Beet-sie Boys and soil prep for next year

Now it's time to talk about soil prep. The ideal soil pH is 6.5. Most vegetables prefer the soil a bit on the acidic side and 6.5 makes most of them pretty happy. In our alkaline soil, you need to add sulfur to accomplish this. Add in some good organic matter (compost, manure), some 16-16-8 fertilizer and your plants will treat you well.

This well.

I've already gotten all the chili peppers I need for the season. Several batches of fresh and canned salsa. I froze 4 bags of chopped chili peppers to use through the winter and spring. Today with the frost warning I picked the remaining peppers. The above box is from just THREE of the plants. Yes, AFTER I've already been harvesting from them all season.

My son was challenged by his science teacher last spring to grow giant beets. He brought them home, planted them in my wonderfully prepared soil (it was a sacrifice to donate the space) and then passively watched all summer while they became monstrous. One of the plants had a runt seedling off to the side that he decided to give a chance.

Turns out that little runt broke the record. It grew to 12.8 pounds. Previous record was 11.2 pounds.

The other one weighed in at 15.2.

He also planted a few rare tomato varieties. So I think he's hooked on gardening. Proud mom!

Do you see that tomato tower behind him? Those Orange Wellingtons grew to about 8 feet. 

So, moral of the story: give your plants the right environment and they will thrive with very little effort on your part.

Here is the fertilizer recipe that you can give your soil (per 180 square feet):

3 cups 16-16-8 fertilizer

1 cup ironite

Also add sulfur. The first year you treat your garden with sulfur you should add 8 cups per 180 square feet. The second year add 4 cups sulfur, and each year after that add just 2 cups. Till this into the soil after you clear the garden for the year. It will be ready and waiting for you next spring.

In fact, I recommend you sow onion, spinach, and lettuce seeds into it right now. They'll come up as soon as conditions are right in the spring. They know what to do. You won't have to do a thing! 

An apple for EVERY day

A good year for apples!

Applesauce, dried apple chips, apple juice, apple pie, apple muffins, mmmm....

This is our best crop ever! All so good and 98% bug free. And all from ONE tree. I'm so proud.

Tomato Woes

Noticing a lack of tomatoes? I've had ONE Orange Wellington so far. It was SO GOOD. I mixed some ranch dressing mix into some cottage cheese, spread that on a piece of whole grain toast, and topped it with the creamy Orange Wellington. I immediately wanted another, but--no more tomatoes are even NEAR ripe. The cherry tomato I found the next day was not enough for another one of my treats.

What's the deal?

The nights have been too hot. You have to have the right mix of temperature and humidity for the pollen to "stick" right. Here we are already very dry, so we need temperatures at night be below about 70 degrees. Where my folks live, it often doesn't get below 85 at night, but their humidity is higher so it balances out. Well, ya know, most of the time.

But we have a break in the hot weather and the robust tomato plants will soon start catching up on production.

NOTE: I was going to take a picture of my beautiful Orange Wellington to share with you, but I was more interested in eating it. I thought maybe I could take a picture of another the next day. :( Here's hoping the next one is not too far away. At least I've been picking plenty of okra to keep me happy. And GEE WHIZ my yellow squash is very productive. It tastes better than the zucchini so I'm happy.

Fighting Morning Glory, Two by Two

These horrible weeds seem to drink the Roundup. Spraying WeedBGone (2-4-D) just makes them mad. But they have no defense against the two together. Mix yourself some WeedBGone and Roundup in a sprayer. Or if that is too much hassle, spray the WeedBGone first, then lightly spray the Roundup. In about a week, the Morning Glory will be dead as a doornail.

This handful I have in the picture was in my ice plant. I gathered all the vines and laid them on a piece of newspaper while I sprayed.

It was nice to hear the dry vines crinkle in my hand today.

Joy.

Of course, this cocktail will kill everything else, too. So if it's in your grass, you'll need to protect the grass nearby while you spray. Gather up all the vines of the morning glory and surround them with a plastic cup that you have cut the bottom off of. If you cut down the side of the cup you can more tightly "cone" the cup around the weed. Spray, then move on to the next weed.

Here I am working on the shamrocks in my iceplant. Oh. How. I. Hate. Them.

It will take a while. Use multiple cups so you can more easily see where you've already sprayed and you won't miss spots.

It is a lot of work, but it will WORK.

Fall Garden is coming.

I'm sorry, I'm a little behind in keeping this schedule updated. You should spray your birch and stone fruit trees RIGHT NOW (July 1) for borers. And keep the spray handy for spraying again on August 1. 

More fun than that: seed some lettuce indoors to transplant in the garden for harvest in the fall. This lettuce will be sweeter and last longer than the spring garden because the temperatures will start to be cooler. At least that is was we *normally* expect, but as we have seen lately, "normal" is a little abnormal.

You may have some spots in your garden getting freed up from crops that are finishing up their peak season. Find some fall crops to stick in there: lettuce, carrots, broccoli (65-80 day varieties), cauliflower, cabbage, radishes, turnips, pole beans. But seriously, those pole beans are a mess. I came in looking like I fought in a war whenever I tried to pick them. I prefer the bush beans.

