since there are 13 jars worth! Cross your fingers!

And while all the canning drama was taking place, the zucchini bread was happily baking away in the oven. It was a bright spot when the oven timer went off, and out came four perfect loaves of bread! Tom and I ended up digging into one of the loaves right after he got home, because I was still finishing up with the processing, and we were both hungry! I decided not to include that loaf in the above picture. But there really were four! I am happy to report the zucchini bread tastes fabulous. Extra thanks to Aunt Sandy for providing the recipe. Yum!

Because Tom and I were extra hungry and the kitchen was a mess, we decided to head out for dinner. We went to Culver's (fast food burger place), and found a seat near one of the windows facing the drive thru lane. As we were waiting for our food, I noticed something odd on the outside windowsill. It was a frog! First of all, the Culver's is right next to a busy highway that runs through the city. Second, there is asphalt and pavement for at least a half mile in every direction surrounding the restaurant. And third, there is a pet shop in the shopping center directly behind the Culver's, so I was starting to think that someone did something cruel. It was obvious that that frog was coming home with us. Tom knows that look! I wasn't going to leave that amphibian in the urban jungle! (Zephyr, seen above enjoyed watching the frog.)

So we grabbed a cup and lid (with straw hole for air) and we rescued the frog! I decided to do an internet search before releasing it in our backyard, because I wanted to make sure it was native and NOT from the pet shop. Turns out it is most likely a Cope's Gray Tree-frog. You may notice that the frog is green and not gray in the photo. I was confused as well. They can change colors from green to gray and back rather rapidly, and are normally green at night. And they are native to Wisconsin! Since it was pitch black out when I released the frog, I snapped this picture in the dark hoping that I would get the frog. Success! Tiny little thing! Hope it eats some of the mosquitoes in our backyard!

And last but not least, I picked my first Pumpkin Pie pumpkin! I am thinking one will be enough for a pie, but I have no idea. Only one way to find out. Will let you know!

Fence Complete! (And a weather update)

2010-08-06T23:00:00.002-05:00

Well Gary lied. And by Gary, I mean Chief Meteorologist Gary of our local news . Though he really cannot be blamed for what I assume was an accurate interpretation of the computer's weather data, so maybe I should say the computer lied. Most likely it was just Mother Nature changing her mind that caused both the computer and Gary to come to the conclusion that it was going to rain every day this week, only to have it be sunny every day instead. (Well, there was a light sprinkle for about 20 mins one evening, but I don't really count that.) Regardless the lack of rain meant that, GASP, I actually had to water things! And it was the first week all summer where conditions were actually less than ideal for the growth of fungus and other diseases. Yay!!! But guess what? Gary and the computer are currently predicting rain Monday through Friday of next week, so we might be back to 'ideal' conditions soon. :-( We'll see.

I made it to my local garden store earlier this week and had both my zucchini and Peter pepper plants diagnosed. The lady told me that my zucchini was probably the victim of a squash vine borer, and that I should get that plant out of there before the others are affected. She also said that my mildew prevention was a good decision, and to keep it up! With the high probability that a borer caused the death of my zucchini, I decided to spray all my other squash vines with the insecticide I have. When I checked today though, it looks like one of the remaining zucchini plants may have fallen victim to a borer as well. (The leaves are fine, but the main stem looks damaged.) I will keep my eyes peeled, and for now, both zucchini plants have a good dose of insecticide on their base vines!

I also noticed earlier this week that the leaves on my Batwing pumpkin plant in the garden were starting to droop in a similar fashion to the zucchini that bit the dust. The pumpkin plants were already on my "to spray" list, but I definitely got concerned. I sprayed all three pumpkin plants and then decided to wait a few days to see if the Batwing plant improved. Well it looked better today, so I am not entirely sure what is going on with it. It is not 100%, but better enough that I have decided to leave it in there for now. I would hate to have to pull it out!

My Peter pepper plants have a much happier ending then their zucchini friend. It turns out that, yes, there is some type of bacterial disease on the leaves, but the fungicide I have should help with the problem. It is also good to know that the fruits do not get affected, and so far the plants are still doing their thing, so let's hope it stays that way! As I have mentioned before, there has been SO much rain this summer that diseases have been thriving. I feel for the people who decided this year would be their first adventure in gardening. They may decide not to try again next year!

