Saturday, October 30, 2010

Fall Garden: The First Attempt

This post is a recap of the fall planting, intended for our record-keeping.

For the fall garden, we sowed some seeds and planted starts from the Chattanooga Food Bank's Fall Planting Workshop on September 8, 2010. The plant list is at the end of this post.

The Food
Bank's workshop was great in some ways: for $15, we started 4 whole flats - and they kept in the greenhouse until the were ready to transplant. Given the pace of the fall semester, it was especially nice that we didn't have to baby the seedlings! We picked up the seedlings on October 5th and planted them within a couple of days.

We didn't know exactly what to expect from the weeks ahead...

I thought that we'd get to harvest more before the dark days of winter... boy, were we wrong! Although there we were able to pick cilantro and lettuce, there was just not enough time between early October and the first cold weather for most plants to mature.

For future reference: if we want a fall crop of brassicas (broccoli, kale) we need to start them in August and have them in the ground by mid-September. The Food Bank's workshop will be useful for acquiring cold-hardy starts (broccoli, kale, onions and garlic). But: we will expect these plants to overwinter for a March harvest. At some point, I'll write another post to discuss our first experience of overwintering crops.


Fall/Winter Plant List:

Sown: lettuce (several varieties), kale (lacinato; blue scotch), peas, and carrots.

Transplants: lettuce (red romaine), kale (redbor), onions (purple; copra), cilantro, broccoli (Blue Wind)

Planted: Garlic, elephant garlic, and bunching onions.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Signs of Autumn

I know that fall is here when the orb weaver begins her nightly craft:

Friday, August 20, 2010

Sweet Potato Harvest

At the last group harvest, we dug sweet potatoes:



and picked loads of hot peppers:


Tuesday, August 17, 2010

August in the Garden

From A.E.R.:

Hi all,

The school calendar doesn't really follow the agricultural calendar anymore, it seems... we are going back to work, but the garden isn't done. Here is what to expect in the upcoming weeks. I realize that there is a lot in this email. Please read at your leisure and at minimum, please respond to items III and IV. Not to stifle your creativity, of course: feel free to respond with any other thoughts, especially if something below sounds like sheer lunacy. :)

I. Last GROUP harvests and thereafter:

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14 - picking as usual.

MONDAY, AUGUST 16 - LAST GROUP HARVEST. Let someone know if you can't go; we'll save you something. Highlight: digging up the sweet potatoes.

AFTER Monday, gardeners should feel free to pick at any time. If there is something you're saving for, DO EMAIL the group and let everyone know. It is important to communicate what you want to get out of the last 6-8 weeks of the warm-season plants. Don't feel bad for making a request; if you don't speak up, no one will know, and then someone will end up picking things only to keep the plants healthy.

At this point, please do not invite members of the community to go and take what they want anytime. We can reevaluate when we know (a) our group's ability to use the produce and (b) how prolific the remaining plants will be in the upcoming weeks. In 2009, we were overwhelmed with tomatoes in August because we planted two determinate varieties whose fruit all matured at 55-80 days. The heaviest harvest days coincided with the first weeks of school. This year, we have mostly indeterminate plants, which a measured supply of tomatoes until the plants are killed by disease or frost. For planning purposes, I do want to have a general, anecdotal sense of how much the plants are producing through the end of their season, even if we're not weighing harvests or even picking at the same time. This will help determine the number of gardeners in future summers and which plants are a good match for our garden desires. For now, let's share bounty with the community by bringing extras to the office and offering some basil cuttings at the "open house"...

II. Garden "open house":

Wednesday after Faculty Normal (time TBD). If you want to, hang out in the garden, prune basil, and answer questions from interested community members. The idea here is to communicate what labor and benefit is involved in our community garden and to generate a "waiting list" of interested gardeners (space permitting).

III. LET ME KNOW if you're "in" or "out" for fall planting...

In Tennessee, autumn-to-winter is a great time for cool-season crops like lettuce, spinach, and kale. What you're getting into: fall crops may be planted between now and Sept. 15; and will harvested (roughly) between Oct. 15 and Thanksgiving. Final cleanup will take place before Christmas break. If you are "out" for the fall, it does not mean that you lose your summer spot - but to keep your summer spot, you must assist with the cleanup of the summer garden. Speaking of which...

IV. ...End-of-summer Cleanup!

When school begins, it is harder to find time, and no longer are we motivated by the anticipation of the first delicious tomato. But cleanup and soil care are the most important factors for the success of next summer's garden. Because it is unlikely that we'll find a weekend when everyone can devote a day to garden work, please choose what fits your schedule and email the group to "sign up" for you're able to do (or add something I missed).

