garden lessons

If there’s one thing I’m learning through gardening, it’s patience.  I used to like to think I was patient but not too long ago I realized I was confusing “patient” for “stubborn”.  I am, after all, an Aries.  We are stubborn by nature.  Anyway, I am impatient. I want to see instant results.  I want mature plants.  I want tomatoes!  I’m so not good at waiting.  I can not wait to harvest all the yummy goodness and share the home grown love with family and friends.

I like to look out the window at my raised beds, oh, about 2,542,765 times a day.  I don’t know if I expect to see something different from the last time I looked – like 10 minutes prior – or if it’s because it’s just something to look at… our backyard is begging for some landscaping.

At first there was noticeable growth and progress among the plants.  Things sprouted, grew a little taller, filled out…  Two’ish weeks ago it seemed like things kind of stalled.  The beans were still growing but weren’t as green as before.  The tomatoes weren’t doing much at all (except the Husky Cherry) and the Early Girls, especially, were losing color…  The corn was slowing down and some of the bottom leaves were yellowing.  Even the strawberries, which were so eager those first three weeks, seemed to peter out.  Which leads me to Lesson Two…

Soil tests are important. I could tell from looking at the tomatoes and corn that the soil was most likely lacking nitrogen.  I had purchased one of those soil test kits at the garden center recently so I pulled it out and began what felt like a seventh-grade science experiment in my kitchen.  pH was somewhere in the 6.0 range so nothing to worry about there.  Nitrogen, as suspected, was basically non-existent.  The water was supposed to turn some shade of pink and it was still clear after sitting the full five minutes.  The phosphorous level seemed fine according to the little color-comparison chart included with the kit.  The lack of nutrients was definitely the cause of my plants stalling.  So, here I’ve learned lesson three -

Plants like Fish Emulsion as a fertilizer. This stuff looks and smells as gross as you’re probably imagining.  Before I even tested the soil, I suspected low nitrogen.  So  I used the FE last week at half strength and in a day or two I could see a big difference in the tomatoes and strawberries.  They were much, much fuller and definitely greener from just that little bit!  So either the soil is super deficient or the plants are super hungry because the post-FE soil test showed it was still majorly lacking.

Also, I’ve been battling white flies on my bell pepper plants lately.   I have five total, in three different boxes, and none of them look too happy right now.  I’ve been spraying with neem weekly but we were getting rain for a while and it kept washing the neem away.  Strangely, the little buggers don’t seem to be bothering anything else.

I have to make a better effort to get back on track with my progress posts.  I skipped last week since I posted the Week 4 update so late due to  hosting company and a week of rain.  Must. Do. Better.

 

First tomato!

We got our very first ripe tomato today! I probably should/could have left it another day but I’ve been seeing cardinals and blue jays scoping out our yard and I’m not going to lose any tomatoes to them like last year!

 

Progress – Week 4

I know this post is now a week past due.  Crummy weather and a house guest this week made for little time in enjoying the internets.  I didn’t think there was much to report on but thinking back now, there is some small stuff happening.  Now that our guest has departed, I have some time for catching up.

Pictures.

Box 1 – Carrots, Onions, Basil, Peas, Bell Peppers, Mammoth Sunflowers

The peas are starting to take off!  They’re getting taller and fuller and have lots of little curly tendrils looking to climb.  I found a cheap trellis and put it in behind them but am I supposed to do anything else?  Do they just climb on their own or should I be encouraging them somehow?

The beans are…. growing.  The square I sowed last week sprouted – all but one came up so now we’ll have 17 plants.  I think we’ll probably have a lot of beans this year!

I thinned the carrots this week when it wasn’t raining.  The onions are chugging along – I had to coax the top of one back under the soil and then cover it up a little bit because the bulb was starting to show.

Box 2 – Tomatoes and one Petite Bell Pepper

The tomatoes are doing pretty well.  The Husky Cherry has a bunch of little tomatoes all over it and one of the hybrid-whose-name-I-still-forget is growing a nice little fruit.  I picked the blooms off all the rest of the plants for now until they get a little bigger.   The Early Girls are both looking a bit pale and yellowish-green.  Not really sure what’s going on with them.

Box 3 – Strawberries

A couple of small berries this week but nothing to write home about really.  Two of the plants are throwing out runners like crazy and all of the plants are starting to get taller and fill out some.

