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.

This week we will see our first 90+ degree days. It is normal for a plant to appear slightly wilted during midday with these kind of temperatures. You should only be concerned if the edges of the leaves turn brown or the plant doesn't perk up when watered.

Things to be on the lookout for:
Maintain even soil moisture. Uneven watering can cause poor fruit development and unhealthy plants. Try to keep your soil as damp as a just wrung out sponge. It is perfectly normal for the top inch of soil to dry out and develop a crust, but below that it should be lightly damp to the touch. Check your soil each day, but water no more than once a day (preferably in the morning).

Check the underside of the leaves on squash plants (especially yellow squash) for clusters of small orange to dark red eggs. If found, crush them. These are squash bug eggs. If squash bug nymphs or adults are found on your plants, a dusting with diatomaceous earth (DE) will help control them. DE is the crushed remains of ancient algae. It gets into the crevices in the bodies of insects and physically cuts them apart. It is organic and chemical free, but wear a mask when applying to avoid getting it into your lungs. Also, keep it off of the squash flowers to protect bees.

Continue to be on the lookout for imported cabbage worm on your broccoli, kale, and kohlrabi and for signs of powdery mildew and downy mildew on your squash, cucumber, and melons. Read my previous post on these problems.

Squash, tomato, and watermelon tip:
Save your eggs shells, let them dry, crush them into small pieces, and then mix them into the top inch of soil around your squashes, tomatoes, and watermelons. These plants are susceptible to blossom end rot which is caused by a calcium deficiency. The egg shells will boost the calcium in your soil.

Weather outlook:
-Hot, climbing into the mid to upper 90's
-Chance of sporadic rain throughout the week
-Ten day forecast

What's being harvested:
-Garlic scapes
-Baby squash and zucchini
-Celeriac leaves
-Basil, mint, and other herbs
-Squash blossoms
-Loose lettuce (probably the last week for this unless your lettuce area is heavily shaded)
-Turnips
-Radishes
-Strawberries
-Green onions

What's coming soon:
-Broccoli heads are getting really close (harvest when the individual buds in the head are the size of match heads)
-Peppers and early tomatoes are putting on fruits
-Kohlrabi is starting to head up

Trellising, Caging, and Staking

One of the biggest advantages of the raised bed design that we use is the ability to grow a lot of food in a relatively small space.  So how can we grow space hogs like watermelons, cantaloupe, tomatoes, spaghetti squash, cucumbers, and the like with such a small ground footprint?  As I am sure you have guessed, the answer is we support them and grow them vertically into the air.

Cattle Panels:

The most useful trellis material that we have found are 16' x 50" cattle panels.  They are strong and flexible, have holes large enough to put your hands through for harvesting and guiding the vines, and at $15 each are CHEAP for the value they bring to the garden.  They can be bought at your local Tractor Supply, Lowes, etc.  With a pair of bolt cutters they can be cut into custom sizes and shapes in minutes.  If you don't have bolt cutters, ask the people where you buy them from and they will probably cut them for you.


In the picture above you can see three trellises.  The rainbow shaped trellis on the left will support the spaghetti squash that you see in the wooden bed.  If you have the space to do it, a curved design works better than a strictly vertical trellis as it gives the vine more solar exposure and more support for heavy fruits.  If the vine is well supported by the trellis, it will usually be strong enough to support even heavy fruits.  If the fruits do become too heavy, they can be supported with a sling made from breathable fabric such as old pantyhose.  


Coming from a cinder block bed on the right of the picture, watermelon vines (personal sized variety) will grow up this arched trellis which connects to the spaghetti squash trellis.  Spaghetti squash and watermelon vines grow particularly long (15-20 feet!!!) so full length 16' panels were used.  

Between the two wooden beds we created an arbor by bending a full length panel to fit.  Green beans (pole beans) are planted in each bed and will climb up both sides of the arch.  These vines and fruit weigh very little and just the stiffness of the bent panel will support them.


Due to space constraints in our garden area, our cucumbers are growing vertically on a half a cattle panel (8' tall) secured to two 8' tall t posts.  

Green beans ready to grow up the trellis

Connecting the panels:

The spaghetti squash trellis is connected to the wooden bed with fencing staples at the bottom and at the top it is connected to the top of two t posts with electric fence wire.  The watermelon trellis is up against the cinder block bed at the bottom and is secured to a t post with the electric fencing wire to keep it in place.  At the top it it connected to the spaghetti squash trellis with electric fencing wire.  While we are on the subject, electric fencing wire is marvelous stuff to have around the garden and home.  It doesn't rust and is useful for a ton of things.


