REPOST: Deciding to Grow Heirlooms

It's high time to get this garden party going again, and so, I revisit my first post, published in 2012.

Heirloom = a valuable possession passed on from generation to generation.

My father was a backyard gardener. My grandparents and great grandparents on both sides of my family were farmers. I have it in my blood. Although my newly arrived heirloom seeds are not from family, they come from a small farm in Michigan--a farm much like my past generations may have owned.

I've grown herbs and flowers and various types of vegetables through the years, but it's time to make it more meaningful. Some day I'll buy some land. Today, I have just a few hundred square feet in my urban yard. I'm determined to make it work. I will feed my family heirloom edibles this summer, and I will preserve and share the seeds after this season...

...and in the process, I hope to find a pathway to my inner garden of tranquility amidst the sounds of car alarms, disgruntled neighbors, and freeway traffic.

(Sometimes) Pictures Speak Louder...

Short on words, long on photos on this hot summer day. Enjoy.

Praying mantid, watching me from the Lacinato Kale.

Blue jay, panting, hot, on a July afternoon.

Blue jay, panting, and not caring that I am just a foot away.

A cool chrysalis that I found in the Kale. Tied some thread around it and stretched it across a jar.

The next day, something hatched. It's a cabbage moth!

This guy really freaked me out. I stumbled upon it while out on a late night garden check. I turned over a big broccoli leaf and there it was ... a cicada, molting at midnight.

Mackenzie, releasing lady beetles.

Lady beetle on a leaf.

Beautiful heirloom tomatoes and peppers.

"When the world wearies and society fails to satisfy

There is always the garden."

-- Minnie Aumonier

The Japanese Beetles Are Coming! The Japanese Beetles Are Coming!

Correction: They're already here.

For the last three years, I planned to apply milky spore to my lawn, and for the last three years, I did not, and so every summer, the Japanese Beetle Battle ensues.

Japanese beetles (popillia japonica) are voracious feeders--they can cause serious damage to a small, organic garden. The little metallic dudes were accidentally brought to the United States from Asia around 1916. They are said to devour more than 300 types of plants--in my garden, they especially dig basil, carrot tops, and pepper plants. Once they mature into the adult seen below, there is not much hope of eradicating them. The trick is to get them the year before, by treating their young with something called milky spore.

Milky spore is a naturally occurring bacterium that acts as an effective organic pesticide for beetle larvae, which live for most of the year under your lawn as ugly, white grubby guys. Milky spore, which comes in powder form, should be applied after adult beetles lay their eggs and the eggs are hatched. We're currently under beetle attack now in the Midwest, so if your garden is, too, the time to apply milky spore is coming! I plan to treat my yard in the next three to four weeks.

Keep in mind that treatment this year doesn't help with this year's Beetle Battle--it's to head off next year's war. This is how it works: in August, newly hatched grubs begin to feed on tender grass roots, so it's a perfect time to apply milky spore. The grubs digest the stuff, the bacteria begins to reproduce in the gut of the grub, and within a few weeks, no more ugly, white grubby guys. If they are not killed off at this time, they burrow deep below your lawn and emerge many months later as hungry Japanese Beetles.

To fight off the mature beetles that are already at work this year, the best thing to do is begin midnight bug hunts. Get out there with a bowl of soapy water and a flashlight. They are attracted to light, so get the landscape lights off of your plants during this time and onto a plantless area--the back wall of my house works well. The beetles conveniently congregate there, allowing for an effective surprise attack.

These guys are fairly slow-moving, so it's not difficult to locate them and knock them into the soapy bowl. Sometimes I get really crazy, especially after my 11pm glass of red wine, and knock them to the ground, using my cute pink garden clogs to stomp them to oblivion.

The earlier you get to these guys the better, because upon finding a particularly delicious cultivar, they attract additional Jap Beets by leaving a pheromone trail ... a sort of neon, flashing bug billboard that reads "Eat This--It's Super Yummy!" You may have seen the pheromone traps sold at hardware stores and garden centers, but many experts feel that the traps attract more beetles than are caught. I decided to stay away from them.

