Jurassic Park?

Good grief, the heat of summer is really upon us. And it's doing a number on all of those spring, cool weather-loving crops. The lettuce and spinach gave in to the sultry weather a couple of weeks ago. Now the fava beans and peas are gasping their last collective breath. Time (and Mother Nature) marches on. But there are some newcomers in the garden that are really soaking up the sun and looking mighty pleased with themselves . . .

Are these strange plants something from the prehistoric history books? Can't you just see the dinosaurs wandering through? Okay, maybe that's just me and my odd imagination. These plants are indeed very contemporary, and I'm sure the dinosaurs never saw them. They're artichokes! This is the very first time I've tried growing them, and even if I don't get something to harvest later, just watching these wonderful monsters grow over the summer will be enough of a treat for me.

But, since I really do like to reap what I've sown, I tried to follow the instructions on the seed packet for these. (Hint: most of the best gardening information you will find anywhere will most likely be on the seed packet and/or the seed catalogue!) Here are the instructions Johnny's gave:

Growing Information:

Artichoke, Globe

CULTURE: Sow indoors about 8 weeks before last spring frost date. Sow 1/4" apart and 1/4" deep in lightly moistened soilless mix in a flat or pot. Germinate at 70-80°F (21-27°C). As soon as seedlings can be handled, transplant to 2-4" pots or cell-type containers and grow at 60-70°F (15-21°C) day and 50-60°F (10-15°C) night. Transplant 6-8 week old plants to the garden 2-3' apart. IMPORTANT COLD TREATMENT: Time transplanting so plants get 8-10 days of temperatures around 50°F (10°C) to induce earlier budding. Protect from frost. HARVEST: Clip mature buds midsummer to midfall, depending on location. MILD AREAS: Where winter low is above 14°F (-10°C), sow seeds in fall, harvest in spring. MATURITY: From transplant; add about 20 days if direct seeding. SEED SPECS: SEEDS/LB.: 9,000-12,000 (avg. 10,000). PACKET: 25 seeds.

Hope you read the "IMPORTANT COLD TREATMENT" part. The reason this is crucial is that artichokes are biennials, meaning that under normal circumstances they spend their first year getting large and storing energy. Then they go through a winter, flower the next year, and that's the end of them. And that thing that we call an"artichoke" is actually the immature flower bud of this plant. Artichokes are tender biennials however, meaning that they can't survive a winter that gets below freezing, and as all

of us here in Pittsburgh who survived last winter well know, it certainly does freeze here! So, we need to trick our artichoke plants into thinking they've already gone through a winter: hence the "important cold treatment" statement. I started my artichokes from seed in February under lights in my basement. As soon as the snow thawed I'd put them outside in a cold frame to get their daily chill. There they could be exposed to chilly weather, but also be protected from the cold if the temperatures fell below freezing. (I'd highly recommend getting or building a cold frame for anyone who's as avid a seed-starter as I am!) Once the threat of frost was over I transplanted them to this bed that I'd prepped in my usual way, and mulched with some grass clippings and compost.

So far so good! And no dinosaurs in sight, which is good, because I really wouldn't want this little guy to get hurt.

Summer Snuck Up on Me This Year

Where has the time gone?? It seems like just yesterday I was harvesting tasty lettuce and spinach. Well, the heat took care of that--my beautiful greens turned all ugly and bitter on me. My revenge?? Pull them out and plant some pumpkins!! Winter squash, to be specific. Fairy Squash again, plus a couple of heirlooms just for fun. Galeux D'Exsines is a wonderfully ugly French heirloom that also just happens to be incredibly delicious. Bought one of these hideous beauties at the Farmers' Market last year and saved the seeds to plant this year. (Since it's an heirloom you can do that!! Take THAT, Monsanto!!) The other heirloom is a Boer Squash, the seeds for which were sent to me by my sister who lives in England. Since it seems like I've been running like crazy just to fall behind this year I simply plunked the seeds in the garden instead of starting them under lights.

Much to my delight there are some brave new shoots coming up already. Will I be harvesting tons of squash come the fall? Only time will tell!!

