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Veggie Spaces is still BLANK spaces

Ok followers.  I have not gotten ONE SINGLE THING planted.  It finally warmed enough, then I got hurt.  I have done something to my knee.  Anyhow, Mother nature was against me anyhow.  Each day I’ve had off has been torrential rains and HAIL like you wouldn’t believe.  SO, I am rather thankful for the knee thing or my poor plant babies would have been beaten to death by hail.

I’ll keep in touch and hopefully have some tomatoes at least this summer.  Eventually.

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Veggie Spaces will be back soon

Veggie Spaces blog will return shortly.  I don’t blog during winter since I cannot grow then, so keep checking back soon.  I’ll be planting my first seeds this week if Mother Nature allows me to do so.

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For all you gardeners out there that do herbs, I got these for $10 MORE at Lowes this past summer. :(   However, they were WELL worth it even at the higher price.  These things are dynamite!!! 

They’re sharp, they’re small enough for a pocket (and come with blade guard), but they’re also a snap to clean.

Also, I just used them to trim back my rosemary for winter, and they even cut through those woody stalks.  It was a necessary “haircut” for the rosemary, but I honestly didn’t think these would work for it.  They worked better than my “outdoor scissors” ever did.  

SO....grab this deal while you can.  I HIGHLY recommend these scissors to every gardener I know. (They’re also easy on my hands---and I have dexterity issues, so that’s a huge plus).

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“Natural” stevia?

Beware of stevia as a “natural” sweetener. It is NOT.  In order to extract the stevia, alcohols and other “chemicals” (some of which are carcinogens) are used.  Also, even stevia in the raw has dextrose listed as the first ingredient on the labels of some brands.  

If you’re trying to avoid chemicals in your body, be sure to NOT fall victim to the hype of “sugar substitutes.”  Read the labels. 

If you don’t want to hit the store aisles, you can peruse the labels from this website.  She took photos of the labels in her store:  http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/04/25/stevia-food-babe-investigates/

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Salmonella, Stool, Toilet Paper, all in our FOOD????

I may be “biased” but frankly, I don’t think I want this in my FOOD!  <sarcasm>

I truly want safe and clean food. Is that too much to ask?  I don’t care where it comes from, but frankly, I think consumers need to stand up to Big Ag and state unequivocally that we demand SAFE food.

Yet, we are given salmonella in our cucumbers this week, and stool, toilet paper, and the likes are in the fields.  

This needs STOPPED!!!  Start a revolution!  Demand SAFE food.

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The signs are for fall, for sure

My last post, I discussed watching the signs and not the calendar.  Seems that was a good idea here.  Leaves are turning already, nights are down in the 50s, all signs of fall......NOT AUGUST and early September.

My garden died off a long time ago, and I decided to rip out a bed I usually reserve for flowers since most of the flowers didn’t come up this year.  SO, I’m pretty much garden-less right now. 

I will stress, however, that watching the SIGNS seems to be the message of the month.  I was entirely correct in my last assessment.....it’s FALL regardless of the date on the calendar.

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Watching the Signs Not the Calendar

While the temperature feels very much like August right now (90s/humid/zone 6), Mother Nature is looking very much like September. The trees are starting to lose their vivid green, the grass is getting that "fall" growth, the birds are not as actively seeking small "bits" for their nests and it seems that some have already left the area as if it were September. I drove around the county yesterday and all the local gardens have died out and they, too, look like September.

 I've decided to "think like an old timer" and put my kohlrabi in for fall now.  These will go into my modified kiddie pool setup.  It is a bit "early" but our nighttime temps are falling quickly into the lower 60s (sometimes less), and they'll be on the porch out of the harsh afternoon sun.  

 I shall also be putting out some kale in the lower garden.  I think I will hold off a bit on that only because that bed gets some pretty harsh sunshine still.  I’ll watch nature and see when I think it should go in.  Watching the calendar this year doesn’t seem quite appropriate considering how nature is looking out there.

 I shall report how it goes. It may fail abysmally, but isn't that what gardening is about?  Watching nature, experimenting, and sharing? :)

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Seed saving....an addiction with no known cure.

No one told me that seed saving was an addictive hobby.  

Much like genealogy, it quickly takes over your space and clouds your mind.  Therefore, I have decided to re-home some of the seeds that I know won’t fare well in my clay soil (like carrots) or that hubby can no longer eat due to his colitis/Chron’s issues (like rutabaga).  

I am working in tandem with a lovely lady I know who does a seed swap and I hope that all these seeds will go to loving and needy homes. 

