Review: Edible Landsaping

Wow.  Just wow.  I think Rosalind Creasy might just be my idol in the way that Taylor Swift is to 12-year olds.

By my estimation, Edible Landscaping might just be the perfect vegetable garden book.  Not only does it go into the basic mechanics of edible gardens-- light, soil, nutrients, required growing conditions for plants, etc.-- but it also goes into the complex (and fun!) world of garden design.  With case studies on how real home owners planned their gardens (one is from Arlington, too!), descriptions of basic design principles to keep in mind and lots of gorgeous pictures for inspiration, this book really takes you from A-to-Z. 

Now, you maybe thinking: "Um, I have a vegetable garden, not an edible landscape."  And, to that I say: "Why do vegetable gardens have to be ugly?" Incorporating flowers to attract pollinators and beneficial insects is not only pretty, but practical.  And, putting a little extra thought into the arrangement of your planting (like, maybe instead of rows of lettuce,  maybe a checkerboard pattern), you can get some lovely results.

Furthermore, why does food have to be limited to the *vegetable* garden?  In Arlington with our tiny lots, sometimes your front yard is what is blessed with sun.  I have been working to make my front yard more productive already, but Edible Landscapes has given that new energy.  I had been thinking about maybe a Wisteria frutescens to grow by my door, but now I'm leaning towards a grape vine.  How amazing would that be?!  We'd have grapes (either eating ones or ones to make juice/jam) and grape leaves!  In the winter, the gnarled bark of the grape vines is striking too and perfectly front yard appropriate.  I'm also going to tuck in some anise hyssop (an herb) into my cottage-garden style front plantings.  She's also got some lovely ideas on how to use groups of pots to grow food which I think I'm going to try to incorporate in our vegetable garden area (which is being finished today!). 


She's also written books specifically on edible flower gardening and edible herb gardening that go into more detail on those topics.  I can't wait to get my grubby little hands on those.

All About Onions

With my summer garden winding down, I turn to thinking about next year. I'm very comfortable starting from seed and growing nightshade vegetables like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant by this point.  This year I added cucumbers, summer squash, greens, garlic and carrots to my garden. Next year, I want to try a few more new vegetables. And, I'm thinking about growing onions in the 2011 garden.  For some reason I feel like onions are kind of confusing: long day v short day v intermediate, bunching v green, sets v transplants v seeds, etc. Thus, I've turned to books and the internet to try to sort this all out.  This is what I've learned:


What's the difference?
As far as I can tell there are 3 "types" of onions: Bulb, bunching and multiplier/perennial onions. The bulb type are what we generally buy in the grocery store (they're are the option to choose if you want storage onions) and one seed/set/transplant will give you one onion.  Bunching onions are basically "green onions" as they don't form large bulbs. And, finally, multiplier (or perennial) onions are like the bulb onions but they--as their name implies--multiply and create their own sets. Shallots and potato onions do this by creating clusters that you separate & divide, while top-setting onions, like the Egyptian walking onion, create bulbets that form on the top of the stem which take roots


Sets, Transplants or Seeds?
Sets are tiny bulbs, about the size of a marble without any sprouting, that were started from seed the year before. These are the easiest way to plant onions, but transplants actually offer better success and store better. Sets can be planted before the last frost, but the soil needs to be rather dry and a bit warm otherwise they can rot.

Transplants are just like any other seedling/plantlet...they are baby plants. You can buy these (although I don't think I've ever seen these in the nurseries around here) or start your own from seeds.  These tend to result in bigger onions than sets and have few pest issues. When the danger of frost has passed, plant harden offed transplants in the ground, but don't bury too deep.

Seeds often allow the greatest variety of cultivars.  Start them indoors 8-12 weeks before transplant date, but if you're blessed with a long growing season, you can direct sow outside.

Daylength?
If you're doing bulb onions (by seed, transplant or set) you'll need to match to your summer daylight. If you're north of a line from North Carolina to San Francisco, plant long-day cultivars.  If you're south of it, plant short-day cultivars.

Growing Conditions
No matter what type of onion you choose, they all seem to need well-drained soil with at least half a day of direct sun.

My Verdict
I think, should I plant onions next year, I'm going to go with seeds of bulb-type, long-day cultivars  that I'll start indoors. The idea of perennial onions is tempting (I love stuff that you just plant once!) but I'm not sure where I would put them.

More Winter Information Resources

This morning, it feels like 14*F outside which is very chilly for DC. Very, very, very chilly. The kind of chilly where your nose runs and your cheeks burn if you're outside too long in the wind.

We've already discussed how I am not terribly cold-hardy. Thus, I'd rather spend most of my winters indoors with some hot cocoa, dreaming of spring. Last time, I posted about books. This time, I'm going to post about TV.