Tomato Cages:

The soil in our raised beds is so loose and friable that taller plants need support or they can fall over.  Tomato cages aren't just for tomatoes.  These cages completely surround the plants and provide good support for crops such as eggplants and peppers.  There are many styles available, but we prefer the conical, premade type because they stack inside one another for easy storage through the winter.  Hint: wire the cages together at the top with electric fencing wire to provide more stability.  Many people have good luck with welded wire fencing rolled and wired together to form a cylinder.  One method that we are thinking about experimenting with next year is the Florida weave.  If anyone has any experience with this, let us know in the comments section.


Staking:


Almost anything can be used as a stake. Bamboo, premade plastic covered stakes, and wooden stakes are common.  Put the stake in before planting to avoid damaging the plant's root system.  As the plant grows tie it LOOSELY with a soft material to the stake.  Strips of old pantyhose work great for this.  Ensure that the stake is tall enough for the plant's final height and that it is in the ground deep enough to avoid toppling over during a wind storm.

Apple Trees

When we bought this house 7 years ago, it came with a large, overgrown apple tree in the backyard.  We have harvested a lot of small (2-3") green apples from it over the years.  They made passable jelly and apple sauce.


Tired of small fruits, we decided to try to increase our fruit size and quality.  We started by pruning this unruly tree in late winter.  Then, as the fruits appeared in early May, we thinned them by hand. What a difference it made!  It turns out that our tree is not a green apple tree after all!  The apples are growing much quicker than previous years and are starting to turn red.  Our apples were never ripening.  It will be interesting to see what kind of apples this tree is supposed to produce!  We added to our "orchard" with two dwarf apple trees planted in pots this spring.


Thinking about planting apple trees?  It's not difficult.  Here's what you need to know.


All apple trees consist of a tree grafted to root stock.  The tree portion determines what kind of apples your tree will produce, while the root stock determines final tree size.  The neat thing about this is that an apple tree can be made to fit in almost any yard.

Dwarf trees (pictured at right)

• need as little as 8' of horizontal space
• grow 4-8' tall
• can be harvested and sprayed without ladders
• some varieties can be grown in pots
• produce 30-40 full sized apples per tree when mature
• must be staked as they grow larger because dwarf rootstock does not hold a tree up well

Semi-dwarf trees (pictured below)

• need 15' of horizontal space
• grow 10-16' tall
• require pruning to maintain shape and height
• require ladders to pick the upper branches
• produce a large crop when mature

Standard trees

• need 40' of horizontal space
• grow 30' or taller
• require a cherry picker to prune and harvest the upper reaches
• produce a large crop, but thinning and picking all fruits is virtually impossible

Tip and Tricks:

• It takes 3-5 years to get fruit, but apples trees can produce for decades so start as soon as possible
• Plant from late fall to early spring
• Water new trees very well for the first year
• Don't plant in low pockets of land as these places will hold cold air in the spring, potentially frosting blossoms
• The fruits will try to grow in clusters (see picture above); when they reach the size of dimes pick off the smallest fruits leaving only one apple per 6" of branch 
• Prune vertical and interlacing branches each winter
• Plant at least two different varieties of apple trees (a crabapple will work as well) for cross-pollination making sure that the trees will bloom at the same time in the year
• Planting dwarf varieties that mature at different times of the year can ensure a constant harvest without consuming much yard space or producing too many apples at once
• Plant the graft juncture above the soil line
• Contact your county extension agent for advice on which varieties work best in your area
• Also contact your county extension agent if insect or disease problems arise (if you want to stay organic, make sure they know that)

Strawberries

Last spring we planted 20 everbearing strawberry plants from rootstock into the cinder blocks around the raised beds.  In the first year we got a few berries here and there.  Just enough to eat fresh in the garden and make us dream of next year.  Now it's next year and we are harvesting 10-20 strawberries a day. We mostly eat them fresh, but also use them in smoothies.


There are three types of strawberry plants:  


June Bearing - These are best if you plan to freeze berries or make jams and preserves.  They are the traditional commercially grown strawberry producing large fruits in a 2-3 week span of time in early summer and then ceasing production.  


Everbearing - We prefer these for fresh eating through the whole growing season.  These are what we are currently growing.  They produce medium sized berries in 3 to 4 waves from spring to fall.  


Alpine - Small statured plants that provide a steady production of small, but very flavorful berries throughout the summer.  The entire plant is claimed to have many medicinal uses.  Our experience has shown that adding the dried leaves to herbal tea does indeed seem to help with menstrual cramps.


          Strawberry runner

Tips and Tricks:

• Trim off runners as soon as they appear to encourage the plant to put its energy into fruit production.
• Plants should be replaced at least every 3 years to maintain good production.
• For an endless supply of free new plants, choose a few of your plants to allow runners to grow on.  Once these runners have a well developed daughter plant on the end, transplant them into the desired location.  These will be genetically identical to the parent plant.
• Birds will take bites out of some berries as they ripen.  If this becomes too problematic, we have found that bird netting is an effective means of prevention.