Salad Days

Spring is a wonderful time on many levels. New hope after a long gray winter. New flowers to warm the heart. New green leaves that seem to appear on the trees overnight. And these cool days really are the salad days of gardening because the bugs and beasties have yet to really wake up and start munching. And it's in this cool weather that salad greens are at their best: baby spinach, heirloom lettuces, mache, arugula grow nearly care-free. If you're a salad-lover like I am don't miss your spring opportunity to grow some of these for yourself. I sowed these seeds in this bed about a month ago, but you should still have time to grow a few salads before the summer heat really moves in. Then you just cut as much as you want for your salad--these plants just keep growing! And you won't believe how much better your own home-grown salad is compared to what you get in those expensive bags in the supermarket. Just make sure your soil is nicely prepared, then just follow the instructions on your seed packets. For my lettuce patch I sowed Wildfire Lettuce Mix which is as pretty as it is tasty. If you like a bit of peppery bite in your salad add in some arugula.

In the cool spring weather the baby arugula leaves are really quite mild. I also tried out two types of spinach this spring, Emu and Red Cardinal. Both have provided me with lots of baby spinach leaves to mix into my salad bowl. Be creative--there are endless varieties of leaves you can grow for your own salad bowl!

Bee Happy

By now I'm sure anyone who's interested in gardening and raising a bit of their own food has heard about the plight of the honey bee. Since so much of our food supply depends on these little creatures as pollinators the fact that honey bees are disappearing at an alarming rate should have us all worried on many levels. But honey bees aren't the only bees who are good pollinators. In fact, honey bees aren't even native to this country. Some of the best pollinators don't live in hives or make honey. They're our own native mason bee, also known as the orchard bee. At first glance mason bees look like a small version of a honey bee, but they are very different from honey bees. Mason bees don't build hives, but instead look for holes in trees in which to raise their young. The female mason bee gathers pollen and places it inside a suitable hole. When she has enough she lays an egg, and then seals it off with a plug made of mud (hence the name "mason" bee). She then proceeds to gather more food, lay another egg, seal it off, and so-on until the hole is full. She then plugs the end with mud and starts all over again in a new hole. The eggs hatch and the young feed on the pollen she's provided for them during the summer, then pupate and over-winter in the holes. Come spring they emerge, males first, (who were deposited in the front sections of the hole) then later, the females. They mate, and then start the whole process over again.

Since mason bees don't make their own holes you can encourage them to nest close to your garden by providing suitable nesting holes for them. Many garden supply companies sell mason bee houses. You can also easily make one, and there are good instructions on how to do that here. You can also purchase mason bees, but you really shouldn't need to. As the saying goes, if you build it (or buy it), they will come. I put up my mason bee houses a little over a week ago, and the bees were using them immediately. (Actually they were using them before the houses were put up since I had them sitting on the porch!) You should put your bee house someplace with a bit of protection from rain and other nasty weather (if it doesn't have it's own roof built in), and if it can get morning sun, that's really optimal. You really don't need to worry about having the bees close to where you are. Unlike honey bees, mason bees aren't aggressive at all since they have no honey stores to protect. They can sting, but you pretty much have to squish one to get it to do so. As I was taking the pictures for this post the bees were actually hitting me since I was in their flight path to their nests, and I didn't get stung once. And they really are fascinating to watch as they go about their bee business.

So, if you're planning to grow anything that requires a bit of bee action, I'd really suggest making friends with some of our own orchard bees. They're some of the best friends a gardener can have!

Early Spring Harvest

The peas are officially in the ground, just-in-time for those forsythia blooms! And I've planted seeds for lettuce, spinach, carrots, parsnips, and beets. There are a few brave little shoots coming up, but they're still tiny. But we still managed to have an early spring harvest of parsnips, salsify, leeks, spinach and mache. How, you might ask? They're actually from last season and they over-wintered in the garden. Root crops like parsnips and salsify are actually biennials. As the weather cools in the fall these plants store their energy in the form of sugar in that big root that we normally eat. These survive in the ground over the winter and when the soil warms up again they begin to sprout new greens and grow, and eventually produce a flower and seeds. If you harvest them as soon as the soil is warm enough to dig you'll find that your parsnips are at their sweetest. Leave them to grow more and those stored sugars wind up fueling the new growth, so nab them when the new leaves just start to show! As for spinach and mache, these greens are very cold-hardy. As long as they have some growth before the true winter comes they survive, and in spring they're raring to go before any new seeds are even germinating.

