We are very grateful that the winds, which sounded and acted like tornados, on a day of many officially sighted tornados, skipped over the house and gardens.

The wind made the decision that, after all, I would not go ahead with keeping chickens any time soon, as the roof of the coup "flew the coup"!

I had been debating about having chickens since the huge population of grasshoppers ate so much of the garden last year. Chickens would eat the grasshoppers. Then fewer grasshopper eggs would mean less food for the larvae Blister Beetles, and presumably fewer Blister Beetles. All of which would make a happier gardener.

However, only the gardener would be available to take care of the chickens. No dog to guard them. No fences to keep them off the porch, the flower beds. One thing leads to another, and we left the funky chicken coup as a leaky storage room, pending further inner debate.

Imagine how freaked the chickens would have been, during the middle of a dark and wind roaring afternoon, to have the dubious safety of their nests wisked away by the tornado.

We'll take some of the materials for other projects and perhaps keep the chicken wire part in readiness for the birds.

May the wind blow away from you only that which is no longer needed.

Four months may seem about the right timing for a successful potato harvest, the number of days for harvest ranging from 70 to 135 (according to The Wood Praire Farm in Maine, which is in no way responsible for this potato comedy. They are lovely growers of seed potatoes already planted outside. We'll see how those turn out in approximately 90 days.)

First mentioned on Feb.11 in the post Greenhouse Potatoes, this experiment was to see if seed potato would be able to last out the warmish winter until planting time by growing in a deep greenhouse bed. Was the experiment successful? That would depend if success was based solely on harvest or by the relative health of the plants and the carefree nature in which I'd wished they had grown.

Summer of '08 was my first potato planting, so I am unfamiliar with their ways. Now I realize that what I'd thought of as dread disease in the greenhouse plants may be just the natural dying off of mature plants. Are you experienced? Please let me know your thoughts.

They looked at first (well after the frost die off in their first weeks of life), to be marvelously healthy, albeit planted too closely together. It was an urgent "save the seed" movement, rather than careful planning of optimal growth conditions. This photo is from March 13th.

Then came the little disfigurements of disease




and depredation.

Then total disaster as the aphids increased, thanks to the ants.

Then it seemed that the plants were truly dying. Of course I never thought to count the days to see if perhaps all was on divine schedule after all. I used nitrogen therapy to try to bolster the leaves. That worked nicely for a couple of days, but alas, just more and more wilt.

Also, I was hoping to see some flowers. I'd read that the potatoes are reaching maturity when the plant flowers. I suppose all its flower-making energy was going into the aphids and I didn't receive the sign to start digging for potato treasures.

Finally today I decided I couldn't stand to see the dead foliage any more, cut the dead branches of one plant off and gingerly dug. First I pushed away the aphid ridden soil so it wouldn't get on the potatoes, then dug up ...

These beautiful, if small, clean and healthy looking blue skin potatoes. There's even enough left of the seed and stems to plant again, if there's room in the garden.

Although the original idea of these was to serve as seed potato, I've ordered many others from Maine. The brothers of the seed planted in the Greenhouse spent the rest of the winter in a friend's crawl space, cooler than mine. It turns out that those seed did wonderfully well and are now ready to plant. I hope that its dry enough tomorrow to do just that. They have wonderfully grown up eyes.

What to do with the new potatoes shown above? If they are not to be used as seed, what then? Hmmm, yummmm, with butter.

We'll know when we eat them, if the winter greenhouse potato experiment was indeed, a success.

May all your experiments bring out the beauty, joy and resiliency of life.

Back to the "fix" ...

As my husband delivered straw, I placed it on the chopped beds, and thought about this correction being implemented from a project gone bad. (See my last post Won't Break Soil Rule #1 Again.) I wondered if any of you readers had ever shoveled damp soil and immediately covered it in mulch - would the problem have healed itself? Would the soil have retained it's moisture and life (and worms)?

At the end of my last row of hoeing sandstone-hard clumps of soil, I noticed that indeed, there was an area there which had been covered by straw. It happened because of an impending freeze (see post from 4/6/09 Freeze Protection in Place). Big bunches of straw had been plopped near where they were needed for me to work with to protect the plants. Some of it landed on the hacked soil.

I moved the straw and behold, the soil was damp, a worm was showing. When touched by the hoe it softly responded with movement. Ah. So its true. Rule #2 was thereby proved valid.

For the lack of a little extra effort the day of the bed-making - three days in the future were shot by having to reclaim the soil, and STILL work when I was too tired, to spread the straw and protect the garden.

May you (and your plants) always be perfectly and purely hydrated.

Never Ever Work the Soil When It is Wet or Damp or Clumping or Sticking to the Shovel.

How did I learn that this is an important rule? THE HARD WAY, of course.

We had help in the garden and wanted the paths to be re-defined, so we went ahead and shoveled some of the wonderful soil out from the walking path to make a bit of a raised mound for the beds. Alas, I didn't stop when I saw how the soil kept the shape of the shovel scoop.

I thought perhaps the rain which was coming would wash it into smaller pieces, or soften it. But no.

Through weeks of sitting out in rain and wind and sun (since 3/30), it stayed put, like this:

The shovel is standing in the walking path, soon to be dug. On the left is a path which has been lined with weed barrier cloth and wood mulch. This made so much more work for me, as it all has to be hoed and raked and then covered with straw, hopefully to regain some life and moisture and bring back the worms which no doubt fled to the terra firma beneath.

Today I did some more Triage on my work schedule (as in the 4/18 post). Sadly, I had to choose between continuing planting the potatoes (which NEEDS to be done) along with their companion plants, and the hard work of taming the soil in the rows. After several days of sun and wind, I knew the soil would be dry, even though caked hard.

There's a chance of rain tonight and tomorrow and then it would be too late to do this job. The soil work was important as it is almost time to plant the tomatoes, eggplants and peppers (and their companions) in these rows. Intensely physical exertion, and beneficial breaks all day today and I have but one row left to finish. Below, you can see on the left what the finished row looks like. Don't look at the soil on the right.

Now I have direct experience of the validity of this soil rule.

And I promise myself to follow it from now on.

Actually this year I am hoping to have the garden design somewhat set so I can keep straw mulch on it always and not need to dig it again. That is, after all, the definition of a "no till garden". Something to remember in the fall. No matter how tired from the season and the putting up of the harvest - clean, clear and re-mulch! I believe that also will be a rule.


Laziness or tiredness
May seem to rule the moment
Yet the extra effort of "following the rules"
Brings less work and more joy
To the gardener who is Wise.

(quote from "The Way of the Garden"
as yet unwritten by the author of this journal)

This method of gardening is the opposite of Mono-Culture. Remember seeing row after row of the same crop, off into the horizon? Well, that's not all that mono-culture is. Even back here in my garden, when I have a row or a bed which only holds one type of plant it is also considered to be mono-culture - though there is nothing "agri-biz" in my garden.

Why would one want to confuse the gardener by mixing up the plants? My gardening friend says that it also "confuses the bugs." Now, that's worthwhile!

Also, if you have read or heard about Companion Planting, then you know that there are advantages in bringing plants of different types into the same bed. (No obviously not to mate - see the post on Saving Seeds which has not as yet been written for information on "crossing cultivars." Interplanting is way beyond (and inclusive of) mixing cultivars.

Potato Plants in Captivity (February 29, 2009) in the Greenhouse (before aphids & ants)

How did my interest in this come about? In the last Organic Club Meeting, I was asking how to inhibit the Blister Beetles that devoured my potato leaves last year. Besides being told that yes, there is a bird which eats them (the mightily noisy Guinea Hen), there are other ways to dissuade the bugs from an all out smorgasbord across the garden. That is, of course, Interplanting. I wrote about some of this in my previous blog about Interplanting Planning.

Today's garden adventure found the selected plants at the site of the potato patch for planting. Eggplant, Cabbage, Horseradish, Marigold & Nasturtium. Also invited to the party, but unable to attend today (as they are still in seed form and I'm not certain that its warm enough yet) were bush beans, corn and watermelon. All these plants grow well with potatoes or are of some value to the potato plant.

There seem to be no photos of my eggplant seedlings. Yet over 20 were counted today. (What a terrible mother of plants I am, not to have a single photo, and here they are, being planted already!) Oh well.

Nasturtium in the greenhouse, buds ready to flower, awaiting planting in the garden.

There is a very important difference between those two ways of being "companionable." Take the example of the Eggplant. I thought how wonderful that there is a good place for this vegetable. I was mistaken. On deeper reading I found the reason that it is recommended next to the potato is that the Colorado Potato Bug likes eating Eggplant even better than potato leaves! I realized that every Eggplant placed in that patch is being sacrificed! Actually, I have started way too many Eggplants, so the extras might as well be useful. I will try to save them from being devoured, but I understand their purpose here.

Horseradish is said to protect against blister beetles on the potatoes, by planting one at each corner of the patch. This morning I dug up last year's horseradish. My husband made a very strong grated, vinegar'd horseradish for medicinal and culinary uses. I planted a few thin roots into a greenhouse bed to see what would happen, and the biggest roots went out to the garden. I'm glad I'll have a few extras to use as I expand the potato beds around the yard.

Horseradish in the Upper Garden this morning before being dug up.

Technically this is supposed to be done before the leaves come up, or in the Autumn after the leaves have been removed. But I read about that after doing it "my" way, because NOW is when it needed to be moved to do service in the potato patch.

The directions I received for interplanting seemed to be to put a different plant on each side of all the plants. That extensive a "checker boarding" would use up a lot of my supply of plants and most importantly, space. We started this patch using the 12 sheets of newspaper (minimum) with straw on top method, with the intension of planting the potatoes in the straw. I thought it was an ultimately way over the top amount of space - but no, its not going to be near enough.

My first variety of potatoes (with interplants) took up 4 rows of perhaps 12 (its too dark outside to count now). I didn't even finish using all the seed of that variety. There's a lot more seed potatoes in the basement waiting for planting. It seems like I'm going to have to use a lot of upper garden space that I thought we were covering in that same paper/straw method just to get it ready for next year and have a neater garden. No, I think its going to all be potato fields forever (no, that's strawberries).

Cabbages, red and green, much younger than today.

Why so many potatoes? I took care of placing the group order for the Club, and wound up with extras, more than I had ordered. My husband likes potatoes. He makes a wonderful potato soup, and mashed garlic potatoes, and really good herbed roasted potatoes, and more. They are a very nutritious and complete food. They even are an emotional comfort food. And even if we don't need that many potatoes, I guess someone will.

I'd like to have enough left over to save for next year's seed too. Here's hoping ...

If I can't plant them all, I hope someone from the Garden Club will buy the seed from me. We sent away for top quality Organic Certified Seed Potatoes from Wood Prairie Farm in Maine. There are some unique and interesting varieties, including King Henry which is supposed to protect itself and its neighboring potato plants from bugs. So yes, that variety is interplanted with the others.

With four interplanted rows under my belt, I may be able to handle the details and take photos of the process tomorrow. Exciting details will include a dusting of fresh grass clippings, an original method of marking plant spacing and the joys of crawling about in a fully straw filled garden bed.

May all the beds you crawl in and out of, yield loving, happy harvest.

My new perspective on planting the potatoes takes planning. Interplanting is an idea new to me, shared at the last Organic Garden Club meeting. To confuse the bugs and make the most of the soil minerals, I'm told to break up the plot from the mono-culture concept (one type of plant in each plot) and plant many different plants which "get along" in the same area. Keeping it mixed up year to year.

This info broke a mental stalemate I was in, uncertain where to plant what, and how to keep to a crop rotation when we do not plant equal amounts of plants in the varying categories to do it "the correct." I'm so fastidiously trying to do something "right". Usually I work hap-hazardly, which sometimes works, and other times, not so well.

My gardening friend said that she was reading a book called Solar Gardening, which gives the ideas of which plants will take the sun now, get harvested before their neighbors need the sun. Also she said that the concepts from Square Feet Gardening which advocates placing many different types of plants in small spaces.

