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.

    Newly planted spaghetti squash vine emerging


Our spaghetti squash have been slaughtered by the squash vine borer (1 vine left).  Ever the optimists, we have replanted.  We should have just enough time to get a crop in before the first frost of the year.  It's our thought that this planting will be too late in the season for the squash vine borers to invade.  We'll keep you updated.  

Things to be on the lookout for:

    Adult cucumber beetle

If you have cucumbers, melons, or squash, be on the lookout for these small yellow beetles.  They can be spotted as shown above or striped as seen here.  The adults can damage leaves and fruits, while the larvae can damage the plant's roots.  These aren't really a huge problem except in very young plants or if you let the adult population get very high.  The real problem with these beetles is that they transmit a disease called bacterial wilt.  We have had every cucumber vine (8 in total) wiped out at a customer's garden this year due to this disease.  We just replanted.    

     Newly planted cucumbers emerging

So what can be done about it?  Once infected with the bacteria, nothing can be done for the vine.  The best strategy is so reduce the cucumber beetle population.  A regular coating of diatomaceous earth on the young seedlings will keep the beetles at bay.  Once the seedlings get up a little, our old standby neem oil will discourage feeding and reduce the population of cucumber beetles.  It has the added benefit of reducing any problems with mildew.

Weather outlook:
-Mid 80's early in the week; warming to low 90's late in the week
-Chance of rain today and tomorrow
-Ten day forecast

What's being harvested:
-Green beans

-Peppers

-Watermelons

-Chard and kale

-Onions
-Tomatoes
-Cucumbers (MANY cucumbers!)
-Kohlrabi (almost all gone)
-Squash and zucchini
-Squash blossoms
-Celeriac leaves, basil, mint, and other herbs

Chicken Houses

When conceptualizing the design for our chicken house, we pondered and read about other home-built chicken houses at http://www.backyardchickens.com/coopdesigns.html.  We designed and built what we thought was the perfect chicken house.  Our chicken house works for us, but it turned out to be too large.  As you read we will show you what we did, what worked, and what we would change.


When designing a coop, the first thing that needs to be decided is if the chickens will free range around the yard or stay in the coop at all times.  The advantages of free ranging are reduced feed costs, less frequent coop cleanings, fewer insects around the yard, and healthier birds.  Disadvantages are increased risk of predators, the garden has to be fenced to keep the chickens out, and there will be some chicken poop in your yard.  Our coop door stays open at all times and the birds let themselves out in the morning and put themselves up in the coop at sundown.  Our dogs run with our chickens all day, so we haven't had any predator problems.  We built this coop with a dirt run because we envisioned them staying in the coop at all times.  Allowing them to free range turned out to be easy and the best solution for them and us.  The size of a coop should be determined by the maximum number of birds it will house, the size of the bird's breed, and if they will be allowed to free range or not.  If free ranging, 4 square feet of coop space is sufficient per bird for large birds like our Black Australorps.  If kept in the coop full time, allow them at least double that at 8 square feet per bird.  Bantams should require less space, but we have no direct experience with them.

Sometime in the next several years, we intend to move to a more rural location.  We wanted the ability to take our chicken house with us, so we built it on pressure treated wooden skids to allow it to be winched onto our flatbed trailer for transport.  Our trailer is a 5' x 12', so our chicken house was built 4'10" wide and 11'10" wide at the base to fit.   The bottom level is a 3' tall dirt run.  The upper coop area is 8' long and 3' tall with a 2' tall storage area above it making the coop 8' tall at its highest point.  Since it is built on skids and not concreted into the ground, stability in high winds was a real concern.  We drove four 6' t-posts 3' into the ground at each corner of the coop area.  These posts were secured to the coop with two pieces of 1" plumbing strapping each.  The coop hasn't moved an inch after a year with plenty of weather events.  The "windows" on the sides are covered in chicken wire and have covers that slide up and down in channels.  During cold times of the year the house is closed up except for one window on each side kept cracked to allow proper ventilation and moisture removal.  During the hot times of year, they are opened fully to allow maximum airflow.  These pictures were taken in early spring, when it still got down into the 50's at night, so all of the "windows" are cracked.

