Wrapping Up 2013

December view of Box Garden,
from Center path in Way Back

Here's a snap (left) of the Box Garden, all covered up for the recent cold weather.  You'd never guess there are carrots, beets, spinach, broccoli, collards, and lettuces under those row covers, would you? And onions...lots and lots of onions! Oh, and some garlic in the Center Square...almost forgot about that.

Turnip Greens, growing in
the Way Back Row Garden

You might also see a row of green in the middle-upper left. That's a row of Seven Tops turnip greens, which don't seem to mind the frosty temps in the least. The more frost, the better the taste! Here's a close up I took of that very productive row a few weeks ago, right:

Unless you are a gardener...or farmer...you may think that the Winter months are a time of rest and reflection; a time to relax, have another cup of coffee, and enjoy the arriving seed catalogs...far removed from the soil. You would only be partially correct.

As the year comes to a close, there are several things on our To Do list before we can put the Way Back gardens to bed:

1. Apply dormant oils to orchard trees, berry bushes, and roses. (That's what I'm working on later today...when the temps hit 50. Remember my motto: "Between 50 and 90...no lower, no higher." In summer I say, "Noon or 90...whichever comes first." But that doesn't apply here...:-)
2. Remove the remaining vegetation in the Kitchen Row Garden.
3. Till up the rows in the Kitchen Row Garden.
4. Add lime to rows and to rose garden, per Soil Test Report.
5. Mow over and collect remaining leaves on the ground in the Way Back. Add to gardens for mulch and compost. (Mr. T actually got the leaf-mowing done a couple of days ago, so we can check this one off the list.)

To elaborate a bit...

Dormant Oils -- So called because they are applied in the dormant season (winter months in the Northern Hemisphere) before bud break in late February to mid-March (in USDA Zone 7b in the Piedmont area of NC), a more accurate name would be horticultural oils, because they can be used at other times of the season (at lesser strengths). Because there are NO leaves or buds on the plants to be sprayed, we can use the oils at full-strength, as directed on the label ("the label is the law"). The winter applications of these include "All Seasons" Dormant Oil, Copper-Sulfate, and Lime-Sulfur Oil, which we purchase in concentrated form and then mix with water in a 2-gallon pump-sprayer.

As I have said before, I try my best to use the kindest, gentlest methods of pest control possible, preferring a natural choice...although I stop short of saying that I am an "organic" gardener.

The trickiest part is getting the "environment" right: temperatures must be above 45 degrees (preferably less than 70) when sprayed; there must be no rain and/or freezing temperatures forecasted for at least 24 hours; and the wind should be negligible-to-light (less than 5 mph). Finding a day that meets all of those criteria in December is tough...but fortunately today is almost perfect to get started! Yes, we could postpone until January...but we can't wait too long because (ideally) we will want to do another spraying after 30-45 days, and that second spraying MUST be done before bud-break...which can sometimes surprise you in mid-February. Plus, we can't spray the Lime Sulfur or the Copper Sulfate at the same time as the Dormant Oil without risking vegetation damage; we have to wait 1-3 weeks...and until we have ALL the right "environmental" conditions.

A good way to remember WHEN to spray is to think in terms of Holidays: New Year's for the first spraying, Valentine's for the second. That should give you a little wiggle room for dealing with the vagaries of the weather.

Here is some great information on Dormant Oils:
http://extension.missouri.edu/phelps/documents/Horticulture_News/Time_for_Dormant_Oil_Application.pdf
http://ucanr.edu/sites/marinmg/files/116758.pdf

Remaining vegetation -- As you have seen, we still have a good stand of turnip greens in one of the rows that we need to till (more on that in a minute), which I will harvest and cook for my "Good Luck Greens" on New Year's Day...putting the rest in the freezer. I'm the only one that eats turnip greens, so I'll have plenty to keep me busy until next Fall...no worries! My original plan was to leave the greens to "go to seed," which means they send up flower stalks...and serve as excellent attractors for the pollinators (bees, mainly) that we will need for the orchard in a couple of months. And, we still have a few okra stalks still hanging on to their roots that must go to China. All of that has to be removed so we can...

Till up the rows -- We have two main reasons for tilling up the rows in the Kitchen Row Garden: (a) to turn the soil over to expose overwintering pests, especially the squash vine borer; and (b) to add amendments like lime (per our Soil Test report) and compost (like leaves). While adopting a no-till policy is admirable, we find that a winter-till is more beneficial to our soil and our harvests. Hence, the change in plan about the greens being left to flower.

Of course, we have to wait until we have dry soil to till...and that has thus far eluded us this month. We got another 1" of rain yesterday, so it will be early January before we can check this chore off the list. Sigh. Oh well, while we are awaiting dry soil, we can catch up on a couple of things inside...by the fire...with a warm beverage in hand...

Journaling -- I have been pretty faithful in keeping my Garden Journal this year, but the Holidays played havoc with my resolve to write. I want to have a good verbal "picture" of the gardens in 2013 so that I can begin planning 2014 in earnest.  That's where the letter carrier comes in!

Perusing the arriving Seed Catalogs -- Oh yes, they are arriving daily, sometimes 2 or 3 a day...making me feel for our letter carrier. And I see that along with the usual suspects (red tomatoes, green peppers, and orange carrots), the Color Purple is becoming quite popular in the vegetative universe. Purple carrots. Purple-podded (green) peas. Purple-skinned potatoes. I kid you not.

And, we know how I love to trial new things in the gardens!

Happy hoeing!

Moving the Action Indoors: Amaryllis

Checked the calendar on Wednesday: just six weeks to Christmas! And that brings thoughts of one of my favorite indoor blooms...amaryllis. Of course, there are many parts of the world where amaryllis bloom naturally outdoors, and I do put my spent bulbs outside during the Spring and Summer months, but for us here in USDA Zone 7B, we have to force the bulbs to bloom "out of season" for those lovely blooms during the Holidays.

Here's a picture (right) of Red Lion blooming from last year...or, actually from earlier this year. I did not get the process going on time in the last weeks of Summer 2012, so they didn't bloom at Christmas...they bloomed at New Year's.