I am happy to report that if it does rain all next week, my beet seedlings will be in heaven on earth! I have seen new ones pop up everyday this week and they have definitely appreciated their daily waterings. I am hoping this batch will thrive since the last one didn't make it. I have been wanting to plant some more carrots and maybe some spinach or cabbage, but it may be too late. I might just give it a try since I have extra seeds, and perhaps I will be successful. Only one way to find out!

And where might I plant all these Fall crops? Well I could rip up more grass if I really wanted too, because the fence is finally finished! Tom was able to get out there today and he went to town. The garden is now approximately 32 feet x 20 feet, give or take a foot. Most likely give since we ended up widening it at the last minute. We had 100 feet worth of fence that we planned on using to encompass the garden. This does not take into consideration the 5 foot door that we left in place or the fact that Tom thinks there may have been a little more than 50 feet of fence on each of the two spools we had. He did overlap the ends somewhat, but that still left some extra. Since the measuring tape we were using only goes to 25 feet, we can't be certain at this time the exact measurements. So like I said, 32 x 20 feet, give or take. It is very exciting regardless! And since there was some extra space, I had Tom bring up the oregano/basil bin to put inside the fence. I wanted it up there because it is a super magnet for pollinators, and it seems that the reason a lot of my pumpkin potentials shrivel up and fall off, is because they are not getting pollinated. Have no fear! Oregano flower power is here! Tom was NOT amused by the bees. He wanted to wait for them to fly away before bringing the bin up. I told him he'd be waiting forever. He came trudging up the hill, bin awkwardly in hand, saying "The bees are following me!!!" I thought to myself, "Well good! That's what we want!" But as I said, he was NOT amused. Lol No one got hurt. We walked away sting free, and the bees didn't seem to mind the move one bit. It was a win win!

And what would a post of mine be without pictures? Enjoy!
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Bugs, Disease, Rain, and a Late Blight Alert!

2010-08-02T22:00:00.002-05:00

Well we had a short break in the rain over the weekend, but of course it's back. I was able to get a some things done while the sun was out for a few days. Saturday I reapplied Bonide Copper Fungicide to my tomato plants since it rained on Friday, and I also sprayed my cabbage and beans again with Bonide Rotenone-Pyrethrins, to prevent flea beetle and Japanese beetle damage. It's a good thing I decided to re-spray the insecticide, because when I sprayed the cabbage, flea beetles came out from the base of the leaves. Sorry fellas, dinner is NOT served! :) I also got to witness the lovely sound of Japanese Beetles hitting the plastic in the garden, as they fell after being sprayed. I remember thinking, 'Yikes! That was fast!'. And since I was in a spraying mood, I reapplied Cutter Bug Spray to the lawn as well. The neighbors were out of town on a camping trip, so I figured it was an excellent time to get out there a spray while they and their dog were gone. That way the Cutter spray would have a chance to dry before Gunner, the dog, went in the yard again. And I know the human neighbors will appreciate the reduction in mosquitoes! So far there has been a reduction, but there are still quite a few out there. No where near as bad as other places I have been to in Wisconsin though!

And speaking of destructive critters, I have two plant pathogens of some sort reeking havoc this year. One is affecting my Peter Pepper plants. It looks like some kind of bacterial infection, from what I have seen online, but I will be bringing some of the leaves into my local garden center to confirm. I am crossing my fingers that it is something treatable! The other peppers in the garden still look fine, but they probably have more resistance because they are not a novelty species. The other problem is pictured above. Something seems to have destroyed my zucchini plant! The other two plants look fine at the moment, so I am at a bit of a loss. I think it may be Powery Mildew, which is a group of fungi that can affect many plants. However, I had mildew on my zucchini leaves last year, and they didn't die. In fact, they seemed to be completely immune! And the fact that the other two plants are still doing fine is a bit puzzling. If anyone has an suggestions, let me know! (I did spray some fungicide on the zucchinis in case it is Mildew. I think the plant in the picture is no more though.)