If my description of these books seems rather weak, you are reading clearly. I have not read the books, I heard the idea from my friend, and combining those ideas with the help of companion planting book Carrots Love Tomatoes (which I do have and read and consult quite frequently), this year's garden plan is looking very different.

Of course, its late to be planning, and time to be doing!

Here's some of my beloveds waiting until its warm enough to dig in to the soil. These are tomatoes which I will attempt to plant with carrots (though its late to seed them). And the carrots like to be near parsley which is also ready for planting.

All the plants go out to the sunshine for hardening off
And then get put back in the greenhouse for a safe night's rest
Next day same thing, over and over
They are beginning to tell me that they wish to spread their roots deeper into the soil,
let's go already gardener!

"Achoo" I tell them, and find the energy to take another nap.

I hope you are not too bored, looking at these trays. I'm not showing all the plants which are impatiently waiting to be planted!

Yes there was some planting done since my last post.


To place the onions and leeks at the correct distance, I made up a Plant Measure Stick from the stalk of last year's sunflowers, straight and light weight (so if it rolled onto the plants it wouldn't hurt them). I marked 4, 5 and 6 inch intervals with a marker and used my wonderful Hori Hori knife to make the planting hole.

A soon after planting not-interplanted bed of onions. Some of them are now (one week later) more vertical, some not.

And the new strawberries also were planted.

Finally I did take the strawberry companions out to join their buddies in the soil. Chinese Greens and spinach do well with strawberries (so says the companion planting book). Also the borage herb was moved to their place beside the strawberries.

As evidence of how tired I felt, I did not even think to take a photo, though the camera was in my fanny pack. I'm almost done with these cold symptoms and the next few days will be good for planting. I have my list of what to mix in with the potatoes. The plot is ready, with string marked rows and deep straw. Just have to figure out the spacing between the plants and how many companions I have to mix in. Its a very exciting time for me.

Dear Readers, another reason for the long space of time between posts is that I've been trying to figure out WordPress as this blog software, RapidWeaver, does not integrate very well with Blotanical, a gardeners' blog central which I enjoy. But instead of studying tonight, I prefer to share, even if all the bells and whistles do not yet function.

May all energy, focus and timing flow through you in synch with Nature's rhythms.

Digital photos with flash often change the color from the way that I see the flower. These Borage flowers are photographed on a bed of lettuce, without flash. Usually I prefer this setting as the colors and shadings tend to seem more realistic. Yet the color of the Borage is not true, though I like the realism of the color of the lettuce. Yes, that is oregano on the left.

Ah, this is closer to the color of the borage. In close up mode, there is so much more detail in the delicate colors than I can usually see directly through the eyes. This photo was taken WITH the flash and is much more true to life than the photo above. However the bright shine in the lettuce disturbs my eye.

Periwinkle - a wonderful color!

Why would I provide photos of an herb flower on Bloggers' Bloom day*, on a bed of lettuce?

These Borage flowers are the first this year from the greenhouse plants. I picked them to join the lettuce for dinner before I remembered that this was the night to prepare a blossom post. Yes, there are a couple of late tulips and almost open lilacs in the yard. A few of the violets still have imperfect flowers, but no other radiant bloom beauties were available. So I offer you these herbal delights!

Please enjoy the flowers, add some salad dressing and join me in a fresh picked salad, won't you?

Well, I did intend to post on 4/15/09 - a Bloggers Bloom day. However, I had upgraded my blogging software, RapidWeaver, to the new version which is supposed to keep many of the little (and big) glitches in the blog, such as disappearing comments, crazed Blotanical pick behavior etc.. (Too bad I can't add bad spelling and grammar to RapidWeaver's faults.)

Little did I realize that this upgrade was far from simple and meant that I'd have to almost rework the whole blog, adding back categories on posts, and sometimes finding posts from the past, redoing many of the settings and generally have to work at it.

As you might imagine at this time of planting, there are much more seemingly important things to do. But where am I now, out in the garden preparing the much needed beds before the next rain? No, I'm fixing my blog as I really enjoy sharing with you. Many thanks for reading, commenting and offering suggestions, dear readers.

And I did have a chance to add photos of borage flowers still on the greenhouse plant which opened later yesterday than I had intended to publish.

Today's bonus photo: First strawberry blossoms on last year's plants which overwintered in the garden bed.

May all your upgrades be within your garden when the weather is fair.

The gardener really does need to do more research BEFORE spontaneous action, and perhaps, someday she'll learn how, or at least might stop to think first. (Do you really believe that? Not sure that I do.)

Here's what the gardener knows now about alfalfa that she didn't last year:

1. Alfalfa spreads, real slowly, but very fully. Subtly it sneaks over the lines and looks as if its always been there, so bright and healthy that it makes one feel good just to gaze into its greenness.

2. Blister Beetles LOVE alfalfa. What's a blister beetle? You don't know? See, there's often a blessing which is yours of which you are not yet aware. This is excellent example for those in the "Count Your Blessings" School of Gardening. The Gardener didn't know about them until deep into the first Summer of Ozark gardening. A garden friend was visiting. He was new to the Organic Philosophy and had always used something like "Seven", so he'd never noticed the critter before. I innocently asked him what that new bug was. He didn't know, so I let it be. I saw it first on the potato leaves. Then there were more bugs. Many more, and then hardly any potato leaves. The bugs marched on to the tomatoes, the chard, and at last, to the place I couldn't get them out of, you guessed it - the Alfalfa.

There is no native Earth animal which preys upon the Blister Beetle (aka Potato Bug) and nothing likes to eat it either. Sadly, they are very poisonous to horses, which otherwise find alfalfa hay very tasty and good for them. I don't know how one can make alfalfa hay which does NOT contain the little critters. Well, not in my pasture land turned weed fields and garden. (This paragraph contains a clue to what may become Alfalfa Experiment #2. Stay tuned to find out.)

3. Yes, alfalfa roots do grow very deep. That was sort of clear to me before. Its part of what makes alfalfa a good crop to break through clay soil and bring deep minerals to the surface. Well, the minerals come into the plant, the plant goes into the compost or back into the top soil as green manure.

So how does one get rid of the alfalfa? Dig deeply. Oh. More shovel exercise.

Why would one want to get rid of the alfalfa? Oh, perhaps the land is needed. Perhaps it has grown beyond the space allotted to it, and the onions really do have to get planted.

This Spring the alfalfa is happily expanding beyond where it was planted. Below is the area which will be needed for the walkway beside this year's onion bed. It would be very hard to do a good shovel job removing it after the onions have been planted there, so its one more job that must be done while the onions languish in their temporary bed in the greenhouse. They could have been in the soil weeks ago, but that the gardener ... (Pick any excuse you like ... was writing blogs instead of gardening? Who knows?)

Dig those roots. Dig that soil.
Now that's a blessing I've been counting, with gratitude every single day.
(Most Ozark soil is just rocks and pebbles, this however, is a miracle.)

I would have liked, for soil development purposes, to leave the roots in the soil, allowing them to dispense their good nitrogen and feed the worms, etc.. However, I am aware that just cutting it at the stem would encourage it to grow back. Yes, it can be harvested like hay for many uses. But in this small space, I don't want to do that.

Now, what to do with all these uprooted plants? I do have an idea which might be Experiment #2. Perhaps you can tell me something helpful about this idea before I go to all the effort.

I gave away a huge bucketful of the roots and tops to our helper (who hadn't been able to start his own) to transplant in his garden. If that works for him, it will give me a hint if idea #2 will work.

Imagine that strong tap root placed into a gravel-like soil that has weed quality cactus growing on it. Would the alfalfa spread,taking over the light source and overpowering the root room of the cactus and kill it? Wouldn't that be cool?

Imagine this area of cactus and no garden plants attracting all the neighborhood blister beetles away from the garden! Wouldn't that be super cool?

Do you think it might work? Digging little holes to plant these roots in would be a big job. Oh, I still have some of those seeds left. Perhaps I could just plant the stuff out there instead of trying to transplant it! What a great idea!

If I hadn't been sharing this subject with you, that idea might not have come. Thanks so much for listening and sharing that idea with me, bending space and time to bring it to my consciousness. This insight shows me that there is a reason for writing and posting this garden journal. I have been wondering.

There are two other plots of alfalfa going strong inside the garden fence. The one by the onion patch is all removed. One of the others looks like this. It will be good fodder for the compost, or perhaps food for the chickens which the gardener might bring in to eat up the grasshoppers. But that's another story.

Thanks for visiting and sharing.
May all your experiments be Joyful!

The Beginning: Healthy happy potato leaves with happy healthy aphids.






Asian Ladybug Beetles on patrol on the potato leaves.
Note aphid farmer (ant) on leaf in lower center part of photo.

Many more ants began to take up residence. I used dry corn grits scattered on the ground and leaves. The idea is that the ants feed on the dry grits and somehow as the grits expand in their body moisture, it explodes them. Hopefully (for sadistic gardeners) the ants take the grits back to their Queen and the grits kill her too. End of ant colony and their tended crop of aphids (in theory).

Undiagnosed disease or other destruction of potato leaf, obviously pretty worn out by continued aphid predation.

Enter intrepid, wonderful hungry Ladybug beetle larvae. They have nothing to do but eat and grow bigger. Unlike their adult version, they can't go flying off. So they walk and eat and eat and I hardly see any aphids on the leaves anymore. Well, there are plenty more on other greenhouse plants.

So gently and tenderly, I've been moving a few to the Carrot leaves nearby which are aphid-inundated. Hopefully they'll find the Salsify next to that which is like an aphid magnet. I'd like to find a way to get the larvae to some of the other plants which are in pots in the greenhouse that need the larvaes' help - but I am cautious about trapping the guys inside a plastic pot. They may not be able to move to get more food elsewhere when they need it.

Kudos to you. Ladybug larvae, you are doing a wonderful job!






Some of the plants where the infestation started were looking pretty bleak.

I don't see any aphids or LadyBug Larvae in the outside garden yet. I'm sure that its too cold and too early in the season for them. I'm just so grateful that when the pests awoke early for the outside world, in the greenhouse warmth, their natural predators also awoke to enjoy the aphid feast.

This proves that it is true, in the natural system of gardening,
if you provide the feast, the guests will come.

So if we wait long enough with a pest in our midst,
a predatory species will be drawn to the garden buffet.

I wish that it always worked as well as in this instance. Remember, I stacked the deck with extra ladybugs. And it wasn't them, but their offspring who are doing the work. Therefore, this year I stocked up on wholesome "organic" type bug remedies, sprays and powders. We'll see how well I'm able to apply them as the season progresses.

May the beneficial insects come to your garden,
even if just for hors d'oeuvres - so you won't have to be overrun by pests
to be helped by Nature's Balancing Mysteries.

Instead of being late in planting, the gardener has fewer plants to protect in preparation for night time temperatures expected in the teens!

To ensure at least a few lilac flowers, here's a mini-pre-harvest of Spring flowers.

These blueberry leaf buds are at the top of the 2 year plant, so nothing but love can be applied to bring it through the freeze.

These garlic, planted in Fall '08 have lived unprotected all Winter. They may be just fine as is.

Lovely strawberry plants who have pushed their way up in the previous weeks' heat, will be covered over with a new bedding of straw.

My first over-wintering of Walking Onion, aka Egyptian Onion so I'm not certain what to do with it. Final answer? I placed some straw over the youngsters, separate from the main body, and let the others respond as they will. The green growth, as far as I know, is only since this Spring.

Last Spring, this garlic was planted as protection with the Tomatoes. It might be ready to harvest soon. Or I might just experiment with allowing it to produce a little colony, or whatever it will if left to grow.

Spring's first Asparagus shoot. Cute little guy. I didn't even cover him up as he looked so strong.

Black Currant (resistant to White Pine Blister Rust) has new leaves her first Spring in this garden, so she does get special treatment before the freeze.

There are lovely buds all the way up her branches.

