Monday, October 26, 2009

Potting soil

One of you asked how I make homemade potting soil. I've written about this before, but even I can't find it on my blog, so I'll write it again and put it at the beginning of the title, so people can find it later.
In recent weeks I have put flower bulbs in 24 pots, 3-5 per pot. Lots of potting! This could be very expensive if I bought commercial potting soil -- or bought my own pots. Thank you to all who donated pots to me.

To make the soil I fill two large lasagna containers, one with compost and one with good garden soil. I put them in the kitchen oven, turn it to 250 degrees and leave it on for 2-3 hours. I did it last Wednesday while Fred and I taught our afternoon class. "Ugh," he said as he walked into the house. But the day was warm so we could leave open the windows both Wednesday and Thursday. By Thursday evening the odor was
completely gone.

Then I put the baked contents into a large bag and add about the same volume each (2-3 6" pots-worth) of sand and vermiculite. Stirring it together takes remarkably little time, primarily by "tossing" the bag, while leaving it on the cellar floor. Two such concoctions filled my 24 flower pots. I needed another (not all of it) for potting up the spider plants babies.
This year's tomato blight was blamed by many on some infected potting soil that was widely used for tomato seedlings, mass raised and shipped to many garden center outlets nationwide. Since both sand and vermiculite are sterile, I had no trouble. It's MUCH cheaper than commercial mix, of course. I've used commercial seedlings mixes before for starting spring seeds, but I tried using my own for about half this past spring with no obvious failures. Maybe I can give up on buying commercial growing mixes altogether.
I greatly enjoy having flowers to stare at and give away all winter long. I don't feel evangelistic about this as I do about home gardening and abstaining from power machinery, but flowers brings me innocent pleasure, as they have for many people over human history (and probably before). Innocent pleasures are not something to be taken lightly in this troubled world.

Happy potting!

Pat

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Sunday, October 25, 2009

Two surprises



This afternoon I had two gardening surprises.
I went outside with two containers, a small one for raspberries and a large one for spinach. First I went to the raspberry patch(es), expecting to be disappointed. Friday I feared that there would not be many this week. But I picked a full cup!
This means I can offer some to my babysitter when she visits from CA on Tuesday. It's great to have lasting friendships, and mine with Hope Hoff Russell has been a jewel. I've visited her every time we go to the bay area (a favorite place for national math conferences) but this is the first time in a VERY long time she has been in NJ.
Elated, I went to the more mundane activity of picking Malabar spinach. Oops... Much of it was covered with spots. What, I thought, mischievous bug had gotten into it? Oops again. In protected places there were still some edible leaves. Apparently yesterday's chilly rain and winds had defeated the Malabar but the raspberries rose cheerfully to the challenge. I harvested enough spinach for one meal for two, but I doubt I'll be harvesting any more in 2009. Thank goodness, there is lots in the freezer.

Pat

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Thursday, October 22, 2009

False alarm, leaves, changing lawn care

Last Thursday, the 5:00 PM news told me that the night's low would be 43 degrees "but it will feel like 24 degrees." Feel like to whom? My plants? I'd never heard anything like that before when I was worrying about frost warnings. Until three years ago we always had our first frost in mid-November, but both the past two years it was in mid-October, so I was worried.

Before I went to the excellent films at the library after dinner I went outside to protect my babies. The wind was blowing and it felt COLD.I realized it seemed that way partially because the previous day had been so warm,but the plants might have a similar reaction to the sudden cold. So I did a lot of protection (burlap, etc.) and picking.
All in vain. The next morning the temperature, said the news, was 38 degrees, but the Malabar was still perky. I emailed my aunt and uncle, whose 66th anniversary I helped celebrate last month and whose farm I loved to visit in my childhood, about what to do with those peppers I had picked. They don't think peppers turn red inside, and they think they last no more than two weeks in the refrigerator. Freeze those peppers!

I had picked most of the basil plants, which were on their last yellow legs anyway, and that has taken lots of my time this week. Today I noticed that the basil left behind has taken off nicely. Wasn't today lovely? I noticed that many of the big tomatoes have fallen to the ground; I pick them up and they seem to ripen inside. The tomato plants don't look much more nourishing than my kitchen counter. Eggplants keep growing. I keep picking the Malabar, and tomorrow I may pick my last zuchinni.
Today's "Montclair Times" tells about the township deciding to charge landscapers who dump leaves in our recycling center, since the township then pays to have them taken away. What a waste! I have used all my own leaves and Fred brings me about 100 bags of others' leaves each fall. At and average of 20 pounds per bag, this is about a ton of leaves that have nourished my property each year for decades. Why don't other residents recycle their own puny amount of leaves? The eating is good and the flowers flourishing. Leaves belong under raspberry and other bushes -- and in compost. American waste puzzles me.
Several of you responded to my question about how long it takes to convert a lawn from poison-dependent to organic. All but one said their was no serious transition problem, and that one seemed to feel it was worth it. Give up those poisons and chemicals! You will be glad you did -- and will save money.

