Potting soils come in all shapes and sizes, with most touting some form of “Organic & Natural” on the bag – but are they really certified organic? Do those potting soils really work as advertised and contain healthy, wholesome ingredients to help your precious seedlings get that critical head start they need?
To answer these questions and more, we bought a few bags of potting soils from our local sources, brought them home and opened them up to take a close look at what is there. We looked at the bag and labeling, seeing what is being sold and why, what wording and marketing is being used and if they stood up to closer scrutiny. One of those potting soils we have used for a few years, so we let you know of our past experiences.
Please note – this article is in no way meant to be a comprehensive, exhaustive laboratory research and review of all potting soils available to the average home gardener. There’s just no way for us to do that, as many are only regionally available and the ingredients change from region to region in the bigger brands.
As with our seed starting mixes article, we suspect there are a few companies producing potting soils for different markets with unique branding and bagging for each channel. We saw this with one product – one bag design and color set for the big box stores and another one for the smaller independent garden centers. This only underscores the need to read the labels, know what the descriptions, ingredients and marketing-speak mean and be able to decide for yourself if that particular bag will work for you and is worth the cost.
As with our seed starting mixes analysis, we found confusing and sometimes misleading labeling.
What are potting soils and do I need to use one?
Potting soils are traditionally what seedlings are transplanted into from the seed starting mixes. The seed is germinated in the seed starting mix, then when it is 3 – 4 inches tall and starting to put on its second or third set of true leaves, it is transplanted into a potting soil. Potting soils have nutrients which are missing in the seed starting mixes, continuing the growth of the seedling by feeding and supporting the root structure it is starting to develop.
What goes into potting soils varies widely, from a basic seed starting mix with some aged compost added for plant nutrition to full custom blends with compost, soil and nutrients coming from different ingredients – all to supposedly help the seedling grow stronger and faster.
Not everyone needs potting soils, as some have the space and materials availability to create an excellent rich, aged compost to use as the starting point of mixing their own special blend, while others just don’t have the time, space or materials available to do that.
Let’s take a look!
The first of the potting soils we found was the Kellogg Amend Organic Plus at Lowe’s and it’s available at Home Depot as well, so it should be available in most big box stores in the western US. We were interested to see what was in the bag and do some testing, as we’ve had several of our customers email us in alarm after transplanting into the Amend potting soils and within a few hours the seedlings were almost all dead or severely wilted. We found a commonality with most of them using the Kellogg Amend potting soils, but haven’t heard anything negative in the past couple of years.
As we mentioned in our seed starting mix article, we are not impressed with the words “Organic” or “Natural” on bags of soil, so seeing “Organic Plus” prominently splashed across the bag was an alert for us. It is branded as a garden soil for flowers and vegetables.
One label that did catch our eye and add to the intrigue was the OMRI listing on the bottom left of the bag. This indicates the contents are certified for organic food production, and are the equivalent of a “Certified Organic” label on food.
The OMRI label piqued our curiosity because our previous research as to why the Amend potting soils were killing seedlings led us to the fact that Kellogg had been using bio-solids, or treated municipal sewage, and possibly industrial runoff or wastewater. This easily explained why the seedlings died when transplanted into the potting soil.
So the question was – is this the same potting/garden soil, and if so, how is it OMRI listed?
In doing some reading, it appears Kellogg has used bio-solids or treated municipal sewage as a major ingredient in its composting program for a number of years. It seems that their OMRI listed products do not have any bio-solids as an ingredient in their products, but you can’t tell from the label.
In looking at the OMRI listing for Kellogg Amend garden soil, we found it is listed but with restrictions. OMRI lists it in the category of “Fertilizers, Blended with micronutrients” with the restriction being –
May be used only in cases where soil or plant nutrient deficiency for the synthetic micronutrients being applied is documented by soil or tissue testing.
Kellogg’s Amend product page has this to say about their OMRI listing –
Proven Organic
All of our products are listed by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), the leading non-profit, internationally recognized third party accredited by the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP). That means every ingredient and every process that goes into making our products has been verified 100% compliant as organic, all the way to the original source. Look for the OMRI logo on the bag, ensuring every product is proven organic.
All in all, it is OMRI listed – even with the discrepancies between Kellogg’s product information and the OMRI listing itself with the restrictions.
The OMRI listing is displayed in the lower left part of the bag, underneath the info box of what it is supposedly derived from and what it is good to use it for.
The ingredients list compost as the primary ingredient with what makes up the compost. Recycled forest products are typically a blend of finely ground wood from leftovers of the timber industry. Arbor fines are finely ground tree trimmings. Hydrolyzed feather meal is crushed and boiled poultry feathers, used as a source of nitrogen.
Dairy and poultry manure sound fine, until the source is looked at a little closer. What is the source of the dairy and the poultry manure? There is reasonable concern as to what is contained in the manure of animals from confined feeding operations – there are antibiotics and hormones used in the day to day operations which are passed through in their manure. Another concern is the possible presence of industrial herbicides and pesticides used in conventional grain production, which can easily be passed into the manure.
These are things to think about, especially if you want to grow as organically as possible.
One of our biggest initial concerns after getting it home and looking up both the Kellogg’s product listing page and the OMRI listing showing the restriction is there is no mention anywhere of the “synthetic micronutrients” from the OMRI listing on the bag or Kellogg’s website.
What are those synthetic micronutrients, and what is their source?
On opening the bag we noticed it was moist and had some white mold spots on the woody material in the mix. This is not a bad thing, molds and fungi work to break down wood into more available nutrients. Woody material helps to boost microbial activity to do just this.
The bag had a rich, woody aroma but did not smell of raw or partially decomposed manure. It was a dark, rich brown verging into almost black.
A handful of the soil felt light and porous with a slightly damp feeling to it. There was a trace of dark residue left on the fingers after rolling a handful through the fingers and getting a feeling for it.
On closer inspection, it is easy to see the woody residue of various sizes. Even though it is advertised as a soil, it was fairly light in texture without the more solid structure needed for long term growing of plants.
The white mold can be seen in the top right of the photo.
The next bag we opened was Miracle-Gro Organic Choice. We also picked this up at Lowe’s and have seen an impressive selection of Miracle-Gro products at Home Depot as well, so any big box store will have this line. We’ve also seen this brand at every garden center, hardware store garden aisle and landscaping supply store we’ve visited. It’s hard not to find them.
Again, the word “Organic” is used as a marketing tool in the word choice for the name. This is advertised for use with in-ground vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs. It has the “Natural & Organic” term next, above a statement that it will grow fresh vegetables in your backyard.
So far, pretty standard stuff and not really any different than the next pile of bags at the big box store.
Our concern with this Miracle-Gro product is much the same as we mentioned in our Seed Starting Mix article -their blend of plant food emphasizes vegetative growth and strong flowering, without the nutrients for fruit or food production. We have seen numerous gardeners with tomato plants growing lush, dark green leaves and covered in flowers but not producing a single tomato, or very few.
Looking at the back of the bag, we were surprised to see this product was not recommended for container gardening. It is also interesting to see the warning to wear gloves when using Organic Choice.
It’s labeled as “garden soil” on the front, but on the back the instructions say to mix 3″ of Organic Choice with 6″ of native soil, mix well to avoid a stratified layer, then plant. These instructions combined with the not for containers seems to indicate this is not a full potting soil and more of a soil amendment or fertilizer.
The ingredients listing says it is formulated with organic materials but doesn’t specify if “organic” means organic as in containing carbon, or organic as in certified organic.
It has much the same ingredients – forest products, compost, composted manure and pasteurized poultry litter. In addition it lists peat humus and sphagnum peat moss which are more commonly associated with seed starting mixes than potting soils.
The ingredients do vary regionally, which they do specify.
We searched the OMRI listing to see if this, or any, Miracle-Gro product was listed and found this is OMRI listed, along with several other products. This is somewhat surprising, as most other manufacturers proudly display the OMRI listing label. Another interesting detail is this has no restrictions, unlike Kellogg’s Amend. It is listed under fertilizer and soil amendments, which makes more sense of the instructions to mix with native soil.
On opening the bag we noticed it was moist with a dark brown, rich earth color. There was woody material present, but seemed a bit more integrated and had an earthy, soil based aroma. There was no indication of partially composted manure or off odors.
It didn’t have any mold indication and a handful of the soil had more of a substance to the texture, while still being light and fluffy. There were smaller or finer components to the mixture. There was less of a dark residue on the fingers after handling a handful for inspection.
Closer inspection shows the more even distribution of size, along with the dark brown or earthy color. This seemed to be closer to a replacement soil but with enough lightness to allow good root development.
Square Foot Potting Soil
The next bag was Garden Time Square Foot Garden Soil from Gro-Well Brands. They are local to us, being based in Tempe, AZ. This was bought at Lowe’s and we’ve seen it at Home Depot also, and have seen garden forum threads where it is possible to special order it online in different quantities. We also saw it at our local True Value Hardware store in the garden aisle, with a different design bag – so it is probably also available in independent garden centers as well.
We have used this particular mix for a few years now with good results. We primarily use it as a seed starting mix and transplanting medium, but have experimented with it as a complete soil – like the bag’s labeling says – and have been pleased with the results.
Having said that, it isn’t perfect either and makes many of the same claims as the other brands. The “Natural & Organic” label is prominent on the bag, even though this is not OMRI listed. Some of the other claims are “Proven Formula for Optimum Growth” and “Great for Vegetables”. It does say “ready to use” and doesn’t need mixing with native soils, something that might be helpful for a container gardener with a small patio or apartment balcony.
Square Foot Potting Soil Ingredients
The ingredients are compost, peat moss, coconut coir, vermiculite, bloodmeal, bone meal, kelp meal, cottonseed meal, alfalfa meal and worm castings. The peat moss, coir and vermiculite are classic seed starting mix ingredients, with the compost, different meals and worm castings adding nutrients to the soil for the plants growth and health. We use this as both a seed starting mix and potting soil or transplant soil because of the nutrients, which are lacking in straight seed starting mixes.
The same concern we voiced above at the vagueness of what is in the compost is valid here as well. In reading around a bit, I haven’t come across Gro-Well Brands using bio-solids in their compost, which is good news. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean the compost is organically sourced and not feedlot manure, but it’s a step in the right direction.
The more extensive list of ingredients give this some substance in nutrition so it can be used as a transplanting medium, a potting soil or as a complete standalone soil.
As another plus, we’ve not experienced seedlings dying when transplanted into this mix, nor have our customers said anything.
On opening the bag, the soil is slightly moist with a very dark, almost black color. It had almost no odor and felt light in weight but with some substance. This makes sense with the compost being 30 – 40% and much of the rest made up of lighter weight seed starting ingredients that have no odor of their own. The shiny vermiculite specks are easy to see and the texture is fairly even without lots of larger, identifiable chunks of wood.
A handful of the soil showed more of the smaller size particles making up the mix with an even and light feel to it. There was a trace of black residue on the fingers after a handful for inspection.
Square Foot Potting Soil
A closer inspection shows the darker color, with the specks of vermiculite showing through.
Garden Time Potting Soil
The last bag was also from Gro-Well Brands – Garden Time Potting Soil. This was also bought from Lowe’s, and is available in big box stores. It may be regionally available in independent garden centers with a different bag.
The same technique of word use – “Natural & Organic” was in play, but the other trigger words were missing. This is advertised as an all-purpose potting soil for indoor and outdoor use in containers and garden beds, as well as for transplanting.
Like the Square Foot Gardening soil, this is not OMRI listed.
Garden Time Potting Soil Ingredients
The ingredients are different, with fewer of the seed starting ingredients and less of the nutrient amendments. It does have peat moss and coconut coir fiber, common in seed starting mixes, but is without the perlite and such.
The standard forest wood products are there, as well as the compost listing again. What we found interesting is the addition of sand as the last ingredient.
Garden Time Potting Soil Closeup
When opening the bag we noticed this mix had a more woody aroma and was less earthy. It was also the driest of the mixes, leaving almost no residue on the hand after sifting through a handful of mix. It wasn’t dry, just much less moist than the other mixes. It had more substance and weight to the mix, probably as a result of the sand. This mix looked, smelled and felt the woodiest of the ones we inspected. It had no odor of compost or manure at all, only slightly of decomposed wood.
One thing we immediately noticed with a handful of soil is the white specks in the mix. In looking closely at them, they look much like perlite even though there is none listed on the ingredients. This could be an older bag with a new mix formulation, or a mistake in adding perlite to this mix. The perlite isn’t a negative, but the fact it isn’t listed in the ingredients makes us wonder a bit.
Even with this, the mix looks like it would be good as an amendment to loosen up native soils. The overly woody composition would be beneficial as it decomposed more, but might not add much to this season’s growth.
Garden Time Potting Soil Closeup
A closer look shows the woody texture and color with the white specks of what looks to be perlite throughout.
Potting Soil Cost Chart
In looking at the related costs, a couple of things stand out. The two best-looking soil mixes are also the most expensive – Miracle-Gro and the Square Foot Gardening Soil. They are also the smallest size bags. When adding in the positive benefits of an OMRI listing, the Miracle-Gro becomes the initial winner – something that surprised us.
In making a recommendation, an OMRI listing helps to assure a home gardener that the materials and ingredients used are of better quality and higher nutrient content than a non-listed mix. With that said, we would not recommend avoiding mixes which aren’t listed if you can be sure the ingredients meet reasonable standards. For example, compost from a neighborhood friend’s horses won’t be able to be OMRI listed, but would probably be excellent compost if the horses are fed well and wholesomely. The same would go for a grass-fed farmer in your area, who doesn’t feed growth hormones or regular antibiotics.
From this list, our two choices are the Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Garden Soil and the Square Foot Gardening Soil, with the others being a distant second choice if the first two weren’t available. This is conditional upon our testing some seedlings in each of these to see if they can actually support healthy seedling growth, but that will be another article!
For you, the best choice depends on what is available in your area, the amount of potting soil needed and what you can afford. Some gardeners, like ourselves, much prefer to make our own compost with multiple amendments to create a complex and wonderfully fertile soil amendment, while others simply don’t have the space or availability of materials. Some better options include creating a composting system as part of a community garden, or partnering with a friend or neighbor who has the space and is willing to boost their garden’s fertility. You might offer to do the work in setting up and maintaining the compost in return for some of the finished product for your garden.
Now you’ve got an overview of what to look for and be aware of when shopping for potting mixes, what are your thoughts and experiences? Do you have a dependable “go-to” potting mix you’ve used and loved for years? Or, do you have a tried and true recipe for mixing up your own potting soil that has never let you down? Please share!
Grow Great Pumpkins from Seed to Harvest
How to Grow Delicious Pumpkins
Pumpkins are an important fall mascot, from jack-o’-lanterns to home decorations to delicious foods. After all, what says Fall more than pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin cookies, pies, soups and pancakes?
We love our pumpkin – farmers grew about 1.3 billion pounds in 2014, a 17% increase from the year prior. They aren’t the largest grown crop commercially, but pumpkins are still an important crop. Illinois grew over half of all commercial pumpkins with 745.8 million pounds, far outpacing California at 192.2 million pounds. Most are “processing pumpkins” going into pie fillings or other canned pumpkin uses.
Pumpkins are part of the gourd family along with summer and winter squash, cucumbers, melons, cantaloupes, watermelons, and zucchini. They originated in Central America and southern Mexico. Now they are grown in almost all parts of the world.
We’ll share tips to be more successful in areas with insect or disease pressures.
Planting – Starting Right
This takes a little bit of planning but isn’t difficult. Pumpkins like a loose, fertile loamy soil with a pH range of about 6.0 – 7.5 as an ideal condition. Well-aged compost added to the soil will improve flavor and production. They will grow in less than ideal conditions but may need extra nutrition or care to produce well. A drip system on a timer provides consistent soil moisture, important for good production and flavor. A good layer of surface mulch helps.
Planting two or more seeds then thinning the smaller seedlings used to be standard practice with growers and gardeners. High-quality seed makes that unnecessary now, saving time, effort and energy when planting. You normally only need to plant one seed per hill.
Get the most out of your seed by planting flat or with the pointed end down. This saves energy for the roots and shoots, giving them a head start in the right direction.
Aurora inspects a Connecticut Field Pumpkin
Pumpkin is a warm-weather crop – the seed is sensitive to soil temperature and won’t germinate in cold soils. Young seedlings are also easily frost damaged, making a later planting often more successful. The seed won’t start germinating until the soil temperature reaches 60°F and can rot in cold and moist conditions.
Traditional planting times are mid-June to early July in the Northeast. The Midwest sows mid-May to late June, depending on the weather. A June 15 planting date gives enough time for most pumpkins to mature for a mid-October harvest.
Read soil temperature with a simple digital thermometer accurate from 50°F to 90°F. Insert the probe just slightly deeper than how deep the seed will be planted – about an inch – and get the reading.
Most pumpkins need 90 to 120 days to maturity. This means they take 3 – 4 months of warm weather to grow, flower and produce pumpkins before a hard frost.
Here are a few tools to help boost your success:
The first is knowing when the first hard frost arrives in your area. This makes sure you’ve got enough time to get a good crop. Use the First and Last Frost Dates tool discussed in our How to Plan for Fall and Winter Gardening article.
The second is choosing a variety better suited to your growing season. Choose a smaller pumpkin or a faster-growing one when limited on time.
A third option is using pumpkin transplants you’ve started indoors – much like tomato transplants. This gives you more time in a shorter season as you’ve started the “clock” on a 90-day pumpkin 14 days earlier by starting it inside.
Australian Butter Squash
Controlling Weeds
The large shade canopy from the leaves controls weed growth, but some weeds will still get a foothold.
It is more important to keep on top of weeds early in the season than worrying about them later. Weeds steal nutrients and stunt growth with young pumpkin seedlings than with more mature plants.
Manual weeding with a hoe or by hand is the most effective but also most labor intensive. Early cultivation with a weeding tool when the weeds have just emerged is very beneficial. Slide your hoe just below the surface of the soil to slice the weed stems.
Harness this time delay by cutting the weeds before they grow their second set of true leaves. This gives your pumpkins time to get up and running.
Black plastic mulch limits weed growth around the pumpkins. It needs to be put down just after the seedlings emerge and removed at the end of the season. Commercial growers commonly use this method, and some home gardeners have found it to be worth the effort in high weed areas.
Planting into cover crop residue also works well. Especially spring planted cereal rye that has been mowed or weed whacked and let dry down for 2 weeks. Open up a small space around the seed mound or transplant when planting.
Insects and Diseases
Pumpkins need well-drained soil, good airflow and room to soak up the sun. Wet and humid climates contribute to disease attacks. Space plantings 5 – 6 feet between hills and at least 10 feet between rows of pumpkins. This ensures good ventilation and sun exposure to control humidity under the leaf canopy, decreasing disease potential.
Use a 20% solution of milk and water to fight them while boosting the soil biology. Milk and Molasses – Magic for Your Garden has the full details!
The same insects that love squash also love pumpkins – including squash bugs, squash vine borers, cucumber beetles and aphids. Squash bugs are a major pest problem with any squash. We’ve shared a recipe that seems to help in Squash Bugs and Ways to Deal with Them. Recent research shows inter-planting buckwheat supplies food for the tachinid fly. This fly is a parasite of the squash bugs.
One technique the home grower has is growing pumpkins or squash in large containers. Move them to a new area each season away from insects and disease. Use a planter witha good soil volume and keep plastic mulch under the vines to reduce insect pressures.
Galeux d’Eysines Pumpkins
Harvesting and Storing
Pumpkin and squash need to fully ripen on the vine to avoid tasting bland and watery. The leaves and vines will start dying back and the shells will become harder as the squash ripens. They will resist indentation when you press your thumbnail in.
Pick all the ripe fruits before the first frost, otherwise, the storage life is shorter. Mulch unripe fruit heavily with straw or a tarp in the garden as the first frost approaches. Pick when ripened.
Harvest in dry weather, using pruning shears or a sharp knife to cut the vine. Leave two to three inches of stem attached. Do not pull the vine off of the squash when harvesting, as this will damage the stem or fruit and lead to early rotting.
If you have had any diseases or insects – mildew, mold, blight or squash bugs – clean the shears or knife between each cut to prevent spreading diseases between fruit. A dishcloth soaked in a 10% bleach solution works well.
Dry or cure pumpkins in the sun until their stems shrivel and harden. If you harvest in rainy weather, cure them out of the rain in a well-ventilated area. Move them into the sun when it returns.
Handle the fruit carefully to avoid bruising the flesh, even though the pumpkin may look and feel tough. Bruised flesh leads to shorter storage and can ruin other squash stored nearby.
Store in a cool, dry area. Ideal temperatures are between 45 – 50°F with 65 – 70% humidity if possible. The temperature is more important than the humidity, so if you have a cool but drier location, that will work.
Check the fruit regularly, as one bad pumpkin can ruin several others or possibly the whole lot!
See how to make the most from your home-grown pumpkin with our Roasted Pumpkin Puree and Pumpkin-Orange Cheesecake!
18 Shea Butter Benefits
Shea butter comes from the nuts of the Shea tree fruit which grows in Africa. The nuts contain oil that when extracted becomes Shea butter. It is a “superfood” for the skin; rich in vitamins A, E and F, along with essential fatty acids and nutrients for healing.
Shea Butter Benefits
Shea butter has three main benefits that no other natural seed oil has. Other oils or creams may be good moisturizers, but will not heal the skin like Shea butter.
Moisturizing – The high concentration of vitamins, essential fatty acids and nutrients closely match what the skin’s sebaceous glands produce. This makes pure Shea butter the best choice for dry or damaged skin.
Reducing inflammation – One of the unique compounds in pure Shea butter is cinnamic acid, closely related to the cinnamon in your kitchen. Cinnamic acid is a strong anti-inflammatory agent. Pure Shea butter has exceptionally high levels of cinnamic acid bound to other compounds, making it effective against skin inflammation.
Smoothing – Pure Shea butter works with the skin’s natural collagen production to protect and nourish the skin. The high concentrations of oleic, palmitic and linolenic acids naturally found in Shea butter help protect the skin as well.
Why Shea butter is Better Than Other Natural Oils
Most seed oils have two important parts, or fractions. The first fraction contain the moisturizing properties and the second has the healing qualities.
Pure Shea butter has an exceptionally large healing fraction, the largest of any natural seed or nut. This healing fraction contains important nutrients, vitamins and phytonutrients required to heal the skin. The best quality Shea butter has a healing fraction up to 17%, but is usually significantly over 5%.
Most other seed oils have a healing fraction of 1 to 3%. They will have an excellent moisturizing fraction, but little to no healing qualities.
This is why pure Shea butter has been studied and recognized as being effective for skin conditions including blemishes, itching, sunburns, small cuts and abrasions, eczema, skin allergies, insect bites, frost bite and surgical wounds.
Original Grade A Shea butter this way!Best Uses for Shea Butter
Finding the Highest Quality Shea Butter
We have spent most of the past decade working with a dedicated small company who has developed personal relationships with the best Shea butter producers in Africa. They are members of the American Shea Butter Institute and will only accept the finest batches for their use.
We only source Grade A Shea butter – the finest raw and unrefined, handcrafted Shea butter that retains its full healing and moisturizing properties. These are tested for purity and healing quality by the Shea Butter Institute, assuring us there is no heavy metal contamination or chemical impurities.
You have the finest quality available at your fingertips! Simply click the link below to visit our store and choose which Shea butter suits you best.
Original Grade A Shea butter this way!GrowHaus – Making Good Food Happen
We want to share GrowHaus with you. During recent travels, we toured this amazing micro-farm in the northeast section of Denver, CO. Starting with an old flower greenhouse in an isolated immigrant neighborhood, this is now a model of innovative urban farming.
Healthy Food is a Right, not a Privilege
GrowHaus is a non-profit indoor farm, marketplace and educational center in north Denver, CO. The neighborhood of Elyria-Swansea is a historically working class immigrant community. It is surrounded by industrial manufacturing and transportation industries. As a result the neighborhood is listed as the most polluted ZIP code in Colorado.
The area has endured a lack of access to healthy and affordable food with high rates of diet-related illnesses. This is due to their isolation within the industrial manufacturing and heavy industry areas.
GrowHaus developed out of an old flower greenhouse. It incorporates several methods of growing food for local residents and restaurants in Denver.
We saw this is still a very busy industrial area with a large roofing and asphalt company and 4 lines of railroad tracks across the street.
The large hand-painted “Mercado” sign above a roll-up garage door indicated something unusual. The sign shows that vegetables, fruit, meat, dairy and more are available inside. Spanish and English are the predominant languages spoken here now, but historically this area has been a settling place for many different nationalities.
Challenging Conditions
The map shows just how crowded things are. A major rail line with multiple tracks is less than 50 feet from the front door. A large roofing and asphalt company are across the street to the east.
The modest sized homes are clear, with the line of older single wide mobile homes just to the right in the photo.
Just outside of the photo to the bottom is I-70, with its update and expansion just beginning. Much of the neighborhood to the south of the GrowHaus will be lost to the expansion and re-alignment.
When completed, I-70 will come within a couple hundred feet of the greenhouse. Two new light rail lines will be built in the next 10 years, cutting through the neighborhood.
Click to expand the close-up photo of the greenhouse and see just how tightly packed in the GrowHaus is.
Our tour guide was an employee who is also a local resident. His insights and comments were very beneficial, having grown up in the neighborhood.
The food grown in the greenhouse is a world better than the boxed and fast foods he grew up eating!
Serious Food Production in a Small Space
There is both a hydroponics and aquaponics operation in the greenhouse. By partnering with local residents to grow food, provide jobs and education, everyone lives better.
Residents gain a valuable skill while earning money growing food they share with their families.
The hydroponics operation is 5,000 square feet and grows leafy greens. The customers are residents and local markets and restaurants throughout Denver. They grow about 1,200 heads of leafy greens per week using 90% less water than conventional farming.
The aquaponics side is 3,200 square feet, growing more leafy greens.
A commercial mushroom farm produces fresh specialty mushrooms year round for local use, restaurants and markets.
There is also a seedling starting nursery that’s just getting started. The nursery provides seedlings and young plant starts to area gardeners.
Our tour guide explains the growing, marketing and distribution of the butter lettuce from the hydroponics farm. Local residents who qualify buy food at cost with a sliding scale for other customers.
A closer look at the butter lettuce and packaging. It is marketed as “living” lettuce because the roots are still attached. It stays fresher longer than conventionally grown lettuce that is cut from its roots when harvested.
This brings a premium price from restaurants and markets in Denver, increasing the earnings of the hydroponics farm.
Easing the Food Desert
The Elyria-Swansea neighborhood is classified as a “food desert”. This is defined as “an urban area in which it is difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food.”
GrowHaus works to overcome this through three food distribution programs. They are food boxes, the GrowHaus market and Cosechando Salud, a free food pantry and cooking class.
Food boxes are like a traditional CSA with food from GrowHaus and partner organizations. They have fresh fruits, vegetables and other items. The program is open to anyone in the greater Denver area.
The Mercado de al Lado is the neighborhood market, offering fresh produce, meat and dairy products year round.
Those that qualify can buy food at cost or a small percentage above the production cost. This gives greater access to healthy and fresh food to those who really need it.
Those who can afford to pay slightly below retail up to full retail prices, bringing profits to the program and keeping it running.
The Cosechando Salud is a free food pantry and cooking class. It is supported by the profits of the distribution programs. It teaches cooking essentials while providing healthy food that was not sold at the markets, avoiding excess food waste.
Permaculture and Classroom Space
The class space and common area are a permaculture design. It is a self-regulating edible ecosystem with figs, bananas and papayas. There are composting systems with worms, along with rabbits and chickens.
Growing bananas and papayas at a mile high in Denver’s climate is pretty impressive!
People Making a Difference
It is inspiring seeing the scope of the operations at GrowHaus, along with the number of programs and organizations they partner with.
A small group of dedicated individuals have accomplished much with a challenging environment in an isolated neighborhood.
They have created a working, local, sustainable healthy food system which lives up to its mission. In doing so, they have also created a model of how inclusive participation and open cooperation with other like-minded organizations can expand the positive impact.
We left with the realization that one person can make a difference, even if it is in one other person’s life. That difference, and the results, are worth it!
Forest Highlands Kitchen Garden
Kitchen Garden in a Challenging Climate
Cindy and I recently visited the kitchen garden at the Forest Highlands Meadow Clubhouse. Forest Highlands was established in 1987, with the original raised bed concrete forms poured shortly afterward.
We don’t know how long they were garden beds. They were filled in and covered with sod for a children’s play area and family picnic grounds.
In 2015 the kitchen staff uncovered half of the original concrete terraced raised beds. They kept the upper part in sod, using it as a reception area for weddings or parties with 4 large raised beds.
This kitchen garden is just south of Flagstaff, AZ in a very short season climate. Some years they have less than 60 days of growing time, while others are just over 70 days.
This limits what they can grow. Creative use of existing advantages helped them be successful in their first year. The result has been a surprising amount of fresh vegetables and herbs for the kitchen.
They grow unique and unavailable varieties showing the chef’s talents with heirloom flavors.
Let’s look at some of the techniques used to create a successful kitchen garden in a challenging climate!
Original Beds Revealed
This uphill shot shows the concrete forms of the original stepped landscape garden beds giving way to the remains of the sod used for the children’s play area and picnic area. Four raised beds grow vegetables needing a deeper soil and host a reception area.
The raised bed soil is rich and fertile while the terraced beds need improvement. Rains left standing water in the beds on the lower right which made growing difficult this season. The staff is planting our cover crop mix to help. The mix will open up the moderate clay soil and improve drainage, soil structure and fertility.
New Raised Beds
The terracing is harder to see from this angle, but the size of the raised beds is clearer. Each raised bed is about three feet deep, giving plenty of water drainage and depth for root crops.
The semi-intensive planting has gone well with a successful harvest considering it is the first full year of growing there.
