Archive for general
May 19, 2012 · Filed under general, vermicompost · Tagged collecting worm castings, vermicompost, vermicomposting, worm castings
25 lbs of worm castings!
Worm castings or vermicompost as it is called is an excellent, nutrient-rich organic fertilizer and soil conditioner you can get at the garden nurseries. Last year while planting tomatoes I added some worm castings that I bought to put in each hole with the plants to make the soil richer. I vowed that I would not buy them again as they are expensive. I thought with all stuff here on the property that I could feed the worms, I should get some red wiggler worms and become a worm farmer. So I did.
Screening the worm castings
Wednesday I ‘harvested’ my first worm castings. My worm bin is outside and consists of some straw bales formed in a ‘U’ shape that I have across from the chicken coop. I built it last fall and have fed the red wigglers a variety of food including giant pumpkins, coffee grounds, eggshells, straw, newspaper, fruit (no citrus-it will kill them) and vegetable kitchen scraps. Just like a regular compost bin but no work is involved-no turning the pile over and over to get it to decompose. The worms do the work. They eat everything and leave their castings behind. I built a screen to sift out the worms and debris from the castings. I sifted it twice to make sure I got the worms and stuff separated from the castings. I got a full 5 gallon bucket of castings! Unbelievable and wonderful! I took it up to the house to see how much the bucket weighed and it weighed 25 lbs!
May 18, 2012 · Filed under general, shallots · Tagged cooking scapes, garlic scapes, growing shallots, scapes, shallot scapes
The last few days I’ve harvested shallot scapes. They are just like garlic scapes in that they are the flower bulb. I pick it before it opens so all its energy will go into making the bulbs below the ground larger.
They are really delicious sautéed. We already made an omelet with cheese, spinach and scapes and also in some fried rice. If you see them on your shallots or garlic, cut them off but don’t throw them away!
May 16, 2012 · Filed under GARDENING TIPS, general, tomatoes, tomatoes growing tips, VEGETABLES · Tagged Epsom salt and peppers, Epsom salt and tomatoes, Epsom salt for tomatoes and peppers, gardening and Epsom salts, growing tomatoes, transplanting tomatoes
Get more tomatoes with Epsom Salts
Epsom Salts May help increase blossoms in tomatoes and pepper plants. Increase in blossoms means more tomatoes and peppers!
Epsom salts contain magnesium sulfate, two important elements for plant growth.
Magnesium- can become depleted in soil usually later in the season. Magnesium helps strengthen plant cell walls, helping the plant to absorb nutrients. It also helps to increase blossoms.
Sulfur- improves the growth and overall health of plants, it may also help our high alkaline soil here in the southwest.
There are two ways to use Epsom salts for tomatoes.
1. Mix 1 tbsp of Epsom salts into the soil at the bottom of the planting hole when transplanting tomatoes or peppers or mix 1 tbsp in a gallon of water and water the transplant. It may help plants absorb Calcium and other nutrients from the soil.
2. Use as a foliar spray of 1 tbsp per gallon of water when the plants flower. Epsom salt helps set more blossoms.
I’ve used Epsom Salts on my tomatoes, peppers and even roses for years. It will help roses produce more flowers. Scratch in 1/2 cup of Epsom salts in soil around rose bush and water in.
May 11, 2012 · Filed under general · Tagged garden, tomato, vegetable gardening, vegetable gardening-patience
Dalai Lama mediating. Photo courtesy of factsanddetails.com
I think one of my biggest challenges in this life is patience. Vegetable gardening is a lesson in patience. In the late winter I want to start all my seeds early (like right away) that I will transplant later, BUT NO, I MUST WAIT till the timing is right. Plant too early and I have these leggy things. Then after I get the seeds planted and they come up, I want them ready to plant BUT NO, I MUST WAIT and transplant them up to the next size pots to get bigger. Then they are ready to transplant into the garden (I think) BUT NO, I MUST WAIT till the weather temperatures are above freezing at night. Then the days and nights are perfect and I think I can put them out, BUT NO I MUST WAIT till I harden the plants off outside. Then once they are in the ground I want them to explode in growth immediately BUT NO, I MUST WAIT till they get acclimated. I watch while they sit there awhile. After that I want to immediately get those big juicy tomatoes that I have been WAITING FOR since the end of the previous season (think November), BUT NO, I MUST WAIT and watch the tomatoes stay green while they grow. I WAIT AND WAIT AND WAIT and then the garden kicks ass and really produces those veggies but it is now MID JULY-AUGUST and the picking season is JUST STARTING. Then I want to pick all those huge long-growing tomatoes that are still green BUT NO, I MUST WAIT till October and then a freeze is forecast, I run out to pick them and the season is over! BUT WAIT not quite because then I bring all the huge green tomatoes inside and I MUST WAIT till they finally turn red. WAIT, WAIT, WAIT! Finally when the season is over I will have canned a zillion pickles and tons of spaghetti sauce and froze a gazillion gallons of plain tomato sauce and dried millions of pounds of apples (yes I think so this year) and made thousands of pounds of pumpkin soup, pumpkin pies, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins (you get the picture) and I’m exhausted and CAN’T WAIT TILL IT’S ALL OVER. Then I recover all winter and can’t WAIT TO START the whole process again. Yes, I think gardening is a lesson in patience.
