December 2009

December 5 a cold front came through followed by 2 weeks of fairly cold weather. Most of the peas froze before we had a chance to harvest anything. We did harvest a few green beans. The butternut squash seems to be taking the freeze surprizingly well. Things effected badly by the frost were: Green beans, peas, acorn squash, zuchini squash, cilantro, tomatoes, bell pepper.

We are harvesting: Bunching Onions, lettuce, beets, cilantro, parsley, chard and carrots. I also harvested 1000s of Marigold seed. The turnips, peas, brocolli and cabbage are growing nicely. The sweet peas are finally starting to bloom and are a beautiful red color.

The granex onions are doing well. They are about 6 inches tall and just about ready to spreadout into a larger area. Here is a current video clip. I made a mistake saying I planted Nov 15. I really planted them on October 15 and hope to harvest 15 June.

I am washing and sterilizing plastic cups that I used before for starts. I plan on starting tomatoes and other things in the house next month to get a head start on the spring garden.

Here are pictures. of what the garden looks like in December 2009.

November 2009

The garden is growing great. We are finally starting to pick lettuce, chard, cilantro, radishes and parsley. It won't be long and we will be picking green beans, squash and peas.

October 2009

The good news for October is that everything I planted came up! I feel a lot better about gardening today. The weather is cooling down and the garden looks great. The board method of planting was great. We are on our way to a great garden. Here are some Pictures

Flowers

Marigolds:

Board Sprouting Method

One of the greatest frustrations of my gardening is throwing $100 of seed into the ground only to never see them come up. There is a variety of reasons for this: poor seed (not usually the problem since I bought new seed), Critters, and letting the seeds dry out before sprouting has occurred. The following method helps to over come the seeds drying out.

1. Make a furrow with your hoe.
2. Run water down the furrow to soak the ground thoroughly.
3. Place the seeds on to of the wet furrow.
4. Cover the seeds with a layer of good compost
5. Cover the compost with DRY grass clippings.
6. Cover the furrow with a board. The board isn't laying on the seeds. The board keeps the ground from drying out.
7. When the seeds sprout remove the board so the new plants get sunlight.
8. Shade if the sun is too intense.

Sprouting Seeds in a cup

SPROUTING SEEDS IN A PLASTIC CUP
1. Start with a 16 oz plastic cup. Label the type of seed you are going to plant on the outside of the cup with a black marker.
2. Cut holes in the bottom of the cup with scissors. If you cut along the bottom corner, it is fairly easy to do. This allows for good drainage.
3. Put a good quality potting soil in a bucket. Add water and stir to create a consistent damp to wet mixture.
4. Fill the cup to within 3/4 inch of the top of the cup with the damp potting soil.
5. Place the seeds on top and cover with a small amount of potting soil according to the size of the seed.
6. Cover the top of the cup with clear plastic wrap and seal it in place with a rubber band.
7. Put the cup in a aluminum cooking sheet to catch any draining water.
8. Place in a location with 70 to 80 degree temperatures. It doesn't have to be in the dark.
9. After a few days immediately upon the emergence of the seed, remove the plastic wrap and put in a window where it will receive sunlight.
10. Cut a plastic milk jug in strips. Label the name of the plant seedling on the plastic strip and stick into the cup.
11. Transplant in the garden when the true leaves appear or when the temperature is right.
12. Do not feed the plant anything but water until the true leaves appear. After that you can feed with a very light solution of fertilizer.

SAUERKRAUT

Making sauerkraut is easy! Why make sauerkraut? Because you can and because some people actually like it and it is a way to use up all those cabbage from your garden.

