Last year we did things the way that the Grow Box folks wanted their boxes planted. This year we did it my way. We planted seeds and have some of the thickest stems on our tomatoes, Japanese eggplants, and peppers.
Our eggplant looks like purple hands with long purple fingers, and I have never seen so many in such a small place. We have two boxes of eggplant and I am sure it will be more than enough.
We have four boxes of spices and we have quite an array. We have several types of basil, tarragon, dill, thyme, sage, oregano and bee balm. We have had some basil that volunteered itself in one of the boxes and two tomato plants that did too.
One thing that will never be left out again is Root Blast. I discovered this stuff about ten years ago and it is incredible. The thick stems of our peppers, tomatoes and eggplants are because of Root Blast. We have beautiful red okra and we really like what we planted this year. Such beauty in nature.
I have a client that swears by the stuff and grew a rose the size of a dinner plate. I pointed out to him this year that the roses are sweetest on the plants with the biggest thorns.
Even though I was late planting every thing, I found the joy of growing things from seed was very satisfying. I bought some planters from Parks Seeds called biodomes. What a sensational way to grow. The sponges create such a perfect medium and leave nothing behind to hinder planting next year. I will use some of the larger domes so that the transplants will be bigger, but you can not beat these things.
My eggplant transplants were so small and now they are so big. I know I want to try grafting tomatoes next summer because I remember why I used hybrids. They can fight disease better.
May 31, 2011
A work in progress
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Stockings and sticky paper
I needed a way to fight squash borers and found that you can use stockings to keep them from boring into the stem. They leave this nasty stuff called frass and if you see it you might as well pull the offending plant. The one thing I learned from getting the squash plants to try on their stockings, it would be best to plant the stocking and leave it folded over newly seeded areas.
The stocking can be pulled up along the stem and held with these nifty clips I bought at the Home Depot last year. The clips have been very useful to hold a broken squash stem end together.
The other thing we have used this year is sticky yellow paper with pheromone sacks that attract detrimental bugs away from the plants. They really work and you should see what is stuck to them. We have flies, moths, small squash bugs and house flies stuck to those sticky devils.
I love growing organically and I have beautiful heirloom tomatoes, heavy hybrid vines think with tomatoes and some of the wickest marigolds anywhere. The marigolds went wild and I have had to weed them back. Next year I will grow them from seeds and only put one plant per grow box.
Every year we try new things, some work, some don't. Every year is a science project.
The stocking can be pulled up along the stem and held with these nifty clips I bought at the Home Depot last year. The clips have been very useful to hold a broken squash stem end together.
The other thing we have used this year is sticky yellow paper with pheromone sacks that attract detrimental bugs away from the plants. They really work and you should see what is stuck to them. We have flies, moths, small squash bugs and house flies stuck to those sticky devils.
I love growing organically and I have beautiful heirloom tomatoes, heavy hybrid vines think with tomatoes and some of the wickest marigolds anywhere. The marigolds went wild and I have had to weed them back. Next year I will grow them from seeds and only put one plant per grow box.
Every year we try new things, some work, some don't. Every year is a science project.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Mad Dog in the Garden
Today as I was working in the garden, I thought my almost year old miniature Dachshund would like to come out and spend some time in the garden with her mama. That was a very bad mistake.
Mad Dog (also known as Maggie) came outside and was very busy exploring the surrounding area. Mad Dog decided to see what I was doing and before I knew it, she had turned over the remaining tomatoes in the flat. That flat had each of the transplants labeled and now it is Mad Dog's guessing game.
Mad Dog got her name over the months she has lived in our house. When she came to our home from Burnside, Kentucky she weighed a mighty four pounds and was half as long as she is now. When she joined Beanie and Jimmie she kept them moving and grooving. She would lay with Beanie on his pillow and kiss his muzzle. He begrudgingly started to like the young upstart.
Jimmie finally had a playmate. She would play tug of war and chase him through the house at break neck speeds. If you are in their way, you better watch out. They will run you down.
It has not been all one sided on the learning curve. Jimmie and Beanie introduced Mad Dog to their favorite food, sauteed squash with garlic. They also taught Mad Dog to bark at anything that moved. She is the first to bark and the last to stop.
I will have to make Mad Dog and the boys sauteed squash from the garden for her upcoming birthday on the 23rd, but I am pretty sure my plants won't be big enough. The reason I won't have anything out of my garden yet is that I spent a goodly part of tax season sick with an intestinal parasite. I thought I was going to have to die to feel better. Instead, it made my foray to the garden late.
Squash is coming dogs, just be patient.
Mad Dog (also known as Maggie) came outside and was very busy exploring the surrounding area. Mad Dog decided to see what I was doing and before I knew it, she had turned over the remaining tomatoes in the flat. That flat had each of the transplants labeled and now it is Mad Dog's guessing game.