The concrete retaining wall topped with solid fencing is at the far end of the garden, providing wind protection as well as shelter from hungry critters ranging from rabbits to deer.
Carrots, beets and radishes are growing in this raised bed. After harvest the bed is mulched with straw and left dormant until early spring. The mulch protects the soil from temperature extremes, allowing earthworms to be more active.
The raised beds are full of earthworm activity. If you create the proper environment the earthworms will appear!
This left side view shows how different the soils are just 10 feet apart from the right side. The growth is lush and full, unlike the right side beds holding water with struggling plants.
There may only be 2 – 3 weeks of growth for our Garden Cover Up Mix before the frosts kill them. This is enough time to establish a root system and mulch cover, starting improvement for the soil.
Next season they will interplant cover crops among the root vegetables. The cover crops go in once the vegetables are a month old so they don’t compete with each other. This gives more time for better soil improvement.
South Facing Thermal Mass Wall
Cindy next to a long bed of pattypan squash. These summer squash are very cold sensitive and love warmth. This planting bed takes advantage of the concrete walls thermal mass, effectively moving this bed two or three zones south. It is unusual to see such vigorous and healthy growth in a colder climate.
This thermal mass technique has been used just outside Paris, France for over 300 years. Farmers grew extensive fruit tree and grape orchards in the cold climate of Paris.
Thick south-facing brick walls kept fruit trees and grape vines warm. Horticultural books showed why these orchards were so productive and grew such delicious fruits.
There are still remnants of these horticultural walls still standing outside of Paris today. Many of the current residents do not know why the walls are there, or what function they served!
When we looked in the bed, sure enough there was a large pattypan squash ready for harvest! This is about 2 – 3 weeks prior to the first expected frost.
The same concept is used for the tomatoes and basil, for different reasons.
This east facing retaining wall supports the pool and is not a traditional thermal wall. This growing spot is unique because the pool provides the moderating temperature. The pool has a lot of thermal mass, maintaining a steady temperature to the concrete.
In the summer, the wall absorbs warmth during the morning and gives shade during the hot afternoons. The water temperature is cooler than the air, so the wall’s effect is shading and cooling.
During cooler weather, the pool temperature is warmer than the air, warming the bed. The sun warms the bed during the first part of the day.
Up at the top of the herb garden section, the same technique is at work helping the snap peas have a good second season. They are climbing twine strings in front of the south-facing driveway retaining wall. The gardeners use this spot for an early planting of peas using the warmth as a jump-starter, transitioning to herbs later in the spring and back to peas in the fall.
Pretty clever to coax three plantings out of a 60 day growing season!
A different angle gives another look at the upper herb garden section. Notice the peas don’t extend past the warmth of the concrete retaining wall.
Some of the herbs are in pots, while others grow as annuals in the beds.
Notice the high fencing, which acts as walls for wind breaks and critter proofing. The garden is protected from chilling and drying winds and breezes, allowing more vigorous growth than if it were more exposed.
The hanging buckets are at the top right, seen in more detail at the top photo of the article. Individual herbs grow in each bucket, giving more fresh herb variety to the kitchen.
Your Turn
Now you see how simple techniques are used in creating a successful kitchen garden, no matter the size.
Take a close look at your garden to see if some of these approaches would work for you, or with a smaller container garden close to the house!
Cover Crops – Better Soil in a Month
Can cover crops improve garden soil in one month?
Cover crops – also called green manures – have improved soil for thousands of years. 3,000 years ago Chinese agriculture began planting horsebeans and sesame for soil improvement. Much later the Greeks and Romans sowed special crops to increase soil fertility.
The past 60 – 80 years has seen an incredible amount of knowledge emerge from small farmers experimenting with planting different cover crops and learning from what resulted. This knowledge was built on a foundation of several hundred years of European trial and error.
Our Garden Cover Up Mix was developed from research into the specific benefits we wanted to bring to the home garden soil, as well as what species supported each other.
After sowing we began watering with our drip system, but the monsoon rains provided a good amount of water over the month. This helped the plant growth along, so your results may be a week or two behind these photos.
Week One
At one week, the mix has almost all sprouted and shown vigorous growth. The oats and rye are shooting up, looking like grass while the buckwheat spreads its leaves and the clover hugs the soil. The peas were just beginning to show up, as they took a few days longer to absorb moisture and begin germinating.
We planted the different parts of the mix separately to get an idea of how they grew by themselves and with other species in support.
The rye and oats both shot up rapidly, germinating within 3 – 4 days and showing good soil coverage.
The crimson clover was also up fast, creating a fluffy green blanket over the soil with its tiny green leaves. Even with only an inch of growth it was easy to feel the temperature differences between the tops of the leaves and the soil temperature – it felt like 15°F difference!
The buckwheat was a couple of days slower coming up than the oats or rye. Once the sprouts appeared they immediately opened their leaves and really started growing.
Week Three
After three weeks the mix has almost completely covered the raised bed. The root system is about 3/4 of the top growth at this point, so the root density below the soil is almost as much as seen here. This is why cover crops are so beneficial to soil fertility.
A closer look shows how much shade the soil has and how thick the mix is growing. This out-competes most weeds above the soil while the roots choke out weeds below.
This mechanism gives the cover crops a head start over any other weeds for the next 2 – 3 weeks. When weed seeds can’t germinate, they will often rot as the soil fertility improves.
Week Four
The growth accelerated going into the fourth week, as these photos show. The white PVC stake is about 14 inches tall. Last week the growth was about 3 – 4 inches, but this week it shot up above the top of the stake.
Besides putting on a lot of height, the mix also completely filled in the raised bed. Weeds have no space to grow and we could only find one or two after searching for them.
The soil is much cooler than the surface of the leaves. It is also moister, but that could be due to the amount of recent rains and not the cover crop. The buckwheat is starting to bloom and is attracting bees as seen in the top photo detail.
The buckwheat is the tallest of the mix at about 21 inches tall. The mix is extremely full and thick up to about 16 inches, completely choking out any weeds. The root system is still about 3/4 of the height of the plants, so there is an amazing amount of roots below ground! This shows why planting cover crops does so much to improve the physical structure of the soil.
Pretty good for a few minutes spent planting the seeds and a months’ worth of growth!
Both the rye and oats look like really lush grass. They completely cover the soil and top out at just over 15 inches at one month. We couldn’t find any weeds in this test plot.
Looking closer at the density of the rye planting, it is easy to see why weeds don’t stand a chance. There is no room for anything other than the rye with this dense seeding rate, which is the point.
Next Steps
If a killing frost happened tomorrow there is enough growth to create an excellent mulch while the root system will feed the soil and its microbial populations.
Our first frost is still several weeks off so the cover crops will keep growing both above and below the soil level. The flowers need watching to prevent setting seed and creating another crop next season. We will clip or mow the flower heads as they develop if there isn’t a frost soon enough.
If the rest of the mix can develop before mowing or a killing frost, it gives more nutrition and benefits to the garden bed.
Cover crops will increase the bio-available nutrition in your soil for next season, even if you use a well-aged compost. Both approaches have benefits but if used together support each other and create a better, more fertile soil sooner than if only one is used.
You don’t need a lot of time to grow a good cover crop and seriously improve your garden soil – a month will do! Even if you only have 2 – 3 weeks you will be better off with a shorter planting than none at all.
Fall Onions Made Easy
Best Onions in Fall
Growing fall onions is sometimes confusing – should you choose the long day or day-neutral ones? When should you plant? Does the color of the onion matter? How to avoid growing non-bulbing onions again this year?
Most questions come down to, “What onions can be grown this fall?”
The short answer is the sweet onions will do best in almost all locations, but there is more to the answer!
Most gardeners can successfully grow the sweet Candy onions for cooking.
Conditions for Fall Onions
There are three conditions fall-grown onions need – day-length, time to mature and temperature.
Day-length
Candy is a day-neutral onion, meaning it forms a bulb with 12 – 14 hours of daylight. The map above shows approximately where the Candy onion will grow. The southern limits are short day length and the northern are too cold too early for a sweet onion in the fall.
Our grower has had excellent results in almost all regions of the US. The exceptions are south Florida, south Texas and the extreme northern states bordering Canada. Even parts of Maine have been able to grow good sweet onions in the fall!
Time to Mature
Our sweet onion needs about 90 – 100 days to mature into good sized bulbs ready for harvesting. This is just over three months, so check your freeze dates to see if you’ve got enough time.
Light frosts aren’t a concern with onions as they continue growing until the first hard freeze.
If you aren’t sure of your medium frost dates, take a few minutes to read our article on understanding your frost dates. How to Plan for Fall and Winter Gardening will get you up to speed!
You are looking for the Fall 24°F date (the orange circle) from your local historical weather data.
This brings us to temperature…
Temperature
Onions are remarkably tolerant of frosts and even moderate freezing weather. They go dormant and then resume growth when favorable conditions return. Winter temperatures down to the early 20’s won’t damage onions if mulched and protected.
An old grower once told me some of the sweetest onions he ever grew were over-wintered ones.
He planted bulbs in the early fall, let them grow and mulched heavily 6 – 8 inches deep just before the first frosts. They went dormant in the winter and when spring came he removed the mulch. The onions resumed growing as spring warmed up. He had the earliest harvest of incredibly sweet, delicious onions.
He would never sell these, as they were too special! He shared them with family and close friends.
So – can you grow onions this fall?
You can have sweet onions this fall or early winter if –
OR
You can have sweet onions in early winter or early spring if –
OR
You can have sweet onions for early spring harvest if –
Knowing these 3 factors, you will be more successful growing your onions this fall.
As the famous radio host Paul Harvey used to say, “Now you know the rest of the story!”
Six Hour Caramelized Onions
Slow cooked caramelized onions are great, but what if you took that further?
Like, a lot further. Say, six hours full of slow cooked, caramelized goodness.
You would wind up with what Chef Michael Solomonov makes at Zahav, his Israeli-inspired restaurant in Philadelphia.
The ingredients couldn’t be simpler –
Chop the onions into smaller pieces. I love using sweet onions as they add a layer to the flavors, but any mild onion will work well.
Add the chopped onions to the pot, add the olive oil and salt, then give a good stir to coat the onions.
Put on the covered grill or oven set to 250°F.
The pot of onions has just been put on the Kamado, where I was pre-roasting a chicken for a clay pot dish with onions and Poblano chiles.
Note how full the pot is – within a half inch or so of the top. As we progress, you’ll see how much this drops!
Smoking means cooking! The smoke always means a delicious meal is on the way.
The beauty of slow cooking outside is the freedom it gives you. There is no need to stand around the grill, you can do projects, read or take a nap and check the progress every so often. I try not to lift the lid more than twice an hour, to not lose heat and smoke.
After a couple of hours the onions begin to caramelize. Give them a stir at this point, then about once an hour.
See how much the level has dropped?
The lid is left off so the moisture evaporates and the smoke can infuse the onions.
No, these aren’t burned – they are finished!
What started out as a full pot has cooked down to just a couple of cups. All of those flavors have condensed and intensified, mellowing with the gentle heat and smoke from the grill.
Remove from the pan, let cool and store in the refrigerator for up to a month. They won’t last past a few days, but they will keep up to a month!
Now that you’ve got some smoky caramelized onions, what do you do with them?
Almost anything you want!
They are delicious as appetizers straight on crackers, spread on the bun of a fresh-grilled hamburger or as a remoulade on a steak. Mix half-and-half with our 30 Second Mayonnaise for a sandwich spread that will amaze! Chef Michael serves them mixed with salads, slathered on roast chicken, spread on toast with ricotta cheese, or swirled in sauteed chopped collard greens as a rich side dish.
I like them straight, spread on crackers for that full blast hit of flavors and smokiness. Spread on burgers is sublime as well.
Cover Crops FAQ
Cover Crops Q & A
Our cover crop mix has generated lots of questions on how to use it. This means we need to share more information with you. It is fantastic seeing so much interest about improving your soil and your garden!
I’ve taken the most frequent questions and condensed them into a Q&A format below.
The Garden Cover Up mix page lists the coverage rates for each variety.
1 lb will seed 200 square feet, or a 10×20 garden bed or 2 5×10 beds. 8 oz will seed 100 square feet, or a 10×10 garden bed. This gives you a thick planting, boosting soil fertility and decreasing weed pressures.
Ideal planting times are early August through mid-September, depending on your growing season. Plant around mature garden vegetables or in spaces left from the removal of older plants.
Preparation is easy. Broadcast the seeds and rake them into the top half inch of moist soil, or cover with 1/2 inch of mulch or compost. Water equal to 1 inch of rainfall per week until seedlings become established.
The best time to plant is 6 – 8 weeks before your first frost date. If you don’t know your expected first frost date, use the First and Last Frost Dates tool from the National Garden Association.
Enter your ZIP code and find the weather station closest to you.
The first frost date is the intersection of the vertical 50% column and horizontal Fall 32°F line.
Count back 6 to 8 weeks to determine when you should sow the cover crop seed. By planting a few weeks early you’ll have bigger growth, but may need to clip the spent flowers to prevent re-seeding.
Cover crops are good for any sized garden larger than a container garden where it is easier to change the soil out. Your raised beds would benefit from our cover crop mix.
If you get a good freeze, the mix will “winterkill”, meaning they will die after a hard frost of around 24°F or so. Then the plant matter will fall down to become mulch for the soil, while the roots decompose. You can turn them under, but I don’t recommend it as tilling or turning disturbs the soil structure. You can plant right among the mulch in the spring.
The cover crops will set seed and scatter those seeds if you let them. Plant cover crops 6 – 8 weeks before the first frost so they get good growth and flower but usually don’t have the chance to set seed. If you see seed forming, just clip those seed heads off and throw them away.
This way the cover crop can’t be an unwanted guest next spring!
You have a great thought in using the cover crops to help establish and improve the garden soil for next season.
This is the exact method used by organic farmers and growers to prepare fallow soil for a crop. Growers will plant cover crops in succession, or they allow the flowers to re-seed themselves.
Rake to loosen the top inch or so, broadcast the cover crop seed and rake again until just covered. Water the area equal to 1 inch of water per week until the seeds sprout and the plants establish themselves.
Let the plants flower and start setting seed, then clip the heads to prevent them from re-seeding. Allow the plant matter to die in the frost, creating its own mulch. The roots and topsoil mulch decompose over the winter, giving you with an excellent start to next gardening season!
Our Garden Cover Up Mix provides plenty of nutritious forage for your chickens. Plant a test plot close to where they are. Water the area equal to 1 inch of water per week until the seeds sprout and the plants establish themselves. Then you can trim some as fodder for the chickens as it grows and develops.
Our Backyard Chickens collection is another option. It has a variety of tasty edibles like sunflower, corn, Swiss chard, mustard and kale.
For erosion control, I would plant a straight (50/50) mix of buckwheat and cereal oats. Both are fast growing with good root systems that hold the soil in place. They provide good mulch after the plant dies off. You might test plant a strip about 3 – 5 feet deep crosswise to how the water flows during monsoon season. This acts as a catch strip, slowing the water down and reducing the amount of soil moved. It also creates a berm for future moisture retention. The roots create a “sink” for the water flow which diverts the water into the soil and away from flowing across it. This starts to build up the shallow soil and water reserves on your property.
I would not mow or kill this planting but allow it to re-seed and establish itself well. If the test works, you can replicate this downstream of where the water flows as many times as needed.
Once the initial berm starts to form, plant the Garden Cover Up mix up stream. This takes advantage of the extra moisture to reclaim and build some good soil!
This will only take 2 or 3 seasons to establish some excellent berms fully and then you can plant more.
Buckwheat is not related to wheat at all, as it is in the Rhubarb family – if you can believe that! You should not have any reaction to buckwheat. You can avoid the oats by ordering the individual cover crop varieties. The Crimson clover and hairy vetch are strong nitrogen fixers, where the Buckwheat and Rye are fast growing ground covers.
You can make your own mix by ordering the smaller amounts of the individual cover crops, avoiding what you are sensitive to.
The cover crop mix will die after a couple of hard frosts. It becomes a mulch insulating and protecting the soil over the winter. During that time the roots decompose and increase the soil fertility. Depending on your climate over the winter the mulch should almost dissappear by next spring’s planting time.
I don’t recommend tilling a cover crop, it disturbs the soil you spent the winter improving. When planting, open a small space in the mulch. Then it continues covering and protecting the soil while smothering weeds.
If you do feel the need to till, raise the tines to only till the top 2 – 3 inches of soil and don’t disturb deeper layers. This will work the decomposed vegetative matter into the soil where it will be used quickly.
The process is to plant a fall cover crop, let it die and overwinter to improve the soil. Next spring, plant another after the garden crops are in and up. This covers the soil and shades out most weeds. Repeat this cycle yearly and the soil becomes incredibly fertile after a year or so.
In fertile soil weeds aren’t as much of a problem because they just don’t germinate as well. Fewer weeds leads to fewer insects, as many insects “partner” with specific weeds for habitat or to lay eggs on. Increased soil fertility means healthier plants which do not attract predatory insects.
Thanks for your question! That’s why you need to kill the cover crops manually if the weather doesn’t freeze cold enough to kill them. Mowing or weed-whacking is the easiest way to do this. Otherwise, the plants don’t die, the roots don’t decompose and you struggle to plant your garden.
If you kill the cover crops from late October to mid-November, they will benefit the soil!
There are a couple of ways to open up the soil, especially with a clay component.
1 – You can deep till the soil. Realize you are destroying many micro-organisms as you are completely changing where they live. This is ok once or maybe twice when first establishing the garden, but is detrimental to the soil health if done often.
2 – Use a broadfork or other mechanical means to open up the soil without disturbing the layers. This is often done by hand, so will only work in a smaller garden. Because you won’t be able to drill down deep in a hard soil, this might need to be done a few times over a couple of seasons.
3 – Plant cover crops or aggressive root crops such as sunflower, wheat, sesame or Daikon radishes which drill down and open up the soil. This isn’t a one time, fix-all solution, but with replanting in spring and fall the cover crops can continue building and improving the soil.
Second Chance Gardening
Beat the heat with your own second chance garden. Let’s look at why Fall gardening can be so much better!
Do you have extra space opening up in your garden right now? As you harvest crops think about replanting something in its place that does well in cooler weather. Now is the time to think about these planting techniques, to get the most from your garden!
Succession Planting
Always have seeds or transplants ready to plant when you harvest. Filling the space of a harvested plant means less weeding and less moisture loss. A little planning goes a long way, pay attention to days to maturity for a cool season variety and you can stagger your plantings to get a bigger, longer harvest.
Continuous planting
Plant a few spinach seeds every week from August to October, and you will have a continuous supply as the weather cools off into late fall. The same goes for many cool season crops like lettuce, carrots, beets and cabbage.
Plan for over-winter crops
Do you know about growing onions over the winter? Fall planted onions yield a very sweet onion come next spring. Plant the seed in mid to late summer, then mulch heavily with straw just before the first frost. In the spring, the onions will continue growing and give you an early harvest of delicious onions.
Does your climate allow for some types of vegetables to easily grow through the winter, even if it needs some temperature protection? Is your climate conducive to year round tomatoes, with a little planning and frost protection?
Save space for garlic, which is planted in the Fall and harvested early the next summer. Think about where you would want spring flowers to appear next season, attracting pollinators that help your garden. Many flower seeds enjoy being planted in the Fall and magically appear in the Spring.
Root crops
Turnips, radishes, carrots and beets can all be planted in late summer and early Fall. They grow quickly in the warmer weather, then turn really sweet as the nights cool off.
Plant some Fall lettuce, it will thrive in cooler temperatures. Mustards, kale, chard and spinach also thrive in the Fall. Try a second planting of sweet peas, as they will love the cooler weather. We love the versatility of Spinach Beet-Greens as they grow through our 100°F+ summer days and continue until hard frost stops them. They are one of the first greens to re-start early next season!
Parsley and chives are great year-round and planted in early Fall, they can last into early winter. Depending on your climate they might die back with the first strong freezes, but can be the first to reappear in the spring. Think about planting herbs in pots now and you can bring them inside during the winter and enjoy their flavors year-round!
Enjoys these tips, the days may start to shorten as summer progresses but the cooler weather allows for so much more garden activity!
Biting Insects Repellents You Can Grow
Control Biting Insects Naturally
Biting insects are often the bane of our gardening lives – just when the weather is the best to be outside enjoying the garden those annoying biting insects join the party. Due to our long co-existence with insects, many approaches exist to make time in the garden or outside more enjoyable.
Most modern solutions don’t recognize the difference between beneficial and pest – such as bug zappers and sprays or lotions – and their effectiveness over a wider area (such as a garden) decreases drastically.
A more visually and aromatically pleasing approach is planting herbs or flowers which naturally deter biting insects, or cultivating plants which attract beneficial insects to prey on the unwanted or destructive pests. This provides multiple benefits; less costly with unwanted insects repelled better, longer lasting effects while attracting beneficial insects and humans in both color and aromas.
Insects bite people due to a number of factors; the unique chemistry of an individual, how the environment encourages or deters pest insects, beneficial insect population and the flowers they depend on, to landscape maintenance such as how often grass is mowed or weeds removed that can harbor sizable populations of pesky, biting insects.
It may take a bit of experimenting and close observation to see what is truly going on, but once you start to discover the specific factors that reduce and deter the unwanted insects, you will soon be enjoying lots more time outside!
Let’s look at some plants proven to be strong and effective deterrents to biting insect, while are also attractive to people and useful as medicinal or culinary ingredients.
Overall, the easiest way to use these plants is in planters, containers or in beds along the garden gate, entryway or border of the garden, or around the front and back doors of your home or anywhere you want to have fewer biting insects. Some of these plants will naturally repel mosquitoes, flies and such, but brushing with a hand or crushing a few leaves releases their powerful aromatic compounds and scents.
Biting Insect Repelling Herbs
Here are eight easy to grow herbs for you to plant, some of which you may already have in your garden! Some are annuals which will re-seed themselves if left alone, while others are perennials that will live and fill out their areas over several years.
Basil (Ocimum basilicum) – This much-loved center point of many cook’s gardens has a secret: the aroma which attracts us repels biting insects, making basil effective against mosquitoes, chiggers, gnats, fleas, ticks and houseflies. Plant-based insect repellent sprays are made by crushing fresh leaves, releasing their natural aromatic oils.
Lemon basil leaves can be picked, lightly crushed or bruised in the hand and rubbed on exposed skin as a repellent while smelling lemony and fresh. The Journal of Entomology has shown Sweet basil oil is an effective alternative to synthetic pythrethrums as a mosquito repellent.
Calendula (Calendula officinalis) – More commonly known as Pot Marigold, this hardy annual is multi-talented with healing and nutritional qualities, in addition to repelling biting insects.
Most insects avoid it, confirming its historic uses as a base ingredient for insect repellents. Interplanting among cabbage reduces aphid, cabbageworms and diamondback moth problems in Poland. On a different note, the tachinid fly uses calendula as a host plant and attacks pest insects such as cabbage loopers, Japanese beetles, cutworms, codling moths and squash bugs, among others.
Catnip (Nepeta cataria) – Famous for attracting cats with its pungent earthy-minty aroma, its most powerful and active volatile aromatic compound is nepetalactone which repels mice, rats, mosquitoes, cockroaches and numerous other household insects. An Iowa State University study from 2001 showed nepetalactone to be 10 times more effective than DEET – the common synthetic biting insect repellent – and was effective in concentrations as low as 1%.
Chrysanthemum or Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium) – An ancient medicinal plant long used for the treatment of fevers, migraine headaches, toothaches and insect bites. Recent studies have discovered there are more than 30 naturally occurring plant based chemical compounds called sesquiterpene lactones. In addition to being medically effective, they are also very potent insect repellents, as most garden and house pest insects will not go near its fragrance.
Marigold (Tagetes patula) – The common, pretty and colorful marigold repels blowflies and safari ants in Africa and India, and also effectively deters aphids while being a beneficial companion plant for many garden vegetables.
There are three active aromatic compounds which studies have shown to be as effective against mosquitoes as DEET.
Try a few of these powerful allies in your insect repellent search, now you know more about them. Test plant a small grouping near a high-traffic area in a container that can be moved, then observe what insects are around.
With some testing, you should soon see positive results. You might find certain plants work best for different members of your family, so containers or planters in areas where they like to hang out can work wonders.
Direct Sowing Your Garden Successfully
When to Direct Sow
Direct sowing can be done almost any time of the year – in early to late spring for the summer garden, mid to late fall for the cool season garden, as well as succession planting a row after a crop has been harvested to grow something else delicious!
Direct sowing simply means planting the seeds directly into the garden soil, instead of starting them inside, nurturing and then transplanting into the garden once they are several weeks old and several inches tall.
Some gardeners think they have no “luck” when it comes to direct sowing certain vegetables, while others are hesitant to try again after past challenges or outright failures. Inexperienced gardeners sometimes think their lack of experience dooms them to failure.
The root causes of most challenges, problems or outright failures can be traced to a shortage of good information, incomplete understanding of seed germination and a lack of patience.
Direct Sowing Lemongrass Seed
All of these can be overcome, and we’ll show you how!
At its most basic, direct sowing is simply inserting a seed into the garden soil so it can grow. There are factors which affect how successful the results are, but they are easily understood so you can set yourself up for success by using them.
1. Preparation
Well Aged Compost
Amend the soil
Soil or bed preparation sets the stage for the seed and is usually done a couple of weeks to a month before direct sowing. This includes amending the soil with well-aged compost, minerals, fish emulsion, milk and molasses or anything else the soil needs.
“Amending” means to add the nutrients to the soil, then work them in with a garden fork or roto-tiller. If using a roto-tiller, make sure it is set to a shallow depth to avoid disrupting too many of the soil layers and the micro-organisms that live in those layers.
A comprehensive soil analysis can be extremely valuable here, as you’ll know exactly what the soil needs to be at its best. A simpler approach is to add the commonly used nutrients mentioned above and closely observe the plants to see if they are showing a lack of specific nutrients.
Weed the beds
After amending the soil, wait a few days for the first weeds to sprout, then remove them with a small hoe just below the surface of the soil. Weeds thrive in disturbed soil, so you won’t wait long!
When the weeds have just sprouted, they will have released a very potent plant hormonal signal – called auxins – into the soil, signaling all of the other weed seeds to remain dormant. The soil has a tremendous amount of weed seeds in it, just waiting for the right conditions to sprout, and the first weeds up send this signal to keep other weed species from competing with them. This hormone lasts from 4 – 6 weeks, giving you a head-start with little competition for the seeds you want to grow!
After your seedlings have sprouted, they add their own particular auxins to the soil, inhibiting other seeds from germinating for another couple of weeks. After the garden crop is a foot tall, weeds have much less affect on their growth and can’t as easily out-compete for water and soil nutrition.
Yet another way is to use a flame weeder to kill the young weeds, while damaging the uppermost, soon to germinate weed seeds in wait. No hoe is used and this method is quite fast.
Row Marking Tools for Direct Sowing
Layout the bed
Some gardeners prefer to create furrows to sow their seeds in, while others use a garden row marker – two pegs with string attached – to lay out where they will direct sow their seeds.
There are several different approaches, and there is no one “right” way. If you are growing a smaller garden a row marker makes it easier to plant seeds closer together than creating rows. It’s also easier to do succession planting closer together with a row marker, as you plant the seeds along the line of the string without trying to open and then close a furrow and not disturb neighboring seeds or young plants.
2. Sowing the seeds
Direct Sowing Basil Seed with a Widger
Direct Sowing
Before direct sowing your seeds, consider how the vegetable will grow and be used. If you will be harvesting the entire crop for young greens, then plant fairly close together, as you want the most production possible. If the plant will be harvested regularly and allowed to mature, like leaf lettuce, spinach, kale or leafy broccoli, then give a little more space for the plant to mature without crowding.
Water the soil the day before planting to make sure it is properly moist to start the germination process.
Read the spacing recommendations on the back of the seed packets as a good starting point. If in doubt, plant two seeds at a time to ensure the best growth, as you can always thin once the seedlings are up. When thinning, never pull the seedlings out as this seriously disturbs the roots of the neighboring seedling – just snip off the unwanted seedling with a pair of small scissors.
One of the more important things in planting any seeds is to be aware of the proper depth to sow them. An excellent rule of thumb is no more then 2 – 3 times their diameter.
Seed orientation is also an overlooked, but equally important thing to be aware of when sowing. The radicle – or part of the seed that was attached to and fed by the plant or fruit – should be planted pointing down, as this is where the root will emerge from. Corn, pumpkin and squash are easy to see – just plant the pointed end down. Smaller or more rounded seeds don’t matter as much, as there is equal distance all around.
After sowing, gently press the seeds into the soil for small seeds, or press the soil on top for larger seeds. This allows for better moisture transfer to the seeds as they start the germination process.
Direct Sowing Okra Seed
Water the seeds
After sowing, give the seeds a good drink. Make sure the soil is well moistened on the first watering, then wait about 24 – 48 hours to water again, depending on your climate. The most common mistake all gardeners of any experience do is to over-water the garden.
It’s simply a human trait to want to make sure the garden is watered!
Seeds need three things to germinate – moisture, temperature and light once they are up.
The soil moisture needs to be very damp initially, then slowly decreased after the seeds sprout until it is slightly moist. You won’t have much control over the temperature unless you can provide some weather protection such as a plastic row cover or black plastic on the soil a week before planting to warm it up. Light is needed once the seedlings are up, but the sun will take care of that!
3. Care after sowing
After sowing care is pretty simple, but needs to be well-attended during the first month after the seeds start sprouting. Care can be split into three areas – weeding, re-sowing and weather protection.
Handmade Garden Row Marker
Weeding
Keeping your emerging seedlings free from weeds when they are young will give them a serious boost, as young weeds can effortlessly out-compete your vegetables for needed nutrients and water. This severely limits their future growth, strength and production.