Gently pile on the straw. Under these piles are 3 bush cherries, 2 white currants and 3 black currant plants. The wind was blowing so fiercely, that no other straw would stay in place. The chinese cabbage and bok choy planted in the garden soil will have to fend for themselves.

How do tulips take a freeze? I don't know, so in they go, to make a lovely little bouquet with the last hyacinths.

And here's today's photographic treat, a prayerful, about to open Salsify flower.

And for all hearts about to open, May we all Grow Joyfully.
(And stay warm through the night.)

The mission is to transform the weedy patch next to the front stairs into a flower bed and to move the long entrenched hostas from their path to the new bed and beyond. Tools of potential value are brought to the site and are displayed below. The bucket is for the weeds to be transported to the compost. The pointed hoe is excellent for digging out a specific plant. Hori Hori knife, constant garden companion (note the belt) does everything, in a one-pointed way. It leans against the shovel, as everyone knows, the usual digging tool. Next comes the strawberry hoe which sports two widths of hoe blade and is wielded like an axe. I love working with this tool. Last is the conventional hoe, good for moving plants which are not deeply rooted in fairly loose soil. What else is on hand? The best fitting gloves for these hands, a small size coated palm and finger cotton glove (Boss's Flexi grip, in both summer and winter weights). There's a good grip without blistering the flesh and a solid barrier between my skin and the bugs I squish. Squeamish are you, upset at reading about squashed bugs? Do you garden? Which tool will prove to be the one for the job? Or will several be needed? They are all at the job site now, so lets see how it goes.

The job site is between the stairs and the down spout. When we first moved here, almost two years ago I dug this area free of weeds. It was surrounded by a rough rock edging and had decent soil in it. I was about to plant herbs there, but the renovation team needed to reside the house, porch, well, everything you see in the photo. (Plus there hadn't been any gutters or down spouts then.) At last the final touch has been laid around the house in the mulch you see beside the house foundation. Beneath that mulch is a weed barrier cloth. Beneath the cloth is hardware cloth, anchored to the foundation to deter animals from seeking shelter. Yes, we really live out in the country, the back woods. If you look closely, you can see the hostas coming up in the foreground, just in front of and to the right side of the steps.

And the winner of this job is the shovel. A whole section was loosened at one time and fingers riffled through to get the grass and other undesired plants out. Here's a bit of the soil showing. Yes, there are white pines above us, giving the pine straw you see. I use it as mulch on the blueberries.

After the beds were cleared of weeds and the amendments sprinkled on top of the soil I decided to walk back to the tool shed to get another helper to mix the amendments in. As it is a relatively small space I didn't need a full size rake, so this little tined cultivator was perfect for the job. The little hostas you see are left from previous landscaping. They will be dug up and redistributed. Stay tuned for that exciting story.

The shovel also proved to be the best help in digging up this hosta clump. Hori Hori knife comes in handy to thwack the lump to remove dirt from the roots. Some dirt has been removed here, but the rest of the job will come the next day. The clump spent the night wrapped in wet newspaper in the greenhouse. Unravelling roots to separate the plants will be a puzzle to work on while its raining later, hopefully today.

On with the job... In the yard, planted probably 30 years ago are overcrowded areas of summer blooming tiger lilly, spring blooming irises and daffodils. The orange lilies are one of my favorites. There's a wonderful picture of them on the top of Heather's blog, Idaho Small Goat Garden. Both the flowers and roots are edible to humans. We know for sure that they are tasty to deer as the whole flower head gets chomped away and no more flower forming parts are left by the deer to continue brightening up the summer. Hoping to save some blooms for us, some of each of these bulb-based plants are transplanted into this little bed. Another tool was used in anticipation of rain storms which have not yet come. As the crew isn't finished with this water diversion project, I need to protect the flower bed from the downspout outflow. The rocks were set in to slant the flow away from the bed and the mini-trench was dug using the smaller blade of the strawberry hoe, followed by smoothing with the larger blade. In the past I have found that water can be trained using a shallow trench like this. The flow may follow the trench out past the flower bed and stairs and then it will resume its normal course downhill which in this case is to the left, down toward the greenhouse and garden. You may note that there are different plants now, not weeds in the bed. In a rather unimaginative arrangements, minus the hostas which will fill the spaces between the other bulb plants, from the rear, are tiger lilies, iris, tulip, hyacinth (the pink), lilies of the valley (my favorite) and varieties of daffodil. Other flowers will be added when the weather warms.

All the tools, including the ones that didn't get to be used on this job, were returned to the shed. The weeds were taken to the compost (first to dry out, then to be mixed in). The soil in the bed will be smoothed out and finished nicely (I hope) and mulched after the hosta addition. Then I can return to planting the onion, strawberries and cabbages that are waiting in the greenhouse.

Just for fun, here's a pretty picture for you, of lettuce in the greenhouse, with late afternoon sun backlight.

Thank you for visiting. May you and your plants all Grow Joyfully!

Soon to be sauteed greens, (with millet, garlic and tofu). Yum.

Also in the basket are parsley, oregano, onion leaves, chinese cabbage and chard. All these plants are waiting to get into the garden. These lucky volunteers are going straight into the kitchen.

In the greenhouse, the bok choy (AKA ?) was living in good soil in a two and half inch pot, along with its fellows, awaiting a seemingly good time to enter the outside garden. I thought they'd wait until after the freeze and at a time when I'd have the energy and tools to put up row covers as the first fabric bug screen of my life in the buggy Ozarks.

Here's a good reason (from last year) why I know that protection is necessary:

June 10. 2008 in the upper garden. Catepillars also are rampant, but invisible in this photo.

Do you have an idea what that Oriental Green might be? I have been unfair to those developing plants. Couldn't find a single closeup photo to show, whereas the lettuce has many. Thanks for sharing your ideas.

Hi Rachel, How are you and the garden these days? A question. I wondered if I used cardboard right over my lawn to make a new planting bed then added compost and dirt over that would it compost the lawn turf below or should I remove it or till it first? -H

The answer to this question lies in the timing in which you wish to transform the lawn into usable garden. Also the amount of effort that you wish to put into it is important.

In my post on breaking new ground, some of this method is mentioned. The description of laying down cardboard and covering it with straw is the first step. The straw at first has the job of holding down the cardboard. One must put enough on top to keep the winds from dislodging it. When I don't get enough on, I have to run around the field gathering up the cardboard, or sometimes paper. When we run out of cardboard we use sheets of newspaper. I've heart that the paper is enough to keep the weeds from growing up through. Of course, again the straw is useful as a weight.

Later on, as the cardboard breaks down, (and this takes quite a while), the straw becomes home to the worms and other beneficial soil critters who help break down the straw into humus, that is, soil.

March 19, 2009 The edge of the potato field as its built.
The boards are holding down the newspaper, waiting for the next layer of straw. It was a very windy day.

I have a new field laid out with paper and straw that I am going to be using this year, but not for the soil beneath it. I'm going to plant potatoes IN the straw. Their roots will likely go down through the straw and somewhat into the soil as they age. But right now, the job of that paper is to keep the weeds and grasses from growing. Hopefully as that green material spoils and rots, the bugs that make a living out of eating live roots will get all they can out of that plot and will move on somewhere else. Some sources say to leave a field for 2 years so that the lawn bugs will leave before you can use it without problem for a garden.

In the garden where we started with tilling, I spent all Summer dealing with the bugs that normally live in a pasture. Afterward I researched a bit and I found that those who know (can't remember the reference now, sorry) say that a plot of pasture or lawn needs to be repeatedly tilled, once or twice a week for several weeks until the plot would be ready to plant. Of course I didn't do that. On one day the site was gone over three times with the neighbor's tractor's tilling attachment.

March 17, 2008 The Plowing o' The Green

Tilling seems to be helpful to start a garden. However, all the plant matter that is cut up and remains on the surface has to be removed so it doesn't grow up again. Also many worms are killed and the soil becomes very disturbed. Keeping healthy soil is a science in itself and studying this usually leads to the development of a "no till" garden. This is what I am using now. Keeping a good mulch of straw over everything holds down the weeds, keeps in the moisture, gives good eating to the worms who increase the health of the soil in innumerable ways.

Another question is regarding the type of grass that will be covered up. Grass which is tame and only spreads by seed is much easier to deal with than grass which spreads by the roots (or are they called rhizomes?). If you have what is called Bermuda Grass, or Crab Grass it is much more difficult to get rid of. If you put cardboard down over it, the shoots seeking out will go to where the cardboard is not and will continue to spread. I've been told that the only way to get rid of that is to put black plastic over it, to remove the light and burn it with the heat that is trapped in the black.

Now your idea, Heather, is very interesting, to suppress the lawn and then cover it with soil for planting. Hmmm. I guess you'd want to put a frame around the edges to keep the soil in. You'd also want the cardboard to be thick enough for the roots not to break through it right away until the weeds died. That is, use cardboard from boxes rather than from shirts. (Do they still fold shirts around flimsy cardboard?).

There's a book on my shelf which I have not yet read, called Lasagna Gardening, which I believe has a recipe similar to what you are suggesting. Layers of paper, cardboard, compost form a bed in which to plant, feed and grow one's vegies.

All in all, I'd say that you have a good idea brewing. How about taking pictures and letting us know how it goes?

And the other question you asked "How is my garden going?" Tonight will be a freeze, with possible snow, so the plants that are eager to be planted have decided to shy away from the winter experience and are still taking up room in the greenhouse. The tomatoes would like bigger pots, however in their little cells they can all be under the lights, high up in the warmth. There doesn't seem to be enough room yet to repot them (a job that is high on the list), as the Bok Choy, Kale, Chinese Cabbage and Lettuce, refuse to leave the nice warm and protected greenhouse. As soon as I plant them outside I'll have to construct insect proof fabric tents for them too.

Look at this bug that I found IN the greenhouse!






On the other hand, it IS Spring, and there is joy and beauty here.

Much Joy to You, Dear Readers!

* respectful credit to whomever owns the intellectual property mentioned

Dear Readers,

This blog has been having some technical issues between an upgrade of the blogging software (RapidWeaver 4.2.2) and a new feedburner link and trying to function with Blotanical.

Hopefully this link will feed both into feedburner, blotanical and have comments available through JS-Kit.

If not, I'll try again. If you were able to see this post, please let me know below on the comments.

May all your decisions bring Peace and Joy for all!

Roots and shoots excavated and placed in a pan.





This photo is among the best from the garden in 2008.

The raspberries were packed as bare root, wrapped up in newspaper envelopes and kept damp. The paper is about torn through now, but fewer packages are left. Hopefully they will be all gone soon to good homes and can quickly take over the world.

Raspberry flowers and leaves

This gardener's sense of "right to life" is lovingly granted to almost all plants, save weeds in the garden. Sadly, she still practices preemptive attacks on plant-eating bugs.

The raspberries are fall bearing, sweet and delicate.   The books say they are best for eating when ripe, without trying to save or put them up.   The plants could use a little support and reportedly like a little potash (wood ashes).   They expand exorbitantly through the root system.   Give them lots of room, far away from every other plant!

Bug Report:

Bugs that bothered these raspberries in 2008 included some kind of red-headed black-bodied cut worm (I think), grasshoppers, blister beetles, and a large two-legged fructivore that stopped by between garden jobs to graze.

But let's not think of frost
or a season time has lost
as we eagerly coax seeds to sprout
hoping soil will dry out.

And for you who plant a tree to fruit
in five years or in ten,
Radish will adorn your salad sooner
than a dream of future "when" ...

Who shall live and who shall die? It really is no mystery which plants will live through a Spring Freeze. First, I was told by an experienced gardener, warned by other garden bloggers, and my inner sense also planned to assist in the survival, but was caught short by exhaustion which circumvented functioning brain cells. In short, I forgot to cover the strawberry plants the night before the freeze was expected.

