As if I did not recognize the changes that have been happening, we have officially moved into fall. The tomatoes are slower to ripen even though we have a lot of them on the vine. The beans are growing and loaded with flowers as if they are saying the summer was just too darn hot to grow. The squash,cucumbers, and I are waging a battle with the spotted squash beetles in an effort to get more production. The buttercrunch lettuce is trying to bolt from the heat and the red leaf lettuce seems to be happy. Broccoli will soon be joined by cauliflower as the okra is beginning to wane.
There you have it. The garden is going through tremendous changes as we move toward much cooler and then cold weather. I too am distracted by the coming of Halloween and like Linus (from the Peanuts cartoons), I think I will need a great pumpkin patch next year. I love Halloween and have had an extensive fake graveyard in past years. I am going to try to put it out again this year.
I am also in the planning stages of next year's garden. It definitely needs to be moved to a better location that is not affected by the seasonal changes with respect to sunlight. I have a location picked out if we still have the house next year.
Bill, the dogs (we recently added a new puppy) and I do not need this large house. I need a house on one level and want a fenced yard for the dogs to play in. I will be better off in something without steps. I digress.
Next years garden will involve a modification to the boxes. I want some kind of circulating water throughout the system and that will mean we will have to connect the boxes with pipes and a pump for the water. We are convinced that the water sits still too long and a circulating system will make the boxes less prone to mosquitoes and enable us to keep lime and other stimulants for the plants moving through the water for capture.
One of the things I will add is another organic product called root blast. It is not as if these boxes need any help with that but roots mean healthy plants. If a plant is systemically healthy, it can fight bugs and diseases better and be able to come back.
I only wish that was true with people. On the 22nd,one of my life long friends lost her battle with breast cancer. Randi was one of my childhood playmates who I spent 13 years in school with. She was a special lady that made her cancer a reason to help other people. There are a good many women in the Atlanta area that have had the benefit of the Two Day Breast walk and her new endeavor, Breast Friends. I only wish her fight had been easier and she would still be here in twenty years.
Do what Randi did. Fight the forces that try to put everything down, be it bugs or cancer. Remember we all have a short time here on earth and we have to make an impact.
Fight for what is right, fight for yourself and fight for others who can not do it for themselves.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Changes a coming
We removed one box of okra and we were amazed at how thick the okra plants had gotten. We replanted with broccoli seedlings. Broccoli is in the cabbage family and as such, it is a crop for the fall. Broccoli also can survive a frost when so much of the garden can't.
There is a method to my madness. If I plant broccoli in a few boxes and harvest that crop, I can plant the box in the spring with squash plants. Apparently, the squash borers and beetles do not like cabbage crops. It is one of those companion planting I learned about in an article in Organic Gardening.
I also took the time to spray for the squash beetles and hand picked and killed larvae and beetles off of my cucumber and squash plants. There has to be a better way to handle this problem next year and I intend to find it.
The harvest total is over 210 pounds and the beans, replanted tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, squash, cucumbers, and okra continue on. I don't know if I will see 300 pounds this year but I fully intend to experiment with a circulating water system for the boxes and tomato grafting. My only problem will be to find the grafting items that have to be used.
This year has been good and next year will be better. I HOPE.
There is a method to my madness. If I plant broccoli in a few boxes and harvest that crop, I can plant the box in the spring with squash plants. Apparently, the squash borers and beetles do not like cabbage crops. It is one of those companion planting I learned about in an article in Organic Gardening.
I also took the time to spray for the squash beetles and hand picked and killed larvae and beetles off of my cucumber and squash plants. There has to be a better way to handle this problem next year and I intend to find it.
The harvest total is over 210 pounds and the beans, replanted tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, squash, cucumbers, and okra continue on. I don't know if I will see 300 pounds this year but I fully intend to experiment with a circulating water system for the boxes and tomato grafting. My only problem will be to find the grafting items that have to be used.
This year has been good and next year will be better. I HOPE.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
We got beans a comin'
I finally have flowers on my beans. The summer heat played havoc with my garden and we are still at 200 pounds and counting, but one of the hardest hit by the heat were the earlier beans. Apparently, we just had too much heat this year and a neighbor stressed that she could not get any beans either. Even one of my doctors who is a weekend gardener said he got two potfuls of beans and then they died.