Box 4 – Corn and Bell Peppers

The corn is looking a tad spindly and some of the lowest leaves on a few of the plants have started turning yellowish-brown.  One of the plants has a leaf that has some… skelotonized?… looking spots on them.  I have no idea if this is a nutrition thing or a bug thing or what.  I watered with some fish emulsion earlier in the week thinking maybe the corn needed some nitrogen.  I have no idea if it’s going to help so I wait to see.  I wonder if I should side dress the stalks with the FE for a better, longer-lasting supply to the plant.

At least one of the pepper plants has white flies.  Nothing too terrible yet, I noticed they showed up after the rain we had this week.  I’m guessing the neem has washed away and maybe I’ll reapply tonight after the sun goes away making sure to really get the undersides of the leaves.

 

not garden related but very important!

~~PLEASE HELP FIND JACOB “JAKE” CABINAW~~

Please, please help spread the word!  For the latest information,  please join this group on Facebook - Find Jacob Cabinaw – or view the website his family created for him.

View the flyer from Texas Equusearch here.

I know this is not gardening related but it’s very important and I need to get the word out there to anyone who will read this.

My friend Julie’s brother-in-law, Jake, has been missing from the Traverse City, Michigan area since March 31.  He has not been seen or heard from since.  His car is also missing – a 2003 silver Chevy Malibu that has a damaged panel on the front passenger side.  Michigan license plate number is BKQ 4107.  His cell phone has not been used at all in the time he’s been missing and the carrier has not been able to triangulate it’s location.

The only leads have been some transactions on his debit card through Michigan and along I-20 in Texas (Fort Worth area) but authorities have not yet been able to locate any surveillance footage to see who has been using his card.  There may be more transactions forthcoming.  It is unlikely he has run off on his own and his family is fearing foul play is involved in his disappearance.

 

Progress – Week 3

On a whim yesterday, I decided to plant some peas.  They were looking pretty lonely at Lowe’s (yes, another trip) and I’ve never actually seen peas growing in a garden so I thought “why not?”.  After I got them home and did some reading up on them, I discovered they’re a cool weather crop and it may  be too late to plant them now.  Shoot.  Then again, Lowe’s didn’t have them last week but they did this week and I would hope they wouldn’t be selling transplants that are sure to fail in our climate.   Anyway, they’re in so we’ll see what happens.  There are 9 plants total and I placed them in Box 1, on the north side of the box so when they start growing up the trellis (that I don’t have yet) they won’t shade the rest of the plants in there.  In involved moving the basil, which didn’t seem thrilled about its relocation but is looking a little more settled today after a good night’s rest and a drink of water this morning.  I love when the plants seem happy.

Also in development, The Toddler and I planted two Mammoth Sunflowers this morning.  The basil is sandwiched between them (poor basil, like a stepchild) and I have no idea if they’ll be happy there but it was the best spot for them.  I need the last square for some additional bush beans in a week or two.  There are a few new tomatoes on the husky cherry and two on the hybrid.  Am I supposed to be picking off the early blooms for now to help the plant grow more later?  I have no idea…

I’m happy to report no more critters have come in the garden since plugging the hole under the fence and adding the critter cages as a barrier.  I’ve been using Neem Oil as a weekly preventative for the buggies but I can’t really tell how it’s doing.  Last year, in my sad attempt at container gardening, I was too late with the neem and lost two tomato plants to leaf miners (and one to a hornworm).  That sucked considering I only grew three plants and all three were lost… I am determined to not suffer such devastation again this year.

On to the good stuff…. pictures!

Peas. I never knew these little guys were so cute!

Box 1 - Bush beans, basil, carrots, onions, bell peppers and now home to two mammoth sunflowers

Box 2 - Tomatoes, now with cages around them. And a Toddler"mowing" with his new bubble mower.

Box 3 - Strawberries

Box 4 - corn and bell peppers

 

“critter cages”

I finished building one of the “critter cages” yesterday.  I don’t really know what else to call them but since I made it to keep the critters out… well, “critter cage” it is.  Unfortunately, someone out there doesn’t want me to finish this project easily as I ran out of wire on Tuesday and yesterday the staple gun stopped working.  It ran out of staples and after reloading it, it decided to just crap out.  There aren’t any staples jammed in there so I have no idea what’s going on with it.  The Hubs took a look last night and was also at a loss.  So I guess the rest of the project is on hold until I can either call Stanley Tools or maybe just return it to Target.  Argh.  I just bought the stupid thing, too!

Anyway, here is the finshed cage sitting on the strawberry box.  It’s 1/2″ galvanized mesh wire stapled to a 1″x2″x4′ pine frame and then I used plastic zip ties to join the corners.   I have to say I’m pretty darn proud of myself for how it came out!

critter cage over strawberries

zip ties to secure the corners

precious strawberry – now secure and cozy under its cage

Bush bean – getting taller and starting a new set of leaves!

