Today’s flower seeds April 14, 2013

This is far from being everything for the day, but here are the flower seeds I plan on planting today. Some are being planted for specific purposes. An example of this is the marigolds that will help keep root nemotodes away. Others, such as nasturtium, will hopefully act as a trap plant drawing pests away from my fruit and veggies. Some of these flowers have medicinal uses as well. The purple coneflower is a great example of this. It is also known as echinacea, known worlwide for immune boosting properties. Even the flowers with no specific purpose will add beauty for us humans and a varied food supply for beneficial insects throughout the year. Some insects have a relationship with specific plants such as swallow tail butterflies and pipe vine. Others have more general needs such as european honey bees, which will take just about any nectar or pollen they can get. This makes it important to plant a diversity including native plants in your garden. I have some transplants and veggie seeds planned for today as well…..let’s see how far I get 🙂 I’ll try to remember to update as the day progresses but my regular readers know how that goes sometimes.

If at first you don’t sucSEED March 11, 2013

Remember the post about damping off?….well it only got worse.  I will spare you the grewsome details but let’s just say “total loss” would be an appropriate term for my baby tomatoes and peppers.  Some of the tomato seeds I did not have extra of so I guess I will not be growing them this year.  I have restarted Cherokee Purple, Roma, Rutgers, and Chadwicks Cherry varieties and still have the tree tomatoes and italian heirlooms growing.  I also restarted all of the peppers and a couple other varieties of hot pepper as well.  Now I have Serrano and Ancho (Poblano) in addition to the Early Jalapeno.  The sweet peper varieties are Jimmy Nardello’s Sweet Italian, California Wonder, and some sweet baby bells from seeds I saved.  I am not sure of the actual variety of the baby bell peppers but I saved seeds from yellow, orange, and red ones.
I managed to get a good population of fruit flies going in addition to the bacterial problem and ended up pitching most of my baby citrus.  What I didn’t pitch some nocternal critter was nice enough to destroy for me.
Enough bad news….the Dragon Fruit plants are really starting to take off. 

I ate a delicious pineapple and have started the top, based on the directions from last month’s Lowcountry Fruit Growers Society meeting.

Chris Carnevale sent me some “Ruby” blood orange seeds via USPS and I have them and some grapefruit seeds germinating.

I have some sweet potatoes soaking, hopefully depeloping slips for me to plant.

I have a cutting from a LSU fig rooting (hopefully) in some damp peat.

Last but not least, I bought myself a cute garden sign 🙂

The dangers of damping off February 18, 2013

I had expected some problems from leaving my seedlings out in the storm a couple weeks ago and now I have many of them falling over dead.  They are a sad sight indeed.

One of the cucumber plants is going to make it but the rest are in bad shape.  One other one might pull through.  The healthy one is in the front and the one that I still have hope for is to the right of it.  The others, in the background are basically dead already. 
The Roma tomatoes were hit pretty hard too.  Only one is left standing and it is looking pretty sad too.

I have lost some others as well but those seem to be the worst off.  Most of the peppers look ok and some varieties of tomato seem to be doing very well.

This tray has Rutgers, an improved beefsteak called ‘Delicious’ and Cherokee Purple.  They all seem to be doing great. 

In this tray I have had some damping off but have thinned out the worst of it.  I lost some. Evergreen, Big Rainbow, and Brandywine tomatoes, but except one pot of Evergreen there is still a tomato plant in each pot.

Damping off is caused by bacteria which can come from unsterilized pots, potting soil, or rain water.  Most seedlings will be strong enough to withstand it once they are a couple inches tall.  I did not know rain could cause such a problem and thought it would be good for them.  Lesson learned.  I guess I will be starting more Roma tomatoes this week.

