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.

Leaffooted Bugs

While visiting the garden of one of our customers yesterday, we observed these little nasties on a young watermelon.  These are adults and nymphs of the leaffooted bug.  They are distinguished by the leaf-like projections on the hindlegs of the adult, which can be clearly seen on the adult in the lower left part of the picture to the right (click on the picture to zoom in).  They suck juices from the vines with their piercing mouth parts.  This particular species seems to be watermelon specific, but other members of the family attack a wide variety of food crops (especially squash and tomatoes).  The best method of control is to physically remove them early in the season when the nymphs cluster together as seen below.  They are quick and hard to hand pick and they emit a noxious odor when startled.  Because of this we recommend removing them with a vacuum.  The best tool is an insect vacuum, but a small handheld dustbuster or shop vac will work as well.  Once you are done, stuff a rag in the end of the intake and put the vacuum in the freezer over night to kill the insects.  Diatomaceous earth should also be effective and will be used if this problem persists.  We try not to use nonspecific treatments like diatomaceous earth when possible to avoid killing bees and other beneficial insects.

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