Take your flowering kale into winter with style

Flowering kale in October

The flowering kale has been transformed into Christmas planters with the cold weather coming in.  Our temperatures have been extremely mild in Wisconsin this year so far.  The kale made it through the normal fall frosts and freezes.  The color has intensified as it should.   The addition of evergreens and curly willow twigs has added to the beauty of the display.
There are lots of natural items that can come together to add to your landscape enhancements.  If I had power in this area, you can bet I would also have lights.  Use your imagination when foraging for your own decorative touches.

Enjoying the last of the season

Some people may feel that the first frost is the last of the season.  If you have planned well and researched even a little bit about your region and crops that will continue to grow past frost, the first frost will bring a whole new season of crops your way.  There are so many cold weather crops that actually improve after they are exposed to some cold weather.  Kale, cabbage, and other cole crops will often take on a sweeter edge as they adapt to the cold weather after frost.  I still have several things in the garden and we have had at least half a dozen frosty mornings on our garden.  
The leeks are still standing tall as are the parsnips.  I have also put in a few carrots and salsify which are durable root crops.  The celery root is just starting to take on the best flavor for flavoring stocks.  I even found a stray potato when cleaning out the debris from the potato patch.  Many people will dig this as a late season crop for long season varieties.
I just cut  some of the cardoon yesterday.  I cannot give you full details on the best ways to use this plant, but there are plenty of references with a quick search.  I am parboiling a bit of it to mash with some califlower (also cut after several frost) to try the infamous fake mashed potatoes recipe I have seen on line.
I harvested many of my winter squash just prior to the frost, but they have stayed on the porch to harden their skins before winter storage.  I am cooking up a Turk's Turban for supper.  I also have two large spaghetti squash in the oven to prepare ahead of tomorrow's supper.
Apples are still coming in to many of the orchards.  We have not had a terribly cold night into the low 20's so the fruit is still wonderful.  Apple cider is starting to flow heavily from the orchard extras at this time of year.  My favorite are the apple cider donuts that are a guilty pleasure.  Apples store well, so they can be enjoyed fresh for months to come.
There is a patch of dinosaur kale that I have been harvesting for use this summer.  I have been using little bits with the cold weather and will do a final harvest before a total freeze.  Kale is a crop that develops more sugar in the plant which acts like anti-freeze making it more and more cold tolerant as time goes on.  There is a bed of ornamental kale (which is also edible) at the entrance to our nursery which has gotten very colorful with the cold weather.  It wasn't even on people's radar two month's ago even though it has been growing in that bed since June.  Sort days and cold temperatures have literally turned this green ghost into a violet glowing beauty accented by it's pure white sister that has caused passer-bys to take notice.  It will be beautiful well into our Wisconsin December weather.
One of my favorite foods that is improved by cold is one that I don't even eat.  Many ornamental crab apple varieties hold their fruit into winter.  The fruit ferments on the tree with the freezing and thawing.  Birds love to partake of this fermented fruit causing flocks to go absolutely gaga.  Watch for this on your cold weather walks through your own neighborhood.
So don't worry about the arrival of cold weather.  Embrace it!

Too much gardening, no time to journal it

I started this blog as a way to journal my gardening efforts.  I have used it that way to look back on some of the things I have done in years past, a way to repeat successes and avoid past mistakes.  Putting things down in words has also helped me work through problems by putting my thoughts into some sort of sequence.  Kind of like talking to myself.

The blog has also been useful to answer questions for family and friends looking for gardening answers.  It gave me quick reference to provide step by step with pictures for someone doing something for the first time.

This year I had the biggest garden I have had since I was young.  In addition to the huge vegetable garden, I had all sort of new garden beds to plant and maintain.  Then there is my job which requires my attention to the various flower beds and 160 acres of nursery and woodland patches.  By the time my day is over, I just haven't had time to track some of the things that happened this year.  I learned so much having so much to do.  I want to jot down some of those highlights so I can remember what I did this year.

I got is my early crops only because I did some bed prep last fall.  Once the busy season hit in the greenhouse, I had very little time for my own garden prep and planning.  I have to do that again this fall so I am ready for a quick entrance into the garden with the peas and onions next spring.

Weed barrier was my greatest friend.  I never would have maintained my sanity this year if it wasn't for all that ground cloth suppressing weed growth.  I had to weed around my plants, but I didn't have to worry about all those other areas that would have required so much attention.  The second advantage was having mud free walking.  My vining plants were able to run over all that black cloth with no rot on the fruits from soil contact.  It also made for quick clean up this fall.