In a photographic post on March 15, a strawberry plant is shown growing its way up out of the straw winter covers. Curious, I lifted away some straw from another fully covered plant to see how it was doing. It looked good, a couple of crowns were full of new growth and I gently pulled off the dead leaves and stems, see below. It was warm and sunny for many days so I left it to grow, knowing it was a risk.

One gardening expert says to leave the plants under straw until all possibility of frost is over. This way the extra energy stored in the roots will be used for new leaves and blossoms that have a good chance of fruiting. If they freeze, all is lost. If they frost, but still live, the strawberry will have less root-stored energy to put out new growth. It sounded reasonable to me, yet it is difficult to cover the little one that enjoyed the sun so much.

I knew that the weather report was for a cooler night. I could feel it in the late afternoon as I planted peas in the bed right next to the uncovered strawberries, but I was cold and tired. I think I even left a portable phone out there, came out later to look for it, but my inner blinders did not allow me to notice the strawberry plants I had promised to cover up again. So it spent the night, down to about 28 degrees, shivering, and sadly, one of them died. Of the two plants that I willfully uncovered, one survived.

The strong self-motivated growers, which had fought their way to the sun, still look wonderfully comfortable no matter what temperature. The lesson in this is obvious, something my grandmother used to say, "Leave well enough alone." Or it might be to "Let sleeping strawberries lie."

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Uncovered_Strawberry_Survival.php#unique-entry-id-11r@rachelclaire.netSeed SavingClimate ChangeGreenhouse2009-03-19T21:04:59-05:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/exyox_YYKiQ/Salsify_Flower_biennial_seed_saving.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/Salsify_Flower_biennial_seed_saving.php#unique-entry-id-12
It is living in the greenhouse as part of a seed saving experiment. As a biennial, seed can only be saved after it flowers, is pollinated, makes seed and has not been exposed to other like-species of plant.

An intense schedule of getting outdoor beds ready has kept me from my books. It would have been smart to research in advance what to do with this flower once it blooms. Even now, I sit before the fire with this computer on my lap, too tired out to get up and look it up. If the experiment goes no farther, still the joy of looking into this flower has ben worth the effort of caring for it.

An amazing color to greet me today. March is lovely, but there is no natural source of bright purple in my yard. Others may have crocus to jump start the eye's ability to process brilliant pallet of joy, but this is the first, this year for this gardener.

On a tall stalk, it opened facing the sun, and then remained in that position during the day.

In the late afternoon, it closed up again. I don't know what will be next.

Three days ago, the bud looked like this.

Salsify and carrot (above) on 2/6/09. These are root vegetables which are both biennial. I took the best roots that were harvested in the Fall. Instructions say to keep them in a root cellar all winter, and plant them again in the spring for them to grow tops and flower. Not having a good root cellar, and not being good at following directions, I took them into the deeper greenhouse beds and planted them there, open to whatever happens.

The Salsify is big and bushy now, as are the invisible carrot tops right next to them. I promise, I will read up on the seed saving technique for them. Everything I've read says that salsify seeds are viable only for one year. I'm hoping to be able to save most seeds, to grow or to share.

The root itself is close to a white color with a very delicate flavor, and stringy roots all along it. I didn't love the taste that much, but it doesn't stop the pseudoscientist within from attempting an experiment.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

In the climate change department, I noticed today that the quince blossoms are opening. Checking the digital record from last year, there were quince blossoms on 4/5/08 . They are at the same stage today, 3/19/09!

Wishing for you, in your garden, that the climate of Joy only Grows Brighter!

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Salsify_Flower_biennial_seed_saving.php#unique-entry-id-12r@rachelclaire.netSoilGarden Bed2009-03-17T08:45:25-05:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/dzC0I-gtH7k/Breaking_New_Ground-Back_Breaking_1.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/Breaking_New_Ground-Back_Breaking_1.php#unique-entry-id-16
BLOTANICAL READERS MISSING TEXT, the pick setting NOT to see the original formatting also takes away all but the first line of some of the paragraphs. If you wish to read and see this post, you'll want to choose to put a check in the pick setting "SHOW POSTS AS ORIGINALLY FORMATTED."

The beneficial flowers is a wildflower mix that draws the beneficial insects that feed on the bugs that devour the vegetables. That's the theory, we'll see how well it works in the next couple of years. I bought the mix from Bountiful Gardens, a bioentensive gardening organization which teaches sustainable gardening practices around the world. I like them, they are always helpful, and they sold me the widger tool which I enjoy using.

The new home for the berries was inspired by a post I read on Blotanical, an online community of garden bloggers, where I learn a lot about gardening. I'm sorry I don't remember whose post it was, but the gentleman gardener showed his raised bed gardens with a large blackberry bed. He said that the runners were coming up all throughout the garden and that he had to dig them out. This brought some awareness to me of my less that thoughtful plan which had berries planted within the fence of my 75' X 60' (approx.) garden space.

Winter is over, the ground is dry, the beds are needed, the home planning commission (my husband & I) determined the locations, and the neighbors came over with a rototiller. A week and a half later the weather was right to take some time to do the next step, and our favorite helper arrived to participate.

Here's the flower bed project. On the left is the outside back of the garden fence. The bunch of straw there is from last year, laid over cardboard as grass and weed prevention. Next is cardboard laid over the grassy boundary to the tilled area (just a foot and a half wide). Then comes the pasture grass. It is miraculously wonderful soil for the Ozarks, for which we are very grateful.

On top of the cardboard should be more straw to hold it down. Our helper was working hard with the shovel to break up the grass clumps. Now comes my job, removing the chunks of grass and roots from the tilled area by hand. Down onto the stool to dig and sort, up again to move the stool. Throw the stones and rock and old tractor parts behind and pick them up after to move to the rock pile. Up and down, reach and throw. Then placing the newspapers covered with hay, in the breeze took a lot of team effort. I opened the papers, held them for him, then passed over a lump of straw while he held them down. Up and down, another load, back and forth, get more water to drink, its hot out here!

I see now in the photo that on top of the cardboard is the grass and dirt which was removed while clearing up the soil. Now that mess is going to have to be cleared that out again and replaced with straw to hold it down. Oh no.

By the time we got to that stage of the job, the weather had turned to Summer temps and sizzling sun. I guess wearing a shade hat instead of my thinking cap was a mistake. I didn't even notice that we'd missed a step. Just have to get that moved out before it rains again, or it will be a wonderful rooting medium for the grasses!

Below is the partially finished job, with newspaper and straw on the right being the new grass barrier. The newspaper showing between the two piles is going to be the planting area. I'll take the seedlings, poke a hole in the newspaper and lay them in the soil beneath. There are a few amendments in the already excellent soil. A little calcium lime, some organic manure compost mix, and a little Azomite, (an A through Z natural source of minerals and trace elements supplement mined from rocks somewhere in Utah. All this work gives those flowers a good chance of thriving.




Below is the tilled area for the cane fruit, the black, yellow and red raspberries and the blackberries. That's the worst part, before yesterday's labor.

Below, the plot has been processed with a cardboard barrier on the downhill side, a trench for the berries' roots, and the cleared out soil to place around the canes. On the cardboard (uh oh) is the grass and root debris.




The difference is that working on this part of the job, it was late afternoon and we were both tired from the up and down, and I thought ahead to how to finish up the day's work. I realized that the little bit of debris wouldn't hold up in a wind, to hold down the laboriously placed cardboard.

So we scooped up the dirt and grass mix and hauled it off to a concrete pad to dry up. Hauled more straw over to hold down the cardboard, and here it is. Ready to be finished up today.

In a few minutes the helper will arrive. We're going to do the potato patch today, which will be Part 2.

I've got to get busy now, watering the greenhouse before he gets here.

Best wishes for you to have a Joyful planting day too!

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Breaking_New_Ground-Back_Breaking_1.php#unique-entry-id-16r@rachelclaire.netBlossomsBerries2009-03-15T12:03:27-05:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/b_Dzcn_FCcw/Strawberry_Blossom_Lilac_Hyacinth_Buds.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/Strawberry_Blossom_Lilac_Hyacinth_Buds.php#unique-entry-id-18





This purple lilac begins to release her shyness and show her budding beauty to the world.



(We are hoping she will live through whatever late frosts or freezes may come.)

This Hyacinth below thought she was hiding in the grass, but this year (my second Spring here) I knew where to look for her.






White Lilac is a bit more reticent than her purple sister. But still she swells more each day.

The strawberries below overwintered in the greenhouse.
They seem ready to go outside, but Momma says, "Not until all danger of freeze is past."





The strawberries below slept beneath the straw outside.
This one woke up with so much strength it wouldn't wait for the gardener to determine when to remove the covers, but kicked the straw off itself - from its own growth.





It is true that the forecast for the next several days is all above freezing. But my garden coach suggests that if I uncover them and they put their crown (root) energy into growing and blooming and forming fruit, and then a freeze or ice storm (oh no) comes, they will have misused their winter rest vitality.

I feel sorrowful to keep them covered when they obviously want out. What do you think?

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Strawberry_Blossom_Lilac_Hyacinth_Buds.php#unique-entry-id-18r@rachelclaire.netBugsGreenhouseSoil2009-03-08T23:47:06-05:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/l-4AFK7bQx8/Grubs_Snatch_Spinach.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/Grubs_Snatch_Spinach.php#unique-entry-id-20Who was the culprit who ...

Made holes in the greenhouse soil bed?

Made holes and trails in the greenhouse soil bed?

The spinach looked lovely on February 13. I could not figure out what was making these holes. I dug and wondered. The post on Zaatar on February 14, came about through digging it up, in the hopes of finding the culprit in that process. I'd been seeing a lot of crickets and cricket young in the greenhouse, moving into and out of the soil near the very thick foliage of the zaatar. I thought maybe the crickets were the problem and the zaatar was their hiding place. I did not find any cricket creche in the soil. But come to think of it, I did find and destroy a couple of grubs then. I didn't consider that they may be the source of the holes. Not being familiar with the growth rate of spinach, I didn't know if it was growing slower than it should have. Now, I believe that even in the winter light, it might have developed faster if its roots had not been eaten away. It is kind of like spending principle - it doesn't leave much for later meals. But I'm getting ahead of my story. Below, on Feb 19, before harvesting, the spinach was as good as it got. I also had to trim it back to almost nothing as aphids spread to that bed.

After the spinach was trimmed back I knew things had gotten way out of hand with my mystery bugs. Spinach is near the top of the photo below. Some of the little ones survived and began to green again. However, many of them just disappeared, right through into the hole that they had been growing in. Then one dear one with new leaves on it seemed to be sinking deeper into the soil than it had been. Gingerly I reached to see if it would pull back up into place. Alas, the whole stem came up, nibbled away from any roots it might have had. That does it! Forget the all the other jobs that need to be done! 1. Put amendments on the new area opened up for bramble transplant. 2. Cover the new flower garden area with paper and straw so weeds don't take over. 3. Set up the new potato patch. 4. Process finished batch of compost. 5. Process finished batch of worm castings. 6. Start more seeds! 7. Tear and soak newspaper for new worm bedding. It's time to deal with this urgent problem NOW.
The Exploration

I removed the herbs that had been growing in that bed (zaatar and french tarragon) and potted them up. Also the remaining spinach and lettuce plants from half the bed were potted. The soil was combed through, all the worms were saved. I wondered if the destroyers could have been the red wigglers that were dropped into the bed. Did they run out of debris to eat and were they starting on the good plant roots? It seemed far fetched, but I kept exploring. There had been an explosion of sow bugs on one of the shelves, but as far as I knew, they only ate rotted stuff. And I'd seen (and squished) only three or four as I moved all the soil, digging through the bed. The answer appeared as a bug that has the same shape and size as the holes and tracks I'd seen. In fact, when I watched them march on the concrete floor after being removed from the soil home in which they were illegally squatting, their movement pattern did seem to match the form of the tracks. Ah ha. Gotcha! And I kept getting them. About 25 large hungry grubs came out of half of the four foot by seven foot bed with 10" of soil. Tomorrow I have to get into the other half, pot up the two chard and many lettuces that are doing well there (so far) and clear out the grubs that have been making holes in that part of the bed too. How did they get in there? Why didn't they show up earlier? Can I keep them from "reseeding"? The soil has been there for almost a year. I didn't see them as the soil went in. These are questions that you the reader may be able to answer. Or more research in the grub life cycle may answer them. As the other beds get harvested out, I will have to comb through them as well. This discovery leaves me feeling a tad more grateful to the armadillos and skunks that paw through my yard eating grubs. Below is one of the grubs on the concrete floor before his execution. So much of gardening, here in the buggy Ozarks, seems to be about killing, it is spiritually painful that my gardener's instinct and what seems to be necessary is killing. Oh, just squash it.