Gardening by the Yard was an awesome show. It was kind of like the Good Eats version of gardening...you know a wacky host (Paul James in this case) provides both entertainment and information in one half hour show. Sadly, the show has been cancelled. You can, however, find episodes online and reruns still show up on my DVR (I believe on Friday afternoons and Sunday mornings).

I mourned the loss of Gardening by the Yard for awhile, but then I found that Paul James had his own website with web videos. Hurray!

These are truly fantastic resources to hone your gardening skills, and add to your gardening knowledge, all while staying warm this winter.

How To Deal with Pests

Of the garden variety, of course. Dealing with the cubemate that smacks their gum or the dude down the hall that uses speaker phone every.damn.time.the.phone.rings is 100% something I cannot help you with. But you have my sympathies.

My garden this year, mercifully, has been almost pest-free. However, I know that in future years I may not be so lucky. I had been hearing about integrated pest management (IPM). You know, that it was a great, holistic approach to controlling the creepy crawlies in the garden. So, I looked into it.

To be clear, IPM is not organic gardening. Chemical pesticides can be used in IPM practices as a last resort. But using IPM practices can be compatible with organic gardening. Basically, IPM is a process by which you first decide on your threshold tolerance for damage. Then, you monitor your plants frequently. Next, when you see damage, you identify the pest. After identification you move onto cultural (meaning growing environment), biological or chemical controls. And finally, at the end of the season you evaluate the effectiveness of what you did during the year and decide on what you will do different for the next season. It's an iterative process.

What does this mean? Basically every few days, you stroll around your garden looking to see any signs of damage. Then, if you see the damage, you figure out the cause and employ first cultural, then biological, and, if it comes to it, chemical controls to selectively eliminate your pest. Next, you evaluate how things went and how you can improve for the future.

Sounds so intuitive doesn't it?!? It also sounds familiar! Of the many books I read this winter to gear up for having a more successful garden, all of the organic ones suggested monitoring, doing preventative cultural practices and selectively eliminating the problem pest. The large difference from what I read in organic gardening books/magazines and IPM, aside, of course, for the permitted use of chemicals, was the evaluation part at the end. It totally makes sense when you hear it, but it's totally not something that occurred to me. I mean, I certainly have reflected on what plants were successful and which weren't, but pest management? Nope. Perhaps because it's more enjoyable to think about plants than bugs?!?

Below is an action plan I designed for the 4 most common pests in the DC/NoVA area. This year I, unbeknownst to me, I largely followed the monitor and cultural controls with very good results. Next year, I will work more on beefing up the biological before jumping into chemical (reaching for insecticidal soap is much easier than attracting ladybugs!!).

Click image to enlarge and print.

Raising Winter Greens

I attended the DC Urban Gardeners/Washington Gardener Magazine/DC Historical Society session on raising winter greens presented by farmer at Even' Star Organic Farm, Brett Grohsgal. The husband tagged along.

It was really informative! And entertaining.

Here is what I learned (or was reminded):

• Your soil is your biggest investment in the garden.
• Veggies, on the whole, like to be well-drained.
• Snow? Not a problem. Iced over snow? Also not a problem. Freezing wind? Big problem.
• DO NOT plant greens in late August. (ah! My procrastination paid off!) The bugs will eat your little sprouts before they can have a chance. Best to plant greens in late September.
• Good fall crops for this area are: arugula, mustard, turnips, collards, kale and radishes. Lettuces, dandelion and raddicchio can be successful as well.
• Chinese Thick-Stem Mustard is apparently pretty good.
• Southern Expsoure Seed Company and FedCo are good seed companies for this area.
  
• Rules of Raising Winter Greens in DC Area:
• Sow Sept 3-Oct 15th
• Water frequently (to get good roots. Every 3 days unless it rains)
• Thin when seedlings have 6 leaves
• Fertilize using fish emulsion, 1/2-3/4 strength
• Use leaf mulch to insuluate
• Channel 7 has the best forecasts

• RADICAL Winter Planting: If you dare....
• For lettuces, peas, carrots
• Work AS SOON as the ground has thawed enough (there's generally a freeze-thaw-freeze cycle here)
• January 28-March 15: Direct sow crops. High mortality rate so plant lots
• This doesn't work very well for braassicas or transplants other than onions & leeks.

Gardening: Not Rocket Science, Part 3

Alright. We've figured out some important details: light and soil. Moving on...

