As my readers know, I have a garden that I planted last spring. By mid-May it was producing quite well, and it is still producing. So I thought I would do a video of the garden and explain some of what has been happening lately.
How to Harvest a Garden Like a Pro
First, let me explain that I’m no vegetable farmer. Actually, I am a tree farmer along with my sisters, but I’ve never commercially grown vegetables. But I have had vegetable gardens before along with a good harvest.
Around mid-March, I began a series of blog posts about a little vegetable garden that I planted. You can read about it here. I thought it might be time to give you an update because the little garden is now in its harvest phase.
Around the first of April, a large weather front came through here, and we had P-sized hail. The recently planted garden was down by the lake which is a nice walk down the hill. I watched the hail do its damage to my front flower beds and feared what was happening down there.
Fortunately, the garden did rather well. I was beginning to think that maybe no hail fell in that part of the yard at all, but then I noticed that all of the little grapes on the grape arbor next to it got knocked down.
I’m not sure why the garden did better, except that maybe it was because it hadn’t really begun to set its fruit yet. Thankfully, the grape vines were not finished. More tiny grapes formed later.
By mid-April, I was hoeing weeds. I also planted some okra which is why I was hoeing weeds. The okra needed to come up before I finished mulching the entire bed. I also got lots of exercise walking back and forth up and down the hill, during this phase.
The Harvest Phase
By the end of April, I began to harvest the spinach but noticed that my lettuce was not going to make it. Everything else was doing well–all the different peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and even the sweet peas that I planted just for something pretty.
The first week of May I was away for a week at a conference. I left Chuck in charge. When I came back, I noticed that cutworms ate up the cauliflower. I asked Chuck about it, and he said that he noticed but thought there was nothing we could do. Wrong!!
Up until this point, I used organic means to handle weeds and pests, but now the gloves were off. There were hundreds of cutworms, and I got out the insecticide. I left the cauliflower as it was because I thought that maybe the worm-eaten leaves could still provide a little nutrition for new leaves to form. I thought one cauliflower plant might make it because it didn’t get eaten up as bad. The good news, though, is that a lettuce came up while I was gone and now all the cauliflower plants are beginning to make new leaves. Maybe, I’ll get some cauliflower after all.
By the second week of May, we were fully harvesting. The secret was to check the plants daily for harvest, bugs, and weather-related problems. For example, one of the Better Boy tomatoes fell over during another storm. I spent some time trying to set it back up to re -spike it. Also, if you leave any vegetable on the plant too long, that plant quits producing. Everything is producing right now–tomatoes, cucumbers, custard beans, three kinds of peppers, and spinach. It takes almost a daily trip to keep up with the harvest. Also, except for the cherry tomatoes, instead of picking I cut the vegetables. Cutting keeps from damaging the bush.
A Garden Adversary
One day last week I walked town to the garden and almost stepped on a five foot long white oak snake stretched out like a fallen limb with his head underneath my little grapefruit tree. I amazed myself, having no idea that I could jump that high or that far. I left Mr. No Shoulders alone, giving him a wide berth; but later I realized that maybe this one is too big to keep around. When they are this big, they get real aggressive. They’re rat snakes, and rat snakes are territorial. They will chase you, and this Mr. No Shoulders strikes like a rattler. His bite will hurt bad.
So after I finished harvesting and went back to the house, I looked for Chuck. Later, I found out that he had been down at the lake, but when he came back up, he noticed a big white oak snake hanging out on my garden fence. Probably, waiting for a bird to light. Well, frankly that is all I had to hear. There is now a hoe hanging on the fence. If he gives me any trouble, he’s toast. Mr. No Shoulders has to go.
The Fruit of Our Labor
Lately, I’m getting an almost daily supply of cucumbers, but that’s ok. I love vinegared cucumbers. Next week I plan to post my grandmother’s vinegared cucumbers recipe and also how she taught me that a little vinegar can awaken the flavors in foods.
Best of all, though, is that I have a new favorite vegetable.
Monsanto sent me seeds for custard beans. I wasn’t even sure what I was getting, but these bush wax beans were easy to grow and I found a new way to cook beans. That’s another recipe I’ll share. I will definitely grow this cream-colored variety of bush beans again. They’re the best I’ve ever had. A big thank you to Monsanto for sending me these seeds.