I wish I could attribute this early harvest to some garden planning genius on my part. In reality I HAD planned on having the parsnips and leeks over the winter, but stupidly forgot that if the ground is FROZEN, you can't dig them out! As for the spinach and mache, I'd hoped to be able to sneak a few leaves during the winter since I'd covered them with fabric for a bit of protection. That really didn't work because for most of the winter the plants were still too small to bother with. And then they got buried under our 2-foot snow fall, and there they stayed! Luckily I don't have to rely on my garden planning for winter survival! But it is nice when you can still reap something of value despite your own poor planning. And guess what? Leaving a few hardy vegetables in the ground over the winter to provide an early spring feast is going to be part of my garden plan from now on!

Plant Peas When Daffodils and Forsythia Bloom

I'm a little bit behind this year. Happily I do have a few green things making appearances on the shelves in the basement. And yesterday I actually planted some spinach, lettuce, carrots and parsnips in some of our beds. It was wonderful to get my hands dirty once again! One thing I still haven't managed to plant yet are peas. Saint Patrick's Day has come and gone, and still the peas are in their seed packets. Well, lucky for me I have an excuse: my forsythia isn't blooming yet! Nor are my daffodils. Those beauties pictured at the top are from last year. What's this got

to do with peas? Well, according to the science of phenology, forsythia and daffodil blooms indicate when the soil is the perfect temperature for peas to germinate. Phenology uses nature's own indicators as a timetable for when to plant instead of just sticking to a calendar. There are a few nice web sites here, here, and here that talk about phenology in more detail. There are even sites where you can participate by logging in your own observations, here for example. If you believe, as I do, that our climate is changing this would be an important project to participate in. And it sounds like it would be fun!

I plan to try and pay a bit more attention to Mother Nature's signals when I'm gardening this year. After all, Mother usually knows best!

Garden Planning Part 2 (or Plan B as the Case May Be!)

I (almost) had my crayons poised over my graph paper, ready to plan away. I had my organic gardening books out open to their sections on crop-rotation and planting timetables. Visions of well-organized garden bed layouts flitted across my brain. My intentions were good, they really were! So, then, you might ask, where ARE all these wonderful, colorful garden plans for the upcoming season, huh?? Where's that brilliant, fool-proof crop rotation scheme that'll yieldbushels of blight-free tomatoes, huh? We're waiting . . .

Well, life kind of got in the way in the form of a job search, sick kitty, and, well, just life! So I guess it's time for Plan B. What's Plan B? Just try to get SOME early plants started under my lights in the basement, and IMPROVISE! It's amazing that last year by this time I already had cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, and leeks going strong. I guess it didn't help that up until just a couple of days ago the ground was still hidden under layers of snow. I know, excuses, excuses! But it was hard to believe that spring would ever really get here. Now I'm scrambling to catch up and already thinking of planting peas. Sigh.

Just goes to show you, there are the "best laid plans", and then there's gardening! When it comes to growing your own sometimes the best plan is to just do it!

Garden Planning Part 1

I think I've been hibernating. There certainly hasn't been anything but the winter wind whistling through this site lately! It's been weeks since I've even been able to GET to my garden plot since the parking lot has turned into a snow-covered ice-skating rink. And after our mid-Atlantic blizzard dumped almost 2 feet of snow on us (with an additional 6-8 inches by tomorrow) I'm not going anywhere for a while! And a Note to Self: Leaving your winter supply of parsnips and leeks in the ground means they STAY in the ground until it thaws. It would take a jackhammer to free those puppies! Sigh. Live and learn.