I have tried to detract them from my yard by spraying a spicy pepper water on my plants: 5-6 diced habaneros, garlic, and cayenne in some water, let sit in the sun for a few hours, then strain it. I tried it for a few days, and it actually seemed to help, but it was right before leaving town, and the remaining potion did nothing but stink up my garage. I do think that it's worth another try. Garlic planted in your prized beds is also said to turn them off. And geraniums are said to attract them, and then kill them off.

Japanese beetles are a huge summer problem in Midwest gardens--what are your experiences with them?

   “O'er folded blooms on swirls of musk,
   The beetle booms adown the glooms
   And bumps along the dusk.”

   -- James Whitcomb Riley

Sources:

Cook, Kelly A. and Grey, Michael E, "Japanese Beetles: Popillia japonica Newman," Integrated Pest Management, http://ipm.illinois.edu/fieldcrops/insects/japanese_beetles/index.html.

Hart, Anna, "Home Organic Gardening Pesticides--Part 2," Organic Springtime, http://www.organicspringtime.com/organic-pests/home-organic-gardening-pesticides-part-2-41/.

"How to Control Japanese Beetles in Your Organic Vegetable Garden," Blue Horizon Farm, http://www.bluehorizonfarm.com/organic-gardening/japanese-beetles.html.

"Japanese Beetle Quarantine," Rutgers Department of Entomology, http://www.mosquito.rutgers.edu/jb.htm.

Liskey, Eric, "Japanese Beetle: Bugs from h-e double hockey sticks," Everyday Gardeners, http://www.bhg.com/blogs/everydaygardeners/2012/07/06/bugs-from-h-e-double-hockey-sticks/.

My Hanging Gutter Garden

Early in the season, I cleared out a sad row of shrubs that were struggling alongside my garage. There was a lack of sun and water in the area, so we cut down some major tree limbs to let the light in, and I installed a soaker hose. The soil was amended with some good manure and compost, and the plants went into the ground.

Then the bugs moved in! Slugs and pill bugs and earwigs, mostly, and I knew my tender lettuces and herbs didn't stand a chance without changing the plan. So we developed the HANGING GUTTER GARDEN (concept by me, and many before me, with a little help from my friend Google; and design and build by my strong and handsome manfriend, Brian).

The first build failed, resulting in all three gutters, and a coupla hundred pounds of soil, crashing down on each other. With some design and stabilization adjustments, they're back up, a few weeks strong now. The plants are thriving in this location. They get the right amount of sun, some nice air movement, and they are up and away from the worst of the garden buggers.

I planted a pretty good variety to see what would take. In the top, which gets the least amount of sunlight, I have sage and a variety of lettuces. The other rows have arugula, kale, chard, strawberries, thyme, and radishes.

On the far ends in the ground are broccoli and my overachieving cucumber plants (seen the middle photo)--they are getting signs of a few pests, but my midnight bug checks have been fruitful, and the beneficial insects (mostly lady bugs, praying mantids, and spiders from what I've seen) seem to be keeping things in check. These plants are extremely healthy. And we're starting to fill our plates with the lettuces and arugula at this point in the growing season.

What do you think? Is this a good use of space? Or is my hanging gutter garden trashing up my yard?

Praying Mantids!

Back in early May, I bought a praying mantid egg case from a young gal at my local farmers market. Given my garden pest problems, I've been extremely anxious for these little guys to start poking their swively heads out and into the world. Today was that day.

I read that creating a humid environment helps with hatching, so for the last week I very lightly misted the egg case. I also warmed the container a bit on the colder days by running hot water on a metal pan, leaving about a 1/8 inch of water in the pan, and then putting the mantids' container in the pan to sit on the counter for an hour or so. Today, midday, they hatched. 

My daughter released them into the yard. They seemed to like her and hung around, and a few perched on her hand.

We were told that there would be about 200 or so hatchlings from the one egg case, and I would say that was about right. We released some in each of the three main planting areas in our yard, and left their container open and out in the back bed in case the babies wanted to hang out in what has been their home for the last months.