Late blight took the tomatoes, but the weed barrier kept the garden from being taken over by weeds

The start of late blight on the tomatoes.  It takes over in days and the crop is lost

I lost my tomato crop but was able to ripen some of it indoors in trays.  Lay tomatoes in a single layer and check them daily for any signs of blight developing on the fruit.

I found out what late blight is and how devastating it is to a tomato crop.  What I thought was going to be an overwhelming tomato crop with multiple trips to the food pantry, ended up being just enough for my canning needs.  I had very few extras to give away.  It was disheartening to throw out all those tomatoes (and extremely heavy).  I saved those with a blush and some green that didn't have the tell-tale blight and ripened them in the basement.  I checked them at least every couple days and pulled out any that showed signs of disease.  In the end, the dozen or so flats of tomatoes I saved ended up being just enough.  The potatoes had been dug weeks earlier, and the peppers remained unaffected.  I also saved all my cherry tomatoes and froze them whole, unblanched, in Ziploc bags.  These are the only "whole" tomatoes I have.  They have been just the thing to add to dishes in place of canned whole tomatoes.

I grew corn for the first time since I was a kid.  I purchased three kinds with different maturity dates of 65, 75, and 85 days.  They were planted at the same time as the varieties would stagger the harvest for me.  I learned what cut worms are and how they move through the crop.  Fortunately, I had an organic garden product on hand which was listed for cut worms.  I had to go out and spray at nightfall when they come out.  It was successful and the corn crop suffered a limited amount of damage.  I used a radio in a water proof container to keep the raccoon and deer at bay by playing talk radio at night.  I also didn't leave the corn on the stalks any longer than necessary.  The stalks grew taller the longer the season so I have fall decorations for different locales by size.

I grew okra for the first time ever.  There were seeds in an office desk, so why not?  The flowers are beautiful (they are in the hibiscus family).  I found that I liked to harvest them young and tender.  I had enough to share with other okra lovers.  I dehydrated several batches for addition to gumbo this winter.  I will grow that again.

Okra

I grew cauliflower.  I forgot that I grew cauliflower.  I had these plants that I just couldn't remember what the heck they were.  I asked someone if it was collards and they thought so.  The white heads finally proved us both wrong.  Next time, I would tie the leaves up to keep the heads white.  I had some greening with exposure to sunlight.  My heads were also small, so I need to read up on that this winter.

After a full year in the manager's residence, I have learned the sun exposures.  I will be moving my herb garden next spring to the sunnier side of the house.  I like having it by the back door, but the magnolia tree has way too much shade.  I also lost the full sun with the waning season to the height of the house.  Herbs really need the full sun to reach their potential.

I also think I will plant a longer season cabbage.  The heads started splitting at the end of the season before I was ready to make sauerkraut.  I like the cool weather to set in to sweeten up the cabbage.  I was able to use the split heads, but there was a lot of trimming that had to be done.

I want to beef up the asparagus patch which had been neglected and mowed over too many times.  I have the weeds under control in the bed, but there are dead spots which need new roots.  I may try seed plants as an affordable way to do this as it isn't my patch forever.

The berry patch grew well for first year plants.  I put in two raspberries and one blackberry variety in the only space I had available when they need to find a home as bare root canes.  I will add stakes at the end of the row to provide support.  I also may move the whole thing to an open area for room to spread.  What garden doesn't need to have things moved?

Next year I will have my patty pan squash away from the edge of the garden.  This may keep whatever thief I had from eating 99% of my crop.  I will refine my choices of squash and grow more pumpkins.

Come the dead of winter, I will come back to this post and read what I have forgotten to do.

Vacation garden explosion

Gardeners know what happens when you aren't there watching your garden on a day-to-day basis.  You do everything you can possibly catch up on before vacation in hopes that you will return to a garden plot that just needs a little tweaking when you return.  Gardeners are a delusional bunch of happy souls.
I left my plot in reasonable shape as I had a trusted caretaker to watch over the water duty while I was gone.  My garden was treated to several days of 80 degree plus weather in my absence.  When you add water to plants and add heat, they grow exponentially.  Weeds do the same.  

I soaked and planted the rest of my bean seeds before I left to make up for the miserable showing on the first sowing.  Mid-July is not a usual time for sowing, but you have to improvise when the situation dictates.  I weeded the areas around the new rows to allow as much water and light to encourage my new seeds.  I did not have enough time to do the whole area.  This is the one spot in my garden that had not been covered over with weed barrier and it shows.  I should be down on my hands and knees right now, but the weeds will wait while I enjoy my Saturday morning coffee.  I need to have a day where I don't dive into work the moment I open my door.  I had a sister that asked me once what do I do so my garden is so clear of weeds.  I told her that I weed them.  She thought I was guarding some trade secret, a chemical miracle, that would make her life easier.  I was finally able to convince her that all the large pots stationed in corners of my yard were indeed for quick weed disposal when I pull during my garden walks and not a Frisbee golf course for the athletically challenged.  This year is the first time I ever purchased a product called Preen.  It does cut down on the germination of new weed seeds.  It does not stop rooted or rhizome weeds from making their way back to the surface though.  You also cannot use it on gardens where you are trying to germinate seeds as it will effect those the same as weeds.