Luckily the seed catalogs arrived as usual, and they've inspired me to start thinking about spring and what to put where (and when) in the garden. One thing I've resolved to do better this coming season is crop rotation. I've spent a good part of the winter reading up about why this is important, how best to do it, what plants should follow what, and I must say I STILL don't have a clear picture about it all! So I figured I might as well write about it! I'll either clarify things for myself, or confuse a few more fellow gardeners!

Elliot Coleman introduces this concept in his New Organic Grower (I love this book!) as follows:

In a word, crop rotation means variety, and variety gives stability to biological systems. By definition, crop rotation is the practice of changing the crop each year on the same piece of ground. Ideally, these different crops are not related botanically. Ideally, two successive crops do not make the same demands on the soil for nutrients, nor do they share diseases or insect pests.

Makes sense, and certainly seems like a simple enough concept. So how to get started? Well, first figure out what "families" the plants you want to grow belong to and group them accordingly. Plants that are related have similar nutrient demands, diseases, and pests, and often require the same growing conditions. You can find the botanical families of many common food plants listed here, or in many gardening guides, including Coleman's book. The goal in crop rotation is to avoid growing plants from the same family in one location year after year. For example, you don't want to plant eggplants and peppers where you had tomatoes or potatoes last year because they're in the same family (Solanaceae).

Next, (and this is what I'm going to try doing this year) pick a color for each of the families you're growing from. Write the name of each particular plant you want to grow this season on an index card or sticky note in that color (good excuse to break out the crayons!). Then make a diagram of last year's garden plot and color in where you had each plant family. You'll want to avoid putting anything the same "color" there this year (and ideally for the next three years.) Now you can start putting your cards on your diagram, avoiding like color on like arrangements. This is the first and simplest step. If you do successive planting the way that I do you'll have different crops in each area depending upon the time of year. Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm snowed in for a while!

Right By Nature

There isn't much coming out of the garden these days. We do have some parsnips waiting to be harvested, the salsify that volunteered from last year, and lots of leeks. Hopefully these will be fine in the ground despite the snow flurries we're getting today and the cold weather that is forecast. It is December, after all! (And I STILL haven't cut back the asparagus! Winter always does sneak up on me!)

Sadly, the farmers' markets have all shut down for the year. Since I'm far from being self-sufficient I guess it's back to the grocery store for food shopping. Well I discovered one that I think is worth talking about. It's called Right By Nature. I first spotted it as I was driving around looking for a place to park on one of my weekly trips out to the Firehouse Farmers' Market. After checking out their web site I decided to go in and have a look (there's plenty of parking and it's FREE!) I found local produce, much of it organically grown, local products, and local, ethically-raised, drug-free meats! Although the beef isn’t local, according to the man behind the counter who managed the meat department, he was SO proud of the quality of that beef, and the fact that THIS store was the only one in the area that was offering it . . well, that’s good enough for me. And I was truly impressed by how much he believed in what he was selling. Clearly there's something different about this place. The bottom line is that Right By Nature is a grocery store I would feel good about shopping in on a regular basis. Not only do they support our local farmers but they are part of our own Pittsburgh community, and that's important for the health of our local economy. So the next time you're heading out to East Liberty to go to Whole Foods, why not head out to the Strip instead and try Right by Nature? You'll find just as nice a selection, and the dollars you spend there will stay right here in Pittsburgh!

Farm City

There's not much going on in the garden these days, thanks to Mr. Groundhog. Once he polished off all the brassicas he moved on the to the nice baby lettuces I thought were hidden under the asparagus fronds, chewed the chard plants right down to the roots, and he's even eaten the parsley! So far, at least, he hasn't discovered a taste for leeks, so we've still been able to harvest those for fall meals. For now, the only real garden-related activity I've been doing is planning for next year (more about that later.)