I checked in on them a few hours later and saw lady beetle larvae in and around the container. Who would win out in a battle between the two, the lady beetle or the baby praying mantid? Not sure. They are both beneficial to my garden--let's hope they work together to get the bad guys.

On my midnight garden outing, I spotted one lone praying mantid perched on the highest leaf of my previously earwig-plagued broccoli plant, no earwigs to be found. This morning, there are a half-dozen sunning themselves on the leaves of my iris plant, which is in the bed where I had the mite problem. Go forth and prosper, you little cuties. I'll be watching out for you.

 

The Urban Garden Bug Bash Rocks On

 Here's my beautiful Lacinato Kale (the orange specs on the plant are cayenne pepper--obviously the culprit likes its kale hot and spicy!):

And my Filderkraut Cabbage (the white powder seen around the plant is white flour--it's obviously not helping much):

It's maddening. Thankfully, this kind of damage is only seen in one planting area, and I have lots of both of these plants as backup yet.

I know that this could be done by many a bastardly creature--so I immediately initiate a multi-faceted search and destroy mission. Over the next three days, I: (1) make Bug Killer Juice; (2) set beer and oil traps; (3) place rolled paper in the garden; (4) begin hunting at midnight.

(1) Bug Killer Juice: I adapt a Jerry Baker recipe, combining water, dish soap, finely chopped onion and garlic, and shredded marigolds. I spray it on all of my plants daily, and I shoot the bad guys with it when I spot them. Bugs really seems to hate the stuff, and it doesn't harm the plants. Bonus: my garage and yard smell delizisio! 

(2) Beer and oil traps: Who doesn't like beer, especially at one's first Spring Bug Bash? I cut the bottoms off of plastic water bottles and also use a few flower pot trays, and set them into the ground so that their tops are about even with the soil. I pour beer in some, and olive oil in others. I lay a few beer bottles horizontally into the ground so there is just a slit of an entrance into them.

(3) Rolled paper: My daughter and I collect a few empty toilet paper rolls and some newspaper, twist them and wrap them with a rubber band. I pour a little beer into each and place them throughout the garden. Various pests are said to like this kind of environment and crawl in for shelter before the sun comes up. At that time, they can be snatched up and put in soapy water.

I step back and sigh--my garden looks terrible with this paper and cardboard and bottles in it, but I don't want to lose all of my heirloom plants. I head for bed and hope the morning brings some insight into what is feasting on my cabbage and kale. 

The sun comes up, and I run out to the yard. First thing I see, mucking it up on a paper roll is the mighty SLUG. Drats! Repulsive. There's also one in a beer trap. I begin to turn over stepping stones, and within 10 minutes, I'm looking at more than a dozen slimy, gross slugs.

These guys can do MAJOR damage. They love wet, dark hiding places, so I move the large rocks in my garden and place them toward the back fence and away from my edibles (over the next few days, I will continue to look under them for additional slugs), and I decide to stop watering the beds in the evening.

I continue to search for them. They're under the plastic plant trays on the patio and in the little drainage holes of the plastic planters. My daughter gets a kick out of using tweezers to pull them out--I'm too grossed out by them--and we place the planters in a drier place. In total, we collect 30-40 slugs in two days. Yesterday we could find none.

(4) Midnight hunting: I get on my boots, take a flashlight in one hand and the Bug Killer Juice in the other, and head out. The first night, I discover another garden pest enjoying my marigolds and broccoli--the cursed EARWIG!

More than a dozen of them are on one plant alone. Prior to this point, I didn't even know that earwigs ate plants. Lovely. What else do I see en masse? Pill bugs, aka rollie-pollies. I've never seen them ON PLANTS before, but here they are, I'm assuming also munching away. I douse them all with bug juice. I check back out around 5:00am, and the plants are bug-free. It seems to be working, at least for now.

