Okay, I was going to post every day- and I did alright, but the fact is that I can't keep up! What with family needs, finishing my MA write-up and defense, working on my latest novel (have a personal deadline I need to keep), working, looking for a job, and actually DOING the gardening, I just don't have the time.
I will post twice weekly.
Here's this week's post. It's about stumps. Granted, if you needed to clear stumps from your gardening area, you probably need to wait until next year now, but this article will help-- whenever you get to it.
So keep in mind that just because you have an unsightly trunk doesn't mean you are an ugly elephant.
Maybe we're talking about the trunk of an old tree on your property!
If you do have a tree stump on your property, there is one single best way to remove it. First, get a heavy chain, ala Jacob Marley. Second, wrap one end of your strong chain snugly around the stump. Third, attach the other end of the chain to your heavy duty truck. Fourth, drive.
Fortunately, this is also the most enjoyable way to remove a tree stump.
However, there are a variety of impediments to this method of removing a stump. Perhaps you lack a heavy chain, a tough truck or it might even be possible you don't have the space to work with for this approach. If the method described above is impractical for your situation, rest easy; there are plenty of other approaches to this job.
The bad news is that most of these other methods are not as fun and they require more work.
Method #1: Stump Killer
This method is listed because it takes the least effort. You can very easily find and purchase some stump killing chemicals from your local garden center or large DIY store. Follow the directions closely, being very careful not to spill the chemicals on the ground or other plants.
The directions usually include these steps:
*Drill several holes into the stump, usually from sides near the top, going in and down at a slanting angle.
*On a clear day, pour some stump killer into the holes.
*Wait a given period of time. Your stump will be killed from the inside out.
*After the time period is up, you should be able to easily yank the stump out. It will probably be rotten and brittle.
You can also put saltpeter into the holes. This stuff is usually a powder and you have to add water to it to help it dissolve into the stump.
Method #2: Stump Grinder
This is another fun approach, but it's sometimes difficult to find one of these machines that is available to rent.
If you can find a stump grinder, often fabricated by Vermeer or Carlton, you need to read the operator's manual carefully so that you don't put yourself or others in danger. You also want to make sure the stump isn't near buried lines or pipes.
Using a stump grinder is quite simple. This machines vary in appearance and mobility, but the good ones have a wheel at the front that is lined with carbide-tipped teeth. This wheel spins at a high velocity and you guide it into your stump and down into the roots. Most machines can go about twelve inches down into the ground.
You have to start with a stump that is not very high-- say six to eight inches at the most.
When the stump grinder is done, you will have loose soil and loads of wood chips. Use your hands or rakes to remove the chips, dump some soil in the space, and you are ready to put in grass or garden.
Method #3: Elbow Grease
Now we're done with the easy and fun approaches. This last method requires diligence and planning. If you go after your stump willy-nilly with a shovel and pick-axe, you are going to waste time and energy.
First, it is best if your stump is tall, say four to six feet. So if you are taking down an entire tree, don't cut it down close to the ground. Leave some height. Of course, if you are dealing with a stump that is only a couple feet tall or shorter, you will have to go with it. You won't have the leverage that height lends you, but you can still get the job done.
Second, you need to understand that trees have more than one type of root. There are the branching roots that extend in all directions from the base of the tree. These branching roots have smaller vein-like roots. Then the tree has a heart root. This is also called a tap root or flat root, depending on the tree. This root tends to go fairly straight down.
You want to get at that heart root in order to remove the stump completely and with as little work as possible.
Here's the procedure:
*If you have grass or foliage near the stump that you want to preserve, cover it with a tarp. Put your dirt and other debris on the tarp as you go.
*Use your spade to clear as much dirt away from the base of the stump as possible. You can go about 1 to 2 feet out from the stump. You might end up with a hole that has a large diameter, but that's going to be okay. You want space to work.
Go down as deep as you can with the spade. Use it to chop smaller roots and find and clear dirt away from larger roots.
*Get your pick-axe and chop the roots you've identified. Chop them in two places: as near to the tree as you can safely reach and about a foot out. You do this so your spade has plenty of space to work in clearing away more dirt.
*Use your spade and pick-axe to remove more dirt and whatever rocks you might find. As you get more than a foot down, start trying to clear dirt away from the base of the tree that has been under the ground. You are looking for that heart root.
*Keep following this procedure, going around the trunk and identifying and chopping roots, then clearing away dirt.
*After a few rounds of this, if your stump is high enough, push on the top. Start wiggling it back and forth. If you don't have a high enough stump, get a pry-bar or long crowbar and find a place to jam it so you can get some lift on the stump.
Don't try to pry or leverage the stump out in one go. First try to get some wiggle, then more and more movement until the stump is moving fairly well. If you have wiggle but cannot just pull the stump out, you are still after the heart root.
*Clear more dirt away, then angle your pick-axe so you are chopping at the root heading straight down from the stump. Chop at that root and then wiggle the stump more. You will soon find that you are getting more movement.
*With steady work, you will reach a point where you can pry or leverage the stump right out.
I followed this procedure with a tree last year and left about five feet above ground. With that height, I was able to leverage the tree out after only one or two rounds of chopping at roots; I didn't even have to find the heart root.
Of course, if you do have a heavy truck, a strong chain and plenty of space, you can skip all of this and be done in time for a cold lemonade and the basketball playoffs.
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Little update- moving along soon
So it's the middle of May and we still don't have much in the ground. Why? Because of weather and time issues. Over the last two weeks, we have had probably 40% rainy days and the temperature has been quite lame indeed.
We also need to get the garden tilled. We've never waited this long- and the truth is that we never wanted to wait this long. Again, it's been an issue of time and circumstance.
I don't think it will be a big problem. Okay, I hope it won't be.
Here are two pictures of the garden in its current state.
Yeah, it looks pretty good actually. All this rain at least has kept the dirt and the organics working together. Remember that you need to keep your compost and garden patches moist in order to encourage worms to show up.
Worms are friends.
In any case, we've got peas in our neighbor's garden patch. Her name is Donna. She's getting a little seasoned so she doesn't garden any more. Usually she invites a local family without garden space to use her plots. She couldn't find someone this year, so we're going to put our peas and tomatoes over there.
Here's a shot of our seedlings-- not so small anymore. I transplanted pumpkins, as you can see.
I will transplant tomatoes tomorrow night, probably film a segment and use that clip as my post tomorrow. You see, I used to be able to depend on Saturday as the day I could get a bunch done, but other things keep getting in the way, not the least of which being weather.
So I have to make time in the evenings to do these things. Which means I have to cut into my writing time. That's okay, all will get done.
I hope your gardening is going well. Remember that one of the best ways to keep weeds from being a massive pest is to nip them in the bud. As soon as you see them, take a hoe or a claw to them and yank them.
More tomorrow. Don't forget to follow, share and come on back!
We also need to get the garden tilled. We've never waited this long- and the truth is that we never wanted to wait this long. Again, it's been an issue of time and circumstance.
I don't think it will be a big problem. Okay, I hope it won't be.
Here are two pictures of the garden in its current state.
Yeah, it looks pretty good actually. All this rain at least has kept the dirt and the organics working together. Remember that you need to keep your compost and garden patches moist in order to encourage worms to show up.
Worms are friends.
In any case, we've got peas in our neighbor's garden patch. Her name is Donna. She's getting a little seasoned so she doesn't garden any more. Usually she invites a local family without garden space to use her plots. She couldn't find someone this year, so we're going to put our peas and tomatoes over there.
Here's a shot of our seedlings-- not so small anymore. I transplanted pumpkins, as you can see.
I will transplant tomatoes tomorrow night, probably film a segment and use that clip as my post tomorrow. You see, I used to be able to depend on Saturday as the day I could get a bunch done, but other things keep getting in the way, not the least of which being weather.
So I have to make time in the evenings to do these things. Which means I have to cut into my writing time. That's okay, all will get done.
I hope your gardening is going well. Remember that one of the best ways to keep weeds from being a massive pest is to nip them in the bud. As soon as you see them, take a hoe or a claw to them and yank them.
More tomorrow. Don't forget to follow, share and come on back!
Monday, May 10, 2010
A little bit about slugs.
Slugs were once the bane of my gardening existence. They chewed on my corn plants, left gaping wounds in my squash leaves, and decimated an entire crop of peas. After ranting and sobbing, I asked around to find out what worked to keep out slugs. Here is what I learned and what I now use. And it works.
*Don't use salt. Yes, it is fun to watch the nasty beasties shrivel up, but salt is not actually good for the soil. So don't use it.
*Beer works. Yep. It is true. Get a shallow tub and either bury it or do something else to help the slugs get into the booze and leave the tubs out for a few days. When you go to check on them, you will find that slugs can be alcoholics too, but that they have drowned more than their worries in their beer.
*Egg shells. This is all around the best way to go. They are easy to gather and easy to use. Basically, just put your used egg shells back into the carton until the carton is empty of eggs and filled with cracked shells. Then set your carton outside for a week or so. Maybe put it in a shed or something. When the shells are dry, dump them in a trash bag and stomp them to bits. Now you basically have glass for slugs. Spread this stuff around the base of the big plants and at the edges of the beds of raised plots. Basically you are making a wall of shattered glass that will slash the slugs and snails to bits. A bit bloodthirsty? Yes. Are we willing to kill for our gardens? Absolutely.
