Category Archives: general

Tomato scare

Trying to protect the tomatoes-wrapping them in row cover

My tomatoes have been looking great, in fact the best ever in 25 years, but about 2-3 weeks ago I noticed a couple of the plants started getting new leaves that looked wierd-sort of fernlike which I thought was odd but they were still green so I ignored it.

Tomato 'fernlike' leaves

Well, this week I noticed about 48 plants had this weird look and the new tips were very distorted. I researched on the internet and it looked like Tobacco mosaic virus or Cucumber Mosaic virus which can spread rapidly among the plants. If your tomatoes get it, it can ruin your whole crop not to mention your whole garden for 3 years as that is how long it can remain in the soil. You must pull the plants and dispose of them as it is very contagious at least for the Tobacco Mosaic virus. I was panicky so I wrapped up the remainder of the ‘ok’ plants in row cover to try to protect them. I called Pat Torres, our County Extension Agent here in Santa Fe about sending samples down to the state lab as I feared the worst. I brought two complete plants to him on Friday, filled out some paperwork and he sent it overnight to the the lab person who went in (on his day off) on Saturday to do a diagnosis for me. What wonderful people! (Both he and Pat) The lab guy tested for all 4 major tomato viruses that are most common here in New Mexico and luckily all the tests turned out negative-no pathogens found. Yes! I’m saved! The lab guy said it looked like Herbicide Drift called Abiotic disorder (or 2,4 D damage) and felt they will outgrow the weirdness and be OK.

And the funny thing is I did spray (carefully) with Roundup 3 weeks ago my driveway and sides of the studio for weeds in the gravel that are about 100 feet uphill of my main garden. He said if you spray on a hot day (and when hasn’t it been hot here lately) it can vaporize and travel up to 400 feet anywhere the breeze blows it. That’s 100 feet more than the length of a football field. The rest of the veggies were intact because they were still under row cover. He also said some herbicides (I’m going to email him for which ones) can travel in the air for 40 miles! So be careful with Roundup or any herbicide. I always go organic in the vegetable garden but sometimes not in the regular garden. What a scary lesson!

Herbicide damage-also called 2,4 D damage

Tobacco Mosiac virus

Vegetable Garden July 4, 2011

Happy July 4th! Here’s a look at the main garden so far this summer. This year is definitely slower than this time last year due to lack of precipitation but with the monsoons here, it should take off this month and kick butt. To see last year’s garden at this time, go here.

The cukes I’ve had to replant due to something eating the seedlings several times even though I’ve covered it with row cover..

I have 2 Costata Romanesco zucchini plants. The leaves are very delicate compared to other zucchini types. Hope we don’t get hail. I grow it because I  think this is the best tasting zuke ever. I read about this Costata Romanesco in one of Debra Madison’s vegetarian cook books-‘Local Flavors’. She lives in Santa Fe and  has several vegetarian cookbooks out. Great books on what tasty things you can create with your veggies. I’m not a vegetarian but am  always looking for new ways to use my vegggies so I don’t get bored.

We didn’t get ANY strawberries this year because I almost lost them all when we had that -25°F this winter. I have June bearing strawberries so I know the time has past. I had just a few plants this spring that survived but the strawberry patch is coming back nicely. Next year I will cover them with straw before winter to help insulate them.

This variety of pole bean is called ‘Emerite’ from John Scheepers. It is a new variety for me. I also have my favorite, ‘Rattlesnake’ beans and another new bush variety called, Verandon, which is a french fillet style of bean. I made a teepee out of bamboo. Notice the row cover in the background covering some of the cucumbers.

Here is the eggplant patches. They are doing well. The patch in the foreground has ‘Fairy’ eggplants in them, a variety that get 3″ long and are my favorite. Their skin is always tender and they are never bitter. You don’t have to soak them in salt water like some varieties-and they are beautiful-purple fading to white. I like to saute them in olive oil and throw them in a stir fry with noodles.

The patch in the back with me are a new variety of eggplant called ‘Rosa Bianca’ and next to it are 4 ‘Peperonchino’ peppers that are growing well.

This year I planted rhubarb among the asparagus plants. I found them this spring at one of the nurseries and they were the sorriest plants I’ve ever seen at that time. They say they grow well with asparagus. Now they are beautiful! Seem to like their location. On the left is row cover I use to help protect new flower seedlings. I take it off in the day and back on at night. Once they get a little bigger, I take it off completely.

The biggest disappointment of the garden so far. The ‘Shishito’ peppers are still slow but finally don’t look sick any more. Still small and something ate some of them so they are really small but they will come back. Some of them are producing buds. No wonder they are so expensive at the SF Farmers market-they are not so easy to grow..