On the positive, the lady beetles are numerous and industrious. I've had no additional issues with mites. But I realize that I need to make some changes, and fast. I believe that wood mulch is probably causing pest problems--it may need to go. I wonder if I should give up trying to grow anything in the cabbage family this year. They are prone to attack, especially when growing them organically--and I'm not about to start using chemicals.

Also, I need a plan for getting more plants off of the ground. It's time to get creative with vertical gardening.

Day 70: We Have Edibles!

After five great days vacationing with family in Texas, we're back home to find deliciously sweet and tender snap peas! The plants struggled a bit in the heat while we were away, but pea pods are a-hanging, and blossoms are abundant. I was looking forward to making some stir-fry meals with the snap peas, but I don't think we'll be able to resist them in their raw form right off of the plant. So good.

How is everything else doing? Some really great, some just okay ... of course, given the return of early heat here in Michigan, the insects are running rampant. You can see their effect on the Brussels, broccoli, kale, and cabbage. The white seen on the leaves and in the mulch below is ordinary white flour -- reportedly, cabbage worms eat the flour, bloat, and die. We'll see if it works.

We have baby fruit on the tomato plants (this particular variety is the yellow pear tomato), and blossoms on nearly every pepper plant.

The heirloom tomato and pepper plants that I started from seed are slow to grow, so I have yet to transplant them into the ground. They will likely end up in pots on the patio. The varieties pictured here are heirlooms from a local farm.

I also picked up some cucumber and broccoli plants from a local farmer, and these plants are THRIVING in the heat. I planted marigolds throughout my veggie beds as they are said to help with nematode and aphid problems.

I love the cucumber plant's curly-cue tendrils -- if you watch for long enough, you can practically see them growing in front of your eyes.

The lettuces in the window boxes are growing strong--they really love their east-facing spot, thankfully. The green shoots emerging from the soil to the left of the lettuce below are Parisian Market Carrots, a chunky, round variety that should grow well in the shallow soil depth of the window box. 

And all of my herbs are thriving. I have two kinds of basil, rosemary, and some coleus (mixed in for color) in one pot, and a tall plant stand that holds mint, parsley, and cilantro.

I really dig the plant stand, which is from Crate and Barrel. It allows me to stack these herbs vertically (remember that I have very little patio and yard space). It also lets me easily swap out or move around plants from this stand to adjust for shade/sun.

As my garden grows, I am beginning to think of new dishes to cook using these plants. Tonight I made grilled chicken and yellow squash, and worked in the parsley and cilantro, as well as my many-year-old chives that originally came from my mother. Do you have favorite recipes that feature any or many of the ingredients in my garden? Pass them along, please!

"Shall I not have intelligence with the earth?

Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself?"

--Henry David Thoreau

Day 58: Getting the Heck Out of the House

It's been nearly 60 days since my first heirloom seeds went into soil, and I'm tickled to see this day. I've mixed potting soil, sowed seeds, watered, done the daily find-the-sun dance, sang the snappy "grow-plant-grow" ditty about a zillion times, plucked out my seedlings, and prepped my beds.

Seedlings toward the end of April, gathered at a south-facing window for Grandma to plant-sit while we're out of town.

The day to put the seedlings in the soil outdoors, under the sun and moon, 24-7, is here. The seedlings have been hardened off, or have spent increasingly more time outdoors to get acclimated to their new environment. In the ground as of this hour are tomatoes, peppers, onions, and lettuce. And I also direct-seeded spinach and carrots today.

Brand new transplants of onions and tomatoes, with their favorite companion flower, the marigold. The twine marks the line where carrot seeds were sowed.

The snap peas are reaching for the sky and beginning to move beyond the trellis in the pot to the larger trellis on the patio. In a few more weeks, if all goes well, we should see blossoms.

Amish Snap Peas, 41 days after sowing seeds.

The Sugar Baby Watermelon plants are happy. Their outdoor beds and climbing structures are almost ready. Another day or two, and they'll be in the ground.

Sugar Baby Watermelon, 41 days after sowing seeds.

