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."