My tomatoes are prolific, but I plan to fertilize them again next week to keep them setting flowers for the next crop. I’ll probably fertilize the entire garden for the same reason. I know I can keep tomatoes producing sometimes even into the Fall, but I’m less sure about the other plants. This will be an experiment for me.
A One-Day Harvest
So as you can see, we’re enjoying the fruits of our labor, or should I say the veggies of our toil. Speaking of fruit, though, the blueberries have been producing, too. I’ve been getting about a pint every other day. I’m thinking of adding some to either biscuits or scones. Yum! Or maybe a new type of cocktail made with muddled blueberries? The options are endless.
How to Place Your Transplants in the Ground
Disclosure: This post has been compensated by Monsanto Co. and the “Hey Let’s Grow Monsanto Home Garden Program”. All experiences and opinions are mine alone. #HeyLetsGrow
This week it was time to plant everything in the ground–my transplants, my seedlings, and any seeds to be planted directly into the garden.
Hey Let’s Grow sent me thirteen different packets of seeds. There were two types of tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, three types of hot peppers, bell peppers, lettuce, a type of beans, cucumbers, and spinach.
By the end of last week, I had tomato transplants, the beans and cucumbers still in seeds, and the rest in seedlings. All were ready to be placed in the garden.
How About the View from My Garden!
Which brings me to last Friday, when I was able to finish the job.
Tilling
Chuck tilled the ground for me with a tiller rented from Home Depot. We made sure not to over till, though. It is important to not bust up all the clods of dirt. My garden this year is about 7′ x 9′. I purposely try to keep my garden small. One plant can sometimes supply more than my family can eat.
Laying Out the Garden
Then I mapped out my garden. I decided to plant my four tomato bushes at the four corners. In between the two tomatoes at the west end I planted broccoli and some of the cauliflower. On the next row are lettuce and the rest of the cauliflower.
Frankly, the broccoli looks puny. I’m wondering if it will make it, but the cauliflower looks good.
Next row over is spinach and the bell peppers.
After that row is a row of the three varieties of hot peppers. I only had two of each variety to plant, though. My peppers were the last to germinate, and not all did.
Finally in the last row before the far eastern row, I planted seeds for cucumbers and beans. I placed the beans near the northern fence line so they would have something to climb. Jack might need a way back down someday.
Lastly, the other two tomato transplants were added to the eastern corners. There is still more room for other plants if I decide to add them later. I did hold back two transplants of each kind for later planting if needed.
Getting the Soil Content Correct
After Chuck tilled, we spread eight bags of mushroom compost and an equal amount of top soil. Then I hand tilled them together and raked them smooth. I usually use Black Cow, but we have a mushroom farm nearby, so I decided to try mushroom compost this year instead. We knew what to add to the soil because of past years of gardening. Remember, we let this ground take a break last year.
Making Rows
Next, I made rows, banking up little parallel hills. Sadly, my rows aren’t straight; but I didn’t take the time to run a string line between two stakes.
Planting
All plants were spaced at least 1 foot apart. The tomato transplants were planted deep, all the way to their colydon leaves, their lowest set of leaves.
The rest, seedlings, were planted only as deep as they had been before.
Finally, the seeds were planted about a half inch deep.
Next, I put out some ant bait near one of the tomatoes. We disturbed an ant colony while planting, and they gave me a fit.
Fencing
We have a lot of problems with critters. So, surrounding the garden is a fence made of rebar. I get this from Home Depot, and it is fencing that requires hardly any fence posts. It is actually used to reinforce concrete, but I learned a long time ago that it is rigid and will stand up like a fence with little effort. I connected the pieces with wire.
You see, most of us in our backyards are not trying to fence out cattle. We just want to deter deer and small animals. Rebar can be used to stop deer from walking into your garden, but it alone will not stop a rabbit. And that is my second possible problem.
So I purchased some bird netting and stretched it around the perimeter using the rebar as a form making sure I secured it at the bottom and top. If I later have trouble with animals coming in through the very top, such as squirrels or birds, I can stretch the bird netting up there, too. I’ll let you know how it works.
