DanO's Garden

I think I just caught the feeling of Spring!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:19:51 PST

Maybe you can’t tell from this picture, but it is happening! Ever so slowly, sol is creeping more to the north every day as February is now nigh. Now, with global warming taking a firmer hold, a beautiful day in the upper sixties became a reality this date as I wandered out and about my yard checking to see what might be growing and what is still in winter repose.

My small planting of Romaine lettuce is hanging in there. From past experience, I know that as the days lengthen, these small plants will have a growth spurt. A short time later, I should have some pretty decent heads to harvest.

Also, up and growing are the tulips I planted last August. Some of the plants are now about two to three inches high. Wow! I wonder if I can have blooms even in February? That would be a real jolt and a further confirmation that the climate is a changing. A subject of a recent Scientific American article that discusses how past changes in climate have brought down entire cultures!

Check out my webcam at WUnderground.com!

Check your seed packets! It's getting warmer!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:58:59 PST

For the first time since 1990, the feds have updated and released a hardiness growing map that has added two new zones and which has seen a shift to the north for many area of the country. While not admitting to global warming they felt something had to be done when folks in locations like Illinois began to observe bushed beginning to flower in January!

Here in southwest Missouri, I'm getting ready to welcome spring in late February by planning on working my raised beds a full month earlier than normal. I want to get onion sets planted as early as possible to give them a proper chance to bulb up. According to the new map, I went from Zone 6 and am now flirting with Zone 7. Wow!

Tulips I planted in the fall are already up!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:31:34 PST

And you know what? I think, it being the first week of January and all, that it’s a wee bit early for that sort of nonsense to be going on! We still have a ton of time yet to go and I’m a fearing that these bulbs will get hurt when the weather takes a real nose dive.

I was given these bulbs by a lady who drove by my house one day and offered them to me, saying that she had these as leftovers. I thanked her and planted them in both the front and back yard in selected spots. Then forgot about them until one afternoon a day or so ago, I spotted them coming up. My thinking it that the weather has been a lot warmer than it should be. December was warm and January has been warmer still! I have to wonder. Is this due to global warming? Or, it is just Mother Nature being her flaky self? Well, we still have eleven weeks of winter to go and time will tell.

On a positive note, my romaine lettuce and kale have done well in the small cold frames I maintain out front. Even a small patch that was planted on the ground is still growing nicely. And, while the harvest will be sporadic and small, it still is nice to get some fresh greens this time of year. While at the grocery, yesterday, I saw heads of iceberg lettuce that were selling for $1.69 a head. Eee gads!

My garden plan for 2012 will be based on the disaster that was 2011!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:23:43 PST

January is approaching and as the cold of the winter months begins in earnest, I find this period of time is a great opportunity to sit down in my easy chair and make my plans for what I'd like to do in 2012. Like many plans we make, sometimes it's best to look backwards before moving forwards.

In this case, I wanted to review some of the challenges I faced in the spring and summer of 2011 to help me make some changes that might improve my harvests. Last year was not all I had hoped it would be as one crop after another failed for various reasons. Following is a list of some of them:

Too much moisture early on in the spring!

As a warmer than normal spring progressed in southwest Missouri in 2011, I had made a great start on plants like romaine lettuce, radishes and carrots. They had sprouted and, though still small, were looking good. Suddenly, towards the end of April, the rains came and came and came. All told, a narrow band of real estate from about the Arkansas border north, up to Ozark, got upwards of thirty inches of rain when fifteen would have been more the norm for the three month period Mar-May. That much rain, in such a short period of time really set back the plants that didn't outright drown!

It got hot hot hot!

After the flood, came the heat of summer which was also way above normal. The month's of June through August averaged over four degrees above normal with many days topping the hundred degree mark. All that heat when combined with average moisture helped to create a bumper crop of hungry bugs!

When bugs attack!