 

Process, you say? What process?

Many people who receive a blooming amaryllis for a gift simply toss the bulb when the blooms fade. Being the primal garbage gardener that I am, I cannot do that. I have to at least give reblooming a try. I found this great step-by-step approach from the US National Arboretum that outlines how to make it work: click here to go there.

As I said, I leave the potted (spent) bulbs, with the strappy leaves intact, outside during the warmer months. This year, I snipped off the leaves, dug them up, and brought the bulbs inside mid-September, in order to give them a good 8-week resting period. 

The bulbs spent this "time-out" in a divided box (originally made for Ball canning jars) in the guest bathroom tub (coolest place I could think of)...a room that stayed dark the entire period. There is no window in that room, and we did not turn on the light, or even enter it for the resting period.

I have been mulling over how to display them this year, wanting to do a little better than just individual plants in individual pots. I thumbed through one of my indoor gardening books, "Tabletop Gardens," by Rosemary McCreary (Storey Publishing, 2006) to get an inspiration, and then I revisited my Master Gardener Speakers Bureau binder on a presentation I gave on Containers for some ideas.

And then, during a retail therapy visit to Big Lots, I happened across these ginormous Christmas-themed wine glasses...clearly marked "FOR DECORATIVE PURPOSES ONLY." Inspiration, ideas, and opportunity all collided...and two of those 'glasses' came home with me.

My vision was to create two mirror-image tabletop container gardens for the dining room table Holiday centerpiece with three amaryllis bulbs each (they would eventually grow up to be the Thrillers), a tuft of a soft-bladed houseplant each (they would be the Fillers), and several long stems of English ivy, pulled from the over-run bed in front of our house (these would be the Spillers). I chose the wine glasses with the red and black Santa suit theme because I wanted to use as the center of this centerpiece tableau a wicker pot "cover" that is black with red accents...looks like Frosty the Snowman's top hat turned over...to contain a plain pot holding the largest amaryllis bulbs variety I have called 'Sydney.' Oh yes, Big Daddy (Sidney Lunn) is with us for every Holiday meal!

First, I gathered my materials: aquarium charcoal (acts as a filtering agent for containers that don't have drainage holes), sphagnum peat moss (a lighter planting medium than potting soil...holds moisture better), some small river rock (serves as a good 'anchor' base between the charcoal on the bottom of the glasses and the peat moss as the nesting medium for the bulbs and the companion plants) to support the emerging roots. I also got a narrow-spaded trowel and a pair of latex gloves...easier for me to work in than outdoor garden gloves. As I was working inside (too cold to work at my potting bench outside), I covered my workspace in newspaper. Meanwhile, I removed the amaryllis bulbs from their resting box to a large bowl filled with lukewarm water; I wanted to give them a good soak before planting them and get them well-hydrated after their 8-week resting period.

Gathering materials for container gardens

Then, I hand-washed and dried the containers. I placed a layer of charcoal (purchased at Petsmart, in the Fish section), followed by a layer of small river rocks. Then I scooped in a layer of peat moss. 

Unique containers for the Holidays

I first placed the Fillers (to one side of one glass container, mirroring their placement in the other container), since they had the most-developed existing root structure and needed the greatest depth of planting medium (peat moss). I added the long stems of ivy (the Spillers), pushing the root-end deep into the peat moss, adding more as needed for support/anchorage. 

Finally, I arranged three (well-hydrated) bulbs in each of the glasses and one large bulb in the single clay container. I added a bit of peat moss to cover any stray roots...but not too much. Amaryllis bulbs grow best if most of the bulb is showing. I added some larger river rocks on the top. Then I misted everything thoroughly, washing any stray planting media off the sides of the containers. 

Ready to add the amaryllis bulbs

Thrillers, Fillers, and Spillers added to containers

To finish up for the time being, I moved all containers to the warmest, sunniest window in the house...and set a light on a timer to make sure they are receiving plenty of light to stimulate bloom-growth. I will keep daily tabs and will mist as often as needed, keeping the media moist but NOT soggy. Remember, there are no drainage holes in the glass containers, and the last thing I want is to develop root-rot.

And hopefully, I'll be posting pictures soon of beautiful blooms!

Happening in the Garden This Week

The four-letter weather-word has shown up on our forecast for tonight: SNOW! If it happens, we will be ready for it.

One would think with the arrival of cold weather that we'd be hanging out the "Closed for the Season" sign, wouldn't one? One would be wrong! We have quite a bit of activity going on around here.

Fall Broccoli - 2013

1. The Kitchen Garden - The Third Season is in fine form out in the Box and Block Gardens. The raised beds in the Box Garden are sporting carrots (harvested the first three of the Fall last week), lettuces (3 kinds...my fave being the Red Sails), spinach (coming in fast and furious), beets (a little late here...had to replant), broccoli (pictured, right), cauliflower (replants), collards (replants), and one lone cabbage (a replant...all its friends succumbed to the dreaded cutworms, which were the cause of the replanted brassica). The Block Garden has been completely surrounded by a temporary fence (no worries...I can "open" one side of it...:-) that is supporting a good stand of (English) peas ('Wondo'...just picked some of those and popped them in our pot of soup)...and enclosing the rows where stands one lone surviving Red Cabbage plant (yes, cutworms again...you better believe I will be using cardboard collars come Spring-planting time!).

All the raised beds are sporting winter-weight row covers (purchased two years ago from Gardeners Supply...and still showing up for duty...:-), clothes-pinned to the hoops that bend over the plantings, so they should be OK down to 28 degrees. Mr. T came up with the clever idea to corral all the leaves that our neighbors are steadily gifting us with inside the fence around the Block Garden...brilliant, indeed! They provide protection to the peas...better than straw...and, of course, that lone cabbage must feel coddled, like being wrapped in a warm blanket.

We got most of the spent plant materials pulled up and into the yard waste toter, including the 5 pepper plants and the lone eggplant. Because of the high risk of overwintering of pests and pathogens on the members of the Solanaceae family (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc.), I don't compost this debris...I get it off the property. Good riddance to blights, I hope!