I’ll let you know how it works. Like my rows, the fencing isn’t that straight either; but if it does the job, I’ll be happy.
So this is what the garden looks like now.
I planted on a very overcast day with rain expected overnight. I didn’t want to plant my ? seedlings and transplants on a hot sunny day, so I had been watching my weather for a week looking for the perfect day to plant.
Also, I mulched with pine straw and banked the straw around the new delicate plants, using the straw for some added shade and protection.
Stay tuned. I’ll let you know how it’s going in another couple of weeks.
Do you have any special techniques you use to plant your vegetable garden? Do you use any other type of fencing that may be easier? Please share!
When You Should Transplant Your Seedlings
Disclosure: This post has been compensated by Monsanto Co. and the “Hey Let’s Grow Monsanto Home Garden Program”. All experiences and opinions are mine alone. #HeyLetsGrow
It was time for transplanting this week. But when should one transplant?
Update on My Vegetable Garden
To reiterate, I planted about thirty tomato plants of two varieties in small jiffy pods a couple weeks ago, and now it is time to transplant them. These got a little leggy, due to a problem with the amount of light vs. dark that they got during the first week.
Why a Timer is Important
I cannot impress enough that a timer is essential, especially if you plan to take a short weekend trip away. While I was gone, I left a light on and best I can tell the tomatoes jumped out of the ground sometime during the weekend.
The light was a little too far above the plants; and after they sprouted, they stretched for the light, especially since it stayed on the entire weekend. Not good, as I later learned.
So I dug around my garage until I found an old timer I bought years ago. I set the timer to turn on at 8 am and turn off at midnight, giving the plants 16 hours of Grow light. They began this part of their growing journey a little leggy, but I think I can correct that when I transplant them.
Thinning the Herd
A few days ago, I snipped off all but one plant in each pod, a thinning which made for ten tomato plants. Then I waited for the ten to grow their second set of leaves.
So When Do You Transplant
So that brings me to today. This morning I noticed another set of leaves beginning to form. This is their third set. The first being the seed leaves also called colydon leaves, then the next set called the plants’ true leaves, and now another new set. This means it is time to transplant.
Transplanting
In the past, I collected and have quite a collection of various empty pots from when I earlier brought flowering transplants home from the store, but they needed to be sterilized. So I used the sink in my laundry room to spray Clorox on the little plastic pots, and then I rinsed them very well. This way I know that there can be no fungus or other problems for the delicate transplants.
Next, I mixed half and half of seed starter soil and potting soil. I do not use dirt from my yard. Why add more problems to the process. I mixed the starter soil and potting soil in a bucket.
Placing a thin layer of soil in the bottom of each small pot, I added the pod and plant being careful not to hold the plant by its stem. Its little stem is its spine, its lifeline. If you crush it, it cannot survive. Then I filled the soil all the way to the top of the pot, completely burying the stem of the tomato plant up to its first leaves.
A tomato plant will grow roots from its stem if the stem is covered in soil. Only a little of its stem and its leaves peek out from the soil. Hopefully, this solves the problem of my leggy tomato plants. I’m also careful not to hold the plant by its stem.
Fertilizer
Next, I used a water soluble fertilizer and added it to water in my laundry sink, using the package instructions. I bottom watered each of the pots, adding a little to the top to soak it.
Hardening
After waiting an hour for the plants to soak, I took the pots outside to sit on my potting bench for another hour. This last step begins the “hardening” period. This will get the plants ready for finally planting them in the ground. I made sure they got no direct sunlight, though, the first day.
After their hour outdoors, I took them back into the garage to bask under the Grow lights. I added two more lights finally using the $50 ‘Hey Let’s Grow’ gift certificate to buy more lights.
Thanks, Monsanto! Until now I already had everything I needed, but the bigger pots required more lights. All four are on the timer now.
For the rest of the week, I’ll take the pots outside to sit in the dappled shade underneath a tree lengthening the time each day. An hour at a time at first and increasing daily.
Next week we’ll place everything in the ground! I’m also hardening off the rest of the seedlings as they produce their second set of true leaves. Two varieties of my peppers, though, still have not completely sprouted.