Removing young weeds is very easy, especially if using a sharp, thin hoe to slice them just under the surface of the soil. If you’ve allowed the initial crop to sprout and then removed them, you should have less weed pressure to worry about, but still keep on top of them!
Make sure to distinguish between the weeds and what you planted. If in doubt, wait a few days to see the shape of the leaves and how it matches (or doesn’t) the seedlings where you planted.
Re-sowing
Due to the variabilities of weather outside, some of the seeds may not germinate, or do so very slowly. This may require some re-sowing in the thin spots to make up, but is easy and usually only needs doing once.
Keep a sharp eye on your young seedling crop, as they are absolutely tasty for wild critters – birds, mice and squirrels all love to munch on young, tender seedlings. If you see chewed or “disappeared” seedlings, look very closely to see if you can determine what ate them and take appropriate action – excluding them with netting or row cover or groundcloth, then re-sow.
Weather protection
You don’t have as much control the temperature and humidity of the garden, but you can moderate some of the temperature swings – all season long.
For cooler weather such as spring or later fall, row cover is a lightweight plastic sheeting which is easily spread over the seed bed, capturing some of the warmth from the sun and soil and raising the temperature for the seeds just a bit. As the seedlings grow, a small hoop house can be made from bent wire or 1/2 inch pvc pipe inserted into pvc elbows, creating a square hoop to support the row cover plastic.
Cooling in warmer weather can be done with shade cloth and the frames mentioned just above. Leave the ends open with shade cloth to allow for air circulation and so pollinators can get in.
Easy Seed Germination Testing at Home
Why Test Your Seeds
Do you have some old packets of seed around, with doubts about the viability; or have you saved seed for a few years and wonder if they will still sprout?
Do you know if those seeds will grow?
Have you ever wished for a way to make sure?
We will show you how to know for certain whether that older packet of seed is still good, or how long you can keep those tomato seeds around before needing to pitch them.
There is a way, it is easy and simple to do. It’s called a seed germination test and you probably have all of the supplies needed in your kitchen.
Here’s How to Do It
Germination Testing Supplies
You will need these 3 things, plus the seeds you want to test for germination –
Wetting the Paper Towel
The first – and most important – step is to thoroughly wet the paper towel. This is the first and easiest step, but most mistakes are made right here, leading to poor germination. Smaller seeds don’t need as much water for germination, but larger seeds do. The extra moisture will create a humid environment in the plastic bag, helping the germination process.
The dry towel is on the left, with the properly wetted towel on the right side. You should be able to see through the towel to the surface underneath – then it’s wet enough. If it’s drippy when you pick it up, it’s wet enough. If you wet the towel like on the middle left side – damp but not wet – there’s not enough moisture for the seed to absorb and begin the germination process.
If you want to learn more about what happens during a seed’s germination, read Starting Seeds at Home – a Deeper Look!
Folding Paper Towel
Next, after the paper towel is thoroughly wet, fold it in half. You can see just how wet the towel is by the amount of water left on the board after folding it over.
Unfolded Paper Towel
Open the towel back up, leaving a fold to mark the center of the towel.
Seeds on Paper Towel
Third, place the seeds along the fold, leaving room for them to sprout so they don’t become tangled up.
If you are doing a germination test use enough seeds to make the math easier, such as 10, 20 or 25 seeds. When we are doing a germination test, we follow established testing guidelines, but as a home gardener a smaller amount will verify if your seeds are viable and can sprout.
Folded Paper Towel
Re-fold the paper towel, enclosing the seeds.
Rolling Paper Towel
Roll the paper towel up….
Paper Towel in Ziploc
…and place it inside the Ziploc bag. There should be a good amount of moisture in the bag to start the germination process, so if you don’t see moisture droplets inside after a few minutes, open the bag and give it a squirt of water.
Finally, place the bag in a consistently warm place – like the top of the refrigerator or in a warm window. Most vegetable seeds do not need light to germinate, so a darker place is fine to begin with.
Check every couple of days for moisture levels and the start of germination. If the moisture levels drop significantly – this is a good sign the seeds are absorbing the water and beginning to sprout. Add a spritz or squirt of water as needed, usually only once or twice a week.
Once the majority of seeds have sprouted, open the paper towel up, count them and do the math to get a percentage. For instance, if you started with 10 seeds and 7 sprouted, you have roughly a 70% germination rate. If 20 out of 25 seeds sprouted, there is about an 80% germination rate.
Other Seed Germination Tests
Germination Testing Results
This is what one of the germination tests we do looks like – pretty good! These seeds are viable with a better than 90% germination rate.
Multiple Seed Germination Testing Results
For smaller seeds, we will often divide the germination chamber into half or quarters to make the process more efficient. Some seedlings will mold faster than others, this is why you monitor the progress closely if you are pre-sprouting for transplanting.
Seed Germination Testing at Seed Savers Exchange
The “Paper Towel Method” is almost universally used. Here are the results from a germination test at Seed Saver’s Exchange. Note the labeling of variety of seed and date the test was started. If you are keeping track of your germination percentages, like we do, it is important to keep clear notes and details!
Germination Results at Seed Savers Exchange
Please Note: Depending on the type of seed you are testing, you may see very different results and they may take more time than the average vegetable seed.
For instance, herbs and flowers usually take much longer – sometimes weeks – to germinate, and can have lower germination rates. This is normal and not something to be concerned with.
Next Step:
Learn more – Seed to Seed Book is our go-to reference for all things seed related, including germination times, needs and regional recommendations.
Milk and Molasses – Magic for Your Garden
Do you know about the magic of milk and molasses in improving your garden? Yes, plain old milk of any kind – whole, 2%, raw, dried, skim, or nonfat – is a miracle in the garden for plants, soil, and compost. Molasses only boosts the benefits! Let’s see how and why they work.
Milk as Soil Food
Using milk on your compost and in your garden will probably come as a surprise to most.
Upon closer inspection, however, it starts to make sense. The amino acids, proteins, enzymes, and natural sugars that make milk a food for humans and animals are the same ingredients in nurturing healthy communities of microbes, fungi, and beneficial bacteria in your compost and garden soil.
Raw milk is the best, as it hasn’t been exposed to heat that alters the components in milk that provide the perfect food for the soil and plants, but any milk will provide nutrition and benefits. Using milk on crops and soils is another ancient technique that has been lost to large-scale modern industrial agriculture.
Milk is a research-proven fungicide and soft-bodied insecticide – insects have no pancreas to digest the milk sugars. Dr. Wagner Bettiol, a Brazilian research scientist, found that milk was effective in the treatment of powdery mildew on zucchini. His research was subsequently replicated by New Zealand melon growers who tested it against the leading commercially available chemical fungicide and found that milk out-performed everything else. Surprisingly, they also found that the milk worked as a foliar fertilizer, producing larger and tastier melons than the control group.
David Wetzel, a Nebraska farmer, completed a 10 year study on applying milk at different ratios to his pastures, and recorded the results with the help of a team made up of the local Agricultural Extension agent Terry Gompert , a university soil specialist, a weed specialist and an insect researcher.
What they found was amazing- the grass production was drastically increased; the soil porosity or ability to absorb air and water doubled; microbe activity and populations increased; cows were healthier and produced more milk on treated pastures; the brix or sugar level in the pasture tripled, indicating more nutrients were stored in the grass than before. Grasshoppers abandoned the treated pastures- the sugars are poison to destructive soft-bodied insects as they do not have a pancreas to process the sugars.
This also explains why damaging insects leave healthy, high-brix-level plants alone, as they contain more sugars than stressed and sickly ones. Read Milk Works As Fertilizer for the full article.
Home Gardener Recipe
For the home gardener, the ratio can range from 100% milk to a mixture of 20% milk to 80% water, with no loss of benefits.
Use as a spray on the compost and garden soil before planting and as needed when insects appear. Spray directly on the insects and around the areas they inhabit. When combined with molasses, it becomes a highly beneficial soil drench.
A proven solution is 20% milk – 1 cup of milk to 4 cups of water, or 2 cups of milk to 8 cups of water for larger gardens. Whatever amount you need, the 20% ratio has been proven to give the most effective results with the least amount of milk.
David Wetzel’s experiments found that 3 gallons of milk per acre benefits pasture grasses most, so the costs are minuscule compared to the benefits!
Molasses Feeds Micro-Organisms
Molasses is a viscous by-product of the processing of sugar cane or sugar beets into sugar.
Sulfured molasses is made from young sugar cane. Sulfur dioxide, which acts as a preservative, is added during the sugar extraction process. Unsulfured molasses is made from mature sugar cane, which does not require such treatment.
There are three grades of molasses: mild or Barbados, also known as first molasses; dark or second molasses; and blackstrap. The third boiling of the sugar syrup makes blackstrap molasses. The majority of sucrose from the original juice has been crystallized and removed. The calorie content of blackstrap molasses is still mostly from the small remaining sugar content. However, unlike refined sugars, they contain trace amounts of vitamins and significant amounts of several minerals.
Blackstrap molasses is a source of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and iron; one tablespoon provides up to 20% of the USDA daily value of each nutrient. Not only do these nutrients do a body good, they are highly valuable in building up the soil!
Molasses is a very valuable addition to the compost pile, as well as to the garden itself. Unsulfured blackstrap is the preferred variety due to the mineral content, but any of the unsulfured ones will do fine. The benefits beyond the minerals are the natural sugar content that will feed the microorganisms in the compost or soil of the garden.
More Gardening Recipes
Use 1/4 to 1/2 cup of molasses to a gallon of water and spray onto the compost pile or garden, or add to the drip system for the garden. For soils that are poor, stressed, or need help, use 1 cup; for those that need a little “snack, “use 1/4 cup. The readily available sugar content will skyrocket the microbial activity.
Blackstrap molasses is also commonly used in horticulture as a flower blooming and fruiting enhancer, particularly in organic hydroponics. Use the before mentioned mixture in the drip system, or sprayed alongside the roots of fruiting vegetables as they start to flower to increase their flowering and fruiting.
Add 3 Tablespoons of molasses to the milk spray solution mentioned above and use to feed plants during the height of growing season. Hungry, high production plants such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, melons, and such will really benefit from the consistent feedings, giving you more production that is more flavorful.
Sweet Weed Control
A fringe benefit of spraying the milk and molasses mixture on the garden is biologically friendly weed population control. Many broadleaf weeds thrive on diets high in available nitrates and potassium diets, common with commercial fertilizers. Phosphorus is “tied up” or bound with calcium in the soil and needs biological activity to release it. The calcium in milk helps to compensate for what is unavailable in the soil, while the increased biological activity from both the milk and molasses releases unavailable phosphorus and creates soil conditions that are unfavorable to the germination of weed seeds.
Minimal Costs
The costs of applying the milk and molasses mixture are minimal, but when compared to any other fertilizer and insecticide regimen – even those that are organic in nature – milk and molasses have no comparison.
For instance, one acre has 43,560 square feet, and a gallon is 128 oz.
Doing the math, we find that 3 gallons per acre is 0.003 of an ounce per square foot!
Assuming a gallon of organic milk costs $8.00, that works out to 0.00055 dollars per square foot or 0.055 cents per square foot! Yes, that is right – when rounded up, it is six-tenths of a penny per square foot of garden.
So if you had a large garden – say 1,000 square feet – one application of the milk would cost a whopping $0.55 (55 cents), plus the expense of 2 – 3 tablespoons of molasses. What other biologically friendly soil fertility improvements would cost this amount?
Here’s the proof of the math:
1 acre = 43,560 square feet (ft²)
1 gallon = 128 ounces
128 oz/43,560 ft² = 0.002938 oz/ft²
3 gallons x $8 = $24
$24/43,560 ft² = $0.00055/ft² multiply this by 100 for cents = 0.055 cents/ft²
Who knew that something as simple as milk and molasses had such powerfully positive, far-reaching effects? Especially without any of the negative effects of petrochemical fertilizers?
Easy Herbed Mayonnaise in 30 Seconds
Real, traditional mayonnaise has only five simple ingredients but is rarely made fresh, which is truly a shame. Discover how to make fresh delicious mayonnaise in 30 seconds with our recipe, and don’t worry about running out of the store-bought stuff ever again! Once you’ve tasted what real, fresh, homemade mayo is all about and explore the flavor variations, you’ll wonder why you didn’t ditch the jar sooner.
Fresh Food Warning
Unfortunately in today’s world of industrial, factory farmed foods, we must let you know that there is a risk of illness if using commercially produced eggs. That’s why we strongly recommend using fresh eggs from your own or a friend’s backyard chickens or ducks – you know exactly what conditions the eggs come from! Fresh farmer’s market eggs from a producer you know and trust is a good second choice, with certified organic eggs from a store being a third one.
What to do with all these eggs?
More often than not, if you, your neighbor or a friend have chickens or ducks in the backyard, sooner or later you’ll wind up with a surplus of eggs. There are lots of ways to use excess eggs, but we’ll show you one approach that will make your taste buds sit up and sing!
Duck Eggs for Mayonnaise
Here’s a peek into our egg basket after a normal spring morning of collecting duck eggs. We currently have Khaki Campbells and are expecting Welsh Halequins, both of which are excellent layers with great tasting eggs and no gamey flavors.
We’ll walk through the process after the recipe:
Making Mayonnaise the Easy Way
Start with gathering all of the ingredients – for the mayonnaise you’ll need eggs, a high quality oil, vinegar, salt and mustard. No emulsifiers, preservatives, thickening agents or ingredients you cannot easily pronounce. You can start with the very basic – and classic – version without herbs or spices and then expand your tastes as you like. Or, if you are a bit more adventurous and want more flavor than what comes out of a jar, then try some fresh herbs from your garden, or a dried herb mixture such as Herbes de Provence!
Homemade Mayonnaise Ingredients
We chose to add garlic chives and parsley to our mayonnaise, simply because they were both growing vigorously in our container herb planters and were close at hand.
Adding Red Wine Vinegar
Red wine vinegar was our choice for the flavor, but white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar are also great choices. Each will have a different flavor, so you can experiment and see what you like best! You might find you have a favorite mayonnaise for certain foods, and another recipe for others.
Adding Dijon Mustard
Dijon mustard is next, and the same advice applies. Test different mustards for their textures, flavors and aromas they contribute to the finished mayonnaise and decide what you like!
A Little Sea Salt
We use a Himalayan pink salt, but there are several different sea salts or RealSalt from Utah that would be good. A natural salt contributes a better flavor.
A Fresh Duck Egg
Next in is the duck egg, or chicken egg. Make sure to have a second one in reserve – we’ll show you why in just a minute! Different types of eggs will have different flavors, so if you have chickens you might try a duck egg mayonnaise, or vice versa.
Avocado Oil
Avocado oil is what we used in this recipe as it has a nice mellow flavor that supports but doesn’t dominate the mayonnaise. Again, do some testing and try different oils to see what you and your family like.
Ready to Blend
You’ll notice this is taking place in a simple Cuisinart immersion blender cup. This is the secret to the 30 seconds, as it does away with the dribbling oil into a blender or food processor. You simply add the ingredients…
Blending the Mayo
…and insert the immersion blender all the way to the bottom of the cup before turning it on. Ours has two speeds, so I will start the process on low to puree the egg and solids at the bottom for 3 – 5 seconds, then switch to high as I slowly pull it upwards. You’ll see the emulsification process taking place as the blender works its way upwards.
Mayonnaise too Thin?
If you get to the top of the cup and see the mayonnaise is too thin for your liking – don’t worry! Set the blender aside and add that second egg. It will go to the bottom, so repeat the blender at the bottom on low, switching to high as you pull it upwards. You’ll see the same process taking place, but the mayonnaise will be much thicker this time.
Thick European Style Mayonnaise
This is what the difference the second egg makes. This reminds me of the fresh made mayonnaise I used to enjoy in Belgium with fresh hot french fries, lightly salted and sprinkled with paprika. In much of Europe, french fries (called frites) are mostly eaten with fresh mayonnaise as a dipping sauce, or with mustard. Ketchup was unusual, and a sure sign that you are a foreigner!
I quickly came to realize the perfect marriage of flavors of the fresh mayonnaise and hot, slightly salty fries.
Chopping Fresh Herbs
The garlic chives are fairly finely chopped, along with the parsley. I wanted a bit more of a chunky texture, but you can make it smoother with a more finely diced or minced herb mixture.
Blending Fresh Herbs
The herbs are added and the blender does its magic again!
The result is a creamy, thick and luscious mayonnaise with an aroma and flavor that you will love! After a taste or two, you will understand the vast difference in flavors from this to the store-bought varieties.
Glass Jar Storage
To store, simply scoop into a glass jar. The recipe above will yield enough for a pint plus a little bit more for tasting. Store in the refrigerator for up to a month, but we’ve never had it last nearly that long!
As easy as it is to make, whip up a couple of different versions for sandwiches, or for french fries, or to add on top of a steak – try olive oil and rosemary for that one!
Once you make a couple of versions, let us know which one you like best and what you use it for in the comments below!
Vine Peach – Ancient Melon of Many Uses
Melon of Many Names Does Several Jobs
Vine Peach is a surprising melon of many names that is easy to grow, prolific and able to do several jobs in your garden. The small baseball size melons are highly aromatic with a mild flavor when grown in rich soil. The abundance of vines, leafy shade and fruit make an excellent trellis planting around the garden border providing shade and windbreak while acting as a decoy for thieving wildlife, who take the melons and often leave the rest of the garden alone. They are very hardy, drought tolerant and mostly insect resistant.
Their perfumed aroma will draw you in, sometimes from across the room or garden. Often mistaken for their kissing cousins – the inedible Queen Anne’s Pocket Melon – a couple of vine peaches in a bowl will perfume the room with their namesake scent – peaches and mangoes.
They are known by a wide variety of names, partially from their wide travels and partially from how they’ve been used over time. The most commonly used names today are vine peach and mango melon, but they’ve been known as Orange Melon, Vegetable Orange Melon, Melon Apple, Garden Lemon, Lemon Cucumber, Glass Melon, Melon Peach and Chito Melon – this last refers to the scientific name grouping – officially known as “Cucumis melo variety chito”.
As you might expect, these are planted and grown just like the cantaloupes and muskmelons everyone is familiar with. They need warm soil and good moisture to germinate with plenty of light once the seedlings are up.
Ancient Melons
These melons seem to have originated in China or ancient Egypt (or both) over 2,000 years ago from recorded evidence and travelled over the Silk Road through trade and migration to wind up in Turkey, where they have been identified through molecular variation testing. There is some mis-information floating around saying these were introduced to early settlers by Native Americans, which is not the case.
There is some discussion as to how they arrived in America, as William Woys Weaver shows Samuel Wilson, a seedsman in Mechanicsville (Bucks County), Pennsylvania, offered seed in the Farm Journal in February of 1889. Another source shows they were first describe in 1849 by Charles François Antoine Morren, a Belgian botanist and horticulturist, as well as the Director of the Jardin botanique de l’Université de Liège in the early to mid-1800s. He apparently obtained his trial seed from Cuba and brought them to Belgium for study. The vine peach became a well-known commercial variety in Europe soon after, where it might have come to America. Regardless of how vine peach arrived, in the early 20th century it was being commercially grown for pickled foods and preserves.
Best Used in Pickles and Preserves
This brings us to the most common mistake made today with the vine peach. When complaints are made about them, the gardener is almost always growing in marginal soil and trying to eat them fresh. This is not their primary role – vine peach are much like a very mild honeydew, and then only if grown in nutrient rich soil. Throughout their long history, they have been recorded as being used as a cooking melon for pickles, relishes or preserves and jams – not eaten fresh as with most other melons. This is where they excel!
They have a naturally low sugar content, so there is no way possible they will be as sweet and juicy as a muskmelon or cantaloupe. Growing these for that reason only sets a gardener up for disappointment.
Our tasting experience was that of a mild honeydew – lots of sweetly scented aroma from the skin and flesh with a very mildly sweet flavor. We found them to be enjoyable – just a few bites to each half. Not nearly as bland or tasteless as some describe, but we also grew these in good fertile soil.
We were constantly surprised at the perfumed melon fragrance greeting us each time we walked into the house, even though the bowl of melons was in an adjoining room. For this reason alone, we feel the vine peach to be worth growing!
Maturing Vine Peach or Mango Melon
The young melons can be used just like cucumbers for pickling or relish. They won’t have as much scent yet, and make an excellent young cucumber substitute for bread and butter pickles or good old fashioned dill pickles. They must be peeled to remove the rind before pickling.
Gardeners who are experienced with growing and eating these tell us the real flavors only come through when cooking or preparing them and not fresh use. One gardener described them as “mediocre” when fresh, but as “superstars” when used with apples, peaches, pears or cantaloupe in jams. They describe the vine peach as enhancing the flavors, while adding a twist or boost to the overall flavor. There is a noticeable difference in jams made with and without the vine peach, as people will choose those made with them, even if they don’t know why the jams are different.
Vine Peach Blossoms
Once the plants are established they will start setting flowers. This is your sign to start researching and choosing jam and pickle recipes for the loads of baseball sized melons coming your way! It is common to have clusters of 5 to 7 flowers with almost as many melons ripening out. They will continually flower and ripen fruit until the frost stops them. One plant can easily produce more than a hundred melons over a season.
Pollinator Attractant, Shade and Wind Protection
Vine Peach Flower Close-up
A close-up view shows the flower with the semi-soft spines of the vine, much like other melons. Small bees, flies and other pollinators love to visit the flowers and with so many flowers you’ll often hear a soft buzzing chorus as you walk up to the vines.
The leaf cover is extensive, and the vining tendrils are just seen at the top of the photo. This is what makes the vine peach such a good multi-purpose plant. It is rugged and hardy, easily tolerating 100°F+ with reasonable soil moisture. The plant will shade the soil, helping to preserve the moisture and keeping soil temperatures up to 15 or 20 degrees cooler.
When grown on a trellis, the melons are easier to spot and harvest. The heavy leaf canopy can provide shade and wind protection for more delicate plants or those needing less than full sun. The shape of the leaves moderates wind pressure by slowing the air movement through the leaves
Air movement through the leaves is slowed because the shape and texture of the leaves forces the air to move them from side to side, slowing the wind into a breeze and deflecting the harder gusts around the trellis as the leaves lock into place with higher wind pressures.
One of the more unusual jobs gardeners have given the vine is that of thieving wildlife decoy, or sacrificial food source. Because of their prolific production of fruit, wildlife will often steal the vine peach melons planted along the border of the garden and leave much of the rest of the garden alone. The melons are slightly sweet and crunchy, satisfying the wildlife while saving the rest of the garden’s production.
When cleaning out the garden at the end of last season, we found our Kunekune pigs had a very high preference for the over-ripe vine peach melons, going for them first while pushing and shoving each other out of the way to get more.
Using Ripe Vine Peach Melons
Ripe Vine Peach Melons
A double handful of ripe vine peach melons, ready to perfume the house or be made into pickles or preserves. The vine peach at the top of the photo shows some netting, leading credence to the theory that these have crossed with other types of melons during their travels, becoming what we know today.
Vine Peach Slice
When sliced open, the fairly large seed cavity with firm white flesh is seen. Because the vine peach was used almost exclusively in cooking and not eaten raw, the firmness and texture of the flesh was far more important than sweetness. One culinary use was to slice them in half, scoop out the seeds, peel and slice them into an apple pie, where the vine peach would absorb the flavors of the apple and spices while adding its unique flavors but not having a different texture than the apples.
They can also be sliced into rings for pickling after peeling and scooping out the seeds. A very excellent bread and butter pickle can be made, and if combined with young cucumbers will have an added flavor over using only one or the other.
Scooping the seeds out
The size of the mature vine peach melon is seen with a regular size teaspoon used to scoop out the seeds.
The amount of seeds is also seen, something to be aware of at the end of the season. The vines and extra melons that have dropped to the ground need to be removed if you don’t want to find that area quickly becoming a dedicated vine peach patch! With as many melons are produced having this many seeds in each melon, it can happen in only a season or two!
Scoop of Vine Peach
The texture and firmness of the flesh is easily seen here, after using the teaspoon to scoop some of the flesh out. Some find the flesh a bit too firm when tasting it raw, but that firmness holds up very well when cooked as it does not become mushy or pulpy at all.
We found these are perfect as an edible dessert piece, being just the right size to hold a generous dollop of fresh made vanilla ice cream. To do this, simply cut in half and peel the rind, then slice a flat spot at the bottom so the open end will sit on a plate. Then gently slice down through the melon, leaving about a half inch of the bottom intact. This allows the ice cream to flow through the slits as it melts, flavoring the vine peach and perfuming the ice cream. Last, add a scoop of the best quality vanilla ice cream – fresh made is best – and add a mint leaf as garnish. Serve with a knife, fork and spoon for guests to enjoy all of the flavors and textures!
Put Them to Work in Your Garden
With all of the advantages the vine peach can bring to your garden – from windbreak and shade to wildlife decoy, home perfume and secret cooking ingredient – it make sense to try some and see what they can do for you!
Easy Garden Ideas
The word garden means many things to different people; flower gardeners immediately think of flower beds while vegetable lovers have an image of bushy, green-leaved plants loaded with fruit. Bird and butterfly watchers see pollinator attracting flowers and herbs in their mind’s eye while a novice may remember fantastic botanical or flower gardens they’ve visited and immediately feel intimidated or overwhelmed.
A garden can be easy and simple, whether it is for food, flowers, butterflies or just a spot with beautiful colors and relaxing, invigorating scents to relax after work.
We’ve visited a number of different gardens in our travels – from very simple and straightforward food production plots to professionally designed and maintained showcases.
Today is about seeing possibilities for your space, budget and time – large, small or somewhere in between. A highly pleasing garden needn’t be complex or difficult to create or maintain, in fact some of the most impactful and pleasing gardens are very simple.
Most of these aren’t really a complete garden by themselves, but are corners, nooks, crannies or otherwise difficult or unused spaces which lend themselves to delightful spots for a pause to enjoy their beauty.
Create a Central Focus Point
The more formal or structured garden bed is very popular and is what has been featured countless times in gardening, home improvement and lifestyle magazines. This type of garden setting takes some planning and work to initially construct and plant, but can be an attractive center point for years to come. This stone pillar and background picket fence will anchor many different types of flowers or shrubs, giving built-in flexibility for future changes.
Invite Visitors In
Seed Savers Exchange built a great example of a relaxed but engaging and visually interesting garden; with the corners defined and planted with multiple entry points and walkways. The use of different heights, leaf shapes, textures and colors creates a moving interest and eye-path to keep a visitor engaged.
If you don’t have a range of herbs and flowers in mind to start with – don’t worry. Choose some that you like and plant them as an experiment to see what develops. It’s not difficult to change a planting or two next season.
If you are not comfortable with the “try it” approach, research some of the numerous garden design or landscape design books and articles that are readily available for some ideas on where to begin. Browsing through photos of gardens on the internet is a very easy way to see what different designs look like, giving you ideas to try on your property.
The Luther Burbank house had several examples which would be easy to try. A split rail fence gives visual interest and directs the eye to the bush and low flowers. The brick walkway is the border for the bed.
Further to the back of the Burbank property were these traditional structured flower beds, used to showcase and educate about different flower species as well as the pollinators visiting them. The beds themselves are very simple – just wooden timbers pinned in place with garden soil filling them to create the bed. Aged logs would give a more rustic feel if they are plentiful in your area.
A bed of this size could easily support both annual and perennial flowers and herbs, depending on how close to the house you placed it. Using taller and more robust flowers like sunflowers would create a privacy break as well as a windbreak when used upwind of a more delicate part of the vegetable or flower garden.
Conceal and Protect Delicate Areas
A flower or herb bed can be concealing as well as useful and attractive, such as this treatment of a slightly swampy area at Hell’s Backbone farm in Boulder, Utah. It is very informal but highly useful and productive as well as appealing.
The catchment pond is at the upper right, with the dam underneath the two benches. Over the years it has become slightly more permeable, resulting in this perennially messy and muddy area. To encourage less traffic, a mix of annual and perennial flowers as well as commonly used and thirsty herbs were thickly planted. This had two benefits – it kept traffic down, lessening the spread of a muddy mess and the abundance of plant growth absorbed much of the moisture so there was no standing water, fewer mosquitoes and a large harvest of flowers and herbs for the restaurant.
Create a Relaxing Spot
Another informal but well-designed approach uses annuals and perennials amongst different height grasses to attract different pollinators and create a sense of lushness without adding much if any additional work after the initial planting is done.
This area is very serene and soothing with the sound of the different grasses swaying in the breeze, while the multiple aromas drifting from the flowers greets you. After just a few moments, you notice the different butterflies, hummingbirds and bees among the flowers and take a seat on the stone bench just out of the photo at the bottom left.
On a trip to a farm in Phoenix, we saw this living shade structure with the lattice work trellis next to it and small herb garden behind it. The structure is old telephone poles buried in the ground with a heavy creeping vine providing the living shade. There are several possibilities here, without needing this heavy of a structure if you plant a fast-growing vining plant such as achocha, cucamelons, vining petunias, ivy or morning glory that are also lightweight. A structure to support the vines would still be needed, but wouldn’t need to be as expensive or heavy duty.
The lattice work trellis is a good idea, being quick and simple to put together while giving some initial privacy until the vines fill in and creating a border or separation of spaces.
The small herb garden behind the structure is simply made from recycled chunks of concrete dry stacked into a circle about a foot high and filled with garden and potting soil, then heavily planted.
Make a Statement
Something as simple as a large bed of nasturtiums can be attractive and engaging at the same time. These are planted outside of an upscale dinner restaurant where the flowers, leaves and buds are used as garnish on the dishes and table decorations. Another use would be to pickle the buds, as in our recipe Pickled Nasturtium Pods, to have a locally produced caper-like ingredient.
Put Edges to Use
Sweet peas on a very basic, quick to make trellis lining the edge of a greenhouse creates a rustic authenticity as well as bringing beautiful colors and wonderful scents to the immediate area.