Ick.

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Grubs_Snatch_Spinach.php#unique-entry-id-20r@rachelclaire.netToolsSeed PropagationExperimentQuestions2009-03-05T12:18:18-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/tQJpj1-qVrE/Propagation_Heater_1.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/Propagation_Heater_1.php#unique-entry-id-21Home Made Seed Propagation Heater Experiment #1

On one of my over-packed seed starter trays, the tomatoes, even the older seeds (from 1999!) were opening and extending into the light. But the rest of the nightshades, peppers and eggplants had not moved a bit of starter mix. Memory recalled that heat is a factor in starting these delicate things. I know one can get a professional store-bought heat source. But then I have something to store for 11 months of the year. I'd rather figure something else out.

Research on-line found some good ideas. The following site has excellent data on the temperature that seeds like to wake up into: http://tomclothier.hort.net/

This next page gives some great ways to make one - if you want to have equipment to store for 11 months of the year: http://www.gardengrapevine.com/BottomHeater.html

All the information on the RIGHT way to do it, and why is here: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/556/

However, I'd like to do it now, today, without driving in to town, reconstructing something or waiting while it is delivered to the back woods from the internet distribution center. So, let's experiment!

In the RIGHT way they indicated that a heating pad wouldn't work because it can't get wet. Well, why not remove the tray to water it and dry the sides after watering?

Gather the ingredients first

Low flat heat is needed. Heating Pad! We have one with a digital control that goes off in 2 hours, and one with a dial which lasts as long as you put it there. That's the one.

Safe surface on which to place the heat - a rectangular roasting pan. Cheap metal, but its better than burning a wooden window sill.

Possible need to have air circulation to modulate temperature - a rack with tiny feet that came with the toaster oven.

The clear plastic canopy to hold in the heat.

Ready to Experiment!

Many different ways to try.

First with the heating pad directly under the flat, that was too hot!

Then, with the rack on top of the heating pad and the flat on that, hmm, seems to be just right! The soil is a bit not-cool to the touch and the tomato starts on the other side are getting no heat as the pad isn't as long as the flat.

We'll see if there's any green results from the seeds.

Here's how it looks:

And the rack which holds the flat away from the heating pad is show below:

On the inside, the tomatoes are all to one side, where the heat is not.

We'll see how it goes!

Please let me know if you have any thoughts, helpful ideas or suggestions!

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Propagation_Heater_1.php#unique-entry-id-21r@rachelclaire.netBugsQuestions2009-03-01T00:22:07-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/6ucoBeuzZb0/Snow_delays_peas_rabbit_bug%20.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/Snow_delays_peas_rabbit_bug%20.php#unique-entry-id-22Snow and Cold in the mid-west interrupted the gardener's plans to plant peas. In the balmy Spring just before this storm, she wielded her strawberry hoe to open ground for the Peas. Snow Peas, Pea Pods, little green peas. But not yet. They still await nestling in the cool ground. When it warms up again, perhaps soon. Here's a photo of the gardener's shadow in the pea patch:

(The shadow says that the gardener ate too much cheese and pasta this Winter.) Oh no, its just the late afternoon angle of the sun. Below is the little rabbit sheltering under the steps, as seen through the green house window.

After my greenhouse chores, bringing fresh lettuce upstairs, I dropped some (literally) off for the bunny. When I got too close, he flinched, like a previously abused dog might from an unwanted advance. I didn't want to chase the bunny back out into the cold. But I wondered why not hole up in the shed (it has many open doors) and might be better shelter than where he was. Perhaps a less peaceful animal is making the shed their temporary headquarters? I'm not going in to check - at least not until this snow melts off, which may be a couple of days.

More Snow on a "Weed Stalk" Do you know what this bug is? Rather large, about 1 inch long (bigger?) It appeared trapped in the bottom of a pail in the greenhouse. That's it for now. Exciting review/comparison of two fine-spray watering cans coming soon! May all your plants grow ever more joyful!

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Snow_delays_peas_rabbit_bug%20.php#unique-entry-id-22r@rachelclaire.netBugsMusingsStory2009-02-27T00:52:56-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/oB5u57-pVJE/Two_Stray_Dogs_A_Tick.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/Two_Stray_Dogs_A_Tick.php#unique-entry-id-24

A Great Gardening Day Delayed in the Wake of Two Cute Strays

What is the inner function which causes the hand to unconsciously move to an unseen, unfelt spot on the body and begin to pick at it? No noticeable sensation, no direct command of the mind - yet it is an action of higher intelligence. One for which I am very grateful.

I picked, and grabbed hold, not having a feeling of picking off an extension of my own skin. That satisfying sense of completion when its removed. Then the slow horror as the mind begins to wonder - what is that which was attached to me?

I remembered-- the dogs. Adorable loving strays, bright intelligence in their eyes, hopeful joy wagging their tails. Animals smelling of skunk, running wild through the woods and fields and ticks. TICKS!

So I captured the little speck, like a tiny crumb and placed it on a white paper under the light of my desk. So tiny, I had to find the magnifying glass. The word “seed tick” came to mind. But I thought that seed ticks were smaller than this little hard-shelled dot. Weren’t those legs seeming to stick out from the oval lump? Yes, I think it was. And I’m glad that it was removed so easily, not ingrained, imbedded or really stuck too deeply into my neck. Gone now, flushed away.

Normally I am very careful about bugs, how did this one get to me? Through the very cute strays that appeared today, opened my heart, and let the tick get under my skin.

The dogs were first spotted through the garden-facing windows. At first I thought she might be a fox with a short body, reddish fur, fluffy tail, and up-pointed ears. She was eagerly sniffing the ground as she wandered around the garden fence. Her friend, a beagly-looking mix with a white and black mottled coat, ranged through the field. Next time I looked, Foxy was settled down, curled up as if at home, near the door to the greenhouse.

Gingerly I opened the door to the deck above her spot. Usually I expect a stressful response from a stray, but she heard my movements and looked up with her tail eagerly waving, and jumped up to greet me. They both came to me like I was a favorite playmate, their joy wagging them, wanting to jump up and lick, with unbridled expectancy. Oh dear, I couldn’t help putting my hand on their heads, responding lovingly.

I knew they’d be carriers of bugs, and they’d been too close to a skunk fairly recently too. But their joyous loving beings could not be ignored. I wanted to keep the puppies. I wanted them to chase away the skunks, hedgehogs, snakes, rats, mice and armadillos, and keep me company around the yard. I could hardly let those little girl wants come through when my adult was cataloging the responsibilities. Shots, flea & tick combing, training, caring, poop patrol, water, food, oohh - there’s so much already on my to do lists.

Food is a really big issue. Many people around here are letting go of pets as they can’t afford to feed them - maybe not even themselves or their families. As the economy tanks, and supply lines fray, would we be able to get food for them? They are less likely to be vegetarian than us. I’m only growing vegies, not ready for the farm animal protein cycle of work. That is, chickens for eggs and meat, dog to protect the chickens, rabbits to feed the dog, cats to catch the mice that like the chicken coup. More grain to grow for everyone, and I would be a slave to my desire for protein meals, and a slave to the needs of my dog - which I wouldn’t want to touch because of insects.

Another awareness came which tipped the scales away from having a dog, when I saw the beagle-mix standing on top of my open compost bin, helping himself to the half rotten produce. Yich. I took big sheets of cardboard to cover the compost piles. I knew I wasn’t ready to have dogs. We like a simple, unstressed quiet peaceful life - which is not what dogs are about.

Then came dog noise. I had given them water and enjoyed my little fantasy of giving them the loving care they needed and their wonderful hearts deserved, when neighbors drove by and the barking noise began. I shut up my heart as best I could and let the little dogs know that NO was the word for the day. GO was the other word. It broke my heart to say it and try to mean it.

I’m sure they could tell I was giving them mixed messages. I had to go back inside so I wouldn’t be in range of their wide-eyed exuberant loving joy. I missed out on a warm and cloudy day which would have been perfect for weeding the garden, opening some ground or starting another project in the garden, because I couldn’t face their desire and my own. So I worked inside, my spirit sagging with sorrow. Later in the afternoon I noticed that they were gone.

I missed Foxy then. Now I know the other one’s name, Bobby McGee. He’s lookin’ for that home and I hope he finds it.

And I found the tick they left with me, soaked my fears of ticks off in the bath, and all is peaceful quiet here again. And I have a bitter sweet story to share.

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Two_Stray_Dogs_A_Tick.php#unique-entry-id-24r@rachelclaire.netMusingsTools2009-02-24T20:48:12-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/MvG-hecz-kc/Digital_Garden_Record-Keeping_Tools.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/Digital_Garden_Record-Keeping_Tools.php#unique-entry-id-25Garden records, for example:

• when was that seed planted,
• when did the sprout come up,
• when did it start to wilt, brown, or
• when fortune smiles upon us, when did it flower?

All these questions can be answered with Garden Record Keeping. Certainly this is not an easy or simple task. There is so much data to track.

I remember trying to keep track of life when we used those little sticks of wood and graphite and dried sheets of wood pulp to make records. Then we’d have to leaf through all these pages to find what we wanted to know and correlate data both manually and use up valuable brain cells to think it through.

Now I rejoice in all the digital record keeping tools at my fingertips. Here’s an example:

One of my gardening friends, upon visiting my greenhouse wanted to know when the growth of the lettuce (at this point, I’m forgetting a word she used to describe the growth pattern. Let me digress to investigate. We corresponded by email, so I go to my email program to do a search on mail with her name in it. I didn’t have to go far, only to the next item on my dock - yes, I’m on an Apple, but don’t worry -even Windows users have these cool tools.) accelerated.

Hmm, I said. I don’t know. Let me consult, not the oracle - but the visual record. Moving over to my Photo database, I created a folder and labeled it “lettuce growth”. Then scanning through the photos from the time the lettuce seeds were planted. Oh, how did I know the date?

By consulting the calendar program. I have a calendar which shows up in a different color for each of my life paths (all integrated on one monthly page). Recently I’ve added several to accommodate all the gardening areas. My favorite one is for yearly activities. I set each item to be repeated once a year, so as I learn what needs to be done, when, in this Ozark environment, my trusty computer can let me know when its time for what.

Yes, I’m giving a computer a lot of responsibility, which means I have to BACK UP frequently. I’m sure that my rusting brain cells can remember to do that. Much better than they can remember all the details of everything I’m planting and growing and having to do to keep the garden growing.

Back to the Calendar program, input in search field “lettuce” and I can see when I planted them, 12/31/08. Back to the photographs at the beginning of the year to see more details and place representative pictures of the lettuce growth in the folder marked “Lettuce Growth.”

I love photography. But in the old days, though I had a good camera, I didn’t feel that good about the cost of film and development. And I never liked the date burned onto the photograph. However, I love the date that comes with digital photos! And the ability to label each one and sort them into folders.

Frequently I take the camera with me into greenhouse and field just to note what is going on, so when the questions come up later, there’s the answer!

I planted too many different types of seeds into one tray yesterday. I have little mini popsicle type sticks as the labels that fit in the tray. I know that they can easily be dislodged. And I’d really like to know what variety and color of which plant each seedling is. To keep it straight, I photographed the labels in the tray in order so I will be able to put the puzzle back together if it falls apart. Digitally assisted gardening!