[By the way, I finished my latest Master Gardener article yesterday, written about the End-of-the-Season Clean-Up. Be sure to check it out here if you have the time...and LIKE and SHARE it if you are on Facebook! (If you have arrived on this post before that link is active, check back later. Thanks!)]

2. The Orchard - Granted, there isn't much activity going on amongst the fruit trees...and, since the squirrels and their pals picked all the fruit before it ripened, there wasn't much clean-up required. Still Mr. T harvested the seed pods from the zinnias and pulled up the remaining flower stalks, while I planted 6 pineapple lily bulbs (from Lakeside Farms) in the new-this-year Pollinators Garden. When the front-porch mums are finished with their blooming, I will plant them here.

I also tilled up a long bed in the back of the Way Back, across the Orchard and the Berry Patch, and planted 110 daffodil bulbs (that have been hanging out in the garage fridge for 6 weeks, as directed). They will be putting on a show, come Spring...fingers crossed; toes, too!

Seeds of the butterfly weed
Asclepias Tuberosa - 2013

We have several wonderful outcroppings of butterfly weed, Asclepias Tuberosa, in the Orchard...planted by either the birds or the wind. And, now is the time to harvest the seeds which have broken out of the pods following the recent frosty nights [shown in the picture Mr. T snapped with his iPhone (right)]. Aren't they just amazing? They are designed to be wind-dispersed, with fluffy, silky tufts. We'll keep them in a paper bag in the garage fridge until Spring, then plant...and cross our fingers and toes because butterfly weed is notoriously difficult to grow from seed. We shall see...

3. The Berry Patch - All is quiet on this tasty front. Mr. T has filled the blueberry boxes 3 (raised beds, containing the 9 blueberry bushes) with bags and bags of our neighbors' shredded (mostly oak) leaves...remember, blueberries love an acid soil and oak leaves can help maintain that. I also tilled up and refurbed another strawberry bed, this one containing the newest Ozark Beauty runners. (No snakes were found this time!)

4. The Rose Garden - All of the hybrid teas, the grandifloras, and most of the David Austen ("English" shrub) roses are winding down, forming as many rose hips as rose buds. The two notable exceptions are the coppery 'Pat Austen' and the lemony 'Molineaux.' So, when you look toward the Rose Garden from another part of the Way Back, you will see the colors of Fall: orange and yellow. Beautiful combination!

Additionally, the 'Mardi Gras' floribunda rose bush (located just outside of the Rose Garden, in the Rondel) is still budding, producing the flamboyant pinks, oranges, and yellows...all swirled together into colorful blooms. Makes for fabulous bouquets, especially when you add the prolifically-producing 'Gethsemane Moonlight' mums that now dot several corners of the property. I pruned the original 6 plants after their first growth spurt in the Spring, in order to assure lush flower production in the Fall...then dipped the "prunings" into rooting hormone...lo and behold, WORLDS of new plants. Gotta love propagation!!

The rest of our weekend activity revolved around general cleaning up and taking relaxing breaks in the swings. Since it has been a difficult week around our house, we needed some time for rest and contemplation.

And the garden is the very best place for it.  Happy hoeing!

First Frost

What a busy week we gardeners in the USDA Zone 7b Piedmont of NC have had! First frost arrived almost on time in the wee hours on Wednesday 10/24, followed closely by our first freeze this morning. [Want to find out the average dates of First and Last Frost for your garden? Go to the Dave's Garden site and enter your ZIP code: http://davesgarden.com/guides/freeze-frost-dates/#b]

My own To Do list to prepare for First Frost (which research assigns to October 20 for HPNC) included:

1. Harvest warm-season crops that would be injured or killed by frost or freezing temperatures. Tender crops still producing in our Kitchen Garden include green and jalapeño peppers, okra, and eggplant. Here's a photo of the green pepper haul, below.

2. Cover cool-season crops -- meaning all the cabbage family crops (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and collards), lettuce, spinach, carrots, and beets. Turnip greens  (shown below with a row of nasturtiums pre-frost) are actually better after a light frost or two, so I choose not to cover them. I also didn't cover the peas, since they grow up a fence and already have a straw-mulch.

This is the most labor-intensive part of the frost-prep work. I had to install the hoops, spread the cover fabric out in order to cut to size for the 5 new-this-year raised beds, spread the covers, clip to the hoops with clothespins, and anchor the edges of the covers with rocks. You see I had a helper with that whole cutting and anchoring process below. Ahem.

We bought these GardenQuilt fabric covers four years ago from Gardeners' Supply (click here to go there: http://www.gardeners.com/GardenQuilt-Cover/11748,default,pd.html).  They work splendidly and have outlived their promise of two years' service. I've stored them off-season in the shed, folded (more or less) in a laundry basket, making sure they are thoroughly dry before putting away. Since we had 40 foot rows, we ordered the 50' length...hence the need to cut them down to fit the new 6' boxes. (The Row Garden is now mainly for Warm-Season crops.) Because this is a fabric, not plastic, I can leave the covers in place without worrying that warmer temps will damage the crops. What's not to love?

3. Bring vulnerable container-bound perennials like citrus trees, ferns, herbs, and palms that are living north of their Zones into the plasticized screen porch for Winter protection. There are a couple of mature and mostly yellow lemons on the Improved Meyer Lemon tree, along with one full-size green (immature) and loads of tiny little lemons from a recent late blooming. I imagine the little ones won't survive the drastic change in available light, but a gardener can dream, can't she?