This was also on the Phoenix farm in the middle of April, so the sweet peas can be a source of shade for a longer time in a less heat soaked climate. Using this concept for a living shade on the south side of a greenhouse with heat tolerant vining plants or tall sturdy plants such as sunflowers would be another functional and inviting solution.
How about growing an annual living hedge which gives you multiple benefits of additional privacy, windbreak and fresh food? Not to mention colors and scents, depending on what you choose to plant along your property fencing.
Okra is being used in just this way here. The plants were above six feet tall in the middle of August, with enormous amounts of fresh okra for the picking. That is a five foot fence in the background, so you’ve got a good indication of just how tall this hedge grew.
Other choices for this approach are thickly planted strips of tall sunflowers, sesame, hollyhocks, pole or vining beans, hibiscus, vining petunias, poppies and peas or sweet peas. Your climate and situation along with what you like to grow or eat will help determine what works well for your property.
Share Your Story!
What about your garden, do you have a success story or photos to share and brag about? Please, let us see and hear about them! Your successes will help inspire others, and just might answer a question someone has.
Heirloom Basil – So Much More Than Pesto
Basil is most often thought of as an herb for Italian pasta sauce and pesto, but it has so much more to offer. From holy uses and sacred traditions to medicinal, herbal and culinary uses, along with healing tea from its leaves and repelling biting insects, basil has a lot going for it. Add in that it’s extremely easy to grow, and there’s no wonder basil is at the top of the list for must-have herbs for the home gardener and kitchen chef.
Basil is a Mint?
Basil is a member of the mint family, which helps to explain its exuberant and sometimes aggressive growth habit. Combine this with its prolific seed production and ability to easily re-seed itself and you should never be short of basil in your garden.
By some estimates, there are over 150 different species, or cultivars of basil worldwide. The basil plant is characterized by square, branching stems with leaves growing opposite each other from the stem and brown or black seeds in groups of four in pods or nutlets at the top of the plant where the flower spike first blooms.
Ancient Roots
Basil is one of the older herbs cultivated and valued for its aromatic, medicinal and culinary properties. It is commonly thought to have been brought to ancient Greece from Asia by Alexander the Great. From there it spread through seed trade and consumption to India, then on to England by the 1500s, arriving in America by the early 1600s.
Many American gardeners know the herb for its culinary uses and are most familiar with the Italian varieties Sweet and Genovese basil, but there is much more to basil than only these two famous cultivars.
A Few Varieties to Try
Thai Basil
For instance, Thai basil has a similar leaf shape as sweet basil, but packs a more aromatic punch along with a very pleasant and unique anise-like flavor. They are initially a bit sweeter than their Italian cousins before the anise flavor appears, and they hold up to cooking a bit better due to their stronger flavors.
Holy Basil
Holy basil or Tulsi originated in India, where it is considered to be one of the most sacred plants in the Hindu religion. In Hindu mythology the plant is an incarnation of the goddess Tulsi. It is used as a medicinal plant for its essential oils and as an herbal tea. It is considered to be an elixir of life, considered to be beneficial for the mind, body and spirit. There are two main types grown in India, a green leafed and a purple leafed cultivar.
Genovese Basil on left and Lemon Basil on right
Some basil varieties have a strong citrus aroma and flavor, such as the lemon and lime cultivars. Although they both have a citrus scent, they are completely different species. The lemon basil has a high essential oil content, boosting its aromatic properties while the lime cultivar is a bit more subdued in both scent and flavor.
More Benefits of Basil
Besides using the leaves in cuisine and as a tea, basil has other traits which make it very valuable for the home gardener.
Due to the aromatic nature, most basils are very effective at warding off biting and annoying insects. Having a planter on the back deck or porch, as well as a bush at the garden entrance allows the passive deterrence as well as being able to pull off a leaf, crush it and rub it on clothes to keep the biters at bay. When the flowers are in bloom, simply pulling the flowers through your hands and inhaling the heavenly aroma works wonders for relaxation and clearing the mind for a few minutes.
Too often, home gardeners think when a basil plant “bolts” or starts setting flowers that it is done for the season. This is not true at all! The flower stalks can simply be pruned at the base of the first flower, re-setting the leaf production mechanism for another round if the weather is still warm enough and the days long enough. Some cultivars, such as the Genovese variety, can be encouraged back into leaf production and give six or even eight harvests of leaves, making for lots of fresh pesto in the freezer to remind us of just exactly what high summer smelled and tasted like during the coldest depths of winter.
It is highly advisable to let a couple of the plants keep their flower stalks as basil is a very strong pollinator attractant, bringing in many different species of
The freshly trimmed flower stalks are excellent when shredded and tossed into salads or among greens on a sandwich, giving a delightful aroma and light, bright flavor. We have also used them in our breakfast eggs and green smoothies for the same effects. Just be aware that a little goes a long way and start with just a couple of flowers so as not to overpower the rest of the dish.
Holy Basil seed on left, Genovese basil seed on right
Once enough leaves have been harvested, let the flowers do their work and harvest the seeds as they have several different contributions to make besides just growing new plants next season. Basil seeds don’t readily “shatter” or scatter like sunflowers or other flowers, so it is simple enough to just let the flowers dry down and the seeds mature. To harvest, just snip the stalk at the base of the flower, exactly like pruning the early flowers. It is best to do this just before the flower stalks are completely dry as the seeds can scatter when the stalks are disturbed. Collect the stalks in a tall paper bag and allow them to completely dry for a month or more. Then shake the paper bag side to side and tap the stalks against the inside of the bag to finish freeing the seeds.
The resulting seed is delicately perfumed seed when crushed or ground. Its scent is unlike the parent plant, much more floral and light, but still strong enough to brighten up a room. Use a mortar and pestle or herb grinder to release its magic and use them in muffins, cakes, eggs, pancakes or any dish where a bright floral scent would be an unexpected welcome, especially in the colder seasons.
Making Fresh Tulsi Tea
We really enjoy fresh Tulsi tea in the summertime. We will walk you through just how easy it is to make-
Making Tulsi or Holy Basil tea is very easy. We use a tea brewing pitcher that separates the tea leaves from the brewed tea, but you can use a large tea ball, or simply put the leaves into the water, let steep and strain. Boiling hot water isn’t needed, but warm water will brew faster and extract more of the essential oils than cold.
We like our Tulsi tea a bit stronger, so we gently pack the leaves in, but not too tight or they won’t brew well.
After putting the leaves into the pitcher, adding hot water and closing the top, let the tea brew.
The tea is ready to drink when you think it is – meaning, let your taste be the guide. Some like it much milder than others, so enjoy it your way!
After removing the strainer, the pitcher is the serving and storage container.
Time for some Tulsi tea and a few minutes to sit and relax!
How to Grow More from Your Same Garden Space
Succession Planting and Intercropping Techniques
Growing more food from the same garden space seems like a fantasy to many gardeners. Yet, there are a few highly proven, time-honored techniques which have been tested and refined over the past several centuries which are perfect for today’s gardens.
We will show you two of these techniques in today’s article, giving some examples to get you started. Do not be fooled by the simplicity of these approaches, as they are easy and quick to understand but have many nuances that will only show themselves to you with experimenting and careful observation.
Also, don’t be put off thinking these are too difficult to try or to have initial success with. You will be amazed at the increase from your existing garden bed with a first approach, but realize that a careful and thoughtful study will return much more for years to come.
How Succession Planting Works
Enjoying delicious, freshly picked greens from your garden from mid spring through winter, even after the first frosts and into the harder freezes is entirely possible with just a little planning and understanding. The amazing part is it doesn’t much matter what climate you live in. Most greens thrive in cooler weather, but there are some heat loving varieties which will fill in the hotter months.
Spinach is a fast growing cool season green that only lasts a short time, so it needs to be re-planted every couple of weeks for a continual harvest. This is known as succession planting. Lettuce is another cool season crop that can either be harvested continually for leafy types or must be succession planted for the heading varieties of lettuce.
Large Container Succession Planting
Succession planting involves seeding a short section of a garden bed, letting the crop start to grow then planting the next section a couple of weeks later. This continues down the bed, with the crop maturing in successive waves and giving you a continual harvest. Most gardeners will succession plant only a couple of feet at a time, so as not to overwhelm themselves with too much of a harvest at one time.
Other greens, such as Swiss chard, kale and collard greens grow more slowly and can be harvested all season long – they are both heat and cold tolerant, giving double duty in the garden.
Heat loving greens include amaranth, New Zealand spinach, Huazontle or Red Aztec Spinach and both red and green Malabar spinach, besides the above mentioned types.
Make sure to expand your focus outside of only greens, as there are many other vegetables which will do extremely well in succession planting. One example for a single garden bed or row are a full garden bed planting of early spring peas (which have a harvest season of just a couple weeks) followed by Bok Choi or other Chinese cabbage in a succession pattern, which is then followed by New Zealand spinach going into the warmer weather. This could be extended with fall radishes, beets, Swiss chard or kale if there is enough growing season.
Green onions succeeding summer greens
From this one row, you have gotten three or four different vegetables on an almost continual basis from early spring into very late fall or early winter. If you are able to provide some cold weather protection or season extension for the bed, such as a plastic sheet row cover supported on PVC hoops, you can easily extend that season by a couple of weeks on the spring side and a month on the fall or winter side.
In some climates, just that one simple addition will give you the ability to grow year-round, with spinach, Swiss chard and kale rounding out the slower growing and colder winter.
Another example would be early spring spinach and lettuce, followed by bush snap beans, then fall beets. Or early season carrots can be followed by snap beans during the warmer months with radishes in the fall.
Succession planting on left and intercropping lettuces on right.
These varieties should be planted early – small beets and beet greens, young cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, kohlrabi, lettuce, green onions, peas, radishes, spinach, and turnips; as these are all cool-weather crops. They can be followed by warm-weather crops such as beans, melons, squash and transplants of eggplant, peppers and tomatoes. The warm-weather crops can then be followed by another planting of your favorite cool-weather crops which will mature in the fall.
Any succession can be made that allows crops to reach maturity within the growing season. Swiss chard, Chinese cabbage, collards, corn salad, endive, kale, leeks, lettuce, and mustard are cool-season crops that can follow warm-season crops for late autumn and winter harvest.
What Intercropping Is and How to Use It
Another technique to grow more from the same amount of garden space is called intercropping or interplanting. This makes use of faster maturing varieties planted alongside slower maturing ones. Both are planted at the same time, with the fast growing vegetables being pulled and eaten before they interfere with the slower growing ones. This makes greatly efficient use of a smaller garden space and can double or triple the amount of food grown on the same space.
Quick-maturing crops include: radishes, leaf lettuce, green bunching onions, turnips, and mustard greens. These crops usually mature in 60 days or less from sowing to harvest.
Slower or long-maturing crops include tomatoes, corn, squash, cabbage, eggplant, and peppers. These crops require more than 60 days from sowing until harvest, often 90 days or more.
When planning to intercrop a garden bed, pay particular attention to the days to maturity on the web site and description.
Here is a simple step-by-step guide to succession crop planning:
Intercropping has three main advantages compared to only growing one variety at a time in a garden bed. First, this method allows you to squeeze two, three or more beds of vegetables into one, without detriment. Something as simple as a bed of carrots with a trellis of cucumbers down the middle makes a big difference in the amount of food grown. Learn to think vertically as well as width and length of the garden bed.
The second advantage is with a bit of planning, plants can benefit and protect each other. Even passive protection such as a better microclimate under the plant leaf canopy can deter destructive pests. If you plant varieties of vegetables, herbs and flowers which are actively beneficial to each other, then you’ve just stepped everything up a notch!
The third advantage is a dense plant cover or canopy, creating a more beneficial and stable microclimate for the soil and micro-organisms in it. The moisture levels will be more consistent, needing less amount of water less frequently while keeping temperatures more stable, reducing stresses on the plants and their moisture transport systems.
Intercropping kale and Swiss chard in a container.
A word of caution here – plants do not like to be crowded or spaced too closely together to where they begin to compete for resources such as moisture, nutrients or light. Start small and add one crop to this year’s planned garden bed, not trying to squeeze all four in the first season. Once some experience is gained, then add more and in a year or two the garden bed might look like the following!
In his book “The Winter Harvest Handbook”, Eliot Coleman talks about the French market growers around Paris would sow an early spring hotbed with a mixture of radish and carrot seed by broadcasting the seed by hand. Lettuce seedlings would be immediately transplanted into the bed.
The radishes would mature first and be harvested, giving room for the carrots growing between the lettuces. The carrot tops would grow above the young lettuces until the lettuce matured and were harvested, leaving more room for the carrots. Once the lettuce was harvested, cauliflower starts were transplanted into the bed. Once the carrots were harvested, the cauliflower was alone until it was harvested and the bed made ready for the next set of crops.
Using this example, four crops of significant amounts are harvested from one bed during a single season. The bed wasn’t allowed to be idle after that season either, it had a fresh thick layer of well-aged compost applied and worked in, then it was re-seeded with a different mixture of seeds and transplants. Given this example of cool season crops being planted, the next set was probably warm season varieties such as beans, cucumbers, squash, Swiss chard, melons and bunching onions with transplants of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant.
Fall intercropping – tomatoes finishing with cabbage and Brussels sprouts
With all of these positive, productive examples, there are a couple of things to realize at this point.
One, becoming successful at intensive intercropping and succession planting takes some skill and experience. Gaining that skill and experience requires making some mistakes, learning from them and documenting what was planted when in a Garden Journal for future reference.
While the explanation of intensive planting is easy to understand and we’ve shared a number of successful examples, what will ultimately work in your particular garden depends on several factors which are very possibly quite different than ours.
Two, managing a very intensively planted garden will give abundant yields of vegetables but will require more thought, planning and time in the garden initially during planting and again during the harvest when significantly larger amounts of crops are hitting the kitchen counter and dining room table. There will simply be much more food needing attention than before.
This leads to the need for skills and knowledge in preserving the gardens bounty through freezing, canning, dehydrating, fermenting and pickling. Of course, the consequence of this course of action is having much more food on hand and the inescapable sense of accomplishment when the realization strikes that there are several months’ worth of home-grown, delicious food put away.
Perhaps this is how one garden can change the world! Or maybe it should be one garden at a time…
Alpine Strawberries have a Sweet History
Alpine strawberries have captivated our taste buds for a very long time. They are tiny yet highly aromatic and hugely flavorful ancestors of our common strawberry. Archeological excavations have shown Stone Age people in Denmark and Switzerland enjoyed them immensely, as shown from the evidence of seeds in those sites.
What we would recognize as alpine strawberries were first domestically cultivated in ancient Persia, where they were considered delicacies fit only for royalty. As often happens, seeds made their way both east and west through trade along the Silk Road route, becoming widely grown and loved.
From the 10th century until the early 19th, alpine strawberries were hugely profitable, highly regarded and very well known. After suffering from some mis-informed bad publicity in the mid-1100s, alpine strawberries became quite popular in religious paintings beginning in the late 1300s – often associated with Mary and the Baby Jesus in illuminated manuscripts and paintings. The Catholic Church and royal families from Italy, France, England and Germany were responsible for much of the promotion of the alpine strawberry as they tasted and fell in love with it.
Madonna among the Strawberries – with the carpet of alpine strawberries
A few excellent examples are located in the School of Cologne in Germany. “The Madonna of the Roses”, “The Garden of Paradise” and the “Madonna among the Strawberries” all portray the Madonna as a young girl in a closed garden with the infant Jesus in her lap. She is surrounded by roses, thistles, carnations, lily of the valley, iris, primrose and the entire plants of the alpine strawberry, showing its tiny, prolific red fruit and white five petal flowers along with its toothy leaves. The alpine strawberries are painted botanically correct and are exact, perfect replicas of what we see today. They are always portrayed in a place of honor and importance, reflecting the standing they held in elevated society of the day.
By the late 1300s the alpine strawberry was in widespread cultivation throughout Europe as more of the working classes began transplanting the alpine strawberry from the woods and wilderness to their gardens. Street vendors were selling the fruit to Londoners in 1430 when John Lidgate wrote the song “London Lickpenny” which mentions ripe strawberries and cherries for sale in London.
All strawberries up until the mid-1700s were all of the alpine or wood type; being very small, highly aromatic and having much more flavor than would be thought possible for their size. These characteristics are what made them so remarkable, along with their intense sweetness. Another interesting fact is not all of these strawberries were red; there were white and yellow varieties which were just as highly regarded as the red ones, having different flavors of their own.
This begin to change with the world exploration of the early 1700s, with plant and animal samples brought back to Europe from all over the world.
The modern domesticated large fruited strawberry got its start from these collecting expeditions, with a few strawberry plants brought back from a mapping trip to Chile by Amédée-François Frézier, a French naval engineer who noticed and enjoyed the tremendously large strawberries growing along the Chilean coast in 1712. He wrote the fruit were commonly as large as a walnut; almost three times the size of the alpine strawberry of the day. He brought back plants which were installed in the royal gardens and in Brittany, which grew well but did not set any fruit. It was later discovered the Chilean strawberries have male and female plants, and Frézier had only brought back female plants.
As would be expected, alpine strawberries began a decline in popularity as their larger sized and heavier producing cousins gained recognition, both in Europe and America.
Alpine strawberries returned to their former, more exclusive roots, being highly valued by pastry and dessert chefs in France and across Europe for their highly concentrated flavors, balanced sweetness and heady aroma that would perfume a room. Eventually, French and Viennese pastry chefs would raise the use of “Fraises des Bois” to a high art form, competing with each other to make the most visually stunning, aromatic and delicious pastries and desserts possible.
While alpine strawberries may not be as productive in weight as their domestic cousins, what they lack in quantity is more than made up for in quality. Given fertile soil, proper conditions and some care, they can be very productive. Enough so that some caterers, confectioners and resorts are buying from local growers specializing in alpine strawberries.
They don’t send out runners, instead concentrating their energies in flowering and fruiting. They will slowly increase their crowns and gradually grow into mounds about a foot in both diameter and height. They will often flower the first year, but normally won’t set fruit until the second year and will continue producing for several years if well kept. Because of their growth habits, alpine strawberries make for great border plantings as well as edging along a garden walkway or in larger patio containers. They are perennial and can be very cold tolerant if their crowns are heavily mulched to about eight inches before the first hard freeze.
With a little planning and care in planting and tending your plants, you can experience firsthand why mankind has had such an intense love affair with strawberries for so long. You get to taste the same explosion of flavors and be captivated by those intense aromas which Persian kings and European royalty enjoyed so long ago, right there in your home garden.
Papalo – Heat Loving Cilantro Alternative
Papalo is a fabulous, but still relatively unknown, ancient Mexican herb you should be growing. A heat-loving alternative to cilantro, its flavors are both bolder and more complex. It has been described by some as somewhere between arugula, cilantro and rue; others say it tastes like a mixture of nasturtium flowers, lime, and cilantro. Younger leaves are milder flavored, gaining pungency and complexity as they mature.
Papalo (PAH-pa-low) is known by many names; Quilquiña, Yerba Porosa, Killi, Papaloquelite and broadleaf in English. It is a member of the informal quelites (key-LEE-tays), the semi-wild greens rich in vitamins and nutrients that grow among the fields in central and South America. These green edible plants grow without having to plant them. They sprout with the first rains or field irrigation, often providing a second or third harvest, costing no additional work but giving food and nutrition.
Other quelites include lamb’s quarters, amaranth, quinoa, purslane, epazote and Mache or corn salad.
Papalo pre-dates the introduction of cilantro to Mexico by several thousand years, which is a very interesting story all by itself. South America is thought to be the ancestral home of papalo.
Cilantro is also known as Chinese parsley and was brought to Mexico in the 1500s by Chinese workers in the Spanish silver mines of southern Mexico and South America. Spain had a huge trade industry with China, exchanging silver from America for china, porcelain and various drugs – opium and hashish among them. They also imported many Chinese workers for the silver mines, as European diseases had decimated the native population which had no immunity. The Chinese workers brought along foods, herbs and spices which were familiar to them, so cilantro came to the Americas.
Papalo is sometimes called “summer cilantro” due to its heat-loving character and its delay in bolting and setting seed until late summer or early fall.
The name Papalo originates with the Nahuatl word for butterfly, and Papaloquelite is said to mean butterfly leaf. The flowers provide nectar to feeding butterflies, while also attracting bees and other pollinators to the garden with their pollen.
Part of the aroma and flavor is seen above with the oil glands which look like spots on the underside of the leaves. Those glands produce a fragrance which repels insects from eating its leaves.
There are two different leaf shapes grown – a broadleaf and a more narrow leaf, often called poreleaf. We have found the broadleaf variety to be more palatable, quite a bit more pungent than cilantro but quite tasty. When beginning to use papalo, start with 1/4 to 1/3 as much as the normal amount of cilantro. The flavor is much stronger and lasts longer, so a little goes a long way until you’ve gotten used to it. We grow and offer only the broadleaf variety.
When we hear about people complaining of papalo tasting of soap, detergent or having a rank or funky odor, usually they have encountered the poreleaf or narrow leafed variety. It is quite a bit more pungent than the broadleaf type, so usually comes as quite a shock to our palates.
Papalo seeds look much like dandelion seeds, with the stalk and “umbrella” to help carry them on the wind to their new home. Having the umbrella attached is very important to good seed germination, which we will show you in just a bit.
The harvested seed comes from our grower in a big clear plastic trash bag, as it just isn’t possible to harvest and clean the seeds without breaking the umbrellas off. The seeds are almost weightless, so a big bagful that you can hide behind weighs less than a pound.
Cindy has a handful of seed heads, showing how they clump together after maturing. As the seed matures, the sheath or covering that protects the young seeds peels back, exposing these clusters to the wind, which will carry them away as they dry.
A closer look at the clump of seeds. We haven’t found a better way to separate them without damaging them, so we usually pack them much like this – by the ever so gentle pinch! There are probably 30+ seeds in this photo.
Papalo is often described as having “very low and variable” germination. This is true if the seed is packed in a standard seed packet, which breaks off the umbrella from the stem. From experimenting, we have found germination will drop to around 10% if the seed is broken, but will be as high as 90% or better if the seed is intact.
This photo of papalo in our germination tray shows the proof. Using seed germination paper to keep the seed damp, there was 100% germination in less than 72 hours. In fact, the seedlings hit the lid of the germination chamber, trying to get to the light.
A close-up shows how the stem emerges from the bottom of the stalk, immediately turning vertical in growth, searching for light.
Seen in Cindy’s hand it is easier to identify the parts of the seed and where the seedling emerges from, as well as how tall they can grow in a short time.
We have developed this simple but highly effective packing box from our germination experiments. It keeps the seeds intact for planting as well as protecting them from being broken during shipping.
Young seedlings don’t have the oil glands developed yet, so they are milder in flavor and aroma than when they begin to mature. This planting is a bit thick, but it is sometimes difficult to separate the seeds without damage. In this case, just plant them thick and don’t worry about it. If desired, you can clip the unwanted or unneeded seedlings to thin them. Make sure not to pull them out, as this really disturbs the roots of the adjacent plants and seriously disrupts their growth.
Even in a very harsh spring with sustained high temperatures and punishing winds, the young papalo grows strongly. The weather effects can be seen in the drying of the leaf margins, as well as the scruffy and dry leaf appearance. The holes are not from a bug chewing on the leaves, but from the oil vaporizing from the porous oil glands. The lighter colored spots on the leaves are additional oil glands.
A fully mature papalo leaf in good growing conditions looks like this – a moderately deep, rich green with oil glands distributed across each leaf. The leaves have a medium thickness to them with a fairly substantial feel. They don’t feel delicate like some vegetable leaves, but aren’t thick and succulent either.
Touching them will release some of the aromatic oils, so you should be able to immediately experience their singularly unique aroma, even from an arm’s length away. This is the same with organically grown or home-grown cilantro – the aroma will be much more pronounced.
The seed heads start out looking much like marigold flower heads. After flowering, they will set seed and begin the cycle anew. When harvesting seeds to save, make sure to clip the seed head after it has fully matured and begun to dry but before it is completely dry. Otherwise, you will go out to the garden to collect seeds to find it has all blown away!
In October 1999, when Alice Waters, renowned chef of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, first tasted one variety of papaloquelite, she was ecstatic and demanded to know why she had never experienced it before. She purchased every seed packet available from the Underwood Gardens booth at the Taste of the Midwest Festival, an annual event sponsored by the American Institute of Wine and Food.
When we met Alice at Slow Food Terra Madre in Turin, Italy, in 2012, we mentioned this past connection. She immediately remembered the event, and her eyes lit up when we discussed the aromatic flavors and how she introduced them to her restaurant patrons.
It’s always used raw and added at the last minute, giving its signature, unique piquant flavor to dishes. It’s used in fish dishes, salsas and guacamole. There is a memorable guacamole that uses cucumbers and papalo for added depth of flavor that we can’t get enough of. We also really like it in scrambled eggs, fresh salsas, and finely diced in a strongly flavored salad of spinach, arugula, mustard greens, and kale. Devilled eggs take on an entirely new dimension with a couple of leaves finely diced and mixed into the filling. People always try to guess the mystery seasoning and always mistake it for something else.
In restaurants in the state of Puebla in Mexico, it’s common to find a sprig of papalo in a glass jar of water on the table, next to the salt, pepper and salsas — ready to be added raw to soups, tacos, tortas or beans. The diners will take off a leaf or two and tear it up finely before sprinkling it over their meal.
Papalo is very easy to grow and has a history stretching back thousands of years, so give it a try in your herb garden this season!
Achocha – the Unknown Cucumber Relative
Achocha or Caihua (pronounced kai-wa) is an unusual and relatively unknown member of the cucurbit or cucumber family with a difference. Although they share family roots with cucumbers, squash, pumpkin, zucchini and melons, they arealmost completely immune to many of the diseases and pests that attack the other cucurbits – squash bugs, vine borers, cucumber worms and powdery mildew along with other fungal issues.
Achochaare hugely prolific both in leafy shade growth and fruit, making them a dual purpose plant for gardeners looking for a green shade or windbreak which gives a good supply of tasty food.
Originally domesticated in the Andes Mountains, the seeds travelled by trade from modern day Columbia in the north to Bolivia in the south. This ancient crop has been featured on pre-historic pottery and art and is discussedin the book “Lost Crops of the Incas” by the National Research Council. Today, they are widely grown all across Central and South America, as well as in many other parts of the world. For example, achocha is very popular in northern India, Nepal and Bhutan.
The seeds are very intriguing, looking much like flecks of bark or burnt chunks of a rough plant material. The color ranges from a medium brown to an almost black. Each mature fruit will have several seeds in it.
A close-up of the seeds shows how very different they appear from almost all other vegetables, and certainly other cucurbit family seeds.
Another look at the achocha seed. The majority of them have the little tail or protrusion seen here.
Achocha puts on vigorous vine growth with lots of leaves which provide a good shade for other crops. In areas with a long hot season, establishing them early will give better growth as they slow down during the hottest times. Giving them a bit of afternoon shade and protection helps them along, as they are seen growing up through a patch of Butter Daisies and climbing up a trellis.
This is a western facing wall, and they had a bit of a challenge in becoming well established with the afternoon heat. They had morning shade, but were exposed to full sun and heat during the hottest part of the day until almost sundown.
On the opposite side of the wide walkway, they are seen much more established and prolific. This is the east facing wall that is shaded from early afternoon, giving the plants enough protection from high heat and constant sun exposure to really take off.
This was the most productive planting, giving handfuls of fruit each harvest.
Cindy is holding a young fruit with the blossom cap still attached. At this stage the bark-like seeds are still fairly soft and immature. The fruit will not have completely hollowed out yet, but it is very edible and mild in flavor with a soft texture.
Once the plants begin setting fruit, they should be harvested regularly to encourage continued production. As they begin to produce, you will have handfuls of the fruit to work with!
The tiny, off-white flowers can be seen in the background. It is best to plant at least two plants so they can pollinate each other. The flowers will attract a number of smaller insects to help with pollination, among them the beneficial serphid fly which feasts on aphids, thrips and other soft bodied destructive insect pests.
Another view of the size, shape and color of the achocha fruits, along with the foliage. There are a few different varieties of achocha – some with soft spines and a fatter fruit. Ours are more slender and smooth skinned with no soft spines.
The foliage will sometime raise eyebrows and cause questions, as its long toothy leaves somewhat resemble another controversial plant. There is no relation, but it is a conversation starter!
One handful of fruit leads to discovering another, then another as well…
You’ll see why they have earned the name of “stuffing cucumber” when you slice them open and scoop out the seeds. There are enough recipes using them to fill a thick cookbook, but an easy and delicious starting point is to simply stuff them with sautéed sweet peppers and onions after slicing them open and just warming them up on the griddle.
Very colorful, unique and eye-catching along with being delicious, they will be the center point of the table.
In Central and South America the fruits are eaten either raw or cooked after removal of the seeds. They are also prepared as stuffed peppers; stuffed with meat, fish or cheese and then baked or fresh.
Kids often love to pick and eat them in the garden, and they make an excellent addition to salads. The tender shoots, tendrils and young vines are edible and eaten raw or very lightly cooked.
Building a Recycled Growing Bed
A growing bed can be made from many materials, but when you factor in the ability to make a growing bed from recycled components, then the opportunities become almost limitless. It makes sense in so many ways to make your raised beds from an already-used materials. You will often save a significant amount of money while contributing less to the growing landfills. In addition, you reduce the amount of raw resources used to make new building materials. Often you will find your options are much broader when looking at recycled stock, as the solution can more easily present itself when your mind is more open and relaxed, without a fixed design idea.
This is exactly what led to our finding and choosing this particular metal from our local salvage yard. We know we needed a structurally sound, ecologically friendly and long lasting substance for our raised beds in our garden. The pricing on new lumber which could be in contact with soil for long periods of time was not realistic for the amount of beds we needed to make. One by one, every other reasonably available construction material and method fell out as being much too costly, much too labor intensive or not suitable for our climate.