You want to look up your zone (USDA or if you're out West, I hear Sunset's zones are more helpful). Why? The important parts are the first and last frost dates as well as average high and low temperatures. The frost dates are what you'll live by if you're edible gardening. If you're planting perennials or shrubs/bushes, look for plants that can survive in your "zone" (meaning they can live with the high and low temps your area gets. you can still grow those that don't survive in your zone, but they will be annuals, not perennials for you).

Now, with the info I've droned on about, you can start making plant selection choices. I would advocate for the first time gardener to stick, at least most of the time, to the rules. This means, you choose plants that can deal with your light situation, soil situation and climate. When plants are in their ideal environment they are less susceptible to disease and pests which means you've got less maintenance and a greater chance of success. And really, not killing something feels awesome and is the surest way to encourage you to plant something else/continue to garden/make the garden bigger/etc.

I've blogged about the growing requirements for some edibles already to help you along: ground cherries, herbs, strawberries, peppers and tomatoes. Also, there are two notable inedibles in my life: my african violet and my Unwin's dahlias.

The boost of confidence, along with the knowledge that you can only really get by DOING something yourself will, in time, give you courage to plant something outside your zone or in a totally wrong light situation. In short, to experiment. After all, trying something new and taming Mother Nature seems to be what keeps gardeners excited about gardening for decades. But that first season? You need a little success. You need to be able to look around you and see things doing OK. You need to be able to think, "Hey! I can do this." And you'll realize that gardening isn't as hard or mysterious as you once thought.

Because, seriously, gardening isn't rocket science.

Gardening: Not Rocket Science, Part 2

Ok, so yesterday I blabbered on about sunlight.

Today? Soil.

In the immortal words from Fast Times at Ridgemount High: Learn it, know it, live it.

While you're monitoring the light situation, you can get better acquainted with your soil. As far as soil goes, it's important to know if it's acidic/alkaline or well-draining/moisture-retentive. If you container garden, you're in luck because you have the ultimate control over your soil and can perfectly adapt it to the plants you want to grow! Bagged, soil-less potting mixes tend to be slightly acidic, in general.

If you're planting in the ground you need to determine whether it's acidic or alkaline, you need to perform a soil test for pH. You can buy kits or you can send it off to your nearby extension office (they will do a more accurate, more thorough test and it's usually under $10!). A pH of 7 is "neutral." A pH less than 7 is "acidic" (to varying degrees) and a pH above 7 is "alkaline." Acidic is not necessarily better than alkaline for a garden. It all really depends on what you want to grow (although most plants prefer a pH between 6.2-7.2). Which is why it's handy to know what kind of soil you have.

Next, you need to evaluate how well your soil drains. Like acidic vs. alkaline, it's not necessarily better to have well-draining soil than moisture-retentive soil. It really boils down to the plants you'll ultimately select. Here's how to test the drainage of your soil: http://www.ehow.com/how_4543171_test-soil-drainage.html. If you're using a bagged, soil-less potting mix, it's generally considered well-draining, but make sure your container has adequate drainage holes!

Armed with this information you can either amend your soil to fit the needs of the plants you want to grow or go with the flow. I have, personally, have chosen a hybrid approach: I have worked compost into my moisture-retentive clay soil to help it drain better but have not changed the pH (mine soil is around 6.0-6.5). If you decide to go the amending route, take all the information you've collected to your nearest reputable nursery & ask an expert what you need to do.

If you're making a perennial bed, I would also suggest doing a NPK (nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium) test (which if you're getting a soil test from your extension office they will automatically do or you can get a home kit for it). This makes sure that you have adequate levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the soil. If your levels are inadequate, your plants won't have all the nutrients they need to grow. This is important if you're planting perennials because you want them to last and won't be planting every year. It's best and easiest in the long-haul (or so I'm told) to just get everything right from the start. If you have inadequate levels, amend your soil (ask your local reputable nursery what you need to do).

Tomorrow? The final part of this triology: Plant selection.

Are you stoked yet?!?

Gardening: Not Rocket Science, Part 1

Gardening seems so mysterious, doesn't it? I mean, you put a seed in some moist dirt and in a week or two, Voila!, you've got a baby plant. I suppose part of it is that humans don't exactly understand Mother Nature. I mean, sure, we can explain some things, but others? Complete mystery despite spending centuries of research.

So, of course, it's a bit daunting for the average person to go out there and try to tame Mother Nature in their own little patch of Earth/windowsill/patio/deck. There's the unexpectedness that is always a bit scary, as well as the "OMG, What If I Kill It!" fear and a dash of "This Seems Like Science & That is Not My Forte." At least, that's what I was feeling last year when I decided to give gardening, both edible and ornamental, a "go" after my container tomato and pepper plants didn't die (but also didn't exactly thrive). I guess you could say, after tasting my first backyard tomato, I longed for more.