The potato plan February 9, 2013

I posted the process of creating a bed for a double row of potatoes a couple weeks ago and, after a little research, I plan to plant companions in the bed tomorrow.  Plants from the cabbage family seem to grow well with potatoes, so most of my cold weather veggies can be planted in the middle of the potato rows.  This includes cabbage, kale, and broccoli.  In warmer weather beans and corn both do well with potatoes.  Perhaps I will plant beans here as the cabage family is finishing off in late spring.
Some plants help to repel Colorado Potato Beetles.  These include tansy, nasturtium, coriander, catnip, flax, and lamium.  I already have nasturtium seeds and will sow them directly into the soil after the danger of frost has passed.  Nasturtiums also repel a wide range of other pests.  One possible problem is that they prefer poor soil.  I have not ammended this bed with any compost or manure so hopefully it will be poor enough for them.

If I plant beans and corn here at the same time as the nasturtium the vines, which generally stay under 2′ tall, should grow up the corn.  Eventually the beans may over take them but that is ok.  Nasturtium leaves and flowers are edible and delicious in salads.  I may add some flax, catnip, or coriander as well but I do not have a definate plan to do so.  I do not really use coriander in my cooking, nor do I have a cat or care for catnip tea.  Flax interests me but I know there is not the space for much.  Still, I would like to try my hands at making linen and do use flaxseed oil.  These are all things to consider when planting your companions.  Each plant should be useful to you as well as groupings being planted to benefit each other. 
You can also interplant crops that will grow quickly and be finished before potato digging time.  Radishes, scallions, spinach, and leaf lettuce can all be good choices for this.  Since I am not living on the property to be looking after such crops I do not plan to do this but if you are planting in the yard where you live and want the most productive space possible give it a try.  one nice thing with potatoes is that they store well in place so if a longer standing crop is planted over them you can just wait to dig the potatoes. This does leave them in a place where root pests can get at the though so keep that in mind when planting.
Some plants should not be planted near or after one another due to similar nutrient needs or similar disease and pest problems.  For potatoes avoid planting after or before tomatoes, eggplant and peppers.  A few others are rumored to increase the risk of blight as well so avoid cucumbers, raspberries, sunflowers, pumpkin, squash (both summer and winter) and tomatoes for this reason.  Tomatoes and potatoes seem to be especially good as passing pests and diseases back and forth so absolutely avoid planting them near each other or planting one after the other. 

How to pick your tomatoes January 31, 2013

Since I LOVE tomatoes so much and am trying to grow all of my own plants this year, I am becoming a bit of an expert on the subject.  I want to pass on some of what I have learned, so here are some things you should know when choosing tomatoes for your garden.
First off you need to know what the terms “determinate” and “indeterminate” mean.  Determinate tomato vines grow to a size, determined by their ancestors.  This is usually 2-4 feet tall.  All of their tomatoes will ripen at about the same time, giving a nice crop for canning all at once.  They are sometimes called bush tomatoes because they stay a small bush unlike indeterminate varieties.  Indeterminate tomatoes will keep growing and producing fruit until the cold kills them in the fall.  If your area has a long growing season you can harvest tomatoes from the same plant for months and months.  They will need some sort of trellis to hold them up, unless you have the space to allow them to vine along the ground.  They look really cool when grown in hanging baskets and allowed to vine over the sides too.  People usually remove any extra side branches and grow one main vine, which can grow to over 20 feet in length.  Old heirloom varieties are usually indeterminate and most modern varieties (including hybrids) are usually determinate.  There are some exceptions to this rule so if you are unsure read the label or ask the seed dealer or nurseryman for help.  Sometimes you will see a tomato variety described as “semideterminate” and those will usually get about 6 feet tall and require some trellising or a good cage, but nothing as elaborate as the indeterminate varieties.
There is nothing wrong with choosing hybrid plants or seed as long as you do not care about saving your own seed.  Seeds saved from hybrid tomatoes will not usually produce plants similar to the parent plant and may grow into a plant with little fruit or have some other problem.  A hybrid is not a GMO.  I could, and maybe should, write a whole other post on that subject alone but for now I’m just going to tell you to google it.  I would like to try saving my own seeds so I am growing heirlooms this year.
Another thing to keep in mind is climate tolerance.  Tomatoes are a warm weather plant but certain varieties are more tolerant of cold or fluctuating temperatures than others.  If you have hot days and cold nights, a short growing season, or just want to get some tomatoes extra early or extra late look for varieties like Glacier and Gregory’s Altai, normally describer as cool climate or extra early.  Some catalogs will have a seperate section just for these more cold tolerant varieties.  There are also early, midseason, and late varieties.  If you have a short growing season you do not want to get late season plants that are going to need 3 months to start producing fruit so make sure you buy a type that is appropriate for your growing season. 
There are also tomatoes known for making paste out of and also for drying purposes.  A couple of well known examples are Roma and Amish Paste.  If you want to make your own paste and sauce or give drying a try, starting with the right tomato for the job will help your chances of having good results.
There are also cherry tomatoes to be considered.  In my opinion every gardener should have atleast one cherry tomato plant.  These rarely make it into the house with me around.  Just like larger tomatoes, there are determinate and indeterminate varieties.  The heirloom, open-pollinated varieties are usually indeterminate varieties but there are exceptions.  If you want an heirloom cherry tomato for your patio or hanging basket, give Whippersnapper a try.
Once you have made it this far in the selection process there is still one VERY IMPORTANT thing to consider and that is disease resistance.  Some varieties will have a cluster of letters after their name.  These letters stand for the diseases that variety is known to be resistant to.  The Roma VFN is an example of this.