All of this led us to our local salvage yard. When we let the person know what we were looking to do, he immediately pointed us in the direction of some large-scale roofing they had recently recovered. After looking at a couple of different options, we came across these 3 foot wide and 20 foot long sections of really heavy galvanized steel with most of their avocado green paint still attached. They were heavy enough that it was hard to turn one section over to look at the other side.
When we turned a smaller section over and saw how well it dove-tailed into the long section, we knew we had a custom-made solution to our raised beds. All at a price that was pennies on the dollar of other solutions we had looked at, with a much longer lifespan as a bonus.
We have now used these as raised beds in our garden for almost a decade, with no problems. We recently moved the two smaller beds in our greenhouse and discovered photos of when we made the beds initially and wanted to share the process with you.
Please use this as a guiding hand, suggesting what can be done; don’t go out and expect to find this exact material waiting for you. If you go with an open mind, you just might be surprised at just how well what you find works in your particular garden!
The project started out with our finding some really heavy duty galvanized steel corrugated roofing at our local salvage yard. We then rented an electric nibbler tool to split them lengthwise, as they were too wide or deep to use by themselves.
This is the pile after getting it home, splitting it on the flatbed trailer and then unloading them. A full day’s work!
The unusually large corrugations worked perfectly for us, as we flipped the ends over so they would mate with the sides, creating interlocking tabs. The material is heavy enough for us to just screw together, without needing extra supporting material.
The outside view shows the middle tab already cut, bent over and screwed together. These are strong enough to stand on the top of the sides, once the box is constructed!
Using a Sawzall – an electric reciprocating saw – the tabs are cut. There are top and bottom screws in addition to the middle ones.
After cutting, they are bent over into the channel to be screwed together, making a very strong joint or connection.
A close-up look at the finished middle tab. We used self-tapping screws to eliminate the need to drill a starter hole.
Another feature of the unique corrugations is the channel in the bottom of the side panels which perfectly fits a ¾ inch sheet of marine grade plywood that had been previously waterproofed and drainage holes drilled. After installing the plywood and securing it into the channels, we added a heat cable and hardware cloth on top to protect it from damage from gardening tools. The heating cable is desigened and made specifically for this use and is waterproof with an internal thermostat which shuts off at 70°F.
You can see the channels in the steel in the second and third photos from the top.
For the first few years, we used the bottom heated growing bed in our greenhouse. We made two of them and grew cool season salad greens during the fall, through the winter and into the following spring in the unheated greenhouse.
We used overstock cinder blocks from the local block maker to support the beds.
After installing the beds on the cinder blocks, we put in a bottom layer of sand about two inches deep. The sand keeps the heating cable out of contact with decomposing soil and provides a better heat transfer to the soil on top when the moisture seeps down.
Both growing beds were very successful in growing lots of greens throughout the winter. We often found we couldn’t keep up with all of the greens from just one bed!
The greenhouse is being updated and changed a bit to a grow room, with a solid roof as it gets way too hot in the spring and summer to grow anything, so the growing beds needed to be moved to be more useful and functional.
We experimented with a very simple container garden just off of our back deck last year – with great success. It was very close and convenient for fresh herbs and often used fresh greens – just a step out the back door! The containers were all recycled plastic – from old horse water tubs to industrial food shipping barrels cut in half. They were simply put on top of a base of cinder blocks three high for less bending and ease of gardening. Everything was arranged in a “U” shape, with access to standing on all sides.
They worked very well, so we expanded the container gardening space with adding the two growing beds on each long side of the “U”.
The slightly shorter growing bed is next to an old 100 gallon horse water tub, containing garlic chives and I’itoi onions, both acting as perennials in our climate. This photo is from the very beginning of March, after a cold and wet winter that turned warm in early spring.
Here’s a look at the updated container garden, just after moving the second growing bed. The two large plastic containers in the foreground were what we used last season and were moved to make room for the larger growing bed.
Seed Germination Observations
Seed germination is affected by several factors – moisture, temperature, light, soil or seed starting media, time, observation and last but not least patience. We have covered most of these elements in “Starting Seeds at Home – a Deeper Look”, “Seed Starting Media for the Home Gardener” and “Are Seed Starting Mixes Worth Your Money?” What we haven’t covered are time, observation and patience.
Recently we wrote an article on seed starting mixes, linked above, and did a small experiment to see how they compared to each other in germination of a single seed of the same variety in the same conditions. What we learned is interesting, but also taught us some things we want to share with you.
Two of the seed starting mixes had very good seed germination in about the same amount of time, while one did not. At the same time, a different variety of seed was planted in an adjoining tray with the same temperatures and very similar moisture and the seed germination was very good and consistent, yet was the same seed starting media that did poorly in the single seed test.
This is where time, observation and patience enter into our story.
Seeds need the exact right conditions to germinate. If one or two of the conditions are right, but another is not, the seed will simply remain dormant or in worst case start to decompose. It is only when every condition is right the seed germination occurs.
We gardeners make the mistake of thinking only we can provide those perfect conditions with our heated pads and thermostats, moisture probes, soil thermometers and lights. We forget the seeds left in the garden, untended and unmonitored which germinate in their own time, when the conditions are just right. The same goes for the seeds in the forest, in the ditch by the side of the road or anywhere we aren’t planting them.
This is the initial test – three sets of seed starting mixes with two cups of each mix. We planted the Crystal Apple cucumber as the test seed, since cucumbers have a good strong seed germination and we know the germination percentage as we had just finished doing seed germination tests on the new seed stock.
After 14 days, this is what the test looks like. The six seed starting cups have been in the same tray with the same heat from a heat mat underneath and with the same amount of water, as they were watered from the bottom by adding water to the tray.
The Jiffy mix has the tallest seedling, followed by the Black Gold and the Miracle-Gro cups only having one seed just starting to peek itself out.
A closer look at the Miracle-Gro cups with the tiny little yellow spot being the seedling just starting to peek out. There is no indication of seed germination from the other cup.
There is also no sign of mold or fungus that might be inhibiting the seed germination, either.
The Black Gold cups have really good seed germination in one cup, with a much delayed seedling in the other. Both look strong and healthy, with the two yellow spots on the smaller seedling in the background from where the seed was holding on after sprouting and emergence.
The soil looks good in this set as well, no mold or fungal issues.
The Jiffy seed starting mix was the clear winner in this test, with both seedlings coming up within a day of each other and both growing strong and at about the same rate. Both have started putting on their first true leaf with the one in the background being just a little bigger.
What we found really interesting was Jiffy was the hardest seed starting mix to work with, being very water repellent, very light and fluffy. It was difficult to get into the cups without spilling it and Cindy had to really water it and work the water in for the first couple of times to get the media moist before planting the seed. The water would pool up and run over the lip of the cup, without any getting into the media. She had to dump the excess water out, add a little bit and carefully mix it in with a small tool to get the media to start to absorb the water. It took a few times of this to get the initial wetting done and after that there were no more problems.
This soil looks really good as well with no mold or fungal issues.
The seedling tray next to the six pot test tray looks like this – it’s a test planting of another new Oaxacan chile we hope to bring to market and this is the grow-out test planting. All of these seeds are planted in Miracle-Gro and as you can see, they are doing well. The seed germination has been good and at an even rate, with almost all of the cups having a seedling at almost exactly the same stage.
If we hadn’t observed the difference in seed germination rates between the two flats, we could easily conclude the Miracle-Gro is a poor choice for starting seeds in. However, the chile seedling tray disproves that.
Cindy had almost given up on seeing any seed germination from the Miracle-Gro in the cucumber seed test, but then three days later the first seedling peeked out.
This is the lesson of patience; so many times we’ve gotten calls or emails from semi-panicked or frustrated gardeners saying their (our) seed hasn’t come up yet. Most of the time, the needed seed germination period hasn’t elapsed yet, so we ask them to wait until the normal germination time has passed, then let us know. Almost without fail, we hear back in a couple of days the seeds have sprouted.
Please realize, just because we had these results with our very small and informal test doesn’t mean you will get the same results. Seed starting mixes and potting soils are formulated differently in different regions across the country, and those ingredients often change from one supplier to the next, depending on the time of year and availability. It is well worth doing a similar test of your own to see what works best for you in your location. Buy a few different bags of seed starting mix and potting soil to see if you have different seed germination rates, then you’ll have a better understanding on how this part affects sprouting.
Now you’ve seen our experiments and experiences, what are yours? Have you had a similar situation turn out completely different than you expected it to?
Potting Soils – the Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Potting soils come in all shapes and sizes, with most touting some form of “Organic & Natural” on the bag – but are they really certified organic? Do those potting soils really work as advertised and contain healthy, wholesome ingredients to help your precious seedlings get that critical head start they need?
To answer these questions and more, we bought a few bags of potting soils from our local sources, brought them home and opened them up to take a close look at what is there. We looked at the bag and labeling, seeing what is being sold and why, what wording and marketing is being used and if they stood up to closer scrutiny. One of those potting soils we have used for a few years, so we let you know of our past experiences.
Please note – this article is in no way meant to be a comprehensive, exhaustive laboratory research and review of all potting soils available to the average home gardener. There’s just no way for us to do that, as many are only regionally available and the ingredients change from region to region in the bigger brands.
As with our seed starting mixes article, we suspect there are a few companies producing potting soils for different markets with unique branding and bagging for each channel. We saw this with one product – one bag design and color set for the big box stores and another one for the smaller independent garden centers. This only underscores the need to read the labels, know what the descriptions, ingredients and marketing-speak mean and be able to decide for yourself if that particular bag will work for you and is worth the cost.
As with our seed starting mixes analysis, we found confusing and sometimes misleading labeling.
What are potting soils and do I need to use one?
Potting soils are traditionally what seedlings are transplanted into from the seed starting mixes. The seed is germinated in the seed starting mix, then when it is 3 – 4 inches tall and starting to put on its second or third set of true leaves, it is transplanted into a potting soil. Potting soils have nutrients which are missing in the seed starting mixes, continuing the growth of the seedling by feeding and supporting the root structure it is starting to develop.
What goes into potting soils varies widely, from a basic seed starting mix with some aged compost added for plant nutrition to full custom blends with compost, soil and nutrients coming from different ingredients – all to supposedly help the seedling grow stronger and faster.
Not everyone needs potting soils, as some have the space and materials availability to create an excellent rich, aged compost to use as the starting point of mixing their own special blend, while others just don’t have the time, space or materials available to do that.
Let’s take a look!
The first of the potting soils we found was the Kellogg Amend Organic Plus at Lowe’s and it’s available at Home Depot as well, so it should be available in most big box stores in the western US. We were interested to see what was in the bag and do some testing, as we’ve had several of our customers email us in alarm after transplanting into the Amend potting soils and within a few hours the seedlings were almost all dead or severely wilted. We found a commonality with most of them using the Kellogg Amend potting soils, but haven’t heard anything negative in the past couple of years.
As we mentioned in our seed starting mix article, we are not impressed with the words “Organic” or “Natural” on bags of soil, so seeing “Organic Plus” prominently splashed across the bag was an alert for us. It is branded as a garden soil for flowers and vegetables.
One label that did catch our eye and add to the intrigue was the OMRI listing on the bottom left of the bag. This indicates the contents are certified for organic food production, and are the equivalent of a “Certified Organic” label on food.
The OMRI label piqued our curiosity because our previous research as to why the Amend potting soils were killing seedlings led us to the fact that Kellogg had been using bio-solids, or treated municipal sewage, and possibly industrial runoff or wastewater. This easily explained why the seedlings died when transplanted into the potting soil.
So the question was – is this the same potting/garden soil, and if so, how is it OMRI listed?
In doing some reading, it appears Kellogg has used bio-solids or treated municipal sewage as a major ingredient in its composting program for a number of years. It seems that their OMRI listed products do not have any bio-solids as an ingredient in their products, but you can’t tell from the label.
In looking at the OMRI listing for Kellogg Amend garden soil, we found it is listed but with restrictions. OMRI lists it in the category of “Fertilizers, Blended with micronutrients” with the restriction being –
Kellogg’s Amend product page has this to say about their OMRI listing –
All in all, it is OMRI listed – even with the discrepancies between Kellogg’s product information and the OMRI listing itself with the restrictions.
The OMRI listing is displayed in the lower left part of the bag, underneath the info box of what it is supposedly derived from and what it is good to use it for.
The ingredients list compost as the primary ingredient with what makes up the compost. Recycled forest products are typically a blend of finely ground wood from leftovers of the timber industry. Arbor fines are finely ground tree trimmings. Hydrolyzed feather meal is crushed and boiled poultry feathers, used as a source of nitrogen.
Dairy and poultry manure sound fine, until the source is looked at a little closer. What is the source of the dairy and the poultry manure? There is reasonable concern as to what is contained in the manure of animals from confined feeding operations – there are antibiotics and hormones used in the day to day operations which are passed through in their manure. Another concern is the possible presence of industrial herbicides and pesticides used in conventional grain production, which can easily be passed into the manure.
These are things to think about, especially if you want to grow as organically as possible.
One of our biggest initial concerns after getting it home and looking up both the Kellogg’s product listing page and the OMRI listing showing the restriction is there is no mention anywhere of the “synthetic micronutrients” from the OMRI listing on the bag or Kellogg’s website.
What are those synthetic micronutrients, and what is their source?
On opening the bag we noticed it was moist and had some white mold spots on the woody material in the mix. This is not a bad thing, molds and fungi work to break down wood into more available nutrients. Woody material helps to boost microbial activity to do just this.
The bag had a rich, woody aroma but did not smell of raw or partially decomposed manure. It was a dark, rich brown verging into almost black.
A handful of the soil felt light and porous with a slightly damp feeling to it. There was a trace of dark residue left on the fingers after rolling a handful through the fingers and getting a feeling for it.
On closer inspection, it is easy to see the woody residue of various sizes. Even though it is advertised as a soil, it was fairly light in texture without the more solid structure needed for long term growing of plants.
The white mold can be seen in the top right of the photo.
The next bag we opened was Miracle-Gro Organic Choice. We also picked this up at Lowe’s and have seen an impressive selection of Miracle-Gro products at Home Depot as well, so any big box store will have this line. We’ve also seen this brand at every garden center, hardware store garden aisle and landscaping supply store we’ve visited. It’s hard not to find them.
Again, the word “Organic” is used as a marketing tool in the word choice for the name. This is advertised for use with in-ground vegetables, fruits, flowers and herbs. It has the “Natural & Organic” term next, above a statement that it will grow fresh vegetables in your backyard.
So far, pretty standard stuff and not really any different than the next pile of bags at the big box store.
Our concern with this Miracle-Gro product is much the same as we mentioned in our Seed Starting Mix article -their blend of plant food emphasizes vegetative growth and strong flowering, without the nutrients for fruit or food production. We have seen numerous gardeners with tomato plants growing lush, dark green leaves and covered in flowers but not producing a single tomato, or very few.
Looking at the back of the bag, we were surprised to see this product was not recommended for container gardening. It is also interesting to see the warning to wear gloves when using Organic Choice.
It’s labeled as “garden soil” on the front, but on the back the instructions say to mix 3″ of Organic Choice with 6″ of native soil, mix well to avoid a stratified layer, then plant. These instructions combined with the not for containers seems to indicate this is not a full potting soil and more of a soil amendment or fertilizer.
The ingredients listing says it is formulated with organic materials but doesn’t specify if “organic” means organic as in containing carbon, or organic as in certified organic.
It has much the same ingredients – forest products, compost, composted manure and pasteurized poultry litter. In addition it lists peat humus and sphagnum peat moss which are more commonly associated with seed starting mixes than potting soils.
The ingredients do vary regionally, which they do specify.
We searched the OMRI listing to see if this, or any, Miracle-Gro product was listed and found this is OMRI listed, along with several other products. This is somewhat surprising, as most other manufacturers proudly display the OMRI listing label. Another interesting detail is this has no restrictions, unlike Kellogg’s Amend. It is listed under fertilizer and soil amendments, which makes more sense of the instructions to mix with native soil.
On opening the bag we noticed it was moist with a dark brown, rich earth color. There was woody material present, but seemed a bit more integrated and had an earthy, soil based aroma. There was no indication of partially composted manure or off odors.
It didn’t have any mold indication and a handful of the soil had more of a substance to the texture, while still being light and fluffy. There were smaller or finer components to the mixture. There was less of a dark residue on the fingers after handling a handful for inspection.
Closer inspection shows the more even distribution of size, along with the dark brown or earthy color. This seemed to be closer to a replacement soil but with enough lightness to allow good root development.
Square Foot Potting Soil
The next bag was Garden Time Square Foot Garden Soil from Gro-Well Brands. They are local to us, being based in Tempe, AZ. This was bought at Lowe’s and we’ve seen it at Home Depot also, and have seen garden forum threads where it is possible to special order it online in different quantities. We also saw it at our local True Value Hardware store in the garden aisle, with a different design bag – so it is probably also available in independent garden centers as well.
We have used this particular mix for a few years now with good results. We primarily use it as a seed starting mix and transplanting medium, but have experimented with it as a complete soil – like the bag’s labeling says – and have been pleased with the results.
Having said that, it isn’t perfect either and makes many of the same claims as the other brands. The “Natural & Organic” label is prominent on the bag, even though this is not OMRI listed. Some of the other claims are “Proven Formula for Optimum Growth” and “Great for Vegetables”. It does say “ready to use” and doesn’t need mixing with native soils, something that might be helpful for a container gardener with a small patio or apartment balcony.
Square Foot Potting Soil Ingredients
The ingredients are compost, peat moss, coconut coir, vermiculite, bloodmeal, bone meal, kelp meal, cottonseed meal, alfalfa meal and worm castings. The peat moss, coir and vermiculite are classic seed starting mix ingredients, with the compost, different meals and worm castings adding nutrients to the soil for the plants growth and health. We use this as both a seed starting mix and potting soil or transplant soil because of the nutrients, which are lacking in straight seed starting mixes.
The same concern we voiced above at the vagueness of what is in the compost is valid here as well. In reading around a bit, I haven’t come across Gro-Well Brands using bio-solids in their compost, which is good news. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean the compost is organically sourced and not feedlot manure, but it’s a step in the right direction.
The more extensive list of ingredients give this some substance in nutrition so it can be used as a transplanting medium, a potting soil or as a complete standalone soil.
As another plus, we’ve not experienced seedlings dying when transplanted into this mix, nor have our customers said anything.
On opening the bag, the soil is slightly moist with a very dark, almost black color. It had almost no odor and felt light in weight but with some substance. This makes sense with the compost being 30 – 40% and much of the rest made up of lighter weight seed starting ingredients that have no odor of their own. The shiny vermiculite specks are easy to see and the texture is fairly even without lots of larger, identifiable chunks of wood.
A handful of the soil showed more of the smaller size particles making up the mix with an even and light feel to it. There was a trace of black residue on the fingers after a handful for inspection.
Square Foot Potting Soil
A closer inspection shows the darker color, with the specks of vermiculite showing through.
Garden Time Potting Soil
The last bag was also from Gro-Well Brands – Garden Time Potting Soil. This was also bought from Lowe’s, and is available in big box stores. It may be regionally available in independent garden centers with a different bag.
The same technique of word use – “Natural & Organic” was in play, but the other trigger words were missing. This is advertised as an all-purpose potting soil for indoor and outdoor use in containers and garden beds, as well as for transplanting.
Like the Square Foot Gardening soil, this is not OMRI listed.
Garden Time Potting Soil Ingredients
The ingredients are different, with fewer of the seed starting ingredients and less of the nutrient amendments. It does have peat moss and coconut coir fiber, common in seed starting mixes, but is without the perlite and such.
The standard forest wood products are there, as well as the compost listing again. What we found interesting is the addition of sand as the last ingredient.
Garden Time Potting Soil Closeup
When opening the bag we noticed this mix had a more woody aroma and was less earthy. It was also the driest of the mixes, leaving almost no residue on the hand after sifting through a handful of mix. It wasn’t dry, just much less moist than the other mixes. It had more substance and weight to the mix, probably as a result of the sand. This mix looked, smelled and felt the woodiest of the ones we inspected. It had no odor of compost or manure at all, only slightly of decomposed wood.
One thing we immediately noticed with a handful of soil is the white specks in the mix. In looking closely at them, they look much like perlite even though there is none listed on the ingredients. This could be an older bag with a new mix formulation, or a mistake in adding perlite to this mix. The perlite isn’t a negative, but the fact it isn’t listed in the ingredients makes us wonder a bit.
Even with this, the mix looks like it would be good as an amendment to loosen up native soils. The overly woody composition would be beneficial as it decomposed more, but might not add much to this season’s growth.
Garden Time Potting Soil Closeup
A closer look shows the woody texture and color with the white specks of what looks to be perlite throughout.
Potting Soil Cost Chart
In looking at the related costs, a couple of things stand out. The two best-looking soil mixes are also the most expensive – Miracle-Gro and the Square Foot Gardening Soil. They are also the smallest size bags. When adding in the positive benefits of an OMRI listing, the Miracle-Gro becomes the initial winner – something that surprised us.
In making a recommendation, an OMRI listing helps to assure a home gardener that the materials and ingredients used are of better quality and higher nutrient content than a non-listed mix. With that said, we would not recommend avoiding mixes which aren’t listed if you can be sure the ingredients meet reasonable standards. For example, compost from a neighborhood friend’s horses won’t be able to be OMRI listed, but would probably be excellent compost if the horses are fed well and wholesomely. The same would go for a grass-fed farmer in your area, who doesn’t feed growth hormones or regular antibiotics.
From this list, our two choices are the Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Garden Soil and the Square Foot Gardening Soil, with the others being a distant second choice if the first two weren’t available. This is conditional upon our testing some seedlings in each of these to see if they can actually support healthy seedling growth, but that will be another article!
For you, the best choice depends on what is available in your area, the amount of potting soil needed and what you can afford. Some gardeners, like ourselves, much prefer to make our own compost with multiple amendments to create a complex and wonderfully fertile soil amendment, while others simply don’t have the space or availability of materials. Some better options include creating a composting system as part of a community garden, or partnering with a friend or neighbor who has the space and is willing to boost their garden’s fertility. You might offer to do the work in setting up and maintaining the compost in return for some of the finished product for your garden.
Now you’ve got an overview of what to look for and be aware of when shopping for potting mixes, what are your thoughts and experiences? Do you have a dependable “go-to” potting mix you’ve used and loved for years? Or, do you have a tried and true recipe for mixing up your own potting soil that has never let you down? Please share!
Are Seed Starting Mixes Worth Your Money?
Seed starting mixes can be confusing – there are so many at different price points; who’s to know what’s good and what’s junk? Is the extra expense worth it, or is the cheapest mix just as good?
We looked at a few examples on the market to see what is available from a range of prices and suppliers. Starting with the big box stores and going to a local hardware store with a good gardening selection and then to a garden center, we chose a representative sample to give you a good starting point in choosing what to use for your seed starting.
This is in no way meant to be an exhaustive or comprehensive review of all available seed starting mixes. From what we can tell, there are many different brands and types of seed starting mixes. We suspect that a few companies are producing many of the re-bagged or re-branded mixes, much like there are exactly two car battery manufacturers in the US, selling dozens of brands of batteries through different outlets. Our goal is to provide you with an educated overview of some middle of the road seed starting mixes so you will be better informed when confronted with the “Great Wall” of seed starting mixes at your local garden center.
Along the way, we found seed starting mixes are seemingly designed to be confusing – especially when they are stacked next to each other in the garden section of the big box store or in the garden center. None of them were the same size, so easily comparing costs while in the store was difficult, requiring converting different prices to the same volume. We chose a quart size as the standard for the seed starting mixes, as most home gardeners will be using smaller amounts than market growers.
Another interesting thing we found was the labeling on each bag and the claims made. Some had the word “Organic” prominently displayed or used as part of the name, with no verification that the contents were, in fact, organic. “Natural” was also strongly used, with no substantiation.
In addition to the seed starting mixes, we have included a potting mix we’ve started seeds in for several years and have recommended to our customers. This is included as a reference point, as gardeners in some areas won’t be able to use a potting soil to start seeds due to high humidity and the associated fungi and mold challenges. Others, like us, will be able to use it to their advantage.
What are seed starting mixes and do I need one?
Seed starting mixes are not soil, they are blended to create a good environment to get the seed germinated and into the seedling stage, where it is transplanted into a potting soil or garden soil. For a closer look at the components that typically make up seed starting mixes, read Seed Starting Media for the Home Gardener.
Not everyone needs seed starting mixes, some gardeners do very well starting their seeds in potting soil or a rich garden soil. This often saves the work and stress of transplanting, but if you need a sterile soil because of mold or fungi pressures, then seed starting mixes will really help. Other gardeners just trust a sterile seed starting mix and have had good results for their garden.
Let’s take a look!
For all of the photos, click to enlarge them for more detail.
Jiffy Seed Starting Mix
First up is Jiffy “Natural & Organic” Seed Starting Mix. We bought this at our local True Value garden center, so it should be available at independent garden centers and possibly the big box stores. There are several interesting things about this seed starting mix. First off, there is no ingredients listed, either on the bag or on Jiffy’s website. Second, this is an OMRI listed product, meaning it is approved through the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI).
OMRI is an international nonprofit organization which certifies which input (fertilizer, herbicide, pesticide, etc.) products are allowed for use in certified organic agriculture. OMRI Listed® products are allowed for use in certified organic operations under the USDA National Organic Program. This is a big deal, there is no way to buy or sneak a product in and most companies will prominently display the OMRI listing on their bags, as you’ll see below.
Jiffy doesn’t mention it, or list the ingredients. With the OMRI listing, we feel pretty comfortable in using this, but would like to see what makes up the seed starting mix.
Here is what the bag looks like. On first read the “Natural & Organic” label is somewhat misleading, especially with no mention of the OMRI listing. The bag has 12 quarts for $6.99, so not a bad price, especially for a smaller home gardener who will use less than one bag to start their tomato, pepper and eggplant seeds.
Jiffy Seed Starting Mix Closeup
An initial look at the soil shows what looks to be some coconut coir, possibly some peat moss, perlite and maybe some compost, but it’s hard to be sure. It had a good, rich soil aroma and was finely textured with no large lumps or woody chunks in it.
Jiffy Seed Starting Mix
Here’s a closer inspection.
Overall, we were pleased at what we saw, with the caveat of wishing to know what the ingredients were making up the mix. On the plus side, OMRI listing is very good – indicating it is accepted for certified organic agriculture.
Miracle Gro Seed Starting Mix
Miracle Gro Seed Starting Potting Mix was next up. The labeling seems to be trying to straddle the seed starting mix/ potting soil applications without specifying if it is suitable for both. The bag says it is enriched with Miracle Gro, which is no surprise, and the mix is excellent for starting cuttings. The bag has 8 quarts and is $4.77 at Lowe’s or Home Depot, which is enough for a small gardener to start seeds with. This mix is not OMRI listed. Here is Miracle Gro’s online listing.
Our concern with Miracle Gro is their blend of plant food emphasizes vegetative growth and strong flowering, without the nutrients for fruit or food production. We have had numerous customers call or email asking why their tomato plants had such lush, dark green leaves and were covered in flowers but not producing a single tomato, or very few. When we asked if they were using Miracle Gro, they seemed shocked that we could know what they were using!
Miracle Gro Seed Starting Mix Ingredients
The ingredients are listed – peat moss, perlite, Miracle Gro fertilizer and a wetting agent. Not terrible, but not the greatest either. If you’ve read Starting Seeds at Home – a Deeper Look, you remember that during germination, seeds have no need for fertilizers as they carry everything they need to sprout and establish a seedling inside the seed coat. The fertilizer might be beneficial during the seedling phase, but more soil nutrients are definitely needed to sustain a healthy plant, so this is not a seed to garden transplant mix. The wetting agent will be beneficial in the germination stage, but could contribute to mold and fungal issues for the seedling if the gardener isn’t aware and careful in not over watering and inadvertently saturating the soil, which the wetting agents will make worse.
There is valid concerns raised about the harvesting of sphagnum peat moss from Canada as being sustainable or not. It takes peat moss bogs several hundred to a thousand years to mature, depending on the conditions, so it is hard to “sustainably” manage them.
Miracle Gro Seed Starting Mix Closuep
Looking at the soil it was fine and fairly light with some perlite easily seen among the peat moss. It looks a bit chunky, but the feel wasn’t. It did seem to have a few larger chunks of material, but that shouldn’t matter in starting seeds.
Miracle Gro Seed Starting Mix
Not a bad seed starting mix, and we would take this over several store brands we’ve seen.
Black Gold Seed Starting Mix
Black Gold Seedling Mix is another of the seed starting mixes listed by OMRI, and it says so on the top right side of the bag. Black Gold is a well known supplier for hydroponic growers and would be considered one of the premium or super-premium seed starting mixes.
We sourced this from True Value, so it should be available from an independent garden center but probably not from the big box stores. The bag has 16 quarts for $6.99, so is a good value with enough to start seedlings for a very large garden or for sharing between a couple of neighbors or a community garden. Black Gold’s online listing.
Black Gold Seed Starting Mix OMRI Listing
In addition to the OMRI listing, the label shows this seed starting mix to be enriched with silicon for thicker stems and improved root mass. While it is true that silica and silicon are important components to strong cell, stem and root growth, there is no mention of the silica in the ingredients. This might be a marketing approach, or it could be something worthwhile, but the bag doesn’t expand on the benefits.
Black Gold Seed Starting Mix Ingredients
Black Gold’s ingredients are pretty standard for seed starting mixes; peat moss, perlite, dolomite lime and Yucca extract as the organic wetting agent. Dolomite lime is calcium magnesium carbonate and increases the pH of soil, but also aids in organic decomposition. It is high in magnesium and calcium, which could be good for acidic soils but could be trouble for alkaline soils like we have in the West. The amount of dolomite lime is probably small and wouldn’t cause much of an effect in the amounts used in seed starting mixes, but might not be the best use as a garden or container amendment.