I fully admit, I am still very much learning. I read magazines, blogs and books on gardening. I watch TV shows on gardening. I ask advanced gardeners lots and lots of questions. I volunteer at a greenhouse. I've taken free classes and attended lectures on various topics. And then, of course, I've done a bit of gardening myself.

After a yearish of all this, I think I can definitively state: Gardening is not as scary as it first seems.

I have learned that there does seem to be some basic "rules" to gardening. These rules almost guarantee success. And, much like anything else, after you have mastered this rules you can break them. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I am still very much in the "rule-learning" stage. As far as I can tell, light and soil are the two most important things you need to know about your garden. Conveniently, you can find almost all you need to know about them in one weekend. I'm serious. The following text is very long and talks about a bit of science-y stuff, but I pinkie-swear it's not hard. And I double-dog dare you to try it. It's unfamiliar, maybe, but not hard. Just take a lazy Saturday at home and observe, every hour, how the sun hits your garden area. Write it down. As in:

8am: Full Sun everywhere
9am: Full Sun everywhere
.....
1pm: Right hand corner starting to get shaded by tree. Dappled light there
....
3pm: Right half totally getting dappled light, left half getting shaded by neighbor's house.
....
8pm: Totally dark
etc.

I've even heard of using an organic soil amendment like blood meal (although used coffee grounds would work too) to trace where you're getting shade in the garden as the day wears on. It's useful to note if it's a tree or building that is shading the garden area because in the winter, that area will get full sun if it's shaded by a deciduous (leave-losing) tree. If you want to be thorough, you could perform this exercise every season to see how the light changes in your space. This is probably particularly important if you have either lots of trees or buildings very close to your garden space. If you've just got a wide open field, it is likely less of an issue, you lucky bastard.

If you're indoor gardening, pay attention to weather your windowsill/garden area is getting DIRECT light or indirect light. Generally, direct light will make your hand cast a definite shadow whereas indirect light won't.

With this knowledge, you can determine which parts of your garden are full sun, part-sun or shade. And, yes, your garden area might have all three of those situations in one "space."

Remember that you can't change your light situation unless you knock down buildings or cut down trees. This is really the one thing about gardening that is permanent.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Gardening, Not Rocket Science tomorrow!

Don't Give Up

You might remember my epic battle with aphids on my pepper seedlings while they were still under the grow light. The aphids seemed to only have a taste for the peppers and mercifully spared my tomatoes. Only a few hot and sweet peppers did not suffer from significant damage after the attack(s). (By significant damage, I mean that 90% of 90% of the leaves were completely sucked dry.) I mourned the loss of my babies, convinced they were well beyond The Point Of No Return.

But my dear, consoling, I-hate-yardwork husband assured me they were just fine; they would be alright. I didn't believe him. I mean, without leaves, how could my babies make food? He just would look at them and then at me and say, almost confidently, "They'll be fine." He wouldn't let me throw them away.

When winter started to end, we still had almost leaf-less, very pathetic looking pepper plants. I bought some starts from a nursery and tried again to throw away the ones I started from seed. He wouldn't let me. Fine. I took them outside and set them, pot and all, in our fenced raised beds. I refused, however, to plant them convinced I would just be forced to watch them further decline. My husband reiterated: "They'll be fine." But, seriously, what did he know? He doesn't read gardening books, blogs and magazines at all, let alone the quantity I had! Also, he's never grown *anything* before!

After the peppers had survived, mostly neglected, outside for over a month (still in the pots I started them in), my husband took them and planted them in a most unsuitable spot: a pot on the other side of the house that gets MAYBE four hours of direct sun (morning at that!) a day. I told him they would definitely not survive, not there! "I'll take care of them, then," he replied.

Now, my husband, bless is heart, isn't terribly good at remembering things like watering plants. These peppers would go unwatered unless we had rain (which there was a lot of in the spring) or he happened to walk by them (which was rare). They would sulk and he would water only to find them sulking again next time he passed by.

But, my husband didn't give up. Recently, I've been re-landscaping the forgotten side of our house where he planted those peppers and saw this:

I have to say it: He was right. They are fine. And I was a bit melodramatic and foolish giving up on them. This is my lesson learned: In a garden, there's always a hope of success even if you don't always water or don't know exactly what you're doing or stupid aphid attack. If you don't try, you certainly can't succeed. I won't give up so easily next time.

WaPo's Garden Calendar

Live in the greater DC area? Ever wonder what tasks you should be doing each month to keep your garden and yard lookin' good?

Enter the Washington Post's Gardening Calendar.