Overall I am very pleased with the tomatoes this year. They are doing well. Everything is done except for my scheduled organic fungicide spraying every 10 days-especially now that the monsoons appear to be here. I’ve only lost 2 tomato plants and another 3 are suspicious. I will cover those with some row cover in case they have something contagious but if I think they are dying I will pull them pronto. Notice this picture taken from the some angle as on May 15th below-when I first planted them-they have come a long way!

It has proved to be a more challenging year what with the lack of rain for so many months but I feel confident  for all of us with some more rain we will have a good garden this year.

costoluto genevese tomato

Squash bugs/squash vine borer preventatives

I get a lot of questions about how to control squash bugs. They are a veggie gardener’s nemesis. I have read and tried several things and think a few help. Here’s a list of things you might try to control squash bugs and squash vine borers.

squash bug

Squash bugs
Squash bugs attack both summer and winter squash. They pierce it and suck out the juices. If left unchecked, they can take over and destroy the plant. The key to control is catching them right away. Here are some thing s to try:
-Plant onions around squash to help repeal them. I planted little sets around the squash last year and I got a few but not a lot. Very controllable.
-Make an onion spray to put on leaves. Fill blender with water and add a couple of onions.      Blend onions and let them sit overnight. Strain onions out and put in sprayer to spray squash plants.
-Put row cover over young plants till they flower, then remove so they can get pollinated.
-Hand pick every 7 days and remove eggs, nymphs and adults from leaves. Put in bucket of soapy water. Then cover plants again with row cover. Squash bugs life cycle from egg to nymph is 7-10 days so keep ahead of them.
-Spray Neem Oil on squash when you have to keep them uncovered for pollination. Neem is an effective repellant.
-Plant late like the first couple of weeks of July-you may miss their lifecycle.
-Rotate squash into different beds, They may not find you. First time squash growers generally get the first year free of squash bugs. Afterward the bugs find you and the battle is on.

squash vine borer

Squash Vine Borer
This bug is not suppose to be west of the Rocky Mountains and yet it has been seen around here damaging and killing squash plants. It likes to bore into the main stem around the base of the plant to lay its eggs which then turn ito larvae inside the vine and eat it from the inside. Look for sawdust like  particles around base if plant suddenly wilts. You can try to slit the vine parallel  (not across it) and dig out the grub and then tape the wound shut. It may survive. Here are some things to try:
-Once again cover them until pollination needs to happen.
-Wrap aluminum foil around the base of the vine for about 12 inches to keep them from attacking it.
-Also bury the vine with dirt or mud covering the main vine.

Using Organic Fungicides-the Key to Success? Stay Ahead of Disease

 I think the key to preventing many diseases in the vegetable garden is using organic fungicides early-before the onset of visible problems. I am using ‘Companion’ (order online) as a drench around the roots and ‘Serenade’  (get at Agua Fria Nursery only) as a foliar spray on the leaves. I had today off so I used them again. I’ve been using them about every 2 weeks.  I’m looking for less tomato loss this year and hope by keeping up on my fungicide schedule, it will help. I use this combo also on the giant pumpkins and squash and they are looking good so far also. I will cut off any suspicious leaves or branches as well as use fungicides  (see mottled leaf on bottom of picture) Of course we haven’t had any rain yet to speak of to really test them (fungal diseases love moist enviroments) so we will see…

Las Conchas Fire Grows to 43,000 Acres this Morning June 27 2011

Las Conchas fire view from house overlooking Santa Fe at night June 26

So I know this is a gardening blog but want to share some pictures of the newest fire up by Los Alamos that is affecting all of us here in Santa Fe even though we are in no danger.  It is now BURNED OVER 43,000 ACRES and is within one mile of the lab.  Yesteday it was at 3000 acres. You can see it from the house. The view last night was spectacular. When I woke up this morning, there is lots of ash on my cars and a gray shroud of smoke over us. All photos taken by Elodie Holmes.

Las Conchas fire yesterday June 26 at about 8 pm driving back to the house.