It is good to see what is used as the wetting agent – Yucca extract.
Black Gold Seed Starting Mix Closeup
The appearance confirms what we would expect to see from the ingredients – lots of white perlite specks on a very dark peat moss background. It is light and fluffy, allowing good root penetration and establishment.
Black Gold Seed Starting Mix
Because this is OMRI listed, we would choose it over a non-OMRI listed seed starting mix.
Square Foot Potting Soil
The final comparison is included even though it is labeled as a potting soil and isn’t one of the seed starting mixes. Garden Time’s Square Foot Gardening Potting Soil is about as close as you can come to a complete garden soil in a bag, and we’ve used it for a number of years to start seeds, transplant seedlings into and have been quite happy with the results.
The “Natural & Organic” label is prominent on the bag, even though this is not OMRI listed. Some of the other claims are “Proven Formula for Optimum Growth” and “Great for Vegetables”.
We sourced this from Lowe’s and have bought it at Home Depot in years past. We also saw it with a different bag in True Value. The company name is Garden Time and is a part of Gro-Well brands in Tempe, AZ. The bag is 1.3 cubic feet, which translates to 38.9 quarts for $8.98, making it by far the most cost effective seed starting medium. Garden Time’s Square Foot Gardening online listing.
Square Foot Potting Soil Ingredients
The ingredients are compost, peat moss, coconut coir, vermiculite, bloodmeal, bone meal, kelp meal, cottonseed meal, alfalfa meal and worm castings. The peat moss, coir and vermiculite are classic seed starting mix ingredients, with the compost, different meals and worm castings adding nutrients to the soil for the plants growth and health. We use this as both a seed starting mix and potting soil or transplant soil because of the nutrients, which are lacking in straight seed starting mixes.
Square Foot Potting Soil Closeup
Looking at the mix it’s easy to see the vermiculite granules, which are gold colored specks instead of the white of perlite. It has a lot darker look due to the compost and additional nutrients.
Vermiculite is mica expanded by intense heat and is used much like perlite to retain water, decrease soil compaction and improve water retention.
Square Foot Potting Soil
Here’s the closeup look.
Seed Starting Mix Cost Chart
The breakdown of the costs per quart tell a story – they are in the ballpark of each other, with the exception of our rogue potting soil thrown in. Most of them have similar ingredients, with a few different additions.
If we had to buy a dedicated seed starting mix and couldn’t use the potting soil we do, our choice would be one that lists the ingredients and is OMRI listed. Having said that, any of the seed starting mixes with the primary ingredients of coconut coir (our preference) or peat moss with perlite or vermiculite would make a satisfactory seed starting mix.
What you choose will depend largely on the availability for you, how much you need and the cost.
As part of the test, we are starting seeds in all four mixes and have documented our results in Seed Germination Observations. Our Potting Soils article gives you some details on what to look for in good soils to transplant your young, tender seedlings into.
Chile de Agua – An Unknown Heirloom Chile from Oaxaca
HistoryThe Chile de Agua is a little known heirloom chile from Oaxaca, Mexico, grown in a small valley for at least three centuries and is slowly becoming better known and more popular in the US. It is one of the chile varieties grown in the ancient Milpa system of community gardening with companion planting using corn, beans, squash, amaranth, sunflowers and chile to feed and sustain the people in the community.
It is very much a local chile, until recently only grown in the valley of Oaxaca (wa-HA-ca) just north of the city of Oaxaca, Mexico. It is not grown commercially, so the production is relatively small and rarely makes it out of the surrounding area, explaining why so few people have gotten to know this remarkable chile.
Even though it isn’t well known outside of the area, the chile de agua holds a special place among other well-known chiles like the chile de arbol, serrano and jalapeño. Traditionally grown in semi-arid lands, it was planted when the seasonal rains began by transplanting seedlings into cone shaped beds made of adobe-like wet mud filled with leaf-cutter ant manure, then capped with more mud. The cap retained enough moisture in the soil for a few months if the weather didn’t cooperate, giving the village of Hidalgo Jaltepec fame for their yearly harvest of the chile de agua and their growing skills.
Chile de Agua roughly translates as “water chile” or “irrigated chile” and is grown almost year round now, selling for a large price premium in the open air markets of Oaxaca. They are sold in groups of six to twelve, fanned out in a circle on a small flat tray or large plate lined with a large green leaf. It isn’t uncommon to see the chile de agua selling for twice the price or more of any other chile at the market, selling out very quickly.
Characteristics
The plants are bushy and mostly low growing, around 2 to 2 1/2 feet tall. The flowers are the usual white color, with a field of ripening chile de aguas a very colorful sight with the enormous numbers of chiles turning from a light spring green into yellows and oranges, finally finishing in a deep orange-reddish. They don’t all ripen at once, as the plant continues to set more flowers as the early season progresses, so the colors come in a palette of hues.
There has been some debate as to what is the “correct” form of the chile de agua, as there are some nurseries and seed companies selling seedlings and seeds with photos showing the chiles hanging down, or pendant. The physical form looks to be correct, but after researching the markets of Oaxaca and reading descriptions in current and historical literature, as well as chefs descriptions we concluded that the erect form is what has been known in Oaxaca for centuries and is the correct one.
Uses
The Seed’s Journey
A search by a famous Chicago chef who specializes in authentic Oaxacan cuisine first introduced us to this unique chile. He needed the chile de agua for a special dish and couldn’t find the correct plants or seeds anywhere. One of our mentors who specializes on all things chile involved us in the search, as he thought we might be interested in finding an unknown but delicious chile to add to our offerings.
Through much searching and tapping into different networks, we came across a photographer working on a book about the restoration of the ancient milpa system just north of Oaxaca. This system has included the chile de agua for at least 300 years, as shown by Spanish documents, and most likely much longer.
The photographer obtained seeds from the local farmers, after email introductions and several explanations of why we were searching for this particular regional chile. There were initial concerns about our ethics and motives as farmers in the region had experienced theft of their seed sovereignty when corn they had grown and nurtured for centuries was obtained under false pretenses and later patented. After we explained our reasons for introducing the chile to American gardeners and restaurants, we were welcomed.
Evaluation and Grow-Out
After evaluating all four seed sources we found that only the original seed from Oaxaca met all of the standards, so it was rotated into the seed production schedule of one of our most experienced growers. Two years had been spent on the evaluations and another two years were needed to produce enough seed to be able to offer it to our market. The first year, all of the seed from the best plants were saved and replanted with the seed from the second year’s crop being offered for sale after seed from the best plants were held back as our foundation seedstock.
The entire process took four years to complete – from obtaining the different seeds for evaluation to having enough seed to offer for sale. This amount of time to introduce a new seed variety isn’t unusual in our line of work, as the last thing we want to do is race off to market with a brand new seed that we don’t have any experience with or knowledge of.
The true value of our work is shown in the comments of gardeners who rave about the flavors, production and gratefulness in being able to grow a variety which has sustained and nurtured a culture across several centuries. In choosing to grow these ancient and sometimes rare seeds over the more common and easily obtained modern varieties, gardeners continue a tradition started long ago and experience a direct connection to the flavors that could easily have been lost to history.
The beautiful thing for home gardeners today is the ability to easily choose and grow a number of heirloom vegetable varieties with amazing stories, beautiful colors, bountiful production and delicious flavors! Each time someone chooses to grow one of these heirlooms, they keep a particular piece of history alive in a real, tangible way.
Maybe you, too, will choose to grow a delicious bit of history in your garden this year!
Spiced Cauliflower Soup
Spiced cauliflower soup is an easy and delicious dish – a warming winter’s dinner but is also a cool and creamy summer’s lunch entreé or appetizer. I had a smoked and roasted potato from roasting a chicken in the wood fired clay BBQ, so that added an extra dimension to the flavors.
The flavors are very engaging with more depth than would be anticipated from such simple ingredients. Use the coconut cream for a milder, richer and creamy soup, with the yogurt adding a tangy counterpoint.
Makes excellent and super easy leftovers for the following day's lunch. It is surprisingly satisfying on a cold winter night, but is light and cool on a summer's day.
This is extremely easy to make and doesn’t need you to watch or stir it the entire time, freeing you up for other things for most of the cooking time.
Starting with the main ingredients, I chopped them into appropriate sized pieces. I left the skin on the potato for the extra smoky flavor, but also because lots of nutrients are in the skin that I didn’t want to lose. Same thing with the ginger, I just thinly sliced it and then diced it finely so that it would cook down into the texture of the soup.
The cooked vegetables after adding the spices but just before adding the vegetable stock. Turmeric is highly beneficial to health, especially when activated by ground black pepper and teamed up with a healthy fat like coconut oil. Much more of the nutrients and benefits are delivered to the body this way, so this soup is the perfect, delicious delivery method!
Ready for enjoyment! The potato cooks down, thickening the consistency and the cauliflower almost completely cooks into the soup. If you want, transfer the finished soup to a blender for a quick spin to make it smoother before serving. The fresh chopped cilantro adds a bright, lively note!
Steamed Spaghetti Squash with Pasta Sauce
Spaghetti squash is too often overlooked by the home gardener as too plain or common. This is unfortunate because it is a marvel for very tasty dinners which just happen to be quick and easy to prepare. In 30 minutes – from start to finish – you can have a hot and delicious fresh meal with a spaghetti squash and just a couple of other ingredients.
The flavor is very slightly sweet, more so than real pasta, making it an ideal base to pair a tomato or pesto sauce with. If you’ve made some sauce ahead of time, then you’ve got a fully home-made meal that will satisfy three to four people in a half hour from start to sit-down, with only about ten minutes of hands-on time. Another option is to use a quality store-bought sauce and dress it up with seasonings or balsamic vinegar and olive oil to make it a bit more special.
Let’s take a look at just how easy this is!
Starting off with Spaghetti Squash and friends…
It is steamed whole for about 25 minutes. The rind popped at about this time, letting me know it was close. The spaghetti squash was removed from the steamer basket and rinsed under cold running water so it could be handled.
The seeds are removed with a spoon or scraper, then the shell or rind is removed.
Using tongs, forks or your fingers, shred the squash into its namesake spaghetti strand appearance.
A couple of minutes later, this is what you’ll have! Ready for sauce.
A generous serving of home-made pasta sauce that was previously made, some grated Italian cheese and you’ve got an easy and delicious meal!
The next night we used a pesto sauce with Feta cheese and sun dried tomatoes and it was also exceptional.
Determinate and Indeterminate Tomatoes –What’s the Difference?
Heirloom tomatoes are available in a dizzying array of choices – colors, sizes, shapes, flavors and how they produce. Is a determinate variety best for your garden, or would an indeterminate be better for you? How to tell, and what do the terms mean, exactly?
While it may seem confusing, the terms are easy to remember and are pretty explanatory once you understand what they mean.
In a nutshell, the terms describe the growth and production habit of the plants. Determinate tend to be shorter and bushier, while indeterminate are taller and lankier. They also set or produce tomatoes completely differently!
What to choose and which type is best suited for your particular garden depends on a few things – how much space you have to devote to tomatoes, if you need or want to grow in pots or planters, how many tomatoes you can or want to handle at once and if you want most of your tomatoes in one harvest or prefer to get a few at a time.
Let’s look at the details.
When they start setting blossoms at the very top of the plant, growth stops and all of the energy is put into producing lots of tomatoes at once. Usually the entire crop will ripen within one to two weeks, with the plant either dying or sometimes going dormant for a period before producing a second, smaller flush of flowers for a smaller follow-up crop. The second crop only happens in areas with a long growing season.
Because they are smaller and bushier plants, determinate tomatoes can be grown in containers, pots or buckets in small spaces where a taller tomato which needs staking won’t work. They don’t need pruning, as that only removes flowers and reduces production. Determinate tomatoes are great for gardeners who want or need a large harvest all at once or over a short time frame, such as for canning or making large batches of sauce or salsa. An added benefit is most determinate varieties are early producers. Some gardeners like determinate varieties as the early harvest allows them to get a good crop of tasty tomatoes and still enjoy a long summer vacation!
Some determinate tomatoes will benefit from staking or caging, but it isn’t as necessary as with indeterminate varieties. Those that need support don’t need much, just enough to keep them from toppling over if grown in a pot or container or from wind or rain.
Some of the determinate heirloom tomatoes we offer:
This type of tomato plant will grow some, set some flowers, produce fruit and continue to grow and repeat the process all season long. The amount of flowers and fruit set each time depends on the variety of tomato; some will only set a few flowers each time while others will easily put on 20 to 50 flowers for the smaller, cherry or currant size tomatoes. Indeterminate tomatoes really remind us these are tropical plants which are perennial in their native habitat. It isn’t unusual to find three year old tomato “trees” in Central America!
Indeterminate tomatoes are perfect for the home gardener who wants a smaller harvest several times during the season instead of one large batch at once. The amount of fresh tomatoes on your kitchen counter is easily controlled by how many plants are in the garden. Be warned, however, even indeterminate tomatoes can easily overwhelm the average home gardener’s kitchen with just a few too many plants in production!
Support for these tomatoes is essential for good harvests and to keep the plants healthy. Indeterminates can be allowed to sprawl – we have done it many times – but it becomes a lot of work to lift and move hundreds of pounds of vines to pick the tomatoes, and lots are lost to not being able to see them and they rot on the ground. Support systems like cages, staking, trellising and such will go a long way to keeping these monsters manageable. Heirloom tomatoes can easily have stems 1 ½ inches in diameter at ground level, so make sure the support structure is solid and able to hold a hundred pounds or more of tomato plant weight.
Pruning is optional, with some swearing by it while others don’t find it helps tomato output very much. Your climate has a lot to do with it, as those in humid climates will see benefits from pruning the bottom 10 – 12 inches to improve airflow and prevent the lowest fruit and leaves from touching the ground, inviting pests and disease into the fruit and plant. We have experimented with pruning and found for us in our climate early pruning prior to transplanting is beneficial, but we don’t see any improvement in production in pruning after transplanting and have actually seen a decrease in the size and amount of tomatoes on pruned plants.
One technique that helps end of season fruit ripen better is to prune late flowers that don’t have a chance of producing fruit before frost. This re-directs the plant’s energy into the ripening fruit and not into flowers that won’t bear anything.
Some of the indeterminate heirloom tomatoes we offer:
Many gardeners will grow both types, with an emphasis on one or the other depending on their needs. Some will do a few indeterminates for fresh slicing and salad tomatoes all season, with the majority of the plant being determinate for their well-known spaghetti sauce or signature salsa that is canned or frozen for the upcoming year. Others want to do smaller batches of different sauces or salsas or have a smaller kitchen and just can’t can a couple of hundred pounds of tomatoes at once.
Now you’ve seen how both types can be beneficial, you can choose what works best for your garden!
How to Use the Wishlist
Terroir Seeds Wishlist – Keep Track Easier
Our new store platform has an upgraded Wishlist feature giving you a place to keep items like seeds, tools, or books in one place for future reference. Whether you are looking for a unique and thoughtful gift for the avid (or beginning) gardener in your life, or want to see what might be nice to try for next season the Wishlist keeps it safe for you.
When you find something you like, simply add it to the Wishlist and keep on browsing or reading. It’s that simple.
We’ll show you exactly how to use it, step by step!
Add item to wishlist
For example, you see the Aromatherapy Garden Seed Collection and think it would make the perfect gift for your friend. Just click the “Add to wishlist” link and you’ll see the login page.
Logging Into Your Account
Log In to your account
If you’ve purchased on the new store platform, simply log in with your email and password.
If you’ve bought from us in the past but not in the new store (since August 2017), you’ll see the screen below – which means you just need to reset your password and you’re all set. This takes about 10 seconds!
If you are a completely new customer who has never purchased from us, use the “Create account” link on the right. You’ll spend about 30 seconds registering.
Log in warning
If you see this warning in red appear – you just need to reset your password. Click the “Forgot password” link…
Forgot password
…and you’ll see this screen. Enter your email address, click the reset button and check your email. You’ll see a link to reset your password and you’re ready to go!
If you don’t see the email within a minute or two – check your junk or spam folder to see if it was caught there.
Creating Your Wishlist
Wishlist screen
Once you’ve signed in, click the ‘Wishlists” link on the left and you’ll see the screen above.
It’s time to create your wishlist! Click the “New wishlist” button…
Create a new wishlist
…and name your wishlist. We’ve named this one the Christmas Wishlist as an example.
See the checkbox for making your wishlist public? That allows you to share it with your friends, family, spouse for gift suggestions, or gardening club. You can change it from public to private at any time, so you don’t have to decide now.
Share your wishlist
When you make your list public, this is what the shareable link looks like. Copy the link and share it through email or social media with everyone you want to see it. Your wishlist looks like this inside.
Updating your wishlist
Adjusting the contents of your wishlist is also simple – clicking the “x” on each photo removes that item from your list. This way you can add variations of something you are interested in and go back later to review and choose which one looks best for your garden, then delete the ones you don’t need.
Items stay in your wishlist until you remove them – they won’t disappear!
When you are ready to buy – go to your wishlist and click on the item, then add it to your cart and finish your shopping the usual way.
Wishlist menu
Your wishlist overview looks like this – showing you how many items are in it, whether it can be shared, and buttons to edit, share or delete the wishlist. For example, you could delete the Christmas Wishlist and create a Spring Garden one for next season!
That is all there is to it – pretty simple and easy to use. Now you don’t have to worry about writing that unique tomato down that you want to show your neighbor or friend for growing next season – just add it to the Wishlist and bring it back up when you get together.
Heirloom Tomato Leaves – Potato Leaf vs Regular Leaf
Heirloom tomato leaves have two main different and distinct types of leaves – potato leaf and regular leaf. Plants with regular tomato leaves are what we are all familiar with; multi-lobed, serrated and sometimes almost toothed branching off of the stem. Potato leaved plants have broader, smoother single leaves branching off of the stem, missing the multiple lobes and serrations.
Regular Leaf Tomatoes
These are by far the most common and well-known type of tomato leaves – they are what we think of when we think of “tomato plants”. The shape and color of the leaves can vary – from slightly serrated to extremely and from a light pale green to a deep dark green and almost a bluish leaf. The width and length of the leaf can vary a lot as well from small narrow leaves which almost always curl to long and wide leaves that droop.
Potato Leaf Tomatoes
As mentioned above, these leaves are almost always much bigger and smoother on the edges than regular leaves, with more heft. They look much more like potato leaves than tomato leaves, thus the name. Potato leaves tend to give more shade to a plant than regular leaves, due to the larger area that the leaves have and more shade from each leaf.
Examples of potato leaf tomatoes are:
There doesn’t seem to be much difference in growing the two different types of tomato leaves; one is not more productive, flavorful or pest and disease resistant than the other, or tolerant of heat or cold. They just have different leaves.
One thing of note is that as far as we can tell, all potato-leaved varieties are heirloom or older varieties. We haven’t been able to find a hybrid that is potato-leaved.
Have some fun in your garden this season and try one (or more) of these unusual but delicious heirloom tomatoes!
Sicilian Eggplant and Tomato Sauce
This Sicilian eggplant and tomato sauce is wonderful and surprising with its richness and depth of flavors, both fresh and roasted. Easy and delicious!
September Garden Vegetables
September in northern Arizona means a few things – the weather starts to cool off and the nights become very enjoyable, the garden seems to find another gear as the energy-sapping heat begins dropping off and we harvest some of the most amazing colors and flavors of vegetables.
We’ve taken some glamour shots of the garden’s bounty and wanted to share them with you, along with tips on how we’ve enjoyed preparing them in different dishes.
Remember as you look at these vegetables to not worry if you can’t plant and taste these this year or season; see what appeals to you and either buy them now or add them to your Wishlist. Seeds are good for more than one year, so buying them a few months before planting will not have any impact on their germination next season. Just store them in a cool and dry place, then you can plant and experience all of these colors and flavors for yourself, straight from your garden!
Click on the links in the descriptions to visit them in our online seed store!
Fresh Rosa Bianca eggplant Рbeautiful, firm and tasty without any trace of bitterness. Eggplant can be quite delicious when grown in your own garden, harvested fresh and cooked soon after. We peeled and sliced this, slowly saut̩ed it in olive oil and added it into a fresh roasted tomato sauce. It easily stood with the intense roasted tomato flavors without getting lost or overwhelmed.
Flamme or Jaune Flamme Tomato – apricot size and color, French heirloom tomato that came on early and is still producing strong late into the season. Really a wonderfully delicious tomato with an immediate, intensely sweet flavor that is soon balanced by a smooth tartness and fruit overtones. The complex flavors last on the tongue, making a second and third bite inevitable.
A different angle on the Flamme tomatoes.
Jubilee tomato – Absolutely delicious golden tomato with very little gel, lots of meat and long lasting flavor. Flavor is immediate with a balanced tart and sweet profile and very full. Many yellow tomatoes have a milder or blander taste, as if the flavors were diluted – not the Jubilee! Excellent fresh as a slicer and as a unique flavor in a fresh roasted pasta sauce – doesn’t get lost in rich red paste tomatoes and adds a brightness to the sauce.
Box Car Willie tomato – Most “old-fashioned” heirloom tomatoes have a strong to very strong acid content that contributes a tartness that sometimes becomes quite a bite. Not Box Car Willie – it has an immediate, forward flavor that starts off with a moderate tartness quickly followed by a mild sweetness, balancing the flavors out. Overall the impression is a slightly tart, yet mildly sweet smaller beefsteak tomato that is really enjoyable sliced fresh or juiced. When sliced it retained most of the juiciness inside the fruit and didn’t leak all over the cutting board.
Box Car Willie Tomatos sliced open.
Speckled Roman tomato – Meaty and moderately sweet with little juice or seed cavity, these are great on salads or as an appetizer dish where their unique and eye-catching colors can be shown off. Their flavors back up the show, making this all the more valuable in the garden. One of the all-purpose tomatoes that we turn to – it is excellent freshly sliced, in salsas and adds a fruit note to sauces or soups as well.
Another view of the Speckled Roman, showing the interior.
Pepperoncini Pepper – These are pretty common peppers, but the taste and flavors when grown at home are unlike anything you’ll find in the store. This probably explains why these continue to be a popular variety that continues to find new fans each year. Mild yet flavorful, these work well in many dishes that need a bit of pepper flavor without overbearing heat.
Hungarian Hot Wax Pepper – The wilder, spicier relative of the Sweet Wax pepper! Moderately warm without being overly hot with a tangy but slightly sweet flavor. Watered well, the heat is moderate but can be cranked up by restricting water. Excellent when de-seeded and dry-fried with garlic and onions on a hot cast iron pan, then added as a topping to a pizza.
Long revered in Oriental cultures as a symbol of mindfulness, calm and patience, the preying mantis is also a good sign in the garden as a pest patrol.
Easy Homemade Basil Pesto
Fresh, homemade basil pesto is one of the treasures of summer. There are many tasty treats that come out of our gardens during summertime, but pesto is one that is very easy and pretty quick to make. It freezes well and there is very little that evokes the flavor and fond memory of warm summer days than the taste of a batch of pesto on a cold winter’s day.
It might be because almost all of the other garden offerings are cooked in some way while preparing them for storage, while pesto is just frozen. It retains that true, fresh flavor better than many other vegetables that are frozen while fresh.
If you haven’t made your own fresh pesto from basil you’ve grown, you might be surprised at how easy it is to grow or how small of a space it takes to grow a good amount. This is an old horse water barrel that was “up-cycled” from a 55-gallon water drum that was cut in half. It is about two feet deep, and we filled it with a mixture of soil and aged compost.
We planted Thai basil in one half and Sweet basil in the other, so you can see how vigorously they grow. We’ve been enjoying fresh basil sprigs in our morning eggs – both the Sweet and Thai work wonderfully, giving their signature perfume and aroma to the breakfast. We also love the Genovese basil, considered the classic pesto basil – but it bears experimenting with different basil varieties and even mixtures of basils in a pesto recipe to see what flavors come out and find what you particularly love!
For this batch, we trimmed about half of the Sweet basil – about 1/4 of the circle- so there would be plenty left for another batch. Basil will grow back quickly, so don’t worry about trimming it short – we left about 3 inches above the soil.
This is our adaptation to the time-honored Pesto Genovese. It is made by pounding in a large mortar and pestle, but we find the flavors are very good when made with a food processor. It won’t be quite the same, and you owe it to yourself to make it the classic way at least once—even if only to see the difference in flavor.
This is what that 1/4 of a circle planter of basil looks like! It overflows a large colander and is ready for the leaves to be picked.
If you are making fresh pesto for dinner, put the water on to boil just before you start picking the leaves. The water will be boiling when you’ve gotten the leaves off and washed and the cheese grated. With just a little preparation on the timing and ingredients, you can have the pesto done just about when the pasta is ready.
It took us about a half hour total to make this batch, including photos.
Harvesting the basil leaves is straightforward – pull them off the stem. You can change the overall flavor of the pesto by harvesting more of the younger leaves for a milder flavor or older and larger leaves for a deeper flavor. If you see young buds or flowers, adding a few of these will add a completely different flavor profile to the pesto. When making pesto to use as a remoulade to top a grilled steak with, using more of the buds will give it a sharper flavor to counter the rich, meaty steak.
You’ll have this in just a couple of minutes – a colander full of leaves and a pile of stalks. Rinse the leaves well and compost the stalks. If you’ve grown your own basil, you’ll probably notice that there is much less dirt than when bought at the store. This results when growing in a raised bed, especially using a drip system. The drip will not splash dirt up on the leaves, and a mulched raised bed will greatly reduce the rains from splashing dirt up as well. It makes a noticeable difference in how long it takes to rinse the leaves.
After rinsing the leaves, leave them to drain for a few minutes and grate the cheese. This is another chance to experiment with flavors, as the classic Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is great, but a Pecorino is also delicious. Don’t be afraid to try different types of hard-grating cheeses to see what they bring to the recipe. Several hand-crafted American cheeses would be a tasty addition – not “authentic” but very delicious all the same!
By this time, the basil leaves had drained, and it was time to add them to the food processor. All of the other ingredients, except the oil, were added as well. The water was at a boil, so we added the pasta to the water and then returned to the food processor.
Does your pasta pot always seem to boil over, leaving a mess to clean up? We’ve found this Pot Minder to be a great little addition – it is a ceramic disc that almost stops the foaming that leads to boilovers. All you do is drop the disc in when you add the pasta, rice, or potatoes, and the boil-overs are decreased by at least 90%. I won’t say you’ll never have boil-overs again, but not very often, and they will be much smaller than before.
Here is the pot full of pasta at a full boil, with the small amount of foam being normal. The Pot Minder means one less thing to think about when you are in the middle of cooking dinner.
With the pasta starting to cook, the rest of the ingredients were added – garlic, nuts, and olive oil. We like to start with about 2/3 of the final amount of oil. That way, if more oil is needed, it is easy to add it, but if there is too much oil, it can’t be taken out!
The food processor is pulsed for several seconds at a time first to chop the ingredients and convert the mass of separate ingredients to the beginnings of a paste. After it has started to form a paste, use a flexible spatula to scrape the bowl and clean the sides, getting all of the good flavors into play.
After all of the ingredients have started to incorporate into a loose paste, add the grated cheese. We like adding it in two parts to make blending in and combining the flavors easier. Make sure to pulse the processor a few seconds several times until it begins to disappear into the paste and become thicker. Do this until all of the cheese has been added. Use the flexible scraper to clean the sides of the bowl.
Now it’s time to examine the pesto. You can leave it fairly chunky and coarse, like the above photo shows, or you can make it much finer by pulsing the food processor for 30 – 45 seconds several times more. It is all up to your preference, both in flavor and appearance. The flavors will change as the pesto is chopped finer by the processor blades. Make sure to taste the pesto several times to determine what you like.
Don’t worry if you make it too fine. The basil plant will re-grow quickly, and you’ll have a second chance soon! The fine pesto will likely still taste good, giving you a chance to refine your technique and put your signature on the dish.
Fresh basil is one of the few herbs that freeze fine with very little, if any, loss in flavor or aroma. We always try to make extra to freeze some for the winter – reminding us of the incredible flavors of summer. If you really want to freeze a lot, plant 10 basil plants, and you’ll feel like you’re farming basil!
You will be able to get at least two cuttings and very possibly three in one season. With our 10 plants, we were able to put up about 18 freezer jars of fresh pesto, and that doesn’t include eating at least six more. The freezer jars are just big enough for one meal, so there is no waste, and you don’t wind up with soggy pesto in the fridge a few days after thawing it out.
Here is the final product – a simple but delicious dinner just waiting to carry you away!
What do you think? Have you grown basil in a container like this, or do you grow it in a more traditional garden, or maybe inside? How else do you use fresh basil and pesto?
Here’s the full recipe –
To avoid spoiling the pesto flavor by the food processor, take care to minimize the heat produced by the blade. Some suggest chilling the blade and bowl assembly in the freezer before starting and monitor the amount of time the pesto is being processed, but it doesn't take that long to make a batch, and we haven't tasted a noticeable difference with not freezing the blade and bowl.
Using cheese fresh from the refrigerator helps control any heat as well.
Growing Quality Heirloom Chiles
One of the wonderful things that we get to do in this business is visit seed growers. Most of the time the visit is to inspect the crops or harvest for that season, looking for potential challenges or quality issues that must be addressed. Open pollinated seed wants to “drift” or change and adapt to current conditions, and it is our job to keep true to the characteristics that made it so worthwhile to be passed down from generation to generation.
Other times we get to visit a grower or breeder to see what they are working on, which becomes a highly educational day in the fields for us. This is just such an occasion.