 The good thing about garden explosions is the vegetables and fruits that start to produce in tremendous force in your absence.  During the young growth period, most of use wander through the rows eagerly anticipating the first fruits of the season.  When you take a vacation during this initial period, you miss the first fruits as the trickle in.  After unpacking the trailer, I took my garden walk without a bucket or basket.  Pretty soon I was balancing too many cucumbers and squash and had to head back up for a vessel to hold it all.  The heat has continued through the week after vacation.  I take a bucket with me every time now.

My biggest surprise of the garden explosion was the recovery and growth of my cruciferous crops.  The cabbage had suffered greatly from spending too much time in the cell packs and not enough time in the garden.  They were stunted and leggy along with all the other cole crops I started in the greenhouse.  I almost didn't put them in thinking they were too far gone for any recovery.  I was proven wrong.  This was one of those garden hope moments that came through with big results.  I just need to keep a careful eye on them for cabbage moths and others that would love to do great harm to these babies.  The kohlrabi is even putting on some girth after the move to the soil.  
I better finish up my coffee and get a start on the weeds.  I am glad for the quiet morning moments when I get to sit and enjoy the garden.  The birds have encouraged me to get up and get something done.  Here are a few more photos from the garden explosion.

Zucchini 8 Ball

Zucchini and pumpkins co-mingling

Fairy Tale Eggplant

Basil and peppers

Lancelot leeks

Dinosaur kale, salsify and parsnips

Successes and Failures

It happens to the best of us and those of us who are usually pretty good at gardening.  I think I have been beat this year and will not enjoy my own garden beans.  I did everything the way I usually do, but I have a few miserable sprouts coming up.  I have them fenced to protect them from the big critters and covered them for the little.  Still there are a few lousy plants and some that look like they were eaten by something.  This is unprecedented in my gardening years.  I will put more in, bush beans that are short season.  I hope to enjoy some fresh beans before the growing season runs out.  My pole beans and the elaborate growing structure appear to be a futile attempt at gardening.

Instead of tender sprouts, I have a bed full of purslane.  Purslane is edible, but they aren't beans.  On the other hand, peas were very successful.  I grew both sugar snap and garden shelling beans.  I enjoyed cooking up three different meals from the last picking of shelling beans alone.

I went out and picked again before work this morning and got almost a full pail of both types.  They are starting to dwindle in number so there is probably just a meal left to grow in on the vines.  I am leaving some on to try and get some for next year's crop.

I am also pretty happy with the onion crop.  The tops are starting to get brown tips so they should be starting to shut down and start hardening up for harvest.  We have enjoyed several pullings of fresh onions that I have cooked or used fresh.  Garlic is also starting to brown at the top. The leeks also look pretty good, but those are still growing.  I put in carrots, but only those shaded by the adjacent plants actually germinated.  I think they got too dry when they needed it most.  We have not been getting timely rains this month.
I also enjoyed the first four blueberries on my bush today.  It is not going to be much of a crop.  I just bought the plants last year.  They were in pots all last year and through the winter.  I have them in a large above ground planter now that is filled with peat and compost.  In our alkaline soils, we can only grow blueberries in an artificial environment like this.
Fencing of some type still needs to go up.  I did get down soaker hoses around the tomatoes and peppers last week.  I am also going to put some around the squash just to cover my bases since I do have a few left.  I haven't peeked at the corn coming up under the floating row cover, but I can see some shoots pushing up the fabric.  Okra is small and in desperate need of weeding.  I do have to get busy in the weeding department as I know they will need it again when we come back from our first vacation.
I try not to linger on the failures and enjoy eating the food that is coming from the garden.  Lettuce is at it's end, so I need to enjoy salads this weekend rather than send it to the compost pile for lack of interest.  It is also time to forage for berries.  Enjoy summer as it is short.