For August, the tasks at hand are:

• Order spring bulbs
  I've looked longingly at the bulbs available at Dutch Gardens. Especially the double daffodils...
  
• Conduct lawn soil test
  This is a "husband task" as the lawn is his baby.
• Cut back perennials/freshen garden
  Hmph. Maybe I'll do that next weekend. Most of my perennials are still looking OK. Plus, by then, I think I'll be able to remove some spent tomato plants.
• Pull up clumps of crabgrass
  Done! Kinda. The husband started to do this, but then got stung by a bee. Sooo...

The calendar has tasks for every month so check back often. Also handy? They tell you what is flowering.

Herb Garden Design

I am the first to admit that I am both cheap and lazy. Or perhaps "efficient" is a better term than "lazy" because I don't mind doing work but I certainly mind doing needless work. And, when it comes to herb gardens here in Northern Virginia you can create some needless work and expense. And y'all know I love herb gardens!

Primarily I'm talking about plant selection. Some of the workhorses of the herb garden just can't handle our winters. (Rosemary, I'm lookin' at you.) You either have pot it up and take it inside for the winter or just cross your fingers & hope for the best. Neither of these sound like a particularly tempting option to me.

Luckily, however, there are varieties out there of many of these "tender" perennials that don't mind living outside all year in NoVA*. I've found that you generally have to mail order or look at specialty nurseries to purchase these, but occasionally I've seen them at larger independent nurseries (not big box nurseries). Just because these are more hardy varieties doesn't necessarily mean that they don't taste good or they look awful.

This was my first year having a dedicated herb garden. Sure, I'd grown the odd pot with basil, mint or rosemary before but there seems something more definite when the plants are in-ground. Here's what my herb garden looks like this year:

In it is Arp Rosemary (hardy to -10*F), Greek Mountain Oregano (hardy to -20*F), Hidcote lavender (hardy to zone 5 so can survive our winter), parsley (biennial), mitsuba (hardy to zone 4. A Japanese parsley-like perennial herb. Planted in the parsley box too), english thyme (hardy to -20*F), chives (hardy to -40*F), bee balm and thai basil (an annual). Oh, and a mass of Unwin's dahlias because I didn't know where else to put them! The plants that will not come back next year are marked with an asterik in the graphic.

Overall, I'm pleased with how it's turned out. If anything my herb garden pays for itself more than my tomato plants! But, next year I'm going to put the dahlias some place else and want to add in a few more herbs and change it up a bit. Here's the working idea for next year:

You'll notice it has many of the same herbs but more parsley/mitsuba, sage (which is currently in a pot on the side yard) and red basil (well, purple might be a better description. Right now it's with the sage on the side yard). I'm not actually sure my bee balm/bergamot/mondara is going to survive this year; I'm still battling some powdery mildew. I'm saving a place for it just in case!

I've got 2 squares I'm not sure what to put in, though. I had thought mint, but I think I'm going to put a container of that right outside the herb garden (it's invasive). Likewise, I'm going to put my italian basil in with my tomatoes so no need for that in the herb garden. And I suck at growing cilantro. If anything that'll get put in the veg garden just for its flowers (they attract lady bugs) Hmph. I suppose I could go for a lesser used herb (borage? lovage? chervil?) or a crazy variety of something I already have (lemon thyme? pineapple sage?) but whatever it is, I want it to be winter hardy so that I can just plant once!

Anyone have any suggestions?


*Note that some perennial herbs will die down into the ground during winter but they will re-emerge in the spring, so don't be worried if they disappear on you when it starts getting cold! Also, if you container garden I've heard a good rule of thumb is that a plant will overwinter if it can handle 2 zones colder than you. NoVA is on the zone 6/'7 border, so look for plants at least hardy to zone 4/5 for your outdoor containers.

Fall Planting Calendar

As you know, you need to buy your fall seeds ASAP. It may be even too late, depending where you are and what you want to plant. I've been having a hard time figuring out when to actually plant fall crops. The problem is that after a frost, some plants will die. So there is a very final part of the growing season.

For Arlington, it looks like the average first frost date is mid-October.

Um, ok. So what does that mean? Different plants have different germination times and different number of days to maturity. It can get very confusing, very fast.

I was scratching my head about this whole thing & decided to procrastinate by looking at gardening blogs. What I tend to do is find a blog I like, then read all their posts. THEN, I look at their blog roll, find a blog from there I like, and read all those posts. This method, unbeknown to me, lead to my solution. I stumbled across Skippy's Vegetable Garden blog....which had a Fall Planting Calendar.

Just put in your average last frost date & click "Generate Fall Planting Calender"! Score!

I'm a little late on some things, but I wasn't planning to plant them anyway. I love how this takes a large hunk of the guesswork (and math) out of fall crops.