2011 saw three waves of bugs in my garden area and that's not counting the locusts that made hearing difficult! The first wave occurred in June with the appearance of the Japanese beetle, a bug with an appetite for just about every veggie and flower. Then came the cucumber beetles followed swiftly by the squash bugs that finished off whatever crops the other bugs had missed.

By mid July, I had retreated into air conditioned comfort and contented myself with watching the carnage through a window that over-looked the back yard. Outside I could just make out the audible crunching sounds of thousands of insects who were busy reducing my plants to stems and twigs.

After a bad year like that, I plan to make some changes in the 2012 garden that will be posted later in January. Happy gardening!

My lost and re-found amaryllis!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 07:30:06 PST

Last year about this time, my sister had bought an amaryllis which produced three beautiful white blooms. After these had gone by in January, I transferred the bulb to a spot in the garden and basically forgot about it.

As the summer wore on, I did notice that the plant had put up some beautiful green leaves. Then, I forgot about it again until it was late fall and I was doing some cleanup in the back yard. That’s when I decided to dig it up, place in a paper bag and tossed it into the lower part of my refrigerator. Then, you guessed it, I forgot about it yet again.

Only now, on Christmas Day did it come to mind. Sure enough, there it was right where I had left it; in the back of the vegetable bin. I rescued it this morning and low and behold, it looked to be in pretty good shape! So, I figured what the heck and have re-planted this Christmas bulb back into a pot to see what happens.

If this bulb produces anything at all, I’m sure it will be sometime in February or even later. But, what the heck, if it does I’ll enjoy it just as much!

Update: This bulb never made it. I threw it out on January the 14th.
Update: Actually, as I was preparing to dump it on the 15th - lo and behold.... a bit of green!

Growing onions are popular! Who knew?

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 10:31:26 PST

For many years now I've made it a habit of grabbing a small bag of onion sets in late winter at my local frocery store to plant in and around my two raised beds. Each bag generally contains something like 40 to 50 minature onions that, once place in the soil, require very little maintenance. Then every summer and fall, I have had a continuous supply for salads, soups and burgers.

But, imagine my surprise when a short video I made on YouTube two years ago, became popular. In fact it has received over seventy thousand views so far, to date. That was amazing to me, at first, but after thinking about it for a while maybe it's fitting. When you take home gardening as a pastime, it far surpasses most other hobbies by an incredible margin. Someone once told me that the money spent on home gardens in America even surpasses all the money made in professional sports!

This coming season, I think I might even consider doing a few more videos that focus on garden basics. I've come to realize that there is a whole new generation of young people out there who want to learn to garden but who lack some of the basic knowledge required to do so. So, we'll see what I come up with.

January is the pits for us gardeners!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 06:51:58 PST

Forsyth Mo. - At least for many of us here in the Midwest, and even though my birthday falls in the month of January, it's still my least favorite time of the year. Sure, the days are getting marginally longer (from Jan 1 a day will be 19 hours and 39 minutes to Jan 31 when they will be 10 hours and 19 minutes), but so what? I mean who can jump up and down when the average temperature is the same as the freezing point of water? Give me July and those nice and hot fourteen hour plus days!

At this time of year the garden out my window looks to be beyond repair. The ground is frozen and pretty much the only thing growing (outside of my cold frames) is a couple of hardy kale plants! I guess I could spend my time looking at garden seed catalogs per chance that I might dream of a garden yet to come… but that’s not as fulfilling as the real deal.

Speaking of catalogs! Have you seen the price they are charging for seed? Add in the hefty shipping charges and I don’t see how anyone would want to buy anything over the internet. This year, like the last, I’m planning to go to a garden center like Home Depot where I can get the same seed for half the price! I also need to plan on buying some more soil and compost to rejuvenate what's already in the raised beds. Every year the amount of soil seems to go down and I have no idea of what happened to it!