This leaves me time for reading, and I've just finished a great little book: Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter. This is the inspiring and hilarious true story of how Novella turned an empty lot in a blighted neighborhood in Oakland, California, into a real urban farm, complete with chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, rabbits, and two pigs! The fact that she was able to feed all of these critters (that would ultimately feed her) with excellent food she foraged right out of the dumpsters of her city says a lot about the waste in our society. (Makes an urban farm seem like not such a crazy idea after all!) And as a result of her dumpster-diving she got to meet a chef, learn his charcuterie secrets and together they transformed one of her pigs into these magical foods. Novella Carpenter tells her story with such humble, self-deprecating humor that it's easy to overlook the breadth of her accomplishments. Not only did she raise food for herself and her friends, but she brought people in her dicey neighborhood together as a result of her project. Great food for thought! Now I'm REALLY inspired to get my chickens next year!

86 Red Cabbage, Broccoli and Cauliflower. Dinner Special: Roast Groundhog

I wish! Sadly, this culprit is way too wily to let me catch him in the act. I can only imagine his modus operandi: first he nibbles his way through the plastic deer fencing, squeezes his fat self through the hole, sniffs and rejects the beets, then proceeds on to the brassica bed where he wreaks groundhog havoc! Oddly enough, the cabbage whites really did leave the bed alone this year. Unfortunately they aren't the only ones with a taste for cabbage-related veg. What do I have to do to get a red cabbage--adopt an orphaned groundhog?? Given my luck, if roast ground hog was truly on the menu I WOULD wind up doing just that! Although somehow I don't think that would count as good karma if I'd murdered the parent!

Sigh Don't worry, I'm not grabbing the shot gun just yet. (I don't even own one!) No calls to PETA necessary! The longer I garden, the more I realize that if I'm not ready to "take it on the chin", I'd better just get out of the ring! This season has been particularly painful, but I am officially picking up my tomato blight-bruised and groundhog-battered self and am already planning for next year. Unfortunately for Mr. Groundhog, those plans also include some major groundhog fence reinforcements!!!

Time to Plant Garlic!

There's a definite chill in the air. Actually it seems like it's been here since July--did we HAVE summer this year?? Looking back on the garden season there were certainly highs and lows. The peas were wonderful, and we're still eating carrots and parsnips from our garden bags. And the fairy squash were as prolific as usual. Last week I finally pulled out the pathetic remnants of our tomato plants, along with the barren eggplants and monster ground cherries. Sometimes you just have to admit defeat! But one of the really great things about gardening is that one can always find solace in the crops yet to come. The drop in temperature means it's time to plant one of my favorite crops: garlic! The raised bed that for the most part gave us next to nothing this summer will (hopefully) produce lots of garlic for next year!

Garlic likes nice fluffy, well-fertilized, loamy soil. To prepare the bed I made sure there were no weeds, and added some basic organic fertilizer, lime, and a bit of compost. Since our raised beds are pretty well-established the soil is really nice and light. I turned the amendments into the soil, and then covered the bed with black landscape fabric. The fabric not only keeps weeds to a minimum, but it seems to give our garlic a head start in the spring because of the extra warmth it gives to the soil. Next, cut some "X's" into the fabric about 4-6" apart. Plant the biggest, fattest cloves you have, pointy-side-up, about 2" down in the soil, one clove per "X". Prior to planting I put each clove on top of its "X" so I don't lose track while I'm planting. Remember, the bigger the clove, the bigger the head of garlic you'll get from it next year!

One thing that's really hit me since I started growing vegetables is just how narrow the supermarket offers are. Buying garlic at the supermarket is simple: what's in that little bin in the produce section is pretty much your one-and-only choice. The only decision-making necessary is whether to buy garlic or not. Deciding which garlic variety to grow from the seed catalogs is another experience entirely! For true garlic connoisseurs there are seemingly infinite varieties to choose from. Over the years I've narrowed my ultimate favorite down to one: Music. It's a hardnecked garlic, which means come early June you'll get a preview harvest of scapes. It has a great garlic flavor, but best-of-all, it makes great big heads with great big cloves that are easy to peel. (And since they're big, you don't need to peel as many of them!) Whichever varieties you choose, you'll be glad you chose to grow your own. Garlic is one of the most satisfying crops I've ever grown, and once you've tasted fresh garlic you'll never go back to the generic stuff in the supermarket!

At Least Someone's Enjoying Aunt Molly's Ground Cherries!