Powdery Mildew

(Excuse blurry photo. Blistering hot day + wind = little patience on my part!>>>)

Do your leaves look like baby powder has spilled on them? Or that they might be a tad bit dusty? Then, my friend, you've got powdery mildew. Sounds gross, right?!?

Well, that's because it is! It's a fungus. Think "athlete's foot" but for plants. Totally rank.

Here's a more mature account from GardenGuides.com:

Powdery mildew is a common disease on many types of plants. In fact, it is one of the oldest plant diseases on record - Theophrastis wrote of powdery mildew on roses in 300 B.C. Although different species of fungi cause the disease on different plants (Erysiphe infects vegetable crops and flowers; Podosphaera species infects apples and stone fruits; Sphaerotheca species infects berries, roses, some vegetable crops, and stone fruits; and Uncinula necator infects grapes), the infections are all characterized by a powdery white to gray fungal growth on leaves, stems and heads.

Contrary to popular belief, powdery mildew generally does not require free water to establish and grow. Infection can actually occur on dry leaves. Warm temperatures and shady conditions encourage the fungus to grow and spread. However, the spores and mycelium are sensitive to extreme heat and direct sunlight.

My beloved bergamot/bee balm/wild monarda have been plagued with the powdery mildew. It's not a complete surprise b/c they are susceptible, but I had tried to keep them in an area with good air circulation. Clearly, that was a garden FAIL.

But, powdery mildew is very treatable. Here are your options:

1. Commercially available fungicide. Read the label & it should list powdery mildew as something it treats
2. Home remedy of baking soda: Mix 1 tsp baking soda with 1 qt water & a few drops of liquid soap. Spray undersides & tops of leaves. The baking soda increases the pH of the leave surface & makes it an unsuitable growing environment for the fungus.
3. Home remedy of milk: Mix 1-part milk to 9-parts water (DO NOT go above a 1-to-3 concentration. You'll then get a fungus of a different kind) & spray tops & bottoms of leaves. This works like option #2. Skim milk is preferred b/c it doesn't have the fat that could go rancid or attract critters.

And, how to prevent powdery mildew from happening next year?

1. Remove fallen, infected leaves.
2. Plant resistant varieties (too bad for me...I don't know of any resistant monarda varieties.)
3. Plant in well-draining, sunny area.
4. Don't crowd plants. Allow for good air circulation (this I am guilty of...the dahlias grew bigger than I had expected...)
5. Disinfect tools used on infected plant to prevent spread to other plants.
6. Water in the morning.
7. Don't live in a humid climate! :)
   

Propagating Mint

I am dangerous. Seriously. I walk on the wild (gardening) side, throwing caution to the wind! I'm a rebel, baby! Let's just say I'm sooooooo dangerous, I planted chocolate mint in the ground. Without a pot. Without any sort of barrier what so ever.

See, I told you: Dangerous.*

I did, however, take out some "insurance," if you will. I planted the chocolate mint (smells like peppermint patties! Swoon!) in a location that gets a good deal of shade. This, I figured, should slow the mint down.

I was right. Too right, in fact.

My visions of making gallons of chocolate mint iced tea this summer were being dashed by it's slow growth. So, I did whatever any gardener with a frugal side would do: propagate more plants via cuttings. Here is what you do:

1. Clip off a 5in or so piece of mint (this also works for other types of mint).
2. Strip off the leaves on the bottom half.
3. Stick into water.
4. Change water every 3 days or so.

...and, here's what you get:

In the cup. Roots are coming from where the leaves I stripped off were. Even above the water line.


After 7 days, these are the roots my mint grew! This is a perfect project for anyone impatient, like myself.

Now these cuttings are ready to be planted. I'm going to put these 3 new plants into a pot & place in a sunny location. I may be dangerous, but I've not completely lost my mind!!!

Note that this method of propagation is the same as I did with ivy.




*In case you didn't know, mint can be highly invasive. I can completely take over a bed. Resulting in constantly cutting it back & weeding.

Weeds.

Ever wonder: Is this a baby plant or a weed? Or, perhaps, is this a weed that is going to look pretty or ugly? (I personally don't mind the violets that pop up all over our lawn. They are purdy.)

Here's a site with lots of pictures if you already have an idea what you're dealing with: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/weeds_multi.html and http://www.wssa.net/Weeds/ID/PhotoGallery.htm

Here's a site where you can search for weeds by their appearance: http://weedid.aces.uiuc.edu/

With all the rainy weather the DC area has been having, it should be easy to pluck them out of the ground. Do it now before they set seeds...which will just make weeding a bigger chore next year!