Our house includes four built-in nest boxes with outside access to aid in egg collection.  The outside access is a must, but if we had to do it again we would build removable nest boxes.  This would allow easier cleaning and the ability to remove them completely if we wanted to use the coop for meat chicken production.  Chickens tend to poop where they roost, so the nesting boxes have a slanted roof at about a 35 degree pitch to keep them from roosting on top of them.  We've found that 35 degrees has not been steep enough to prevent roosting, especially with younger and lighter birds.  A piece of old blue jeans covering the entrances and slit to allow the birds access encourages the hen to lay in the nesting boxes by giving them a safe, private place to lay.  Because we anticipated the chickens staying in the coop full time, chicken wire was placed over the collection openings to keep chickens on the nest from escaping when the doors were opened.  A 5" gap was left at the bottom to permit access for egg collection.  

This picture shows the defecation and the damage to the ceiling insulation the chickens did because they were able to stand on the top of the nest boxes.

The end of the upper coop is hinged to allow easy clean out.  Here you can see the removable roosting bars.  These are essential as an evening roosting place off of the floor keeps them out of their poop and concentrates it near the opening for easy cleaning.  The coop needs to be cleaned out about twice per year.

A 1"x12" board with wooden slats screwed to it serves as a ramp for the chickens to access the upper coop.  This feeder holds 40 pounds of feed and keeps our six chickens fed for several weeks during the summer with one filling.

The top covering of the dirt run is hinged to allow it to swing up and out of the way.  This allows a person to stand up and rake and shovel out the dirt run.  Since we began free ranging, cleaning this area hasn't been needed.


If we built one today, knowing that we were going to free range, we would build one that would only serve as housing for the nest boxes and as a roosting spot for the chickens at night.

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.

      First watermelon of the year

I hope you all had a great 4th of July holiday!  We harvested our first watermelon of the season this weekend.  It was very sweet, but still needed a few days on the vine.

      Salvaged spaghetti squash from dying vines

About 70% of our spaghetti vines succumbed to the ravages of the squash vine borer (SVB) despite our best efforts at cutting the buggers out of the vines.  We harvested 4 squash from the dying vines, but they may or may not turn out to be mature enough to eat.  It appears that the remaining vines are going to pull through.  The adult SVB moths are nearing the end of their mating cycle (i.e. egg laying).  Our plan B is to replant the destroyed vines now with the idea that they should escape the SVB and still have enough time to produce for us before our first killing frost arrives in mid-October.  That's the plan; we will keep you posted.

Things to be on the lookout for:

We are still finding and smashing squash bug eggs and nymphs here and there.  Check your squash leaves for eggs once a week.

      Mexican bean beetle nymph


We found an adult Mexican bean beetle and several of its nymphs on watermelon vines, squash plants, and sweet potato leaves.  We didn't get a picture of the adult because it was mistaken for a lady beetle, which is a very beneficial insect for the garden.  The Mexican bean beetles are in fact in the same family as the lady beetle.  They are larger than a typical lady beetle, orangish brown, with black spots.  Images of the adults can be seen here.  The nymph (pictured above) is small at only a half inch long, yellow with black spikes protruding from the body.  They defoliate garden plants relatively quickly, so visiting your garden daily is imperative.  Hand picking nymphs has kept us from experiencing damage from them this year.  If you get a heavy infestation, neem oil is effective against them.

Weather outlook:
-Low to upper 80's
-Chance of rain every day
-Ten day forecast

What's being harvested:
-Watermelons
-Chard and kale
-Spaghetti squash (much too early)
-Onions
-Hearing reports of red tomato harvests (ours are STILL green)
-Green tomatoes
-Cucumbers (MANY cucumbers!)
-Kohlrabi (almost all gone)
-Squash and zucchini
-Squash blossoms
-Celeriac leaves, basil, mint, and other herbs
-Radishes

What's coming soon:
-Red tomatoes
-Peppers

Rain Barrels

A rain barrel is a useful addition to any backyard garden.  In addition to reducing the water bill and the drain (couldn't resist the pun) on the local water system, it provides a superior water source for the garden.  Water from a rain barrel will not contain chlorine, which can reduce the beneficial microbe levels in the soil.  It will also be warmer than the water from the tap, which will help warm the garden's soil for faster plant growth early in the year when the ground hasn't warmed up yet.  Note that too much heat can scald plants.  A black barrel in full sun is a bad idea.  Ideally a barrel should be in a shaded to partially shaded location.  Another nifty feature is that when on vacation, the valve to the barrel can be left open.  This will water the garden fully with even a brief, light rain shower because the large square footage of a roof will amplify the rainfall.

