Tuesday, August 9, 2022
Week one of August is in the past, and the heat has returned. But while it is getting really hot during the day and not cooling down much at night, the sun is moving back to the south, so slowly, slowly it's decreasing in intensity.
I ended July with the promise to "just keep planting." So how is that working out?
The purple hull peas are now about eight inches high. They're way too thick, but I've not thinned them any at all and don't plan to. Cover crop, remember?
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| "Cover crop" of purple hull peas by the cucumber trellis. With the rain, an unexpected surprise...the Calendula have started blooming again! |
The pumpkin and spaghetti squash have come up, but since I didn't label them when I planted, I can't remember which is which. No matter...I doubt they'll have time to make anything anyway. Really, they're just something to grow in the blanks spots, right?
I had cut down the "east" row of corn stalks in each of my double rows of corn. Just for the record self, don't do that again unless you put in some drip tape or some kind of water pipe that doesn't have to be moved. It seemed like a good idea, but once the corn got taller, it was almost impossible to get the watering pipe down between them.
But I digress. After cutting the corn stalks I planted Kentucky Wonder beans thinking they could climb up the old corn stalks. Turned out they were Kentucky Wonder bush beans (I realized that when I saw the seeds at the feed store), but they didn't come up anyway. But no matter. When I planted them, I actually didn't think they would come up, because I vaguely remember planting some of those seeds last year with no luck. So last week I bought actual Kentucky Wonder pole bean seeds and planted those in the rows with the corn stalks instead. (Stupid me...when I was checking to see if the beans were coming up, I saw a few things that I thought were weeds and pulled them up. When I pulled the third one, I realized it was the sunflowers I had planted with the beans. Doh!!!!) The Google says Kentucky Wonder pole beans reach maturity in 67 days. So assume it takes a week for them to come up, it's going to be late October before they make anything...IF they make anything.
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| I planted Kentucky Wonder pole beans at the base of the corn stalks. I tried planting some kind of pole bean by the corn stalks last summer too, and that didn't work out very well. The stalks couldn't support the weight of the bean vines. Oh...and the deer ate the beans. |
I also planted broccoli, Brussel's sprouts, and more tomatoes - Arkansas Traveler from seeds I saved back in 2013, and more Rutgers. The Brassicas should have plenty of time to produce, but the tomatoes probably won't. I also started more yellow squash and some Marketmore 70 cucumbers. The old MM70 cucumber seeds I had must have been very old, because I never got a single one to sprout. So I bought a new packet and they were coming up within three days.
I set the squash plants out in the little raised bed where the lettuce and radishes were. Within two days, the squash bugs had already found them, but I'll just try to keep them picked out by hand. The cucumbers went in by the cattle panels where the cucumbers were in the spring, but on the opposite side, since the purple hull pea cover crop is on the other side.
The single surviving San Marzano tomato plant went out in the little raised bed with the squash today. With any luck, maybe it will make at least a couple of tomatoes so I can save some seeds. Not ideal, I know, because to really do seed saving right, you need to save from a minimum of five plants. But I figure if I can get a start of my own seeds, I should be able to buy another packet next spring to mix in with my seeds.
I tried again to start some Golden Bantam corn, but just like with my previous two attempts, germination was abysmal. I got four plants out of 45 seeds I planted. So today those four little seedlings were set out in the empty compost bin. Again, my goal is to try to get four ears of corn to mature so I can save my own seeds. I'm sure I'll end up buying more seeds this coming winter, but I won't get them from my local feed store.
I had planted some old sprouting potatoes in the spot where my failed broccoli experiment was last spring, but only one came up. So today, I took out some sprouted red potatoes to try again. The red ones look much "fresher" than the white ones did, so I'm pretty sure I'll see sprouts within a few days.
And finally, I pulled the black plastic back and planted grass in my garden. Sorghum Sudan grass seeds from greencover.com. I had hoped we'd get some rain, but like happens so often, the rain was all around us, but only a few sprinkles for us. So for two days now I've tried to water that patch of ground. I may have wasted my money on the seeds because of the way I planted them...I just broadcast them out onto the bare ground. But we'll see.