Why You Should Start Your Vegetable Garden from Seeds
Disclosure: This post has been compensated by Monsanto Co. and the “Hey Let’s Grow Monsanto Home Garden Program”. All experiences and opinions are mine alone. #HeyLetsGrow
For years I’ve had less than great results when starting my garden from seeds. I’ve tried to do it under the regular lights in my kitchen. I tried it on my potting bench in the shade. And I even tried it under a tree with dappled shade.
Sometimes the seedlings get really leggy like when I tried to start them in my kitchen. On my potting bench, I forgot them; and they thirsted for water and died. So I tried starting them in the dappled shade where the irrigation took care of the water problem, but they were less than healthy. I even gave up and did several gardens from transplants.
But with transplants, you don’t get exactly what you want, and this is why you should start your vegetable garden from seed. There is so much more variety.
Years ago I was on a quest for great tasting tomatoes, but I found that the ones I planted from transplants tasted about the same as the ones I got in my grocery store. Which is to say they tasted grainy and not sweet.
I knew better ones existed. When my daughter lived in Romania, I had fabulous tasting tomatoes there. I even thought about smuggling some seeds back to Florida. I knew that better ones were available but only from seeds.
Now, of course, the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, also known as IFAS, developed a commercial tomato that actually tastes sweet. It is called the Tasti-Lee tomato, and I buy them at Publix. You can read more about them here. … But I digress.
So it was time for me to invest in a grow light system. It is vital to starting your garden from seeds.
This year Monsanto asked me to do a little field test for them; and subsequently, they sent me some seeds. I wrote about it here. In the post, I explained how I keep the deer out of my garden and how my gardening isn’t always successful.
Now, though, I didn’t want to experiment with these Monsanto seeds, so I started researching for a detailed step-by-step guide for how to plant the seeds. I found a very good one at the website for the National Gardening Association. You can find it at this link on my Pinterest board Gardening for Grannies. If you do not have a Pinterest account you can also find it here.
My biggest problem was lighting for my seeds, and I’m cheap so I didn’t want to buy an expensive light growing system. With a little research, I discovered that I didn’t have to do so. I ended up making mine, using information found on Pinterest. You can see it here.
I used their idea and made up my own grow light system using lights I already had, the proper light bulb as explained in a pin I also found on Pinterest (you can see it here,) and existing shelving in my garage.
I arranged it, and this is how it worked for me. It cost me nothing, and it worked like a charm. I used a timer that I already had for the Christmas tree to turn the lights on each morning at 8 am and off each evening at midnight.
My tomato, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower seedlings are now getting their second leaves so I’m getting close to transplanting. My tomatoes are a little leggy, but nowhere near as bad as in the past. Their legginess wasn’t the fault of the lamps, but my own fault. I left to go off over the weekend, and they weren’t to the stage yet where I needed the lights. It is amazing how fast they grow all of a sudden. I’ll update you then.
I’ll update you when I get to the next steps.
My Garden–Not Always a Success
Disclosure: Monsanto Co. has compensated this post and the “Hey Let’s Grow Monsanto Home Garden Program”. All opinions are mine alone. #HeyLetsGrow
‘Hey Let’s Grow’, a home gardening program of Monsanto just sent me a box of garden goodies. Every year I have a vegetable garden, except for last year. I decided not to grow one because we were gone so much of the summer. We were out of town for almost two months.
Still, though, a volunteer cherry tomato plant came up, and I staked it and added some fertilizer to keep it producing until almost the end of July. It would have continued, but there was no one to harvest it after we left to go on vacation.
Every year I try to talk family members and even the housekeeper into harvesting and taking home the veggies, but no one seems to take the time. Or they just forget. Two years ago I got a bumper crop of okra, but when I got back I had a lot of giant tough inedible okra. Of course, it stopped producing, too.
Let’s See What’s in the Box
In the box from ‘Hey Let’s Grow’ there’s almost everything I need for this year. There are all kinds of seeds, a medium for planting them in, a couple of cute coffee mugs, some honey to go in my coffee, a new gardening apron, and several gardening implements. There are even markers, so I’ll know what I planted and where. I can’t wait to get started.
Another reason I did not plant last year was that my little bed needed to lie fallow for a year. I broadcast some rye and let it go. So yesterday I walked down the hill towards the lake and checked out my little plot. I pulled down the fence and started preparing it.