Mad Dog got her name over the months she has lived in our house. When she came to our home from Burnside, Kentucky she weighed a mighty four pounds and was half as long as she is now. When she joined Beanie and Jimmie she kept them moving and grooving. She would lay with Beanie on his pillow and kiss his muzzle. He begrudgingly started to like the young upstart.
Jimmie finally had a playmate. She would play tug of war and chase him through the house at break neck speeds. If you are in their way, you better watch out. They will run you down.
It has not been all one sided on the learning curve. Jimmie and Beanie introduced Mad Dog to their favorite food, sauteed squash with garlic. They also taught Mad Dog to bark at anything that moved. She is the first to bark and the last to stop.
I will have to make Mad Dog and the boys sauteed squash from the garden for her upcoming birthday on the 23rd, but I am pretty sure my plants won't be big enough. The reason I won't have anything out of my garden yet is that I spent a goodly part of tax season sick with an intestinal parasite. I thought I was going to have to die to feel better. Instead, it made my foray to the garden late.
Squash is coming dogs, just be patient.
It's HOT HOT HOT
Summer is here with a vengence. The temperatures have been in the 90s for the last few weeks of May and that is entirely too hot.
When you have lived in South Florida, you know what being too hot too early means-hurricanes. You may be wondering how you can predict hurricanes by the outside temperature. If the spring brings extremely hot temperatures real early, there is a tendency for the Atlantic Ocean to heat up very early. Hot ocean water makes water spouts off the African continent start to become the starts of a tropical depression.
You may be thinking I am a pessimist, but I distinctly remember the spiders coming in early in June last year. Organic gardeners know that the bugs and wildlife have built in weather forecasting equipment. Somehow they know what the fall and winter will bring. Heavy acorn production, spiders all over the place early in June, squirrels building massive nests and extremely hot weather lead itself to a very cold winter of 2010-2011.
Well, here we are again. It is hotter than Hades and most of us think we have died and ended up there all ready.
What is this winter going to be like?
When you have lived in South Florida, you know what being too hot too early means-hurricanes. You may be wondering how you can predict hurricanes by the outside temperature. If the spring brings extremely hot temperatures real early, there is a tendency for the Atlantic Ocean to heat up very early. Hot ocean water makes water spouts off the African continent start to become the starts of a tropical depression.
You may be thinking I am a pessimist, but I distinctly remember the spiders coming in early in June last year. Organic gardeners know that the bugs and wildlife have built in weather forecasting equipment. Somehow they know what the fall and winter will bring. Heavy acorn production, spiders all over the place early in June, squirrels building massive nests and extremely hot weather lead itself to a very cold winter of 2010-2011.
Well, here we are again. It is hotter than Hades and most of us think we have died and ended up there all ready.
What is this winter going to be like?
Spring has not sprung yet (written in March 2011)
Contrary to the fact that the home improvement stores have transplants of every kind and shape available, our first frost free day is April 15th. We have seen snow in late March and early April.
That is not to say that we don't have things to grow. We currently have eight boxes of Sugar Snap peas, five buckets of broccoli, 2 boxes of cauliflower, two boxes with lettuce, two boxes of cabbage,two boxes with spinach, and two boxes with herbs. Everything is doing well and our broccoli is forming heads and side shoots.
Our order for Parks Nursery was large this year and I have new ways to start seedlings this year. I pulled entirely too many "biodegradable peat pots" and peat pellets. The system I ordered from Parks will be subsidized with an order from Johnny's seeds and a few items from Burpee. This garden is going to give more vegetables this year.
As everyone knows, a real garden is always a science experiment.
That is not to say that we don't have things to grow. We currently have eight boxes of Sugar Snap peas, five buckets of broccoli, 2 boxes of cauliflower, two boxes with lettuce, two boxes of cabbage,two boxes with spinach, and two boxes with herbs. Everything is doing well and our broccoli is forming heads and side shoots.
Our order for Parks Nursery was large this year and I have new ways to start seedlings this year. I pulled entirely too many "biodegradable peat pots" and peat pellets. The system I ordered from Parks will be subsidized with an order from Johnny's seeds and a few items from Burpee. This garden is going to give more vegetables this year.
As everyone knows, a real garden is always a science experiment.
We are at it again (written in February 2011)
All these folks here in the Atlanta area are nuts. That is N U T S, nuts. The local Home Depot has tomato plants already. Everybody from the South knows one thing for sure and that is if March comes in like a lamb, you can bet your bottom dollar, it will go out like a lion.
It is entirely too warm for February and we can be assured that winter is not over. Some folks were talking about this very subject in the garden center at Home Depot and we all thought it was way too warm this early.
Spring has not sprung, and winter is still here.
It is entirely too warm for February and we can be assured that winter is not over. Some folks were talking about this very subject in the garden center at Home Depot and we all thought it was way too warm this early.
Spring has not sprung, and winter is still here.
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