Getting It Done

It has been a good week for cleaning up the garden. Each day except Thursday I was out and cleaned up one full bed. I also got the morning glories cleaned off the compost pile. The above beds were done on Monday and Tuesday. I usually crop off the houses in the distance, but then people get shocked when they find out I live in an urban environment. This shows a little of where we live. My neighbors are pretty close. My last house had a half an acre mostly in woods. This one has 9000 sqft which is shared by two townhouses. Most of my garden is in the side yard. It abuts my neighbors driveway which comprises the whole of their side yard. Interestingly enough our side yard was fairly similar when we bought the house. We had to rip out driveway to put in part of the garden.

These two got done on Wednesday and Friday. Some is still left in the one bed as it is a cover crop of oats, peas, and vetch. It is patchy since I put it in as something was pulled out. The oats and peas will die over the winter and the vetch will get turned under in the spring. You can see in the background the tomato plant still in. I've got to pull that bed. Mostly it is random cilantro and mustards that are growing, but there is a little cover crop and some carrots.

I didn't think these carrots would have enough time/sun to produce. The sections near the fence get less sun than the section near the path. The trees and the neighbor's house shade it much earlier in the fall than the other side. But it is an experiment. I want to see how big they get. If they do fairly well I might be able to use the fence section for fall carrots if I get them in soon enough. My other option is to put some of the fence section in blueberries instead of veggies. They will do well with a little shade in the spring and fall. And I find that my area to grow things is just a little too large for vegetables. I'm allowing sections to be unproductive at times and I just don't care. That means I have too much space. I suppose this isn't a terrible thing. At my last garden I was always wanting more.

Fall Clean Up

I just started my major fall clean up yesterday. It always happens around the first frost. The bed on the left I did yesterday. The bed on the right I'll do today. The bed I took down was the bean bed so it took some time. I harvested all the beans left including any that were at the shelling beans stage. And I took down the trellis. I also got the sunflowers down and a few other odds and ends cleaned up. I put on my cat protectors (tomato cages), but forgot that I was going to use some bird netting instead. It keeps the cats out better and looks nicer. Sadly it is too late for a cover crop. I ought to get my crops out a couple weeks earlier. Then it would have plenty of time to get started before the ground freezes.

This is another set of beds that need to be cleaned up. The closest one actually has a scattering of cover crop. Where ever I took out plants I put in a cover crop at that time. But if you look closely you will see a flower on the zucchini.

Yup I've got several of them blooming right now. So the plant isn't dead, just most of the leaves. And if you look to the right you can see some mache coming up. I just tossed some old seed in to see if it any would germinate. I didn't have new seed. It turns out that both varieties germinated. So I'll get to see if Golden Corn Salad (from Michelle years ago) is hardy here. It is more tender than the regular variety. Of course I put it in the wrong spot. I really didn't think they would grow. So I'll have to transplant some next spring if I want to collect seed.

The last chore was to take off the row cover on the carrots. I'll have to harvest the majority of them and take down the last of the beans next week as this is where my garlic is getting planted. I'm hoping with a bit more light they might size up a little more. Hopefully the carrot flies were taken down by the frost. I'll be sad if I'm wrong about that. But the carrot bed just isn't getting light anymore. It loses its sun before noon and the days are short. So I want to give it as much of a chance as possible.

Preparing for Fall

I get asked a lot of questions about how many hours a day I have to work to keep the garden up. I really haven't a clue, but most days I don't spend more than an hour in the garden each day and many days are much less. When it was hot out I just ignored the garden except to pick and water. In the height of spring planting I was good about doing no more than half of one of my long beds each day. So I only did one 4'x8' section. Yesterday on the other hand was different. The forecast called for on and off rain for four days and cooler temperatures. It was perfect weather for putting in some fall crops and getting others to germinate. So I spent several hours working in the garden. I was out at 6:30am and worked until 10:30am with just a short breakfast break. I was trying to beat the rain which was scheduled to start at 11am. If you look at the photo above I started with the half bed closest to the fence.

It had a nice cover crop of crab grass growing which I had to rip out. But what I wanted was a real cover crop. After loosening the soil up I thought about how I wanted to sow it. I wasn't sure which way would give the best germination, but I tried two ways. In the photo I took out some soil and then sowed the seed and covered it up by an inch. In the next four foot section I just scattered the seed and raked it into the soil. I hope that one works out best. It is a lot less work than removing the soil. At my last house I had clay soil and the raking strategy worked well. I was worried that it might not be enough for my sandy soil here. But we will see.

The cover crop that I sowed was a couple of years old. I did a small germination test on it to see if it would sprout. After two days I saw that the peas would sprout just fine and saw a few little root tips on the vetch and oats, so I figured I'd just see how it worked outside and not buy new.