Some other methods of slug control include using a special kind of slug-repellant soil and even hair clippings. But those are both too much work and the soil can be quite expensive. So just stick with egg shells.
*Don't use salt. Yes, it is fun to watch the nasty beasties shrivel up, but salt is not actually good for the soil. So don't use it.
*Beer works. Yep. It is true. Get a shallow tub and either bury it or do something else to help the slugs get into the booze and leave the tubs out for a few days. When you go to check on them, you will find that slugs can be alcoholics too, but that they have drowned more than their worries in their beer.
*Egg shells. This is all around the best way to go. They are easy to gather and easy to use. Basically, just put your used egg shells back into the carton until the carton is empty of eggs and filled with cracked shells. Then set your carton outside for a week or so. Maybe put it in a shed or something. When the shells are dry, dump them in a trash bag and stomp them to bits. Now you basically have glass for slugs. Spread this stuff around the base of the big plants and at the edges of the beds of raised plots. Basically you are making a wall of shattered glass that will slash the slugs and snails to bits. A bit bloodthirsty? Yes. Are we willing to kill for our gardens? Absolutely.
Some other methods of slug control include using a special kind of slug-repellant soil and even hair clippings. But those are both too much work and the soil can be quite expensive. So just stick with egg shells.
Friday, May 7, 2010
A bit about bugs
A responsible gardener will make sure to be informed about how to keep their garden healthy. If that gardener is also wanting to stick with organic, they will need to learn many of the tricks of the organic trade. One of these tricks is knowing bugs. What not nearly enough people know is that there are many creepy-crawlies that actually do your garden a lot of good.
First off is the common earthworm. Not only good for fish bait (although I have never caught a fish with one), these little critters can make your soil incredibly healthy. You don't even have to pay any money for them. All you need to do to have these beauties working hard on your soil is toss vegetable and lawn cuttings on your garden and keep it wet. The moisture will attract the worms and they will munch those cuttings and turn them into rich soil. So keep your garden moist!
Another little guy that is good for your garden is actually referred to as a gal. It is the ladybug, sometimes called the ladybird. You know the kind. They are small, have rounded bodies that are usually some shade of red and polka-dotted, and they are good luck! These tiny, tickling bugs eat whiteflies and aphids like mad. To attract ladybugs to your garden, be sure to keep cup-shaped flowers and plants around. If ladybugs don't come to your garden, you can go to a nursery and pick some up! They're actually quite cheap.
The third crawly that is good for your garden is truly creepy. It is the spider. We are not talking about black widows or brown recluses. Just your regular spider. Let them make their home in the leaves of your garden and they will eat just about any other bug around! The little pill-bugs (wood lice) don't stand a chance! Just take care to not harvest at night! Sticking your hand into a lush tomato plant and having a spider drop on your fingers will just about turn your hair white!
Another little guy that is good for your garden is actually referred to as a gal. It is the ladybug, sometimes called the ladybird. You know the kind. They are small, have rounded bodies that are usually some shade of red and polka-dotted, and they are good luck! These tiny, tickling bugs eat whiteflies and aphids like mad. To attract ladybugs to your garden, be sure to keep cup-shaped flowers and plants around. If ladybugs don't come to your garden, you can go to a nursery and pick some up! They're actually quite cheap.
The third crawly that is good for your garden is truly creepy. It is the spider. We are not talking about black widows or brown recluses. Just your regular spider. Let them make their home in the leaves of your garden and they will eat just about any other bug around! The little pill-bugs (wood lice) don't stand a chance! Just take care to not harvest at night! Sticking your hand into a lush tomato plant and having a spider drop on your fingers will just about turn your hair white!
A final bug that will do your garden some good is the praying mantis. Yes, they offend us because the female eats its mate's head, but let's get past that, shall we? These long, unusual-looking bugs will chow down on regular meals of garden pests. So every time you see a mantis, pick it up and give it a comfy home in your squash plants or flowers.
Enjoy your bugs.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Another important issue for lawn health: Aeration
Okay, so now is a good time for aeration. You might have even had someone come to your door to convince you to pay them to aerate your lawns.
I hope you accepted.
Here's why.
The next time you go to a garden center or a DIY store's garden section, peruse the aisles that deal with lawn care.
As you walk down the aisle of the garden center your eye might be caught by an amazing looking device. It looks like a boot with spikes jutting out of the bottom. Is it an armored soccer or football shoe? No. It is a lawn aerator. But what is the difference between these spikes and the plug method of aeration? And which is better for your lawn? Let's explore some of the going wisdom about this issue.
SPIKES
A spike for your lawn is exactly what it sounds like. It jabs deeply enough into your lawn to get through the grass's root system. Theoretically, this allows air, water and fertilizer access to the roots of your grass, thus making the lawn healthier and greener. However, spikes simply don't cut it on lawns planted on heavy clay or even in very loose soil. Why? Because clay is very resistant and will often seal right up as soon as you slide that spike out. And looser soil will just fall back into the hole, filling it right back up. Spikes take no dirt and no grass out, like plugs, but instead they just make an iffy hole.
PLUGS
Plugs are, once again, exactly what they sound like. They are tiny cylinders of your lawn that are cut and pulled out by a machine. These cylinders leave behind small holes which don't collapse much, if at all. And if loose soil collapsed into these small holes, that would be fine, there would still be a hole left, as the plugs remove a small quantity of soil and grass. What is more, the plugs are left on your lawn to break down and actually provide some nice natural fertilizer for your grass. A small drawback of having plugs taken out for aeration is that these little plugs are indeed left all over your lawn. So for a day or two your lawn might look like a tiny gopher was building a metropolis under your yard. However, the plugs deteriorate fast with water and traffic. And the holes that the plugs leave behind provide good, reliable access for fertilizer, water and air to the root system of your grass.
Which do I recommend for your lawn's aeration? Plugs, all the way. A local grass care company should be able to plug your lawn in a matter of minutes, usually for no more than $20. So leave the insane cleats at the garden center and hurry home to call the aerator guy.
I hope you accepted.
Here's why.
The next time you go to a garden center or a DIY store's garden section, peruse the aisles that deal with lawn care.
As you walk down the aisle of the garden center your eye might be caught by an amazing looking device. It looks like a boot with spikes jutting out of the bottom. Is it an armored soccer or football shoe? No. It is a lawn aerator. But what is the difference between these spikes and the plug method of aeration? And which is better for your lawn? Let's explore some of the going wisdom about this issue.
SPIKES
A spike for your lawn is exactly what it sounds like. It jabs deeply enough into your lawn to get through the grass's root system. Theoretically, this allows air, water and fertilizer access to the roots of your grass, thus making the lawn healthier and greener. However, spikes simply don't cut it on lawns planted on heavy clay or even in very loose soil. Why? Because clay is very resistant and will often seal right up as soon as you slide that spike out. And looser soil will just fall back into the hole, filling it right back up. Spikes take no dirt and no grass out, like plugs, but instead they just make an iffy hole.
PLUGS
Plugs are, once again, exactly what they sound like. They are tiny cylinders of your lawn that are cut and pulled out by a machine. These cylinders leave behind small holes which don't collapse much, if at all. And if loose soil collapsed into these small holes, that would be fine, there would still be a hole left, as the plugs remove a small quantity of soil and grass. What is more, the plugs are left on your lawn to break down and actually provide some nice natural fertilizer for your grass. A small drawback of having plugs taken out for aeration is that these little plugs are indeed left all over your lawn. So for a day or two your lawn might look like a tiny gopher was building a metropolis under your yard. However, the plugs deteriorate fast with water and traffic. And the holes that the plugs leave behind provide good, reliable access for fertilizer, water and air to the root system of your grass.
Which do I recommend for your lawn's aeration? Plugs, all the way. A local grass care company should be able to plug your lawn in a matter of minutes, usually for no more than $20. So leave the insane cleats at the garden center and hurry home to call the aerator guy.
Monday, May 3, 2010
And now for something completely different
Okay, not completely different, but somewhat. I thought it would be nice to take a break and share a narrative I wrote about an early gardening experience I had. It was a, shall we say, learning experience.
It was April and the last snow of the season had come and gone. The back yard of my home in central Utah was beginning to show signs of life, with the green of grass warring with the yellow of budding dandelions. My garden plot was looking good. Really good. I had taken pains to put it to bed properly at the end of the previous season, and I had been planning this year's garden for five months! Five months of sketching designs and plans, layouts and trestles for beans. And now the time was fast approaching.
I turned to my wife. "Hey," I said, all innocent and completely ignorant of the pain I was about to commit myself to, "why don't we plant some corn?"
"Great idea." She squinted in thought. "Is it hard to grow?"
I shrugged. "No way. Everybody does corn."
Three weeks later I was ready. I had tilled the plot again, mixing in some nice steer manure and keeping it watered to get the worms excited. On a perfect, sunny Spring day, with a packet of seeds in hand, I dashed outside and planted four rows of corn in the southern end of the garden. I splashed some water on the five by ten foot area of future cobs and then moved north up the plot to put in some beans and zucchini.