Back to the lettuce - Wow, they were transplanted into the greenhouse bed on 1/5/09 (photo below). That’s fast!

Then (below) the lettuce plants started to overlap on 2/6. (That’s probably when I should have started to thin them, but my “right to life for plants” perspective is not today’s focus.)

I find great beauty in the unfolding leaves.

And below, complete overcrowding occurs on 2/20. My friend received a couple of photos and the answer in her email! Another example of digital recording keeping: I’m preparing a post on a comparison/review of two brands of watering cans. I couldn’t remember one of the brand names and the photo did not show the logo clearly enough. Back to my digital records in the Mail department. I did a search for “watering” in the body of the emails and came up with the email receipt for each item, including model number and brand name. Hazaah! No wonder the Baby Boomers and the Digital Age are such good friends! Whatever my little mind forgets, the super-big hard drive kindly remembers. I just have to recall what word to search for... However you garden, May you have joy in both the remembrance and the forgetting!

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Digital_Garden_Record-Keeping_Tools.php#unique-entry-id-25r@rachelclaire.netMusingsTools2009-02-24T09:43:01-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/GDyvKFQgeoQ/Digital_Photos_as_Gardening_Log.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/Digital_Photos_as_Gardening_Log.php#unique-entry-id-29Garden records, for example:

• when was that seed planted,
• when did the sprout come up,
• when did it start to wilt, brown, or
• when fortune smiles upon us, when did it flower?

All these questions can be answered with Garden Record Keeping. Certainly this is not an easy or simple task. There is so much data to track.

I remember trying to keep track of life when we used those little sticks of wood and graphite and dried sheets of wood pulp to make records. Then we’d have to leaf through all these pages to find what we wanted to know and correlate data both manually and use up valuable brain cells to think it through.

Now I rejoice in all the digital record keeping tools at my fingertips. Here’s an example:

One of my gardening friends, upon visiting my greenhouse wanted to know when the growth of the lettuce (at this point, I’m forgetting a word she used to describe the growth pattern. Let me digress to investigate. We corresponded by email, so I go to my email program to do a search on mail with her name in it. I didn’t have to go far, only to the next item on my dock - yes, I’m on an Apple, but don’t worry -even Windows users have these cool tools.) accelerated.

Hmm, I said. I don’t know. Let me consult, not the oracle - but the visual record. Moving over to my Photo database, I created a folder and labeled it “lettuce growth”. Then scanning through the photos from the time the lettuce seeds were planted. Oh, how did I know the date?

By consulting the calendar program. I have a calendar which shows up in a different color for each of my life paths (all integrated on one monthly page). Recently I’ve added several to accommodate all the gardening areas. My favorite one is for yearly activities. I set each item to be repeated once a year, so as I learn what needs to be done, when, in this Ozark environment, my trusty computer can let me know when its time for what.

Yes, I’m giving a computer a lot of responsibility, which means I have to BACK UP frequently. I’m sure that my rusting brain cells can remember to do that. Much better than they can remember all the details of everything I’m planting and growing and having to do to keep the garden growing.

Back to the Calendar program, input in search field “lettuce” and I can see when I planted them, 12/31/08. Back to the photographs at the beginning of the year to see more details and place representative pictures of the lettuce growth in the folder marked “Lettuce Growth.”

I love photography. But in the old days, though I had a good camera, I didn’t feel that good about the cost of film and development. And I never liked the date burned onto the photograph. However, I love the date that comes with digital photos! And the ability to label each one and sort them into folders.

Frequently I take the camera with me into greenhouse and field just to note what is going on, so when the questions come up later, there’s the answer!

I planted too many different types of seeds into one tray yesterday. I have little mini popsicle type sticks as the labels that fit in the tray. I know that they can easily be dislodged. And I’d really like to know what variety and color of which plant each seedling is. To keep it straight, I photographed the labels in the tray in order so I will be able to put the puzzle back together if it falls apart. Digitally assisted gardening!



Back to the lettuce - Wow, they were transplanted into the greenhouse bed on 1/5/09 (photo below). That’s fast!

Then (below) the lettuce plants started to overlap on 2/6. (That’s probably when I should have started to thin them, but my “right to life for plants” perspective is not today’s focus.)

I find great beauty in the unfolding leaves.

And below, complete overcrowding occurs on 2/20. My friend received a couple of photos and the answer in her email!
Another example of digital recording keeping: I’m preparing a post on a comparison/review of two brands of watering cans. I couldn’t remember one of the brand names and the photo did not show the logo clearly enough. Back to my digital records in the Mail department. I did a search for “watering” in the body of the emails and came up with the email receipt for each item, including model number and brand name. Hazaah! No wonder the Baby Boomers and the Digital Age are such good friends! Whatever my little mind forgets, the super-big hard drive kindly remembers. I just have to recall what word to search for... However you garden, May you have joy in both the remembrance and the forgetting!

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Digital_Photos_as_Gardening_Log.php#unique-entry-id-29r@rachelclaire.netVegetableTools2009-02-22T21:32:02-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/_2xvkbtZ3Xg/Compare_Growing_Bibb_and_Romaine_Cos_Lettuce.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/Compare_Growing_Bibb_and_Romaine_Cos_Lettuce.php#unique-entry-id-30


I have to harvest it frequently just to give enough space. Well, I did plant it all too close, thinking that I’d be able to plant it outside, but it grew up way beyond my expectations. I was planning also to cut off every other one as they grew too big. However, it got so overgrown that I have to do surgery just to find the stem to do the cutting.

Notice the one plant above that stands up straight and slightly darker green. This is a mix of Bibb and Romaine and I really like the upright posture which keeps the leaves out of the dirt, keeps the water running off of it and makes a tighter head. Its a lot easier to deal with.

The photo above is of a group that had the outer leaves thinned a couple of days ago. You can see some of the inner leaves of the Bibb lettuce, they are a bit crisper and crinkly and seem to come together almost like a head. I think that to give them a really fair trial I ought to thin out the plants and leave them room to leaf. I could put some in pots and start hardening them to the outside, maybe bringing them back inside for foul or frosty weather.

The greenhouse will be jam packed soon. Its time here in the Ozarks to start the nightshade seeds and its hard not to go too overboard on them. Hoefully this year if I have too many plants started, there will be neighbors or people at the Farmer’s Market who would like to take them home.

Above are my favorites. Crisp and crunchy, well behaved Romaine or Cos lettuce. They are much easier to care for as the leaves don’t touch the dirt and I can have them closer together. Of course, the question is, for how long will they be able to be so close together. If I can keep on eating salad twice a day, I’ll be able to trim off the outer leaves - but I doubt I can stay ahead of this growth.


Below is today’s favorite tool for harvesting the lettuce, leaf by leaf. If the heads were much bigger, thicker and I were whacking off a whole head, then something bigger would be good. But for the kind of trimming from the outside of the head, these little clippers, shown here in their plastic pouch, are very easy to wield. They have a very precise response. I’ve seen them in craft stores.

The greenhouse beds the lettuce are growing in were given good amendments last year and when the lettuce starts were planted they were planted in some worm castings. Probably could use some more, if I could get through the plants to the soil.

I always do this, try to plant more than what is recommended for the spacing. Its hard for me to believe what it says in books or on the back of the seed envelop. Must do the mistakes myself, often more than once. I think I can get away with it, but rarely does it turn out to be good. When the lettuce was really little, it seemed like lots of space. Below is how they looked on January 5. Yes, they look too close together then too.

Alright, it must be time to re-supply the neighbors.

So whatever lettuce you choose,
May you be Growing Ever More Joyful!

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Compare_Growing_Bibb_and_Romaine_Cos_Lettuce.php#unique-entry-id-30r@rachelclaire.netQuestionsBugsHerbsMusings2009-02-20T23:38:40-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/Y79l53IATCU/Aphids_Herbs_New_Tools_Blotonical%20.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/Aphids_Herbs_New_Tools_Blotonical%20.php#unique-entry-id-31
The greenhouse spinach was cut down to the bone to remove aphids (aphids again!) I’m wanting to be in the kitchen preparing spinach and eggs, yum. But I’m glued to the screen of my computer, working on communications to people I’ve met on a gardener blog community. I’ve spoken to many people in the past who are devoured by “social networking” on the web. But this great place, www.blotanicals.com is more than social, it ties in to my strong focus on growing food.

See, the title indicates I’m going to tell you about the new sprouts that came up in the last two days and the cool tools that came by UPS, but no, I’m getting right to the blotanical focus, so just to proove I can, I’m signing off Blotanical and going to the kitchen, n o w.

Global Growing Inspiration and Information in a friendly sharing web environment is a reality in a network of garden bloggers called Blotanical.com

Its such a delight to connect with gardeners who love to grow from myriad perspectives, flowers, food, native biospheres and suburbs. All supporting and communing and reading each others’ blogs.

An example of how much I am enjoying this creative web family is what happened when I returned home from a long day trip to the nearest city. I left garden and greenhouse supplies in the car and brought inside the edible delights. In the hallway was a big box containing long awaited garden tools. The box label read “Haws.” Wow, my watering can and garden knife. And for the last 3 hours, the box is unopened!

I went right away to the computer, opened my mail. I was faved! (That means a reader on Blotanical wants to continue reading my posts. I feel very honored and excited.) Soon I was deeply involved with editing and publishing today’s blog. Then I remembered that there was an excellent snack which I’d brought from town. Blotanical is so delightful I forget to eat my goodies, that’s quite amazing.

All gardening friends are invited to check it out. Its a safe, well-lit place for the plant oriented people. Welcome!]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Aphids_Herbs_New_Tools_Blotonical%20.php#unique-entry-id-31r@rachelclaire.netSeedlingsBugs2009-02-19T00:18:57-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/uMfLex94QO4/Leggy_Spindly_Seedlings.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/Leggy_Spindly_Seedlings.php#unique-entry-id-32What might be the future of this leggy, stretched out, sun-starved seedling?

This struggling, weightlifting beet seedling from last year didn’t make it to adult beethood. It was never able to cast off its seed hat. I’m sure that I didn’t give it what it the light, soil or understanding it needed. This year, I’m trying to do better.

When the seedlings first appear through the starter mix and have been lovingly welcomed, they are placed in the window light of the sunny upstairs room. Once all or most of a tray are up, they are moved down to the greenhouse. There’s artificial light there on a timer for cloudy days, and a heater for colder nights. Its on now, keeping the air at 50 degrees when its below freezing, with clear sparkling skies.

I delight in checking on the plants. Tonight I noticed that the lettuce is growing into heads, holding the leaves close together. The spinach raises its leaves up into a bouquet. Are they hudling for warmth or seeking upward toward the sun? Or is this a maturing development, like the head-making of the lettuce. I don’t know. There are the first tender greens I’ve raised that humans are getting to harvest before the bugs. All part of the luxurious wonder of growing before the critters wake up.

I’ve learned my lesson about using those peat containers shown below for starting seeds. Now, I’ll never let the edges of the little cup protrude from the soil (after planting) or they’ll leech all the moisture away from the plant and back out to the air. And I’ll always remember to tear apart the bottom of the cup too, to let the roots escape!



Below are some more seedlings that look like bean-poles. These are the red and green cabages that you saw being planted with the Widger tool from the Wonder Tools post on 2/16/09. I’m betting that these will make it. In this photo, just transplanted to the six-pack, they are resting under the soothing lamp which may well help them to grow up to be big and strong. Tonight, they looked very healthy and strong.
Stay tuned and we’ll see what happens to them!
The photo below shows one of the greenhouse beds denuded. The Chard plants (from last Spring) had aphids, so all the leaves were harvested and the remaining plant well watered and then sprayed with a mix of bug stuff I made up, stronger than necessary for aphid, but I believe multi-purpose. It has garlic, onion, red pepper, mineral oil (from some professional anti-bug bottle) and dish soap. Mixed 1 ounce per gallon and sprayed on everything. The rate that I’ve been getting bugs in the greenhouse, I am trying to do it every week. I like grazing while in the greenhouse, but can’t do it when the plants already have the soapy salad dressing on them!
Filled with tenderness and joy in the happy growth of the plants and the lovely atmosphere they create,Wishing for All, to Grow Ever More Joyful!
]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Leggy_Spindly_Seedlings.php#unique-entry-id-32r@rachelclaire.netWelcomeGeneral2009-02-17T16:34:34-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/XSxI8UT6aOU/feeds_links_on_grow_joyful.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/feeds_links_on_grow_joyful.php#unique-entry-id-33How Wonderful! Celebrating that the links and feeds (seem to be) now functional - now you can see the Four Best Photos of this Joyful Ozark Garden from ’08.