One of my other challenges for the coming spring will be what to do about the wooden borders on one of my raised beds. The lumber is rotting and needs to be replaced. Trouble is, the cost of lumber has gone sky high also. I may elect to make some trips to a nearby river where I can haul up some rocks to use instead. Hey! The exercise couldn’t hurt either!

Cost of making a loaf of white bread!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 11:29:02 PST

For fun, I computed what it actually costs to make a loaf of bread in a bread maker from West Bend. I used a traditional recipe (see insert), containing bread flower, sugar, salt, 2% milk and bread machine yeast. Here is the result:

Ingredient	Amt in grams	Unit cost
Yeast	10	$0.40
Flour	549	$0.33
Butter	28	$0.26
Milk	312	$0.32

Electricity	.5 kWh	$0.05
Total		$1.36

When compared to the cost of a regular loaf of commercial bread this seems quite sane. Also, there are no preservatives in the bread, which will shorten the shelf life, but that’s OK with me!

Here was the end result!

Where is winter? Not in my cold frames!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:53:00 PST

It’s mid November and after a string of seventy degree days, the temperatures have dropped all the way down to the sixties! Wow. I can hardly believe how nice it is right at the moment! A quick excursion out to my small cold frames disclosed some very happy campers in the forms of lettuce, kale and even basil!

Now, I’m aware that it’s going to get cold at some point with even some frigid days thrown in when January hits, but all the same, it’s great to get some added food on the table this time of year.

A mini November harvest!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:58:53 PST

Actually, it's still fall and will be until December the 21st! But, after going through a few frosty nights now, I was surprised once again by how vegetables do endure. That came home to me when I went out back to harvest some kale to make for my dinner tonight. I harvested a few leaves and then noticed a nice bell pepper hanging on a pant that was devoid of leaves. I then discovered three beautiful and ripe cherry tomatoes! And just when I thought my cup had already 'runnith over', I cam across radishes that were huge! I brought a few inside thinking that they must be pretty tough, but again I was wrong. They tasted fabulous!

OK, I am now ready for winter! Maybe....

Free tulips from a very nice lady!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 12:37:24 PDT

One afternoon, recently, I had just finished raking leaves and had sat down to rest when a Champaign colored car stopped in the road in front of my place. A pretty young woman looked at me and asked if I would like some tulip bulbs she had left over. I said ‘sure’ and then later on that afternoon when I got home from the grocery store, sure enough; there was a plastic bag full of bulbs by my front door!

Now, I’ll admit that though I’ve seen this lady in the past, I could not for the life of me come up with either her name or in which house she lives on my street. My bad. I would have like to ask her a few questions as to how and when I should plant them (if you read this, please leave me a comment so I can get in touch). In the mean time, the net came to my rescue. Turns out the ‘now’ is the right time and that tulips are pretty tolerant of soil conditions.

So, trowel and bag of bulbs in hand, I went out and planted bulbs all over the front area of my house where I already had other things growing. The few extra’s I had left over went into the backyard. Now, hopefully all I have to do is wait patiently for spring to arrive and I’ll see just what kind of tulips they will turn out to be!

Fall weather is a perfect lettuce growing time!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 08:32:58 PDT

As most people know, lettuce likes cool weather. And, while most gardeners plant their lettuce crops in early spring, it’s actually even better if they think to include these in the fall months as well!

If you think about it, the fall provides plenty of warm weather early on to get seedlings up and growing, while providing cool and damp conditions later on. The lack of insects later in the season also helps the plants to reach their fullest potential. Most forms of lettuce, especially the romaine’s are not affected even when the temperatures dip below the freezing point. That makes them perfect for growing in cold frames where a harvest can be extended even into the winter months here in southwest Missouri! I also like to plant a few radish seeds as they mature fast enough to harvest before the real cold sets in!

This picture pretty much sums up my life!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:04:50 PDT

The rose is probably the last one of the 2011 season and it got stuck in a generic olive jar cause I couldn’t fine where I had stashed my small vase! The green tomatoes are there because I can’t decide if I want to make fried green tomatoes or not. And the picture is rather blurry! So you see, I’m a cheap late bloomer that never got vine ripened, and I have poor eyesight. Hmm. That's me alright!

