Weekly Gardening Outlook (Rain!!!)

This will be a continuing series where we look ahead at the coming week in gardening for the Northwest Arkansas area.

There's rain in that barrel!

Someone out there has been working on their rain dance technique!  We haven't had rain in 6 weeks and have seen temperatures over 100 degrees during that time.  Last night a solitary thunderstorm cell dropped the wet stuff on us for 20 minutes.  Not enough to do much more than knock the dust down, but with the weatherpersons calling for a 40-50% chance of rain each of the next 3 days, we are hopeful for more.  Our rain barrel gathered about 15 gallons during that shower.

Spaghetti Squash / Squash Vine Borer Update:

Alas, we hardly knew ye.  The barrage of insect activity noted last week did the squash vines in.  They made it almost 8 weeks.  Next season, we will more vigilant and ready with BT for the borers and pyrethrin/neem oil for everything else.  If that doesn't work... the farmer's market is open 3 days a week.  Wish us luck!

Things to be on the lookout for:

Young strawberry plants for next season

Continuing with the theme, keep tabs on soil moisture.  As hot and dry as it has been, these late summer crops are already stressed.  Forget about them for a few days and you could lose them, missing out on the late season harvest.  Contrasted in the picture above are young daughter strawberry plants thriving in this dry spell surrounded by leaves from a nearby sycamore tree.  Those leaves are there because the tree is experiencing drought stress and is prematurely dropping its leaves. Our water bill has crept into three digits for the first time ever, but most of our crops are doing okay.  Don't be afraid to get your fingers dirty.  A finger in the dirt is the best way to estimate soil moisture.  A crust on the soil surface is okay, but try to keep the soil a few inches down as damp as a well wrung out sponge.

Weather outlook:
-80s all week.  Nighttime lows into the low 50s late in the week.  Fall is in the air!  A good chance of rain Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
-Ten day forecast

What's being harvested:
-Peppers

-Chard 

-Tomatoes
-Celeriac leaves, basil, mint, and other herbs

-Apples

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes have proven to be one of the lowest maintenance crops that we've grown.  We mail-ordered Georgia Jet sweet potato slips and planted 8 square feet (2 per square ft.) in early May after we were sure a frost wasn't coming.  From there, we guided them through the eight-foot tall cattle panel trellis as they grew.  The only pest issue has been a few Japanese beetles and a treatment of neem oil took care of that. 

     2 weeks

     7 weeks

     11 weeks

     14 weeks

Tips and Tricks:

The literature says Georgia Jets require 90-100 days from planting to harvest.  At 100 days we eagerly turned back the dirt under some of our outermost vines.  We found small potatoes as pictured above.  In Northwest Arkansas, we still have 50 days of growing season left.  Plenty of time to put on size.  This just shows that local growing conditions vary and that the "days to harvest" number is a guideline only.  We will check them again in 2-3 weeks and keep you updated.  They must all be harvested before a frost hits.  Even though they are under ground, they cannot handle it like a white potato.

Putting up the Harvest:

Harvest when the soil is dry.  Dig slowly from the edge, trying to avoid nicking the potatoes.  Put the potatoes in the shade for a couple of hours, then brush away as much dirt as possible with your hand.  Take any that are damaged into the kitchen to cook in the next day or so.  Put the rest in a warm (80-90 degrees) location, like a garage.  Cover them with a damp towel to help them heal over any abrasions.  After 10-14 days, put them into boxes with straw, wood shavings, or shredded paper.  Split them into several boxes if possible to reduce the risk of spoilage ruining all of your potatoes.  Store them in a cool (50-60 degrees) location.

Electric Fencing

Last year we had some issues with deer in a customer's garden.  We started seeing strawberry plants and lettuces eaten down with hoof prints next to them in the uncompacted soil of the raised beds.  The garden is bordered by the house on the north, an 8 foot tall wooden fence on the east, and a 3 foot terrace and a chain-link fence on the south.  The west was open to the front yard where the deer would enter.  Moving the 8 foot tall wooden fence to encompass the garden would be ideal, but that was not an option.  We decided that an electric fence across this opening would be the cheapest and simplest option.  Electric fences provide a small shock to anything that completes the circuit between it and the ground, much like a static shock in the winter.  It's surprising, but causes no damage.  Since setting up the fence in the early Spring, we have had no sign of deer in the garden.

We purchased three fiberglass, step-in type electric fencing poles ($5), electric fencing wire ($10), a piece of 2 foot long re-bar ($1), a few feet of insulated electric fencing wire ($2), and a small (2 mile) electric fence charger ($20).