That said, those I chose to keep were those more “normally” found in rural Appalachia in my region.  Among those are: pole beans, varieties of zucchini and squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, greens, and things such as these.  

I find that it’s best to grow things that were indigenous here, and so I shall.  The rest will be left to the farmers markets and  grocery shippers.  

It’s sad to let go of the hope that all these other seed varieties can bring, and I DO have some backups of things like broccoli and cauliflower and the like, but I would hate to just toss such useful items when others can benefit.

SO....are you an addict?  Sometimes admitting it is the very first step to recovery.  <grin>

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Bugs in the Garden

I’ve been recently fascinated with the diversity of tiny insect life that has been thriving in my garden. 

Firstly is the bees, super helpful garden pollinators, I noticed at least four different Hymenopterans in my garden, including a fascinating wasp that I never managed to capture a picture of. And they loved the hyssop, there were more than twenty bees buzzing around.

There’s also a wide assortment of beetles (Coleoptera) and true bugs (Hemiptera) crawling around, including those damned Japanese Beetles. 

Including, what I think is Assassin bug nymphs (?) crawling over my spent snapdragons

Also caught some Cabbage Moths (Lepidoptera) in the act. As well as some other fun winged friends. 

And last but not least, my favorite little Homopterans (leaf hoppers!)

Overall, some bugs are bad, some are beneficial and all fulfill a role within your garden ecosystem. A greater diversity of insects is a sign that your garden is thriving. Now if only I could find some more mantids.

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Success and failure

Well, the storms finally got my squash and zucchini.  That said, putting them INTO the tomato cages was a resounding success.  Undoubtedly, that is how they survived that long.  I will definitely do this again.

My tomatoes are super stressed with leaf spot and the rain, fog and humidity is not helping.  They will likely never bear enough fruit.  I’m thinking if I can baby them till fall, I may be able to get FALL tomatoes, but summer ones are probably out of the question.

I planted bush beans, Tenderette variety.  I’ve ALWAYS done pole beans, but I had an empty bed, so I did these.  They are good producers, grow well, seemed pretty oblivious to the elements, and tasted really good.  However, I do not like working with them.  I really prefer my tall pole beans, and my pole beans take up less space.  So, unless I make a dedicated bed for these babies, OR have extra space, I’ll probably not do them again despite their success.  

The cucumbers are doing very well, too.  They are misshapen, but tasty and we’re enjoying them.  That’s about all I can say except the BEES love them.  If you need to entice pollinators, by all means GET CUCUMBERS!  

The real story, though is the potatoes.  Planted late with little real hope of survival and despite adverse growing conditions including torrential rain, we have potatoes.  My red potatoes are doing ok, but the real story is the Irish Cobbler potatoes. 

My Irish Cobbler potatoes are double the size of their red counterparts and doing phenomenally well.  I know it’s wet in Ireland, too, but not this HOT, so I wasn’t sure.  They’re an early variety, and I think had conditions been more optimal, I’d be looking at a REALLY good yield. I’m super pleased with these and will grow them again.

Just my update.  Keep following as I continue to try to make lemonade from this summer’s lemon weather.

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Leaf Spot, Blossom End Rot, Oh MY

I know I haven’t blogged about my garden in awhile, but I’ve been battling EVERYTHING it seems.  

This summer is SO WET and humid that I’m losing my tomatoes to leaf spot and blossom end rot.  It seems that no matter what I do, I cannot add enough calcium to stop the end rot because the rains just wash it through the soil.  I’m adding oyster shell today in addition to the dried milk and wet milk I’ve been using.  Just too wet.

The leaf spot is the real story, though.  It’s been HORRIBLE to manage.  My wicking buckets already had mulch on top, so that wasn’t an issue, but it’s the rain and the HUMIDITY and the FOG....it’s always damp down there.  

I have found that in cases like this, don’t BOTHER trying the baking soda spray.  It’s just not strong enough, I guess.  It didn’t help AT ALL.  I finally broke down and got fungicide spray (and no it’s not organic as I’d like) BUT the results were nearly immediate.  You could tell by the very next morning that it wasn’t spreading as quickly as it had been.  

Friends, and readers, there IS NO STOPPING LEAF SPOT.  You can only try to control its spread.  Baking soda was not doing it in these adverse conditions.  Sometimes, I do revert to chemicals in order to salvage the crop.  I use them as little as I can, but sometimes it’s needed.  