I suck at remembering what all the letters mean so here is the cheat sheet.

Beyond this you may want to consider the mature color of the fruit or other special properties.  This shouldn’t be your first consideration but hey, who wouldn’t want a rainbow of delicious fruit to impress the neighbors and draw attention at the farmer’s market?
This is really just the basics here but I hope it helps you navigate your way through the seed catalogs and nursery plants with a little less confusion.

Tomato transplanting January 30, 2013

Since I started these little guys 2 months before they can be planted outside they may require transplanting one more time before going in their garden beds. Their roots were just starting to escape the peat pods and most are getting their first true leaves. At this point they begin to use soil nutrients and will appreciate fertilizer and soil amendments. Since they will be growing at my property I decided to use soil from there in the mix for their new pots. I added about 1 part peat per 2 parts soil and mixed in some fish fertilizer (2-2-2) and bone meal (6-9-0) to the mix along with a little lime and a couple of crumbled egg shells. The nitrogen from bone meal is insoluble and will slowly become available to the plants. The nitrogen in the fish fertilizer is mostly soluble and will be available to my seedlings immediately. For those who do not know nitrogen is the first number of the 3 numbers on fertilizer labels. Phosphate is the second number on the label and is very important for baby plants. The fish fertilizer also has potash which is the third number on the label. This nutrient isn’t found in bone meal so it has a 0. Bonemeal does have calcium though, which is not represented in the typical 3 numbers on the label. The bone meal I am using is 7 percent calcium. If tomatoes do not have enough calcium you will have problems with blossom end rot, among other things. The egg shells and lime are also to provide calcium. Lime is also used to lower soil ph. I haven’t taken my soil sample into the Clemson extension office for testing yet but I know it is a bit acidic and so is peat. Still I used it sparingly in the mix. I will get my soil sample in sometime this weeks and once I have the results back I will be amending the area of the future planting beds according to the recomendations from Clemson University.

bone meal label

fish fertilizer label

lovely mix for my baby tomatoes

organic peat moss to help with drainage and moisture retention

My propery has a natural layer of peat but I bought some just for starting seeds since the stuff in the bag is nice and clean and digging enough for all of my seed starting needs and cleaning it up enough to use would be a bit more of a chore than I have time for at this point. I would like to invest in enough terracotta to do all of my seed starting and transplanting, or learn more about making soil blocks but for now I am using commercially available seed starter pots that come in a tray. I will be able to reuse them a few times, but eventually these will end up in a landfill. Doint things on a budget require compromise sometimes though and I know it.