Las Conchas fire from tea house area at house

Las Conchas smoke sitting heavy over Santa Fe this morning June 27

Las Conchas ash on cars this morning June 27

Tomato care in June

The Wall of Waters are all off the tomatoes now. I used Companion fungicide as a drench. They got a little wet in the Wall of Waters and I wanted to make sure they wouldn’t come down with early blight while gone on my trip. I also sprayed on the foliage Serenade, which is a foliar fungicide. So one end gets the drench and the other end gets the foliar spray. I figure if you zap them both ways, I should have better protection. When I came back,  all looked good except one which was diseased so I tossed it in the garbage, not the compost. Don’t leave diseased plants in the ground to possibly pass on diseases to healthy plants. Then I staked them all up with bamboo stakes and tied up the branches. I cut off any branches that touched the ground so as to not spread any soilborne diseases. Next I had to redefine my wells and put straw over the well to conserve water, help with evaporation and keep soilbourne diseases from splashing up on the tomato plants. Afterward I decided to sterilize my tomato cages since I had some loss due to diseases last year. Might be overkill but I want to be cautious this year before I put them over this year’s tomatoes-don’t want to spread any diseases. I used a 10% solution in a gallon of water (that’s about 1 .75 cup bleach to one gallon water) and sprayed my cages with a hand sprayer. Now I need to put the cages over the tomato plants and start picking off suckers that are showing up. Arrgh, a gardener’s work is never done…

All this work for this..

Virginia Sweet Tomato

Teaching ‘ORGANIC PEST AND DISEASE CONTROLS’ class-Tomorrow-June 25

Photo Courtesy of Homegrown New Mexico

Tomorrow (Saturday) I teach an ORGANIC PEST AND DISEASE CONTROLS CLASS-JUNE 25 for vegetable gardeners at the  Milagro Community Gardens from 9 am-10:30am put on by HOMEGROWN NEW MEXICO organization. I will cover organic insecticides for various insect control and other organic methods to control many insects. I will also cover identification of many diseases and organic disease control. LOCATION: Milagro Community Garden on Legacy and Rodeo Road.  Turn on Legacy and the parking lot is on the right, behind the Lutheran Church.

Home Grown New Mexico, a non-profit organization, creates venues where individuals, businesses and organizations that support home grown food production can exchange products, ideas and expertise. The vision is to enable New Mexicans to take personal responsibility for growing, raising, making and storing healthy food. For more information on them go to: http://www.homegrownnewmexico.org/

Here are pdfs of all my handouts for the class for those interested:

ORGANIC CONTROLS IN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN

ORGANIC INSECTICIDE CONTROLS

ORGANIC DISEASE CONTROLS

TOMATO DISEASES

PLANT RECIPES

As a bonus here are 2 more pdfs that were not available in the class but are available here.

SQUASH BUG PREFERENCE CHART

ATTRACTING BENEFICIAL INSECTS

I escaped the heat for awhile..

Williams Creek Reservoir (in background) and pond (foreground)

Took a few days off from everything. I’m back after a wonderful flyfishing trip in the Colorado mountains and then down to San Juan River in New Mexico for a few days. My soul desperately needed some green grass to look at since it looks more and more like a desert here with no rain for months. Just what the doctor ordered. I noticed on the drive up once we hit Chama the countryside got lush and green with all that grass and stayed green all through Colorado. We went up to Williams Creek Reservoir, CO outside Pagosa Springs to float tube. Ahh, nice and cool and caught and released many fish-Brookies, Rainbows, Cutthroats, Cuttbows, and Kokanee Salmon. Wonderful time until we heard 50 mph winds and snow and rain were forecasted for Sunday night with temperatures in the 20’s°F. Too cold for me so then we went down to my favorite fly fishing spot, the San Juan River right here in New Mexico. Back to drier climate again but the temperature was balmy: 75°F in the day with temps dropping into the mid-40’s°F at night-delightful! Also caught many fish there and got some dry fly fishing in too. Here are a few pictures.

View from campsite with lake in background

Skunkweed at lake

Trout at San Juan River

Long gourds trellis

Baby long gourd plants-4 inches tall

Here are the baby long gourd plants that hopefully will grow into giant long gourds! I can’t imagine it. They’re so small!

Long gourd trellis in garden

Here is the giant long gourd trellis that Caleb and I built that will offer support to the long gourd plants that will grow up it. Yea right! It is 10 feet tall and about 3 feet wide. I can’t imagine growing a long gourd that tall much less even think about those teeny weeny little plants going all the way to the top of this gigantic trellis but it will be fun to try! I guess I better move the ladder down to the garden…

long gourds growing on trellis (not mine!)

Here are some pictures of the 2007 world record long gourd that reached just over 127 inches that another person grew. The plant is really beautiful. In the picture above the long gourd was so tall they had to dig a hole in the ground so it would keep growing straight! If it hits the ground it will start to curl.

looking up inside a trellis (not mine!)

Looking up at the gourds from inside a trellis-Beautiful!