Two weeks later I stared morosely at the bare plot. No corn sprouts. None. No future maize. Glaring at the dirt, then the sky, I asked, "Why?" Nobody answered. I jerked open the shed door and dug through my box of seed packets, finally coming up with the packet of corn seeds. Having only cursorily skimmed the planting instructions, I had not actually read all of the information available. Two lines down, I found the problem: Plant in warm ground in a sunny area.
I looked up and glared again. But this time, I glared at the trees that shaded the southern end of my garden for about six hours of the day. Muttering to myself, "Too early. Planted them too early. Gotta have warm ground," I made my way to my healthy tomato plants and took solace in their rough stems and fuzzy leaves. I broke a leaf off and inhaled that wonderful sharp aroma of the tomato plant's foliage. Recharged, re-energized and renewed, I weeded around my zucchini then went inside.
"Yeah, so we planted that corn in the wrong place," I said, stepping through the back door into my small home. "Needs to be in direct sunlight."
"What do you mean 'We'?" my wife asked, grinning at me.
I muttered something witty and rude and stalked off to the kitchen, in search of a drink of water. "Yeah, well we'll give it some time. Maybe as it warms up and stuff it'll grow okay."
My wife, Annemarie, gave me a hug. "You'll make it work." She loves that I love to garden. She enjoys it too, but she allows my seasonal obsession to run amok and she enjoys the fruits of said obsession. "Besides, we're in Utah. It's sunny here."
With greater hope, I was back outside every day of the next week, checking for sprouts. It was on a Thursday that it happened. I was sure it wasn't grass. The shape was wrong and it was too far away from the edge of the lawn. "A sprout!" I hollered, bringing my kids running and my wife walking: she was carrying the baby.
"Yay!" my two oldest boys shouted. "Corn sprouts!"
And it was true. There were several tender green shoots poking out of the tough Utah soil. I was elated. We were gonna have corn!
Two months later we were giddily eating raw green beans, raw peas, fresh zucchini and yellow squash, and were pretty sure our pumpkins were going to be big. But the corn stalks were two feet, maybe three feet, high. No sign of the fuzz that comes out the top for pollinating. No sign at all. And the stalks were thin and the roots were visible at the base of the stem. I had no idea what to do.
Then it happened. I came home from work on a blustery day that promised rain. I was beaming at the cloudy heavens, pleased that the sky was going to water for me. I walked in the front door, kicking off my boots and settling into my prized blue easy chair. My two oldest boys came dashing up. I held out my arms for hugs and kisses, but they stopped short, their eyes wide.
"Dad," my oldest boy, Thomas, intoned, "bad news." He was a well-read six and an oldest brother, both of which he took seriously.
His younger brother, Hintze, nodded in agreement. "Bad news!"
"The corn fell down," Thomas said.
Heat and cold tingles fought over my spine and face. "What?" I yelped, my voice cracking. I leapt to my feet, dashed through the house and flung the back door open wide. "No," I whispered. It was true. My small field of light-emerald, three-and-a-half feet high corn was leaning. No, more than leaning. Some of the stalks were practically horizontal. Slipping my feet into my work shoes, I hurried to the corn.
"See?" It was Thomas, coming up behind me, "It fell down. The wind did it."
I nodded, numb. But, never one to give up, I set to feverish action. I waded gently into the garden, my hands tenderly lifting each corn stalk back to its vertical position. The wind blew. The corn fell again. I cursed the wind and straightened my corn plants again, daring the wicked southwestern gusts to come again. They did; the corn fell. Muttering dire imprecations for all things stormy, I strode to my storage shed. My gardening twine in hand, I (seriously) gently roped each and every stalk up, tying the rows to firm anchors on each end. Now the wind blew impotently. My corn was going to live! It was going to thrive! It would provide loads of delicious, nourishing staple food for my family!
By the end of August, it was clear my corn would provide very little, if any, delicious, nourishing staple food for my family. The tallest stalk in my tiny field reached no higher than my neck, fuzz and all. Small nubs were growing here and there on the healthiest of the plants, but they were not developing well. In the end, we got five little cobs. Kernels had formed over maybe seventy percent of the cobs' body.
But I couldn't believe that this disaster was due only to insufficient sunlight. As a regularly successful gardener, I knew that sunlight was vital, but my corn looked well, malnourished. It looked like I was promised I would look if I drank coffee as a kid: stunted.
I read the back of the seed packet again. Plant in warm ground in a sunny area. The crumpled packet also informed that the corn would be ready for harvest in eighty-two days. It further informed me that the seed company had a long tradition of good seeds. But it did not explain why my corn looked like it had been on a forty day fast.
It turned out that my corn had indeed been on a fast. A forced fast. A fast caused by my ignorance; one caused by my eagerness to plant and unwillingness to study and learn about my crops before I planted them. I wound up asking a garden club I had just begun attending if they had any idea why my corn had been such a spectacular failure. The patron of the club smiled, not at all condescendingly really, and asked me if I had used nitrogen.
"Nitrogen?"
"Corn is basically a fruitful grass," he rumbled. "Grass absolutely needs nitrogen. You can get nitrogen pellets at the seed shop."
"Nitrogen?"
He nodded, taking a bite from a club member's home grown apple. "You've gotta have it. Otherwise, your corn won't come out."
"Nitrogen." Embarrassed at my ignorance, I buried my face in a plate of blueberry cobbler.
So what did my garden teach me? After long days of staring at bare ground and then obsessively urging my puny stalks to grow? Followed by weeks of wishing the corn cobs would finally form and thinking that corn was supposed to be taller, wasn't it? My garden taught me to look before I leap. To take a few minutes and get educated about what I am planting. My garden taught me to ask around and to talk to people in the area who have experience with vegetable gardens.
You know what? My garden also taught me that gardening is also about community.
It was April and the last snow of the season had come and gone. The back yard of my home in central Utah was beginning to show signs of life, with the green of grass warring with the yellow of budding dandelions. My garden plot was looking good. Really good. I had taken pains to put it to bed properly at the end of the previous season, and I had been planning this year's garden for five months! Five months of sketching designs and plans, layouts and trestles for beans. And now the time was fast approaching.
I turned to my wife. "Hey," I said, all innocent and completely ignorant of the pain I was about to commit myself to, "why don't we plant some corn?"
"Great idea." She squinted in thought. "Is it hard to grow?"
I shrugged. "No way. Everybody does corn."
Three weeks later I was ready. I had tilled the plot again, mixing in some nice steer manure and keeping it watered to get the worms excited. On a perfect, sunny Spring day, with a packet of seeds in hand, I dashed outside and planted four rows of corn in the southern end of the garden. I splashed some water on the five by ten foot area of future cobs and then moved north up the plot to put in some beans and zucchini.
Two weeks later I stared morosely at the bare plot. No corn sprouts. None. No future maize. Glaring at the dirt, then the sky, I asked, "Why?" Nobody answered. I jerked open the shed door and dug through my box of seed packets, finally coming up with the packet of corn seeds. Having only cursorily skimmed the planting instructions, I had not actually read all of the information available. Two lines down, I found the problem: Plant in warm ground in a sunny area.
I looked up and glared again. But this time, I glared at the trees that shaded the southern end of my garden for about six hours of the day. Muttering to myself, "Too early. Planted them too early. Gotta have warm ground," I made my way to my healthy tomato plants and took solace in their rough stems and fuzzy leaves. I broke a leaf off and inhaled that wonderful sharp aroma of the tomato plant's foliage. Recharged, re-energized and renewed, I weeded around my zucchini then went inside.
"Yeah, so we planted that corn in the wrong place," I said, stepping through the back door into my small home. "Needs to be in direct sunlight."
"What do you mean 'We'?" my wife asked, grinning at me.
I muttered something witty and rude and stalked off to the kitchen, in search of a drink of water. "Yeah, well we'll give it some time. Maybe as it warms up and stuff it'll grow okay."
My wife, Annemarie, gave me a hug. "You'll make it work." She loves that I love to garden. She enjoys it too, but she allows my seasonal obsession to run amok and she enjoys the fruits of said obsession. "Besides, we're in Utah. It's sunny here."
With greater hope, I was back outside every day of the next week, checking for sprouts. It was on a Thursday that it happened. I was sure it wasn't grass. The shape was wrong and it was too far away from the edge of the lawn. "A sprout!" I hollered, bringing my kids running and my wife walking: she was carrying the baby.
"Yay!" my two oldest boys shouted. "Corn sprouts!"
And it was true. There were several tender green shoots poking out of the tough Utah soil. I was elated. We were gonna have corn!
Two months later we were giddily eating raw green beans, raw peas, fresh zucchini and yellow squash, and were pretty sure our pumpkins were going to be big. But the corn stalks were two feet, maybe three feet, high. No sign of the fuzz that comes out the top for pollinating. No sign at all. And the stalks were thin and the roots were visible at the base of the stem. I had no idea what to do.
Then it happened. I came home from work on a blustery day that promised rain. I was beaming at the cloudy heavens, pleased that the sky was going to water for me. I walked in the front door, kicking off my boots and settling into my prized blue easy chair. My two oldest boys came dashing up. I held out my arms for hugs and kisses, but they stopped short, their eyes wide.