Lettuce starts go into Cold Frame for the winter!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:53:34 PDT

Since I had a few romaine lettuce plants that were doing pretty well in the general garden, I thought it might be fun to transplants them into one of my two small cold frames for the winter. I call them CF1 and CF2 so I can keep them straight in my garden diary.

CF1 already had a couple of small kale plants growing in it while CF2 had two small basils. The basil will be a real challenge to keep alive this winter I can tell you that. Anything much below 40F and they’ll be goners for sure!

I also thought to place a wireless temperature sensor in CF1 to keep an eye on just how cold they will be getting. Generally speaking, temperatures are not a problem until sometime in December when things can get a little dicey. But, right now, the daily highs normal in the mid fifties, the growing conditions will be just right for them to get some growth on prior to winter.

Better late than never!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 09:34:41 PDT

Like most men, I have a tendency to put things off until the very last minute. That goes double for my garden which has basically sat neglected for much of the fall. Now, just two days before a major cold wave that is sure to kill all my basil plants, I’m under the gun to get as much dried or frozen as possible.

For this job, I got out my trusty dehydrator, cleaned it up and then cut up a bunch of basil to go into the multiple tray thing-a-ma-jigs. I set the unit for 125F and will let ‘er run until late in the evening. On Monday, I hope to get another batch processed although I may end up chopping and freezing them in my deep freeze. Either way, I will be just a step ahead of a killing cold that is expected to drop into the low thirties by Wednesday. One advantage to drying basil inside is the wonderful aroma that fills a kitchen when the dehydrator is running.

Added to my list of chores will be moving all my plants that currently reside on the front porch inside. If I can get those two things done, I’ll count myself lucky and then go out and sit on the porch while it’s still warm!

Fall radishes from seed of spring plants!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:26:05 PDT

These radishes have answered one question I had. I found that you can plant a spring crop of radishes, let a few go to seed, collect the seeds and then re-sow them in the fall. That's pretty good to know!

A cherry tomato plant in chicken wire!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:46:33 PDT

This picture hurts my eyes every time I look at it, but the chicken wire is what saved this last remaining plant as all the others have been eaten up by critters. Amazingly, it’s also still producing fruit!

Everything else is pretty much kaput for this year. Even my late planting of romaine lettuce hasn’t panned out. Maybe the seed was too old, I’m not sure. In any case, I’ve decided to turn all the beds over in preparation for the coming winter. A winter that is forecast to be long, cold and snowy by the way. It would get a chance, do read the forecast carefully. I’m in agreement that things may get a little wacky with climate extremes due to some of the things going on with the sun (solar minimum) and with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Remember how this summer was? That’s also part of the same pattern, so you have been forewarned!

Time to plant some fall lettuce!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 06:36:40 PDT

As I have some romaine seed left over from the spring plantings, I thought it might be a good idea to great a few fall heads before the serious cold sets in. Since I have two small cold frames, I know from experience that I can raise the lettuce to the point where they will go into a form of hibernation over most of the winter months. If I time everything just right, I’ll be eating lettuce right through the month of December.

To start my seeds, I will be using a couple of six pack growing cells which will get two seeds each and I also plant to direct seed in a small area out in front of my home. The starting mix for the indoor trays will be Miracle Gro’s potting mix, or in plainer language, some mix I had left over from the spring. I let these sit in warm water for a few hours then planted the seed very close to the surface. I’ve found that lettuce seeds, in particular, respond to a process called ‘photo-activation’. Doing it that way, I get really fast germination, typically two to three days!

Once the seeds get to be about two inches high, they will go into the cold frames which are open at this time of year. I’ll do a short blog on that process in a couple or three weeks when my seedlings get to proper size.

Update: This is a fine how do you do! Nothing came up! Hmm, maybe the seed was too old. It could also be the gardener....