Here is a picture looking up through the trellis at the long gourds. This looks so lush! I wonder what I will be able to do in this desert!?

The current world record for long gourd is a whopping 135 inches tall-that’s just over 11 foo tall. Now that’s a lot of gourd! Wish me luck-I’m going to need it!

Giant pumpkin care today

chop sticks help push the giant pumpkin vine down

If you were crazy enough try to grow giant pumpkins this year, here is some advice from this obsessive giant pumpkin grower!

To grow a giant pumpkin, you must BABY them. They need a lot of CARE. It’s like RAISING A VERY LARGE CHILD or more like JABBA THE HUT. You don’t go out and just throw some seeds in the ground and expect to grow a record pumpkin. You wouldn’t be able to go out and become a world boxing champ without training, lots of proper food and working up for it and so it is with giant pumpkins. A person asked me last year at the GPC (Great Pumpkin Commonwealth) weigh-off in Colorado Springs, Co how do I grow them? I asked him if he planted some and he said, “Yes, but they didn’t do anything”. So I asked him if he amended the soil, had them on a fertilizer program, used organic fungicides for diseases, did any preventative insect control or hand pollinated them just for starters. He said, “No, I didn’t do any of that. I just put the seeds in the ground”. I told him that’s probably why he wasn’t successful. Then he asked me, “What do you feed these big pumpkins?” For which I responded looking at his kid, “Small children”! Then he grabbed his child and ran off! The point being you must be some kind of nut to want to grow these behemoths!

Today I fertilized the pumpkin plants, greenie and marrows with Seaweed and Fish emulsion and added Super Thrive since I took off the shade cloth and they have to adjust again.  Mind you they still have a low tunnel over them and another layer of row cover directly on them but I am now weaning them off so much protection since they have gone through their first adjustment well and I see new growth. I also started them on ‘Companion’, an organic fungicide, which helps ward off  fungal diseases. All these things go in a bucket of water so it’s easy to apply. They are still taking 1/2 gallon of water a day. I also put chop sticks over the stem (see photo), making an ‘x’ with them, gently pushing the vine down towards the ground. Push the sticks with the plant  a little farther towards the ground every few days until the plant is lying on the ground. If you let them stay tall, they could snap off in the wind so I must train them to lay low! This pumpkin plant in the picture comes from the same one that last year grew the 2010 NM State Record. I also have it’s cousin plant (who comes from a bigger pumpkin), but this plant is already much bigger than it’s cousin. I love this seed!

Tomatoes are doing excellent in Wall of Waters

tomatoes coming out of wall of waters

All of my tomatoes that are in Wall of Waters are kicking ass right now, many of them outgrowing the Wall of Waters  (WOW) and needing me to take the WOW off. The 2 tomatoes that didn’t have Wall of Waters (I ran out) are struggling, even under row cover for protection. It is amazing to me how good the tomatoes do inside those wall of waters and how poorly they do without them. The Wall of Waters act like little greenhouses and are worth every dollar they cost. As a result almost all of my tomatoes have a great head start on the season. I know I’ve talked about them before, but they are worth a mention again. If you want to be really successful with tomatoes, I think you must get these and use them when you first transplant.

Planting Giant Pumpkins-In ground- June 1!

Giant pumpkin inside low tunnel

On Wednesday  I transplanted the giant pumpkins in Bri’s Pumpkin Patch here at the property.

Bri, my horsey, is no longer with me. Last year I used her 2000 sq foot corral as the giant pumpkin patch and I got a New Mexico State Record-421 lbs for Giant Pumpkin last year. I think she is watching over them! I miss her terribly.

Here’s how I plant the pumpkin transplants that I started in the house.

1. First I dig out an area about 4 feet around and 1-2 feet deep where their root system will grow. This year I added generous amounts of compost, 1/2 cup of mycorrhizal, 1 cup humate, and 1 cup of worm castings and mixed it into the area. (I did not add any fertilizers as my soil test I had done in Spring said I was high in nitrogen, potassium, and potash, which is your basic fertilizer ingredients. (This is weird because the pumpkins usually use up all available nutrients by the end of the season. The only thing I did last fall was put some chicken manure on top of the ‘holes’. I didn’t even dig it in but I think the nutrients leached into the soil from the winter snows and increased the levels.)

2. Then I dig a small hole where I place the pumpkins and I add another handful of worm castings and 1/2 cup more of mycorrhizal (it’s dry granule stuff) and mix them together. This way the castings and mycorrhizal will be right in the immediate root zone in the beginning and the bigger amended area will be accessible as the root system grows.