"Dad," my oldest boy, Thomas, intoned, "bad news." He was a well-read six and an oldest brother, both of which he took seriously.
His younger brother, Hintze, nodded in agreement. "Bad news!"
"The corn fell down," Thomas said.
Heat and cold tingles fought over my spine and face. "What?" I yelped, my voice cracking. I leapt to my feet, dashed through the house and flung the back door open wide. "No," I whispered. It was true. My small field of light-emerald, three-and-a-half feet high corn was leaning. No, more than leaning. Some of the stalks were practically horizontal. Slipping my feet into my work shoes, I hurried to the corn.
"See?" It was Thomas, coming up behind me, "It fell down. The wind did it."
I nodded, numb. But, never one to give up, I set to feverish action. I waded gently into the garden, my hands tenderly lifting each corn stalk back to its vertical position. The wind blew. The corn fell again. I cursed the wind and straightened my corn plants again, daring the wicked southwestern gusts to come again. They did; the corn fell. Muttering dire imprecations for all things stormy, I strode to my storage shed. My gardening twine in hand, I (seriously) gently roped each and every stalk up, tying the rows to firm anchors on each end. Now the wind blew impotently. My corn was going to live! It was going to thrive! It would provide loads of delicious, nourishing staple food for my family!
By the end of August, it was clear my corn would provide very little, if any, delicious, nourishing staple food for my family. The tallest stalk in my tiny field reached no higher than my neck, fuzz and all. Small nubs were growing here and there on the healthiest of the plants, but they were not developing well. In the end, we got five little cobs. Kernels had formed over maybe seventy percent of the cobs' body.
But I couldn't believe that this disaster was due only to insufficient sunlight. As a regularly successful gardener, I knew that sunlight was vital, but my corn looked well, malnourished. It looked like I was promised I would look if I drank coffee as a kid: stunted.
I read the back of the seed packet again. Plant in warm ground in a sunny area. The crumpled packet also informed that the corn would be ready for harvest in eighty-two days. It further informed me that the seed company had a long tradition of good seeds. But it did not explain why my corn looked like it had been on a forty day fast.
It turned out that my corn had indeed been on a fast. A forced fast. A fast caused by my ignorance; one caused by my eagerness to plant and unwillingness to study and learn about my crops before I planted them. I wound up asking a garden club I had just begun attending if they had any idea why my corn had been such a spectacular failure. The patron of the club smiled, not at all condescendingly really, and asked me if I had used nitrogen.
"Nitrogen?"
"Corn is basically a fruitful grass," he rumbled. "Grass absolutely needs nitrogen. You can get nitrogen pellets at the seed shop."
"Nitrogen?"
He nodded, taking a bite from a club member's home grown apple. "You've gotta have it. Otherwise, your corn won't come out."
"Nitrogen." Embarrassed at my ignorance, I buried my face in a plate of blueberry cobbler.
So what did my garden teach me? After long days of staring at bare ground and then obsessively urging my puny stalks to grow? Followed by weeks of wishing the corn cobs would finally form and thinking that corn was supposed to be taller, wasn't it? My garden taught me to look before I leap. To take a few minutes and get educated about what I am planting. My garden taught me to ask around and to talk to people in the area who have experience with vegetable gardens.
You know what? My garden also taught me that gardening is also about community.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Since it's Sunday
I'm going to post an article I wrote recently that provides a solid overview of organic gardening practices and principles.
Organic gardening can be broken into these areas: Soil, Plants and Nurturing.
SOIL
The basic idea of organic gardening is that chemicals that are harmful to the environment and potentially prejudicial to humans and animals are not used. So when you are preparing your soil, you basically just want to keep from using any chemical fertilizers.
The basic idea of organic gardening is that chemicals that are harmful to the environment and potentially prejudicial to humans and animals are not used. So when you are preparing your soil, you basically just want to keep from using any chemical fertilizers.
Manure, that lovely waste product of equines and bovines, is the best fertilizer out there. What's more, you want to try to get manure from animals that have been fed on alfalfa, rather than on grain such as corn. This just yields better, more balanced manure.
You can get bagged steer manure from your local gardening center usually. When you've gotten some manure, the method of application is simple. Simply spread it over the top of your garden area. If you are doing container gardening, go ahead and put it on the top of the soil in the containers. You are looking for a layer of a couple inches of the manure.
With the manure spread out, you are ready to mix it in. So if your gardening area is small enough, do this by hand. Try to get about six inches down into the soil. What you do is dig down and then turn over each spadeful, breaking up the dirt clumps as you go. This will mix in the manure and loosen up the soil.
If your garden area is big, say larger than 75 square feet, you might want to use a roto-tiller. These are heavy-duty machines, but they save you time and do a good job.
Now you are ready to move to plants.
PLANTS
One of the hallmarks of organic gardening is the art and science of companion planting. This type of planting does three things: maintains soil/nutrient balance, encourages plants to support each other, and repels common garden pests.
One of the hallmarks of organic gardening is the art and science of companion planting. This type of planting does three things: maintains soil/nutrient balance, encourages plants to support each other, and repels common garden pests.
First off, you can do as the American Indians did and plant corn, squash and beans together. Beans provide nitrogen and potassium to the soil, which corn needs since it is basically a grass. The tall, strong corn stalks provide poles for the beans to climb. The squash fills in spaces and shades the ground.
Another companion set is the tomato/pepper, onion and marigold set. If you plant your tomatoes and peppers with onions in amongst them and a border of marigolds, most common garden pests will keep away. Spiders will still show up, but these lovelies are wonderful because they eat bugs too!
The only other organic issue regarding your plants and their arrangement is the choice between organic seeds and non-organic. The truth is that organic is in the nurturing, not the seeds. So you can get any kind of plant you want and still raise an organic garden.
This is not to say that some organic seed and plant choices aren't worth it. If you can get heirloom seeds, your plants will actually provide seeds for each year's garden. This will not happen if you get regular old hybrid seeds and plants.
NURTURING
Your goal is to avoid all toxic pesticides and fertilizers. We say toxic because you can actually get mycelium (mushroom)-based pesticides that are in no way harmful to soil and animal (and human!) life.
Your goal is to avoid all toxic pesticides and fertilizers. We say toxic because you can actually get mycelium (mushroom)-based pesticides that are in no way harmful to soil and animal (and human!) life.
As for fertilizer during the growing season, don't use Miracle-gro. Get another bag of manure or make a compost pile. Then, when the season is in full swing, spread the compost mulch or the manure around the base of your plants. Then just water as usual. The nutrients from these organic fertilizers will get the job done.
And that's pretty much it for this session of Organic Gardening. One final note about organic gardening is that it pays to be creative. Try new arrangements and experiment with lightweight row cloth to keep wicked pests away from your plants. For example, lightweight, water and sun permeable row cloth will keep quail from your lettuce and peas. So build a little framework and put some row cloth down. This is better than getting some nasty chemical that wards off quail.
Friday, April 30, 2010
No chickens today.
But I have a good reason: I was busy all day with work, helping someone move, and then an anniversary date. Yes, that's right, today is our 12th anniversary. Okay, by today, I mean April 30th. Because May 1st is not our anniversary-- that's my birthday.
So because I was busy all day, I still haven't taken the pictures I feel like I should use for my piece on the chickens. Thus, I will instead share some thoughts on basic organic weed control. This will apply to weed control in the garden
So because I was busy all day, I still haven't taken the pictures I feel like I should use for my piece on the chickens. Thus, I will instead share some thoughts on basic organic weed control. This will apply to weed control in the garden
Weeds, contrary to many novice gardeners' belief, are not the bane of organic gardeners' existence. In truth, it's the bugs that really cause problems. But just as in the case with garden pests, there are some nice organic solutions to the weed problem which can help your garden flourish. These solutions can be broken down into two categories: prevention and elimination.
PREVENTION
The old adage of "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" applies to weeds particularly well. Here are some of the more choice organic approaches to preventing weeds from growing in your beloved garden patch.
*Black plastic weed-blocker. This material is easy to come by at most nurseries and home improvement outlets. It is very simple. When you have your garden patch ready, with all of the manure or other organic materials tilled in and the soil well prepared, cover the patch completely with the black plastic weed-blocker. That's right, cover the whole patch.
When you're ready to put your seeds or seedlings into the ground, you can simply cut holes into the weed-blocker cloth for your plants to grow through. What's nice is that most of this cloth is porous enough to allow water to get through and keep the plants you want to grow fed. However, this writer has found that laying out soaker hose and then covering the patch with the cloth works best.
*Mulching. This approach is simple, but is not quite as reliable as the weed-blocker cloth. The intent is the same: to not allow the weeds to grow. However, arranging mulch around your plants and seeded areas simply doesn't work as well to block weeds. This is because the weed seeds that come from the trees or plants nearby can still work their way through the piles of mulch and establish themselves.
The benefit of using mulch, on the other hand, is that mulch is a nice organic material that fertilizes even while it is blocking weeds from growing.
*Soil cultivation. As you work the soil of your garden plot, you will naturally be helping it become healthier. You will also be eliminating any old established roots of weeds and grass that were already there. I know a woman who has been nurturing her garden plot for over twenty years. She has no problems whatsoever with weeds.