May 10, 2012 · Filed under general · Tagged fava beans, growing fava beans, growing windsor beans, vegetable gardening, Vicia faba
Fava beans. (Vicia faba) (Photo credit: JMDN)
Here’s another new veggie I’m trying this year-Fava Beans.
Fava beans are in the legume family, not the bean family and add nitrogen nodules to the soil. Some people sow it as a cover crop in very early spring and then dig it under before planting or pull the plant and add it to their compost pile. I’m growing them to eat. They are used a lot in mid-eastern cuisine.
I tried growing Favas from seed inside earlier this spring and FAILED miserably. I like to share my failures as well as successes-how else can we all learn! Only 2 seeds germinated and maybe it was because my seed heating mats were FRYING every seed back then before I got a thermostat. Then a friend who was repairing the roof ran over one of them with his truck. I had put both of them on the side of the driveway to take down to the garden (thought they were out of the way) and his truck turned wide. So I took the one saved Fava plant and the rest of the Fava seeds down to the garden and decided to direct seed them. I love the black and white flowers they produce.
Fava beans like cool weather so I wasn’t sure it would even germinate here since we warm up fast but they did and here they are about 2-3 inches tall now. Still not sure if I will get to harvest the beans later especially if we get hot fast but life’s an experiment and I’m one that tends to go for it.
I’m not sure about recipes for fava beans and I hear they are a pain in the a#* to shell as they have 2 shells on them which you must remove before eating. My friend Lava said they are good shelled fresh but wasn’t sure when they are dried. Anyone got any good recipes for both fresh shelled and after they are dry?
May 8, 2012 · Filed under FENNEL, fennel-Finocchio, general, VEGETABLES · Tagged Fennel, growing bulb fennel, growing Finocchio fennel, growing Florence fennel, starting fennel, vegetable gardening
Finocchio fennel. Photo courtesy of growingherbsforbeginners.com
More on another new vegetable I’m trying this year-Finocchio Fennel.
There are several types of fennel, the bulb type (which is Italian called Finocchio or Florence), sweet fennel (fern like) and bronze fennel (fern like). All can be used as an herb but sweet and bronze are used for their foliage in cooking and Finocchio or Florence is used for the bulb in cooking. Sweet or bronze fennel will not bulb up. I used Finocchio in a Cioppino (seafood stew) at New Year’s and it was so wonderful that I decided to grow some. This post is about Finocchio Fennel.
I tried to grow some inside from seed- it didn’t do very well only getting a few to germinate so I ended up I buying a little pack at Agua Fria nursery here in Santa Fe.
Fennel growing well-May 7
Now from from what I’ve read they are not suppose to transplant well in the soil but I had so many of them in each little cell (and they were very young) that I teased the roots apart (carefully) and transplanted them directly into the soil. I then put a drip on each one, made a little well that I put straw in so the water would not evaporate and then I put a cage I made out of wire material and covered it with some row cover. I was afraid the row cover might be too heavy directly on the baby fennels at first as they were very delicate-hence the cage. I thought the row cover would add more protection from the wind. Fennel can handle the cold (in fact it likes it) but the wind was what I was worried about.
closeup of developing bulbs
Here is a picture of the one of them developing bulbs. All 17 of them are doing really well.
May 8, 2012 · Filed under general, potatoes · Tagged fingerling potatoes, growing potatoes, hilling potatoes, potatoes, vegetable gardening
The potatoes I planted Mar. 30 are doing great. Most of them came up with a few exceptions. Not bad for my first try. Of course the proof will be if I get some nice potatoes. Right now they are about 8 inches tall and when they hit 10 inches I will start the hilling process. Basically every ten inches or so I will add soil slowly filling the trench and burying the base of the potato plant I started with. I thought I would use straw for the hilling process but decided to stick with dirt because it is so dry here and I thought the straw would probably blow away anyways. Besides when I dig them out it will be like an Easter egg hunt! Since this is my first year at trying to grow potatoes, I am excited about what might happen.