Growing up

There are some people that look at the garden I have now and say that it is easy to garden when you have this much space.  Actually, it is harder to garden when you have this much space!  There are more weeds, more ground to cover, and more time to do it all.  It does have its advantages, but limited space should not be a reason to not garden at all.  I have kept some type of garden in most all places that I have lived in my adult life.  Many times the space was limited.  Vertical gardening is the way I made the most out of limited space.  There are many crops that prefer growing up rather than out.  You also don't have to spend a bunch of money on fancy planters when an old garden gate or some fallen branches can supply a support for those upward bound crops.  Pruning a tomato plant to grow up more than out will also provide you with plenty of fruit without all the space.  Even crops that don't grow up naturally can be put into a planter which stacks your garden for low growing crops like lettuce and strawberries.

I have used the netting from our Christmas tree wrapping to train vines up which has gotten additional use out of something most people would discard rather than put in storage for the next six months.  If you are in a community that doesn't allow vegetable gardens, vertical use of space is a great way to sneak those edible crops into the landscape.  That alone is a whole topic yet to be discussed.  Some of the best crops to go vertical with are:

• pole beans
• peas
• tomatoes
• hardy kiwi
• cucumbers
• small melons
• squash
• pumpkins, especially smaller pie varieties
• Malibar spinach
• any crop you can put in a small pot or planter such as lettuce, strawberries, baby carrots, etc.

Your imagination and creative use of height will be your only limitation to how high you can go.

Putting up walls to keep out the weeds

It is the first day of summer, and I am just getting some major crops in the ground.  I have had little time and energy which has coincided with dry soil.  This weekend became do or die time for me.  I worked this week on tomatoes and peppers during a couple evening hours.  Friday was dedicated to getting my daughter started on her own garden.  Saturday dawned early for me and I got out there.
Rain was a threat all day, so I determined I would work as quickly as I could for as long as it would allow.  In the end, time ran out and still no rain when we had to leave for a party invitation.  I was feeling pretty good about getting so much done even with so much still to do.  I made the garden space the size I did so I could do crops like pumpkins and squash this year  
My biggest obstacle is the prior occupants lack of interest in this garden space.  The fence was harboring all kinds of weeds and the interior was a solid mass 3' and taller with all kinds of weeds indicative of poor soil.  The seed bank in this garden is enormous.  I got busy early and got a fence up.  Potatoes, onions and peas are all flourishing.  I was eating the first ripe peas while burning weeds around the fence perimeter that the tiller can not reach.  Delicious!  My husband ran the tiller around the second half of the fenced portion for me yesterday so the beans could finally get in the ground.  I covered about half of the square footage with pieces of old weed barrier.  I cut holes, added compost and then planted each hole with a pepper or tomato.  Today I came on to a new solution.  The Weed Dragon.  I purposely singed the edge of the plastic based barrier yesterday to keep it from fraying.  I like the way it looked.  

This is my old method of creating planting holes in the weed fabric.  Effective but time consuming and requires a lot of time on the knees.
















This is the new method of a quick touch of the Weed Dragon to create fray-free planting holes.  I shoveled the compost on to the top of the hole, lifted at the edge and scooped all the compost under the fabric.  The hole is easy enough to access the soil underneath to work it with a trowel and add the plant.  I am hoping that the fabric will minimize the amount of weeding that I have to do.  In a garden this size with the weed seed waiting to sprout, it would be a full-time job just keeping my vegetable patch.  Time will tell if this method will be effective or not.

The last big job was setting up for my pole beans.  I purchased netting for trellising six feet high and 12 feet long.  With two of these, I am able to provide enough netting for all my pole beans.  The support structure for the netting is two old ladders held in place with T-posts on each side of both ladder legs.  This will be great for reaching the late season tall vines.  I am putting in the filet beans as well as Romano pole beans which are left over from last year.  I also have the Lazy Housewife which  can be eaten fresh or ripened for dry beans.  Expanded metal pieces which I used at home to keep my seeds in the ground and out of the chipmunks' cheeks are being used here as well.  The population of chippies is pretty high. and they can get in just about anywhere.  After germination and true leaves appear, I can remove the metal and work around the base of the plants as needed.  Floating row cover will have to be sufficient for the rows of bush beans since I ran out of metal pieces before I ran out of seed.

The spinach was starting to bolt earlier this week, so the remainder was cut.  This made a nice spot open for carrot seeds.  The soil that I mounded with the cow manure last fall is quite sandy.  I added some compost before seeding and covered the plot with a piece of wood to keep the soil moist.  This method has been the most reliable way that I have found for carrot seed germination.  I will have to check under the board every day and remove it at the first sign of green.