Give your annual flowers a little sprinkling of fertilizer. In fact, I think I'm going to give the garden a dose, too. 

My youngest is my best gardener so far! She helped me pick all the flowers for the children's garden and the playhouse. She even knows how to gently pull the plant from the package and separate the roots before transplanting. She waters them every day without fail and loves to see new blooms. In fact SHE noticed a spot that didn't get much sun and suggest we plant some impatiens there. I was so proud! 

My raspberries are starting to produce a LOT of berries. I love to pick them fresh and have them on my cereal. Yes, breakfast in the garden is always the best way to start my day!

Beekeeping

Someday I'm going to start a hive of bees. Someday. Until then, I'm just going to check out this workshop at the Orem Library next Tuesday and see if someday will be sooner or later.

Tuesday, May 22, at 7pm. Shaun Heaton, beekeeper featured in this clip will present a beginners guide to beekeeping.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=20436967

See ya there! We gotta keep the bees going. We can't eat without them. Or garden.

Better late than never

Happy Day! So happy those little peppers finally made an appearance! They took a LONG TIME to sprout. I was worried.

Today I need to get the Sun Sugar Tomatoes (left) and the Health Kick (right) in their own pots. Should be putting them in the ground outside (with HotKaps), but... I'll just have to wait a couple more weeks. Lettuce, spinach, and snow peas, are all growing well outside.

How NOT to Prune Roses

So the Forsythia is in bloom. That means it's time to prune your roses.

When we bought our house it came with 18 rose bushes.

I hate pruning roses. So now we have just one rose. And I've tried to dig it up three times. It keeps surviving. So for the moment I have decided to stop fighting it and let it live as a trellis rose. It is not in a place that allows for a bush. And if I were to really dig up more of the root system I'd have to remove some of the sod.

I should have taking a picture before I asked my son to prune it. I'm just trying to teach him to work and I thought since I don't like this rose anyway, it won't matter what he does to it. The rose had gotten out of control and was at least 10 feet high is some parts. I needed the forward reaching shoots cut out and all of it trimmed down to fence height.

FENCE height.

This is what it looks like now.

However, with the wind that blew in this morning, this rose is now actually MORE than fence height. Guess the boy knows more than I thought.

I soiled my plants...

Sorry. Couldn't resist that headline.

A long time ago a friend recommended I sprinkle Black Gold potting soil on my flowerbeds. I should have listened to her. My groundcovers have struggled to spread and take hold in the lousy soil I have. Today I sprinkled a ton of gypsum on the beds, and then covered it over with a sprinkling of Black Gold. The gypsum will loose the hard clay soil, and the Black Gold will help hold in some moisture. I expect some rain this weekend to help it all settle in. We'll see how it goes.

Also, I got some seeds planted in the garden. It's time to get the Spring Garden in--spinach, lettuce, peas, radishes, onions, broccoli, cabbage, and carrots (though carrots will do better in the fall). If you plant broccoli and cauliflower, make sure it is an "early" variety--ready for harvest in 45-55 days. Otherwise, it will be hot weather before it is ready and it will be bitter and bolt to seed.

AND...drum roll... my son has decided to enter the world of gardening. His science teacher challenged some students to grow giant vegetables. So he's going to try his hand at some huge tomatoes and huge beets. He's even keeping a logbook like a good gardener. So proud!

Look what I found!

On a whim, I googled my favorite bell pepper.

http://www.reimerseeds.com/mandarin-sweet-peppers.aspx

JOY! About 60 seconds and $14.75 later, they are being expedited to my house.

They'd better grow!

Tomatoes, Fruit Trees, and Berries, oh my!

Sorry! I'm a little behind! It's time to start germinating your tomato seeds. You can plant them in the garden April 15 with hotcaps. Alternatively, you can start shopping for tomato plants and hoard them until you plant them outdoors. I like to get them early before all the good varieties are gone. Gotta make sure and get my Sun Sugars! HINT: don't be tempted to pay extra for a larger, more mature plant. They won't adjust to transplanting as well. By the time they recover, they'll look about the same size as the smaller ones transplanted at the same time.

Also, fertilize your strawberries and raspberries with a water soluble fertiziler. 
1 part each ammonium sulfate, Miracle Gro Azalea food, and Ironite.

Apply 1 cup per 50 square feet.

Spray fruit trees with dormant oil spray in the early to mid spring before the first signs of budding appears. No other spraying while the trees are in bloom (not to disturb the bees from pollinating). After the blooms fade and fall, spray with Imidan (2 tsp/gallon). Spray every 17 days. And I do mean 17 days and not 18. Mark the calendar and do it no matter what. You’re supposed to spray until 30 days before harvest.

We'll be busy this weekend!

It's time

Time to start flower seeds. They take longer than vegetable seeds. Alyssum? Petunias?

And in about 10 days (third week of February) you can start some broccoli and cauliflower, and onion seeds. These are cold hardy plants and can be planted outside earlier, about the third week of March.