Gardening is Risky
Speaking of the fence. I had to fence off several of my citrus trees and my garden down the hill. Two years ago I planted a new grapefruit tree that was about 4 feet tall. Sometime within the next month, a deer had a run-in with that tree, because one morning I walked down there and all that was left was a stub. It looked like it had a fight with a deer, and the deer won.
All that was left of my grapefruit tree.
Parts of the grapefruit tree were snatched about all over the place. I thought the tree was surely dead, but my nurseryman Uncle Ferrell suggested that I simply let it regrow. I did, and this past winter I got 9 grapefruit off of it.
Two years ago I planted some lettuce and spinach in my little garden, and I think the deer ate all of that too. So I learned over the years that cheap pieces of rebar can be used to make a fairly tall fence to protect whatever it is that needs protecting. Here’s how I use it around several of the smaller citrus trees. You can cheaply fasten it together with some wire.
Using rebar for fencing
And Then There are the Weeds
It has been an unusually warm winter this year in north Florida. Our temperatures only dropped into the 20s about twice. It has also been a rainy winter, and this means that the weeds are going to be harder to control this coming year. My azaleas are already blooming.
I do a lot of flower gardening in my four and a half-acre yard and spend a lot of time weeding it. It is so bad that I nicknamed it “the Garden of Weeden”. All we can hope for down here in damp sunny Florida is a good hard winter.
The yard was a lot easier to take care of when I had teenagers who were always getting into trouble–all three of them. There was frequently someone back there working off their punishment, but now they are all grown up and have ‘weeders’ of their own.
My Flower Garden
My garden includes knockout roses, antique roses, azaleas, several varieties of camellias, sago palms, elephant ears, several kinds of gardenias, and volunteer impatiens, to name a few. We also have an orchard of blueberries, satsumas, mayhaws, grapefruit, kumquats, a Key lime, and a Myers lemon.
I planted several sweet potato vines for aesthetics a few years ago, and last year I noticed that I have sweet potatoes underground. This will be the third year they’ve over-wintered. They are growing in one of my flowerbeds.
Success Or Not, I still Love it!
I wished I could say that I am always successful with my gardening; but certainly, it is not so. The Satsuma some years gives us a bumper crop and then other years nothing. Also, the flower beds get away from me by August, and it’s a jungle out there.
Satsumas
One year I decided to try my luck with container tomatoes. I got a grand total of about 2 to 3 on each very nice-sized lush bush. My husband the comedian started passing information around Tallahassee that friends needed to make sure they asked me about my bumper crop of tomatoes. Several people stopped me on the streets to ask me if they could have some. I could’ve killed him.
There’s a variety of lettuce in the kit, but I have no idea if I can grow lettuce. The deer ate my one and only try. Plus my Mayhaw to this day has produced zero Mayhaws, and I even got it a mate. So stay tuned!
It Makes Me Respect Someone Who Does This for a Living
By the way having your own vegetable garden gives one a newfound respect for farmers. Raising one’s own food is such a risky undertaking that we’re all very lucky that there are those who will do it for us. I wish to shout out a big ‘Thank You’ to America’s farming community.
I used to can and freeze a lot of produce especially when I was younger, but hardly do it anymore. Now I spend my time extra time writing, traveling, and visiting grandbabies. I’ll keep you up to date on the successes and failures of my vegetable garden inspired by ‘Hey Let’s Grow’.
Are You Guilty of Murdering Your Crepe Myrtles?
I have this pet peeve that I must simply get off my chest. Why do people cut their crepe myrtles back so severely. Around my home we call it “crepe murder”, though it isn’t an original term for us. We got it from somewhere else.
An Example of Crepe Murder
The other day I was visiting my aunt and uncle. My uncle is a retired nurseryman, so I was surprised when my aunt made a comment about cutting back the beautiful crepe myrtle she had in her front yard. The tree was full of blooms and had a beautiful shape. When I complimented it, she said that unfortunately they had never had the time to properly cut it back so it would bloom better.