4. Empty soil out of clay pots to keep them from cracking from expansion during a freeze. While working at my potting bench, I potted up some crocus and tulip bulbs to spend the Winter in the shed...and to be brought out in late February to encourage Easter-time blooms. And then, I pulled all my zonal geraniums from their containers, shook the soil off the roots, trimmed the stems by half...and put them in a paper grocery bag to also spend the Winter in the shed. Iowa State Extension's site has a great guide to dormant storage and overwintering geraniums here: http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/2004/9-17-2004/geraniums.html

5. Cut all open blooms on zinnias and roses to bring inside for a huge vase of fresh flowers. There are worlds of buds on both that may not survive a hard freeze, but aren't far enough along for a bouquet. Sigh. Still, I must focus on how much we have enjoyed all the beautiful blossoms this year...and hope that a few last until the warmer weather on the way. I also gave the basil its final haircut, since this heat-lover won't survive temps below 50 degrees...popped the cuttings into another vase, hoping for a rooted branch or two to pot up. Fingers crossed...toes, too!

Whew! I need a day of rest...how about you?

Still Get a Thrill

Yes, I know it's 82 degrees in October. We should be thinking about lighting the fireplace, instead of cranking the AC up. Ah well...let's concentrate on a Fall Garden Report.

Regardless of the toasty temps, the cool season crops are coming right along. Today, I harvested another salad's-worth of romaine and Red Sails lettuce and the first few pods of green ("English") peas...yeah! Then I thinned the beets (pictured below) and the carrots...and decided to let the spinach and the turnip greens grow in thickly. {Giggle!} I was a bit heavy-handed in planting the beets, wouldn't you agree?

If you are wondering about the diagonal wood strips in that photo above, you may recall my saying I had repurposed some lattice we removed from our deck surround to create a cucumber trellis (which worked great this summer!). I had a couple small pieces left over and am using them in the raised beds to help me lay out my plantings and space my seeds in the boxes (which are not as easy to 'eyeball' as the rows are for me). And I have learned (the hard way) to leave them in place to protect the tiny, young seedlings from Abbie's mad dashes.  Yep, this is the SECOND planting of both beets and spinach this Fall. Sigh.

While we wait for some things to reach maturity, we are still enjoying the fruits of our warm season labors. Several of the Summer stalwarts continue producing in the Kitchen Garden, including the green and red bell peppers, jalapeño peppers, Sun Gold tomatoes, okra, and eggplant...as you can see below. Plus, most of the zinnias and all the roses are supplying us with flowers for gorgeous bouquets. 

And guess what else is starting to open? The heirloom green Nanking cotton! You may remember that I got these seeds a couple of years ago at the Seed Exchange held at Old Salem. Well, these plants (all 36 of them!) are the result of my own seed-saving from last year's cotton crop...8 whole plants! As I've said before, I hope to raise enough fibre to eventually hand-spin some yarn and knit...something! Girl's gotta have a goal, don't you know?

In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Season

If you are counting, we are on our third planting in the Kitchen Garden of 2013...yes, it's time for the Fall Garden! Technically, I guess you'd call it our second "cool season" garden of the year, as the plantings will sound suspiciously like our Spring Garden. When the weather begins to turn cooler, especially the nighttime temps, it's time to say goodbye to the warm season veggies like tomatoes, peppers, squash, and okra for the year, and welcome back "the greens and things." 

Ready for the roll call?

We have (English) peas planted in the Block Garden (shown above), climbing up the fence that Mr. T added after the raccoon(s) destroyed the corn. Inside the fence, we have red cabbage...a second planting of those since the cutworms got the first ones. In the Box Garden, we have 4 varieties of lettuce (Romaine, Bibb, Black-seeded Simpson, and Red Sails); two more kinds of cabbage (Bonnie Hybrid and Early Jersey Wakefield); collards; broccoli; beets; spinach; carrots; onions; and (new for us) Romanesco cauliflower (also known as broccoli or cabbage, depending on which country you grow them). And in the Row Garden where the bean fence was this summer, we've got two rows of turnip greens...yep, I only grow for the greens, since I don't like turnips; Mr. T likes neither.

We are already enjoying the lettuce and a leaf or two of spinach...which, along with the last of the Sun Gold tomatoes and sweet bell peppers, make for some yummy salads this time of the year. Soon, I hope to add some of those tasty green peas.

The Fall Garden presents a few challenges not found with the Spring Garden, even though we are basically growing the same veggies. For one, we have to monitor the moisture level in the soil more closely than in March...the warm, dry days at the end of Summer/beginning of Fall can mean too-dry soil for tender seedlings. That's how I came to have to replant both my beets and my spinach. The seeds germinated, but they didn't receive enough rain in those all-important first 7 days...and I didn't provide supplemental water; before I knew it, the seedlings withered...lost all except one single spinach plant.

The second...and more problematic challenge has to be da Bugs. In the Spring, it's too early for the pest population to have built up their numbers and control is a bit easier. But as Summer turns to Fall, da Bugs are going strong. Until the first frost, we will continue to do battle. 

My main nemesis is the above-mentioned cutworm...which loves all things in the brassica family: newly-added transplants of cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, collards, etc. In addition to chopping through that first planting of red cabbage, you can see (below) that the newly-planted Early Jersey Wakefield cabbage also provided a tasty meal. If that's not enough to contend with, the first plantings of broccoli are quite lacy after an evening with a cabbageworm...despite being covered with a row cover. What's a chemically-cautious gardener to do?

Row covers are my first line of defense...and will be necessary for protection when temps drop below freezing. And, I've sprayed with neem oil and also dusted everything with Dipel Dust [a biological control with the main ingredient being Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a microbial pesticide]...which is why it looks like it snowed in that photo above. Next step: crossing my fingers. 

And wishing for an early frost, I suppose. 

Clean'em Up; Move'em Out

It's that time of year when the Summer 2013 (or warm season) garden is winding down, and our thoughts turn to their successors. This post will be about the clean-up activities; the next will be about planting the Fall 2013 garden. Sorta "out with the old, in with the new!" But first...a little recap is in order.

All-in-all, the Summer 2013 garden was a winner in terms of productivity of tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, onions, okra (shown above), beans, and peppers. The squash were prolific early contributors, but faded toward the end. All that rain we had made for mountains of garden-fresh goodies. 

Of course, all that rain we enjoyed made for an ideal environment for pests, both insects and diseases. Sigh. And, we lost two of our favorite crops (corn and watermelons) to critters...probably a raccoon or ten. A cautionary tale, if ever there was one.

