Tag Archive for: Gardening Tips

“The Dirty Life- A Memoir of Farming, Food and Love” by Kristin Kimball

The Dirty Life


One of the things that I most enjoyed about The Dirty Life is that it is a story about a real woman in today’s world.  She begins as a savvy New York freelance writer, and winds up as a deeply devoted farm wife.  This journey is not something that she consciously chooses in the beginning, but becomes something that takes hold of her and pulls her in an entirely new direction.

She is completely unprepared for her first meeting with the farmer who becomes her husband, but soon realizes that there are deeply rooted forces in her life that cannot be ignored.  To her credit, she does not run away from a completely alien experience on her first meeting with Mark, her future husband.  She believes that she is happy with her New York life, but soon realizes that the simple farm life offers a deep soul satisfying choice that is completely unmatched in the superficial, upwardly mobile city.  This is not to say that the farm life is easier than trying to make a living in the city, as it is much more difficult physically and emotionally yet is in many ways more rewarding.

Kristin tells the story mainly from her point of view, yet offers insights into the conviction that drives her husband on the farm.  She tells her story in a real, unglossy way that shows both the beauty and the heartache of farm life.  The audacity of two young, somewhat inexperienced people in starting a farm that supplies all of the food for a small community of subscribers comes through clearly.  Food is a focal point of the book; from the fresh, vibrant produce of the farm to the upscale cafes in New York.

Part of the core of this book is about chasing a dream and the joys and frustrations experienced in the chase.  Another  is a young woman’s journey into a deep relationship that she had hoped for but never expected to have.  Yet another shows the daily challenges involved in growing our food.  Watching the success happen only after much hard work is refreshing to see in today’s age of expected instant gratification.

This is an inspirational yet cautionary tale for anyone thinking of taking up farming as a profession.  She clearly shows that success is very possible, but the work is hard, long and arduous.  Watching her travel the path to the dedication needed to make both her marriage and the farm work is part of what keeps this book open and approachable.

A very enjoyable read, and one that’s worth going back to several times.

by

Don’t Plant Your Garden Too Early…


…and here’s some reasons why!

This was actually the second snow of this weekend, the first came in Friday night and was melted off by mid-morning Saturday. We got a second snowstorm Saturday afternoon that left the garden like this Sunday morning- April 10! Our normal direct sowing date is just under a month away- about May 7 or so.

By this afternoon the garden had returned to looking normal…

 

April's Frosty Weathervane

April’s Frosty Weathervane

I just couldn’t pass this up, much too charismatic! I love how the snow/frost has crystallized on the surface, making it look almost furry.

 

Fogbound snowy neighbor

Fogbound snowy neighbor

1920’s Sears and Roebuck Craftsman style house, across our back horse pen. Moved here a few years ago from just a couple miles down the road when the alfalfa farm was sold for development. Originally built by a Russian immigrant family. Dad spent 11 years making the bricks to build the house, by hand, each and every day. Tastefully refinished with a nice wrap around porch and the original oak hardwood floors brought back to life.

Never has sold, was finished just before the market blew up. I love the feeling this has.

Hope you enjoyed some beautiful sights this weekend!

 

 

by
,

2011 Terroir Seeds Growing Season Update- 3/6/2011


The snows have melted off, but the clouds are gathering for more rain or possibly snow showers on Monday. We have gotten some prep work done in the garden, and are ready to broadfork the raised beds, apply the Azomite and lay in some compost. First, though, we will need a less windy day.

After the first week, we have some seedlings up! Here are a partial listing of what is up-

Principe Borghese tomato

Goldman’s Italian-American tomato

Wild Galapagos tomato

Silvery Fir Tree tomato

There are a few more that we are trialing this year, so we can’t say quite yet what they are. After we get some good indication, we will let you in on what might be a new offering in the next year or so!

 

This video is from March 6,2011.

Enjoy!

Let us know if you have questions, or want something covered in more detail.

by
,

2011 Terroir Seeds Growing Season- Intro and Updates

Tomato Seedling


This year, we will show you how our garden grows!