May 7, 2012 · Filed under general, WEATHER · Tagged springs winds
It’s suppose to rain (LOL) this week-maybe. At least this is the best shot for some moisture since late winter. Of course with the possible storms come the WINDS again. Winds are about 20 mph. Not pretty. But we really need some moisture so we all endure-like we have a say. And it’s been such a nice spring, sigh.
And no I didn’t plant tomatoes this past weekend. Ran out of time..Good thing.
May 7, 2012 · Filed under BEANS, beets, carrots, general, pole beans · Tagged bean teepee, bean trellis, Green bean, pole beans, vegetable gardening
On Sunday, Caleb and Elodie and I created a bean teepee in one the beds where pole beans will grow. I wanted to make it large enough that a person (even an adult) could sit inside it this summer when it is covered with bean plants. I can’t wait to experience what it will be like.
Here is the pole bean teepee I had last year but it was completely closed so this year we left an opening in the tee-pee to get in and out.
I had some really tall poles so we could get the height and width needed to make it large enough. I got the poles from my friend, Tuko, who had them on an arbor at her house and was taking it down. That was many years ago and I’ve saved them all this time for something special and I think I found that special project. I’m hoping that my neighbor’s grandson, Aiden will go in it later this summer.
So today in the wind, I went out and planted some seeds before this supposed rain comes. I planted beets and carrots on both sides and then I covered them with row cover (for now) so the seeds wouldn’t blow away and stay wet longer when I water them. The row cover helps the seeds stay in place! Later after the plants come up I will take off the sheets!
May 5, 2012 · Filed under BEES, general · Tagged Bee, Beehive, beekeeping, Queen bee
I checked the bees today and they still haven’t released the queen out of her own little box yet but probably will by tomorrow. The queen comes in a little box inside the big ‘shoebox’ with the rest of the bees. All the bees have to release her. If we humans released her right away, they would probably kill her as they are all not from the same hive and need to acclimate to each other. There is a little sugar plug on the end of the queen’s box which takes the bees about 3 days to eat through thus releasing her. While they eat the little sugar plug out, they are getting use to her pheromones and by doing so will accept her. The name ‘queen’ is actually a misnomer as she does not boss the others around but is really a ‘mother’ bee, in essence a baby machine! There is no ‘leader’ in the bee colony, all the bees make decisions by consensus and the colony thinks like one organism. Kinda like the Borg in Star Trek!
May 5, 2012 · Filed under general, FARM LIFE, BEES · Tagged beekeeping, beekeeping for gardeners, bees, bees and flowers, bees and gardening, honeybees
So what are bees doing in a gardening blog? Why am I writing about them? Well, bees and gardens go hand in hand. Without bees we wouldn’t have our crops. They pollinate over 90% of all food crops in the world. So please bear (oh oh, bad word for bees) with me while I get another hive established on the property. I’ve learned so much from Caleb and his hive this past year and I’m very excited to get my own. I hope this year is better for the bees than last year. We need more rain this summer.
RAIN=MORE FLOWERS
=MORE CROPS
=MORE BEES
=MORE HONEY!
May 4, 2012 · Filed under general, BEES · Tagged beekeepers, beekeeping, bees, honeybees, installing bees in a topbar bee hive
Wednesday we received our bees and put them in their new diggs (I mean home—I mean hive). Caleb came over early (7am) and realized the stand for the hive was too tall for me (he’s like 6′ 4″ and I’m 5′ 6″) and needed to be cut down so off he went back to his shop to work on it. Meanwhile the bees were delivered to our shop, Liquid Light Glass, (all quarter million of them!) and were surprisingly quiet. I think they liked the warm ‘hot shop’ after being in a cold truck. First we called everyone on our list to make sure they would get picked up that day. Then Caleb dropped off the stand and I went back to the ranch with the stand and the bees. I set up and leveled the stand and hive (bees like their homes on level ground, just like us) while the bees buzzed crankily in their little shipping shoebox’ box (they did not like the ride on the dirt road). So I let them calm down before taking them over to their new topbar hive. We decided to put them in later in the day so they would have overnite to adjust to their new diggs. Caleb came out to make sure I did it correctly and Elodie took pictures of the ‘bee installation’. Amazing success and no one got stung!