Dried basil is the best!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 09:02:41 PDT

This time most every year, I have a decent crop of basil plants growing here and there. I always try to plant some for drying purposes since I love to use dried basil during the winter for both my chili and spaghetti dishes. Basil is one herb that retains its essential oils rather well over the winter time if they have been properly dried first.

My method of drying involves a simple process. I gather the leaves then cut them up unto small pieces with a knife. Note that I do not wash the leaves first! That would remove the very oil you are trying to preserve! Inspect them carefully and remove any foreign matter. Next I take a cookie pan from the oven, cover it with paper towels and then will sprinkle the leaf pieces evenly over the top. Over this will go a cooking drying grill that helps to keep the dried leaves safe from the winds. That done, all there is left to do is leave the tray in a sunny location for the day and voila, you have dried leaves that can be crushed by hand and then stored in a suitable container.

A meager, but fitting, harvest on a fine Sunday in August!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 09:33:55 PDT

OK, I know this is not much to look at, especially when my neighbors are now bring in bushel baskets full from their estate gardens. It is August after all, the month of high harvest and plenty. But, perhaps God is sending me a message.

Perhaps the Lord is reminding me that I will be taken care of to the extent I need caring for. After all, the animals outside also had a hard summer of too much heat and too little water. They were also taken care of and were given the major portion of my labors this season. And, just maybe, that is also a good thing.

A new beginning: Fall plantings!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 05:16:40 PDT

After weathering stifling heat, all summer with little to show in my humble garden (it all burned up), I have bravely gone out and planted anew. The moderating temperatures helped get me out there again. Also, something ate the rabbits which were eating my crops, so that was another good point in favor of a renewed effort on my part.

As a cooler regime seems to be headed this way, it being late August and all, I decided to plant some radishes and lettuce. I did this last week after clearing out the weeds I’d let accumulate in both raised beds. I used a space of about four feet square and used up pretty much the remainder of my Little Caesar romaine seed. I also went ahead and planted a row of Cherry Belle radish as well as a row of kale, using seed that I had harvested from a single plant earlier in the growing season. To my amazement, many of the seeds germinated rather quickly and now I actually have hope of salvaging has been a meager growing season. I’ll just have to wait, water and weed now until the late fall harvest (I hope)!

The rising cost of vegetables at our stores!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 11:16:01 PDT

Here is a table that compares the cost of vegetables at a local grocery where I live in Forsyth Missouri. Note the 21% increase in just one year. This is not a scientific study, but a casual comparison. Yet, it's just another good reason to raise your own!

Moringa leaves make a great powder!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 11:32:07 PDT

I had occasion to harvest a couple of branches of leaves from one of my Moringa trees this week. After drying them under the sun for a few hours, I was amazed at how well they converted into powder form. For the process, I crumbled the leaves into a mortar and then ground it quickly into powder form. Finally, I placed the powder into a seal-able plastic container for storage until use. As you can see, there’s not much here. Still, it will be fun to experiment with and see if I can actually derive any of the rumored benefits (darker hair?) that are talked about on the internet.

Moringa trees, I am told, can grow as much as fifteen feet per year in tropical locales. One of mine, just before I lopped off the top had made it to six feet in about four months, so maybe there's something to what I read. That the leaves are extremely nutritious there is little doubt. It is called, after all, the Miracle Tree!

My Moringa trees are now over six feet tall!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 08:53:31 PDT

Well, it seems there’s at least one kind of plant that seems to enjoy hundred plus heat. My two Moringa trees have really grown this summer with one that is now over six feet in height! I may even have to buy a larger pot!

What’s even more exciting are the flowers that are now out and may produce some seed pods before too long. Interestingly, all parts of this tree are edible. The leaves are so nutritious that they are fed, in powder form, to starving children in other countries to help provide a balanced diet.