The sugar snap peas are dawdling like a turtle and a hare race. They rushed out of the ground only to go so slowly now. They are still very tender and young. The tendrils that the peas use to help them climb are very easily broken, not like the ones on my pole beans that could strangle somebody.
We now have lots of new tomatoes growing, the lettuce is getting closer to a salad bowl everyday, and much to my dogs' delight the zucchini and patty pan are giving us a bountiful harvest. Maggie, my 11 week old doxie pup, is enjoying squash like the rest of her family.
With each changing season, we can grow different things, but we can never have the really good things at the same time.
That's a gardener's life.
The sugar snap peas are dawdling like a turtle and a hare race. They rushed out of the ground only to go so slowly now. They are still very tender and young. The tendrils that the peas use to help them climb are very easily broken, not like the ones on my pole beans that could strangle somebody.
We now have lots of new tomatoes growing, the lettuce is getting closer to a salad bowl everyday, and much to my dogs' delight the zucchini and patty pan are giving us a bountiful harvest. Maggie, my 11 week old doxie pup, is enjoying squash like the rest of her family.
With each changing season, we can grow different things, but we can never have the really good things at the same time.
That's a gardener's life.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
TWO HUNDRED POUNDS plus
As of today, my garden has now produced 201 pounds, 4 ounces of vegetables and herbs. I thought it would do well if it produced 150 pounds of veggies, etc.
Now, now, you disbelievers. I have keep careful records of the production and have a good digital scale to measure the production. I, too, am sort of in disbelief.
The real measure of a person's gardening skills is not whether or not something grows, but rather how much you get in your harvest. I totally lost one of the seasons that I could have grown broccoli, sugar snap peas, cauliflower, lettuce, radishes, potatoes, and other vegetables.
We have now produced more than a third of a pound of produce per square foot and headed for a half. We have two more months of growing season and we have a lot planted for the fall.
I would like to try the broccoli and cauliflower transplants next. I want to see how cauliflower grows, because the way you get the white heads is you have to blanch the heads with their leaves. That means you keep the sun out to get rid of the green in the cauliflower.
The green is chlorophyll and without sunlight it ceases to produce the green color. Some of the methods we use in the garden seem a little bizarre but they work. Why should we try to mess with the perfection that our gardener forefathers and mothers have developed.
Go find something you can do better than some of the old methods. I have tried to and most of the time the tried and true is better than the new.
My oldest daughter always says, "I prefer the old and inferior to the new and superior." I couldn't agree more.
Now, now, you disbelievers. I have keep careful records of the production and have a good digital scale to measure the production. I, too, am sort of in disbelief.
The real measure of a person's gardening skills is not whether or not something grows, but rather how much you get in your harvest. I totally lost one of the seasons that I could have grown broccoli, sugar snap peas, cauliflower, lettuce, radishes, potatoes, and other vegetables.
We have now produced more than a third of a pound of produce per square foot and headed for a half. We have two more months of growing season and we have a lot planted for the fall.
I would like to try the broccoli and cauliflower transplants next. I want to see how cauliflower grows, because the way you get the white heads is you have to blanch the heads with their leaves. That means you keep the sun out to get rid of the green in the cauliflower.
The green is chlorophyll and without sunlight it ceases to produce the green color. Some of the methods we use in the garden seem a little bizarre but they work. Why should we try to mess with the perfection that our gardener forefathers and mothers have developed.
Go find something you can do better than some of the old methods. I have tried to and most of the time the tried and true is better than the new.
My oldest daughter always says, "I prefer the old and inferior to the new and superior." I couldn't agree more.
Everybody is waiting
As the summer draws to a close with the fall equinox coming in about 10 days, all of my friends and relatives are wanting more fruits from their gardens. The problem is the gardens are mostly gone from the heat of the summer.
I have one of the few gardens still in full bloom and my tomato plants have a lot of flowers and little tomatoes. My cucumber plants have small fruits on them and the lettuce is really growing. My beans look like they are getting ready to flower and have beans. My squash plants are loaded with flowers and tiny squashes.