And while we are on a disease kick, let me bring to your attention the latest on Late Blight in Wisconsin. As of July 23rd (the latest report to date), five counties have reported Late Blight on both potato and tomato crops. Here are two links for more information! http://www.uwex.edu/ces/admin/2010_tomato_late_blight.html http://www.plantpath.wisc.edu/wivegdis/

While there have been a few incidents of bad news recently, it hasn't all been bad. Everything is still producing. Even the 'dead' zucchini plant has a few fruits on it somehow! Another good thing is the Pumpkin Pie mega vine has a couple new pumpkins on it that are actually getting bigger! This is exciting news since most new growths would appear one day and be yellow and fall off a couple days later. The current contenders have been on there for days and are increasing in size. That is a sure sign that they are on their way to being full grown pumpkins!

Another thing that I did that should help the pumpkin plants, including the two that are 'normal' size, is cover the "compost" section with black plastic. This will provide the smaller vines with a better surface to expand onto, as well as protect any fruits from the sticks, hay and other random organics in the "compost" section. There is an off shoot from the mega vine that was already in the "compost" section, so I guess it will benefit as well. I tell you, that vine is INSANE! Tom went out to check out the garden with me today and when I showed him where the end of the mega vine is currently, he said, "Wait, is this vine from ALL the way back there!?" Yeah, it is.

In other news, the fence remains in limbo, but is trying to make progress. I put markers out for the remaining fence posts, and started getting the ground ready so that the fence will lay flat. I can't remove anymore old fence at this point, because if I do the garden will be a free access location. Unfortunately I just don't have the strength to put the posts in, so I can't put up the rest of the new fence without Tom. After the rain ends, he said he'll be out there; with a massive coating of bug spray all over his body. The mosquitoes REALLY love him!

I have a very limited photo gallery this time around, but it does show the pumpkin vine and a couple of the new pumpkins that are on their way. Feel free to check it out!

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Canning and more Fence Removal!

2010-07-30T04:16:00.000-05:00

Well the canning on Tuesday was a success! My mom and I made Zany Zucchini Pickles and Pickled Beets. The beet recipe came from the Farmer's Almanac and is supposedly a "State Fair Winner". We shall see! Even though we used 14 cups worth of zucchini, there are still several zucchinis left in my refrigerator. I even gave some to my mom to take home with her, and some others to our neighbors! And just today, I picked two more. I hope to make some zucchini bread, but that won't make much of a dent in the supply. I may have to do more canning!

In addition to the canning, I also did some work out in the garden this week. I planted another round of beets after weeding and re-tilling the ground. I had done a second planting earlier this summer, but it didn't turn out. I am not entirely sure what happened (it may have been rabbits), but I am hoping that the extra tilling will help this time around.

I also did some work on the fence. Mainly, I was just attempting to remove the old fence from the back part of the garden. Since we are expanding in addition to putting in new fencing, there is a bit of a buffer between the old fence and the new fence by the watermelon and zucchini. The new fence is still only halfway around, as we have not added more of the new stuff yet, but not all of the old fence has been removed. It has been extremely difficult getting the old fence out, since it became buried over the years and is being held in place by grass roots. That means that when Tom and I last worked on the project together, we just decided to leave the 'back wall' section of the old fence in the ground and put the new fence around it. With the new perimeters it works out fine. I would like to get that fence out of there though, because the zucchini plants could use more space. Or more accurately, the plants that are being overrun by the zucchini could use more space. Slowly but surely it will happen!

I will leave the rest of the update sharing to the pictures. Enjoy!
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New Fence, New Pictures, and Canning!

2010-07-24T04:15:00.002-05:00

So I thought I had only neglected to post on here for about a week, and then I noticed that it has been almost two weeks! Yikes! I apologize. In my defense, it has been crazy busy here, and the busyness is still on-going. I expect the non-garden related stuff to be over soon, but with all the produce that is growing out there, I know I will be plenty busy with garden stuff!