Now through Labor Day: Ideal for people who will NOT be involved with fall planting.

- Till cucumber area in upper tier
- Bag the pile of vegetable waste and completely remove diseased plant material to trash
- Cleanup the tool shed area to the Hall's water spigot: trash, fallen branches, weed trees, etc.
- Cut back weed trees on upper fence
- Weedeating around perimeter

Mid-September through October: Ideal for people involved in the fall, but possible tasks if the beginning of school is all-consuming.

- Remove vines, soil amendment in middle tier
- Pull, bag, and trash tomato/eggplant/pepper vines
- Soil amendment in lower tier
- Planting of cover crops or heavy leaf mulching

Friday, July 23, 2010

Squirrels in the Garden!

From A.O.:

Everyone,

I spent a few minutes on the internet and found the following about keeping squirrels out of the garden. Let me know your thoughts. -AO

Here are some remedies for discouraging squirrels from eating your tomatoes.

1. Put mothballs down around your plants. Matter of fact we have some tool and garden sheds that are about 1 foot of the ground and every year I buy a trunk load of it (or so it seems). This discourages them from the git-go and even keeps out stray cats and other critters.

2. Hang rags soaked in vinegar and stapled onto small wooden stakes or dowels near you plants. Most rodents hate the smell even when dry. Re-soak each rag in about a week.

3. Should you be a coffee drinker who brews it up using coffee grounds then empty your coffee filter around the base of your tomato plants and that should help you. Should you be fortunate enough to live by a Starbucks go and ask for their used coffee grounds as they have been known to give away 5 and 10 pound bags to anyone who asks for it.

4. You can also mix up some regular cheap liquid soap with some ground red hot chili pepper powder and pour that around the base of your tomato plants. I would do some out about 2 inches and then another ring out about the same distance as your widest leaves on your plant. You may want to keep your eye out for those big jars of chili powder that go on sale once or twice a year in discount markets and stock up to use at the base of your plants by just sprinkling it on the ground. It is supposed to work also.

5. Then there is the old chicken wire with the smallest mesh. You can wire or staple it to stakes and drive them deep into the ground. You can use 36” or wider chicken wire and bend them over your tomato plants or they will use the wire as monkey bars to get in.

6. For those of you who live in the country and do not mind guns then you can fire at them or up in the air and they should take off into your neighbor’s garden. (Please do not send me an email about this suggestion.)

7. For those of you who have a squirrel problem and who happen to have big spendable income budgets and also love these long tail rats then buy lots of squirrel feeders, put them away from your vegetable garden or tomato patch and keep those feeders full. The squirrels might appreciate your largess enough to keep out of your tomatoes.

8. Get some blood bone meal and sprinkle it around the base of your tomato plants and this will also work.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

July in the Garden

From A.E.R.:

Today is PICKLE DAY. I have a big pot of salked cuke slicees, onions, and peppers in the fridge, and I'm about to start the cooking process. Fun! Everyone was at the garden this morning, so it was good to see things coming along.
Here are some images of the garden's progress as of the first week in July:


Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Tomato-Basil Soup Recipe

From Sarah G.:

Tomato-Basil Soup

Ingredients
:

3 pounds ripe plum tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 (28-ounce) canned plum tomatoes, with their juice
4 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 quart chicken stock or water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss together the tomatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the tomatoes in 1 layer on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.

In an 8-quart stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the butter, and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown.

Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, and chicken stock.

Add the oven-roasted tomatoes, including the liquid on the baking sheet. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes.

Pass through a food mill fitted with the coarsest blade. Taste for seasonings. Serve hot or cold!

Monday, June 14, 2010

It's Time to Harvest

From A.W.:

The weeds are under control, thanks to some of you who have been over there working the last couple of weeks. I was just over there, and someone has been working on the peppers down on the bottom tier, and it looks really good. Thank you to whoever has been weeding so diligently. I was able to paper and mulch most of one of the rows, and I will get over there to finish the mulching the peppers either tomorrow afternoon or later this evening.
IT'S TIME TO HARVEST!! Can we start this week? Wednesday and Saturday mornings at 9:00 (We can make it earlier if you all want to). I'll be there by 8:30 Wednesday.


We have zucchini, cucumbers, and yellow squash already. By Wednesday okra will be ready; there are also zinnias and please plan to take a good bunch of basil. If we do not get another good rain this week, I will make sure everything gets watered some time this week.