ELIMINATION
*Organic herbicides. There are several effective organic herbicides on the market today. These include AllDown, Xpress and Matran 2. These have been shown to be more effective on emerging weeds than on established weeds, but they can still help with established weeds.
But that's not all! Some organic gardeners have found that vinegar can be an effective herbicide as well. To try this out, use a sponge to apply your household vinegar onto the leaves of the weeds you want to kill. You can also try this with soap, but most soaps will not kill weeds.
*Manual destruction. In the desert, some folks use a portable propane torch to burn weeds out of their garden areas. This is effective and is also a permanent solution. If done carefully, this approach will do no damage to the garden plants you are nurturing.
Another manual approach to weeds is to simply pull them. In order to increase your ability to pull weeds easily and completely, water well the day before you are going to weed. This will soften the ground, making it easier to pull weeds. You can also use a hoe to cut down weeds en masse, although this will leave the roots in most cases. But as a quick fix to large amounts of young weeds, the hoe can't be beaten.
Ultimately, using organic approaches to killing weeds is a choice that each gardener has to make individually. What it comes down to is whether you are willing to do a little extra work to keep the soil of your garden properly balanced.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
I know I said I'd discuss chickens
but I think it would be a better thing to talk about compost today. I will try to get to chickens tomorrow. I also hope to have a guest blogger in the next couple of days. Exciting!
So on to composting.
Garbage dumps smell. So do landfills. This is probably the case because these places are full of the rotting waste and detritus of thousands of people. If you’re looking for motivation to compost, you might try taking a walk around one of these blights on the landscape. Then it might also help to know that when most families start composting, the volume of garbage that they produce is reduced by about 30%.
So on to composting.
Garbage dumps smell. So do landfills. This is probably the case because these places are full of the rotting waste and detritus of thousands of people. If you’re looking for motivation to compost, you might try taking a walk around one of these blights on the landscape. Then it might also help to know that when most families start composting, the volume of garbage that they produce is reduced by about 30%.
So if you’re just hoping to reduce your impact on the environment, composting is a great way to go. But if you’re also looking for a cost-effective, relatively easy, and ultimately educational way to get great fertilizer and dirt, composting tops the list of things you can do.
Whether you live in a condo with no yard, a townhome with less than 100 square feet of lawn space, a house with a nice-sized back yard, or anything in between, you can compost. In other words, no matter what your living situation, you can compost. To learn about composting, you could Google ‘compost’ and quickly become overwhelmed by the myriad resources available. In doing this, you could also learn about thermophilic microorganisms, and mycorrhizae. But why would you complicate things when composting is actually an incredibly simple process?
See, the thing is that when plants grow, they take in carbon dioxide from the air and nutrients and water from the earth. Then when they die, they naturally decompose and return those elements and materials back to the earth. So the truth is that when we compost, we are simply taking part in a natural process that has been going on for millions of years. Thus, in order for us to be able to compost and take advantage of the multitudinous benefits of doing so, we just need to imitate nature.
There are plenty of methods and approaches to composting, but they can basically be summed up into two categories: closed container and piles.
Closed Container
Modern closed containers look essentially like barrels propped on their sides on a stand. These barrels have an opening through which organic materials, such as vegetable and garden leavings, are placed into the container. With that opening sealed closed, the barrel is rotated on its axis, combining old materials with the newer materials. These containers also have air vents.
Closed containers work well because they obey the three principles of good composting: stirring, air and shade. When you rotate the barrel, you stir the materials, thus eliminating noxious fumes that might build up under layers of inert plant material. Air is necessary because it helps the plant material break down. Shade keeps things from drying out, which is necessary because moisture also enables the process of decomposition.
Barrel composters come in a variety of sizes. The urban composter who specializes in indoor or container gardening can actually get a composter that they can put on their kitchen counter. Usually coming in an attractive shade of green, these small composters, if used correctly, will keep even the most sensitive of noses happy.
You can also find container composters that vary in size from four feet to six feet tall. Some of these composters are designed to create a wonderful organic tea that is full of nutrients. This type of composter works in much the same way as other container composters, but they have a way for the fluids that are produced through the process of decomposition to seep out and get caught in a tray. Some of these composters can hold up to four gallons of nutrient-filled liquid.
Make a pile
If you’ve got some space in your yard, making a compost pile can be the easiest and most straightforward way to get your compost going. To make a compost pile, you need to find a relatively shady area in your yard. If you can find a shady spot that also gets hit by your regular lawn watering, you will be in business.
With your compost spot chosen, all you need to do now is collect your grass and leaves, as well as your organic kitchen waste and then deposit all of this on your spot. You can even add egg shells and bread leavings to this pile. Then keep it moist. Wait two weeks before doing anything, making sure you are consistent with adding organic materials to the pile.
After two weeks, use a pitchfork to turn the pile over. Your objective here is two-fold: get air into the pile and move the top layers to the middle of the pile. You should, after these first two weeks, have some nicely decomposing organic material that is black and moist-looking. If you have kept your compost pile wet, you should also see quite a few healthy worms in your pile as you turn it over. Worms are your friends; they help break down the organic material into delicious dirt for your garden.
Your compost pile doesn’t need to cover much ground, and this can be helped if you put a containing frame around it. This can be done using 1”x6” boards as retaining walls. Of course, if you really want to make a fancy compost, and you have plenty of space, you can use the increasingly popular three-tiered system.
Here's a helpful image:
This system utilizes three different sections, numbered 1, 2 and 3. Number 1 is the farthest to the right, where you place your fresh organic waste. If you keep it all wet, in two to three weeks you can turn the material in number 1 over into number 2. Then a few weeks later you can move the fully decomposed material into number 3 by sifting it through a wire mesh. The compost waits in number 3 for you to put it to use.
Notice in the first picture that there is a shelf-looking thing across the top of #3, but in the next image it is across #2. It is hinged. When you sift material through it into #3, big chunks are often left behind. Simply swing the mesh shelf over to #2 to dump the chunks back.
You might be intrigued by the three-tiered system, and this is fine. But all you really need to remember if you want to start composting is that anyone can do it. Whether you use a low-cost container composter in your home, a large barrel in your backyard or a compost pile, you will be able to reap the myriad benefits of making your own compost.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Nature's providence
Thought I'd get a job I'd been interviewing for. Found out today that this is just another job, in a series of jobs, that is strangely beyond my grasp.
But on to nature's providence.
First, I'm listening to Promontory off the soundtrack to Last of the Mohicans.
I hope there are moments where you can stop and breathe quietly, taking in the world and its magnificence. If you find yourself wondering what I mean, try this:
*Step outside. Yes, you can do this now.
*No matter where you are standing, you should be able to look up and see the sky.
*What is between you and that vast swath of multi-layered gases up there? Can you feel any wind? Do you know how that wind is made? Do you understand the complexity of the air you are breathing, the interplay between the sun's heat, gravity and the atmosphere and our planet's gravity?
*If you can feel wind, think about skin. The sensations you can feel: smooth, cold, soft, rough, dry, wet, and so on.
*What do you hear? Cars? Birds? Wind murmuring through leaves?
*Atmosphere, wind, skin, gravity, heat. Waves of light, sound, and sensation. The marvelous complexity of a single moment.
*Not such a simple moment anymore.
This is creation: the organization of potential into the knowledge of a moment and a place.
Your garden, lawn and other areas of your stewardship provide opportunities for creation.
Today, I wanted to write a bit about chickens and another area where our labors provide for us.
Here are some chickens:
We have seven chickens. Annemarie, my wife, could tell you what type they are; she provides the majority of their care. I'll spend more time another day discussing what has gone into the getting and raising of these hens, but today I'll just say that they have a good life and we get from three to six eggs a day from them. We have learned a lot from them and they will probably pay for themselves in another six months.
There is something that feels more complete inside when you watch your kids interacting with chickens as the chickens eat pests and weeds. There is something miraculous about a little girl who has a terrible phobia of animals who, when her family raises four chickens from chick to hen, completely and naturally overcomes that phobia. In my heart, these chickens have paid for themselves because my daughter plays with them, cats, dogs and recently had a pet earthworm.
I had an assistant this morning with the chickens. He put on his rubber boots before heading out to the messy coop:
At the coop, he went right to the laying boxes and poked through all of them:
He found one:
I love my assistant.
Nature provides so much, if we open our lives to it. There is work, much of it repetitive and mundane, but in the very banality of that work are the moments of connection. Connection to creation, to firmament and to life.
Last year we planted two very young fruit trees.
Here is the peach tree:
The cage around it is a tomato cage surrounded by chicken wire. I put this on because in fall of last year, we had deer essentially stripping it down past its bark. I wanted my tree to live, so this has been its protection. It's looking good. The cage will come off soon.
Here's the pear tree:
It's smaller, but it's doing well so far.
We also have a raspberry bush, still quite young but doing well:
All three fruitful trees/bushes set us back less than fifty bucks total. The fruit, work and connections they will provide are worth far more than that half-benjamin.
It's a great time to put in a fruit tree or bush. I'll discuss how that can be done tomorrow. There is a particular art to it.
My friends, I hope your day is filled with moments of peace and happiness. I also hope you will pass this site along to your friends, family and enemies. If you're enjoying it, so will they.
Until tomorrow.
But on to nature's providence.