Both plants have been located, part time, on my balcony in full sun and then other times in my screened in porch where they have received only afternoon sun. Either way, they seem to like the conditions just fine!

I’ve had to water them each and every day as they seem to go through a lot. My one concern, right now, is how well they will fare this coming winter. These are true tropical trees and, as such, don’t respond well to temps lower than 50F.

Even if they don’t make it, they’ve been fun to watch and if I do get a few seeds from them, I’ll have some to plant next spring!

Mini Stuffed Zucchini - Part 1!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Owen) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 14:28:45 PDT

‘I had myself a mini stuffed zucchini

on a day of rain and gloom.

Found it in a blogger's entry

and made it up at noon.

The taste of this gourd is rather lame

not much pizzazz brought to the game.

But, still it provided a tasty lunch

zucchini, you see, has loads of crunch!’

DanO2011

This summer of 2011 has been a challenge on many fronts for Americans living in the Midwest, especially where it has concerned the elements. The weather here, where I live in southwest Missouri, has been exceedingly hot and dry for the entire month of July. While most of my vegetables just dried up and went away, I actually thought I had a chance at redemption with two zucchini plants that I started in June from seed. The plants attained full size, but did not (?) produce very much in the way of fruit. Pictured here is one, of only two, that I have been able to harvest so far. (Not very big is it)? Call me an optimist; I still thought that there might be enough here to try a stuffed zucchini recipe I came across while surfing the net. Of course, this will be a very mini-meal-deal as there is just not much to work with.

Now, before I got down to the actual recipe, I thought to write down some thoughts concerning this popular member of the gourd family; one that I have just recently made an intimate acquaintance with. It’s true! Only last week, I had my very first taste of cucubuta pepo as part of a combo dish I posted called ‘Pasta y calabacin’. The meal was very good and I was intrigued enough by this initial foray that I decided to continue experimenting a little more.

The zucchini, (did I mention this before), was a bit on the smallish side. But, I’ll assume that it’s still representative of a fully developed fruit. (Zucchini envy)? Picking it up, I noticed that the feel of the skin is very similar to that of a cucumber. (Amazing what your hands can tell you through intimate tactile sense). My probing fingers informed me that this is a ‘firm fruit’ that does not yield easily to pressure. Also, I could detect the presence of something like salubrious oil on the surface and though smallish, it still had heft to it. (OK, I admit this is beginning to sound a bit too erotic. Sorry ‘bout that)!

Surprisingly, lifting this little guy to my nose did not reveal much in the way of smell… I couldn’t detect anything, actually. So, in my mind, I already began to assume that there might not be much here in the way of aromatics. (Unless, that is, they were tightly locked up inside somewhere). As a side note, it’s a fact that many of the foods we find so pleasing depend on volatile oils that are released during consumption (mastication) which help excite our senses. And so, I wondered about that. Sadly too, our tongues can only discriminate between salt, sweet and sour tastes, and so, are somewhat limited. (If you’ve ever had a cold, then you know just how bland foods can taste)! Bottom line! This veggie seemed as bland as sand!

OK, so it’s about time to see what’s inside this little dude.Fortunately, I found another fragment left over from the calabacin dish from a day or so before. I carefully trimmed off both ends and then sliced the remaining section in half, long ways, to see what was what. This is the result of that operation. Hmm. Yes, not much to see! I’ll assume that the reason zucchini is popular is all about it have great texture from which to pile other stuff upon. If you want a well built home, you have to have a good base. And guess what? Sometimes, that’s really a good thing! Pasta, when you think of it, is also a non-entity with little intrinsic taste, and yet some of the best dishes in memory are built upon it. Lasagna anyone?

Coming soon! Mini Stuffed Zucchini Part 2. Click here! (Note: Don’t try clicking if the word ‘here’ is not orangish in color – duh!) On the other hand, if you really want to spend some time clicking on a word with no link, go for it! Anyone who gets up past a hundred clicks, please drop me a line. Densa is always out looking for new blood!