I first tasted ground cherries (also know as husk cherries or Cape Gooseberries) when I got a bag of them in my CSA a few years ago. I had no idea what these curious berries that came in their own little wrapper were, but I figured they had to be edible sitting there in amongst all the other fruit and vegetables the farmers had packed in the box. So I unwrapped one and popped the little apricot-colored fruit into my mouth. The taste was unlike any other fruit I'd ever had: it was slightly sweet and tart, but with wonderful overtones of custard. I had to have more!! Luckily they were selling them at the Farmers' Market that year, so I managed to have a few more tastings until they were just a sweet memory.

After I'd discovered what they were I found the seeds for an heirloom variety, Aunt Molly's Ground Cherries, in the Seed Savers Exchange catalog, and had to try growing them for myself. I carefully planted my ground cherry seedlings in the same raised bed the tomatoes and eggplants were in since they're all similar plants requiring similar growing conditions. Of course I had no idea how ground cherries grow, other than the description in the catalog, so how was I to know these monsters would eventually take over the entire bed??! Just two plants, and the poor eggplants were totally covered by the ever-expanding branches. I ignored the recommendation for landscape fabric in the catalog description, thinking it was just for weed control. It wasn't. Ground cherries got their name for a reason: when they're ripe they fall to the ground. Having landscape fabric under the plants would make harvesting them off the ground much cleaner and easier.

Despite the lack of landscape fabric I was able to harvest a fair number of them in the beginning, and the papery husks protect the berry inside from getting dirty. And if you leave the husks on they store for a long time a room temperature, so you can "stock up" enough to eventually make a pot of jam or a dessert from them. Unfortunately for me, however, "somebody" else at the garden has discovered the ground cherries. By the time I get to the garden to harvest them, the little husks are all empty! And the little hoarder leaves the empty husks in piles all around the garden, just to mock me! Sigh. I was tempted to pull the plants out, just out of spite (and to give my eggplants a last gasp of hope), but I didn't have the heart to deprive the little critter his treats. Luckily I put in a couple of plants at home too, so I've been able to have a few ground cherries for myself.

A Sack of Potatoes

Well, the potato harvest wasn't quite what I'd hoped. I'd planted two garden bags with seed potatoes (French fingerlings and red fingerlings). As the plants grew I added compost to the bags until they were full. Once the plants started to die back about three weeks ago we harvested the potatoes. The French fingerling potatoes weren't terrifically prolific. In fact, I think we got back pretty much 1 potato for every seed potato we put in! They were beautiful and delicious nonetheless! The red fingerlings did a bit better. I think from both bags we got about 5 pounds of beautiful potatoes. Perhaps not the best return on our investment, but having freshly-dug fingerling potatoes for dinner is, of course, priceless!

It's Looking Pretty Blighty 'Round Here!

Oh those elusive tomatoes!  Why is it that I grew tomatoes as a kid with no apparent problems (and absolutely no gardening experience!), and now that I've been learning about how to garden, pampering my soil, growing companion plants, encouraging the good insects, blah-blah-blah, tomatoes are about the only thing I haven't been able to grow so far!  (Well, tomatoes and charentais melons, but that's another story!)  What's the deal??? I've heard that "other" people grow such of a glut of tomatoes that they actually . . .  gasp . . . GIVE them away!! (Unfortunately I don't know any of THOSE people!)  Either my plants are beautifully green and lush with no fruit (too much nitrogen, I KNOW), or if they do have tomatoes on them, just as that brandywine is ripening some creature decides to taste it, then leaves it on the ground!!! If I'd have had a shot gun and caught the bugger in the act, I don't care HOW cute, it would have been TOAST! Tomatoes bring out the true beast in me!  I think the only brandywine tomato that actually got to ripen on the vine last year had a bite mark on it!   I ate it anyway!  All I can say is, thank goodness for the farmers' market and for tomato-growers much more talented than me, or the taste of home-grown tomatoes would be a just a childhood memory!