I spent the better part of last weekend pulling up the spent tomato plants (many of which had been productive far longer than I'd imagined after a bout with both early and late blights), the withered squash and pumpkin vines (both of which had succumbed to the appetites of the evil squash vine borer, despite my best efforts with neem oil and spinosad applications), and the lacy-leafed bean plants (which had lost the battle with overwhelming forces in the form of Mexican bean beetles). 

All of this plant residue went in the black Yard Waste toter to be hauled off our property on the regular Wednesday trash day. Normally, we compost "used" plants, but not when they have been damaged by blight or beetles or any other potential "carry-over" pest. We don't need this year's evils overwintering and becoming a challenge for us next summer. No, no, no.

I also put up the final harvest of tomatoes, shown in the picture (below) in the boiling-water bath, just prior to a dunk in ice water, in preparation of removing the skins and being packed in freezer bags. We'll really appreciate them this winter in chilis, soups, and sauces.

Fortunately, the Summer garden is still giving us tasty dishes. For instance, today's harvest is shown in the picture below. 

As you can see for yourself: A beautiful eggplant, a lovely bell pepper, many ripe-to-bursting Sun Gold tomatoes (the five Sun Gold tomato plants survived the blights, the great Clean Out, and are still yielding fruit by the pint), and several red and green jalapeños (all from one plant!). Looks like a Stir-fry to me! Check out my recipe for Beef-Eggplant Stir-fry over on our family blog, The Adsit Adventure. Click here to go there.

So, we are winding down the warm season and preparing for the cool. And in my next post, I'll share what that means.

Tomatoes for Later

Not all 'gardening' takes place outdoors, as you know. As this busy Monday comes to an end, I'm enjoying one of those indoor gardening-related activities: making salsa from the bounty harvested over the weekend. Salsa...such a fabulous way to enjoy the fruits of our labors after we have said goodbye to the season.

Actually, I've divided this activity into two parts...over two days: prepping the veggies on Day One, and cooking and canning the salsa on Day Two. I find that it is easier on my back that way. 

I'm following a recipe for Fresh Vegetable Salsa from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, edited by Judi Kingry and Lauren Devine (©2006 Robert Rose, Inc., p. 203). Only making one tiny change...leaving out the cilantro, since I can't stand the taste. Hate. It. Know that I will be happier with the final product if I make it my way. Am using finely chopped celery leaves as a substitute. 

Day One:

First, I gathered all the ingredients together: tomatoes (I'm using mainly Roma and Juliets, with some globe or slicing varieties like Jet Star, Big Daddy, Brandywine, and Mortgage Lifter to get me to the 7 cups called for in the recipe), onions, bell peppers, jalapeño peppers, and garlic...all grown in our Kitchen Garden this year. There is a lot of prep work in making salsa...a LOT of peeling, coring, slicing, dicing, seeding, and chopping...and I take whatever shortcuts I can to help.

One of these step-savers is using the power of boiling water to help peel all those tomatoes. Drop clean whole, unpeeled tomatoes in a pot of boiling water for a minute or two (depending on the size), and when the skins start to split, scoop them into a large bowl of iced water (shown below). Voilá! The peelings slip right off! A sharp knife makes quick work of any core.

After chopping all the ingredients, I stirred everything together into the stainless steel pot that I'll be cooking the salsa in...and let it rest in the fridge until Day Two.

Day Two:

I waited until the house had cooled down for the evening to start the cooking and processing...which steams up the kitchen...and the cook...pretty well. First, I cooked the salsa for 30 minutes...tasted it...added a bit of brown sugar to temper the strong vinegar taste...then cooked it for about 30 more minutes. I like a thick salsa rather than a thin one.

I then got my big spaghetti pot out and filled it full of water. This serves as my canner...and with the strainer insert...works very well. Twenty minutes in a boiling water bath and here are the results: 8 half-pints of what I'm calling Mildly-Wild Salsa. 

I used the 8 jalapeños called for in the recipe, but I decided to live a little dangerously by including the seeds of 4 of them...and the seeds and membranes are where the heat hides in hot peppers. And I followed the excellent suggestion in the Ball book on how to handle chopping the peppers: use latex gloves.

We'll be enjoying these tomatoes long past the end of the season. 

Blackberries: The Essence of Summer

What is Summer? Earlier this year, the Grow Write Guild asked "what plant encapsulates the essence of summer" for you? That's easy! For me, nothing shouts "it's Summertime!" like the blackberry!

I see Summer, oozing from every ripe berry, which makes the colorful transition from the rich red of my ruby birthstone to the shiny ebony-black that announces the time for enjoying has arrived. I taste sweetness and warmth in every bite I pop in my mouth...straight from the bush or retrieved from my cup while still standing in the berry patch...who can bear to postpose gratification until the kitchen sink? I hear the long-ago peels of childhood laughter at finding the first arching canes, draped along the fence row on the farm, loaded with prizes for the picking. I feel the pricks and the scratches as the thorns try to keep me from the best rewards, deep within the bush...no matter; tis but a fleeting sensation, never deterring me for more than a moment.

When Mother Nature puts the "Ripe Now!" sign on the blackberries, I know that it is truly Summer!

Some things have changed with the years and across the miles. I no longer need to drive to the family farm for the annual outing to gather my favorite fruit; I have my own Berry Patch in our Way Back Garden. While I miss the comfort of connecting with cousins over common ground, I am thoroughly enjoying the convenience of having my very own U Pick 'Em.

Nor do I always need battle thorns, as we have planted two thornless varieties: Arapaho and Navajo. From North Carolina Cooperative Extension's online publication, Growing Blackberries in North Carolina:

The (Arapaho and Navajo) cultivars are from the University of Arkansas breeding program. These cultivars, named in honor of Native American tribes, do well in North Carolina...