The half of the bed closest to the path was weeded, fertilized, and loosened up. I sowed kale seed in this bed. I often start the fall seed indoors, but I figured I had enough wet and cool weather to get them started outside this year. I hope so. Sometimes the little brassica seedlings can just fall over and die when the weather gets too hot. I sowed three rows. One row of Dwarf Curly Kale. One row of a mixed kale which turned out to be mostly Red Russian. One row of Winterbor. I don't know if the dwarf kale will come up since it is old seed and I didn't do a germination test on them. I've got my fingers crossed. I put a row cover on it since I didn't want the "torrential" rain that was predicted last night to wash away the seed. Well we got no rain last night. But it will be good when they are small to keep the cabbage butterflies off. I want to give them a leg up before I take off the cover. Or maybe I'll be kind and put some supports on later and give them a real cover.

Next up were the carrots. I saw that some were germinating under their burlap. It took them only six days to germinate. I find they germinate much faster in the summer than in the spring. I didn't have the row cover up before because I wanted to be able to get in and water everyday. But now that they have started the row cover had to get up. Last fall the carrot flies really damaged my carrots. So this year they get covered. I might sow some more in another spot, but those won't get a cover. I only have so many covers to go around.

I've really let a lot of the weeds take over the beds that were going to get planted up soon. This bed had a mulch of composted horse manure. The weeds here were much different than in the rest of the garden. Regardless they all came down and the soil was fertilized and prepared.

I had hardened off my fall brassicas. I had some Brussels sprouts and a storage cabbage both of which I might have started too late for them to produce. Then I had some early cabbage, kohlrabi, and some Asian greens. I planted them all out. I think I might have planted them too close together. I hope not. After they got my last good row cover over them.

In the batch of seedlings I had some Summertime lettuce started. So I put that out in the lettuce bed that I seeded previously. In that bed the mustards were already coming up, but no sign of the lettuce yet. Hopefully it will be cool enough this coming week for them to germinate. But you never know. The forecasters have been terrible for my area. Yesterday it was supposed to be cool and rainy with a high of 79F. It barely rained and the high was 87F. We have had a lot of that this last week.

I did some other chores before leaving the garden. I did a little weeding. I did some harvesting. The harvest that took a while was the dried beans. I was shocked to find that there were some already done. Mostly the Tiger Eye had finished up, but I got a few Yellow Eye and Jacob's Cattle. I've never had dried beans be dry in July. That is just unheard of. And it wasn't like I planted early. They were planted mid May, which is pretty typical for me. Usually dried beans take about 90-110 days to produce which would be mid August to mid September for a harvest. I've grown Tiger Eye before and I don't remember it being that early. So I looked it up. Indeed the Tiger Eye beans were early last time I picked too so they must be a really early dried bean. They say 80-90 days, but for me it was 75 this year and 70 the other year. Though they aren't the most prolific bean, they seem like they would be great for short season areas. Or at least my version of the seed which seem earlier than the catalogs say.

The last chore before I came in was to take the garlic down from the shed. By this time it was drizzling. So I brought it in inside a garbage bag. Usually I would clean the garlic outside, but since it was supposed to be wet for a while, I did it inside and then cleaned the floors. To make the garden kitchen worthy I had to get the dirt off. So I clipped off the tops first, then the roots. Then I peeled the outermost layer off. Every layer your garlic has helps to keep it from rotting. But I don't like to have dirt brought into my kitchen when I'm cooking so I always discard the outer most one. I ended up with three piles of garlic. The biggest and best were saved to plant in October. Most ended up in a mesh bag hanging in the basement for future garlic. And the last pile were any bulbs that were damaged or didn't have the good covering layers of skin. I find that there are always a few were I can see the cloves. Those won't store at all. In addition this year I had a good amount that were bruised. I wonder how that happened. I'll have to be more careful next year. But this last group will all be used first.

You would think that I would be done for the day, but I wanted to take the beans out of their pods. I just love the look of the Tiger Eye. They are a fabulous bean as they are so tender when cooked. If only they produced more I'd grow them every year. But I'm starting to think I could do a rotation that would give me a chance to grow an early crop and a late crop since they will produce in 75 days. If I do that I'll have to save a bit of seed. I only had 25 seeds when I planted this crop so they only got a very small section of bed. If I want to do two 4'x8' beds of them, I'd have to save most of these seeds. But if the rotations worked out it would make this bean a very worthwhile bean. The only issue I see is that in both years that they cropped early were years of record heat. Both 2010 and 2012 were very very hot. In a normal year would it work? Or would they crop in 85 days in colder years? I always find pushing the seasons a dilemma. I don't want to sacrifice my main crop of things. But if I push it just a bit would my harvest be that much larger? Do you tend to play it safe or risky in gardening?