I also bought labels you can write on. To save money and have less waste I labeled each group of seedling instead of labeling every plant. I would have just stuck to my lists but with multiple trays I think I would have ended up confusing things.

For now I kept the soil level at the same height as the top of the peat pods. Tomatoes are one of the few plants that you can burry deeper when transplanting, but there is no need for that at this point in things. I am not thinning them yet either because I want to be able to save the thinnings and they are too tender to withstand that much handling at this point in their growth. That’s all for now, unless I give a pecan update before getting ready for work. It will have to be a quick one but I think I just might…

Why I write EVERYTHING down January 26, 2013

Have you ever planted something and then forgotten what it was or forgotten where you planted it.  Could you tell the difference between these seedlings if they weren’t labeled?

I know I sure can’t.  This is why I write everything down.  As I plant things I either map, label, or list it.  Here is my paper from the day I planted my cool weather tray and warm weather (mostly tomatoes) tray.

It has listed the type, specific variety, and number of plants of that type.  This is the back of some unimportant mail I got and when finished serving this purpose it can still be recycled or fed to the worms.  It is certainly nothing fancy but it does the trick.  If it were not for this list I would be lost.  I consider blogging something as good as writing something down on paper.  The point is to document what you are planting so later on you know what it is.  From there it is easy to look up any more specific information you may need. 

Good gardening weather January 14, 2013

Today is so warm and lovely that I decided to drag out all of the seeds, trays, flats, peat pots, etc and get some stuff started. I am starting both cool and hot weather plants. They will be the last of the cool and the first of the hot. Since it is so nice I set the dragonfruit cuttings and grapefruit seedlings out as well. I plan on bringing in everything except the tray of peatpots started with cool weather veggies and the tray with potting soil and lettuces in it. The one tray has tomatoes, peppers, okra, and cucumbers in it and will not only need to come inside but be set on a heat mat since I have been snuggling with my dog at night instead or turning on the furnace. I have been keeping the dragonfuits inside until now. They could have gone out yesterday for sure but when I am busy I neglect such things. Some of the cuttungs have roots escaping the bottom of their flat so I know it iis nearing time for their first transplanting even though only one actually shows any signs of new growth on top. I am happy to see good root growth and will plan to start giving some appropriate fertilizer after I get them transplanted. I will be asking more about them at the Lowcountry Fruit Growers Society meeting this Sunday coming up to make sure I am doing the right thing. I’m off to work as soon as I get cleaned up.

Planting outside December 19, 2012

Today I refurbished the tiny garden I have been trying to grow things in this year.  I have winter squash that have been producing flowers for months now but nothing more and I was about to pull them when I noticed a TINY little baby squash.  So the two winter squash (from a plant swap so variety unknown) will get to stay for now after all.

I lifted some Greek Oregano out of the middle of the bed and moved it to a back corner, behind a lavender that managed to survive.  The entire bed is only 4’x4′ so I can reach everywhere but the back corner.  I planted some Sugar Snap peas in a circle around the squash and then the edges near there with some Tall Top Early Wonder beets.  In the center of the one side I planted some Dinosaur Kale in a staggered row.  In the corner I did a bunch of Cherry Belle radishes.  Along the side of that in the middle of the side I did a row of Rainbow Mix chard.  In the next corner is Bronze Arrow lettuce, which is a loose leaf variety.  Behind that I planted 4 rows of carrots.

I know this must sound like a huge amount for such a small space but keep in mind I am talking about a row that is 12-18 inches long.  For seed spacing I try to get them about as far apart as it says to thin the seedlings to.  I can always plant a couple more seeds in a week or two if there are any thin spots.  I got the idea to lay it out like this from the book “Mini Farming: Self Sufficiency on 1/4 acre” by Brett L Markham.  The book takes a very holistic approach to creating a small urban farm including great tips on maximizing the amount of food grown in small spaces.  This will not be the only method (not by a long shot) that I use on my .3 acre plot but expect to see the influence throughout the “Kitchen Garden” as it develops.