Arapaho... Released by the University of Arkansas in 1993. Very erect, thornless, and suckers freely. Ripens 2 weeks earlier than Navaho, but has a short picking period. Fruit: good quality, medium size, short, conic, glossy black, firm, stores and ships better than most other blackberries; modest seed size. Up to this time has been resistant to double blossom in North Carolina, and orange rust has also seldom been observed. 

Navaho... Released by the University of Arkansas in 1988. Erect, thornless. Medium size berries of good quality; moderate to high productivity. Stores well, suitable for air transport. Susceptible to orange rust. Has not had a problem with double blossom in North Carolina up to this time.

Still, we continue to have the occasion to yell "ouch," as we also have several outcroppings of wild...and very thorny...bushes. We keep the wild ones so the birds will have their own...and hopefully leave "ours" for us, but can't resist taste-testing the tiny berries.

Growing blackberries is so easy...truly! Select a spot that gets full sun (8 hours daily), and where the soil tests to 6.0-6.5 pH. (We've added lime to the Berry Patch quadrant of the Way Back Garden per our 2011 Soil test recommendations to correct the high-acid 5.3 pH soil...great for blueberries; not "sweet" enough for blackberries and grapes.) In the late winter, I prune off any dead branches and spray with dormant oil, just like I do the Orchard and the Rose Garden...twice over a two-month period if the conditions are right...before any bud breaks. Then in the early spring, I feed each bush with 1/2 cup 10-10-10 and add mushroom compost in a collar around the base, just as the bushes begin to flower.

Since both of our varieties (Arapaho and Navajo) are erect or 'upright' blackberry cultivars, we have them planted 6 feet apart (for good air circulation) and supported by a two-wire trellis system; I use clothespins to help train the growing branches to the wires...when they put on fruit, those branches will get heavy. And that's it...just bide your time from early May (when the bushes flower) to early July (when the first fruits begin to ripen...and then enjoy the fruits of your labors!

The State of North Carolina publishes an excellent guide for growing Blackberries in the Home Garden; click here to go there.

And oh the wonderful things you can do with blackberries! How about a juicy cobbler? Yum! What about blackberry preserves? Most people make jelly or jam; me? I'm a fan of the seeds, if you can believe that, so I don't feel the need to strain them out of the finished product. But my grandfather did love a Jam Cake, made with blackberry jam...no seeds, please!

I had also hoped to have some blackberries to freeze, to enjoy my favorite fruit come next January. Alas, the season ended much too soon. Only managed a couple of quarts for the freezer. Sigh. Still this is only the second year for fruiting of these bushes, so I dream of heavier yields in the years to come.

Two last chores after the harvest and before we say goodbye to the blackberries for another year: 

(1) fertilizing with another 1/2 cup of 10-10-10, to encourage good growth of next year's fruiting canes; and (2) removing the 'spent' canes. You see, blackberries are produced on one-year-old canes, so the canes that produced so many lovely, juicy blackberries for us this year are done...spent...and must be lopped-off at ground level. Additionally, all those new canes need to be topped-off about a foot from the end of the new growth, to encourage the new canes to branch out with more new growth before frost.

All of these cuttings go into the yard waste toter and down to the street, off our property...not into the compost: too much opportunity for overwintering of insects and/or disease(s), so why take the chance?

Yes, the blackberry season is short and sweet, and I'm already anticipating breaking out one of those quarts of berries I have socked away in the freezer. But, no...must resist temptation for delayed gratification. 

A taste of Summer in the dead of Winter. The essence of a good life.

Okra!

That most-Southern of all vegetables, okra, has recently been declared the Queen of our Kitchen Garden. Long live the Queen! 

I planted seeds of Clemson Spineless, an heirloom variety that is a vigorous plant and prolific producer; and Burgundy, Green Velvet, and Dwarf Green (the last three, obtained at the Seed Exchange at Old Salem in January) in the Row Garden on a hot day in early May. Okra is a native of Africa...brought to Brazil by slaves in 1658 and then to New Orleans...so it wants full sun and hot weather, along with near-neutral pH of 6.7-7.5...and needs soil temperatures of 60 degrees or above to germinate. 

Speaking of germination. Watered those newly-planted seeds and waited. Nearly all of the Clemson Spineless seeds germinated, and most of the Burgundy. The Dwarf Green came in at about 60%, and the Green Velvet had a poor showing with only 40% germination. Replanted the seeds that didn't germinate. After a few weeks, we had a double-row of healthy, growing plants. As the heat of the summer arrived, the stalks grew taller and wider...and, after all the rain in June and July, we found ourselves with a forest of okra. 

Even if you don't like the taste (or more likely the texture, which some describe as "slimy") of cooked okra...and I'm with you, if you are boiling the stuff...you can appreciate the beautiful flowers on the tall green...or in the case of the burgundy variety, red and green...stalks. With all those lovely butter-yellow blossoms, it's easy to tell that okra is a relative of hibiscus (and of cotton...:-). Gorgeous! Even the bees love 'em. 

Okra has very few pest problems. Insects that might appear on your plants include stink bugs and other leaf-footed critters; I hand-pick with my soap can at the ready. Flea beetles? I'm trialing spinosad in the form of Bonide's Captain Jack's Dead Bug Brew on all the leaf-chewing critters this year...so far, so good. Japanese beetles are sometimes a bother, although I find they like my green bean vines and my roses much more; use insecticidal soap on them as well as aphids if you feel you must. Because I know that bees favor the flowers, however, I'm willing to put up with the bugs that respond to sprays...or to try to limits any sprays like neem to times when bees aren't active in the garden.

Okra is one of those plants you must visit every day. The pods that follow those lovely blooms are ready in as few as 2-3 days, and you will want to cut the pods before they begin to mature and turn woody, if you are planning to eat them. Ideally, the tender pods between 2-4" long are best...about the same length as your thumb. Even if you miss a pod, hiding out under those giant leaves (easily done...says the Voice of Experience...:-), you need to cut it, in order to encourage continued production by the plant. I usually return the over-ripe pods to the compost, but I've also seen them used in craft projects, like the ones my cousin Betty Jean once made into Santa ornaments for the Christmas tree. Clever!

