Peas and Potatoes: Alu Mutter Garden

The sprouts on my potatoes were pretty big to begin with, but I'm still surprised by how quickly they started poking out of the ground.

Hopefully my straw mulch tactic will keep the potato bed neat and tidy.

My drunken peas can't walk a straight line, but they'll taste just the same.

Seriously! What was I on when I planted these?

A 'Great Gardens' Reading List

My local library's blog posted today about Great Gardens: Non-Fiction. Check it out for inspiration for your library reading list. I think I've read 50 to 75% of these books!

Salad Garden Taking Shape

I'm starting to actually see some defined rows in my bed of salad greens. Germination looks like it was a little patchy, but I think the survivors will fill out nicely.

Top to bottom (not that you can distinguish the rows from this far away): Green Heart daikon radish, radish mix, mizuna, arugula, lettuce, weeds, lettuce, more lettuce.

Arugula always grows great for me. It germinates fast and is of harvestable size in no time. 

I'm not sure why all the lettuce in this row decided to germinate in one spot.

Sittin' Pretty

Lately, the chickens seem to prefer these natural perches to the mini wishing well.

Four Cubic Yards of Compost!

I recently purchases four cubic yards of compost from a local landscape company. Two years ago (when I first moved into my house) I purchased 7 cubic yards of topsoil/compost mix from them...and they delivered it to the wrong house! Can you imagine 7 cubic yards (i.e. a small mountain) randomly being dumped in your driveway? 

This time I made it very very clear what my address is, what color the house is, what side of the street I live on, and I also put a huge bright blue tarp on the driveway where I wanted them to dump the stuff (kind of like X marks the spot). They got the delivery correct this time and I was surprised by how huge the pile was. It didn't quite fit on the tarp as you can see from the photo. 

I'm hoping this load of compost will go a long way to enriching all the new beds I added this year as well as filling in my raised beds (which have settled to almost half-volume over the course of two years).

Make Your Own Sturdy Tomato Cages

It's about time to bust out my lovely homemade tomato cages! I've been growing tomatoes for over a decade and these things are the best supportive structures I've come across yet.

While these tomato cages are a little more obtrusive than a wooden stake, they do a great job supporting and keep the plants from flopping everywhere. Plus, they don't rot or rust, so they should last you a lifetime!

Here's how to make them:

Purchase one or more 50' rolls of welded wire fencing. They run between $30 and $60 depending on the size. You should be able to find this at most major hardware stores. The welded wire comes in different heights between 4' and 7'. I have always used the 6' height because many of my indeterminate heirloom varieties can grow to be 7' or more by the end of the season! The fencing comes with 2" by 4" holes. This size hole can be difficult to work through if you have large hands, but I think the utility of these tomato cages will make up for the inconvenience.  

*Please wear long pants, closed shoes, and gloves when working with the fencing. The cut edges of the wires can be very sharp. 

Lets assume we are using a 6' tall by 50' roll. Unroll the fencing as best you can. Follow the instructions in the diagram below (sorry, I went right to left, instead of left to right). Make sure you include the exposed end wires in your measurement.

Once you have all your panels, form them into cylinders and bend the exposed horizontal wires into a loop and secure around the opposite end of the panel (see below).  

Your finished tomato cages should be approximately 2' in diameter, which I find perfect for two tomato plants. When you install the cages in the garden, weave a stick or a stake into the bottom part of the cage and pound into the ground to secure.

P.S. the welded wire goes on sale all the time at Menards (assuming you have one of those).

How do you support your tomatoes?

Slow, But Steady Seedlings

I'm mildly concerned that my veggie seedlings aren't doing so great this year. Due to all the cold weather, I've had to confine most of the warm-weather crops (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc) to the basement for most of the spring. My basement maintains at around 60 degrees and my fluorescent lights aren't super bright. While these conditions are fine for a time, my seedlings really need some bright natural sunlight and warm weather to bulk up before planting time.

These tomato seedlings are enormous, but that's because I got them from a greenhouse at work. I feel like this is cheating, but who can pass up free heirloom tomatoes?

My homegrown tomato seedlings, on the other hand, are much much smaller (most only have one or two sets of true leaves at this point. Some of my other tomato seedlings (I'm too embarrassed to show them) are even smaller due to an unfortunate watering mishap that happened during my conference in Iowa (in short, some of my tomatoes got a tad bit dry, which was exacerbated by the heating mat, and I lost probably 30-50% of my tomato seedlings. Oops! That said, I think I'm almost back on track now. The youngest set of seedlings (the ones I can't show you) have two more weeks to shape up before planting time.

My first foray into favas seems to be going well. All but one seed germinated, which had some weird maggot disease upon investigation.

The basil I started a week or so ago is looking good too, although I don't know if it will be ready by farmer's market time.

This year's jarrahdale pumpkins are doing well too.

In fact, all of my squashy crops seem to be doing well...with the exception of some of the gourds, which refuse to germinate. I've been growing ornamental gourds for several years now and the germination rates are always very variable (I'm talking over a month apart for the same cultivar, from the same seed packet, grown under the same conditions).