After my last post about flea beetles, I discovered that there were young rabbits still managing to make their way into the garden. Talk about maddening! This prompted me to get more fencing since the current fence is very old and rusty, and is not even two feet tall in some places anymore. I just wanted enough to encompass the cabbage and beets at one end of the garden, since that is were the dining was occurring. Well, Tom decided we should not only redo the ENTIRE fence, but make the garden space bigger while we were at it.

So we went out and bought 100ft of 28in garden fence, as well as new posts to put the fence on. We then spent two days working on it last week and only got halfway around. I had an out of town event that I had to leave for last Thursday, and was hoping that Tom could do more work on the fence while I was gone over the weekend. Well I returned on Monday to find no progress was made, and the fence is still only halfway finished. The good news is that there are no holes and the rabbits seem to be gone... for now. And Tom was not sitting around twiddling his thumbs. He had to pick up our charge for the week: Willow the dog. Yep, we have been busy dog sitting this week. A new experience for cat owners who are used to sleeping in, and not having to take walks everyday. Oh yeah, did I mention my parents are cat sitting for us? We had to transport them to their temporary home as well. Like I said, it has been crazy busy around here!

But how is the garden doing? That is a great question! I am happy to report the plants are doing well despite all the hiccups and the fence that remains in limbo. Turns out plants keep growing regardless of the busy lives of their human tenders. Good thing, or most of us wouldn't have gardens! To prove how well things are growing, I have attached an updated album at the bottom of this post with pictures from July 19th through the 23rd. I was unable to get out there yesterday (July 22), because of severe thunderstorms and thought I wasn't going to get out there today due to more rain in the forecast. However, the bulk of the rain held off until about an hour ago, so I was able to take a few photos. I was disappointed to see that the severe weather caused one of the main branches coming off my large Mr. Stripey plant, to break. It was still attached to the plant, just ripped, so I repositioned it gently with twine, and then added additional supports. I also put two more tomato spirals in place, (one for the 'broken' stem and one for another large stem), that I probably should have put out there a long time ago. I had a few ripped branches that survived and kept growing on my tomato plants last year, so I figured I would try to salvage the stem and see if it survives too. Unfortunately, sometimes something bad has to happen before you get your butt in gear! Lesson learned.

Last but not least! With all the produce that is becoming ripe, especially the zucchinis, I have decided it is time to start canning. The calendar is marked, and my assistant has been called! Next Tuesday, my mom and I will begin canning. I will try and take some photos of that to post for your enjoyment as well. Wish us luck!
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Early Blight and Flea Beetles

2010-07-10T01:35:00.001-05:00

I am happy to announce my tomato plants are not only healthy, but are also protected against Late Blight and other related fungi as of today. This is particularly good news considering what I learned at the garden store. Apparently a LOT of people have been bringing in diseased tomato leaves to have diagnosed. No Late Blight leaves yet, but plenty of Early Blight which means conditions are perfect for Late Blight to move in. I also witnessed Septoria leaf spot, another common fungus, on tomato plants at my parent's neighbor's house, on my last visit. While Septoria is rather easy to control, Early Blight is more difficult, and Late Blight requires you to destroy your plants. The fungicide I picked up and used on my tomatoes today was Bonide Copper fungicide. It is the fungicide I mentioned in my Late Blight post that is safe for use in organic farming/ gardening. It is important to spray the entire plant from top to bottom, to the point that it is dripping. This ensures that you covered the whole plant. You also should spray at a time when the plant can dry, so sometime during early to mid day and not right before rain is predicted. And be sure to repeat as directed for maximum protection!

The other chemical spray I picked up today was for my flea beetle problem. For that I got Bonide Rotenone-Pyrethrins Spray. It is also approved for organic gardening, and is apart of Bonide's Naturals line. I technically could have used the Ortho spray I picked up for Squash Vine Borers, but it is not approved for use on the edible parts of the plant, and I needed to spray my cabbages. It's a good thing I did that today as well, because when I went out to spray the tomatoes, two of my Chinese Cabbage plants had all their leaves eaten down to the vein! Evil, evil bugs! I feel terrible killing anything, even bugs, but it had to be done. I just take comfort in the knowledge that there are exceptionally more insects on this planet then there are any other creature. And since they have been around for millions of years, I doubt a few sprays of insect killer in my garden will upset the balance in the insect world. Sorry bugs!