This year was SUPPOSED to be different! But then,  . . . THIS!  It's blight, alright, and it looks like I'm not the only one at the garden with some awfully sick-looking tomatoes!  Those ugly brown blotches on your tomato leaves and green tomatoes that turn brown instead of red are sure signs of tomato blight.  It's caused by a fungus that can live as spores in the soil that can then infect your plants if they get splashed up onto the leaves.  It's certainly been present at our community garden since tomatoes are grown there year after year, but this year is particularly bad.  One major reason is the cool, wet weather we've been having, which tomatoes don't appreciate but is ideal for blight.  Another reason may be that tomato seedlings purchased from some of the "big box" stores (Wal-Mart, Lowes, KMart and Home Depot) were already infected with blight right at the start, according to this New York Times article.  Whatever the cause, it's pretty heart-breaking for us tomato lovers!  

Is there anything we can do to save our tomato crop?  That depends on how far along the disease is on the plant.  If you have enough healthy growth you can remove the diseased leaves and fruit (don't compost these--get rid of them or you'll just spread the fungus.)  There are organic fungicides that can help, but they may be a bit pricey.  I found a recipe for a home-made solution here.  This site suggests spraying the plants and soil with compost tea.  The organisms in the compost will help fight the fungus, and the compost will fertilize the plants at the same time.  I'm going to try some of my worm tea since I have this on hand.  The best overall way to fight blight is prevention:  make sure your plants are healthy from the start, make sure your soil is healthy, and don't plant tomatoes for at least 3 years where there has been blight in the past.  That last bit is pretty tricky for those of us with small gardens here in a community of gardens.  I'm guessing a three-year moratorium on tomato-growing at our garden wouldn't go down very well!!  I'm not quite ready to yank out my plants just yet, and we are forecast to be getting some hotter weather, so I still have a little bit of optimism, for now anyway.  Though I must say, I was glad to see heirloom tomatoes at the farmers' market this morning, just-in-case!

Growing Up

I'm pretty greedy when it comes to garden space.  I want to grow as much as I can in a pretty small garden.  One way to expand that space is to garden in three dimensions: don't forget the vertical space!  Space-hungry plants like squashes and cucumbers can be trained to grow up a trellis, which keeps the squash clean and dry off the ground, and also keeps the plants from sprawling all over.  Unless you're growing huge pumpkins, the stem grows to support the squash, so there's really no need to worry about them falling off.  I grew butternut squash this way, and they really did stay on the plant, even the largest ones.  Just be sure your trellis is sturdy enough to hold them!

My trellis is a permanent structure made out of steel tubing sunk into the ground, with heavy-duty plastic fencing material on it.  This works well, but isn't the most attractive option.  The other down side of the permanent trellis is that I pretty much have to grow the squash there every year. I like to at least try to rotate crops and I try to make up for the every-year squash dilemma by planting peas on the trellis first every spring to give me a little rotation.  But a moveable trellis would better in hindsight.  These vegetable ladders that I found from the Territorial Seed Company would be one moveable option. They're a bit pricey for what they are, but I'll bet they'd be really easy to make for yourself.  (Or find an old wooden step ladder and put it to a new use!)  So, when you're looking for more space in your garden, don't forget to look up!

Garden in a Bag

We've been eating lots of baby carrots and parsnips lately, from a bag! Not a grocery store bag, mind you, but from one of these garden bags from Gardener's Supply Company. They sell them for potatoes, but I thought they'd also be great for other root veggies, and so far the carrots and parsnips have done great in them. The potatoes seem to be growing well too, but I'll have to do an update post when we actually harvest the potatoes.

We wanted a bit more growing space at the garden since our raised beds are pretty much stuffed to the gills with plants, and I saw these in the catalog. They're made of heavy-duty felt, and are supposed to last several years. Just fill them with nice sifted soil, water well, and plant your seeds. These would be great for small-space gardens like patios. So, even if you have cement for a "backyard", that's no excuse not to grow some food!

Thank You!!

Thank you so much Charlotte at Canning Jars Etc. for passing this award to me!  Your blog is a must-read for anyone interested in putting food by. It's well-researched, seasonal, and really informative!  Thanks again!