We were invited to south-eastern Arizona to spend the day with a world-class chile breeder. He currently supplies most of the chile seeds for the Hatch chile growers in New Mexico, and has been breeding and refining chiles for about 30 years. As an example, he obtained seeds for the “Sandia” chile from growers in the Albuquerque area almost 20 years ago and has doubled the production of that chile, while retaining it’s remarkable flavor and compact, bushy plant characteristics that have lots of leaf shade to prevent the young chiles from becoming sun scalded. He combines traditional plant breeding with extensive selection and very close observation, only choosing to keep the very best plants for seed.
We first met him at a Master Gardener conference where he presented a talk about the genetics of the breeding he was doing, explaining how much more complex a chile plant is than a tomato, with the resulting complexities in breeding and selecting to get certain characteristics to come through reliably. He has studied the DNA of the chile plant extensively, and has collaborated with university research projects working to identify and map the chile genome to better understand how and why it grows and reacts the way it does.
When we first pulled up to the growing field, we weren’t exactly sure what to expect. From our conversations with him, we knew he was growing several dozen chile varieties on a few hundred acres, but we didn’t know how. Chiles will readily cross pollinate, creating a mess for growers and especially breeders. As we parked, a tractor was already pulling a flatbed trailer out of the field loaded with freshly harvested chiles.
For all of the photos, click to see them full sized.
Looking out across the fields, you can see fluorescent flags in the middle distance. It is easier to see if you click on the photo for the full size. These are the primary plants that show all of the desirable characteristics or traits that the breeder is looking for, so they are tagged and will be allowed to fully ripen, then the seeds will be collected to be replanted next year. All of the surrounding chiles will be harvested for use as fresh green chiles.
This is where it all starts, with a single flower. One flower, successfully pollinated, will give you one chile with seeds. These particular chiles have a good amount of seeds, but there are some that we have grown for us that only produce a few seeds per chile pod, so they are much more labor intensive and more expensive to grow.
Chile flowers are classified as “perfect”, meaning that each flower has both male and female organs. The anther or male portion produces the pollen and is seen extending out from the flower in the above photo. The stigma is the female organ and it is beneath the flower petals and underneath the anthers.
Flowers begin appearing when the chile plant starts branching and the process of flowering is called “dichotomous”, meaning that the plant produces one flower, then two, then four, eight, sixteen and so on. There will be many, many more flowers than fruit, and a larger percentage of the early flowers produce fruit than those later in the season.
Chiles are surprisingly temperature sensitive, as they produce the most fruit when nighttime temperatures are between 65° and 80°F, almost stopping by 85°F and the pollen aborts when daytime temperatures are above 95°F. This is why home gardeners will shade their chile or pepper plants in the summer in hot locations. To read more about this, see Grow Better Peppers with Shade.
Gardeners with some experience often ask how we isolate the different varieties of tomatoes, peppers or any of the different cultivars we offer so they do not cross-pollinate. There are three main methods of isolation – time, distance and physical isolation. Our growers use all three of these techniques to grow more plants for seed, which increases production.
Swaths of corn are used at this location for isolation. It is planted earlier than the chiles in rows that are about 15 feet deep and seeded fairly thickly. The result is tall barriers that inhibits the travel of pollen from one plot of chiles to another and has proven itself to be highly effective through both field trials and laboratory testing.
When the corn has matured it is harvested and the stalks are removed, making it much easier to access the chile plots. By that time the chiles have flowered and produced the first couple of flushes of fruit which the seed will be saved from. Later pollination of fruit is picked and used as fresh chiles, with the seed not being saved.
We had camped in small secluded campground the night before, with a strong weather warning for the next couple of days due to a tropical storm working its way inland from the Pacific.
This is how we started our day, with clouds getting stronger and the wind picking up until the mountains to the west were getting drenched. The rains then turned toward us and we were forced out of the fields just after noon.
Keeping track of all of the individual plots is done both by hand and with modern technology. A hand drawn map is used in the field to verify and make notes, with the information being transferred to a computer file later.
There is a team that works to keep the quality high – the breeder and farm owner, a field foreman and two highly experienced plant identification specialists that spend lots of hours each day in the field with the foreman, looking at and evaluating each individual chile plant for the characteristics that are desired. Those plants are then identified, tagged and tracked throughout the season.
If a plant continues to perform to standards, the chiles will be harvested and the seeds saved for next season. If even one trait or characteristic is found to be below standards, the markers are removed and the fruit is harvested as fresh chile to be eaten and the seeds are not saved.
The field inspections of chiles was a highlight of our day! This chile is just starting to ripen past the green stage. There are sometimes 15 different characteristics that are desired and evaluated in a single chile – many not having to do with heat or taste.
If you click into the larger photo, you will see the thickness of the flesh better. This shows how fertile the soil is, as poor or unsuitable soil will not grow thick flesh and the skin will be slightly to noticeably bitter. The breeder has shown me photos of chiles that have a flesh 3/8 of an inch thick! This is extremely good soil for growing chiles.
This particular chile only grows two ribs down the center of the fruit where the seeds are attached to. They know to cut the chile open from the side to see into the chile for evaluation.
One thing we learned is that the capsaicin or heat is located along the ribs of the chile. Mild to moderate chiles will have the majority of the heat here. This is primarily true for most chiles, though some of the hotter varieties will contain additional capsaicin in the flesh.
Once again, clicking into the larger photo will show the yellow capsaicin better. It is located on the bottom rib and is a very light yellow color. It was very educational to taste the chile flesh, which was very flavorful and mild and then touch the rib with the capsaicin and taste it. The heat was immediate and surprising for such a mild chile and lasted for several minutes on the tongue. This is why many recipes will say to remove the ribs, as it strips out the majority of the heat!
The capsaicin can be easily seen on the top rib as a light yellow line that follows the flesh, with the tip of the knife pointing to a heavy spot. This chile has a good amount of capsaicin on both ribs and would give an unsuspecting person quite the surprise!
His focus with chiles is on the milder varieties, such as those grown in and around Hatch, NM.
We talked about different characteristics being selected for in the plots and here is a representation of some of them. At first glance, these four chiles seem to be all the same – large, green and fairly flat. In fact, these are all different cultivars; bred, selected and grown for different markets.
The top one is grown for fresh chile sales at Mexican markets – this is what traditional Mexican households are looking for in size and flavor for specific dishes with fresh green chile. It is too long for canning, as the chile will fold over in the can – making it undesirable for whole canned chile use.
The second from the top is grown for the canning companies – it has a “crown” where the stem is, making it easier to de-stem by machine. In fact, the term is called “de-stemability” when looking at the characteristics.
They will pick a chile, grab the stem and snap it off of the top. If it comes off whole without taking any of the chile with it, that is good. If part of the stem remains, or some of the chile is removed – that is not acceptable.
The third chile is preferred for fresh stuffing use as it is flat and wide and is perfect for Chile Rellenos.
The bottom one is perfect for fresh roasting, as it is rounder so that it will tumble in the flame roaster and is longer and wider than the canning chile. The stem is a bit smaller and tighter than the canning chile as well, which is desirable for roasting as you don’t want to lose the stems in the roaster.
It is easier to see some of the physical differences in this shot.
For the breeder, flavor is most important followed closely by productivity. We must have tasted a hundred chiles during our time in the field and left with both of our arms full of chiles that had been picked and tested for de-stemability or other physical traits and were then waste. We loved it!
Another look at the production capability of a chile plant. They select for smaller, more compact plants with larger chiles and lots of leaf cover to shade and protect the chiles from sun scald and hotter temperatures. More leaf cover also keeps the soil cooler which keeps the flowers cooler, maintaining a better pollination and fruit production environment.
It quickly became apparent that there were many other traits that had been identified and were selected for beyond just flavor and size or appearance of the chiles that contributed greatly to the overall quality and flavor of the chiles. Lower plants that had thicker stems so that the chiles didn’t break the stems from the high production and large sizes were part of it. More leaf cover with larger leaves was another. Tolerance and resistance to disease, sun-scald and other challenges were more traits actively encouraged.
Remember how we talked about isolation in a previous photo? Here’s another example of isolation that is being used to actively improve the chiles in the field. These are isolation cages or tunnels, put over the chile plants after they are sown to exclude any insects or pollen drift from other chile plants. This prevents cross-pollination and only allows the chiles inside the cage to do the pollination. These cages were just slightly taller than the chile plants and some were hundreds of feet long – as long as the row of chile plants.
Here’s another look, showing two different types of isolation in one photo. The remains of the corn row isolation between plots is next to one of the isolation tunnels, with the field manager and breeder as we saw them most of the day – heads down looking at chiles with their hands full of chiles. The yellow flags are tags of specific plants that have been identified as having the traits or characteristics they wanted.
The isolation tunnels don’t prevent sun or water from entering, only insects and stray pollen.
After we were chased out of the fields by the rains, we got a tour of the processing facility where the truckloads of ripe red chiles were cleaned, de-seeded and dried. The dried chile pods are sold to a company that makes chile paste and sauces, while the seeds are sold to the New Mexico chile canning companies and grown around Hatch, NM and surrounding areas.
We were treated to seeing how much seed is involved in an operation like this – lots and lots! The warehouse is climate controlled for temperature and humidity and is stacked full of chile seeds. Most will be sold to the commercial growers of fresh green chiles, but there is a deep store of multiple years worth of breeding stock seed. There are backups upon backups going several years back, all labelled and coded with details so that they can be easily reached if needed, or if there is a crop failure due to weather or insects.
This level of backup and redundancy is absolutely necessary as a breeder, as there is nowhere else to turn if a crop fails or things don’t turn out well. We felt very privileged to see and spend some time in the seed warehouse!
Lemon-Garlic Infused Olive Tapenade
We did a video in partnership with our local hospital about growing and cooking with herbs. Yavapai Regional Medical Center has created “Your Healthy Kitchen” recognizing and promoting the idea of eating and staying healthy makes a lot of sense.
We talk about some of the easier to grow fresh herbs that do well almost anywhere and in any size container, then use some of those same herbs in making a delicious tapenade or appetizer of olives, capers and herbs to finish the show.
Here’s what herbs and vegetables you could grow in your garden for this recipe – Dill, Parsley, Rosemary, Thyme & Onions
Succession Planting Made Easy – A Step-by-Step Guide for Every Garden
Transform your garden with succession planting. Learn how to create a continuous harvest of fresh vegetables, herbs, and flowers throughout the growing season.
Young Green Beans with Dijon Vinaigrette
Whether you have a bounty of young green beans from your garden, or have gotten a great deal at the Farmer’s Market – here’s a quick and simply delicious way to make them into a very memorable side dish that will be talked about! The French name for the classic, tender green bean or filet bean is “haricots vert”. If you are looking for them at the market, look for young, slender and tender green beans that have just the faintest hint of the bean when you feel the shell.
Here’s what could come out of your garden for this recipe – Green Beans and Green Onions!
People often come back for second servings when they discover how delicious this unusual flavor combination is, so consider making extra!
Lemony Green Beans
Green beans can be a blessing in disguise – they are a welcome addition to the dinner table in the spring when they first arrive, but can soon wear out their welcome as their prolific nature is truly shown. Just how many ways can they be prepared without being the dreaded green vegetable on the plate?
We love them this way; a very simple, easy and fast way to make them unique and delicious. They can easily balance a rich roasted chicken or grilled meats, but also add to a fish or seafood plate.
Consider this a base for exploring several different directions with the green beans – using toasted almonds, sauteed garlic and even taking the grated Parmesan approach and adding pasta for a light summer evening meal.
Here’s what could come out of your garden for this recipe – Green Beans and Green Onions!
Blanching the green beans in boiling water keeps them from being over-cooked when sauteing them with the shallots.
Controlling Bindweed in the Garden
Bindweed HistoryField bindweed, also called perennial morning glory, has the scientific name of Convolvulus arvensis and is widely considered to be one of the most invasive and destructive weeds in cropland and gardens. It was first found in Virginia as early as 1739 and is thought to have originally brought to Kansas and the Midwest from the lower Volga region in Russia, hitching a ride in the oats and wheat brought by immigrants starting new lives. It and its close cousin hedge bindweed (Convolvulus sepium) are both perennials, reproducing from both seeds and shallow creeping roots which make control and eradication much more difficult than if it was an annual.
Bindweed has been so pervasive that in 1937 Kansas wrote official legislation outlawing field bindweed – among a number of other persistent weeds – requiring farmers to use every effort to remove them from their fields and state agencies to do the same with public lands. Several Midwestern states followed suit and adopted this legal approach, approving and vigorously promoting an “eradication through poisoning” approach. As you might assume, all of these laws and efforts were unsuccessful. Perhaps the legislators forgot, if they ever knew, that Mother Nature rarely obeys mankind’s laws.
Bindweed competes very aggressively with adjacent crop plants for water, nutrients, and light, reducing crop yield and quality as well as interfering with harvesting by intertwining with crop plants and clogging up farm equipment – thus giving its name of “bind-weed”. In farming, bindweed infestations can reduce grain crop yields by 20 – 50% and row or vegetable crops by 50 – 80%, with similar reductions in the home garden. This is not a weed to be taken lightly!
Identification and Growth
Bindweed Wrapped Around Morning Glory
It is pretty easy to identify field bindweed and its several cousins. If you’ve ever grown morning glory, then you are already familiar with what bindweed looks like because they are in the same family – Morning Glory. Bindweed has narrower leaves and smaller flowers than Morning Glory, as can be seen in the photo of bindweed vine wrapped around morning glory, and the photo at the top of the article. It is a low growing, drought tolerant with medium green narrow arrowhead-shaped leaves on vigorous vining slender stems. The flowers are funnel-shaped with colors from white to pink. The flowers produce small round capsules with 1 – 4 seeds in each, which can survive in the soil for up to 50 years due to their exceptionally hard and durable seed coats. There is a long central taproot on each plant that can drill down as far as 20 feet or more for moisture that develops numerous lateral roots, mostly in the top 2 feet of soil. Field bindweed reproduces from seed and from buds that form along the lateral roots, sending shoots up to the surface which then become entirely new independent plants. Lateral roots can spread about 10 feet per season, sending up new shoots along the way.
Invading Bindweed
The most common identification is when a gardener realizes there is a mat of green vines that are taking over a section of the garden or yard, or is climbing up the trellis or wall in the case of hedge bindweed. Early in the morning there will be hundreds of small, pretty flowers opened up that will attract a person’s attention.
Early warm weather wakes bindweed up and it grows until the frost or cold stops it in the fall. Extreme heat, drought, and cold will slow down or kill off the top growth, but the underground roots and shoots will go dormant, waiting for enough moisture or better weather to re-emerge. The root systems can spread up to 10 feet per growing season, or by the lateral roots and buds being broken up and re-distributed by tilling. Seed is often spread from irrigation water runoff, birds eating the seeds and depositing them elsewhere, on the feet of gardeners, dogs, and other animals and on the wheels of wheelbarrows, tillers or other machinery and vehicles.
Control Methods
When researching how to control bindweed, the most commonly recommended method is to spray it with a persistent herbicide like glyphosate (Roundup) or worse, but then turn around and caution that care must be used around vegetable or other food crops.
The second most common prevention recommendation is to make sure to avoid bringing in soil, seed, hay or animal feed that has the seeds, buds or pieces of the lateral roots in them. This is somewhat obvious, but too many times the first sign of having a problem is when the little flowers have bloomed and it is way too late for prevention.
The folly of using persistent, petrochemical herbicides to control most weeds – but especially bindweed – is apparent when looking at the multiple mechanisms it uses for reproduction – seeds, buds, lateral roots and the shoots they send up, as well as the vast amount of seeds that can stay dormant for several decades, just waiting for the right soil conditions. Sure, spraying will knock the above ground growth back, but the next season it will be back from all of the different angles it uses to survive, so more spraying is needed. Meanwhile, the spray is also knocking back the exact plants you want to grow and it isn’t beginning to touch the seed or root reservoirs in the soil!
Another common but misguided approach is to use a mixture of vinegar, Epsom salts, and dish detergent. This doesn’t work any better and may wind up killing more plants that just the weeds. Vinegar – whether household strength or the much stronger agricultural vinegar – is an acid and affects the above ground green growth. It will kill that off, but not touch the underground roots, seeds or shoots. It also changes the pH of the soil, potentially creating conditions for worse weeds to come in. Epsom salts are magnesium sulfate, supplying elemental magnesium for the soil microbes to work with and sulfur, which again lowers pH and is a nutrient building block. Dish detergent is a “spreader/sticker” which coats and covers the surface of the leaves, suffocating them. Unfortunately, it can also suffocate beneficial insects, earthworms and the leaves of nearby plants you want to keep.
It is initially easier and much simpler to just spray the weeds, but that quickly becomes a slippery slope as the weeds you are trying to control grow more abundant and you start to notice other invasive weeds appearing that weren’t there to begin with. If you want to get ahead of the weeds, you must understand how they grow, spread, reproduce and the soil conditions that allow them to flourish.
Compare spraying increasing amounts of herbicides multiple times each season to an initial learning curve, some soil improvements and watching as the unwanted weeds start to retreat year after year, while your garden or farm grows stronger, healthier and produces more food that tastes better. Which road do you want to go down?
In looking at methods of controlling bindweed, we need to step back just a bit to understand more of why this, or any other, weed establishes itself in the first place. Contrary to much of the commonly spread information today, weeds don’t just “happen”; they are in a certain place for a very specific reason – the conditions are “just right” for them to grow there.
Weeds are an indication of what is going on with the soil and its fertility, both right and wrong. They show the progression of the soil, whether thefertility and biological diversity and health are improving; or if it is in decline. Very much as a pond will go through several generations of different species of plants until it is filled in and becomes a meadow; or a grass pasture will gradually fill in with a progression of woody shrubs and eventually trees, weeds will have a progression of species that tell the story of improving or failing health of the soil where they grow.
This information is by no means new, untested or untried. It has simply been swept aside in the race toward industrial agriculture shortly after World War II using leftover nitrogen and phosphorus stockpiles from explosives manufacture. This chemical race also happened to home gardening, unfortunately. Dr. Carey Reams and Dr. William Albrecht were some of the last and greatest researchers into the relationship between healthy soils, healthy plants, and healthy people, which naturally extends to the study of weeds in relation to soil conditions. Much of their work is more than 50 years old at this point and is only becoming more proven as more research and testing is done in soil health. One of the best books that we always recommend to anyone wanting to start gaining a better understanding of how and why weeds work is Weeds – Control Without Poisons by Charles Walters, the founder of Acres USA magazine.
The appearance of weeds doesn’t always mean bad things are going on in the soil. For instance, moderate lambsquarter and pigweed are an indication of good soil structure and fertility is good, crops will thrive and insects will generally stay away. They can be managed with light tilling of the top two inches of the soil within one to two days after the weeds have sprouted.
Two Adjacent Raised Garden Beds
What bindweed says about the soil conditions when it appears is that the soil is out of balance, with pH issues and stuck or incomplete decomposition of organic material accompanied by excess heavy soil metals such as magnesium and potassium. There is usually an accumulation of dry and dead plant matter that can’t finish decomposing, creating the right conditions for bindweed to flourish. Most often, the soil is low in humus materials with low available calcium and phosphorus. pH can be either excessively low or high and the soil structure can be clay or sandy.
This is easily seen in the photo above. The near bed was treated with compost and a top dressing of wood chips last fall, while the bed in the background had flowers in it, was not cleaned out for the past couple of years and had little to no compost amended to it. The near bed has a few shoots appearing, but the background bed is over-run and won’t be able to be planted this year.
Bindweed Sneaking In
There are two different, proven methods of stopping and controlling bindweed without using herbicides.
The first method is using weed cloth to block any sunlight from reaching the bindweed plants, much like my article Stopping Bermuda Grass in the Garden.
This method can work if you take care to overlap the shade cloth, avoiding any gaps where the roots will come through. It normally takes about 4 – 5 years to make the roots go dormant, lose their stored energy and then finally rot.
The challenge in trying to shade bindweed out can be seen above, where the bindweed is sneaking in where there is a gap between the weed barrier cloth and the metal raised bed – possibly less than a 1/4 of an inch!
Bindweed Lateral Roots
When the weed barrier is pulled back, it is easy to see the lateral roots running along the bed to where the gap allowed them to put a shoot up and survive.
Bindweed Long Lateral Roots
Moving around to the long side of the raised bed – about in the middle of a 15-foot long bed – we found another shoot poking its head up and pulled the weed barrier fabric back.
This is what we found – a series of lateral roots that had followed the joint of weed barrier fabric and raised bed, poking shoots up wherever it could. These lateral roots went to the shoot in the above two photos.
Handfull of Lateral Roots
Here is what over 10 feet of lateral bindweed roots look like. What we’ve discovered is that when we installed a heavy and fairly non-porous weed barrier fabric several years ago and then put several inches of wood chips on top is that we were creating the perfect environment for bindweed to encroach underneath the weed fabric and pop up in our raised beds.
For most of our beds, this isn’t a serious issue as they are rich and well composted with a fertile and biologically active soil which seriously deters the growth mechanisms of bindweed, so we just see them popping up just inside the raised beds and nowhere else.
The second method involves improving the soil by adding missing or low nutrients, adjusting pH and adding well aged, rich compost to jump-start the decomposition process again.
This short-circuits the growth pattern of bindweed and will soon start to rot the roots and shoots. A complete soil analysis from a professional soil lab is the correct way to determine what nutrients are needed and how to adjust the pH of your soil. There are a number of very good ones, but the two that we know and are familiar with are Crop Services International and Texas Plant and Soil Lab. Either one is excellent and will help you determine what nutrients are needed and in what amounts.
Successfully controlling bindweed depends on several factors that are unique to each garden or farm. Your soil’s pH, mineral levels, clay or sandy based soil and whether you have wet or dry organic matter that is stuck in its decomposition will all determine what nutrients and approach to use. The complete soil analysis from a professional soil lab will provide you the information needed to make the plan to begin reversing the encroachment.
Bear in mind that no single weed species grows independently of all others, they will grow in groups and communities; much like companion plantings of flowers, veggies and herbs do. As you begin to learn more about what different weed species prefer and the conditions that they need for growth, you’ll start to see that groupings of particular weeds mean very specific things related to soil health and fertility. They will indicate exactly what is right or wrong with the soil and what is in excess or lacking. Then you can make the corrections and watch them leave, followed by others that are much less difficult to deal with and indicate a much more fertile soil.
This may seem a bit overwhelming at first, but when you take a step back and realize how much you’ve learned about gardening or farming since you first began, even if it’s only a short time – then you can see how much this knowledge will benefit both your soil and you with fewer weeds, pests and more abundant, healthier plants and veggies, herbs and flowers.
Stopping Bermuda Grass in the Garden
Bermuda grass: love it or hate it – most people fall into one of the two camps; there doesn’t seem to be much in-between. Personally, I think it’s a well-adapted grass for our harsh, dry Western climates. It loves heat, is remarkably wear resistant to foot traffic and is one of the most drought tolerant turf grasses around. It’s great for areas that need turf, for erosion control and for feeding to horses, but it’s an invasive alien weed in the garden. That’s where we have a problem.
We’ve dealt with a slow Bermuda grass invasion over the past few years as it spread from the walkway between our greenhouse and garden into the garden itself. At first it wasn’t such a pain because it colonized the wood chipped walkways and area where the picnic table is. Then it headed toward our smaller raised beds, completely taking over one and entangling the drip system where it entered the raised beds in 3 others.
Bermuda Grass Stolons
We’ve tried a number of approaches to curbing it’s enthusiasm – burning the above ground grass and runners (properly known as stolons) both during and after the growing season, spraying a strong vinegar solution to the green grass phase and digging up the clumps and removing them. Nothing has really worked very well or for very long. Burning is highly satisfying, but did nothing about the rhizomes underground or the seed bank in the soil. After a season of targeted burning, the grass came back just as thick and lush the next spring. The vinegar sprays punched the Bermuda grass in the nose for a while, killing off or wilting the above ground growth but the rhizomes just sprouted up within a few weeks several inches away from where it was sprayed.
Bermuda Grass Seed Head
Persistent petrochemical herbicides such as Roundup are out of the question for a few reasons. One, we are working in our food producing garden and fully realize that whatever is put into the ground will wind up in the vegetables that are eaten. Two, we are a company that works hard to educate about the overuse and over-dependence on what has been called “rescue chemistry”, so it’s just a non-starter.
So what can be done? As is usual with us, we realized that understanding more about this grass than just how to kill it would probably lead us to answers of how to work with it better. After all, as gardeners we are forever working to get the plants we want to grow in a certain area, all the while trying to discourage other plants that we don’t want in the same areas!
It turns out that Bermuda grass isn’t originally from Bermuda; it’s from Africa and was introduced around the mid-1750s. It is thought to have hitched a ride in hay and introduced into the southern states initially. It spread from there and today it is most commonly found in the southern and southwestern United States. Bermuda grass was used almost exclusively as forage for animals for over a hundred years, sometimes becoming a lawn grass by default in places where other grasses could not survive the hot summers well. It wasn’t until the early 1900s that it became recognized as a valuable golf turf grass, starting a second life. Several resources list it growing below 3,000 feet in elevation; our garden in central Arizona is right around 5,000 feet so that doesn’t seem quite correct.
Bermuda Grass Rhizomes
Bermuda grass is sometimes confused with crab grass. Bermuda grass has a deeper root system and crab grass has no stolons or rhizomes to deal with.
In undisturbed soil, Bermuda grass will only drive its roots about 6 inches deep. However, they can go significantly deeper in sandy soil, deeply tilled fields or garden beds, or where the roots meet a solid barrier such as a sidewalk, concrete foundation or walls. This is why driving a solid edging into the soil deeper than about 8 inches has been shown to be effective in stopping the spread of a patch into a garden or surrounding area.
Unfortunately, controlling Bermuda grass with nutrient management or pH management just doesn’t work very well; unlike morning glory or bindweed or a number of other weed species.
The two approaches that have proven to work are drying/desiccating the top 6 inches of the soil to get both the above ground stolons and the underground rhizomes and roots, and excluding light. The one real weakness of Bermuda grass is that it simply won’t grow in the absence of light. Then again, most plants don’t!
There are some folks that have had success with digging or scraping the top layer of soil away, then replacing it with rich topsoil and compost that you are sure has no Bermuda grass seed, stolons or rhizomes. For every success story using this approach, we’ve heard of a dozen others that have seen a re-infestation after some period of time.
The problem with our garden situation is that we don’t have ready access to high quality topsoil that has no Bermuda grass in it. This is part of how we wound up with our current experiment – we brought in topsoil from a neighbor’s property to help fill in and got an unexpected bonus.
Using a thick clear sheet of plastic on top of the ground and excluding any moisture during the growing season has shown to work well, if the area can be isolated with no roots or stolons escaping the area being treated. This approach works especially well if you live in a sunny and warm to hot area during the summer, as a cool and damp summer will do little to stop the grass from growing. If there is escapement, the roots or stolons simply bring in moisture and nutrients and the grass suffers but does not die. Because of the grass intrusion into the garden and under the fence, we can’t use this option.
That leaves us with the shade option, so we are going to do it right. The first step is to take the wood chips out and scrape what we can down to the soil, removing what clumps of grass are possible. We burned the remaining grass, in order to reduce its energy reserves.
Double Layer of Cardboard
Then we installed a double layer of cardboard for two reasons – it helps to shade the ground and will decompose over time, increasing the chances of rotting the remaining Bermuda grass.
Weed Barrier Cloth
Over that we installed a thick and very dense weed barrier cloth from A.M. Leonard, a horticultural tool and supply company. You don’t need to be a business to order from them and their products are commercial quality. It is 20 mils thick, has a 98.7% opaqueness to light, won’t rot or mildew, will allow water to pass through and has a 5 year warranty, so should last for plenty of time for the Bermuda grass to rot. This photo is with the full, bright afternoon sun behind the cloth, to show just how much light is stopped. I actually had to lighten the photo up a bit!
Aurora Helping
Installation was easy – we simply rolled it out with our resident Dalmatian expert – Aurora – supervising…
Cindy Trimming Weed Cloth
…then trimmed it to length with scissors.
Spreading Wood Chips
To finish things off we put 4 – 5 inches of wood chips on top of the weed barrier to further shade everything and discourage any other weeds from making their homes in the wood chips. With this approach, there should be no way that light will get to the grass or soil and as the cardboard rots it will start a layer of decomposition that will include the remaining grass seeds, stolons, rhizomes and roots. This very well might take a year or more with our moisture levels, but that is why we went to the lengths we did to ensure that light can’t get down to the grass and short circuit our project.
Weed Barrier Installation Finished
Here is the completed view, with the double layer of cardboard, weed barrier cloth and thick layer of wood chips installed.
We will post updates as they happen to this project. In the meantime, we would love to hear of your success or challenges with dealing with Bermuda grass in your own garden!
Heirloom Corn Types & Planting Tips
Heirloom Corn – More than just Sweet Corn
Heirloom corn is gaining in popularity as more people taste the vast differences and depths in flavors compared to commercially grown hybrid sweet corn. Comments like “It tastes more like corn than any store-bought corn I’ve ever had” and “The flavor lasts much longer and is much stronger than what I’m used to,” are common when people first taste roasted heirloom corn.
What many don’t realize is there is much more to discover in heirloom corn than just the sweet, fresh eating varieties. After all, corn has been the foundation of nutrition in Mexico and Central America, as well a surprising amount of North America.
William Woys Weaver does a marvelous job of introducing and explaining the different types of heirloom corn in his extensive book Heirloom Vegetable Gardening, the result of over 30 years of growing, tasting and cooking with heirloom vegetables.
Explore the different types of heirloom corn in this article.
From this, we hope you’ve gained a deeper appreciation for the extensive uses and different types of heirloom corn and are inspired to give one or two different types a try this season! Visit our online store to see some storied varieties of corn.