I am not done yet.  I still have sweet corn to be planted.  Mine will not be knee high by the 4th of July.  I plan on tilling the area a third time as the weeds have started coming up thick in this area.  The corn will be in blocks to encourage the best germination possible.  I will under-plant the corn with pumpkins in hopes of deterring the raccoon that makes its way to the bird feeders every night to pick up what has fallen down.  I haven't dismissed the thought of using electric fence to surround the entire garden both high and low to try and fight hungry wildlife.  I want to make sure that the price is right before making the commitment to power up.  Okra plants went in over the weekend.  I have never grown this before and think I may have planted enough for a crowd.

I hope to enjoy a good variety of plants and have plenty to share.  I am lucky to have the space to try so many new plants.

Passing the torch, but running together

My oldest daughter and her husband occupy our house while we live at my job site.  If you look back at my posts through the years, you know this property is full of gardens.  It is no small undertaking to learn gardening in this environment.  My daughter has decided that she is up to the task.  
Between my job and hers, we are late getting at the gardens at both properties this year.  I got a good start at both places, but fell behind when my own work schedule picked up.  Michelle puts in a good amount of hours at her day job with a publishing company in addition to free lance work with a second.  Add a new puppy into the mix and the schedule gets pretty tight.  The only time we have set aside together has been to frequent some of the outdoor beer gardens in our local parks.  
This Friday we made a date to get busy.  The beer was picked up at the local liquor store famous for its price and selection.  I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at the tremendous number of volunteer annuals that are filling the beds.  Our job was made easier as a result.  My plans had to be altered a bit as a result, but we ended up with a combination garden of flowers and vegetables as a result.
Michelle got familiar with the most prevalent weeds and got to work at clearing those spots out.  It took just a few more plants to make the garden complete.  The rain garden has filled in so well this year.  There are very few spots to put those shade loving plants that I have grown accustomed to adding every year.  The loss of the street tree has also changed the light level dramatically.  One of my Hostas at the edge was already showing sun scald.  There was also a complete mass of turf grass that despite my best past efforts, had completely engulfed one of my sedge clumps.  I dug out and removed all of that (ha! you never get it all) and my girls followed behind with her splash of color.  The result was very pleasing.  I also ended up with more Hostas for my very shady patch of earth in a smaller variety than what has already been installed at the new digs.
I knew that we would not finish this project together so we took the time to walk with a cold beer around the rest of the yard to discuss her next steps.  We looked over the seed packets purchased earlier this spring and talked about where they needed to go in the raised beds.  We talked about the current crops of potatoes, onions, and leeks that I did get in early in the season and their upcoming maintenance.  She had the usual question of how do you know when things are ready to harvest.  I told her a few times that she needs gardening to be a hobby, a time to relax.  Do things in small batches as a way to unwind and decompress at the end of the day.  Never look at it as another thing you have to do as this will take all the joy out of gardening. This is definitely a new stage of life for both of us.  Growing older is not a terrible tragedy as most folks view it.  Without the aging process, my daughters and I would not move past those tumultuous teenage years into a new phase of life where we share a beer and discuss the bigger things in life.  I am happy to have both my girls in that place where they are independent women who are making their own way in life.
Dark started to settle in as hunger gnawed at both of us.  Woman can not live on beer alone. My daughter headed in to make a very late supper, while I used the waning light to hand cultivate the vegetable beds to jump start her next planting day.  I looked up at the silver of moon followed by Venus in an indigo backdrop and savored my favorite part of the day.  The seasons turn and life takes its course.  Life is good.

June is berry month, and July, and August, and September

 A handful of strawberries a day is a pretty good deal in my book.  You can see that they are not huge, more the size of marbles.  Alpine strawberries are an ever-bearing strawberry.  They flower early and start producing the first berries about the end of May in our area.  They keep on producing until frost.  They love a top dress of compost every year, and occasionally need to be repotted.  I have successfully started more plants by letting them get over ripened.  I save those berries in a bag in the freezer and their little seeds fall right out of the fruit.  I put them on some growing media like seed starting mix, lightly covered, and keep them moist.  Bottom heat is not necessary, but light is.  They are tiny seedlings that can be transplanted a couple months after they emerge.  They do not run, so you can not propagate with that method of rooting the runners.  Keep the plants moist, but not wet.  I grow mine in window boxes in a stacked style planter.  A tiered planter might be more ideal.  Put the boxes in the ground over winter and pull them out again in spring to their summer home.  Berries must be fully ripe, no white on them, for the best flavor.  You will not be disappointed to have these lovely babies as part of your annual gardening traditions.