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| The area behind the cellar that was solarized under the black plastic has been planted with Sorghum Sudan grass, with three rows of black oil sunflower. |
Why plant the Sudan grass? Three reasons: First, the ground back there is pretty hard and compacted, more so after the heavy equipment drove all over it when we had a tree in the back taken out, and when we had the cellar put in. Sudan grass is supposed to have an extensive root system that penetrates and breaks up hard soil so if I can get it to grow back there, I hope it will help loosen the soil in that area. Second, the soil seems to me to be low in organic matter. It's made of very fine particles that seem to pack together -- maybe it has lots of clay in it. Anyway, Sudan grass is very fast growing and produces a lot of biomass in a short period of time. I hope that leaving the last cutting on the plot will help add some carbon into the soil there. And third, ideally, I would like to grow my own "mulch" so I'm not depending on straw from the feed store. I don't know the exact price but the last time I checked, it was almost $8/bale.
If the Sudan grass does come up, and does grow like I've read it will, the next problem is going to be how do I cut it? One is supposed to let it get about three or four feet tall, then cut it down to about six to eight inches. The more times it gets to grow like that, the better developed the root system should be. But if the Weed Eater trimmer gives out on me, it will have to be cut by hand...and that will be a lot of cutting.
Saturday, August 13, 2022
Guess who else was excited about the Sudan grass?
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| Female Blue Grosbeak feeding on Sorghum Sudan grass seeds. |
Why the birds were, of course! It didn't take them very long to find them either. Birds must have really good eyes! Lesson learned: don't just scatter the seeds over bare ground and expect they're going to escape the eyes of hungry birds.
Besides the Blue Grosbeaks, there were Northern Cardinals and I think House Finches taking advantage of all the seeds that were exposed on top of the ground. I really was starting to think I might not get any to come up at all.
But low and behold, when I walked out to the garden early on Thursday (August 11), there they were...little green shoots of Sudan grass poking up from the dirt!
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I quickly realized another mistake I had made. In the area where I had raked the ground after I planted the seeds, there were quite a few little plants. But raking was hard work, it hurt my back and I'm basically a lazy gardener. So in the west 2/3rds of the plot, I had just scattered a bit of straw around, thinking that would give the seeds enough cover to stay moist and germinate. Either that didn't work; the birds found them; or it was just too dry in that part for them to sprout yet.
I had broadcast almost the entire pound of seeds over the plot, keeping back maybe three tablespoons in case there were some bare spots -- 2/3rds of the plot was way too much of a "bare spot." So that I ended up doing was taking the hoe, chopping up some little patches here and there, sprinkling a few seeds on each patch, then working the seeds back into the dirt with the hoe. I've carried water out to each patch for the past two days, so I'm hoping some plants will start to pop up by tomorrow. It never did rain, and the sun is pretty intense on the ground, so the seeds in those patches may just be roasted in the dirt. If they don't come up, then I suppose I'll instead plant some of the "nitro radish" seeds in that part of the plot instead...burying them in the dirt, of course! I have some old mustard green seeds too. I may just try to fill in any gaps in the Sudan grass with those and see if they will sprout.
The three rows of sunflower have also started to sprout, although germination hasn't been very good in the western-most row.
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Black oil sunflower take 110 days to reach maturity, so I'm pretty sure I won't have any that bloom and make seeds before frost unless we have a very late fall this year. But just having the roots in the dirt should help with the compaction and I'm already planning to plant some rows of sunflowers next spring.
And speaking of sunflowers....
What a beauty this one is. It actually looks a bit darker than this in real life (I think the orange in the picture was exaggerated by the morning sunshine).
And then there's this one.
Another beauty. I've decided that I really, really love sunflowers. Oh...and the birds do too!
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| Male American Goldfinch enjoying the bounty of a volunteer sunflower. This is one of two plants that came up in my old compost bin and they've just outdone themselves. They're each about 8' to 10' tall, with probably 18 to 20 blooms on each plant. |
The Kentucky Wonder pole beans have come up pretty well. I am still hopeful that if I can keep them watered I might get a few beans by mid-October.