There are some new corn shoots starting!  They took less than a week to germinate so the soil must have really warmed up with the beautiful weather we’ve been having.  I wish we weren’t three weeks behind where we should be now, though.  Hopefully I can protect them with another cage while they’re still small so they don’t fall victim to another squirrel…  when they get bigger I have some bird netting to put over them.  It won’t be attractive but I’m not really sure how else I can keep the ears safe from the critters.  I guess I have time to think of an alternative, though…

 

a new problem

Bunnies.

Yesterday morning I came downstairs to let the dog out and I saw this:

Right outside our back door!

He was in our yard three times yesterday!  One of the times he was running away from one of the boxes when I opened the door.  I don’t see any damage to the plants so I don’t think he had a chance to eat anything.  He was coming in through a hole under the back fence that leads out to the woods.  I had dug some concrete chunks out of the front yard the other day while digging up space for hostas and impatiens  so I shoved them under the fence in hopes of keeping Mr. Bunny out.  He’s cute and all but no thanks.  Not in my little garden boxes.

So I’m building mesh wire cages to go over the plants.  I found some 1″x2″x4″ pine at Lowe’s and made square frames out of them.  Today I had planned to attach the chicken/garden wire to them but I ran out halfway through the first box.   We were in a hurry the other night and I must have grabbed the wrong roll.  Another trip to Lowe’s…. I think I am going to single-handedly keep them in business this summer.

After some additional reading, I was pretty sure the tomatoes had Potato Virus Y so I took them out and replanted them with new ones yesterday.  The Husky Cherry already has three little tomatoes!  I can’t claim any credit for them but I’m still excited!  I did a little more research on varieties this time and was sure to pick ones that were resistant to pretty much everything Houston can throw at us.  I planted Roma, Early Girl, Husky Cherry and some hybrid whose name escapes me now.

I got some nice hanging baskets and impatiens for the back patio.  I planted three baskets but I really should have gotten a fourth…  I’ll just add that to the list for Lowe’s <rolls eyes>.  It’s nice to have some color on the patio and I think I’d really like to get some big planters to put around, too.  And maybe an outdoor rug to go under the furniture.  And a dining table.  And a new grill that works right.

Hey, a girl can dream, right?

 

Progress – Week 2

Week of April 4

Box 1 - bush beans, bell peppers, basil, carrots, onions

Box 2 - tomatoes

Box 3 - strawberries

Box 4 - corn and bell peppers. You can see the frame for the critter wire sitting on top of the box here.

More carrots!

Bush Bean

Cherry Tomato

 

the good, the bad and the ugly

The Good

We have carrots and beans sprouting! There was one lone carrot seedling yesterday and today there are a bunch!  And a handful of little bean sprouts poked their way through the soil yesterday.

Bush Beans

Bush Bean

carrot!

I have no idea why this picture keeps popping over to the right!

The Bad

I think all but one of the tomato plants is sick.  They’re not looking so good.  I’ve narrowed it down to a) stress from being transplanted, or b) potato virus Y.  I’ve given them a few days and they’re really not looking any better.  I don’t get it.  They were looking pretty happy earlier in the week and now they just don’t look right anymore.   The bottom leaves are yellowing and the tips are brown/dry.  Some of the branches and leaves droop and curl downward.  The veins in the leaves and the sepals have a dark purplish hue to them while the leaves themselves have kind of a mottled light green/dark green appearance.  They’re a mess!

sepal

sickly looking tomato

they look terrible!

sad, sad, sad

The Ugly

Oh, you thought the tomatoes were “the ugly”?  No, no, no, my friend…. I will show you Ugly.

Remember this guy?

“Happy corn”

This was “Happy corn” and his friends this afternoon:

Tragedy has befallen the corn :(

ARGH!

IT WAS A SQUIRREL!!!!  Ate all but two little Happy Corns!  Well, technically, I guess he didn’t eat them.  He pulled them out of the ground and then chewed the stalk.  What he did eat though, were any strawberries that were even the slightest bit red, which was probably four or five of them!  I was SO MAD!  I could’ve cried!   I thought it was bad enough when the dog chased a squirrel out of the strawberry bed this afternoon… I even texted The Hubs right after saying we need to build some sort of cage to go over top of the boxes to keep the critters out.  I never expected to come out 3 hours later to find a corn massacre and all my ripening strawberries missing.  Humph!!!!

 

happy corn

Happy corn