Ingredients/equipment

1. Ceramic crock or food-grade plastic bucket about 1-gallon
2. Plate or bowl that fits into the crock
3. One head of cabbage
4. 3 tablespoons of sea salt
5. Plastic gloves

Alternate additions for a different flavor can be apples (whole or sliced, herbs and spices, onions, garlic,greens, brussels sprouts, turnips, beets,etc)

1. Chop or grate cabbage finely or coarsely, with or without hearts. Mix green and red cabbage to add variety.
2. Place chopped cabbage in the crock along with a little sea salt and some of the other ingredients as you go. Press down hard with your fist on the crock ingredients as you go. The salt pulls the water out of the cabbage and creates a brine in which the cabbage can ferment and sour without rotting. Brine inhibits organisms and enzymes that soften it.
3. When all of the cabbage is in the crock, cover with the bowl or plate and put a quart jar of water on top to serve as a weight that encourages the brine to pull water out of the cabbage.
4. Periodically press down on the weight to help the exchange of water into the salt brine until the brine rises above the cabbage. This can take up to 24 hours as the process is slow. If the brine does not rise above the top (ie must cover all the cabbage in the crock) in 24 hours, add enough Sea Salt water to bring the brine level above the top. Make the salt water by adding a teaspoon of Sea Salt to a cup of water and stir until it is totally dissolved.
5. Leave the crock to ferment in an unobtrusive corner of the kitchen where it won't be forgotten. Check it every day or two. The kraut needs to remain below the surface of the brine to allow for the anerobic digestion is happening.
6. A moldy scum will form on the top. DON'T WORRY! It is a normal part of the process. Just skim it off, wash the bowl and replace the weight. On the other hand, you really don't have to worry about it if you don't skim it off or not. You can in fact just let it form into a complete scum cover and it comes off easier.
7. Taste it after a few days. Take out some of it to eat if the taste is right and put it in the refrigerator. Leave the rest in the crock to continue changing in flavor.

ENJOY !! Try a different recipe next time.

September 2009

Pictures of September
The last of August and first part of September have been a lot of work!

• Picked up another load of chips and shredded them.
• Purchased a trailer load of manure from Pioneer Materials in Gilbert for $80.
• Rototilled the garden, spread a mixture of chips and manure
• Dug in the mixture
• Tried several different methods of sprouting
• Had a gardening class for ward members and neighbors.

I have been having some success in sprouting finally. You can get a more detailed description of what I ended up doing reviewing this section on sprouting: SPROUTING

I have sprouted Butternut squash both from what I harvested from a squash Edith bought at the store that we ate and some seeds that I bought from Henry Fields;

I have started the following in plastic cup planters: cauliflower, chard, Okra, Granex Onion, butternut squash, green onions, sweet pea, cabbage, armenian cucumber, straight 8 cucumber and egg plant. I have been pretty successful in getting them to sprout. Now we will see if I can successfully transplant them into the garden.

I also planted directly into the garden: butternut squash, green onions, zuchinni squash, chard and carrots. I am anxiously awaiting to see what happens. The planting method I tried is:

• Dig a furrow and let the water run slowing down it until the entire furrow is soaking wet.
• Please seeds in the bottom of the furrow.
• Cover seeds lightly with potting soil.
• Cover potting soil with dry grass clippings from mow job two weeks ago.
• Carefully water the furrow with a hand held wand.
• Place a board on top of the furrow, leaving a gap above the seeds.
• Drag dirt up to the edges of the board to trap air and moisture below the board.
• Pray

26 Sept 2009 Final Analysis: It is too hot to plant in September!!! I don't care what the charts say, it is too hot. I have done everything I can possibly do to cover the seeds, to keep the sun off, to keep them moist and have a great start. They sprouted, but in spite of me trying to shade them, I had to take flood irrigation in the yard followed by a very intense sun today and I think it has burned off nearly everything. I have very little to show for all my work. In addition the grapes vines are covered with bugs filling the air with flying insects.

It just isn't worth the hard work!!

Take a vacation and wait until October!