Thanks. I'll see you Wed.
- A.W.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Harvesting & Expenses

From A.E.R.:

Hi all,

I'm about to head to Italy until the 22nd, so just a few things:

1) Harvesting

Last year we harvested on Saturdays and Tuesdays at 9 a.m. If you're there at picking times, you get to divvy up what is available. If the group would like to work out something else that will include all participants, please reply-to-all and discuss. [Ed.: This was changed to Weds. and Sat. for the first part of the summer, then moved to 3 days in late June.]

There are already green beans ready for picking. Cucumbers, a few jalepenos, and a few zucchini will be ready in a couple of days. There was a flower on one okra plant - so I'm sure it will be going crazy in a week.

2) Settling Up

Our costs so far work out to $40 for each family involved this summer. You can put a check or cash in campus mail. The costs include seeds, potting mix, organic fish emulsion fertilizer, the roll of wire mesh, and a few other small items. There may be additional costs as the
summer continues. If you spend money, please let me know. We aim to keep the summer costs to under $60 per family.

3) Ongoing Work

Thanks again to all who have weeded, weed-whacked, mulched, caged, and staked. Things are looking really good. We need you to keep coming out and taking on a project! The person "on duty" will communicate additional needs. Upcoming tasks include:

- Tie tomato vines to stakes
- Secure wire cages as needed
- Weed lower level (peppers, eggplant)
- Mulch remaining paths and beds

See you soon,
- Abbie

June in the Garden

From K.H.:

Good Morning,

Just a reminder that even if it is not "your week," the garden still needs you! Thanks to Lynn for weed-eating between the rows and the different tiers. Things are looking great up there. I was able to paper and mulch one of the three rows of peppers. We need to get the other two rows mulched and papered asap! It would not be a bad idea to throw some mulch between the basil plants, either. I don't think we have enough space between them to paper. Newspaper is in the playhouse.


In any event, we were able to get another load of mulch yesterday, so Ann and I completed the papering and mulching of the okra. Tier three is almost complete! Tier two is looking great except for the cucumbers. They need to be weeded and mulched. The Ann and Abbie wire cages look great, and we can use the additional wire to stake the tomatoes.

I'll be out of town all weekend, but I'll be available to work in the evenings next week. Call me if you're heading over there and need the company. Please go ahead and pick any small vegetables, too, to encourage new growth. We want to hurry the harvest along! I used my last two bags of frozen tomatoes from last summer's garden last night. Time to re-can and re-freeze.

See you in the weeds,
K.H.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

2010 Plant List

"God almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures."-- Francis Bacon

In my world, Spring begins twice: on the vernal equinox and again when school is out for the summer. Both are wondrous beginnings, points at which I revel in what will become. In this post I'm just recording some images of the garden as of the beginning of June, and the list of plants for 2010.


In my world, Spring begins twice: on the vernal equinox and again when school is out for the summer. Both are wondrous beginnings, points at which I revel in what will become. In this post I'm just recording some images of the garden as of the beginning of June.


Lower tier: basil, peppers, eggplant and tomatoes:

Middle tier: zinnia, squash, and melons:

Upper tier: hot peppers, cucumbers, peas, beans, and okra:


2010 PLANT LIST:

Basil: Genovese (50), Lettuce Leaf (50)

Peppers: Tequila Sunrise (8), Chocolate Bell (16), Mole (10), Emerald Giant (18), Yellow Monster (10), jalepeno (10), chili (2), habanero (2)

Eggplant: Snowy (12), Listada de Gandia (6), Louisiana Long Green (2)

Tomatoes: Rutgers (13), Early Girl (13), Tennessee Green (13), Yellow Pear (7), Roma (9), Cherokee Purple (12), Yellow (6), Nebraska Wedding (6), Volunteer Cherry (2), Sweet 100 (2)

Zinnia: many (Purple, Lavender, White, Multi)

Zucchini: Costata Romanesca (4 hills)

Squash: Yellow Crookneck (4 hills), White Scallop (4 hills)

Melon: Ali Baba (12 hills), Emerald Gem (9 hills), Old Time TN (6 hills), Green Machine (6 hills)

Bush Beans: Blue Lake (two 6' rows)

Cucumbers: Snow's (8 hills), National (8 hills), Armenian (4 hills)

Okra: Dwarf Green (30), Clemson Spineless (30), Burgundy (30)

Peas: Oregon Sugar Pod (20' row), Sugar Ann (two 6' rows)

Onion: sets, two 6' rows

Sunday, May 30, 2010

How to Prune Basil

This week, we harvested the first fruits of the 2010 season: snap peas (Oregon Sugar Pod; Sugar Ann) and basil (Genovese, the traditional pesto variety, and Lettuce Leaf, a slightly more spicy, ruffled-leaved plant).