For me, I wear gloves and use garden clippers when I am harvesting okra. Even the Clemson "spineless" variety that is my best producer has a prickly hide and can leave "splinters" in an unprotected finger. And then I try to either cook, pickle, or freeze the pods as soon as possible...or share them with my neighbor across the street as payment for all those bags of leaves she shared last Fall. Not sure what to do with all that okra? Check out Southern Living's Top 10! Just remember: use it quickly as okra doesn't keep long. 

Speaking of harvesting...time to go get some more okra. I think I hear those pods growing, even as I type! 

====================== 

I've posted a recipe for Slow-cooker Gumbo over on the family blog, The Adsit Adventure. Click here to go there.

Tomato Time in Tennessee

I know, I know...we (and our tomatoes) don't actually live in Tennessee*. I'm a fan of alliteration, and "Tomato Time in North Carolina" just doesn't have the same ring, now does it? Regardless. The tomatoes are coming in!

The picture above shows three German Johnsons, a potato-leafed, beefsteak, open-pollinated (OP) variety, often referred to as an Heirloom. Known for producing large "slicing"-type fruit, German Johnson was first created in this part of the country and does well in the humidity of the Piedmont. While it has no hybridized resistance to the diseases that plague tomatoes, I still take a chance on German Johnson every year because it is so readily available around here at planting time. Bonnie Plants says the following about them:

• Fruit size: 12 to 24 oz, averaging 1 pound
• Matures: 76 days
• Plant Size: 4 to 6 feet
• Plant Type: Indeterminate

"For quality that has stood the test of time, the heirloom called German Johnson stands tall—literally. These big, pink-red tomatoes are borne on robust plants that can fill a tomato cage and drape back down again. Give them at least 3 feet between plants and then pick the flavorful sandwich-sized slicers as they ripen. The number of tomatoes may be less than other varieties, but the ones you bring to the table will be worthy of their space in the garden. In our Alabama test garden, where conditions are ideal and the season is long, we harvested an average of 40 fruits per plant. We recommend both hybrid and heirloom tomatoes for your garden because hybrids are generally more productive and disease resistant. German Johnson calls North Carolina home, so it is suited to life in humidity and is fairly disease resistant for an heirloom. This one is a favorite at farmers' markets in the Carolinas in the summer when the local crops come in."

They are right on the money about the fruit sizes. The tomato on the scale in the picture above weighed in at 15 ounces, while the one on the right was a light-weight at 12 ounces. The one on the left was so large, I had to cut it and weigh it in three sections...totaling 22 ounces! Of course, one of the issues with these big ol' beefsteaks is how much meat you lose to the dimpling, ribbing, and irregular growth patterns, as you can see on shoulders of the tomato on the left...which yielded about 12 ounces of usable fruit. You can see below a shot of the center portion...the rich, ripe, juicy center portion. One slice per sandwich...and get your napkins ready, folks!

I am also harvesting a mountain of Sun Golds, a super-sweet, orange-colored, cherry-type tomato that is new to my garden this year. Can't eat them all...can't give them away fast enough! My other cherry or salad varieties (Lemon Boy and Juliet) have worlds of green tomatoes on the 3 plants of each type that I started from seed. Probably another week or two before they start to ripen. Better dust off my Pasta Salad recipe, eh?

Another new one for my garden is Big Daddy, a hybrid from Burpee. They are starting to ripen...and they are beautiful and delicious. Plus, they are holding up nicely against the blight that is taking out the German Johnsons. Here's what Burpee has to say about Big Daddy (which had me at the name, don't you know?!):

Big Daddy Tomato, Hybrid

Bred from the all-time great Big Boy with improved disease resistance.

Burpee Exclusive

Hear ye! Hear ye! Revolution in the tomato patch! An all-around game-changer, Big Daddy's a breakthrough for taste, size, disease-resistance and yield. Bred from the all-time great Big Boy, Big Daddy produces a mighty, delicious harvest of ruby red round meaty fruits, 15 whopping ounces apiece over a long harvest season. Fusarium and verticillium resistant. Indeterminate.

Fruit Weight: 15  ounces

Days to Maturity: 78  days

Height: 60  inches

Speaking of "resistance," I have been fairly diligent about trimming up the bottom stems and leaves on all varieties, since our visit last year to EPCOT's behind-the-scenes garden tour, where we learned how that practice can help keep diseases and pests at bay. I have also used neem oil (biological pesticide and fungicide control), insecticide soap (mites, etc.), and spinosad in the form of Captain Jack's Dead Bug Brew (to control  tomato worms and caterpillars). (Yes, I do try to grow organically...or at least as earth- and people-friendly as possible.) Next on the docket is Serenade, another organic pest controller, which (unlike neem oil) can be used in higher temperatures with no foliage damage and at any time of the day as it isn't supposed to be harmful to bees, therefore you aren't limited to early morning or late evening for treatment times. 

Worst problems this year in the tomato crop? So far, it's been squirrel damage (see below). The rascals take one bite out of an almost-ready-to-pick ripe tomato...and usually leave it hanging on the plant for me to find, like you see. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. Way beyond irritating. It means I have to be diligent in harvesting just before they are ripe...and most attractive to the critters. It also means I can rarely just take a notion to eat a vine-ripened tomato from the garden...I have to wait until they finish up on my kitchen counter. Sigh.

After that...it has to be blight, both early and late, occurring almost simultaneously in this record-setting wet year. At this point, it's a waiting game. Waiting to see if any of the control measures will stave off the diseases 'til after harvest. 

OK...back to the tomato round up. Still waiting in the wings, putting on green fruit but none ready to eat yet, are the three grafted heirlooms (Brandywine Pink, Brandywine Red, and Mortgage Lifter), as well as the other two varieties I seeded (Jet Star and Roma). The grafted heirlooms, which are considered long season beefsteaks, are showing signs of blight damage on the leaves, but the other two have quite healthy-looking plants. I have found blossom-end rot on only two varieties this year: Brandywine Red and Roma. Not on the all the fruit on either, mind you...just on random stems. Odd, isn't it?