  

Delayed planting...now what?I am going to

I am beginning to think that it will always rain on the weekend.  At least the weekends that I plan to get my garden seeds in.  It is the middle of June and my tomato and pepper starts are still waiting on the patio.  The box of seeds which holds my beans, greens, and corn are still full of hopeful plans.  The tiny plugs of soil holding my vining crops are past the point of bursting.  The rain continues to fall.
News also came through the phone line this week that the roofers want to start replacing the aging roof on the farm house.  It will be nice to not have pans under drips, but it also means that the flowers which have been outgrowing their trays have to wait another couple weeks before taking root.  What is a gardener to do??
I am going to have to enlist a technique that most garden centers are doing now as well.  Pot up and hold it longer.  I have done this in the past on a small scale, but this looks like a monumental moment that will take several hours...and it is raining.  I have decided that the second trailer of compost will be my ally in this task.  I will put the plants in pots with compost instead of soiless mix or other media.  This will help me kill two birds with one stone.  The roots will have more room to grow and have some nutrition to give them that boost that they need.  I will not have to do a major soil amendment in the areas that they will be going eventually.  They will bring their media with them so I can reduce the amount I would have used otherwise.  I may also have to cut back the tops.  This will mean the loss of the existing flowers in some cases, but it will mean more branching and more buds in the future.  the secondary buds are often smaller, but the masses of color make up for that hands down.  Many times you would be dead heading plants around this point in the season, so this is not a drastic measure to take.  After potting up, I will find a semi-shady spot out of the path of the contractors.  Past experience has taught me that no matter how far you go, they will manage to need that space to work as well.  Some plants are already in the ground.  In this case, I will have to put up boards or shields to keep errant shingles from taking them out.  My herb garden that I put in last weekend is a prime target.  I am not going to remove the plants and it is pretty close to the house.  This area will benefit from a piece of plywood propped over the top during work hours.  
So...if the rain continues today, the rain canopy is going to come in handy.  I will set this up over my trailers of compost and start potting.  During the breaks in precipitation, I will do my best to get the tomatoes and peppers in the ground.  I may have to wait a few more days before the ground is prepped for the seeds inside my garden fortress.  I just hope frost doesn't beat me to the harvest this year.

Getting it together at the new digs a little bit at a time

I have grown (and purchased) a boat load of plants to fill all the gaps at our new residence.  Last year during the growing season, we still lived in our primary residence that we own.  This year we live in what is the manager's house where I work.  The short story is that so much old plant material had to be removed to make facility updates possible that we are starting from scratch in all respects.

I missed my herb garden this spring when it was not out my back door to snip fresh chives or thyme.  I have no mint for those refreshing summer drinks.  I spent a chunk of change at one garden center that carries a nice variety of modesty priced herbs.  I had no prepared ground to put them in.  I knew that I was going to have to make a few raised beds over old shrub stumps.  I used my collection of cinder block which I used for plant shelving in past years to do just that.  I even put my soil/compost blend in the centers of the block for the annual herbs like basil.  I also have the aggressive growers like mint confined in these holes.  The thyme will have the opportunity to trail down the side.  I alternated annual and perennial herbs in case they successfully winter and start to overflow their cells.  I back dropped the garden with some old trellises for some tomatoes (grape and yellow Sungold cherry type) and cucumbers.  It also is a bit of a privacy screen from the work areas and shade for the hostas on the opposite side of the wall it parallels.  I will also get the strawberry planters in their tower again as that is still the most convenient and best option I have used so far for the Alpine variety I grow.  This also provides a bit of screening which makes the patio feel a bit more intimate in such a spacious environment.

 I have pulled out some old planters from the weeds and placed them around the greenhouses and residence again.  They will provide a nice working height for food crops and our stock plants that we propagate.  It took an operator and equipment to get them out, but I love these old planters that still have plates on them designating the business that sponsored them decades ago.  They ended up at the nursery and were used for a short time before being mothballed.  They really were in the weeds before being pulled out into the spotlight again.  I had to dig out a fair amount of weedy soil so that we can put in some clean composted soil in the tops  One pot is home to my small stature blueberry bushes.  It is easier to transform the soil to be acidic and boggy when it is confined to a limited area.

The compost also came in handy for hilling the potatoes.  Straw adds and extra layer of soil retention in which the potatoes can grow.  It took quite a bit of soil, but the compost farm is just 10 minutes away so another trip was made for the other areas.
In addition to all the new area I have for gardening at the new digs, we still own our home in the city.  It is only 15 minutes away, so checking in is not a huge deal.  However, my daughter and her husband are novice gardeners.  They need the instruction of what is a weed and what isn't.  They have never put trowel to dirt on their own.  I will have to guide them through the season so they can have the most success in their very large gardening environment.  I have not been there for over a month, so there is lots of work to do.
So here it is, three days since I started writing this.  I am finally finishing this in the early hours of my day since I had to let my delivery drivers in for a 6 AM flower drop.  My days start early and end well after my hourly employees go home.  There is a lot of ground to cover in a day, and the work never ends.  Other than the regular frustrations of running a farm, I could not be happier with where I am.