It is important to prune basil correctly if you want to get the most out of your plants. This is very easy to do if you understand how the basil plant grows. In the picture below, you can see the growing habit of the young basil plant. This picture was taken on May 30, two weeks after we transplanted the basil. Look at the two large plants in the middle of the image. You can see how as the plant grows upward from a primary stem, new leaves sprout at the leaf nodes (center, right).


These new sprouts will grow into individual stems (center, left). If you cut the primary stem just above the leaf node, these new stems will grow strong and the plant will develop a branching habit. And you will enjoy an abundant harvest all summer.


Sunday, May 16, 2010

Planting Tomatoes

Healthy tomatoes, ready to plant:


The blank canvas:


Andrea, Brent and Sande planting the Tennessee Green tomatoes:

Saturday, May 15, 2010

2010 Garden: Starting from Seed

"I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, and stand in deep contemplation over my vegetable progeny with a love that nobody could share or conceive of who had never taken part in the process of creation. It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world to
observe a hill of beans thrusting aside the soil, or a rose of early peas just peeping forth sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green." (from Mosses from an Old Manse, 1854) -- Nathaniel Hawthorne

2010 starts, as of May 2:

2010 plans (very scientific, no?):

2010 starts, as of May 14 ready for planting (and yes, that is a toilet in the upper right: evidence of bathroom remodeling):

2010 plants on May 15:


Sunday, April 4, 2010

Seed Starts

We are growing more plants from seed for 2010, and I've been experimenting with some techniques to hasten and maximize germination.

For anyone starting plants from seed, I recommend that you do your research! In the past I've wasted seed and lost plants because of simple lack of knowledge. There are some great resources linked from this blog.

I purchased germination mats ($24.99 each at The Barn Nursery) to warm the soil in my germination flats. In the first of these these (planted on March 29), I sowed Holy Mole pepper, Early Girl and Rutgers tomato, and four varieties of basil. After four days, the cotyledons are up for all basil varieties and the Rutgers tomato. I can see that the Early Girl tomato is also about to poke through.


There are no seedlings yet in the other flat (planted on March 30). That is to be expected, because these plants and varieties usually take about a week to germinate:

Spear's Green tomato
Yellow Pear tomato
Louisiana Long Green Eggplant
Snowy Eggplant
Chocolate Pepper
Chinese 5 Color Pepper
Emerald Giant Pepper
Yellow Monster Pepper

In addition, I've been experimenting with okra seeds. Some people recommend soaking okra seeds in water for 24 hours, then planting only the ones that swell. So, I set up a plastic egg package to test whether or not soaking the seeds makes a difference. I planted seeds from 3 different varieties (Burgundy, Clemson Spineless, Dwarf Green) in the rear row of cups, and put the little "greenhouse" in the sun.

I put the same number of seeds in water for 24 hours...

By the next day, the majority of the soaked seeds had swelled. For the photo below, I placed a dry seed below the center group to show the size difference. A few of the seed covers had split.

I planted these seeds in the front row of cups and gave the greenhouse another day in the sun. After just three days, the seedlings are coming up in both rows - but more seedlings have grown from the soaked seeds and they seem to be a little more developed. We'll see how they do in the next few days.

Starting Up

With spring break coming to an end, I can no longer spend most of the day playing in the garden. Here's what I've been up to... Last week in the garden cool weather weeds were thriving and spring bulbs were in bloom.

When the daffodils, grape hyacinths, and iris are done flowering, I'll dig them out and move them so we can expand the vegetable beds without destroying the plants.

I almost missed the pleasant surprises growing among the vetch and henbit. Can you spot the red-leaf lettuce poking up through the weeds? These plants grew from seed sown in fall '09. I salvaged a number of plants for transplant - and some wild green onions for cooking.

I also spent some time gathering dandelion leaves, because I remember how my mother used to make delicious cooked greens from this spring weed. However, the result was a bit of a disaster. No amount of bacon grease, salt, garlic or pepper could mask the acrid taste! Mom, how did you do it?

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Learning from Experience

In planning for the upcoming growing season, I've been thinking a lot about last year's successes and failures. On the whole, I was thrilled about the productive outcomes and the growing friendships in 2009. Before the memories fade and the new year is underway, I want to list some of the lessons learned...