Pictures

August 2009

August 2009
Garden activities this month were:
Level the ground and put clear plastic sheets on to solarize the ground and kill grass.
I went to the Tree Doctors stock pile of wood chippings and got a trailer load of chips. When I got home I found that the guy loading my trailer scooped up a lot of dirt and clods. I sifted through the whole pile getting rid of the dirt clods the best I could then ran it through the new chipper/shredder that I bought.
I built 3 grow boxes. (See Grow Box) One out of wood and two out of cinder block and filled them with the chips I had made, mixed with some manure, sand and commercial fertilizer.
Bought 12 tomato plants. 4 died almost immediately due to the heat.
I made a shade and hope to have saved the rest.
Sprouted a bunch of broccoli seed, (using the Rinse & Drain method) transferred them to little planters and they all died.
Tried sprouting onion seed I had harvested. None of it sprouted. Why?
At the moment I feel pretty low on confidence that I know what I am doing.
Purchased and received a bunch of seeds from Henry Fields seed company.

Sprouting Seeds

SPROUTING SEED IN A GLASS JAR
This video shows how to sprout seeds in a glass jar. Here is the process.
1. Soak seeds 6 to 8 hours
2. Rinse thoroughly
3. Turn upside down to drain. It is very important the seeds drain completely without becoming dry. You might want to turn the jar upside down on a damp paper towell.
4. Thoroughly rinse 3 times minimum per day.
5. Seeds will sprout in 2 or 3 days depending on the seed. Some take longer.

Grow Box

GROW BOX
08/09/2009
The reasoning behind this experiment is to address the need for good drainage in the growing medium. By constructing a grow box placed on top of the ground and putting a custom mixture for a growing medium, the idea is to improve drainage.

I obtained a trailer load of chipped tree limbs from the Tree Doctors at no cost. I knew the chips were not going to be small enough so I purchased a 5.5 HP chipper shredder and ran the material through the chipper. That is where I lost the concept of the “Poor Man Garden”.

Getting back on track of the “Poor Man Garden” I constructed a box using plywood that was laying around and cut it to 6” wide x 8’ long pieces. The sides are held in place by short pieces of re-bar laying around. I also built two other boxes using 4x8x16 blocks I had laying around. They were simply placed on the surface of the ground.

Level the ground, build the box, sprinkle the top off the ground with gypsum to improve drainage, and then fill the box with the custom soil.

The custom soil in this case is 50% shredded wood chips and 50% manure and then turning over one shovel depth of native soil to create a chip, manure and soil combination.



Pictures!

CUSTOM SOIL:
75% chips, 25% sand, mix in some Ammonium Nitrate, Ammonium Sulfate, and various other fertilizers including one bag of steer manure per box. I wasn’t too scientific about it because they just don’t sell things the exact way I was looking for. Mix and moisten and pout into the box.

You have to add the fertilizers because the chips haven’t decomposed, therefore any nutrients they have will not be readily available to the plant. As natural bacteria do their job, there will be nutrients available. In the meantime, you have to feed the plants. Eventually the plants will send roots down into the soil beneath the grow box to pick up an trace elements they need.

At this point, I am not so sure this experiment is going to be successful and has been a LOT of work! We will see what happens.

Onion Seed Harvest

Onion seed harvesting is simple. Just wait until the seed flower blossums. Let it dry on the stock until about ready to burst out the seeds. Harvest, then roll between your fingers to dislodge the seed. Work over a TV tray. Shake the tray as you hold it in a slanted angle and the little black onion seeds will roll to one side. Pick them up, put in a paper envelope, label and save for next season.

Onions

ONIONS
Short day onions are the best. You can plant them from seed on October 15 (sometimes they are called 10/15 onions). Examples are Granex and Texas Grano, and Sweet Spanish onions.
Day neutral onions are also fine. Most of these are hybrid as far as I know.
If you plant onions from seed you should let them grow in their original soil until about 6” tall then transplant them to a wider spacing, say 6” apart.
You can buy onion plants (like green onions) from Dixon Dale Farms, mail order.
For the big onions you need a lot of sunlight in the winter, and water them heavily in the warm weather.
Bulb onions are usually harvested about June 1 in Mesa, I believe.

