Gardening Websites

"How does the meadow-flower its bloom unfold?
Because the lovely little flower is free
Down to its root, and in that freedom bold."
---William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
. . . . . .

This quote came from a gardening newsletter that I receive each week in my email. P. Allen Smith (maybe you have seen him on one of the TV garden programs) has a nice website and sends out a free newsletter. If you are interested in his newsletter, go to his website at http://www.pallensmith.com/ , and then go across the top of the page and hit the newsletter button. Each week he spotlights a new flower or vegetable, shares a seasonal recipe, and sometimes a decorating idea. Keep in mind that he is in a different growing zone than we are, so if he says to plant something, the timing might be off (we have a longer growing season, both in the spring and fall).

. . . . . .

A website that I visit daily is www.urbanhomestead.org/journal . This is about a family in Pasadena, CA, that live on a typical home lot. The home is next to a freeway on one side and a church parking lot on another. Their gardens are inspiring to look at!---see above picture. They garden 1/10th of an acre and produce 3 TONS (6,000 pounds!) of food each year. They also have a few chickens, ducks, two small female goats, and a hive of bees. They started out with a fixer-upper and then spent the last 35 years improving the soil and food production, just one step at a time. If you go to the address above, then to May 7th, skip down to "Sustainable Sundays Presents" there is an hour long video of how this "homestead" came about, with the first 20 or so minutes on just the garden. It is very interesting.

Garden Checklist

From the Fresno Bee:

Pruning: shape spring-flowering shrubs after pruning

Fertilizing: feed vegetables and lawns

Planting: coneflowers (Echinacea), beard tongue (Penstemon), gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia)--plant these from seed; gladiolus corms; corn, pumpkin, spinach, squash, watermelon--plant from seed; globe amaranth (Gomphrena).

To cover 100 square feet of space with mulch 3" deep, you will need 1 cubic yard of trunk space.

. . . . . .

"Don't Plant Where Black Root Has Been"---Elinor Teague

Don't plant vinca where Pansies were growing, because pansies may carry black root rot. Black root rot is a "soil-born fungal disease that interferes with the plants' roots ability to absorb water and nutrients." Symptoms: appear slowly and worsen as temperatures rise; stunted growth; begin to wilt during the day and recover at night; and leaves eventually turn yellow. When affected plants are pulled out, what roots that are left are black and seem water-soaked. Other plants that may be affected: hybrid impatiens, cyclamen, strawberries and raspberries. Once the fungal disease is in the soil, it is difficult to control, as tools, shoes and gloves can transfer the disease to other parts of the yard.

"One of the best preventative measures that can be taken is to buy your bedding plants from a reputable nursery."

Verticillium wilt and fusarium wilt are two other pathogens that can live many seasons in the soil. The symptoms are similar and may affect tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and potatoes. These diseases don't necessarily kill plants, but yield may be less and plants may be less vigorous. Hybrid vegetable plants' labels show a V and or F to indicate resistance. Many heirloom vegetables are not resistant to these two diseases.

Crop rotation, not planting the same crop in the same place two years in a row, can reduce fungal populations.

[I have never had a problem with V/F fungi wilts when growing heirloom and open-pollinated vegetables---Judy]

For the Bees

These pretty yellow flowers are really the blooms of Baby Bok Choi that is going to seed. I'm not saving this seed because I purchased it at the store and I don't remember if it is hybrid or not. I do let some vegetables and herbs go to seed just for the bees. The bees are having a rough time contending with two types of mites, which have cut their numbers down. Therefore, I try to help the bees all I can by providing flowers for them.

This year I experimented with planting in bags of garden soil. This bok choi has been growing in one of these bags. I found that I have to water them every day, and in the heat of summer they might need watering twice a day. It was fun to try and it has worked well. So, if you don't have your garden ready and are anxious to plant something to eat, try growing it in a bag of top soil. (See http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2008-06-01/No-Dig-Garden-Beds.aspx ).

Roses

Soon the first flush of rose blooms will be finished and then it will be time to feed the plants. The hardware/garden stores have a lot of different kinds of rose food, but, to me, the best ones are the natural/organic. Chemicals are harsh to plants and soil beneficials, but the natural fertilizers are gentle and slow release. Roses are fed after each flush of blooms, so that it can revive its energy for the next flush. As the season goes on the roses will get smaller, but will emerge with large blooms again the next spring.

When cutting roses for bouquets, remember to cut the stems just above a five-leaf cluster and the plant will create more flowers at that point. Roses grow well in our climate. The only bug problems that I have had are the Hoplia Beetles (they are here for just a short time) and aphids (usually on the new growth in early spring). I have never sprayed my roses with anything other than a stream of water, and they thrive!

My To-Do List . . .

According to the "Old Farmer's Almanac," today we are in Leo, and Tuesday through Friday we are in Virgo. Both of those signs are considered barren and the only things that are good to do is to weed, prune, and kill bushes. Saturday will pick up again with Libra, which is very good for planting/growing above ground crops. So, that means I will have plenty of time to tackle those weeds in my yard!

---weed (on-going)
---deadhead the flowers, especially roses (on-going)
---finish thinning my peaches (done)
---trim front yard hedges

Effortless Sweet Peas

The purple flowers in this picture are sweet peas that self-sow every year. I think I threw the first sweet peas into that garden six or seven years ago and they just keep on self-seeding! They do plant themselves all over, but are very easy to pull out or transplant. I get bouquets of fragrant flowers every year for no work! Besides that, they look especially pretty when my irises are blooming along side the sweet peas!

Seeds

Seeds are seeds--right? Not in today's world. Nature will naturally cross two or more corn plants, or two or more melon plants, and create a new corn or melon; but corn will not cross with melons. Scientists have cross-bred plants of two parents (ie-two corn, or two melons) to create a unique, super wonderful offspring, that has taste, color or growing patterns that are superior to either of the parents and are called hybrids [genetically they can cross corn with melons]. When you plant hybrid seeds, you get the exact plant that you expect. If you keep seed from the offspring and plant them the next year, the plants will revert back to one of the parent plants, and is not something you would want. To help keep seed cost down, purchase "open-pollinated" or "heirloom" seeds, so that you will have plants that produce seeds that you can use the following year. These seeds grow true to the parent plants (which is what you want). Heirloom seeds have been grown and used for at least 50 years, and with some going back 100 or more years. I grow Summerfelt beans that are descendents of seeds that were growing in Germany back in 1805! They are a tasty dry soup bean and still a strong grower. Besides that, Summerfelt is my father's mother's maiden name! So far I haven't made any connection of the bean to my specific family, but maybe someday!