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| Kentucky Wonder pole beans poking up through the ground by the corn stalks. |
I had a really nice visit with my older sister yesterday. We just sat out on her patio and talked about our gardens, about mulch, about cover crops, and about different things we'd like to try grow. She has a couple of nice fig trees and has promised me cuttings from each of them this fall. I have a little white rose bush that she wanted a start from so I have two rooting in a jar to trade for the figs! She also gave me some Rhubarb seeds that she had saved from her plants. I've never grown Rhubarb and have never even tasted it, but I walked around the yard this afternoon thinking where it might live if I can get the seeds to germinate and grow. I think I can put two plants in the raised bed with the asparagus.
My younger sister messaged me earlier today to let me know that she got one of her raised bed boxes built, and is going to try to get a few things planted in it this weekend. She's been pretty discouraged by the deer and the heat and drought this summer, so I was happy to hear that she's not giving up on gardening. I think we might have all gone through a phase in July where we were so disgusted and discouraged that we were all about ready to give up. But it makes me happy to talk to them, and hear that they too have a plan.
Just keep planting.
Sunday, August 14, 2022
According to the Old Farmer's almanac, today I should be planting Kale. But last night when I searched through my seed box for my packet of Kale seeds, I couldn't find them! I looked in the other boxes, looked with my seed starting pots...they were nowhere to be found.
I eventually concluded that I didn't have any seeds. I vaguely remember thinking about planting them last spring, didn't have any seeds, but then decided not to order any because by the time they got here it was probably going to be too late anyway. Sigh.
So today, I placed an order with Eden Brothers.
Since I knew shipping was going to be kind of expensive for just one packet of seeds, I went ahead and ordered a few other things that I think can also be planted in the fall.
I added a packet of Sugar Beets to the order. I'm very interested in trying this out. While I know it's not realistic to think I can grow enough beets to feed our appetite for processed sugar, I'm curious to know how hard it is to grow your own and make your own sugar, if you had to. Should be an interesting experiment, regardless.
Saturday, August 20, 2022
My order from Eden Brothers still hasn't shipped. I'm quite annoyed about that. I guess it won't hurt for the Kale to be a week or two late going out, but still.... Edit: It would help if I checked the mail once in a while. I don't know how long the seeds have been out in the box, but I know it's been over a week since I got the mail!
I pulled all of the leeks this week. They were just taking up room in the strawberry bed.
None of them were very big, and I'm afraid they may all be too tough to eat. I tried roasting some in the air fryer, but ended up burning them, so we really didn't get a good idea of what they taste like. They smell nice, but I'm still on the fence about whether or not that's something I want to try to grow again.
After one week, it's amazing to me how much the Sorghum Sudan grass has grown.
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| Sorghum Sudan grass at one week. The plants are about 8" tall already. |
But the patches of Sudan grass that I planted to fill in on the part where they didn't come up the first time didn't really ever come up either. I'm not sure what went wrong there. Maybe I buried the seeds too deep, or maybe not deep enough and the birds got them too.
I just couldn't stand looking at the bare patches, so this afternoon, I took the "nitro radish" and crimson clover seed I bought from greencover.com, along with the sugar snap pea seed I saved from this spring, and planted them in a row about 1' wide along the west side of the bare patch. I worked the seed into the soil with the hoe and watered it. Hopefully the clover seeds aren't buried too deep. They are really small, even coated with the inoculant.
And speaking of inoculant, I am hoping that maybe the bacteria that are on the clover seed will also help the peas fix nitrogen, but that may not be the case. I don't know much about the bacteria, but Dave's Garden has an article, "To inoculate, or not to inoculate?" that I thought was pretty interesting. After reading that, I'm still not sure if the inoculant on the clover will help the peas or not.
I also set out several more of my little tomato plants this morning. I'm pretty sure now that neither of the varieties is going to have time to actually make any tomatoes...I screwed up and killed the ones I started back in July, and it was really too late to start more. Even if we don't get a frost, there probably won't be enough hours of daylight for them to set fruit. But next year I'll know better and will have them ready to go out in late July instead of late August (and I won't kill them this time!). I'll make myself feel better about things this year by reminding myself that I'm not sure they'd have survived this summer if they were set out in July anyway, and therefore I'm probably no worse off then I would have been anyway.
The weather has turned off pretty hot again, but another cold front is supposed to move through tonight and tomorrow, bringing some slightly cooler temperatures and possibly some more rain.