We installed a rain barrel in our garden and in a customer's garden this year.  Each came with a drain spigot on the bottom, an overflow hose at the top, a screen covered opening at the top, and a manual shut off valve for the drain hose.  The screen covering the opening at the top is to keep mosquitoes and debris out of the barrel.  Both were installed under existing rain gutter downspouts on concrete blocks to raise them up for increased water pressure.  Our barrel (pictured up top) needs to be raised some more.  The downspout in our garden was cut to fit.  In the customer's garden (pictured right), we removed the whole downspout and replaced it with a flexible plastic tube that allowed us to position the rain barrel around the corner from the downspout.  We connected these barrels to soaker hoses installed in the garden.  If you choose to install a rain barrel, please make sure that it is stable.  No one wants to read about a 400 pound barrel of water being pulled over on a child.

When it rains, we shut the valve to the garden off and collect water for later use.  During prolonged dry periods, we fill the barrel up with tap water in the morning, giving it all day to warm up and dissipate chlorine.  Just before bed, we open the valve and let it water the garden all night.  Watering at night has the added advantage of reducing water loss from evaporation, allowing more water to get to the plant's roots.  This method has worked reasonably well for us.  The only issue we have found is that dust from the roof gets washed into the barrel.  While the dust poses no threat to a garden, it does begin to clog the tiny pores in the soaker hose after a few waterings.  What works for us is to water with pressurized water from the tap every 2-3 waterings.  This opens the pores back up allowing the relatively low pressure from the rain barrels to work again.

If  pressurized water is not near the garden, there are a couple of workarounds.  A water wand can be used to manually water each plant.  The other option is a first flush diverter that will discard the first bit of rainwater that comes from the gutter.  The theory is that after the rain has fallen sufficiently to clean the roof, the diverter begins to send the cleaner water to the barrel.  We have not gone this route, but are considering it. 

To increase water catch and storage capabilities, multiple rain barrels can be linked together with short hoses.  If linked at the top of the barrels, they will fill in a chain reaction as one barrel overflows into another and then into another.  This requires a drain valve in the bottom of each barrel to be able to use the water.  A better method is linking them at the bottom, which will cause each barrel to fill at the same time and drain at the same time.  This allows just one drain valve in one barrel to draw water from all of the barrels.  All barrels should be on the same level or maximum capacity will not be reached. 

A rain barrel is a fairly simple device that can be built for much less cost than the $75+ that they go for on the market.  We suggest looking for empty pickle/olive barrels as these are food grade and have a screw top that can easily be fitted with a piece of window screen.  Here is an example of a converted pickle barrel.  You may wish to paint the exterior of the barrel for increased UV resistance, longevity of the plastic, and blending into the landscape.  Use high quality brass fittings and semi-rigid overflow/barrel connection hoses and you will have a superior barrel for less than the cost of buying a commercial one.

Further reading:

http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/drip-gravity.htm

http://www.nextag.com/rain-barrel/search-html

A couple of interesting video clips

First up is a beneficial insect in action.  Most people don't like the red wasp, but they sure do help keep the caterpillar population down.  In this clip, a red wasp is on a kale plant devouring an imported cabbageworm.

This is a very short clip of a squash vine borer (SVB) trying to get back into a zucchini plant.  There were 8 of the little nasties in there.  This year it was the only plant we've lost to the SVB.

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.

Hurray for rain!  We got rain last night after a hot, dry spell.  It filled the rain barrel, watered the garden, and knocked the dust down.  Despite manually watering the garden during this hot dry spell we've had, there is nothing like a good rain shower for a garden.  The collective "ahhhhh" from our garden plants was almost audible.  We hope your gardens were equally blessed.

Quick Tip:

If you are growing tomatoes, look at the fruits near the stem.  Are the skins cracking?  If so, this probably due to irregular watering.  To reduce this, monitor soil moisture closely using a soil moisture meter or your fingers pushed down 3-4".  The soil should be kept as near to a well wrung out sponge as possible.  Use drip irrigation or soaker hoses to deeply water your plants as needed.

Things to be on the lookout for:

It seems that we've been posting on pest problems a lot of late.  This is the peak time of year for insect activity and our posting reflects that.  Before we get down to business, here is a picture of this morning's harvest.

Moving clockwise in the picture above, we have three purple kohlrabi, two cucumbers, six eggs, and four Ronde de Nice zucchini.  Those zucchini will be stuffed with a meat sauce, covered in cheese, and baked this evening for dinner.