Through a series of videos, you can watch how we start seeds, what equipment and techniques we use, and see the growth of our trial garden. We will share our successes as well as the challenges and failures. At this point, we are planning to update this post once a week, so check back often to see the latest. We will post updates on FaceBook as well as our eNewsletter.

The first video is from February 27, 2011.

Enjoy!

Please ask us your questions, or if you want details on something that we cover, please ask about it!

by

Squash Bugs and Ways to Deal With Them

 

We’ve talked about how the squash bugs were wreaking havoc on our squash, zucchini and pumpkin plants in several of our Newsletters and asked our readers to talk to us and let us know their ideas and experiences in dealing with this critter that destroys otherwise healthy and productive plants overnight.

We found out that these bugs are a serious threat all across the US and Canada as well, so no area is more vulnerable or immune to them. Several people shared their experiences with companion planting, with mixed results. Some had good results, some had no change and some had differing results depending on the year. Many of you have said this is the most difficult garden pest to deal with, as it doesn’t seem to respond universally to anything or any approach. The bugs will overwinter under almost any debris, woodchips or other small shelter and re-engage their destructive behavior in the Spring, making their control a multi-year program.

The two most successful methods were spraying of Neem oil, either by itself or mixed with water, or Guinea hens in the garden. The Guinea hens seems like the most reliable method of controlling the bugs, if you’re able to get and keep the hens. They also seem to be the favorite bug controlling critter, regardless of what bugs you have. The Neem oil not only smothers the bugs, but slows their feeding and greatly reduces their reproduction if they ingest it. Several resources mentioned Neem oil as one of the foundational treatments for the squash bugs.

We were hoping for a somewhat universal approach, and one of our readers, Joann from Michigan sent us this recipe, and she says it will kill the bugs, not just drive them away! This looks to be a promising approach that will not only help with the immediate problems but speed up the decrease in population for next years program.

Print
Garlic Juice Concentrate for Squash Bugs
This recipe should kill the squash bugs, not just drive them off.
Ingredients
  • 4 Tsp baking soda Anti fungal properties, also stops powdery mildew type problems
  • 1 Tsp vegetable oil Smothering agent Neem oil would work well here. The amount could be doubled.
  • 1 Tsp organic soap Emulsifier/sticker/smothering agent Best to use a natural soap such as Dr. Bronner’s and not a detergent that can harm the soil organisms as it sticks around much longer. The peppermint variety seems to work well from Dr. Bronner's.
  • 1 to 2 Tbs garlic juice To make juice: 1 medium bulb (not clove) of garlic blended with 1 to 2 cups of water. Let sit a minimum of 15 minutes and strain.
  • 1 medium onion Made into a juice concentrate as above.
  • 1 Tbs dried cayenne pepper.
Instructions
  1. Add all ingredients together in a bottle with a screw top and shake well to mix.
  2. Add concentrate to a gallon of water and spray liberally. Repeat as often as needed to drive off or kill the squash bugs.
Recipe Notes

Daily hand-picking seems to be very effective as well. Some of our readers use a battery powered vacuum to help with this chore!

Add concentrate to a gallon of water and spray liberally. Repeat as often as needed to drive off or kill the squash bugs.

We will be trying this recipe to see how it works for us. Please let us know your experiences, or if you have a different approach that has proven to be effective, please let us know so we can share it!

by
,

Growing Your Salad In A Container Garden


We recently completed our second salad growing bed in our greenhouse, and here’s how we did it!

 

We started the salad growing bed so that we would have fresh salad greens during the Fall, Winter and early Spring when the garden wasn’t growing or things were just coming up. We can supplement our diet with fresh, healthy and extremely nutritious greens like lettuce, Swiss Chard, beets and beet tops, carrots, mustards and even some kale if we want to.