Because of all the bad news (bugs eating everything, fungus taking over), I decided there needed to be a bright spot in my day. So along with the pesticides and other miscellaneous gardening items I purchased at the store today, I also picked up a replacement Roberto. Roberto is our Ficus Rubber plant that Tom whisked away to his office at work. Roberto was suppose to be a house plant, not an office plant, but Tom needed the air-cleaning qualities that Ficus plants possess. Since there is probably no hope of Roberto returning in the near future, I decided to purchase Roberto 2.0. If Roberto 1.0 ever does return, he will have a friend to hang out and purify the air with. It feels cleaner in here already!

Tonights dinner with fresh from the garden zucchini!! I had to share. :)

July 8th: Race for Garden Domination

2010-07-09T03:10:00.000-05:00

Nothing is more exciting for a gardener than discovering that first blossom or first fruit on a plant you have put so much time and energy into helping grow. And as anyone who grows several types of plants knows, everything has it's own blooming and fruiting schedule. Well when I was out in the garden on Wednesday I was excited to find pumpkins already forming on two of the three plants! However, my excitement was followed by confusion. It is only the beginning of July, so I assumed it would be a bit longer before I saw any pumpkins. After all, most people don't go pumpkin shopping around here until October, and there are farms were you can go pick your pumpkin straight out of the field! And those are BIG pumpkins; I planted two small varieties! If they have already started making pumpkins now, does that mean they will just keep churning out pumpkins till the fall frost does them in? Will I have hundreds of pumpkins and nothing to do with them? Will the plants produce so many pumpkins that they roll down the hill and bury the house? I guess we'll find out! Anyone want some pumpkins? ;-D

The discovery of the pumpkin fruits, made me wonder about the watermelon. And sure enough, there was a watermelon fruit starting on the long vine as well! That doesn't surprise me as much as the pumpkins, though I did think the vines would get a bit longer first. I was hoping there would be plenty of watermelons, and it is looking like my wish will come true. G-ma B will be pleased as well!

Good news/ bad news on the garden pest front. First, the second application of liquid fence seems to be keeping the rabbits out. Yay! As long as it stays that way, I will be happy. The bad news is I discovered there are Flea Beetles eating my cabbage. The little buggers (pun intended) have put holes in my Chinese Cabbage leaves and are starting to munch on my Cabbage Babies as well. I plan on asking the people at my local garden store what they would suggest I use on them. The limited research I did do brought up so many choices that I decided I would just go straight to an expert since I need to go to the garden store anyway. Will let you know what I end up with and if it works!

Last little tidbit. The pumpkin and bean vines are competing in the Backyard Garden Domination competition. I was unaware there was such a competition until both plants clearly showed me differently, with their excessive need for more and more space! The question is, who will win? (My money's on the pumpkin plants, but don't tell the beans! They scare me!) See the competition, and other photos, in the album below!
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Tumbling Tom And Squash Borer

2010-07-06T16:51:00.000-05:00

It is official! The big Tumbling Tom tomato plant has made it into the garden. When I removed it from the pot, I was somewhat surprised to see roots all the way down to the bottom! Everything came out in one piece as well; no soil left in the pot. I guess I assumed the size of the pot was WAY bigger than was needed, and that the short time the tomato would spend in said pot would not have allowed it to have roots that deep. Obviously I was wrong! I then took the pot and put the Mr. Stripey plant, which has been growing from seed, into it. Since the Tumbling Tom plant used all that space, I figured the Mr. Stripey seedling would enjoy some extra room as well. So far he seems to be loving his new home. I am pretty sure he will love being in the ground even more. As soon as he has some branches, in the ground he'll go!

And speaking of late bloomers, I put one of the remaining pumpkin seedings into a mound right off our porch. Both pots that contained the extra pumpkin plants got knocked over by a naughty chipmunk. I left the pots as they were since I wasn't going to be needing either plant. Well, one of the plants died, but the other one not only didn't die, but it made flowers! I felt bad for it, so I decided to plant it in the "sand box" next to our porch. I had wanted to plant flowers there last year, and so I pulled out all the weeds and starting digging, only to find that below the small layer of gravel there was sand! I also found sandbox toys, and a container for holding lost teeth shaped like a molar. No teeth were inside, thankfully!