All About: Ground Cherries

I had been lusting after ground cherries after reading about them in Organic Gardening Magazine. (Note the adorable & awesome-ness of the chocolate dipped ground cherries.) They look like a golden cherry tomato wrapped in a tomatillo husk. Which isn't a *huge* surprise since they are in the tomato family!

Anywho, they apparently have a sweet-tart taste and no pit in the middle. HOLLA! Plus, if keep in a cool, dry place & in its husk, they keep for months.

Despite all this awesomeness, ground cherries were not to be found in my local nurseries or my usual seed ordering catalogs. I figured I'd try again next year. Until....

I found out my CSA gives away seedlings and that this year, ground cherries were up for grabs! Hurray! The husband sacrificed a few hours of his day to go up & get us 2 plantlets of ground cherries (along with 2 more basil plants & 2 epazote).

What do these guys need? Full sun. Well draining soil (seriously well draining...no clay allowed!). Frost-free weather (meaning they'll be an annual for me). A fair amount of space (I'm going to try to trellis mine). Love (who doesn't need that?!?) .

If these guys work out, anticipate ground cherry chutney or ground cherry cobbler recipes posted!

:)

Book Review: From the Ground Up

Last month, I happened upon Arlington Library's big book sale. I checked out the gardening section (there were perplexing fewer people there) and snatched up Michael Pollan's Botany of Desire and Amy Stewart's From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden. I had to get the former based on everything I've heard about In Defense of Food and The Omnivores Dilemma, but I felt compelled to get the latter because of it's title. You may notice that the subhead to this blog is "gardening & cooking from the ground up" (once I get some produce, we'll talk about the "cooking" part). I thought myself quite clever coming up with that line. Apparently, I was not alone.

Anyways, I get home with my scores (for a total of $3 no less!) and put them on a table, to be forgotten until today. It's quite summery outside in the DC area now. I did all my garden "chores" Saturday & Sunday so that I would be free to do whatever I felt like today, Memorial Day, a coveted day off. And, as it so happened, I felt like reading. I picked up Amy Stewart's book and headed over to Meadowlark Gardens to sit on a bench or in a rocking chair and read outside among the flowers (we're members so it was free. Additionally, we don't have comfortable chairs to sit outside). I then realize that I have been reading Amy Stewart for months now on the Garden Rant blog! It's very funny how the stars align sometimes...

From the Ground Up is a quick, fun, and informative read. Amy Stewart describes all of her triumphs and mistakes, unapologetically, in her first garden year. Like Amy, I grew up in the South (she is from Texas, I'm from Florida) and gardens weren't really prized. Lawns ruled supreme. Sure, people did have plants & trees in their yard, but they were solely there to accent the lawn. Save my grandfather's terraced garden (which I only remember existing when I was very small. Later it became more lawn) and one summer of gardening by my mother, I don't remember anyone having "gardens." And, I didn't really think of gardening until I was older, like Amy as well. When we started looking at homes to buy last year, a space where I could plant something was put on the "Must Have" list. Also, like Amy, I had little gardening daydreams about me pulling a few weeds, picking handfuls of flowers & tomatoes, and waving at my husband inside as he worked on his computer inside (all while wearing a floppy, wide-brimmed straw hat, pink gardening clogs and purple gloves no less.).

And, like Amy, I learned that gardening is both more work and more satisfying than my daydream. In each chapter, Amy discusses a particular garden story. Whether it's cats, dirt, planning, or tomatoes, she's got a wonderful story to tell that, if you're a first time gardener, you can identify with. Promise. Additionally, at the end of each chapter Amy gives some solid gardening advice, from how to prune roses to what plants to grow to attract beneficial insects to a recipe for a gardener's bath.

Here are some of my favorite excerpts from the book:

{When talking about her father practicing his guitar & the face he got when he made a mistake, even though *she* couldn't hear it}: "It didn't occur to me that the same might be true of gardening, that gardening, like music, could demand practice, patience, a willingness to make mistakes."

{I think this point is incredibly true}: "There is an old saying that if you have a dollar and a garden, spend ninety cents on the soil and ten cents on the plants, but I hadn't heard that saying yet. I wasn't interested in dirt. I was interested in plants- big, flowering, vigorous plants- and I wanted them now."

{And, finally}: ".....how simple gardening looked. So easy. So obvious. Pull the weeds, turn the earth, mark a straight line, and drop some seeds in. Water. Wait......What could be easier? What, really, is all the fuss about?"

I feel as though Amy has written the book about my first garden. Which is probably a good thing because she is much better at the story telling!

Most Awesome Plant Finder Site of All-Time

Most of the plants I lust after are full-sun. Which would be fine if even a (non-veggie garden) corner of my yard had something even *close* to 6 hours of sun per day. But, I don't.

sigh.