Honey Pickled Jalapeños with Garlic
Pickled jalapeños and garlic have been favorites of ours for a couple of decades. Long enough that we don’t remember exactly when we first started liking them, or where we came across them, but we just know we’ve enjoyed making them for a really long time! Our original recipe was on a well-worn scrap of newspaper clipping and made a lightly sweet Polish brine with garlic and we added the jalapeños after trying the plain garlic.
The Joy of Pickling recently made its way into our lives and we discovered this variation on the theme – using honey instead of sugar for the sweetness and adding an unusual spice mixture to kick things up a notch. We think this is fabulous!
If you are not a pickled garlic lover; or a pickled jalapeño aficionado this might take a little getting used to, but trust us it is delicious and well worth trying. The vast majority of people that we’ve sampled this to have loved it, even if they aren’t all that into chunks of garlic and hot peppers. The pickling mellows the heat and punch from the garlic and jalapeños, while the light sweetness brings some nice counter balance to the boldness. The spices bring traditional pickle background flavors into the mix, leaving most with a look of intrigue on their faces after tasting them.
We love these served on a multi-grain cracker, a whole clove and jalapeño ring side by side. Sometimes a thin slice of aged Irish cheddar cheese mixes things up.
Once people taste these, they will go fast so don't hesitate to make a large batch!
Honey Pickled Jalapenos with Garlic
We start with fresh jalapeños and garlic cloves. If you don’t know how to peel lots of garlic very quickly and easily – just watch our short video “Peel Garlic in 10 Seconds“ and you’ll be set!
Honey Pickled Jalapenos Spices
Next is to mix up the Mixed Pickling Spices for some great background flavors to round things out.
Pickling Spices in Bag
The whole spices are enclosed in a spice bag…
Spices in pickling solution
…and added to the pickling solution that is heating up to a boil.
Adding jalapeños to hot brine
Once the solution is at a boil, the jalapeños are added…
Simmering jalapeños
…and brought back to a simmer for a couple of minutes.
Adding jalapeños to garlic
The hot peppers are poured over the waiting garlic in the pint jars.
Topping up with hot brine
The jars are waiting to be topped up with hot brine.
Ready for canning
Ready for the hot water bath canning!
Finished canning
After canning, the jars need to pickle for about 3 – 4 weeks for the magic to happen, then it’s time to enjoy!
Heirloom Watermelons – Size vs Flavor
With watermelons, both size and flavor matter. Heirloom watermelons grown at home will give the absolute best flavor and taste, regardless of size.
From The Range To The Garden
A Look At The Foundation Of Terroir Seeds
Terroir Seeds’ foundation is in soil, as most of you know. That is one of the main reasons for our choice of name for our seed company. Through personal experience and learning from those who have much more experience, we have seen time and time again that those who take care of their soil have better health and productivity, along with more pest and disease resistance than those who don’t.
In organizing some old magazines, Cindy ran across an article we wrote for Range Magazine way back in the spring of 1996 after attending a Public Rangelands Grazing Conference at Arizona State University. This was the start of our learning curve, when we were seeing wildly different philosophies about how to best conserve and improve our arid Western soils. The standard approach was exclusion and rest, thinking that the cows were the enemy- while the up and coming thought pattern was managed, short-term intensive grazing followed by appropriate rest for the grasses to recover.
Allan Savory was introducing Holistic Resource Management to the US at this time. There was a wide range of responses, both from private individuals and public officials. Most of the government officials were skeptical, while many so-called “grazing experts” were outright condemning the ideas even while acknowledging that they had no knowledge or experience in how HRM worked, only that “it couldn’t”.
Almost 20 years later, HRM is now known as Holistic Management (HM) and has quietly proven itself across the world in many different climates and ecosystems to simply work. We have seen it work in our part of central Arizona and have used some of its philosophies and approaches to help improve and maintain the health of garden soil.
We wanted to share one of the foundations of Terroir Seeds with this article we wrote almost two decades ago!
Successful Aquaponics Seed Starting
Growing a surprising amount of food at home with aquaponics can be very simple, but there are a few basic things to know before getting started. We want to introduce you to the techniques of seed starting and how to keep the growth cycle continuing so that you get the most out of your system.
You can grow most vegetables that you enjoy eating in your aquaponics system. Vegetables that grow the best and easiest are those that grow above ground, such as herbs, greens, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumber and squash as examples. Please realize that this is not an entire listing, as there are over 300 different types of vegetables that have been grown in aquaponics systems over the past 20 years!
The major foods that are not suitable for aquaponics systems are corn, wheat, soy and rice. Root crops can be a challenge, however a lot of people have grown delicious carrots, beets and radishes after gaining some experience, but they are not recommended for a beginning aquaponics grower. It is best to gain some experience on the easier vegetables, then work into the more challenging ones.
Getting Started
So where to start? Once you have the system assembled, you need to get the system to start “cycling” or converting the raw nutrients from the fish into a form that is available to the plants you’ll be growing. Don’t worry, this isn’t difficult! It might be a bit different than what you are used to, but is easy to understand and monitor. The cycling process will happen automatically in almost all cases, and the testing needed to monitor the process is minimal, only taking a couple of minutes of time.
Cycling begins when the fish start adding ammonia to the aquaponics system through their waste. Ammonia is made of nitrogen and hydrogen (the chemical formula is NH3) and is not easily used by plants. Untreated ammonia is toxic to fish unless it is either diluted to a non-toxic level or converted into a different form of nitrogen.
The presence of ammonia attracts two naturally occurring bacteria in the air that will populate the surfaces of your system. The first bacteria, nitrosomonas, convert the ammonia into nitrites (the second curve in the chart below). This is the first step in the aquaponics cycling process. The presence of nitrites attracts the second naturally occurring bacteria, called nitrospira (the third curve in the graph below). These bacteria convert the nitrites into nitrates, which are generally harmless to the fish and excellent food for your plants. You can see the progression of nutrients in the water, from ammonia to nitrites to nitrates in the chart below, as well as the time frame needed. Click on the photo to enlarge it.
Aquaponic Ammonia Cycling Levels
Using a readily available aquaponics water sampling kit, once you detect nitrates in your water and the ammonia and nitrite concentrations have both dropped, your system will be fully cycled and aquaponics will have officially begun! This is the best time to transplant your seedlings, as the nutrients needed by the plants will be fully available to feed them while they filter and clean the water for the fish. This mutually beneficial relationship is what makes aquaponics unique.
Now you are ready to start your seeds! One caution before we begin – don’t plant all of the available space in your system at once. You will need a graduation of plants to absorb the nutrients and filter the water for the fish. If all of your veggies are ready for harvest at once you will nutrient load the water when the veggies are removed, causing stress on the fish as the new plantings begin to establish their roots. You want a mixture of veggies and maturity levels in your planting. Some fast growing, some medium and some slow. You will only plant a few of the slower growing ones such as herbs, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, with more of the dark leafy greens like kale and Swiss chard, with more of the faster growing lettuces. Using succession planting, or planting a few of a fast-growing green every 2 – 3 weeks, allows for them to mature and be harvested while newer ones are growing and coming in behind.
What Your Seeds Need for Germination
Seeds have everything they need to continue their species built right into them. All of the accumulated adaptations, the wide range of environmental and seasonal conditions that they have encountered and grown through are encoded into their genetic material, their DNA. Everything they need to remain dormant, and then sprout when the time is right is built right inside their shells.
Within that hard seed coat is enough food energy to help them break dormancy and carry them into their first several days as seedlings. All the enzymes they need to convert the stored energy into food is there as well; they have all of the fats, carbohydrates, protein, enzymes and hormones needed to get the seed off to a great start. As home gardeners, our job is to provide those proper conditions to ensure maximum germination into strong and healthy seedlings.
What does a seed need for germination? Moisture and temperature are the two most important aspects for vigorous seed germination, followed by a few other factors. Let’s take a closer look!
Moisture must be at a constant level for the seed and young seedling as they have no moisture reserves in themselves like a mature plant does. A mature plant can go without moisture for a short period of time, sometimes up to several hours, but a seedling will die if it loses its critical moisture level even for a few minutes. The seed needs enough moisture to soften and split the seed coat during germination; but not too much as to prevent oxygen from reaching the seed, as respiration increases dramatically. Water initially starts the process by softening and splitting the seed coat, then activates nutrients, enzymes and hormones to convert stored foods into energy. Finally it serves as a means of transporting nutrients to all parts of the newly emerging plant. When starting seeds in a tray, watering from the bottom is the best method of keeping the moisture levels more consistent. Misting can help correct smaller areas that aren’t quite moist enough. Many seedling trays will have a bottom tray to help water the soil or grow cubes.
The soil or grow cube temperature where the seed is must be correct to initiate the germination process. The key is the temperature at the seed, not the surrounding air. A room that has an air temperature of 70F may have a seed temperature of 60F or less, as the moisture acts as an evaporative cooling medium, reducing the seed temperature below what is needed. At too low a temperature the seed remains dormant, often for an extended amount of time. Not only the ideal temperature is needed, but for the correct amount of time. This prevents the seed in the wild from germinating too early and being killed by the next frost or cold front that moves in. If the temperature swings too much from the daytime high to the nighttime low, the seed will not germinate, or do so very slowly. A constant temperature for a week to 10 days will have almost all vegetable seeds up and going well.
The relationship between temperature and light changes as seeds germinate. Seeds need a high moisture and warm environment to germinate. Both moisture and temperature levels need to be pretty constant to get good germination. If the temperature is high during the day and cooler at night, the germination will be delayed. Ideally, tomatoes and peppers need 85F seed temperature to sprout. Most cool season vegetables we eat today need a seed temperature above 70F for best germination, with varieties like carrots and cauliflower needing 80F. For more specific temperature needs, refer to our Seed Germination guidelines.
Seed Starting Techniques
Now that we’ve covered some basics of seed germination, let’s look at specific ways to start the seeds for your aquaponics system. There are 3 main ways of starting seeds – broadcasting them, using a support system like paper towels or cotton balls, and seed starting media for those varieties that do best being transplanted after they are a little bigger. Here’s how each of them work:
Broadcasting the seeds is just like it sounds, taking a small quantity of seeds in hand and sprinkling them around the grow bed. This technique is obviously used with a clay or gravel bed, as it has the nooks and crannies that will support seed growth. This technique works well for lettuce and other leafy greens, as well as herbs and would probably work for other small seeds that are typically planted in the early spring and are adapted to being very wet. You can choose to randomly scatter the seeds across the entire grow bed, or just in certain areas like along one side or in a corner. Be aware that the broadcasting approach can have lower overall germination rates than the other approaches, as the seed is likely completely covered in water for a significant part of the time.
Support systems like paper towels or cotton balls work well with slightly larger seeds that germinate quickly such as beans, peas, melons, and cucumbers. This method can also be used to start the smaller seeds mentioned above – experiment and see what works best for you. Some people like to broadcast some seeds, while others prefer to plant individual seeds or seedlings in specific spots in their systems.
Planting these larger seeds directly into the bed sometimes doesn’t work as well, as they don’t reliably germinate there and are longer lived plants with more food production, so it pays to focus a bit more on where they will be located in the growing bed. They will usually germinate and grow very quickly given some support, they don’t need the added work and material of the grow media. One approach is to wad up a small piece of paper towel or part of a cotton ball and place it in the grow media where it will be moistened by the flow of water. Another is to fold a paper towel in half to crease it, unfold it, then place the seeds about 1 – 2 inches apart just above the fold. Refold it, moisten it and place it in a plastic Zip-lock bag. Check the moisture level and germination daily. You should see moisture droplets on the wall of the bag when you pull the towel out to check germination. When you see a 1 inch or longer root, trim the seedling out of the paper towel and place the root into the grow media where it will get a good flow of water.
Seed starting media is best used for seeds that are sometimes harder to germinate in an aquaponics environment (like spinach or chard) or need a little more time and care (tomatoes, peppers and eggplant) before going into the grow bed. There are different types of seed starting media, such as rock-wool or a peat based “sponge” material. Rock-wool is the most common, is inexpensive, sterile and is the easiest to find. It can be broken into smaller chunks for smaller systems or to use less material. The media is pH balanced by wetting in water that has been adjusted to between 5.8 and 7.0, then the seed is inserted into the media and kept moist, much like above. Make sure to use some sort of marker to keep track of what it is you’ve planted! After the seedlings reach about 1 1/2 inches tall, they are transplanted into the grow bed, rock wool and all.
When transplanting the seedlings and planting the seeds for the first time, it is best to add liquid seaweed for some nutrients to get them established. As the growing progresses, adding a small amount at regular intervals will help keep the trace elements and micro-nutrients in balance, producing better vegetables.
After the initial excitement of getting the system cycling and converting nutrients, then planting the initial selection of vegetables and herbs that you want to grow, don’t stop! Now is when you can harvest the first of your home-grown veggies and start the succession planting process to make up for their removal. As you harvest the lettuce or Swiss chard, watch for openings that will be good for another variety. This way you can have a continual harvest year-round of the tastiest, freshest and most nutritious food possible.
Like anything truly worth having in life, a garden requires some work. It is a continual project, an experiment. Always evolving, growing and expanding. The results will amaze and humble you, as the vibrant, rich colors show themselves. Then the aromas and flavors arrive, stunning with the depth and intensity of the garden show. The deep-seated sense of accomplishment resulting from a job well done lasts, urging you back to the work of succession planting new varieties. Each new year is familiar, yet entirely new.
Critters In The Garden Questions
Approaches to keeping furry and feathered critters out of the gardenOne of the biggest questions we are often asked is what to do about furry and/or feathered critters that want to snack on our gardens. There are a lot of approaches, and we realized that our customers have more experiences to share that can help more folks, so we put out the question of what has been successful in helping to deter critters from your garden?
We received some great replies that we’ve included here. We’ll start off with perhaps one of the most challenging garden conditions in the US – at the South rim of the Grand Canyon national park. Here elk and other wildlife are protected, and there is a short growing season to contend with.
Deb from AZ writes – “Since we are in Grand Canyon National Park, wildlife is our #1 challenge…we have to have an 8 ft. fence around our garden to keep the elk out. Rodents are also a huge problem here: gophers, mice, voles, and chipmunks/squirrels. I feel like we have become pretty skilled at working around them!
Here’s what we have learned to do:
This sounds like a ton of work, (and it is), but once you make all of these structures it doesn’t take too long to install them, and it really saves your crops from being decimated. Even the smallest critters are creatures of habit, so if you take the time to observe what they are doing you can often work around them or plant more attractive plants in less trafficked areas.
Most importantly, we have learned to be a little more Zen about the whole thing, and now just expect there to be some losses from critters. We always keep enough extra seeds of short-season crops to re-plant areas that are compromised!”
Regina from NC says – “Last year I planted a garden in a different area and found the deer just loved my cabbage, broccoli green beans – all my first plantings were eaten to a nub. I consulted a local expert (94 year old gardener) and was told the following:
Plant a wide row of green edibles outside the perimeter of your garden and then put a border of yellow ribbon tape (the type used at a crime scene) and leave it a little loose so that it moves and twists in the breeze.
I planted oats and clover outside the garden area and put the yellow ribbon around the garden. The deer ate the stuff outside the garden area and left my garden alone.
The expert advice from the seasoned veteran worked like a charm.”
Jim in IL found – “No exaggeration…last spring I would see 50 rabbits running around within a 1/2-mile radius. They were everywhere! Many times I would see 5 or 6 running/playing together. This obviously is a bad thing when you have a veggie garden! I have 8 raised beds (5×20′) which I also cover with row covers. The rabbits would even crawl under the protective covers and nest under my plants. I had to do something fast!
This past fall I put up a 4′ chain-link fence around my garden (approx. 35’x85′) which was really only to serve as a frame for the 1″x1″ (24″ tall) vinyl coated wire mesh fence I installed inside the chain-link. I buried the mesh 6″ deep to hopefully prevent the vermin from digging under. This spring will be the true test for my efforts.
I’m not sure if the chipmunks can squeeze in the 1″ holes, but just in case, I have traps for them. Last season I nailed 35 of them. Aggravating to do all this work only to have the critters get in for a free meal!”
Diane shared – “I wanted to share that after years of the birds and lizards destroying much of our newly-planted raised bed gardens, my husband has built some screen covers over our raised beds. He used 2 inch x 2 inch redwood posts for a frame, and attached wildlife netting to the frames. These are slightly larger than each raised bed’s opening. He placed the screen-covered frames on top of the raised beds, and no more early garden destruction! Our early Spring garden is thriving!”
Mary Lou in IL has learned – “The best trick I have is to put aluminum foil around small plants that I don’t want the chipmunks to dig up. They hate the aluminum foil and won’t dig up my new transplants. It is actually funny to watch their reaction when they try to dig and get the foil instead of dirt.”
Linda in NE shared – “I have found Aztec Marigolds work really, really well at keeping the bunnies away from my strawberries. I usually leave them in the ground till spring, but for some reason I pulled them all at the end of last season and have noticed a huge increase in the bunny population in my yard throughout this past winter. Next year I’ll leave them in till spring.
To keep the neighbors cats away from my “bird garden” I scatter rue seeds amongst the beds. It keeps the cats away, but it makes it hard to get in there to cut flowers for bouquets.
For the never ending wasps I rub a bar of soap around all the areas where they like to hang out. When I see a nest forming I liberally rub the soap all around that area. And I try to destroy all of the nests I find after the first freeze. I know wasps serve a purpose, but if they want a place in my yard it’s going to have to be away from the house and shed.
Chrys in PA shares some wisdom – “My uncle taught me an effective way to keep the crows from “unplanting” your corn as soon as your back is turned. Poke a hole in the ground about 1/2 inch deeper than normal, drop in the corn and cover it with dirt. Then take your digging stick and poke a hole about 1/2 inch deep over the corn. Maybe the birds think that another bird already harvested the seed, but they usually leave it alone.”
Here’s some of the things we’ve learned in our own garden over time:
Gophers – In our area, there are colonies of gophers living in the vacant field next to our house and garden. They will mostly stay on their side of the fence, but occasionally come under and cause havoc to our garden. Our dogs love to dig up their tunnels, but so far haven’t been able to capture one.
When we were constructing our raised beds, we installed hardware cloth in the bottom of the beds before putting the soil in. The hardware cloth is stout enough that it deters the gophers from trying to dig through and has held up for 6 years now. The challenge is that they will still come up in the walkways under the wood chips where there is no barrier! We resort to gopher traps for this – the Gophinator is by far the best and most effective trap of several designs and approaches we’ve tried.
We don’t trap any gophers that don’t get into the garden. If they are on the other side of the fence we leave them alone.
Squirrels – We generally don’t have squirrel problems, but one summer had a rogue agent that was climbing the fence and dining on our garden. The solution was to borrow a live trap from a friend, capture the little bandit and release it into another area that was far from any houses. In this case, we were able to relocate it without harming it.
Do you feed wild birds? You may be bringing in unwanted visitors like squirrels, mice and possibly raccoons as they scavenge the seed dropped from the feeders. There are a couple of solutions to this challenge: stop feeding the birds – this removes the food source and will decrease the visitation of wildlife, or move the bird feeder to a spot that is the furthest possible distance from your garden and use a feeder design that minimizes the amount of seed dropped by hungry birds.
Javalina – These wild relatives of pigs have poor eyesight, but a very keen sense of smell. If you put fresh kitchen scraps onto your compost pile, you might be attracting these large and destructive critters. If you live in javalina country, don’t locate the compost bin or pile next to the garden, use leaves and manure with kitchen scraps aged for a couple of weeks in a bucket instead. This way it isn’t as appealing to them and won’t encourage repeat visits.
Controlling Fungus Gnats in Seedlings
Fungus gnats are more of a nuisance than a real problem to most young plants and seedlings, but they can cause some issues if their population gets high enough. As you start your seedlings for this year’s garden, you will probably notice these tiny white flying insects that seem to infest some of the seedling trays. Sometimes they are everywhere, other times only on certain plants or sections of the seedling flats.
Fungus gnats are tiny mosquito-like insects (actually flies) that are small enough to be able to enter your home or greenhouse through the tiniest openings, but more often they ride in as eggs in soil that has been outside or in damp potting soil that has been exposed to the air for some time. If their population gets high enough, their larvae will cause damage to seedlings as they feed on the young, tender roots.
Fungus gnat life-cycle
There are a couple of approaches that we’ve found to be effective. Closely monitor the amount of water or moisture that is in the flats or cups where the seedlings are. Fungus gnats are highly attracted to moist and over-moist growing media, so they are almost always concentrated where there is a bit more moisture. Over-watering is one of the most common mistakes of all gardeners, new and experienced. This is understandable, as the seeds need a moist and warm environment to soften the seed coat and start the germination process, but afterwards they don’t need nearly as much water. This is where the over-watering condition sets in. It doesn’t take very much excess moisture at all to attract the gnats.
Treatment options
To detect and trap fungus gnat larvae, simply insert a small slice of potato just under the surface of the soil. The larvae will migrate to the potato and start feeding on it within a few days. After 3 – 5 days, remove the potato slice and look on the bottom side for clear to very pale white larvae feeding on the potato. This will tell you whether you’ve got the fungus gnats as larvae and how concentrated the population is. If you’ve got a large population of larvae, put a number of potato slices into the soil to attract more larvae, then remove, inspect and throw the slices away after about a week.
Yellow sticky traps are very effective means of monitoring and capturing the adult gnats. They will show up as black specks on the bright yellow background. This may be all you need to do, but if they persist there are a couple of biological friendly sprays that we’ve had success with. The first is from Safer products, is called “3-in-1″³ and is effective on insects, mites and fungi. We have found that one or two applications are effective. The other is Safer brand “Yard and Garden” spray with plant-derived pyrethrins that are highly effective on insects. Both products are OMRI listed as accepted for organic growers.
Overall, realize that fungus gnats are more of a nuisance than real problem, but serve as an effective notice that your seedling soil is a bit too moist. Decrease the soil moisture slightly, monitor and trap the larvae and adults and you’ll most likely not have any noticeable damage to your seedlings.
Damping off – Causes and Control
Damping-off is a soil borne disease that can attack almost all young vegetable seedlings. Home gardeners often first notice that something is wrong when the very young seedlings have a constriction around the base of the stem, some of the seedlings have fallen over or there are small flying gnats around the base of the seedlings. Damping off is caused by soil fungi and the right conditions to help them flourish.
If not taken care of, losses can be severe and results in the majority of a flat of carefully planted seedlings dying in 24 to 48 hours. Damping-off can happen before seedlings emerge from the soil. With this type of damping-off, fungi infect seeds as they germinate. As the infection progresses, seeds rot and do not germinate, leading many home gardeners to think that the seed quality is poor. Another result of seedling infected damping-off is poor or weaker seedlings that become apparent days or weeks later.
Even if some of the seedlings survive damping off and are transplanted, they are often stunted and have a twisted, constricted or off-color stem – called ‘wire-stem’ – and have health and production issues.
Not everyone experiences damping off, yet other gardeners in the same area fight with it yearly. Some gardeners buy seed starting mix every year, otherwise they suffer large seedling losses; while others (including ourselves) have mixed our own soil for years and have had very little problems. Just because your neighbor or gardening club friend has trouble with damping off, it doesn’t automatically mean you will also. We’ve created this article as a tool to help you troubleshoot and control how and why damping off happens.
Causes of Damping off
The most common cause of damping off is from soil borne fungi from three groups – Pythium, Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium.
Pythium thrives in cool, over-wet and poorly-drained soils and is often the result of over-watering and not maintaining a warm enough soil temperature for the seeds to germinate. Its symptoms are a damp, odorless rot in the root, causing it to be slimy. It may run up the lower portion of the stem and cause it to be black and slimy. Pythium can survive in soil for several years.
Rhizoctonia is present in all natural soils, coming to life when a soil is over-wet and hot. This is the most common occurrence of damping off, as the seedling will have the classic constriction on the stem right around where it touches the soil.
Fusarium thrives in acidic soils that are poorly fertilized and can remain inactive for long periods of time – years. Fusarium infects the seeds, causing many of them to fail to germinate and creating the ‘wire-stem’ appearance in those that do survive.
There are also seed-borne bacterial and fungal pathogens that can decimate seedlings. These are most often seen in seeds obtained from seed swaps or gardening clubs with poor sanitation and handling techniques in processing and packing seeds. If not recognized and corrected, seed borne pathogens will continue to infect future generations of seed that is saved and distributed.
Controlling Damping Off
Damping off may not be able to be prevented, but there are several easy and highly effective methods to control the outbreaks which will greatly lessen the severity of your seedling losses.
For seeds, the easiest method to control seed borne diseases is to source your seeds from a reputable, knowledgeable and experienced seed company or person. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and listen to the answers. An experienced company, grower or garden club member will be able to easily tell you what measures they take, for what varieties and why. If you are sourcing seeds from a local grower or garden club member, it will be very easy to ask around and determine their reputation.
For soil, the easiest and most proven method is simply starting with fresh, sterilized seed starting mix from established and trusted sources. There are a number of bagged seed starting mixes in gardening centers and big box stores, and often some reputable local sources. Simply buying a fresh bag, bringing it home and dumping it into your old faithful seeding tub is not the answer – you might have just infected the fresh soil! First you absolutely must thoroughly clean and sanitize all of your seed starting tools, otherwise you’ve only infected new material and brought the problem into a new season.
After cleaning and removing all of the soil residue, wash with warm soapy water, rinse well then soak in a weak bleach solution – 2 Tablespoons of bleach in a gallon of water and keep the surface wet for 5 minutes. Soaking hand tools such as trowels, hand hoes and such in a small bucket is the easiest, while spraying the potting bench and sink or mixing container works well. Spray as needed to keep the surfaces wet, then let air dry. After sanitizing, you are ready to open the bag of fresh seed starting mix and let the magic of another season of gardening begin!
A good seed starting mix will not only be sterile, but drain well and ideally have a little nutrition for the young seedlings so they won’t need transplanting right after they sprout. You can mix your own or buy a bagged mix from your local garden center or big box store. If you are interested in mixing your own, Seed Starting Media for the Home Gardener will show you what the different ingredients are and what they do.
Practical Tips
There are a couple of tools a home gardener has in their day to day gardening to minimize the chance of damaging fungi getting a toehold in the seed beds.
The easiest, most overlooked and most important is to avoid over-watering. If you notice, two of the three damping off fungi thrive in damp, over-wet conditions. This one mistake is responsible for most of the gardening woes today, both in the seed starting trays and the garden itself. It is best to bottom water seedlings using a standard seed starting tray and wicking seed starting pots. Paper pots have excellent wicking capacity, are easy to make and give the gardener control of how long the pot will last by how many wraps of paper are used to make the pot. Let the water sit for no longer than 20 – 30 minutes, then drain to avoid an over-wet situation. Water 2 or 3 times a day if needed to keep the soil moist during sprouting.
Over-seeding or overcrowding of seedlings creates a favorable environment for destructive fungi to flourish, so give the seedlings room to grow. If needed, thin the weakest seedlings in a starting pot or seedling tray with snips, not by pulling them out. Pulling the seedlings out disturbs and damages adjacent roots and causes more problems down the road. Planting fewer seeds in a pot or seed tray cell will lessen the amount of thinning greatly.
Air movement can significantly reduce the activity of the fungi, as a fan moving air helps to slightly dry the surface of the soil/seedling interface, making it harder for the fungi to get established. This works best in combination with carefully monitoring the soil moisture.
Daily observation is another easy to do, yet often overlooked tool. Catching the fungi in action early gives you a better chance to take corrective action and save more seedlings from an early death. Get in the habit of spending a few minutes just looking at the seedling trays, looking at all of the minute details and getting very familiar with what “normal” looks like. Then compare that each successive day to see if something looks out of place or not right.
Treatment of Damping Off
Now that you’ve got the knowledge and tools to minimize the chance of damping off happening, let’s look at some treatment options if and when it does show its ugly head.
Chamomile is one of the oldest treatments and is one of the gentlest to try first. It is high in sulfur and is a mild fungicide. Make a strong tea with 3 tea bags steeped for at least 20 minutes, then mist on the seedlings once cool.
Cinnamon is a potent natural fungicide that should only be used once. Lightly sprinkle infected soil with finely ground fresh cinnamon if the chamomile doesn’t work in the first day.
Canadian gardening guru Doug Green has found that homemade garlic spray is also very effective against damping off, as garlic is a potent anti-fungal. To make, crush or blend several garlic cloves into a quart of water, then simmer over low heat until the garlic is softened and the essential oils are released. Cool and strain, then spray on the seedlings, making sure to get the stems. If using as a soil drench, straining isn’t as needed.
Now that you’ve got the knowledge to be pro-active in controlling damping off, as well as some tips and tools to treat it when it shows up, you should have a great start to a prolific garden this year!
Overwintering Cucamelons
Cucamelons can act as a perennial if you are lucky enough to live in a climate where they can produce tubers, or radish-like roots. The first year they will produce as normal by starting to fruit around July until the first frost stops them. As they start to slow down, search around in the soil by gently exposing some of their roots to see if they have produced tubers. They will be a white to off white color and look something like radishes. If you see them, you can store them in a protected area over the winter and replant them next spring for extra early and larger harvests of cucamelons!
To store them, gently lift them out of the soil and stored in very slightly moist compost or potting soil in a cool but frost-free area. Next spring, wake them up by transplanting into pots early to mid-April in moist compost or potting soil and place them in a well-lit, sunny room. Plant in the garden into warm soil after the last frost date. These second year plants will take off sooner, producing flowers and fruit much earlier, giving you a longer season and greatly increased harvest.
If you live in an area that doesn’t get much frost, then you can overwinter the roots in place by insulating with 6 – 8 inches of straw mulch and lightly moistening it. They will be able to survive temperatures down to freezing with this approach. To ensure that the roots are less likely to rot in the cool moist soil, make sure that there is plenty of sand in the soil to allow the excess moisture to drain away.
If desired, the roots can be gently uncovered and transplanted much like above after overwintering in place to increase your yearly harvest.