What the heck? I spent almost a decade working for the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida, and we had an active horticulture research program as well as the university’s extension service and master gardener program. I learned that this severe pruning of crepe myrtles not only maims the plants and leaves them misshapen, but it also weakens the plants and allows pests and diseases to invade.
I let my aunt and uncle know what I had learned about over-pruning crepe myrtles. They were both surprised and said that they had always heard that you had to prune them or they wouldn’t bloom very well. I realized that it was probably the landscapers who were pushing this agenda. Here in Florida the nurserymen combined with the landscapers years ago to form one single professional association.
But is it an agenda or just a regurgitation of bad instructions? I also have to admit that it has occurred to me that the pruning of these plants might just be another way for my landscaper to make a few extra bucks.
An Example of Severely Pruned Young Crepe Myrtles Blooming
My crepe myrtle trees are big enough that no one prunes them, unless the limbs bow down to our roof. I had asked that these limbs be taken off at the trunk. But my mother-in-law’s landscaper scalped hers smaller crepe myrtle while she was away one day. She was crushed, and the crepe myrtle never looked the same again. As you can see below, the trunks themselves are beautiful. Severely pruned crepe myrtles have misshapen trunks.
The trunks of two of my big crepe myrtles These sit near my front door. This photo was taken in the spring just as they were leafing out.
My daughter, who lives in Atlanta, bought a new home and inherited several murdered crepes. She has stopped the torture, but she says that they still aren’t beautiful like the ones she grew up with. She is waiting and watching the new trunks grow beyond their gnarled limbs, just hoping they will look ok in the end.
There is a myth that seems wide spread that you must cut a crepe myrtle so it will bloom. This year alone, though, the proof is on the mature unpruned trees. They are blooming like crazy.
Notice the beautiful shape of this tree
I love the drive between Tallahassee and my hometown of Monticello. It is lined with crepe myrtles first planted in the late 1950s by Mr. Mahan a nurseryman from Monticello. It is a beautiful scenic drive, one of the prettiest in Florida. In some places the crepe myrtles form a floral canopy over the road. Those mature trees are not pruned; and they bloom beautifully, especially so this time of year.
Scenic Mahan Drive is US 90 that runs between Tallahassee and Monticello, Florida
I love to garden, and I spend a good bit of time in my own. Because of my busy schedule, I look for plants that do not require a lot of maintenance. Crepe myrtles are perfect for my lifestyle. You just need to make sure you plant them in the right place. The extension service can help you determine which kind to plant and ‘where’ you should plant your crepe myrtle(s).
By the way the Extension Service is an organization that you should get to know if you don’t already. There is probably one in your county.
So who is the extension service? And who are master gardeners? The Cooperative Extension System is a non-formal educational system designed to help people use research-based knowledge to improve their lives.
The service is provided by the state’s designated land-grant universities. The University of Florida is a land-grant university. In most states the educational offerings are in the areas of agriculture and food, home and family, the environment, community, economic development, and youth and 4-H. The National 4-H Headquarters is located within the Families, 4-H, and Nutrition unit of the extension service. I have a picture of my great-great grandmother at a Home Demonstration event, which was done by the Jefferson County Extension Office in the early 1930s. She was very elderly but was there showing some younger women how to shell peas. Also, both me and my Dad were 4-H members. So the extension service has been around for a long time.
There are approximately 2,900 extension offices nationwide. In Florida there is at least one in every county. Miami/Dade has several.
Since 2005, the Extension system has collaborated in developing eXtension.org (pronounced “e-extension”). eXtension is an Internet-based learning platform where Extension professionals and citizens nationwide and beyond have 24/7 access to unbiased, research-based, peer-reviewed information from land-grant universities on a wide range of topics.
The Master Gardener program, typically offered through these county extension offices, provides intensive horticultural training to individuals who then volunteer as Master Gardeners in their communities by giving lectures, creating gardens, conducting research, and many other projects. When you call an extension office and ask for help with something in your garden, you are usually talking to a volunteer Master Gardener. I have future retirement plans to become a Master Gardener.
Another good source, if you must prune your crepes, is the Grumpy Gardener. He has a column each month in “Southern Living” magazine. Here is a link explaining how to prune your crepe myrtles.
So I guess that’s all I should say about this. I’ll just crawl down from my soapbox now.