Instead, I'm constantly on the search of part-sun/shade plants that look cool. It's even better if they *sorta* look like sun plants I love. It's hard, though. Many site, you're lucky if you can sort by zone and *maybe* sun tolerance. Then you're left to your own to wade through the shrubs, annuals, perennials, and biennials yourself. The sites that do allow you to search by plant type, zone and light requirements are often nurseries so the selection is limited to what they carry (and for part-sun/shade plants...it can get really limited).

Enter National Garden Association's Plant Finder. Whoa. You can even search by color of flower! Color of foliage! Special features! Bloom time! My search of zone 7, part-sun, perennials yielded FOUR pages of results.

It's like a dream come true...

Busy, Busy Weekend. Full of Plants.

Happy Mother's Day to all those with spawn! With today being Mother's Day, you know what that means, right? Planting of the summer vegetables! Which, for now, are my babies. :)

It started out with pulling weeds which was infinitely easier given the 10 days straight of rain we've gotten. Most came out, roots & all, with a gentle tug.

Also, with the square foot garden don't-step-on-the-well-draining-soil mantra, I didn't even need a trowel to dig holes! After I dug said hole (with gloved hand), I put some water in the hole & then plopped in the plant, loosing the root ball when necessary. Next up, I surrounded the vegetables with crushed eggshells (most of my herbs aren't something that slugs would want to eat). Then, as another anti-slug measure, I sprinkled the area with Sluggo. Can you tell that I am anti-slug as well as anti-aphid?!? At least there is some preventative stuff you can do with slugs...

Which reminds me, so of my peppers STILL had aphids on them, the rat bastards. I planted some cilantro in the middle of them so hopefully that will eventually attract some ladybugs to the area (ladybugs feast on aphids). So, here's the garden plan(s):
(like the mood lighting?)

The Herb Garden. The middle part's plants are TBA.


And here it is planted:


The Vegetable Garden. Half isn't going to be used this year.


And here it is planted:


I ended up putting a row between the tomatoes & sweet peppers. Not sure if I'm going to plant there or place stones that I can stand on to easier tend the garden. The white pot contains a Old Fashion Rose scented geranium. It will live outside until winter, when I'll take it inside & put it near our sunniest window.

And just for fun the strawberry patch:

About a month ago


And now!


That's chamomile in the middle. Per the instructions on them, I'm snipping off the buds of all the junebearing this year in hopes of a bigger crop next year. I'll stop snipping off the buds of the everbearing mid-July.

Garden Vampires

Ugh. Things were going so well! The seeds I sowed on March 7th (has it really only been slightly more than a month?) have grown into sturdy teenage plants. Look at this tomato! What a handsome guy!


Then, last night happened. What 1980s kid remembers Bunnicula? (I remember having to read it in secret because mom didn't approve for some reason.( I thought that vampire-bunny was the only thing that sucked the life out of plants. Not true, my friends! Aphids are a *real* vampire of the garden.

I'm not quite sure how it happened...the soil was fresh and I haven't brought any new plants near the plantlets. Yet, there they were! The nasty brutes!

Aphids, the bastards that they are, are soft-bodied insects that suck the "juice" out of plants. (See, I told you! Vampires. Photo to the left is from Wikipedia) They are teeny tiny, can be white (mine are), green, black, yellow, and a light grey. Unfortunately for me, the reproduce like crazy and none of their natural predators (hopefully) live in my house. So, the only solution to me was insecticidal soap. You can make your own but I've bought a commercial brand. I've heard that some fragrances and dyes and such in soap could scrotch plants. So, if you decide to go the homemade route, make sure you go for something mild.

Luckily, I think I caught them during their first feast because the damage thus far has been minimal. So, I guess there's that. sigh.

Anywho, looks like I'll be on aphid patrol for a while. I'm going on vacation in a few weeks so hopefully they'll be all gone by then. Otherwise I fear I'll come home to a few dozen dead plants.

Here's a photo of some aphid damage and some aphids dying a slow death in some insecticidal soap (that's the wet stuff).


:(

Edited: I spoke with the guy at the plant clinic at Merrifield. Apparently, the only way an aphid could have gotten into my house was on my clothes or through an open window. Thus, when this freak infestation is over (he was surprised it happened), all should be well. And, I am happy to report the plants were clear this morning & this afternoon. Hurray!

Now, if this happened outside, I'd have more options on pest control. Like hosing the buggers off. Or getting ladybugs to have an aphid feast. Here's a great article from You Grow Girl on attracting ladybug (and deterring aphids) to your garden: article.