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May 2, 2012 · Filed under general, tomatoes, VEGETABLES · Tagged growing tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, planting tomatoes, vegetable gardening
I think I’m going to start planting tomatoes by the weekend. I won’t get all of them in but this will be the EARLIEST I have ever planted here in Santa Fe. I checked the weather for the next 10 days and no freezing weather is projected. Of course it’s always a crap shoot here in NM but I think the odds might be in our favor this year. I will still put them in wall of waters (WOWs) because they grow so much faster in them than without them and if we get a freeze, they offer lots of protection. But I will hold off on the eggplants and peppers for a little while longer cause they want HEAT. I checked the weather for the next 10 days and no freezing weather is projected. I’m not recommending anyone plant before our last freeze date of May 15th, just letting you know what I’m thinking. Unbelievably beautiful weather-so different then last year’s-no wind, no freezing weather-just fabulous! Time to spend lots of time in the vegetable garden!
April 27, 2012 · Filed under general · Tagged Santa Fe garden Fair, Santa Fe Master Gardeners Association
Today-Saturday, April 28-Santa Fe Master Gardener Annual Garden Fair 10AM-4PM at the Rodeo Grounds
This is our giant garden fair blowout we put on once a year and it is FABULOUS! If you are a gardener and have never come to this-you have missed out! You want to learn how to plant stuff in Santa Fe-Come here! Want to learn how to compost-Come here! Want lots of gardening information-Come here! AND IT IS FREE!
It’s held at the Rodeo Fairgrounds here in Santa Fe from 10 AM – 4 PM and will feature a giant plant sale with really good prices and a ‘garden shed’ with lots of gardening goodies for sale.
We will also have demonstrations on: How to Build a Rain Barrel, Composting, Vermi-Composting, Creating Herb Gardens, How to Do Drip Irrigation Systems and Creating a Wildflower Meadow.
AND we have wonderful guest speakers, Tracy Neal-Landscape Designer, Jim Brooks-from Soilutions, and our main speaker, David Salman from Santa Fe Greenhouses.
The many non-profit organizations include Santa Fe Botanical Society, Rose Society, Home Grown New Mexico, Iris Society, Herb Society, and Sangre De Cristo Beekeepers with a demo beehive.
We have over 26 Gardening exhibitors including Santa Fe Greenhouses, Agua Fria Nursery, Paynes Nurseries, Eulalio’s Farm (great tomato plants for sale), Wild Birds Unlimited, Sierra Club and many more too numerous to list.
Oh and if you come, I’ll be in the plant sale section. Come by and say ‘Hi’. Hope to see you there!
April 15, 2012 · Filed under general · Tagged cutworm collars, cutworms, scarab beetle, scarab beetle larvae, vegetable gardening, white grubs in soil
scarab beetle larvae
This time of year when you are adding amendments and turning your soil, you may notice some white fat grubs with brown heads. I noticed they were in soil that I heavily amended with horse manure and would freak out when I saw them. I took all of them (sometimes a lot) and give them to the chickens. I use to think were cutworms but they are not.
They are Scarab beetle larvae and will NOT harm your vegetable plants or vegetable roots. They are also known as the ‘dung beetle’ larvae. In fact they are beneficial because they help break down the manure by eating it, hence you will find them where you use manure. Just leave them alone as they are kind of like worms, adding nutrients to the soil as they process the manure. I have never seen any damage to vegetables but if they are in your lawn (what lawn?! LOL) they will eat grass-roots (but not vegetable roots).
cutworms
On the other hand, here is a picture of cutworms which are HARMFUL to your plants. They come out of the ground at night and chew the base of your transplant stem off leaving you with a decapitated plant (so to speak). They attack baby plant stems because they are tender. After the plants get older, they don’t bother them. If you see these, get rid of them. I look for them in the soil around the hole I dig just before I put my transplants in the ground. But there is something else you can do to protect your plants.
You can protect your plant by putting a ‘cutworm collar’ around your newly planted transplants. I use a paper towel roll or toilet paper row cut into 2 inch increments. I cut the tube lengthwise to get them around the plant stem and tape the cut seam.
Then I sink the tube about 1 inch into the soil. They won’t crawl up the tube. After your plants get a little older, take the tube off-they only like young stems. In this picture the collar is filled with dirt but I just leave the collar on without filling it with dirt.