First, I'm listening to Promontory off the soundtrack to Last of the Mohicans.
I hope there are moments where you can stop and breathe quietly, taking in the world and its magnificence. If you find yourself wondering what I mean, try this:
*Step outside. Yes, you can do this now.
*No matter where you are standing, you should be able to look up and see the sky.
*What is between you and that vast swath of multi-layered gases up there? Can you feel any wind? Do you know how that wind is made? Do you understand the complexity of the air you are breathing, the interplay between the sun's heat, gravity and the atmosphere and our planet's gravity?
*If you can feel wind, think about skin. The sensations you can feel: smooth, cold, soft, rough, dry, wet, and so on.
*What do you hear? Cars? Birds? Wind murmuring through leaves?
*Atmosphere, wind, skin, gravity, heat. Waves of light, sound, and sensation. The marvelous complexity of a single moment.
*Not such a simple moment anymore.
This is creation: the organization of potential into the knowledge of a moment and a place.
Your garden, lawn and other areas of your stewardship provide opportunities for creation.
Today, I wanted to write a bit about chickens and another area where our labors provide for us.
Here are some chickens:
We have seven chickens. Annemarie, my wife, could tell you what type they are; she provides the majority of their care. I'll spend more time another day discussing what has gone into the getting and raising of these hens, but today I'll just say that they have a good life and we get from three to six eggs a day from them. We have learned a lot from them and they will probably pay for themselves in another six months.
There is something that feels more complete inside when you watch your kids interacting with chickens as the chickens eat pests and weeds. There is something miraculous about a little girl who has a terrible phobia of animals who, when her family raises four chickens from chick to hen, completely and naturally overcomes that phobia. In my heart, these chickens have paid for themselves because my daughter plays with them, cats, dogs and recently had a pet earthworm.
I had an assistant this morning with the chickens. He put on his rubber boots before heading out to the messy coop:
At the coop, he went right to the laying boxes and poked through all of them:
He found one:
Nature provides so much, if we open our lives to it. There is work, much of it repetitive and mundane, but in the very banality of that work are the moments of connection. Connection to creation, to firmament and to life.
Last year we planted two very young fruit trees.
Here is the peach tree:
The cage around it is a tomato cage surrounded by chicken wire. I put this on because in fall of last year, we had deer essentially stripping it down past its bark. I wanted my tree to live, so this has been its protection. It's looking good. The cage will come off soon.
Here's the pear tree:
We also have a raspberry bush, still quite young but doing well:
All three fruitful trees/bushes set us back less than fifty bucks total. The fruit, work and connections they will provide are worth far more than that half-benjamin.
It's a great time to put in a fruit tree or bush. I'll discuss how that can be done tomorrow. There is a particular art to it.
My friends, I hope your day is filled with moments of peace and happiness. I also hope you will pass this site along to your friends, family and enemies. If you're enjoying it, so will they.
Until tomorrow.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Heirloom seeds
I said I would post every day. I have not. Plenty of reasons and I don't like any of them as excuses. So I'll just apologize and repent.
I will post every day now.
So today, I wanted to talk about heirloom seeds.
Heirloom seeds, contrary to what you might think based on their name, are not highly valuable items of great importance to your family, which are handed down from generation to generation. This is not to say that you cannot call a pumpkin seed that your grandmother dipped in shellac and glued to a lovely box an heirloom.
You can call whatever you want an 'heirloom.'
But heirloom seeds are a very specific thing. You've probably heard of organic seeds. These are seeds taken from organic-raised, probably non-hybrid or genetically engineered, plants. These organic seeds are then prepared and packaged in a process much like that for any other seed. Heirloom seeds are not just organic seeds.
Heirloom seeds are a special type of seed that more and more people are getting into. This type of seed produces a plant that can essentially self-propagate. In other words, you can take an heirloom Black Cherry tomato fruit off the bush, remove a couple of seeds, allow them to dry, store them for the season, and then plant them the following season.
Have you tried to do this with regular seeds you buy from the box or grocery stores? Sometimes, this will work; you plant a pumpkin seed from last year's plant or a seed from your jack o' lantern. But usually, this won't work out. Your fruits will not grow well or they will not look the same or be the same.
This happens because most seeds are hybrid seeds that have been genetically engineered to produce a certain type of fruit. They are not engineered to self-propagate. So getting those seeds to grow and propagate the same, healthy strain is really more miss than hit. And what is more, the system that is in place for producing and buying these seeds is one of consumption that is ongoing. In other words, you will always have to buy new seeds next year.
Heirloom seeds hark back to more traditional, classic approaches to farming. They are more provident seeds, because you won't have to go back and buy more seeds next year as long as you remember to harvest and process the seeds at the end of the growing season.
Now, an important caveat here is that most people who use heirloom seeds are really into their gardening. They like to experiment with new types of plants, veggies and fruit. Thus, they keep the heirloom seed market going. On the other hand, it is entirely possible for a gardener to choose a given set of plants that she wants to grow for the rest of her life. She can plant those one year, then harvest her seeds and plant them again the following year. And so on. She will never have to buy seeds again.
This won't happen with regular store-bought seeds as well as many organic seeds.
The value of heirloom seeds becomes pretty apparent, doesn't it?
A final note to keep in mind is that heirloom seeds can be considered more natural and traditional. They have traits that have been around for ages. Given this, you will often find that heirloom seeds produce tastier fruit. The fruit is also just as lovely as you would expect from any other seeds.
If you want to check out some heirloom seeds and try them out in your garden, do a Google search and you will find plenty of options for outlets from which you can buy them.
And that's today's post. See you tomorrow.
I will post every day now.
So today, I wanted to talk about heirloom seeds.
Heirloom seeds, contrary to what you might think based on their name, are not highly valuable items of great importance to your family, which are handed down from generation to generation. This is not to say that you cannot call a pumpkin seed that your grandmother dipped in shellac and glued to a lovely box an heirloom.
You can call whatever you want an 'heirloom.'
But heirloom seeds are a very specific thing. You've probably heard of organic seeds. These are seeds taken from organic-raised, probably non-hybrid or genetically engineered, plants. These organic seeds are then prepared and packaged in a process much like that for any other seed. Heirloom seeds are not just organic seeds.
Heirloom seeds are a special type of seed that more and more people are getting into. This type of seed produces a plant that can essentially self-propagate. In other words, you can take an heirloom Black Cherry tomato fruit off the bush, remove a couple of seeds, allow them to dry, store them for the season, and then plant them the following season.
Have you tried to do this with regular seeds you buy from the box or grocery stores? Sometimes, this will work; you plant a pumpkin seed from last year's plant or a seed from your jack o' lantern. But usually, this won't work out. Your fruits will not grow well or they will not look the same or be the same.
This happens because most seeds are hybrid seeds that have been genetically engineered to produce a certain type of fruit. They are not engineered to self-propagate. So getting those seeds to grow and propagate the same, healthy strain is really more miss than hit. And what is more, the system that is in place for producing and buying these seeds is one of consumption that is ongoing. In other words, you will always have to buy new seeds next year.
Heirloom seeds hark back to more traditional, classic approaches to farming. They are more provident seeds, because you won't have to go back and buy more seeds next year as long as you remember to harvest and process the seeds at the end of the growing season.
Now, an important caveat here is that most people who use heirloom seeds are really into their gardening. They like to experiment with new types of plants, veggies and fruit. Thus, they keep the heirloom seed market going. On the other hand, it is entirely possible for a gardener to choose a given set of plants that she wants to grow for the rest of her life. She can plant those one year, then harvest her seeds and plant them again the following year. And so on. She will never have to buy seeds again.
This won't happen with regular store-bought seeds as well as many organic seeds.
The value of heirloom seeds becomes pretty apparent, doesn't it?
A final note to keep in mind is that heirloom seeds can be considered more natural and traditional. They have traits that have been around for ages. Given this, you will often find that heirloom seeds produce tastier fruit. The fruit is also just as lovely as you would expect from any other seeds.
If you want to check out some heirloom seeds and try them out in your garden, do a Google search and you will find plenty of options for outlets from which you can buy them.
And that's today's post. See you tomorrow.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Monday, April 19th--Tomatoes etc
I didn't post Sunday because I am lame. It's also because I'm still trying to figure out what I feel would be an appropriate post for the Sabbath.
Yes, I'm a very Christian dude. LDS, in fact.
But on to today's post! I thought it would be good to write about getting tomatoes and other things started inside, since now is the time to be doing that. I ought to point out that I live in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. Thus, what I do is what works (or what I hope works) here.
By the way, on Pandora right now: Cover Me by Springsteen.
Okay. So, if you want to do your own tomato starts, now is the time to have them in their little planter pods. We actually got ours in late-- about nine days ago. We will still make it, and I'll talk about why in a minute, but here's where we do our starts:
This is, as you can see, a large window sill/shelf. It is in a room on the south end of our house, and it conveniently faces east. So when the sun peeks over the mountains we live under, it immediately starts shining on this spot. On good days, we probably get about six hours of blindingly bright sun there.
Notice the philodendron. See how the leaves go up to the left? Yeah, so that vine stretches about twenty feet from there, lining the top of the treatment lining the top of these windows and their colleagues on the south side of the room. Then there is a jar of spider plant babies getting roots. Then there is a potted spider plant. It is one of seven in the house.