I also ended up replanting my beets yesterday. The first seeds were pretty old, and probably weren't any good. I can't for the life of me figure out what Zelda Scissorhands thinks she's doing, but I can't seem to keep her off the module trays.
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| Zelda Scissorhands thinks module trays are great for napping. |
So the Kale seeds are planted now, and I also planted some mustard greens and Gloriosa Daisy seeds. And I set out three more of the foxglove plants. I think that leaves seven more foxgloves that need to find a home. Now if the wire will just keep the armadillo out of them.
Sunday, August 21, 2022
Planted today: 1) Green Romaine Lettuce (seeds from 2021) 2) Livingston Select Salad Blend lettuce (seeds from 2015) 3) Fordhook Chard (seeds from 2021) 4) Rhubarb Red Swiss Chard (seeds from 2022) and 5) Cilantro (seeds from 2020 or 2021)
Set out eight broccoli transplants in the space where the green beans were planted. There were lots of little beans and even blooms on the plants, and I felt kind of bad for cutting them all down, but I don't know if they'd have ever made anything anyway...the bean plants themselves looked horrible!
I also set out the rest of the foxglove plants with the rest of the plants. Ran out of cages, so had to just scrounge around to find something to put over the plants to try to protect them from the armadillos.
Tuesday, August 23, 2022
We've been so lucky this month...the past few days have been cloudy and cooler, with periods of rain off and on. I haven't checked in with my little sister to see how much we've gotten every day, but she did tell me we got 1/2" the first day, and I'm guessing we've gotten that much more altogether.
Two of the three 55 gallon water barrels are full again, and my main barrel is about half full...it would be completely full too, but I connected it to the big IBC tank, and let it backfill the tank. Unfortunately, I didn't get it hooked up in time to collect much water in the big tank, but it does have close to 150 gallons in it. I may not even need the water now that we're nearing the end of summer, but it's good to have it just in case I do.
Seeds are coming up in the garden....
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| Nitro radish and crimson clover |
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| Mustard Greens |
The Sorghum Sudan grass has really taken off growing with the rain too. I will post a new picture of it on Thursday...that will be two weeks worth of growth.
It really is amazing to look at my "here's how they looked when they were transplanted" pictures and compare that to how some of the plants look now.
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| Yellow squash transplants on August 7. |
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| Yellow squash plants today. Also notice the little San Marzano tomato in the center of the bed. There are a few volunteer radish and Bibb lettuce plants in the bed as well. |
It also looks like the beets are coming up really well in the module tray (and yes, I brought it inside and put it under the grow light so Zelda Scissorhands can't use it for a bed anymore!). I don't think I'll try to put the beets in a row all together. I think instead they'll just go in between other things...between the broccoli plants, between the tomatoes, between the bell pepper plants, etc. I'm not terribly worried about growing lots of beets, but I do hope I can grow enough to use my Mama's recipe to make RAF a couple of pints of pickled beets.
Thursday, August 25, 2022
When I got off work this afternoon, I decided it was time to get rid of the Cherokee Purple tomato plants and (try to) start some Sugar Snap peas in that row instead. So I took the pruners and cut all of the tomato and some of the basil plants down, put them in the compost bin, and planted peas.
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| Compost bin, about 2/3rds full of "stuff." |
I reminded myself of Ruth Stout, puttering around out there in my shorts and muck boots and had to chuckle as I talked to the peas and told them to grow!
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| About 10' of Sugar Snap peas along the tomato trellis. |
For those who might not be familiar with Ruth Stout, I will just say that she must have been something else! I found a video on YouTube, and while it has subtitles in a foreign language, it is narrated by Ruth herself. It makes me smile to watch it. I hope I can be like her and garden into my 90s.
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| Knee high Sorghum Sudan grass. |
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| Purple hull pea "cover crop" in the cucumber row. |
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| Kentucky Wonder pol beans, about 8" high. |
Friday, August 26, 2022
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| More cover crops have been planted in the bare patches. I noticed that the Sorghum Sudan grass is doing the same thing all my other plants do in this back part of the garden. They're lush and green on the north side, getting shorter and weaker looking to the south. Not sure what that means...maybe compaction, or maybe low fertility? |
Wednesday, August 31, 2022