However, the finality of the summer is evident in so many ways. The sunlight has shifted in my garden and I know if we are still in this house next year, I have to move the garden to a location where the sun is the same for the entire growing season.
It makes me want to move the garden to the hill on the side of the house and allow the sun to make the moves that it will inevitably make. I, like most people, never thought much about the earth sciences when I was in school. I was a biology, anatomy and microbiology person. I reveled in those type of things.
As the fall continues its path toward us, I know it is time to sit down and look at the production of this summer's garden. It is time to evaluate growing methods, seed cultivars, and other changes we have to make next year.
I know that I want to use the Grow Boxes again, I know I want my son Lane to design a better base for the cages (that will happen during winter break), and I know I can never go back to not having a garden again.
My garden is my Zen, my meditation, my peace.
I have one of the few gardens still in full bloom and my tomato plants have a lot of flowers and little tomatoes. My cucumber plants have small fruits on them and the lettuce is really growing. My beans look like they are getting ready to flower and have beans. My squash plants are loaded with flowers and tiny squashes.
However, the finality of the summer is evident in so many ways. The sunlight has shifted in my garden and I know if we are still in this house next year, I have to move the garden to a location where the sun is the same for the entire growing season.
It makes me want to move the garden to the hill on the side of the house and allow the sun to make the moves that it will inevitably make. I, like most people, never thought much about the earth sciences when I was in school. I was a biology, anatomy and microbiology person. I reveled in those type of things.
As the fall continues its path toward us, I know it is time to sit down and look at the production of this summer's garden. It is time to evaluate growing methods, seed cultivars, and other changes we have to make next year.
I know that I want to use the Grow Boxes again, I know I want my son Lane to design a better base for the cages (that will happen during winter break), and I know I can never go back to not having a garden again.
My garden is my Zen, my meditation, my peace.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Mary, Mary quite contrary
My friend Mary had a birthday on the 9th of this month. I sent her a birthday wish and she told me that she had been following the blog all summer long. She said she felt she needed something like this next summer for herself.
I understand the need to watch things grow. Mary used to teach kindergartners in an elementary school. She watched the careful development of the children in the same manner that I fuss over my plants outside. Since she retired a few years ago from teaching,the garden would be a great way for Mary to enjoy that growing.
Mary has two grown children, one of whom who will graduate next year from The Citadel. We are all proud of him, but I also know that the careful watching of children growing into adulthood is basically over for Mary and myself.
My hope is that Mary will get some of the Grow Boxes next year. She can then watch the little seedlings grow to plants. They will give her their love by providing her with some of the fruits of her labor.
Mary joked that then she could say "Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row." The silver bells can be squash and the rest is up to Mary.
Only problem is Mary is not contrary. She is as beautiful as her plants will be.
I understand the need to watch things grow. Mary used to teach kindergartners in an elementary school. She watched the careful development of the children in the same manner that I fuss over my plants outside. Since she retired a few years ago from teaching,the garden would be a great way for Mary to enjoy that growing.
Mary has two grown children, one of whom who will graduate next year from The Citadel. We are all proud of him, but I also know that the careful watching of children growing into adulthood is basically over for Mary and myself.
My hope is that Mary will get some of the Grow Boxes next year. She can then watch the little seedlings grow to plants. They will give her their love by providing her with some of the fruits of her labor.
Mary joked that then she could say "Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row." The silver bells can be squash and the rest is up to Mary.
Only problem is Mary is not contrary. She is as beautiful as her plants will be.
Jimmy is happy
Jimmy and Beanie have been watching the garden very carefully. They love their squash and they want to be sure that they will get their fair share. I am really trying to meet their demands and I have replanted at least four Grow Boxes with squash.
I agree with them on the quantity and I have plans to make next summer's crop better than this year's crop. I intend to order injectors that have a nematode sponge in it. Add water and then the mixture is injected into the stem of squash family plants because they are hollow. The nematodes are supposed to be a natural deterrent to squash bugs.
Tonight I fooled them with squash I bought in Charleston over the weekend. They anxiously awaited the cooking and then finally-the prize. Squash in a bowl for each one of them.
I had two dogs and two humans in heaven. Wait until we eat the cache of squash I have in the refrigerator.
It will be heaven. Or at least on earth.