     Squash Bug Nymphs

Related to the leaffooted bug, squash bugs are an extremely common pest of squash plants.  They are particularly attracted to the yellow crook necked squash found in many gardens.  The adults and nymphs suck fluids from and inject toxins into the squash plants causing the leaves to wilt, and ultimately, plant death.  Beginning in early June, female squash bugs will begin laying egg masses in clusters of 12 or more eggs on the surface (pictured to the right) or more commonly the underside of the squash plant's leaves.  We have also observed eggs on the leaf stalks. Those eggs hatch small gray nymphs in about 10 days and these nymphs turn into adults by the end of the summer.  The best organic method of control we have found is destroying the eggs by mashing them between the thumb and forefinger.  This takes some effort though as the females will keep depositing these eggs until August.  A thorough check for eggs once per week will keep them in check.  Invariably, some eggs will be missed and hatch out.  Use a vacuum suck them up, or if that fails, use diatomaceous earth as we talked about in this post.

    Adult squash bug

Weather outlook:
-Cooling somewhat into the mid to upper 80's
-Chance of rain early and late in the week
-Ten day forecast

What's being harvested:
-Onions
-Hearing reports of red tomato harvests (ours are still green)
-Green tomatoes
-Cucumbers
-Kohlrabi
-Squash and zucchini
-Squash blossoms
-Celeriac leaves, basil, mint, and other herbs
-Radishes

What's coming soon:
-Red tomatoes
-Peppers
-Baby watermelons

Garlic

Garlic is perhaps the lowest maintenance crop we raise.  It is very resistant to most pests and it replants itself every year.  Like most bulbs, garlic should be planted in the fall.  So why are we posting about it now?  There are many different varieties of garlic, but for a standard, hardnecked garlic you will have the most success with locally adapted varieties.  Examples of locally adapted garlic should begin to become available at your local farmer's market anytime now.  So now's the time.  Go out and get some, then store it in a cool, dry place until early October.

Planting and Harvesting:

Prepare a sunny to partially shaded location with your loosest, richest soil.  Use plenty of rich, black compost if you have it.  In early October, plant one clove each about 6" deep and 6-12" apart.  Orient the cloves so that the pointed end is up and the blunt end is down.  They will sprout small shoots in the fall.  Some green leaves will remain throughout the winter.  DO NOT mow these down.  The plant will gather energy slowly throughout the winter with them, which will give it a great start in the spring.  After they have come up in the fall, mulch them with a 2" layer of well shredded leaves if you have them.  A bagging mower works well for making this mulch.  When spring comes around you will observe rapid growth.  In mid-May the plants will send up a central stalk about 3 feet tall with a bulbous end called a scape.  As soon as they emerge, cut the scape off of the very end of the stalk.  This will force the plant to put its energy into the bulb rather than sexual reproduction.  Save the scapes and stir fry them in olive oil.  They are really good with a mild garlic taste.  You can see plants with the scapes removed in the picture above.

When one third of the plant has turned brown (mid June), pull one and look at it.  To pull a garlic plant, grasp it firmly as close to the ground as possible and steadily pull up.  Do not jerk them or you risk breaking the neck off and leaving the bulb in the ground.  If it has a well developed head with a "paper" wrapper around it, then pull them all.  If not, then check again the next week.  It's not a sin to just wait until the whole plant has died back in late June before pulling your garlic (see photo above).

Tips and Tricks:

• Buy locally grown garlic for starter bulbs.  Your farmer's market is a good place to look.  You want to purchase the largest, healthiest heads of garlic available and buy 3 times as much as you think you need for planting.  Once you get home, plant only the large cloves from each head.  Store and eat the rest.
• The best time to pull bulbs is after a rain.  The damp soil allows the bulb to come right up; with dry soil you may snap the neck of the garlic off and leave the head in the ground.
• When you pull your garlic, you will likely see small (3/8") orange bulblets around the outside of your bulb (see photo at the beginning of this post).  Those are new plants.  While pulling them out you will likely leave several in the ground, which will give you a brand new crop next year.  We have never replanted our garlic and have had a good crop every year.

Putting Up the Harvest:

• Whole bulbs.  
• Leave plenty of neck on each bulb (5-6").  Cutting it too close will open the bulb up to rot.  Let the bulbs air dry for a week in a warm airy place.  A covered porch with a fan is ideal, but the fan is not wholly necessary.  Just make sure there is plenty of air flow.  Store cured whole bulbs in a cool, dry, dark place.  
• Garlic Powder
• You can make your own garlic powder by dehydrating thin slices and then pulverizing them with a food processor.