1. Hardscaping

In 2009 we started too late to do enough of this; we learned that it isn't just about aesthetics. We can improve the efficiency of the growing area and the layout of various crops for 2010. If the invasive plants on the east border are removed, there will be less competition for nutrients in the soil in the top tier. Ideally, we would remove the privet and knock down the divider wall between the middle and lower tier. I am thankful that someone has cut back the brush on the edges. This will bring more light to the upper tier, and maybe eliminate the poison ivy.

2. Soil

We have done a soil test for 2010, and the results should be in soon. The soil test results should give us some good information about how to amend our soil. We need to till in organic material before we plant. There are high hopes for obtaining some well-rotted manure.

3. Cost

Buying greenhouse starts in 2010 was pricey. Of course, starting our own seeds takes work, space, and costs - many of which are in the form of time. For 2010 I am attempting to start a number of vegetable plants from seed.

4. Crop Choice/Days 'til Harvest

In 2009, it happened that most of our plants had around the same number of "days 'til harvest", so we ended up with few vegetables until mid-July, then far more than we knew what to do with for the next month. The exceptions were the green peppers: the pepper variety we planted needed a lot of days, and we didn't get peppers until late August. For 2010, we can extend our harvest by planting an early and a late variety of each crop.

5. Crop Choice

We did not realize that we planted only "determinate" tomato varieties (Celebrity and Early Girl). Determinate tomato varieties set blossoms once: then all the fruit ripens, and then the plant dies. Indeterminate tomato varieties produce blossoms and fruit continually until frost. The plants also should be tended quite differently for optimum production. For 2010 we will have at least one determinate and one indeterminate tomato variety.

6. Production

In 2009 good crops were produced in the middle and lower tiers. Certain plants in the top tier did well, while others suffered. Poor results and their likely causes include the following:

- Low production of eggplant may be attributed to transplant shock. Eggplants do not transplant well anyway, and we put them in during a hot spell - many died back to the ground level and only survived because of healthy root systems and a lot of TLC.

- The failure of the Roma tomatoes may be because of competition for nutrients from invasive roots; it could be a number of other causes as well. It will be important to see how plants fare in that area of the garden in 2010. Some peppers died from an unidentified cause, but others in the immediate area thrived.

7. Right, In Spite...

Finally, some things we did right by accident!

- Okra and watermelon happen to be excellent companion plants. We chose a spot for the okra because of the distance from our water source, and the spot for the watermelon because it seemed like they had a lot of room to move.

- Tomatoes should not be mulched upon planting. Kathleen and Ann mulched the tomatoes at the right time (later in June) but only because we planted late, then didn't have the mulch or the time to do it right away. Turns out that mulching tomatoes too early prevents the soil from warming enough to stimulate good root development, which is very important for healthy plants.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Garden Planning

For me, March means three things: college basketball, spring break, and planning the summer garden. Last year, our small group of gardeners realized that we could have done a lot of things differently. This year, we need to spend time doing some important work on the garden soil. We need to remove the roots of the invasive plants that grow around the edges and draw water and nutrients from the planting beds. We need to amend the soil with some organic material to provide better drainage and aeration. More on those efforts later.

The second part of early planning is considering what to plant in our space and starting those plants from seed. We spent money on plants from the garden center last year, and if we can start our own plants we will have resources to spend on other things. Last year we planted the following plants:

Cucumbers (1o hills burpless, 2 hills Armenian)
Peppers (20 bell; 6 banana; 12 jalepeno; 4 habanero)
Eggplant (4 Thai; 4 Caspar; 4 Purple)
Bush Beans (seeded rows)
Tomatoes (15 Celebrity; 15 Early Girl; 4 Roma; 3 cherry)
Basil (3 plants; seed underplanting)
Lettuce (seed underplanting)
Melon (12 Hale's Best Jumbo; 12 watermelon - probably Rattlesnake)
Okra (30 Clemson Spineless)

This year, we will plant several different varieties of crops - not only because we would like the variety, but because it would be good to have different varieties ready for harvest at slightly different times. Last year, the plants that did well were: Armenian cucumbers, all peppers, Caspar eggplants, Celebrity and Early Girl tomatoes, basil, watermelon, and Clemson Spineless okra. My hope is that we will plant the same amount of the successful plants (maybe slightly fewer) and rotate in some other crops or varieties that are likely to do well in our growing conditions or extend our harvests.