Total cost about $40 after tax.

Set up took 15 minutes.




Setting up the fence and charger:

1. Place the poles where the fence is desired and press them into the ground by stepping on the foot peg.  Don't have more than 8 feet between poles; less distance is okay.  
2. String the fence with electric fencing wire along the insulated clips, making sure that all wires are connected.  In our case, the distance was so short that we looped a single wire back and forth.  If fencing longer distances, a jumper wire between strings should be employed.  Also, if fencing a long distance, use a T-post and insulators every 4th post to make a sturdier fence.
3. Locate the fence charger in a semi-sheltered place.  They can take getting a little wet and dirty, but don't put it where it will get directly rained on.  In our case, we put it between the house and the raised asparagus bed, under the roof overhang. 
4. The charger has two posts, one marked "fence" and one marked "ground."  Using a length of the insulated wire, connect the "fence" post and the fence wire.
5. Drive the re-bar into the ground to serve as a ground rod.  Using a length of the insulated wire, connect the "ground" post and the re-bar.
6. Plug it in.  Ours has an indicator light that flashes as it sends a pulse through a properly set up fence. 

Tips and Tricks:

• Check that the charger is putting out by putting one hand in the dirt and using the other hand to lay a green blade of grass on the fence.  If the fence is hooked up properly, you should feel a slight buzz through the grass every few seconds as the fence pulses.
• Keep grass and weeds from growing through the fence.  They will ground it out and reduce its effectiveness.
• Get the fence up a few weeks before you have anything in the garden to protect.  We want the deer to be curious, sniff the fence, get a shock on the nose, and be trained that your garden isn't a fun place to be.  A deer can go right through it if there is enough temptation, so train the deer before your garden is in.
• If electricity isn't available where your garden is, get a solar fence charger.

Weekly Gardening Outlook

This will be a continuing series. Each Monday we will look ahead at the coming week in gardening for the Northwest Arkansas area.

     Wilting spaghetti squash vine


The heat and lack of rain continue to be the big story.  Cooler nights arrive this week.  With this drop in overnight temperatures will come increased garden production and harvest.  Be ready to eat or put up the produce.  Until then, keep things well-watered and think about learning to do a proper rain dance.

Spaghetti Squash / Squash Vine Borer Update:

We stopped by to check on the spaghetti squash vines and the pest insects have found them.  When we say found, we mean savaged.  Squash vine borer?  Check.  Squash bugs?  Check.  Bacterial wilt carrying cucumber beetles?  Striped AND Spotted.  Check.  Aphids?  Check.  We went on a squash bug, cucumber beetle, aphid, squash vine borer killing spree.  Our shorts, hands, arms, and even cheeks were splatted with insects guts.  We must have killed over 150 squash bugs alone and our thumbs and forefingers are still stained yellow from their innards.  It was bad.  So bad that we are stepping up to pyrethrin spray.  Pyrethrin is a natural compound extracted from chrysanthemums and is approved for use in organic gardens.  Beware that pyrethrum and permethrin are not approved for organic gardens.  We will be mixing neem oil and pyrethrin into one spray.  The pyrethrin provides immediate kill and the neem provides some residual protection.  This can be bought as a premix under the trade name NeemII.  We will keep you updated.

Things to be on the lookout for:

     Adult squash vine borer (SVB) moth

Apparently these are still active.  This picture was taken late last week and the spaghetti squash vines are showing signs of SVB activity.  Sigh...

     Squash bug nymphs on spaghetti squash vine

     Frass (aka bug poop) on a watermelon

This is a sure sign of insect activity.  If found, take a closer look.  Hint:  Look above the deposits.  See the leaffooted bugs?

     Leaffooted bug nymph on a pepper plant

     Spotted cucumber beetle on a spaghetti squash vine

     Two striped cucumber beetles breeding

     Aphids and ants on a spaghetti squash vine

If your plants are inexplicably covered in ants, take a closer look.  Some ants, such as these odoriferous house ants (aka sugar ants), will "farm" aphids.  Aphids suck juices from your plants and produce a sugary substance called honeydew from their anuses.  The ants eat this and in exchange, protect the aphids.  Aphids are not very mobile and a sharp stream of water will blast them off of the plants and out of your hair.