To get this award I have to first list 7 things about myself that you might find interesting.  Here goes:

1. My longtime companion is from England, and I'd like to think I'm channeling his father who was an avid gardner but sadly passed away a number of years ago. 
   
2. I'm a research scientist at the University of Pittsburgh's Lupus Center of Excellence.
   
3. I have a much-beloved 15-year-old tuxedo cat named Chester.
4. I love to cook and read cooking blogs.
5. I aspire to have 3 backyard chickens (hens) next year.
6. I love British humor.
7. I used to be a classical musician in my younger life--I played the viola and piano.

  Next I need to nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.  I nominate:

1. The Humans at Seven Trees Farm
   
2. Farmgirl Susan at In My Kitchen Garden
3. Anais at Little Homestead in the City
4. Kelli at Sugar Creek Farm
5. Amy at Eggs on Sunday
6. Tina at Craftiness
7. Thomas at Urban Chicken

To accept this award please do the following:

1. Thank the person who nominated you for the award.
   
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

Garlic Harvest

The leaves on the garlic started to turn yellow this past week, telling me that the bulbs were ready to harvest.  So, digging out the garlic was last Sunday's project.  (And the reward was red Russian kale sauteed in olive oil with fresh, juicy garlic!)

I grow pretty much a year's supply of garlic in one 6' by 4' bed (somewhere around 100 heads--we eat a lot of garlic!), so preparing the garlic for long-term storage is important to me.  Ideally garlic should be harvested after a dry spell so that the heads are already a bit dry.  Dig the heads up carefully so that you don't bruise them, leave the stalks attached, and brush off most of the soil. (Don't wash the soil off--you don't want to get your garlic wet.)  Now the garlic needs to cure in a cool, dark, dry place for about a week.  Typically we don't have many cool, dry places in July here in Pittsburgh, but I cure my garlic in my garage.  Not exactly cool (although this year Mother Nature is cooperating so far with a cool spell!), but it is dry.  

After about a week the stalks can be cut off, and then I hang the heads in a cupboard in our basement. I save the biggest, fattest cloves to plant in October for next year's crop.  Growing your own garlic is easy, and fresh, just-harvested garlic is a treat you really can't buy in a store!   

Pea Update: And the Winner Is . . .

All three, actually!  

Well, the peas have come down to make room for some squash and climbing beans, and the vote (mine!) is in.  Here's the tally:

Amish Snap Pea:  Winner for earliest and for taste.

Johnny's Snap Pea:  Winner for yield.

Cascadia:  Winner for disease-resistance.

I really think all three were winners and I'd definitely plant the same combination next year. (Although I have to admit this is partly because I'm cheap and I have lots of seed peas left over!)  But overall I was really pleased with how these varieties worked out.  The fact that the Amish snap peas produced first staggered the pea harvest without having to stagger the planting:  I put all the peas in the ground at the same time.  As the Amish peas were finishing the Johnny's snap peas were taking off, with the Cascadia not far behind.  As far as yield goes, the Johnny's really won out.  Of course I didn't count the number of pea plants I wound up with of each kind so this isn't really a very "scientific" study, but the Johnny's were so far ahead of the other two I think it's pretty obvious:

Amish:  1 lb

Cascadia:  1 3/4 lb

Johnny's:  3 lbs !! (That's a lot of peas!) 

    Amish (left), Johnny's (middle), Cascadia (right)

Now, in terms of taste, I think the Amish won hands down.  They were very delicate, but sweet even if under or over-ripe.  Both the Johnny's and Cascadia peas were larger than the Amish, and although they were both delicious, (sweet, crisp, and juicy) I really loved the Amish snap peas the best.

Although I really didn't have any problems with disease of any kind (that I could see), a few of the Amish and Johnny's snap pea pods had either a few spots or were a bit deformed.  I really didn't notice this at all with the Cascadia, which were bred for disease resistance in the Pacific Northwest.  

It's been a terrific pea season and I'm a bit sorry to see it go.  But with the baby carrots, parsnips and beets starting to make an appearance I'm sure I'll get over it!