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...