Filderkraut Cabbage is good--and I'm happy to report that there is no sign of cabbage moths or worms! The kale is slower, but is coming along nicely. Red Cabbage and Brussels Sprouts still need a few weeks to mature.

Filderkraut Cabbage, 56 days after sowing seeds, crowding each other and ready for transplanting.

Lacinato Kale, 57 days after sowing seeds. Slower growth than expected, but growing just fine.

Lettuce and Parisian Market Carrots (those small, round guys) are in my east-facing window box. I hope they'll get enough sun. I'm temporarily reserving space in my two south-facing window boxes if they don't work well here in the east.

A blend of lettuces in an east-facing window box. Also planted here are Parisian Market Carrot seeds.

Also, I continue to share seedlings. To date, friends and family members have taken about 1/4 of what I've grown. I still have a good amount left that I won't be able to accomodate in my yard--what to do with them? Two more weeks, and most everything will need a home.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Lookie who I found, nicely disguised against my green cabbage plant. What the heck?! I had these plants outdoors for only a few hours this week. How did this guy hunt down my plants so quickly?

Research tells me that this is the bloody CABBAGE WORM! And he brought friends--I found three others so far. With nearly 200 cabbage seedlings in the works, this aint a good sign. Cripes. Caterpillars are cute in kids' books, but not so much on my heirloom plants.

OUT YOU GO ... to the birds! Before you're pecked to death, tell your friends to GETOUTTAMYYARD.

In the meantime, I understand that caterpillars loathe white flour. Upon eating it, they bloat and die. So our Cabbages and Brussels will get a flour dusting this week.

It's getting closer to outdoor transplant time ... I have a feeling that insects are soon to become my worst enemy. This means that it's also almost Jerry Baker tonic time. Do you have other natural bug control recommendations? 

The Sun Was Warm But the Wind Was Chill

Geez Louise, it's windy out! I know that wind is important, especially in the Spring--many plants rely on it to disperse their seeds. But wind is tough on vegetable plants, especially on new seedlings, so it's been a challenge to keep my plants healthy this week. The wind has been whipping about, tree branches falling all around, and after seeing my snap peas' twines get ripped from the trellises, I brought them inside.

I know, though, that pea plants love the cool weather, and they need at least 8 hours of sun. Keeping them indoors under a hot grow light wasn't doing them much good in the long run. I'm an admitted over-protective mother to my daughter, and now an effort is on to "toughen her up" ... a little. I want to do the right thing for my pea plants and not coddle them too much early on. So back outdoors they go--but not without a little wind protection. Bubble wrap comes to the rescue again! I placed the pots in a slightly sheltered but sunny area next to the house and created a simple wind shield with the bubble wrap. The wrap is not touching the plants.

I tried taking my more fragile and heat-loving seedlings outside for a while yesterday afternoon, but the wind started to sock them pretty good (they were wilting in less than an hour), so they'll stay snug indoors on their windowsills for another few weeks yet. Or at least until the wind dies down.

Filderkraut Cabbage on the first-floor sun ledge.

Sugar Baby Watermelon on the second-floor sill.

And just for kicks, a lovely pansy in my yard (photo taken by Mackenzie, age 9).

The sun was warm but the wind was chill

You know how it is with an April day

When the sun is out and the wind is still

You're one month on in the middle of May

--Robert Frost

DAY 24: April 12: Wide Open to the Sun

Look who is growing up big and strong? The cabbage, the Brussels sprouts, and nearly all of the heirloom seeds that we sowed indoors. Given the grey weather, it's been somewhat of a challenge to keep them warm and in good light (sun or grow lamp) each day, but I'd say we're succeeding. Aren't they cute?

They're starting to bump into each other. That, and the fact that some plants are starting to get their true leaves (their second set of leaves), means that they're about ready to be thinned out, or as some say, pricked out. The seedlings will be separated and placed in larger containers so they have room to better develop their roots in preparation for a final, outdoor transplant in May.

For now, I'm quietly enjoying the sight of them as they soak up the sun. And thank goodness for the sun today.