Preparing for Tomatoes

Yesterday was a huge day in the garden. A lot got done, but this post is just about the morning. My morning chore was to start preparing the tomato bed. When I started it was covered in vetch. I wanted to wait to prepare this bed so the vetch could grow well in spring. And grow it did.

Usually one just cuts vetch to the ground when it starts to flower. This kills the plant, but there are no flowers yet and vetch will easily grow back from the roots in other stages of its growth, so I pulled the plants up roots and all. The roots are amazing. When I was pulling the plants out they just didn't want to let go. I had to dig them out. They were just covered in little nitrogen nodules. I didn't get half the roots out, but I think enough. Especially since this bed will get double dug soon. The vetch was spread out to dry. I'll use it as mulch for my tomatoes once they get established unless the worms eat them first.

And speaking of worms, for some reason there were fewer worms in this section of garden, especially where the vetch was the thickest. Do worms not like vetch? Usually when I dig the worms are just everywhere. They existed here, but mostly where the vetch was thinner.

My next problem and main chore for the day was to remove the frame around this bed. This is the one place where I have a lumber frame. It is done in 2x8 cedar and has a hardware cloth bottom. Oh how I regret putting this in. You can't dig when there is a bottom to the bed. And more to the point, I can't grow carrots when the bed is only 7" deep.

I dug all the soil out of the frame and piled it up. There wasn't much space to pile it. Most of the garden was planted or mulched nearby. So I carefully made the pile as it got bigger so it wouldn't collapse. I even brought out the wheelbarrow and one of my pails.

After removing most of the soil I still had trouble levering it up. The maple tree roots - the bane of my existence in this garden - had grown through the wire and were holding it down. The image of an evil creature with long bony fingers holding the wire down came to mind. I had to cut them all off before lifting it up. The cutting would have been easier without that image fixed in my head. Luckily it was the full light of day, so I didn't keep looking over my shoulder at my evil Norway maple tree.

The cedar edging which is about six years old is already starting to rot. The vetch and maple tree roots were quite attached and digging into the boards. I was thinking of using the lumber for a cold frame. I might not with all the rot. I'll think on it.

The next chore was to edge the raised side of the bed (the beds are all slightly terraced due to the slope of the land, one side is raised, the other level with the path). This time I'm edging with some logs I had gleaned from the woods over the last couple of weeks. Since they had already been cut to size, all I had to do was put them in place and wedge them in with some small rocks.

Now I have my work cut out for me. I was tired enough that I didn't want to start double digging today. To make the double digging less strenuous than last time, I'll put in a couple of hours a day until it is done. I'm hoping to have it done before I leave on my trip in a week and a half. I probably should have started earlier, as I still might have to put in a long day to finish.

For the Lack of Salt Marsh Hay

This year has been a little strange. My favorite little gardening center is going out of business. In the spring they didn't have as much variety as usual. The worst part was that they didn't have the salt marsh hay that I usually use as a mulch. They had something silly called Mainely Mulch - which I might point out is not from Maine despite the name. It is from Connecticut.

It is chopped hay that has been heated to get rid of the weed seeds. Sigh. I did unhappily buy it since I was lacking another choice at the time. I spread it on my garden paths. The seeds in it did sprout, but I have to say I was happy about it. They were clover and grass - basically cover crops. My dog loved the grass seed (oats or rye maybe), so she ate it all down. And the clover grew. And it grew some more. Right now it covers the edge of my paths making my garden look lusher than it otherwise would. It is trying to go to seed, but I'm resisting it, snipping the pretty purple flowers off as they grow.

I actually wouldn't mind my paths going into clover permanently, but I think dutch clover would be better. It is so much shorter. I need a new source of salt marsh hay. I'll have to keep my eye open.

Soil Coverings

I've been looking at my chilies for a while now thinking I ought to pick the ripe ones. Today I finally got around to it. It really isn't as important that I pick them now. The rains are gone so they won't rot on the plant. In fact they would probably dry beautifully on the plant. But I like to string them. They decorate my kitchen until I use them. This string was much longer than the last. There were quite a few peppers to pick. The photo shows only half my plants.

I've been watching my peas slowly grow. I was hoping for snap peas, but I think that I have snowpeas once again. The first pea pod is almost ready to pick. And the second one (toward the bottom of the photo) is not far behind.

The big work of today's garden was ripping out the plastic under the peppers and tomatoes and planting the fall cover crop. With the lack of sun, they are all slowing down except those super chili peppers that will keep it up until they are truly frozen. Nothing stops those plants. But I think my garden will get more out of a cover crop than having plastic on the ground.