Wait until almost all of the tops have fallen over then pull them up, using a digging fork if necessary and then let them dry out on a table on the back porch before storing them in a cool place with plenty of air flow.
Short day onions tend to be poor keepers.
Day neutral hybrids tend to be much better keepers.
Seed catalogs, and the Dixon Dale Farms onion plant catalog, fully describe each onion by name, size, flavor, and keeping ability.
Onions do not like competition from other plants, nor do they like shade.

Buy ONLY (only) from a catalog, not a local store because the local stores could care less about whether you get a bulb or not (strange but true), and be sure to buy SHORT DAY or DAY NEUTRAL ONIONS or ANY ONION GUARANTEED TO MAKE A GOOD BULB IN SOUTHERN AREAS!!!

"If you can turn off the water to the area, it is really nice to knock down the tops of the onions when most of them are down and then let them wither in place."

Canning Tomatoes

Incredients and Tools Needed
1. 7-Canning jars ( Mason, Kerr or Ball) in good condition
2. New canning jar lids (you can use old screw-on rings, but must have new lids)
3. Canning & Pickling salt
4. Deep pan to heat tomatoes to loosen skin
5. Large bowl to put ice water in
6. Small pot with water to boil lids in
7. Large pan with boiling water to be added to each quart jar after it is filled with tomatoes
8. Steam canner to hold at least 7 jars
9. Small parring knives
10. Bread pans to catch skins and keep work area clean
11. Ripe tomatoes. DO NOT TRY TO CAN GREEN TOMATOES OR THE GREEN PARTS OF RIPE TOMATOES!
12. Sieve to lift tomates in and out of hot water

Process
Wash tomatoes and bottles. Start large pan of water to heat for tomatoe skin loosening.
Fill large bowl with cold water and put ice in it.
Put washed bottles in the oven at 150 to 200 degrees for 15 minutes minimum to sterilize and to keep warm until you are ready for them.
Put the cleaned rings in the oven with the bottles to sterilize.
Put the new lids in the pan of water, and start heating until it boils, then simmer until used.
When the water is beginning to boil in the large pot (very light boil), put enough tomatoes to fill a quart jar in the hot water and set the timer for 4 minutes.
After four minutes take the tomatoes out of the hot water and put in the ice water.
Start immediately to peel the skins off the tomatoes. They should slide off easily.
Cut into fourths and put in the quart jar until full.
Press down gently and fill the void with another tomato.
Put a teaspoon of canning salt on top of the tomatoes.
Fill the jar with hot water to within 1/4 inch of the top of the jar.
Loosen the air bubbles in the jar by thrusting a table knife along the inside edges of the jar.
Clean the top of the jar with a clean cloth.
Put the lid on.
Put the cap on and firmly tighten.
Put the jar into the steamer.
Continue the process until you have 7 jars in the steamer
Turn on the heat under the steamer.
When it starts to steam, set the timer for 45 minutes to cook.
When done, turn off the heat and let cool down.
When cool, carefully set the jars on a towel on the counter for 12 hours.
Label jars with a date they were canned.
Admire and post on your own blog site.
Move to your food storage area for future use!

Corn Seed

This is a video of how to teach you to harvest corn seed.


HHEF purchased seed from Southern Exposure Seed Co. Jan 2010
BUHL: Heirloom seed prior to 1940. From Sandhill Preservation Center via Southern Exposure Seed company member BW White 1981
81 days.
yellow with 6'-7' stalks bear 2 ears of amazingly uniform sweet yellow corn of superior quality. You'll have to fight off the racoons to enjoy it.