I agree with them on the quantity and I have plans to make next summer's crop better than this year's crop. I intend to order injectors that have a nematode sponge in it. Add water and then the mixture is injected into the stem of squash family plants because they are hollow. The nematodes are supposed to be a natural deterrent to squash bugs.
Tonight I fooled them with squash I bought in Charleston over the weekend. They anxiously awaited the cooking and then finally-the prize. Squash in a bowl for each one of them.
I had two dogs and two humans in heaven. Wait until we eat the cache of squash I have in the refrigerator.
It will be heaven. Or at least on earth.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
"Nomaters"
My niece Shelley, my great nephew Landon's mom, sent me an email last night about her garden and how she will hate it when the time comes for the garden to die out. I fully understand how she feels. Part of it is that Landon loves his "nomaters" and he loves to pick them to eat.
You might find that strange but this little boy loves his garden as much as he loves to eat vegetables. He is a joy to have at a table and he is very articulate and smart.
I am a little bit prejudiced when it comes to Landon.
Next season, I intend to get him some little gloves for the garden and a small garden hat to protect his blond head and blue eyes. He is what everybody considers the all American boy and so was his dad, Jake. Jake was my first little blond, blue eyed boy that had my heart and his son Landon certainly has it now.
Next winter, yes winter, we will start tomato, bell pepper, squash and bean seeds. I want to be able to spend the first weekend after tax season planting the boxes in the garden. I have grow lights left over from one of my boys' science projects. I will start the seeds with warming units and use the light for the sunlight. That way I can control the amount of sunlight they will get.
I can create better transplants at a much more reasonable price and any of the extras can go to friends and relatives for their 2011 gardens. My sister and my niece will certainly be the recipients of some of the plants.
My recent foray into starting seeds has at last yielded some nasturtium, bean, tomato and sugar snap pea seedlings. The sugar snap pea seedlings will be planted over the next few days and a cage will be added for the seedlings to climb.
I am hoping to have beans and peas for Landon to come pick. I only hope that I have genetically passed my love of the garden to him. What I realistically know is that what he will learn at my hand and garden may be something he may take with him into his adulthood.
I don't love the growing of flowers the way my mother did, but I do love the process of watching the seed or plant grow. It is a marvelous process and something we can only participate in.
For all of the people that think you are the greatest gardener, you can grow a tomato but you can't make one.
You might find that strange but this little boy loves his garden as much as he loves to eat vegetables. He is a joy to have at a table and he is very articulate and smart.
I am a little bit prejudiced when it comes to Landon.
Next season, I intend to get him some little gloves for the garden and a small garden hat to protect his blond head and blue eyes. He is what everybody considers the all American boy and so was his dad, Jake. Jake was my first little blond, blue eyed boy that had my heart and his son Landon certainly has it now.
Next winter, yes winter, we will start tomato, bell pepper, squash and bean seeds. I want to be able to spend the first weekend after tax season planting the boxes in the garden. I have grow lights left over from one of my boys' science projects. I will start the seeds with warming units and use the light for the sunlight. That way I can control the amount of sunlight they will get.
I can create better transplants at a much more reasonable price and any of the extras can go to friends and relatives for their 2011 gardens. My sister and my niece will certainly be the recipients of some of the plants.
My recent foray into starting seeds has at last yielded some nasturtium, bean, tomato and sugar snap pea seedlings. The sugar snap pea seedlings will be planted over the next few days and a cage will be added for the seedlings to climb.
I am hoping to have beans and peas for Landon to come pick. I only hope that I have genetically passed my love of the garden to him. What I realistically know is that what he will learn at my hand and garden may be something he may take with him into his adulthood.
I don't love the growing of flowers the way my mother did, but I do love the process of watching the seed or plant grow. It is a marvelous process and something we can only participate in.
For all of the people that think you are the greatest gardener, you can grow a tomato but you can't make one.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Probably the final plantings
I have transplanted 18 lettuce transplants into the Grow Boxes. I will also plant the squash transplants I started.
I can already see the difference in the length of the daylight and the change in the sun's direction. The earth is turning on its axis and the seasons are starting to change for the fall.
I shared my garden today with a lady I met a Home Depot. Ruth liked the way it was set up and she liked the Grow Boxes, which are far superior to the Earth Boxes. They are easier to handle and the water wicks better in the Grow Boxes.