3. I carefully peeled off the peat pot including the bottom so not to disturb the roots but if the pumpkin is root bound, I must carefully squeeze the roots to loosen them up so they can grow outwards. This year I didn’t have to do that. I placed the pumpkins in the bottom of the hole opposite the first true leaf so it grows in the direction I want and put the amended soil back around the root ball. I make a well around the plant so I can add water right to the root zone.

4. In a 5 gallon bucket, I added 1 tsp/1 gallon of water of liquid seaweed and about 3 drops of Super Thrive/1 gallon of water which helps immensely with transplant shock. Super Thrive is super expensive and super good. It has lots of the B vitamin complex in it which helps with stress-just like for us! I first watered the well 2x to make sure all the soil was soaked around the plant, then I added the liquid seaweed/thrive in water to the well.

5. I put the Seaweed and Thrive with the water in each day for about 5 days, then afterwards I normally give them water with fish emulsion once a week but for now since my nitrogen is high I will wait awhile. I do water every day with about a 1/2 gal of water right now.

6. I don’t put fertilizers in the water every time I water, normally just once a week. I will also add other things to the water once a week but will discuss that as I go along in the season. I still have to do a drip system for the pumpkins and will hand water them until I get it up and running.

7. I cover the transplant with a small piece of row cover to help it in it’s transition with the intense sun and wind and keep rabbits away. I tack it down with rocks.

8. On Thursday I put the low tunnels I previously made over the already covered pumpkins to protect them from the heat and wind even more.  Low tunnels are like high tunnels but only go over the plants. You can’t walk inside them-they are low!  They will stay on till the plants grow out of them at the end.  So far they are looking good. The soil is nice and warm at 70°F.

9. Saturday (today) I put the shade covering over the low tunnels as the sun is sooo intense right now. I can take it off once they adjust to the outside elements.

Can any pumpkin become a Giant Pumpkin?

Christy Harp with her 2009 World Record Giant Pumpkin-1725 lbs!

Can ANY pumpkin grow super big if you feed it a lot? The answer is no. Just as there are varieties of tiny pumpkins (like Tom Thumb-2 lbs), there are varieties that grow medium size (field pumpkins-15-25 lbs), big size varieties (Big Max-100 lbs) and then there is ONE variety that grows RECORDS-STATE AND WORLD RECORDS! The current Atlantic Giant Pumpkin World Record is 1810 lbs, grown by Chris Stevens of Wisconsin. The picture above is of Christy Harp of Ohio who held the record in 2009. This picture just shows you how big they are! They say someone will hit the 2000 lb mark within a couple of years but it won’t be me. I don’t live in an area that would be conducive to that-too short of growing season here in Santa Fe. It was hard enough growing a giant pumpkin 421 lbs last year here. Of course I’m trying to break my own record again this year!

Now that we are (finally) getting into giant pumpkin season, I will share my techniques for growing them throughout the season. Stayed tuned…

Main Garden is planted BUT…

The main garden is planted except for a couple of seeds. Yea! BUT the new drip system manifold isn’t working so I must take it back to Firebird to see what I did wrong in the setup. I’ll have to wait until Tuesday as Monday is a holiday. Meanwhile I’ll hook up the old system again so I don’t have to water the whole garden tomorrow by hand-what a dreadful thought! I use to like to hand water but since the garden has gotten so big and I saw how the garden did so much better on a drip system, I feel it is the only way to go nowadays. Besides it saves a ton of water which is important in the high desert of Santa Fe.

Planting, planting, planting…

Well, if you are wondering why I haven’t been posting, it is because I’ve been out PLANTING, trying to get the last of the garden in. So far, I have 70 tomato plants, ‘Rattlesnake’ pole beans around my trellis, 4 ‘Pepperocini’ pepper plants, 16 eggplants, 2 rhubarbs and put additional wall of waters around all of the tomatoes and created some new drip sections for all these.

Tomorrow (Sunday) goes in 12 shishito pepper plants, bush bean seeds, pole bean seeds, 4 different types of cucumbers seeds, ornamental japonica corn, flowers and a new drip system manifold (I take a deep breath now) I hope to get this done (early-way early!) before the BIG WINDS come in AGAIN and make life MISERABLE….

Monday goes in 2 giant pumpkins, 1 giant greenie squash, 2 giant marrows and a giant pear gourd go in. The long gourds will have to wait till I make them a trellis later this week or next.

Phew! It is always such a big push in spring to get things in the garden and fall come harvest time. The rest of the time I feel like I’m just cruising in the garden! All this on 4000 sq feet of garden which is only 1/10 of an acre…