The windows of my soul I throw

Wide open to the sun 

-- John Greenleaf Whittier

Soil Science: I'm Neutral!

A successful garden needs nutrient-rich soil, not just a pile of dirt. Soil is a combined mixture of dirt, organic matter, and minerals. I could get overly scientific here--soil is complicated--but I won't. I only want to research and document enough to ensure that my own heirloom garden is healthy and fruitful.

It feels pretty terrific to get my hands in the soil this Spring. The stuff is magical. Soil is ever-changing, fertile, alive ... full of air and water and all kinds of natural STUFF. Forget cremation and burial vaults; when I die, I want my body to go straight into the ground so the roots and worms can return me to Mother Nature asap.

Breaking soil down to its most basic components:

• Texture, or the size of soil particles. Soil with fine particles is known as sand, and on the other end of the spectrum is clay. Good soil texture should fall somewhere within the two. A good test for texture is to take a handful of soil and gently squeeze it. It should clump together. Upon squeezing harder, it should break apart easily.


• Fertility, or the level of mineral nutrients in the soil. The three primary nutrients used by plants are nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. Funky things happen to plants that don't get a balance of these nutrients.


• pH, or the measure of  acidity or alkalinity. This is probably the most important of the properties. Below is a generic pH scale. Plants typically grow fine at a level of about 6-7 pH, but some plants can be picky. Incorrect pH level can retard a plant's nutrient uptake, so if pH levels falls to the extreme, either way on the scale, hang up your overalls this season. Your soil will need some serious amending.

Upon investigating my soil, I feel confident that the texture is fine. I had successfully grown shrubs in this bed, so the mineral content is likely pretty good. But what about the pH? I know that I have to get this right for growing veggies. Thankfully, the Easter Bunny came to my aid this year with a digital pH reader in my basket.

It seemed like a perfect science experiment to bring my 4th Grader in on, so we both put on some garden gloves and spent late afternoon outside.

 Testing Our Soil's pH Level

1. We pushed aside the top few inches from our first planting bed and collected about two cups of the soil below, digging to a depth of 4-6 inches. We sifted the soil to remove rocks and debris.

2. We poured a little more than a cup of distilled water into the collected soil and stirred to create a nice, thick mud. (My gal loved this part, and wanted to make mud pies for dinner.)

3. We polished the pH Meter's probe, per manufacturer's instruction, pressed the "on" button, and gently pushed it into the mud, holding for 60 seconds. 7.0 pH. Repeated Step 3 in a separate spot in the mud. 7.0 pH.

  

A measurement of 7.0 pH means that my soil in this bed is smack-dab NEUTRAL, falling in the high end of the general range for positive plant growth. This is the bed in which I plan to cultivate heirloom tomatoes, though, and tomatoes do better with a lower pH level, more in the 6-6.5 range. 

Based on this reading, I'll do some amending, starting with some rich compost from my neighbor's yard and pine needle mulch gathered from my mother's mid-Michigan property. Both are said to lower soil pH. My other two main planting beds will be tested next.

I may decide to test the nutrients in my soil as well. Many states and universities offer soil tests for sale. You get the test kit, follow the proper instructions for gathering a soil sample, and send it to their lab for research. It takes a few weeks to get results. Michigan State University's Extension program offers kits for $20. You'll find more info here: http://www.css.msu.edu/SPNL/Faq.cfm. 

Sources:

Davis, Ph.D., Jessica, "How to Lower Your Soil pH," Organic Gardening, http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/how-lower-your-soil-ph.

"Gardening in Michigan," Michigan State University Extension, http://migarden.msu.edu/migarden/soil.

Iannotti, Marie, "Amending Your Garden Soil - Making Good Soil Out of Bad," http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenprimer/a/Amending_Soil.htm.

James, Russ, "Tomato Growing Tips," http://tomato-tips.com/soil-ph-how-to-correct-soil-ph-in-garden-soil.html.

"What Is Soil?" National Conservation Resources Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture,

http://soils.usda.gov/education/facts/soil.html.