SOIL

SOIL
The single most important thing to a garden is what is below the surface of the ground. But soil may be the thing least understood by the urban gardener. Soil is made up of varying sizes of mineral and organic particles mixed with quantities of air and water. The mineral elements come from weathered rocks from the earth’s surface, the organic matter from decayed plant and animals. Soil normally refers to what is naturally found at the surface and is what is usually used by the urban gardener as the growing medium.

Soil Texture: The size of the mineral particles in soil creates its texture and defines its type. The three basic types of particles (in order of increasing size) are CLAY, SILT and SAND.

CLAY is the smallest soil element. Typically particles are so small that most of them are not visible under a microscope. CLAY can be rolled into long "worms" if moistened and rolled in your hand. Clay particles have a tendency to pack together becoming very dense, shutting out water and air especially if the particles are plate-like and more horizontal in structure. This type clay creates compacted hardpan hostile to root growth. This type clay is typical in the vicinity of the Haws Haven Experimental Farm and is what we call "caliche".

SILT is minerals in size between that of clay and sand.

SAND is the largest particle size. Moisten the soil and rub some between your thumb and fingers. Sand is harsh and gritty and will scarcely hold together. Clay can be squeezed into a firm shape. Silt can be somewhat gritty, but will more or less hold together when moist. A 100% SAND soil allows for air to penetrate, but has poor water retention qualities.

LOAM is the term for a soil that is approximately 10 to 20 percent clay, 25 to 70 percent silt and 20 to 65 percent sand. Soils with this type structure are best for a garden especially if it contains substantial amounts of humus (partly decomposed organic material).

DETERMINE SOIL TYPE Fill a quart jar about 2/3 full of water. Add a tablespoon of powdered laundry detergent as a dispersing agent to break up the chunks. Obtain a sample of soil from the area of the root zone by discarding the top two inches and taking the sample from 2 to 8 inches down. Break up the soil as best you can and leave on a clean surface in the sun to dry thoroughly. Add soil to the jar, screw on the lid and shake it vigorously. Then let the soil settle. The heaviest sand particles sink to the bottom in a few seconds. The silt layer takes a few minutes and the clay particles may not settle out over several days or even weeks. Measure the settled out layers to get a fairly accurate estimate of the texture composition.


HHEF Soil Test: July 2009
Sample of dirt; crushed; dried; filled gallon jar 2/3 full with water; 1 tablespoon of laundry detergent; added soil until jar full; let set for two days. The soil settled out into three barely visible different size particles. However, there wasn’t a marked difference in the soil texture. When damp, all three layers form “worms” by rolling in your hand.

The soil in the Haws Haven Experimental Farm is very heavy clay with a lot of caliche. When the soil dries out it is VERY hard—like a brick. It is great for making adobe bricks, but not suitable for a great garden. It does not drain well, which is a very important soil characteristic nor does it naturally have nutrient value just by itself. When I first started gardening, I took my shovel, dug one shovel depth, put it to the side and went down one more shovel depth putting the soil on top of the previously dug out soil. The idea was that I was loosening the dirt. Then I would put the rototiller to it. It did leave a very nice consistency of loose dirt for planting. However, I noticed that over time the soil became even more compacted than before and still had poor drainage. These clayey characteristics don’t go away if you put the native soil in a raised grow box.

HHEF seeks to improve the soil by adding sand to decrease the over all percentage of clay and primarily by adding compost and manure. Compost and manure increases the porosity of the soil and add beneficial bacteria and microbes to the soil. The bacteria and microbes tend to make more of the chemicals needed for plant growth available for use by the plant.

Water Melon Tree

My water melon tree has received a lot of attention. I dug a hole and secured a tall pole next to where I had planted a few water melon seeds. I drove nails spaced about 12 inches apart in a serpentine pattern going up the pole. As the water melon grows I am winding the melon onto the pole. It doesn't really do it by itself, but it does have some vine clingers that I wind around the nails. There are a few melons on the pole. Some doubters think the vine will break before the melons ripen. We will see!