Practice what you preach

In between raindrops I got some work done on this Memorial Day weekend.  I used those snatches of time that would have seemed not worth the effort to accomplish quite a bit in my gardens.  
I put about an hour in with the vegetable patch yesterday.  My onions and leeks were needing weeding so I got down to it and it was done before I knew it.  I still felt like I had something in me, so I weeded the pea rows and the other small patch of miscellaneous plants.  My onion patch is about five foot by nine foot.  I have to step into rows to reach those last weeds, but I tilled with my Cobra head cultivator to loosen the compaction I left.  I also added the soil mound around the leeks to start the blanching process of the stems.  No light reaching the stems equals white stemmed leeks which are the culinary preference.  Or so I'm told.  I followed my own advice in my last blog of using those small windows to weed a small area.  It ended up being all the vegetables I have planted, but it did not take me that long.

 The spinach patch is also coming along nicely.  I put in three circles of seeds in what is about a square foot area for each.  The cool weather has been kind to this crop.  I do not harvest the whole plant, but snip off the outside leaves.  The growing center is left so the plants can continue to produce.  I pulled a full gallon bucket of leaves which I had to keep gently pushing down as I picked.  This is about two meals for my husband and I.

I still had some energy left in me and a tool in hand.  I used my point tipped hoe to pull in the piles of reserved soil around my potato plants.  I broke up the clods with the hoe and was able to use the tip to push the soil in between the individual plants.  I will probably take a broom down next time to sweep the soil up off of the weed barrier fabric on to the soil mounds to use the rest of the soil.  I will start using straw around the plants to keep mounding from that point.  I harvested some radishes which thinned the row and enjoyed those with a beer when I got back up to the house.  In one hour, I accomplished quite a bit.
I also had the opportunity to drive over to my favorite garden center, Luxembourg Gardens, to find a few things to put into my pots around the patio.  It was raining pretty good at the time, but I had worn a rain coat and didn't mind.  I wasn't alone. There were plenty of other dedicated gardeners who felt that shopping on a rainy day beat a sunny day with crowds.  Only one item was out when I arrived so I will have to make a trip back to get that one more thing...yeah just one more thing...

Garden goings on

In between all the big work of the nursery and greenhouse, I snatch moments in my own garden life.  I don't do marathon gardening sessions like I used to.  Even less now.  Here is my list of garden jobs you can do in small snatches of time and still enjoy gardening on your terms:

• Weeding.  You don't have to do the whole garden all at once.  If you have to pick and choose, get the ones that are starting to flower first.  Get a small hand cultivator (single hook for small spaces is my choice) and work small patches.  Something is better than nothing.
• Watering.  Most plants are better off allowing to dry in between watering.  Concentrate on containers first and do it in sections so you aren't out there for hours.  Consider soaker hoses and drip lines where it makes sense.  Turn it on and have a beer.
• Planting.  It doesn't have to get done all at once.  Prep an area and plant.  Have another beer.  Prep another area and plant.  Do a little each day, don't save it all for the weekend.  A hidden reward in planting over time, especially with edible crops, is your garden keeps producing all summer long.  The one caveat is to watch the days to maturity on your seed packets.  Don't wait too long on those long season crops or you will be disappointed.  Space out greens, herbs, and short season root crops for extended harvest.
• Harvesting.  My favorite thing in mid-summer is to take my morning coffee out to the garden early in the morning.  The neighbors are sleeping, but the birds are singing.  What better atmosphere can you ask for if you have some work to do?  Morning is also the best time to harvest many things since they are not wilted by the heat of the day.  Keep buckets or bags in a small deck box or even a plastic covered bin so they are always handy when you find yourself picking more than fits in your hooded sweatshirt.
• Dead heading.  Yup, you really should pull, pinch, or snip off those spent flower heads.  Early in the season, this will keep your plants blooming better.  If you plan on collecting seed, then you should let some go later in the season so the seed can mature on the plant.  Keep a garden scissors or snips in the same box or hang it on a hook by the door.  If you don't have to look for your tools, you are more likely to do the job.  Purchase a couple so you can keep them close to different garden areas.  You can also enjoy a beer while doing this task.
• Smelling the flowers.  Don't forget that the main reason you garden is for the beauty of it all.  Put chairs out where you can sit and enjoy the fruits of your labor.  I like to have sitting areas in the most unexpected places.  It is fun to look at things from various perspectives.  And have another beer.