After finding these treasures last year, I went with plan B. I already had a flower I wanted to plant there, so I just dug a hole in the sand, dumped in a bunch of soil, and planted the flower. It did great, so that is where the pumpkin went this year. I had some extra soil, so I gave it it's own mound. At first the leaves, which were a bit yellow when I put it in the mound, started dieing. But now there are new bright green leaves, and even the stem looks better! I predict that it will be a bit late in it's production, but if we get an extended growing season like we did last year, there will be pumpkins into early October!

And speaking of the squash family, I was doing my normal walk around the perimeter of the garden before actually working in the garden, when I noticed a squash vine borer! I was actually on the phone with my mom at the time (reception is better outside), so I didn't swear when I saw it, but she can attest I was rather upset and wanted to swear! My eyes got as wide as they could and I probably had the look of wrath on my face. I immediately reached for my scissors to cut the damn thing in half. However, it managed to fall into a rather thick area of grass, and therefore escaped certain death. I use the very evil 'cut in half' method on Japanese Beetles, because I don't want to spray all of my edible plants directly with a chemical, and because they tend to just sit there when I move in with the scissors. Bad news for the bugs, but great news for my plants.

With the advent of the squash vine borer's appearance, and it's much swifter movements, I knew I needed more than scissors, so Tom and I heading to the Home Depot and got some Ortho Max spray that is safe for use on edible plants. I then sprayed my zucchini plants, which is were I saw the bug, and will keep watching my pumpkins to see if I need to spray them too. I really don't like to use chemicals unless I absolutely have too. And one chemical I had to use again was the liquid fence spray. On a separate occasion from the squash borer, I came out to the garden to find two rabbits inside the garden! Luckily they did not do too much damage, but I immediately got the liquid fence spray and sprayed the perimeter of the garden when I was done working for the day. Crossing my fingers that they stay away!

More photos of the garden's progress from July 1st!
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Late Blight Warning!!!

2010-06-29T02:57:00.001-05:00

Last year my tomato plants became infected with the Late Blight fungus, so I have been watching for any reports telling me to start prevention treatments. Well, it finally happened. It is extremely important for the home gardener in Wisconsin to treat their plants with an anti-fungal spray or powder, not only to prevent Late Blight on your own crops, but to prevent Late Blight from spreading to the commercial potato industry. Not many people know that Wisconsin grows and exports potatoes every year, or that it is a big part of our farming industry, but it is right up there with dairy on the 'foods that come from Wisconsin' list. There have already been reports in Michigan, so that is why they have been sounding the alarm for preventative measures here in WI.

Links: http://milwaukee.uwex.edu/hort/index.cfm

To see what Late Blight looks like on different parts of the plant with a descriptor, click on the "Managing Late Blight in Tomatoes" link on the above page. You will need Adobe Reader or a similar program to see it.

http://fyi.uwex.edu/rockhort/2010/06/23/late-blight-prevention-recommended-now/

Late Blight used to only be prevalent South of Wisconsin, but it has finally made it up North and seems to be here to stay. If you want to find out if Late Blight is affecting crops in your area, or about other plant diseases, I suggest contacting your local Cooperative Extension Office. You can find yours here: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/ You'll want to look under "horticulture" when you get to the extension homepage if there is nothing right out in front. Also, local greenhouses and garden stores that sell tomato and/or potato plants, should have information as well.

Once the plant gets infected, it is very difficult to control the spread meaning you have to completely destroy your plants. The anti-fungal products that work against Late Blight do best as preventatives. Their success at control is limited, and they cannot get rid of the Blight all together. If you have Blight infected plants you should pull them completely out of the ground and put them in a plastic bag to go out with the trash. DO NOT COMPOST INFECTED PLANTS!