All of the seeds I planted today are organic.  Everything except the radishes came from Bountiful Gardens.  I have to say again, I highly recommend them to anyone looking for organic heirloom seeds.  The radish seeds are from Burpee and I got them at Lowe’s.  Burpee does have a good selection of organic seeds available but do be aware, as you look at their website, that most of their seeds are not organic.

I ordered more seeds today too :D December 18, 2012

and I mean a bunch more….like a quarter million seeds 😀  http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150967290630  If you scroll down it tells you what all is in there.  I only have .3 of an acre so I don’t think I will be using all of these this year.  They are all heirloom so I can do some seed saving and never have to buy seeds again.  The seller has a great store with many heirloom varieties, including some I hadn’t seen before.  http://stores.ebay.com/Mozybeau-Auctions

Updates: I know it is early but…

I’m getting a bit ahead of myself but I couldn’t help it. I planted some tomatoes this morning. I wasn’t going to start until January but I decided getting a cherry tomato (Chadwick’s Cherry) going to have for early tomatoes would be good. I also started a couple of the Giant Italian Tree Tomato seeds just because I want to see how well they do. The cherry tomato seeds are from Bountiful Gardens and the Giant Italian Tree Tomato seeds I bought from e-bay. The seller sent some Italian Heirloom and Roma seeds as well and a page of great tomato growing tips. This is the first time putting any of them in soil so I am anxious to see how well they germinate. I have been keeping the seeds in the fridge as called for in the sellers instructions. I was feeling experimental so I planted 2 tomato seeds and one sugar snap pea seed in each pot. Once those have all come up and get moved to a bigger pot I want to plant marigolds and basil as additional companion plants for the tomatoes. I plan on keeping the cherry tomato in a container but will likely put the tree tomato in the ground at some point before it takes over the world.

The “tree tomatoes” are basically indeterminate tomatoes.  This means that there is no predetermined size for the plant.  It will keep growing and growing as long as it is allowed to and can be trellised to look like a tree if you like.  They can also be allowed to vine along the ground if you prefer.  If you don’t have much space for gardening look for a determinate variety of tomato which will stop growing at some point, usually 3-5 feet tall/wide.  Indeterminate varieties can vine for 20 feet or more so if not on a trellis they take up a ton of space.  They will keep producing as long as the weather permits though so if you have a long growing season or a green house they are worth an effort.

I peeled some grapefruit seeds that I have been drying for a while and started them in some soil this morning. Peeling them is supposed to help speed germination since the outer coating is waterproof and would have to break down before it would allow water into the seed to start the process.  From what I have read it can take months for this process to happen.  With peeled seeds I should see germination within a couple weeks.  This is a first try so wish me luck 🙂

The garlic from the great garlic experiment is starting to poke through the surface in both pots.  I have them sitting outside and both pots seem to be doing about the same so far. I am really curious to see how things progress.  I also took one bulb and planted its sections into a hugelkulture mound by what will be the driveway of the correct property.  Those ones were all peeking out a week ago.  I think the mound is keeping them warmer than the ones in pots.

I saved a sweet potato on Thanksgiving and have it in water to (hopefully) make sweet potato slips.  I forgot to start it in water right away so it sat on the windowsill in the kitchen for a week or two before I actually put it in a cup of water.  I’m not seeing any little sprouts or roots yet but time will tell.  I want to get a couple more to try starting as well.  Sweet potatoes can make many new plants from one sweet potato but just buying one at the store and putting it in water doesn’t always work for some reason.  I’m not sure why but this seems to be true of organic ones as well as non-organic.  The one I have now is not organic but I want to pick a couple up from Earth Fare to try starting as well.  To be honest I don’t worry about organic nearly as much as I worry about non-GMO and as far as I know they haven’t gotten to the sweet potatoes yet…

Ready to plant December 1, 2012

In this picture I have pulled the individual cloves apart from the big bulb of garlic and they are about ready to be planted.

Garlic

This is the big bulb with the outermost layers of the skin removed so you can see the individual cloves.