Now playing on Pandora: In the Name of Love by U2
Now here's a closer shot of the starts:
The thing to remember is that you need to find a spot with plenty of sun and that is out of reach of kiddies. If you have a cat, you need to train that cat to stay away. Our cat, Tally, is still being trained. My lovely wife rescued the Black Cherry starts today.
Grrr.
Now playing on Pandora: Busted Stuff by Dave Matthews Band
The other thing you want to do is start gathering these little planters. I would guess there's a technical or trade term for them, but I don't know it. You see those yellow styrofoam-y things under them? Those are to catch water-- which you will need. We saved and sterilized the styrofoam trays that our sausages and meats came in for a while. They are small, lightweight, and you probably see that the planters fit perfectly. Add to that the fact that they store easily and they're pretty much awesome.
Alright, so now let's see where we are with our starts:
These are the Black Cherry plants. You can see that, though, can't you? That's because those popsicle sticks are absolutely perfect for keeping track of the seeds you plant. Son #2 is a devoted crafter, and he had a box that started with 300 of these. He had a few to spare and I used black sharpie on them. Very utilitarian and easy to use.
Can you make out the small plants there? They are just over 1/2 inch tall so far. Pale green stems and two long, narrow leaves coming out the top.
Here are some more:
These are called 'Marianna's Peace.' We have never planted these before; they were a gift from a local friend named Shirley. She's a tomato master and always tries a few new tomatoes each year.
Now playing on Pandora: Domino by Van Morrison.
Some more:
Nice big sprout in the Pink Ponderosa, another which we have not tried before.
Earlier I mentioned that we planted these later than we really wanted to. I was swamped with school and Annemarie was swamped with nutzo cool kids and work. But we will make it and still get a solid crop. This is because we can get these in the ground in the first week of June and still be fine. I usually put them in the ground in the second or third week of May, but that probably won't happen this year.
But I am accelerating their growth, so you never know.
Now playing on Pandora: Hard Candy by Counting Crows.
How am I accelerating their growth? Now that we have sprouts, I am turning on this lamp every evening:
This should keep things actively growing for a little longer each day. We will see if it works.
Today's assistant, because she is extremely cute:
This is Lily on Sunday. She is wearing her Easter dress and loves to pick dandelions. Notice that my yard has none, but she does this kind service for our neighbors. I say they can pick dandelions and keep them outside, but they have to pick them before they go to seed.
Anyway, that's it for today. I hope the info about starts helps. It's really not hard to start your own tomatoes. You just need a good, safe sunny spot; the little planter pots; a water catcher to go under the little pots; and then some bigger pots to transplant the starts to when they're bigger. We save our yogurt containers; I'll show you those another time.
Put seeds in dirt, water them, and make sure they have sun. Guess what? They'll grow.
Tomorrow I'll talk a little bit about heirloom seeds.
I hope your garden is provident this year. Feel free to share this site with friends!
Yes, I'm a very Christian dude. LDS, in fact.
But on to today's post! I thought it would be good to write about getting tomatoes and other things started inside, since now is the time to be doing that. I ought to point out that I live in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. Thus, what I do is what works (or what I hope works) here.
By the way, on Pandora right now: Cover Me by Springsteen.
Okay. So, if you want to do your own tomato starts, now is the time to have them in their little planter pods. We actually got ours in late-- about nine days ago. We will still make it, and I'll talk about why in a minute, but here's where we do our starts:
This is, as you can see, a large window sill/shelf. It is in a room on the south end of our house, and it conveniently faces east. So when the sun peeks over the mountains we live under, it immediately starts shining on this spot. On good days, we probably get about six hours of blindingly bright sun there.
Notice the philodendron. See how the leaves go up to the left? Yeah, so that vine stretches about twenty feet from there, lining the top of the treatment lining the top of these windows and their colleagues on the south side of the room. Then there is a jar of spider plant babies getting roots. Then there is a potted spider plant. It is one of seven in the house.
Now playing on Pandora: In the Name of Love by U2
Now here's a closer shot of the starts:
The thing to remember is that you need to find a spot with plenty of sun and that is out of reach of kiddies. If you have a cat, you need to train that cat to stay away. Our cat, Tally, is still being trained. My lovely wife rescued the Black Cherry starts today.
Grrr.
Now playing on Pandora: Busted Stuff by Dave Matthews Band
The other thing you want to do is start gathering these little planters. I would guess there's a technical or trade term for them, but I don't know it. You see those yellow styrofoam-y things under them? Those are to catch water-- which you will need. We saved and sterilized the styrofoam trays that our sausages and meats came in for a while. They are small, lightweight, and you probably see that the planters fit perfectly. Add to that the fact that they store easily and they're pretty much awesome.
Alright, so now let's see where we are with our starts:
These are the Black Cherry plants. You can see that, though, can't you? That's because those popsicle sticks are absolutely perfect for keeping track of the seeds you plant. Son #2 is a devoted crafter, and he had a box that started with 300 of these. He had a few to spare and I used black sharpie on them. Very utilitarian and easy to use.
Can you make out the small plants there? They are just over 1/2 inch tall so far. Pale green stems and two long, narrow leaves coming out the top.
Here are some more:
Now playing on Pandora: Domino by Van Morrison.
Some more:
Nice big sprout in the Pink Ponderosa, another which we have not tried before.
Earlier I mentioned that we planted these later than we really wanted to. I was swamped with school and Annemarie was swamped with nutzo cool kids and work. But we will make it and still get a solid crop. This is because we can get these in the ground in the first week of June and still be fine. I usually put them in the ground in the second or third week of May, but that probably won't happen this year.
But I am accelerating their growth, so you never know.
Now playing on Pandora: Hard Candy by Counting Crows.
How am I accelerating their growth? Now that we have sprouts, I am turning on this lamp every evening:
This should keep things actively growing for a little longer each day. We will see if it works.
Today's assistant, because she is extremely cute:
This is Lily on Sunday. She is wearing her Easter dress and loves to pick dandelions. Notice that my yard has none, but she does this kind service for our neighbors. I say they can pick dandelions and keep them outside, but they have to pick them before they go to seed.
Anyway, that's it for today. I hope the info about starts helps. It's really not hard to start your own tomatoes. You just need a good, safe sunny spot; the little planter pots; a water catcher to go under the little pots; and then some bigger pots to transplant the starts to when they're bigger. We save our yogurt containers; I'll show you those another time.
Put seeds in dirt, water them, and make sure they have sun. Guess what? They'll grow.
Tomorrow I'll talk a little bit about heirloom seeds.
I hope your garden is provident this year. Feel free to share this site with friends!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The opening post: Lawn and Garden and Root-bound
Today was a Saturday, so it was a big day in the whole gardening/landscaping area.
I spent the first major part of my day working on my front yard. Yes, I know, this isn't exactly part of a garden that provides sustenance, but there's great satisfaction in creating a lush, verdant swath of fescue and ryegrass and bluegrass-- all without chemicals.
So here's what I saw this morning when I stepped outside to get started. My grass has been greening up and is beginning to show some real life.
You might have noticed the curvaceous flower bed bordering my yard-- you know, the thing with the rocks lining about two-thirds of it. That has a growing strawberry patch, a large bunch of daisies, several spots of salvia, phlox and a lot of stonecrop in it.
Yes, I tore out the yard to make the flower bed. No, you don't want me to get into that very much-- way more work than I expected!
So I thought I'd take a more close-up picture of my yard. As you can see, that green swath was really the forest, but not the trees. Lots of thatch on that yard. I like some thatch; it keeps weeds under control and is a nice, natural mulch fertilizer, but it was clear something had to be done.
I was not looking forward to it, but I needed to rake the entire yard. Now, if you are one of the lucky ones, you either own a scarifier, or you can rent one easily. Not so much with me.
What's a scarifier? This is a machine that is essentially a power rake. You run it over your lawn and it shreds thatch-- pulling it up and doing a pretty fine job of it.
Let me break in here with a link or two to articles on dethatching your lawn and your lawn's first mowing:
http://www.helium.com/items/278603-when-to-dethatch-your-lawn
http://www.helium.com/items/269735-how-to-dethatch-your-lawn
http://www.helium.com/items/983491-lawn-mowing-tips-for-springs-first-cutting
Alright, back to business.
So you can use a scarifier, or use a rake.
I used a fan rake. Yes, I got double blisters on my hands. Yes, I hurt even now. No, I don't regret it. Here are some shots of how things looked as I went.
This is one third done. I started on the side to the right of this photo and raked toward the left, or east, side of the lawn.
No, there is no particular reason for this choice. It just appealed to me. Maybe I wanted to rebel against the sun's trajectory.
Anyway, that semi-haphazard pile that is sort of across the yard is the grass and leaves and other debris I had scraped up with my fan rake.
Here's another pic. I'm about half done here.
I was wondering if I had bitten off more than I could chew at this point.
But hey, take a look at all of that dead grass and other debris! Good times, eh?
You're asking, "Who's that charming little figure over there by the spigot?" And you're saying, "He's obviously being very helpful by turning the water on and off. And every time it turns on, he is being extra great because he caterwauls at the water that comes fizzing out of the loose connection and sprays him on the face."