If your plants are still disease free, then you will want to get a fungicide spray or powder. They have Copper based products (like Bonide Copper Fungicide) that work well and are considered safe for use in organic gardening. There are also other products like Bonide Fung-Onil Multi-purpose Fungicide that will not only prevent Late Blight on tomatoes and potatoes, but will also prevent and/or kill a bunch of other fungus based plant diseases on several different plants. Either way, you'll be good to go!

PLEASE take the necessary steps to prevent the spread of Late Blight. Your tomatoes (and neighbors) will thank you!

Things are Fruiting!!

2010-06-29T01:58:00.003-05:00

I have been avoiding working in the garden as of late, because of the insane amount of mosquitoes we now have. Due to the massive amounts of rain that have fallen on us this month, mosquito populations have exploded seemingly overnight! Our local news station said that they should all die off in a couple of weeks without leaving millions of offspring, IF there is no more rain in the near future. Well the forecast for this week looks dry so far, but that doesn't mean it won't rain again next week! So in the interest of retaining as much of my own blood supply as possible, I sprayed Cutter Bug Control on the lawn. I sprayed it Saturday, and when I went out today (Monday), I noticed a huge difference! Thank you Cutter Bug Spray! I was careful not to spray it in the garden, or even up in the air in a manner that would allow it to drift in and affect the plants. It is not that I don't want to prevent bad bugs from being in my garden, but I would rather not consume chemicals that come with a warning label specifically telling me NOT to consume them. Crazy, I know!

As the above title claims, things in the garden are fruiting! One of the Jalapeño, two of the Cayenne, and one of the Hungarian Wax plants have peppers on them. Many of the others have been flowering, so I expect they will soon have fruits as well! And there are a bunch of zucchini fruits growing with a ton more flowers forming. I think I will have to start my canning efforts before the end of July! I also noticed my very first tomatoes of the season beginning on my "Husky" Cherry Tomato plant. The other tomato plants in the garden are growing taller and taller with more and more flowers on every new branch. They should have there own fruits forming very soon. I brought the big Tumbling Tom plant out with the intention of transplanting it into the garden today, but after a good hour and a half weeding session, I decided I would save that for tomorrow. It is rather big now, and I should be able to bury a good number of 'baby' branches while still leaving some foliage on top. I imagine it will start growing insanely as soon as it realizes it has a ton more space! I can't wait!

Another little adventure in gardening that I dabbled in this last week was SURPRISE! flower planting at my parent's house. On the evenings of the 24th and 25th, Tom and I made a trip down to my parent's place to plant some annual flowers and to drop off the tomato and pepper plants I had been plant-sitting. I should probably mention that Tom didn't actually plant anything, and was inside the air-conditioned house for most of the time we were at my parent's, but he did participate. He was SURPRISE! updating my parent's computers as well as cutting the tomato cages so that they would fit in the pots. So he did do something, it was just much cleaner, cooler work. My parents were enjoying their final days overseas while we worked away. They just arrived home Sunday and are pleased with what they have found! You could say 'we done good'. ;-)

I have attached two photo albums to this post. One is of the flowers I planted and the other is a progress report on the garden. Enjoy!

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Rain, Rain, and More Rain! 6/22/2010

2010-06-26T20:42:00.000-05:00

June 22, 2010:
Our wet and wild summer continues! There have been storms and flash flooding with more on the way. I have only watered the garden manually a couple of times this season, and it doesn't look like I will have to be watering it much in the near future. And with all the water that has been dumped on my garden, I am amazed that everything is still doing so well! There is one pepper, my serraño, that is not doing well. Ironically it is wilted and looks like it needs water! I am pretty sure that is not the case though. I am holding out hope that it will bounce back.

I did get out into the garden today to do some weeding and stake the tomatoes. I used tomato spirals for the first time last year, and I really liked them. I put additional supports around the plant after it has grown more, but it seems to be easier for me to get to the produce and to manage the indeterminate tomato plants with the spiral. Of course you have to make sure you keep the main stem working it's way up the spiral, so if you have a ton of tomato plants, or not a lot of time to spend in the garden, you may want to stick with a cage or something similar. You can see two of my tomato plants on the spirals in the album below!

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