Above is the Mid-August Garden, in its first year of growth!

Above are lovely Anne yellow raspberries with a late October frost upon them.

This winter squash harvest is my joyful delight, my vegetable, cookie, cupcake, quick-bread even pancake staple. Even with the great numbers which were given away, there’s more in the larder and some steaming, fresh out of the oven, in the kitchen right now!

This little friend never came to my gardens up North. Diligence every day helped me learn to find him, his friends and family, and not willing to share everything with them, I did frequently interrupt their dining experience.

Thank you for joining the Celebration on this newly renamed journal, from GROWING FOOD to GROW JOYFUL !

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/feeds_links_on_grow_joyful.php#unique-entry-id-33r@rachelclaire.netBugsSeedlings2009-02-16T20:06:33-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/yLFCEZSu3pA/multitudes_of_grasshoppers_morality.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/multitudes_of_grasshoppers_morality.php#unique-entry-id-34

Here’s that spindly seedling again from the post on the Widger, which is shown in all its glory tucking a red cabbage into its next home. We addressed the plight of the stretched out little plant in the previous post Leggy Spindly Seedlings.

Now, lets explore what might happen to these guys that could distress them long before they enter the brine for sauerkraut, or are thrown in the steam heat before freezing. Oh, its horrible what I plan to do to these plants I really love! I can’t help but give thanks for the fact that I didn’t have children in this life. Imagine how I might treat a child I loved if this is what I plan to do to the plants I nurture even from seed. Its a horrible thought, worthy of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”. If you don’t know the essay, or have a strong sense of moral outrage, or a weak sense of humor, I don’t suggest you go there.

I find the awareness of love, nurturing and tenderness for these green beings and my hungry plans for them once they reach the fullness of their lives a bit duplicitous. However, I recall, at the end of the growing period, the plants and I have such a loving regard for each other, and the awareness that the purpose of the plant is to give its fruit (or vegetable), that at the time of harvest I feel only gratitude rather than guilt.

Also, I try to save seed, and in this way, contribute to the continuity of life of these generous and beautiful plant creatures.

We’ll see how these cabbages will do, even with their stretched out beginning. They have yet to withstand the onslaught of hungry catepillars, the ravages of intense sun, pounding of fierce rain and all the gentle blessings that Nature gives when she is nurturing to growth, not just to toughness. So I hope that they will make it to fertile ground and that the care given to them sustains them throughout their season.

I’ll give you a foretaste of one of the challenges to come: the bug situation.

It may be that last year was a plague year that no one else around here mentioned. I didn’t hear anyone else saying that there were multitudes of grasshoppers afflicting their gardens. It was the first time in many years that the yard which is now mine had not had a flock of chickens eating everything that moved. This means that everything that moved converged on the first plants I had out there - the cabbages and broccoli in 2008. This is how it looked:

Yikes!

And I still don’t have a flock of chickens to feast on these critters. I’d need to have more fencing first; know that I could grow feed for them; want to get out at the crack of dawn to care for them, and have every plant I care about behind fencing. In other words, I’m not ready for chickens. But will my garden thrive without them?

I’m hoping that last year was an aberration, and this year will not find waves of them fleeing as I walk across the yard or through the garden.

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/multitudes_of_grasshoppers_morality.php#unique-entry-id-34r@rachelclaire.netTools2009-02-16T19:05:46-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/N1kICf83PVs/Wonderful_Tool_Widger.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/Wonderful_Tool_Widger.php#unique-entry-id-35What is a Widger?

That’s what I wondered too when I saw it in the catalog of Bountiful Gardens (www.bountifulgardens.org), a biointensive publication for heirloom, untreated, open-pollinated seeds (and stuff) for sustainable growing.

No, they didn’t pay me for this review, but they did make the wonderful Widger available to me (and everyone) for a small fee of $5.

My previous seed starting “technique” used to be different than it is today. I used the little individual packets of peat moss that inflate with water to start individual seeds. As many have found about this method, the little bag (would you call it that?) which holds together the peat moss, also, sadly holds togther the roots and keeps the poor plant from growing to its fullest. Of course, one who knows something about gardening, and isn’t too impatient to plant (which does not describe me in the past) knows to tear apart (or sometimes cut apart) the exterior to loose the inner contents and free the roots. To my mind though, does this not undo the value of the little seed starter bundle?

Now, I am working with starting seeds in flats. If I can wait until the true leaves grow in, I transfer them WITH THIS WONDERFUL TOOL to a six pack, filled with freshly worked soil and freshly strained worm castings. A work of love.

If I did not have this tool, I’d be casting about for facsimiles of it, trying to use knives, screw drivers, nail files, what else could work? The end of a spoon? I’d never known there to be a tool to do this precise job.

But this little thing, yes I’ll show you pictures, has a gentle edge that will not damage the young’ns. It has a bit of concave plane which holds some soil, roots and can also support the stem. There’s a little place for the thumb to rest so mind/hand coordination can work optimumally to support the little ones.

Below you see the intrepid widger sliding into the starter mix to gather together the roots of a red cabbage seedling.

Below the widger creates a hole and holds back the soil to make way for the baby root ball in the 6 pack.

At last a full photo of the widger, tamping down the soil around the red cabbage. Yes, the seedling is a bit leggy. If you recall reading the February 11th post called Light on the Seedlings, I admit to using unapproved lighting techniques. However, the plants are kept in a greenhouse which is bright when the sun shines, so I believe it all evens out. Besides, what if the power grid gives out and we don’t have electricity? What did we used to do before electricity? This valley where I live only started to have electricity some 60 years ago - so I know it has to be possible to raise food by the power of the sun.

More about the question of leggy, stretched out seedlings, in the next post!

Here’s what the Bountiful Gardens catalogue says about the widger:

For many years we have used and loved this elegant little stainless steel tool for pricking out and transplanting tiny seedlings. The original British manufacturer stopped making them in 2004, but we have finally found someone who produces them just for us ... slightly modified but just as useful as the original. it’s amazing how much difference a small tool like this can make! A Bountiful Gardens exclusive.

Whatever you tools you use, Grow Happy!

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Wonderful_Tool_Widger.php#unique-entry-id-35r@rachelclaire.netMusingsPoetry2009-02-15T20:55:29-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/r19XQzO6wQs/Silence_of_the_Snow.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/Silence_of_the_Snow.php#unique-entry-id-36How still, serene the solitude
Of White, with lines of grey
The peace and blessed silence
Of a Nothern Winter day.

Yes, I know the gardeners in the South exult in early Spring
And the gardens of the North are but dreams
in the too clean hands of those still wrapped in down.

So here is a short list of things to comfort the Northerners.

Things you don't have (and don’t miss) because of your wonderful long cold winter:

Armadillos digging up the lawns, fields and anything they can get to, some really big holes too!

Chiggers, invisible, annoying, long lasting itch producing bug - the best reason to bathe nightly any day over 50 degrees!

Too Short Winter rest! Enjoy the silence of the snow!

Here in the middle of the Mid-West, not North - nor South
we seemed to have but one month’s rest between
the season of harvest storage
and beginning to start seeds.

I’m delighted to have the greenhouse to jump start the growing life,
but I imagine another month’s rest also would have been good.


Where ever you garden - Grow Happy!

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Silence_of_the_Snow.php#unique-entry-id-36r@rachelclaire.netSourcesHerbs2009-02-14T11:59:37-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/M3x4HDzIkmc/Zaatar_Richters.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/Zaatar_Richters.php#unique-entry-id-39

More about Zaatar and Zataar

Yes, Zaatar is also the name for a tasty combination of spices and herbs, and sometimes sesame that is wonderful sprinkled on almost everything. It is a Middle Eastern joy which transcends political boundaries. In addition to the obvious ethnic stores which have not migrated to the Ozarks yet, the spice mixture can often be found in ethnic sections of larger, enlightened markets. Below is product information from the source of my Zaatar plant. Yes, I spelled it differently, as do many others. I’m glad that I was asked to look it up, as I had forgotten its hardiness level. I’m glad that it was safe and comfy in the greenhouse even when it went down to 30 degrees. The source is Richters in Canada. They stock a wonderful supply of medicinal and culinary herbs. Their catalogue is great in that they do not shy away from listing the actual medicinal uses, not just as “folklore” or “hearsay” either. They can be found at richters dot com. Here’s the link to the page. The content is below that.

http://www.richters.com/Web_store/web_store.cgi?product=X7130&show=&prodclass=Herb_and_Vegetable_Plants&cart_id=111.100




Zaatar
Origanum maru
Uses: Culinary/Medicinal
Duration: Perennial (hardy in zones 8-10)
When to Sow: Spring/Anytime
Ease of Germination: Easy

Zaatar is one of the world’s great seasonings. Throughout the Middle East it gives life to hummus, dips, and soups. It is mixed with olive oil to make delicious pastes for the traditional flatbreads served with meals. Each region has its own version of zatar: in some areas it is a blend of herbs and spices while in others it is just one herb from among several varieties depending on the region. Our zaatar is from the mountains of northern Israel where it is popular among both Arabs and Jews. The attractive greyish-green foliage has a spicy aroma and flavour that is truly divine. Easy to grow from seeds. Ht. 40cm/16”.


P7130
Plants
$4.00/ea, $9.00/3 plants, $28.80/12 plants

Currency: United States Dollar

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Zaatar_Richters.php#unique-entry-id-39r@rachelclaire.netHerbsGreenhouse2009-02-11T22:54:15-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/kmDWHn_B0Pc/drying_zataar_herb.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/drying_zataar_herb.php#unique-entry-id-42Here’s another “figure it out as I go along” method of greenhouse solutions.

How does one dry an herb that tends to disconnect from the stem while drying?

How lovely the Zataar herb bunches, tied with twine on the cedar table.

The twine is suspended from a ceiling hook.

Zataar bunch is hung from the twine. If it slips, the double knots in the twine should hold it up.

Hanging one below the other the zataar becomes a garland.
Below you see a basket lined with linens, to catch the falling dried leaves.

Dried or fresh zataar on goat cheese. Very delicious.

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/drying_zataar_herb.php#unique-entry-id-42r@rachelclaire.netHerbsGreenhouse2009-02-11T22:08:16-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/IiJLl8iCkug/zataar_in_greenhouse.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/zataar_in_greenhouse.php#unique-entry-id-43
The leaves are a bit thicker, broader and stronger. One little plant survived years of bad potting to come to thrive in the greenhouse, even through the winter.

Here it is in its fullness, next to the spinach in the shallow bed.





The zataar plant was growing too boisterous and thick and needed to be repotted. Someone else might like a taste of Zataar, so I decided to tame it into eighteen 2.5 inch pots. It however, decided that it would not like to be limited to that. We did cooperate.

A careful harvest was accomplished into a half-bushel basket. Just a day after Garden Club. Two days earlier, these rootable cuttings would have made lovely gifts. Sorry.

And the plant is still entrenched in the bed, ready to expand again, with fresh worm castings to feed it.



Next posting will be on how the zataar was hung to dry.

There are nineteen 2.5 inch pots of Zataar with roots getting ready to be shared when Spring comes. After they grow a bit and fill out I’ll show you a picture. Right now, they are a bit ragged looking.