The great garlic experiment

Since I have to either plant my garlic at my home or store them hoping the conditions in my home are good enough and I really want to get them growing as soon as possible I have decided to start them in pots outside. I had intended to put them straight into the ground but am going to give them a start in pots so I can transplant them later with everything needing moved as it is. As you can see the seed garlic from Bountiful Gardens is huge and healthy. The bulb in the picture weighs about a quarter pound and is an organic inchelium red. Since the garlic is organic it seems ridiculous to even consider planting it in potting soil that isn’t organic. I was able to find 2 types of organic potting soil. One is from Vigro and the other is Miracle-gro’s organic choice. I am starting cloves from one of the garlic bulbs with half in one mix and half in the other and they will be getting the same level of care. Let’s see which does better. My vote going into this is for the Vigro organic potting mix just because of the smell and feel of it. The miracle-gro smells moldy and has large chunks of bark in it. The vigro also held more moisture.  When I watered them the water penetrated the Vigro mix and left it evenly moist.  The Miracle-gro on the other hand seemed almost water repellent.  The water just sat on top for a long time.  We’ll see how things progress.

Pretty in pink

My newest edible ornamental. I’m not sure where to put her but she will be staying in North Charleston. I think I have more than enough to move already.

PermacultureGlobal.com November 21, 2012

Revival is now on permacultureglobal.com  Come check it out http://permacultureglobal.com/projects/1247-revival

Adjusting to a different environment for gardening July 11, 2012

I grew up on a small family farm and we always kept a garden that managed to provide most of the veggies during the summer.  Some people kept a root cellar to have some veggies like potatoes, carrots, and squash through the winter, which seems like a great idea to me.  Winters in Michigan freeze everything and kill off the majority of garden pests each year.  Having a farm we always had plenty of free fertilizer and chickens to peck the bugs and small weedlings.  You could even make a temporary pig pen and have them do most of the tilling and aeration of the soil.  They add to the fertilizer and eat grubs too.  Our soil was so fertile that tomatoes and pumpkins would volunteer to grow all on their own from spoiled produce from the year before that had simply been thrown back in the garden bed.  Well, now I’m in coastal South Carolina and things are different here to say the least.

The soil on my plot consists of about 6″ of decomposing plant matter, which is mostly pine needles, and then at least 3′ of sand.  Every time it rains the sand drains away the water and nutrients, resulting in very acidic soil that is not suitable for many plants.  In addition to this problem there is also a pest problem, which I am already witnessing in my yard and garden.  Having had an especially mild winter, the bug populations are insane right now.  The fleas are insane, there are so many cockroaches hiding in my mulch that it seems to crawl away when disturbed, and the caterpillars nearly took out my 3 tomato plants, not to mention putting holes in my herbs.  Another major problem down here is fungus.  It is very humid and rains quite often.  I think the moisture in the air keeps the leaves from really drying out, promoting mold and fungus growth on the plants.  For now the garden consists of 3 tomatoes, a container planted with asparagus (which I plan to put n the ground now that I actually have my own ground:) ) and a variety of herbs including basil, greek oregano, 2 types of lavender, sage, chives, and rosemary.  I tried tomatoes in containers last year and they didn’t do well and never produced a single tomato.  I tried a container with corn also, but my bad little dog kept chewing on them and tipping over the pot so they never got over a foot tall.  As I develop my plot I plan on using raised beds in order to be able to build up the soil for the plants in the beds so it won’t be too acidic.  I also plan on using plants that are suitable to the soil I already have, like blueberries, which don’t do well unless the soil is acidic.

Once I get things going on my own land there will be chickens to help with weeding and insect control but for now I’m stuck picking the pests by hand, spraying dish soap solution on the leaves, and sprinkling tobacco dust around my small garden.   I also had to buy “garden soil” and bags of manure.  Gardening is a whole different ball game down here and it is going to take some time to adjust my methods but the long growing season makes up for it (mostly anyway) and I look forward to the challenges.