That's my assistant for the day.
He's nearly two and he's awesome. He's number five and his name is Benjamin.
He's wearing a Boston Red Sox onesie. He inherits his teams in the same manner that his father did.
Anyway, back to the gardening. So I got the dethatching done. It took me about two hours to get it all raked.
After dethatching, I wanted to be sure I prepared my yard well so I could reseed. If you don't know what this means, let me gently caress you with some knowledge. Reseeding is when you build your turf by laying seed in your existing yard.
So I knew that by dethatching so vigorously, I had loosened the top inch or so of soil in my yard. My next step is to mow quickly, with the grass bag attached, to gather the loose thatch that had escaped my piles. I do this also to get my grass a little shorter, expose the soil a bit more, and in order to not have to mow for a couple of weeks while the new seeds sprout and take hold.
FYI: I lower the mower so it's leaving about 2 1/2 inches of grass.
With the mowing done, I decided to soften things up a little more by watering the entire yard briefly.
Note the sprinkler.
Now I have left out an important part of my organic lawn care. Many folks have to deal with lame weeds in their yard-- me included. We deal with crabgrass, creeping charlie, and dandelions mostly. Here's what I do: I carry around a dandelion slayer with me when I work outside. Every time I see a weed, I slay it with this handy dandy tool. Here:
Alright, the tool is not technically called a dandelion slayer, but it is made to remove dandelions permanently. And that leafy plant isn't a dandelion. It might be a phlox-like weed, but it doesn't really matter, because it had to leave my yard.
I used that tool there to remove it and about thirty dandelion plants. Considering the fact that it takes me about thirty seconds or less to remove a dandelion, this is time well spent.
Anyway, once the yard had been watered briefly, I reseeded. I used a package of regular, straight seeds. It was a mixture of ryegrass, kentucky bluegrass (also good music!), and fescue. This is good stuff for high-traffic in my mountain conditions. I sprinkled it lightly all over the yard, then watered again to get the seeds weighed down and on their way to germination.
The final product for today:
Compare this shot with the first one above. Things are even-looking and the grass looks like a nicely brushed head of hair. But no greener yet. That will take time.
As for the provident garden, I did a bit of work there too. The thatch and clippings I gathered went into my compost. Then I watered my compost to get the decomposition process going. I also did some clearing of the garden patches in preparation for the soil to be fully tilled next week.
We will be tilling by hand again this year. We need to be able to handle the work. Yes, we have over 300 square feet of veggie garden space.
We can take it.
My final project was to deal with an extraordinarily root-bound spider plant. This plant is called Phoenix. I will tell you why later. I found a nice-sized planter pot, tossed some rocks in the bottom for drainage, added two inches of compost dirt (tasty!), and then pulled the poor Phoenix out of her old pot. This is what she looked like after fifteen minutes of me loosening roots:
Yeah.
I ended up spraying the root pack with a water bottle quite liberally. That helped a lot. Then I got her planted in some nice fresh soil in a far bigger pot. She went from a 6" pot to a 12" pot.
I felt like I could hear her say, "Ahhhh" as I patted soil around her.
She's back in place, hanging from a tough ceiling hook in the kids' room.
I also did laundry today, but that's just bragging!
This is a long post. I hope it's helpful.
If you feel like the Provident Garden is helpful, I invite you to pass along word. More people doing good things with the earth and self-reliance will do more good for our society than we can imagine.
See you tomorrow.
I spent the first major part of my day working on my front yard. Yes, I know, this isn't exactly part of a garden that provides sustenance, but there's great satisfaction in creating a lush, verdant swath of fescue and ryegrass and bluegrass-- all without chemicals.
So here's what I saw this morning when I stepped outside to get started. My grass has been greening up and is beginning to show some real life.You might have noticed the curvaceous flower bed bordering my yard-- you know, the thing with the rocks lining about two-thirds of it. That has a growing strawberry patch, a large bunch of daisies, several spots of salvia, phlox and a lot of stonecrop in it.
Yes, I tore out the yard to make the flower bed. No, you don't want me to get into that very much-- way more work than I expected!
So I thought I'd take a more close-up picture of my yard. As you can see, that green swath was really the forest, but not the trees. Lots of thatch on that yard. I like some thatch; it keeps weeds under control and is a nice, natural mulch fertilizer, but it was clear something had to be done.
I was not looking forward to it, but I needed to rake the entire yard. Now, if you are one of the lucky ones, you either own a scarifier, or you can rent one easily. Not so much with me.
What's a scarifier? This is a machine that is essentially a power rake. You run it over your lawn and it shreds thatch-- pulling it up and doing a pretty fine job of it.
Let me break in here with a link or two to articles on dethatching your lawn and your lawn's first mowing:
http://www.helium.com/items/278603-when-to-dethatch-your-lawn
http://www.helium.com/items/269735-how-to-dethatch-your-lawn
http://www.helium.com/items/983491-lawn-mowing-tips-for-springs-first-cutting
Alright, back to business.
So you can use a scarifier, or use a rake.
I used a fan rake. Yes, I got double blisters on my hands. Yes, I hurt even now. No, I don't regret it. Here are some shots of how things looked as I went.
This is one third done. I started on the side to the right of this photo and raked toward the left, or east, side of the lawn.No, there is no particular reason for this choice. It just appealed to me. Maybe I wanted to rebel against the sun's trajectory.
Anyway, that semi-haphazard pile that is sort of across the yard is the grass and leaves and other debris I had scraped up with my fan rake.
Here's another pic. I'm about half done here.
I was wondering if I had bitten off more than I could chew at this point.
But hey, take a look at all of that dead grass and other debris! Good times, eh?
You're asking, "Who's that charming little figure over there by the spigot?" And you're saying, "He's obviously being very helpful by turning the water on and off. And every time it turns on, he is being extra great because he caterwauls at the water that comes fizzing out of the loose connection and sprays him on the face."
That's my assistant for the day.
He's nearly two and he's awesome. He's number five and his name is Benjamin.
He's wearing a Boston Red Sox onesie. He inherits his teams in the same manner that his father did.
Anyway, back to the gardening. So I got the dethatching done. It took me about two hours to get it all raked.
After dethatching, I wanted to be sure I prepared my yard well so I could reseed. If you don't know what this means, let me gently caress you with some knowledge. Reseeding is when you build your turf by laying seed in your existing yard.
So I knew that by dethatching so vigorously, I had loosened the top inch or so of soil in my yard. My next step is to mow quickly, with the grass bag attached, to gather the loose thatch that had escaped my piles. I do this also to get my grass a little shorter, expose the soil a bit more, and in order to not have to mow for a couple of weeks while the new seeds sprout and take hold.
FYI: I lower the mower so it's leaving about 2 1/2 inches of grass.
With the mowing done, I decided to soften things up a little more by watering the entire yard briefly.
Note the sprinkler.
Now I have left out an important part of my organic lawn care. Many folks have to deal with lame weeds in their yard-- me included. We deal with crabgrass, creeping charlie, and dandelions mostly. Here's what I do: I carry around a dandelion slayer with me when I work outside. Every time I see a weed, I slay it with this handy dandy tool. Here:
Alright, the tool is not technically called a dandelion slayer, but it is made to remove dandelions permanently. And that leafy plant isn't a dandelion. It might be a phlox-like weed, but it doesn't really matter, because it had to leave my yard.
I used that tool there to remove it and about thirty dandelion plants. Considering the fact that it takes me about thirty seconds or less to remove a dandelion, this is time well spent.
Anyway, once the yard had been watered briefly, I reseeded. I used a package of regular, straight seeds. It was a mixture of ryegrass, kentucky bluegrass (also good music!), and fescue. This is good stuff for high-traffic in my mountain conditions. I sprinkled it lightly all over the yard, then watered again to get the seeds weighed down and on their way to germination.
The final product for today:
Compare this shot with the first one above. Things are even-looking and the grass looks like a nicely brushed head of hair. But no greener yet. That will take time.
As for the provident garden, I did a bit of work there too. The thatch and clippings I gathered went into my compost. Then I watered my compost to get the decomposition process going. I also did some clearing of the garden patches in preparation for the soil to be fully tilled next week.
We will be tilling by hand again this year. We need to be able to handle the work. Yes, we have over 300 square feet of veggie garden space.
We can take it.
My final project was to deal with an extraordinarily root-bound spider plant. This plant is called Phoenix. I will tell you why later. I found a nice-sized planter pot, tossed some rocks in the bottom for drainage, added two inches of compost dirt (tasty!), and then pulled the poor Phoenix out of her old pot. This is what she looked like after fifteen minutes of me loosening roots:
I ended up spraying the root pack with a water bottle quite liberally. That helped a lot. Then I got her planted in some nice fresh soil in a far bigger pot. She went from a 6" pot to a 12" pot.
I felt like I could hear her say, "Ahhhh" as I patted soil around her.
She's back in place, hanging from a tough ceiling hook in the kids' room.
I also did laundry today, but that's just bragging!
This is a long post. I hope it's helpful.
If you feel like the Provident Garden is helpful, I invite you to pass along word. More people doing good things with the earth and self-reliance will do more good for our society than we can imagine.
See you tomorrow.
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