THEN, not surprising, we got blossom end rot, but with all the water washing the nutrients out of the soil, I wasn’t surprised by that.  I keep putting compost tea and milk in there, but it’s not helping much.  SO, between the stress of the leaf spot and the water washing away the nutrients, I doubt if I will get even ONE ripe tomato this year. :(

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Sow for Victory: Bringing Back the Victory Garden

By Meredith Skyer

Let’s take a little field trip back to 1943. Go ahead and hop in those time machines! We’re going to explore the day and age when the world was at war and our food supply was in peril.

American Life in 1943

Think about this: The average family in 1943 was living on $29 a week. Food staples were rationed out to families in order to provide for the troops. As you can imagine, fresh fruits and vegetables were in short supply. In order to keep the nation from starvation, the U.S. Government encouraged folks to help out in any way that they could. Propaganda posters popped up in every town urging families to plant ‘Victory Gardens’ to provide their own produce.

[Keep reading….]

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Knee high by the fourth of July

That’s the old saying for corn around here.  IF your corn is not knee high by the 4th of July, then it’s behind schedule if you live where I do in Appalachia. 

I grew some of Burpee’s container corn last year in my raised bed.  It worked, and it was good.  I had almost 100% germination by following their directions.

However, I noticed it was a bit higher than knee high on July 4th last year.  It only grows about 6 feet tall in total anyhow, but I also grew mine with pole beans that used them as the poles.  That helps them grow, I’ve decided.  

At any rate, I didn’t do corn of any type this year and I’m ok with it only because I live across the river from HUGE corn farms, and can get it reasonably priced from them.  

However, I did want to say that IF you want to grow corn in your raised bed, On Deck is an alternative.....but you MUST follow their directions for success.  

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Farmer’s Markets

When your garden is small like mine, sometimes you need to supplement your yearly take with trips to farmer’s markets.  

My clear favorite is to buy directly from the farmer, thus avoiding the middleman.  However, that’s not always possible.  

Just this week, I went about 50 miles away to a great market I found a few years ago and I got some of the end of season peas, beets, green beans and potatoes. Total cost was about half what I’d have paid at the grocery.  Yes, I drove pretty far to get that, but it was fresh and it was wonderful.  At this moment, their foods are coming in from their farms down south, but they’re really good and fresh.  

I ordered a bushel of their beans for next week, to preserve for winter, and may order a second one. Same price as I paid two years ago, and last year....not a penny more. I checked my log book.  Thankful for small things.

Check your farmers markets, folks.  The food WILL be much tastier and better for you as well.

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Leaf Spot and Blight

Both are caused by fungus.  Both are said to happen in areas of heavy rain, heavy fog, and/or humidity.  All that is here this season.  SO, I got leaf spot.......surprise!  <sarcasm>

It rained so much I wasn’t able to spray the plants with anything.  It would rain right off.  SO....finally, today I was able to get baking soda spray on my tomato plants.  

I used 2 teaspoons of baking soda 5 drops of oil and 5 drops of Dawn in a 32 ounce sprayer.  Not sure those amounts are exactly scientific, but it seemed right to me.  I went out and clipped off all the affected leaves, which was quite the haircut for some of the plants.  Others were entirely unaffected, which was nice.

I sprayed all the leaves, giving them a good soaking and included the stalks.  I hope this holds it off, because it surely doesn't look like the weather will cooperate.

So, then, I found this article on blight.  Hope you like it:  http://tendingmygarden.com/early-blight-on-tomatoes-theres-hope/

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Beetles and no-see-ums

Well folks, I have Japanese beetles in the garden for the first time EVER.  I’m using Captain Jack’s Deadbug Brew on them at night after the bees go in for the night.  Captain Jacks is not harmful to bees once it dries, but it will still grab those unwanted bugs and do some damage to THEM. 

In addition, I have early blight on my tomato plant (the middle one).  I trimmed it all off yesterday, but before I could spray them, it rained YET AGAIN (Which is probably part of what is causing the early blight in the first place).   I plan to use baking soda spray on it at first and if that can’t keep down the spread, I’ll go with a commercial fungicide, but I want to start with baking soda first.  

Between bugs and blight, this is getting OLD!   So far, I’ve been successful in using Sluggo on the snails/slugs, Captain Jacks on potato flea beetles, and I’ve only seen ONE squash bug....which got Captain Jacked also.  I’ve NEVER had Japanese beetles, though....ever.  Disheartened, but not defeated.

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Enter your zip code to find dates for fall plantings in the garden (it shows spring, too.....so bookmark this for next year, too). :)