Weather outlook:
-Mid 80s to low 90s all week, with a very slight chance of rain
-Ten day forecast

What's being harvested:
-Peppers

-Chard 

-Tomatoes
-Cucumbers
-Celeriac leaves, basil, mint, and other herbs

-Apples

Reaping the Harvest (A Backyard Omelet)

Combine 3 eggs fresh from the nest, a homegrown onion from the pantry, a Roma tomato fresh off the vine, and a jalapeño pepper straight from the bush.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook over medium heat in a cast iron skillet with a touch of olive oil.  Saturday morning breakfast!  

.

A Tale of Two Gardens (Watermelons)

     A customer's watermelon patch a couple of weeks ago

     Our watermelon patch a couple of weeks ago

Our customer's watermelons are going gangbusters, producing a steady stream of 8" personal sized melons.  In our garden, we got an initial flush of melons and then some kind of fungal infection moved in.  We have not been able to determine what it is, but it is not powdery mildew, downy mildew, or gummy stem blight.  We started treating with Serenade and the vines have since started to make a recovery.

     Stunted melon (4-5" across) that predated the fungus

     New leaf growth and baby melons

Plum Jelly

The sand plum tree in our front yard is loaded with plums.  This is a native tree and the plums don't have a thick flesh like the commercial plums at the store.  They have a large pit surrounded by about 1/4" of flesh.  While not ideal for fresh eating, they are great for making jelly.  If you have a yard, give thought to planting a fruit tree.  They look good in the landscape and provide a fresh, wholesome crop for you and your family.

All of the items needed for jelly-making can be purchased at WalMart and probably at your local grocery store.  Once you have the basic concept of jelly-making, you can make jelly out of anything.  There are recipes for mint jelly, jalapeño jelly, elderberry jelly, dandelion jelly, etc.  Give it a shot!

Harvesting:

When ripe, plums pull from the tree with little effort.  We have found that shaking the tree drops all mature fruit allowing us to just pick it up off of the ground.  This would probably damage larger plums with more flesh on them, but it saves a lot of time and effort with the smaller fruits of a sand plum tree.






Making Jelly:

Before we get started, this post is intended to give the reader a basic understanding of how jelly is made.  It is not intended to be a direct recipe or instruction manual.  We recommend purchasing a good book on food preservation and following it.  The Ball blue book is the gold standard and is cheap at twice the price.

HINT: To really hit the easy button on your first attempt, skip the fruit cooking, and use store bought juice. Frozen grape or apple juice concentrate works well. Just dilute to taste.

Items needed:

Large pot
Large bowl
Mesh strainer
Cheese cloth
Sugar
Pectin (optional)
Chickens (optional, but recommended)

Rinse plums thoroughly under cold water.  Barely cover fruit with water and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and simmer until soft (~15 minutes).

For crystal clear jelly, do not mash or squeeze the pulp as that will result in cloudy jelly.  We want as much jelly as possible and aren't turned off by a cloudy appearance, so we mash the fruit while boiling to release as much juice as possible.

Strain the pulp through a mesh strainer to remove 99% of the pulp.

Restrain it through four layers of fine cheesecloth to remove the rest.

After it has cooled, we let our chickens have a go at the pulp.

Put the juice into a pot that is at least three times too large for the amount of juice.  It will foam a lot and you don't want it overflowing.  Measure juice volume and then stir in one cup of sugar for every cup of juice.

Before we go any further, we need to understand why jelly becomes jelly.  Many fruits, plums included, contain a large amount of pectin.  When the sugar and pectin are heated to a certain point, they react together and form a gel.  Knowing this, we boil the fruit juice and sugar mixture hard while stirring until it passes the jellying test (~10 minutes).

To conduct the jellying test, dip a cool spoon into the jelly.  Remove the spoon and hold it sideways.  If the mixture drips off it isn't ready yet.  If it congeals, it's ready to can.  Sometimes fruits do not have enough pectin in them to create firm jelly.  If it fails the jellying test after 20 minutes, add commercial pectin per the label.








Canning the Jelly:

Items needed:

Pot large enough to immerse jars
Canning lids, jars, and rings
Jar grabber
Canning funnel (optional)
Lid magnet (optional)

Sterilize jars and canning funnel by boiling them in water for 10 minutes.  Boil new canning lids for 5 minutes to soften their gasket material.  Leave them in the hot water until ready to use.  Skim foam off the top of the jelly and discard.  Fill hot jars with hot jelly, leaving a 1" head space.  Screw hot lids in place and process in a boiling water bath as directed by your canning manual.

Remove jars from canner with the jar grabber and allow them to cool and set up over night.  Store at room temperature until opened, then refrigerate.

Voila!  Homemade jelly!

.