She took pictures to share with some people she knows who spend the summer on a house boat. She thought they could use the boxes for fresh vegetables next summer. I told her their applications were endless.
There is a certain finality to the fall garden, and it just does not have the promise that spring always brings to the season. As the cycle goes round and round, so do the things we plant for their season. Most vegetables run through two seasons and the spices can go three or more.
Take the tomato plant or as my great nephew Landon says the "nomator". Its season starts during the warmer second season and through the hot summer and into the cooler fall. Fall tomatoes seem to lose some of the flavor of the warm, delicious taste of summer tomatoes.
I will have the opportunity this fall to start tomatoes and herbs for my South Florida part of my family. My son-in-law, Abe, my grandson, Eric, and my daughter, Kimmie, will be the benefactors of the fruits of Kimmie and my labors. I sincerely hope that they will enjoy their garden as much as I love mine.
You are probably sitting there saying I just was complaining about fall tomatoes. The difference is the latitude of South Florida is much closer to the equator. South Florida is a subtropical area where you can grow fruits that grow in the islands and the like. You can grow magnificent mangoes, bananas, papayas, star frui, etc. in South Florida.
The growing season is September to May and they have the ability to do what Israel has given to the world of organics. Since Israel is also more or less subtropical, they discovered something called soil solarization. The Israelis water the ground and stretch clear plastic across the dirt. This is done at the end of planting season and the beds bake under the plastic during the summer months. The effect is to kill off all nematodes and increase the fertility of the soil by about 100%.
I have started Big Mama tomato seeds for the South Florida crowd and I am going to take a cutting off of my Purple Cherokee for large slicing tomatoes. I know my Kimmie loves homemade pasta sauce and the Big Mamas are a large Roma type tomato.
I can't wait to train the next generation of gardeners. I know it's in her blood, just got to reach in and pull it out.
Don't worry Kimmie, Mama is coming.
I can already see the difference in the length of the daylight and the change in the sun's direction. The earth is turning on its axis and the seasons are starting to change for the fall.
I shared my garden today with a lady I met a Home Depot. Ruth liked the way it was set up and she liked the Grow Boxes, which are far superior to the Earth Boxes. They are easier to handle and the water wicks better in the Grow Boxes.
She took pictures to share with some people she knows who spend the summer on a house boat. She thought they could use the boxes for fresh vegetables next summer. I told her their applications were endless.
There is a certain finality to the fall garden, and it just does not have the promise that spring always brings to the season. As the cycle goes round and round, so do the things we plant for their season. Most vegetables run through two seasons and the spices can go three or more.
Take the tomato plant or as my great nephew Landon says the "nomator". Its season starts during the warmer second season and through the hot summer and into the cooler fall. Fall tomatoes seem to lose some of the flavor of the warm, delicious taste of summer tomatoes.
I will have the opportunity this fall to start tomatoes and herbs for my South Florida part of my family. My son-in-law, Abe, my grandson, Eric, and my daughter, Kimmie, will be the benefactors of the fruits of Kimmie and my labors. I sincerely hope that they will enjoy their garden as much as I love mine.
You are probably sitting there saying I just was complaining about fall tomatoes. The difference is the latitude of South Florida is much closer to the equator. South Florida is a subtropical area where you can grow fruits that grow in the islands and the like. You can grow magnificent mangoes, bananas, papayas, star frui, etc. in South Florida.
The growing season is September to May and they have the ability to do what Israel has given to the world of organics. Since Israel is also more or less subtropical, they discovered something called soil solarization. The Israelis water the ground and stretch clear plastic across the dirt. This is done at the end of planting season and the beds bake under the plastic during the summer months. The effect is to kill off all nematodes and increase the fertility of the soil by about 100%.
I have started Big Mama tomato seeds for the South Florida crowd and I am going to take a cutting off of my Purple Cherokee for large slicing tomatoes. I know my Kimmie loves homemade pasta sauce and the Big Mamas are a large Roma type tomato.
I can't wait to train the next generation of gardeners. I know it's in her blood, just got to reach in and pull it out.
Don't worry Kimmie, Mama is coming.
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