Pat

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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Freebees, basil, question for you

My Malabar spinach plants are loaded with seeds now. I have harvested many and put them in a container just to the left of my door at 56 Gordonhurst Avenue, Montclair. I don't really want to put Park Seeds, which sells them, out of business, but waste bothers me, and there may be some of you who would try them free but not pay money for the effort.
If you come, bring something plastic to take them away in, a bag or a baggie. You may not want your clothing and car uphostery to be dyed bright red. My container is open, so you won't want to take it away. Only take as many seeds as you might use.
They aren't the easiest thing to grow. They need a fence or trellis. If you are already growing climbing peas, they are a good companion because they begin to grow enthusiastically just as the peas are dying in mid-July. Meanwhile, they poke around and give an insecure gardener a feeling of non-achievement, which may be why they are no more popular.
I also had two plants volunteer under my bosque pear tree that look like baby pear trees. Succumbing to potting-up compulsion syndrome, I potted them up and put them on my front steps. Anyone is welcome to them. They are small and will take a long time to bear, if ever.

Hearing that the temp is to go down to 42F tonight and up to only 48F tomorrow, I brought in all my houseplants today. Is it worth my while to pot up all-green spider plants? They can be spectacular inside, but would be killed on the steps if there is a frost, so this will require someone saying, "I do (want one)" before I put them out.
A second "bulky waste" load was taken from my garage gleanings today, but I still have poles, boards, chicken wire, and windows left. Two people said they might use a window to make a cold frame. Anyone interest now? These things are along my driveway, but I would make them easier to take if someone wants them. Otherwise, they will gradually to to bulky waste.

People asked about my basil treatment. In general, I compost anything that dies from old age or insect or mammal damage, but illness sends them to the Essex County incinerator via the garbage. Yellowing basil is aging, so it is composted. Wilted basil is sick, so it goes to the garbage. Right now, my basil is yellowing quickly, so I'm making pesto as fast as my schedule and patience allow. It won't be with me much longer, but I want to keep it for salads as long as I can.
Now a question for you. A friend told me he suggested to his church's authorities that they abandon chemicals on the church lawn. One authority said that could be done, but for three years the lawn would look terrible. I sympathized with my friend, but didn't think until later to question the facts.
Has anyone changed from a poison and chemical lawn to a natural lawn? Was the transition ugly? There is a well-known "fact," which I believe, that a garden or farm transitioning from "traditional" methods to organic methods requires three years to get up to speed, but I wonder whether that applies to lawns. I remember long ago being told by TWO landscapers, "Once you get rid of the weeds, they don't come back." That's an overstatement, but largely true, so a newly organic lawn should not be overrun with weeds. Nor would I think it would be lacking nourishment. There would be some residual effect from the chemicals, and the lawn clippings would gradually
take over from them. Why should a transitioning lawn look bad?
Does anyone have experience who can speak with the authority that comes from one experiment? ("one data point" as the statisticians say) Several responses might be convincing.

Pat

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Monday, October 5, 2009

Preparing for frost

What a shocking title! With weather like today's? And such a gorgeous weekend? However, last week's weather reminded me that the past two years we've had our first frost in mid-October -- not far away.
Actually, last Friday we turned on the heat, using just the flick of a switch. I thought of my father's telling me how lucky I was to live in "modern times" as he shoveled coal into the furnace every day. I had central heating. His childhood nights in NJ were COLD, and he didn't get warm until his mother had lit the kitchen stove, around which the family would gather each morning to get warm again. I did revel in the easy warmth last Friday.
It will soon be colder, although maybe not next week. Until two years ago our first frost was in November. I think three years ago it was late November, and I thought we were going to have shorter winters. However, "climate change" is more than "warming," as anyone who has studied what is going on knows. It's CHANGE.

What won't change, I think, this year is a killing frost before too long. The tomatoes apparently think otherwise. Their babies are popping up all over. Do they think they have a future? Do they know something I don't know? This has never happened to me before in the autumn; I associate volunteer tomatoes with spring. Fred said today he can't wait for the killing frost; it's the end of his acute fall allergies. I have different emotions as I contemplate it.
If I hear that frost is predicted, I'll quickly email you before running to the garden. If you hear of it, do email me and if I am at the computer, I'll pass it on.
What will I do in the garden? I'll hasten to address the needs of five crops: basil, Malabar spinach, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. The first two die at the first touch of frost. I must pick like mad, and preserve or eat as much as possible.
The latter three can survive a light frost with a covering. If you want to try, get yourself some burlap now. I save some year to year, and throw it over any of these veggies that lives in a cage. This often keeps the tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers bearing after the basil and Malabar have succumbed. My small tomato plants are looking largely dead, although I still find tomatoes on the vines and on the ground. I think they've lived out their life expectancy, and this is to be expected.
Some basil is turning yellow, as it tends to do in fall. A few plants have wilted away, and I send those to the Essex County incinerator, not wanting to take chances with my compost pile. The leaves don't seem to be growing as large as earlier (3-4"), but that may be because I know the end is coming and am picking them more severely.
It may be worth pointing out that many crops survive the frost that kills tomatoes, including lettuce, arugula, parsley, celery, pak choi, chinese cabbage, carrots, and collards.
Light-bulb! I just realized that the first frost usually comes at full moon. We're through that for October, so maybe we can postpone that first frost to early November. Poor Fred. But who knows? With everything else changing, maybe frost will come with a half moon.

Pat

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