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.


With the warmer days, insects are beginning to arrive.  Don't be disheartened to see large numbers of insects in your garden.  Most of them are beneficial or harmless! 


Things to be on the lookout for:
Imported cabbageworm is a pest of broccoli, cabbage, kale, and kohlrabi.  If you are growing any of these be on the lookout for small white moths fluttering about, large holes in leaves, and small (up to 1 1/2" long) green caterpillars on the undersides of leaves.  They like to align their bodies with the central vein of the leaf to better blend in.  If you see any of the signs of this insect, spray both sides of the leaves with Bacillus thuringiensis to control them.  This is very effective and organic.


Powdery mildew and Downy mildew are severe diseases that can quickly kill squash, cucumber, and melons.  If you see any white powdery spots or small yellowing spots on the leaves of these plants, take action immediately.  There are many treatments, but our favorite organic solution is neem oil.  Be sure to spray it in the evening hours to avoid direct contact with bees.


Watering tips:
-Avoid getting water on the leaves if possible to lessen fungal problems
-Water in the morning (evening if you must)
-Do not water during the heat of the day
-It is better to water very well once than to water lightly often


What's being harvested:
-Squash blossoms (they are good fried!)

-Loose Lettuce (enjoy this now, because this hot weather will soon have them turning bitter)

-Turnips

-Radishes

-Strawberries

-Mint

-Green onions


What's coming soon:
-Broccoli heads are forming
-Pepper and squashes are putting on fruits


Weather outlook:
-very warm (mid 80's)
-chance of rain Tuesday-Thursday
-10 day forecast

Chickens and Eggs

For us the chickens came before the eggs (lots and lots of eggs!).  In June 2009, we got an early morning phone call from our post office that a box of very noisy chicks was waiting on us and could we please come pick them up?  Twenty-five 1 day old female Black Australorp chicks from the Murray McMurray Hatchery had arrived.

June 2009

In August, we processed 19 hens into the freezer.  The largest, healthiest 6 hens were kept for egg production.  We got our first eggs 5 months after the chicks arrived.


November 2009

Our 6 birds give us about 3 1/2 dozen eggs and eat an average of $1.50 worth of feed a week.  This gives our family a nice surplus beyond what we can eat to give away, sell, or trade.  Organic eggs go for $3 a dozen, so selling only two dozen a month pays the feed bill and gives twelve dozen eggs a month profit.  Feed costs go down to almost nothing in the summer and up in the winter due to changing levels of wild forage.  They will eat almost any kitchen and table scraps.  The only things we've found they won't eat are citrus and onions.

A daily occurrence

The hens are very low maintenance.  In the mornings they let themselves out of the hen house and spend the day eating insects, seeds, and grass.  They are a joy to watch scratching and pecking around the yard.  In the evening they put themselves up and roost on their roosting bars.  The house gets cleaned out twice a year.  This job takes about 15 minutes.  Our hen house is much larger and more complicated than turned out to be necessary.  In a future post we will tour the hen house and discuss what we think is the ideal small hen house for a backyard flock.  We have been very pleased with our return on investment with our backyard flock.  

Hen house

Garden Tour

The first two beds are made from upturned cinder blocks.  This type of bed lasts nearly forever and provides a large number of 4" X 5" X 8" deep "pots" around the perimeter.  The aesthetics of this type of bed do not appeal to some and they take a moderate amount of time and effort to build.  Natural stone or decorative blocks can be used if desired.

Basil, strawberries, onions, and mint planted in the blocks with tomatoes, kohlrabi, swiss chard, broccoli, and cilantro in the bed.

More basil, strawberries, onions, and mint planted in the blocks with onions, celeriac, watermelons, cucumber, radishes, kale, and lettuces in the bed.

The last two beds are made from 2" X 8" boards.  These are quick and easy to set up, but will need to be replaced in time due to rot.  In wet climates these may only last a couple of years.  Here in Northwest Arkansas they should give 4-5 years of service before needing replacement.  Treated wood, waterseals, or paint can be used to prolong the life of the frame.  Out of concern for chemical leaching, these beds use untreated wood.

Tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, peppers, and spaghetti squash in these wood framed beds.

And now we join the 2010 growing season already in progress

Want to grow fresh veggies, fruits, eggs, or meat in your backyard, but don't know how?  Think it's too much work or too complicated?  It doesn't have to be hard.  This blog will follow our raised vegetable beds, fruit trees, berry bushes, chickens, a rain barrel, and a compost pile at our 1/10 of an acre suburban home in Northwest Arkansas.  We hope you enjoy it.

Main garden