Full greenhouses, new pictures

Begonias and impatiens

Coleus on one end

marigolds on the other

A hodge podge of crops

Geraniums, dahlias, and others

Vinca and dahlias

Cape daisies, supertunias and ornamental peppers

 We are at that time of year when we are full or nearly so.  We had some early crops go out for plantings for the May graduation ceremonies.  We had the hardiest crops, petunia and dusty millers, out in the elements with just shade and frost cover when needed.  A few other items went to unheated hoop houses to acclimate them to the elements.  We have filled up the outside shade area again with similar crops to toughen them up and space out the larger wave petunias.  I need more shade cloth up as there are some other plants that would love to get outside to enjoy the weather.  
The extra heat from longer, sunny days has been to the benefit of many of the plants.  I have learned some things that I want to do differently.  I had some crops at two stages of maturity, I want to do a few more to get a jump on some of the earlier (pre-Memorial Day) orders.  This would allow us to harden off more crops so the customer's success increases.  I dream of building some benches that would bring our crops up and let us keep better control of weeds.  It would also double up the outdoor space with two tier possibilities.  It would be a fairly minor investment as well.  Every year there are new ideas to try and implement.  Time and money are the only limitations.

PotAto, Potaato...however you say it, I'm growing them

I am happy to have the space to finally grow some of those crops there was never room for in my city lot.  I had to watch what I grew in my back yard as the black walnut was rough on most crops in the Solanacea family.  Peppers were my one exception for some reason.  Potatoes are in the same family and they take up plenty of room, especially if you really want to have more than just a meal or two.  I bought two bags of seed potatoes a couple weeks ago while out on a shopping run to Tractor Supply Co.  I chose Yukon Gold and Red Norlands.  I grew the reds before with success.  I kept them in a warm location with some light and got them to start sprouting as the package instructed.  That was the easy part.  
I had put a couple hills for my daughter at the old garden plot as they are looking a growing variety, not quantity.  She was given instructions to hill soil around the growing sprouts as they came up.  Potatoes grow sprouts from the eyes on their skins.  As the sprouts grow up, they flower and will grow potatoes at those points along the stem.  The grower must continue to put soil, mulch, straw or other type of growing media up the plant to keep the potatoes covered.  Failure to do so will cause them to turn green and that is what causes toxic buildup under the skin.  Don't eat the green part of a potato.
What I put in for her was small potatoes compared to what I was doing.  After counting up the tubers I had left, I was looking at 32 holes without cutting the potatoes apart.  I chose not  to cut the potatoes apart.  Remember how I said this garden has a seed bank that puts Fort Knox to shame?  I am not going to spend my summer hoeing the garden, so weed barrier will be my tool to combat excessive weed potential.  I pulled out my nearly full box of landscape fabric pin and utilized a piece of weed cloth that had cuts and slashes from a former job.  I found that the selected piece was EXACTLY the right length and width for my area after folding under the damaged areas.  I knew it was going to be a good day.  The forty year old me would have had the cloth down and potatoes in by lunch.  The fifty some year old me took most of the day.  I love to take a beer break, visit with my grown daughters, and make plans with my husband while in the middle of gardening season now.  My younger self would plow through and plant the entire yard in a weekend.  With age comes wisdom (and less endurance).
The fabric was laid over and area that was tilled last fall, but left as is this spring.  I used the weed dragon to burn some of the weeds and handed off to my younger daughter in Tom Sawyer fashion for a spell while on the phone with my older daughter.  Yes, with age comes wisdom.  I got a tape measure out to calculate the spacing between hills.  After setting the tape measure on the patio table, I carefully eyed the area and just put dots of paint where I thought I would make the cuts instead.  It worked much better than the OCD method I was going to enlist initally as well as much faster.
I cut an X in the fabric and tucked the triangles of fabric under the cloth to create a square planting area of one square foot, more or less.  I dug a plug of soil out, placed it on the side and then put a base of compost 1 to 2 inches deep in the place of the clay I removed.  I was encouraged to have found a few earthworms in the present soil as this has not been the case in past excavations.  My whole potato set went in the hole followed by more compost of another 3 to 4 inches.  The plug of soil will serve as back fill when the plants grow up and need to be hilled.  The process continued until all holes were created and filled with one potato set.

After several breaks for beer and conversation, all the holes were finally filled.  I had 32 sets of Yukon Gold and Red Norland Potatoes underground and ready to grow.  

I did one more task to make the job complete.  A trip around the grounds with the John Deere Gator and pitch fork cleaned up piles of winterizing straw and provided future cover for my future potato patch.  I was able to kill two birds with one stone for the mutual benefit of my garden beds.

Now for those cabbage plants hardened off on my porch...