Plastic sucks as a ground cover in a lot of ways. It harbors slugs. They love to live under the plastic. The slug trail I mentioned a few days ago came from the plastic sheeting under the tomatoes and went to my beans and Asian greens.

It also seems to mess up my soil structure. The ants take up residence and turn the top into a fine powder that won't soak up water. The worms hate the over heated soil and go away. So why do I use it? Well it helps prevent blight in our blight ridden corner of the world. Blight is transmitted by soil splashing up on the leaves. If you prevent that you can prevent blight. You can also do it by putting on a very thick mulch, but tomatoes like heat. Mulch keeps the soil cool and the plants don't grow as well.

Now that the tomato season is winding down, I want to fix my soil before the salad crops get rotated in next year. A cover crop is a great way to do this. My cover crop is a mix of hairy vetch and oats. I inoculate the vetch before seeding it. It uses the same inoculant as peas. I could probably get away without this. I didn't inoculate my peas this spring and they still set nodules on their roots. I think that the Rhizobia bacteria is in my soil already. As long as you have wet soil it will live for a long time. But I still like to make sure, so I inoculated them. And while I was doing cover crops, I seeded some in the summer squash area. The plants have wandered out of their beds and the old leaves have died. The soil is bare, but not for long.

Pumpkin Reprieve

Today I noticed the mildew starting to take over the cucurbits again. The older leaves always get hit first. I mercilessly hacked off more leaves starting at the bottom. I have about ten feet of pumpkin vine defoliated. My yellow summer squash looks kind of funky since it is now in the path and no longer in its bed. I think I ought to cover crop that section too. I'll get to it, but not today. As I hacked off leaves I did see that the borers are in my summer squash. Frass can be seen everywhere. The writing is on the wall for these plants.

This is very normal around here. The vine borers move in and it weakens the plants enough that the mildew kills them off. I'm trying to keep the any leaves with mildew picked off. It should help keep it from spreading. I'm thinking they have just one or two weeks left of life. Now don't feel sorry for me. If they do make it that long it will be a record for my summer squash. I've always lost it in the middle of August before. And wonder of wonders they are still producing. I picked two zucchini today.

I do have my two late planted summer squash, again one of zucchini and one yellow. They won't get borers so I'm hoping they can withstand the mildew. This might just be wishful thinking since I've had to clip one leaf off today. Luckily tomorrow is spray day, so that ought to help them. They are still so tiny and are only producing male blossoms.

I've never done a late planting before. It will be interesting to see if the experiment works. I'm wondering if it is really worth it or not though. I saved a 4'x4' planting space for them (which I should have cover cropped in the spring but didn't, or at least grown onions or something there). Zucchini is so productive it is worth the experiment. I didn't weigh my summer squash - next year, but I have gotten a lot. I doubt a fall crop will be as productive since it is cold and not as sunny.

Yesterday I was talking about ripping my pumpkin plant up. This morning I was weeding the perennial bed (where the pumpkin vine has sprawled) and lo and behold there was a pumpkin that I couldn't see from inside the fence. It is nestled next to my iris and on top of my daphne (which I only grow because I like the name ;). It is 3 1/2" long so far. So the pumpkin vine has been given a pardon and will live - or at least be allowed to die slowly, since that seems to be its unenviable fate. We might actually get a pumpkin this year. It is still not guaranteed, but we now have a chance. That made my daughter ecstatic and me too since I love pumpkin pie and these are pie pumpkins.

Pumpkins or Cover Crops?

I've been contemplating ripping my pumpkin vine out and putting in a cover crop. It has yet to set any pumpkins. All of the female flowers have fallen off due to stress (vine borers and mildew). But every time I think about it, I look at the flowers. My bees are so happy with the pumpkin blossoms. Plus they help to fertilize my summer squash.

So instead of ripping them up, today I just sowed the cover crop over the area. When it germinates I might pull the pumpkins up, or I might wait until the cover crop is a little bigger. The pumpkin vine is not in its planting spot anyway. The vine took off over the fence into the perennial border and the old leaves have all died off, so that patch of ground is bare - but not for long.

I tend to cover crop my garden sporadically. If the area is bare and I don't plan on planting anything for the fall, I'll put something in - provided I have seeds on hand. This year I remembered to order seed so I'm all set. In the past I've used vetch and rye, both are hardy in my climate over the winter. But rye is allelopathic (puts out chemicals the inhibit growth of other plants). Sadly it is the only winter hardy grain here. But UMass Extension has done some research on production, and even though oats die off over the winter it still makes the best pairing with vetch. So this year it is oats and vetch.