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/zataar_in_greenhouse.php#unique-entry-id-43r@rachelclaire.netSoilGreenhousePlanting2009-02-11T21:11:09-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/NXfe8FHcotA/greenhouse_soil_bed.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/greenhouse_soil_bed.php#unique-entry-id-44
We began to build this greenhouse, after studying what the “right” way was, just the best way that we could. We had a Southern exposure, a space and we had materials. So, all was put together to offer a “well lighted place” to nurture plants, and to be nurtured in their presence (and flavor!) Oh, savor the flavor.

We added two large beds, surrounded by cedar wood. The garden’s wonderful soil, amended by what seemed right went in. Two really deep beds, about 2 feet high, connect to the soil, ground, strata of gravel, whatever you’d call it. Those beds were also amended and left on their own, looked like the right side of this photo.

I had small delicate strands of onion, leek and chive seedlings to put in, and imagined they would be mangled and destroyed by the rubble. So I utilized some tools which were ordered from Bountiful Gardens (www.bountifulgardens.org). They are kind resourceful helpful folks there, who spread the gospel of growing good healthy food around the world. The soil sifter resting in the white pan below comes through them. It helped me smooth out the top inch or so of the bed until it looked like the left side of the photo.

So smooth, so soft, a well made bed.



Below is what I used to sift the soil. The two buckets on the top received the detritus, stones and rough stuff on the left.
Donations for the compost on the right.



The plastic spade pressured the soil through the seive, into the pan.
Then the kinder gentler soil was replaced on top of the bed, and smoothed out.

Above, the sieve is used to prepare the worm castings. A small colony of worms worked for over a year. The ones that survived my learning curve of how to care for them, created a couple of bags of nutritive castings soft enough for the tender seedlings. I knew that the onionettes would need the food value of the castings, so I made tiny channels in the bed, filled with castings and laid them in.

There were about 200 seedlings.

We like to cook with onions. How many onions do we use in a week? (4) In a year? (4 X 52). Which varieties will store well? How many of each kind? Perhaps a sweet onion that doesn’t store will be able to grow in the greenouse over next winter.

So how many to plant now? We have leeks, chives, long keeping browns, short keeping sweet reds, and vidalia style sweet onions. We’ll see what happens.

Some of the onion seedlings were really too small to transplant, but the job took two days as it was. I really didn’t want to put off finishing it. Two days of bending over the bed, arduously putting the tiny things in and gently covering them.

I used a wonderful tool, also from Bountiful Gardens (www.bountifulgardens.org). It is just a slender curved piece of stainless steel, it is perfect for working in small dimensions with delicate roots and fragile stems. I couldn’t figure out what it was in the catalog, but trusted them when they said it was useful. Indeed. I’ll put a photo of it in tomorrow.

The seedlings that didn’t have enough leaf/stem to stick out of the soil were placed under the soil. I’ve been waiting to see them push through. Seems that a few new onion stems have come through, but I’m still waiting on more.

What I really like about the onion bed - it is so simple to differentiate the weeds from the onion family. If it has any bit of a circular leaf, out it goes. If it has the tip of a grass stem (like a lance or arrowhead point), out it goes. Only the smooth cylindrical shaft, without ornamentation remains in this bed.


Planting the seedlings was harder than putting in onion sets. The little ones are so tender.

These plants will go in the garden when the soil and temperatures are right, and when they are pencil thick and ready to transplant. Seems like it will take years for that to happen. They are growing quite slowly. I’m told that’s normal for onions.

The photo above was taken on 1/22/09 just after they were transplanted.

Below, was photographed on 2/12/09. You might see multiple and slightly thicker leaves .



Also, notice how easy it is to tell which little green growths are weeds!
I love making my fingers into tweezers and excising the little weeds,
pulling straight up so their roots slide out without disturbing the onions.

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/greenhouse_soil_bed.php#unique-entry-id-44r@rachelclaire.netGreenhouse2009-02-11T19:46:46-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/E4feesvLZ9w/Greenhouse_Potatoes_1.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/Greenhouse_Potatoes_1.php#unique-entry-id-45For a change, let’s start with the finished product, circa August 18, 2008



Some shiny purple potatoes in a colander. These were very good to eat. We ate potatoes. We had potato soup. Some is still in the freezer and it is delicious. We tried drying them in the dehydrator - not worth it.

The ones we didn’t wash and didn’t eat, which looked like they might make good seed for ’09 were stored in a box in the basement. In the beginning of ’09, I noticed that they were going to seed and wouldn’t make it until Spring. I took some to a friend who has a cooler spot, and some I tried to save, by planting right away in the deeper bed in the greenhouse. In a few weeks, one or two came up and were promptly killed by too little heat on a really cold night.

I’d been told that if the potato plant is not too big when its frozen, it will come back. And without any special incantations (besides the usual loving pep talk I always give the plants) look, it is growing back!

Yes, that very rough looking ground is in the greenhouse bed. After I remove the potatoes I’ll take care of that. Preparing for the onion bed taught me how to do that. (Details on another post.)

It is possible that new potatoes and seed for the garden will be ready on time for planting on April First.

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/Greenhouse_Potatoes_1.php#unique-entry-id-45r@rachelclaire.netLighting2009-02-11T19:17:12-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/_BpahEB6HNU/light_on_seedings_1.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/light_on_seedings_1.php#unique-entry-id-46Not the best way to do it

We’ve all read about and looked at pictures and plans for the RIGHT way to put light on seedlings. Here’s a change from the norm.

What do we have in the house? That’s just what we use! And so far, the end product of the food we eat after following no one’s directions is still delicious, so here’s a way NOT to do it.

The metal stand here is a shoe rack, stackable higher than what you see here. We’ll probably add shelves to it when more seedlings appear. What I like about this rack is the squared frame, which makes it easier for the clip lamps to attach. (They really don’t work with rounded supports, see below).

Very Important: DO NOT PUT A BULB ON TOP LIKE THIS! (unattached, unsecured)



WHY? BECAUSE IT TAKES NOTHING AT ALL TO FALL OFF AND BREAK AND THEY SAY THAT THE MERCURY INSIDE IS TOXIC. (Worse than the thermometer mercury I used to play with as a kid? Who knows, and from what I read, the purity of the Earth seems to be on the decline.) Anyway, the greenhouse remains toxin free, but just, don’t do this, okay?

This is what it looks like with some seedling trays basking in the light.
I put a timer on the lights and now the greenhouse glows like a lovely E.T. in the night.

Worst Choice

Below is an option which doesn’t work well at all. The plastic round supports are very difficult to clip on to and the underside of the shelving is not much better. However, to get the seedlings through the dark overcast days of rain and snow, it will be good enough. Because when the sun shines - everyone thrives!



These plastic shelves will be better for the taller plants, to save space and still be exposed to the sun (when it comes back).

Ah, all is right with the world. They are happy in their little homes of sifted soil mixed with fresh worm castings.



These photos were taken about February 6, 2009 - oh, all photos by Rachel Claire. You probably guessed that.

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/light_on_seedings_1.php#unique-entry-id-46r@rachelclaire.netGeneral2009-01-28T23:13:58-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/7T8KXRjuj3c/new_title.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/new_title.php#unique-entry-id-47And finally the title comes clearly. Simply. Growing Food.
Of course, what is real is that I am Learning to Grow Healthy Food.
Hoping for a sustainable organic garden.
And here I will share some of the experience, the questions, answers and most importantly,
what didn’t work.

Real Snow! Lasting for days, what a treat!

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/new_title.php#unique-entry-id-47r@rachelclaire.netGreenhouse2009-01-28T10:51:54-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/xdUJ2Jng1xE/dark_greenhouse_012809.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/dark_greenhouse_012809.php#unique-entry-id-48
Ventured out this morning during a break in the clouds to see how the greenhouse was doing. Surprisingly I had to shovel the snow away to open the door. We never would have designed like that up North, but didn’t even think of it while building here. No problem, a little chopping and shoveling away and I got through the crack in the door.

There was a little one, likely a mouse who scampered down the hill, looking to get into the door and had to run along the wall. I hope he found shelter under the outside steps. Unlike him, I was able to get in.

Inside was darker than I expected, even with inches of snow completely covering the roof. The temp was a “toasty 40 degrees”. (This quote is from an old movie shown on PBS made by a master builder/woodsman of building a cabin and living in the way back wilderness of Alaska. His words described the inside of the cabin when the fire was burning during winter. I like to compare his strength and inner warmth to my own softee nature. He didn’t even have down, gortex or silk longjohns!)




Dark Day in the Greenhouse. And this is with the sun shining a bit!

Lettuce seeks the sun, straight up for just about enough light

However, it is not bright and warm enough to bring the seedlings back into the greenhouse.

I’m glad that I didn’t plant the next round of seeds yet. Think I’ll wait a little while.

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/dark_greenhouse_012809.php#unique-entry-id-48r@rachelclaire.netGeneralPoetry2009-01-26T18:44:47-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/OPxkUftslLc/freezing_rain_012609.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/freezing_rain_012609.php#unique-entry-id-49the sullen skies pour forth
a gentle even, inexorable flow
of tinkling sparkling ice.

It sticks to earth, dried grass and steps
and hides the greenhouse roof.
I’m glad I took the seedlings
to a warmer upstairs room.

The stream had ice a couple of days ago when the temps went up to 70 degrees.

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/freezing_rain_012609.php#unique-entry-id-49r@rachelclaire.netSeed PropagationSeeds2009-01-19T23:15:04-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/-CFY1RkNHBs/seed_starting_011909.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/seed_starting_011909.php#unique-entry-id-50How I started my first seedlings this 2009
Using Lisa’s seed starting method, soaking the seeds in water with a dash of hydrogen peroxide until they open. Then using a tiny baby spoon, rescue them from the water and place in cozy seed starter material, at an appropriate depth.

Add light, the right temperature and of course, an extra helping of patience.

These onion sprouts look ready for a new home.

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/seed_starting_011909.php#unique-entry-id-50r@rachelclaire.netGeneral2009-01-19T23:02:33-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/sdD5GLITkwo/when_is_frost_free_date.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/when_is_frost_free_date.php#unique-entry-id-51What to Expect in this Journal?

Are you one of those folks who reads the directions on the seed pack when its time to plant?

Or have you learned to read it months in advance, to be able to plan for when IS 4 weeks before the last frost?

Its a good thing that I don’t live up North anymore. Some places you can’t find a date that isn’t a few weeks before a frost. But I’m so grateful for the long hot muggy buggy growing season down here in the hills.

I’m not sure what to expect either. The title of this is not right yet, the format is not right yet. Heck, I’m not all right yet - but why wait around any longer?

Let’s get cracking!

I make a lot of errors in my rambunctious way of tending the growth of the garden. I read the books and ask for guidance from the Garden Club, seed providers and neighbors, and then of course, do what intuitively feels right.

Sometimes I ask the plants, when they are big enough to know what’s really best for them. Sometimes I follow directions.

Often, I realize after a while that I didn’t pay enough attention, or that my reasoning skipped a few steps and I am left to figure out how to fix the problem I created by being a bit too “free spirited” or just thoughtless.

More on that later, I don’t feel like confessing right now. Time to post and learn how to let comments come on board!

A grasshopper shelters under a bean leaf on a rainy day in mid-August ’08.

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/when_is_frost_free_date.php#unique-entry-id-51r@rachelclaire.netGeneral2009-01-19T23:00:30-06:00http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rachelclaire/nczC/~3/4VO4TLHIHrg/welcome1.phphttp://rachelclaire.net/files/welcome1.php#unique-entry-id-52Welcome to Adventures in Organic Ozark Gardeningl

This is the beginning of my second gardening year in the Ozarks, and my first year with the garden and green house already up and “working”.

All that has happened here has been assisted by the wonderful Organic Garden Club which meets twice a month in the lovely little town about a half an hour away from home.

Our place is not quite secluded, but is quiet and peaceful. We are in the frost valley area, low and moist and lovely, like this:

That’s Mid-Summer (Early August) ’08

]]>http://rachelclaire.net/files/welcome1.php#unique-entry-id-52nonadult