While I ponder the cause and solution (for next year's crop), I do believe I've made myself hungry. I sliced up an Early Girl, which was right here in a container on the deck (ripe and ready...no squirrel damage!) and picked some of the last of my Red Sails lettuce (at least until the Fall garden). Fresh bread...you know the kind that sticks to the roof of your mouth. Add mayo, salt, and freshly ground pepper. Did I forget anything?

Oh yeah! Got bacon?!

============================

*Tennessee tomatoes — Actually, it is Tomato Time in Tennessee...Ripley, Tennessee, that is. "Ripley tomatoes" are known throughout the state for their flavor, etc. No, that's not a variety of tomato...that's where they are from: grown in the rich Mississippi River soil in and around Ripley, Tennessee. They have just celebrated the 30th Tomato Festival in Lauderdale County. 

The Good, The Bad, and The Wicked-Ugly

It's about that time. Baseball has its All Star Game, usually played on or near my birthday...the halfway point between Opening Day and The World Series. 

Here in Zone 7/Piedmont NC, it's the halfway point in our 2013 warm season veggie gardens, 3 months from the Average Last Frost Date (typically quoted as April 15) and 3 months until the Average First Frost Date (typically quoted as October 15). So how're things going, you ask? Let's take stock, shall we?

Starting with The Good, as you can tell in that photo above, the new tuteur in the Center Square of the Box Garden is a green success! The Kentucky Wonder pole beans are beginning to produce, now that the vines have reached great heights. And while the Scarlet Runner Beans (an old-world variety I'm trialing this year) haven't made any beans yet, they are showing off their striking red flowers (seen close-up). The dwarf sunflowers add contrasting color to draw the eye...and carry out the theme introduced in the stenciling I did on the topper.

What may not be evident from that picture is how over-the-moon happy I am with the raised beds in the Box Garden. Although I have long enjoyed using landscape timbers and recycled crates to create (mainly flower) beds for aesthetic reasons, I have resisted joining the raised bed army now for years, mainly because I simply didn't understand how veggies could do as well in intensive growing conditions as they could in regular garden rows.

I have maintained a healthy skepticism, say we say, about the almost religious fervor some folks use when singing the praises of the intensely-marketed Square Foot Gardening, mainly because (1) Mr. Mel takes credit for "inventing" something (intensive garden practices) that have been in use for a couple centuries in France and other countries...what he should be credited with is inventing a catchy name and a clever way to market the concept in order to garner fame and fortune; (2) in the Way Back Kitchen Garden, we have plenty of room for "raised rows," 40' long x 4' wide, with 3' aisles; and, (3) truth be told, many intensively-planted raised beds tend to look...well, 'unkempt' is the kindest word I can use.

OK, sign me up as a soldier! I am a convert to raised beds, primarily because I can control the soil-mix, allowing me to grow decent carrots and beets for the first time here in our hard-pack, clay-soil heaven...and I figured out that I can keep them from getting too rangy-looking simply by daily maintenance. Plus, I can garden intensively without feeling the need to hammer-and-nail a square-foot grid on my boxes...which Mr. Mel insists makes them SFG-official. So there!

Also in The Good column here at the midpoint, I have to sing praises of the two varieties of bush beans (all seeds of which I got at the Seed Exchange at Old Salem last January) which have been extremely productive, and of a new variety of salad tomato I was encouraged to try by MG friend JA called Sun Gold. At this point, I'm almost ready to start looking for the 'pause button' on both of these, as I cannot just stroll out to the garden to observe anymore...I must take some kind of container to harvest (bush) green beans and Sun Gold tomatoes!

In the "coming along nicely" category are the three varieties of okra (a beautiful row as you can see above, just starting to flower) and the trellised Kentucky Wonder pole beans (just beginning to flower and produce), below. The peppers are starting to yield a green one here and there, with several jalapeños and one giant sweet red on the vines. The newly-planted pumpkins (replacing the two rows and one grow bag of garlic) have all germinated and are adding inches daily. And, slowly but surely the replacement cantaloupes (from seed) are starting to flower (but not fruit)...remember, lost the first seedlings to cutworms. 

The rest of the row of tomatoes are loaded with green and ripening fruit. The pink-fruited heirloom/OP German Johnsons (below) are ripening daily, and I picked my first ones today, including those two you see below. The Celebrities have one or two ready every couple of days, and the Big Daddys have one about every three days. And you should see the salad variety I started from seed, the Juliets...just loaded with green tomatoes!

Mmmm. Tomatoes. That leads me into The Bad category. I have fingers and toes crossed that I will be able to harvest all the fruit currently ripening on the tomato vines...since I have seen evidence of blight on the leaves. Late blight, not typically seen outside of the Mountains, has been confirmed in Guilford County, and I think all this wet weather we've had this season will only make fungal problems worse. I've used Neem oil, which has some fungicide properties, but it has been raining too much to apply Serenade...my next and only remaining organic line of defense. I do have seven replacement plants ready in containers if necessary to pull any (remember the suckers I started earlier this year?), but we are nearing the last date to plant tomatoes (July 15). I feel like it's a race at this point.

Also in The Bad category falls the cucurbit row, in general. While I have harvested enough Straight 8 cucumbers to make dill pickles; enough yellow squash to eat and freeze a few; and enough zucchini to have them grilled as well as grated for zucchini bread (making the latter today), I see signs of fungal damage here, too. Losing leaves at a rapid rate on all. Had to take out at least three squash plants due to wilt. And the squash bugs are still laying their eggs on the remaining leaves. Grrrrr.

But nothing...nothing...compares to the downright Wicked-Ugly category. I have lost my entire crop of ripening watermelons and corn...to raccoons. Remember, I thought I'd lost the corn to wind damage? Well, it righted itself and set ears...and now all I have to show are empty cobs and stripped shucks. Here's the heart-breaking evidence...first, today's destruction: the remaining 6 Sugar Baby watermelons; next, the remains of the Silver Queen crop.  

Makes me want to whack something with my National Wildlife membership card.