The salad bed has it’s own heat cable buried at the bottom of the sand under the growing soil, so the roots stay warm and don’t need external, expensive heat in the greenhouse during the colder seasons. We grew fresh greens almost all winter in one bed, and have expanded into a second bed.

Both beds are 6 ft long, 18 inches wide and 13 inches deep. The material was from a local metal recycling facility and is really heavy corrugated sheet metal. We bought 3/4 inch thick exterior grade plywood, drilled 21 drain holes in the bottom and sealed it with an exterior decking stain. We then screwed the corners of the sheet metal together and inserted the plywood bottom into the bottom slot made by the corrugations, and screwed it to the sheet metal as well.

Next we put the heating cable in. This is a sealed unit made to heat seed beds that has a built in thermostat. We attached it to the bottom side of 1/4 inch hardware cloth- a heavy metal mesh- to prevent damage to the cable if we needed to dig into the soil. You can see the drain holes in the plywood here.

This is part of the magic that allows us to be able to grow tender greens year round in an unheated greenhouse. Many people don’t realize how little it takes to be able to grow their own fresh green produce year round at their home. They are used to the idea of the Spring through early Fall garden, but that is it. The thought of growing farther into the year, and starting earlier, is new to most people.

However, there is much more time available to grow if you look at things a little unconventionally, and look at ways to manage the temperature and moisture to extend your growing season. Whether it is a weekend project like this, or it is constructing a small row cover from PVC and heavy weight painter’s plastic drop cloth from your local hardware store, you can positively affect your growing season with a little work that will pay you back for several years.

After the cable/mesh was laid down, we put about 2-3 inches of sand. The sand acts as a medium of heat exchange to heat the growing soil from the bottom up. It is surprising how little heat is needed to make a real difference. We had several nights at freezing after we started the salad pit growing, with a plastic sheet draped over the top, and the little “saladlings” did just fine. The water trickles down and keeps the sand moist, which acts as a perfect heat conductor to the soil above.

The soil was put in next- about 5-6 inches of good organic potting soil. We saved some time and bought some pre-made potting soil that is certified organic and has mycorrhizae added to it to help the roots develop into the soil better. The mycorrhizae are microscopic fungi that help both the plant get more nutrition out of the soil, as they extend the reach of the root’s micro tendrils into the soil and bring in nutrients that were out of reach of the roots. The plants will grow stronger and have more vigor, production and disease and pest resistance. In return the plants feed a sugar substance to the mycorrhizae. A wonderful symbiotic relationship!

After some gentle watering to get the soil and sand below well moistened but not wet, the salad bed is ready to plant! The new bed is in the foreground, with the established bed in the background. You can see the difference in growth in the first salad bed from this photo as compared to the top photo.

One of the hidden benefits to growing salad greens this way is the lack of dirt in the greens when harvested. There is no wind or rains to push dirt up on the leaves and stems, so the greens only need a light rinse before they are ready to eat. As we don’t use any type of chemicals to grow with, we don’t have to worry about chemical or fertilizer contamination to wash off.

The white box in the foreground is a small hydroponic setup, the blue top is rigid foam with 5 holes in it for the lettuce cups and growing medium, which is rock wool. There is a small aquarium pump in the bottom to recirculate the nutrient solution to the roots. We have grown lettuce indoors in the winter in our small house, so the greenhouse will be an expanded experiment. If if works well, and it should, we might expand this to be a vertical hydroponic rack made from several sections of roof guttering along the North wall, which is straw bale and tires.

This could give us a substantially expanded growing opportunity with very little square foot commitment. We will keep you posted on the progress!

If you don’t have your own greenhouse, a similar container system can be done in a sunny window, in your garage under some lights or even on a back deck. Let your imagination be your guide. If you are interested in the heat cables, post a comment. If there is interest, we may carry them in the near future.


by

Homegrown Vegetables Are the Most Nutritious

Dacha Garden


I came across a great article about how fresh colorful vegetables offer the most nutrition for the money spent. While I definitely agree with this, I believe there are some lost opportunities here; namely growing your own vegetables will prove the truth of several recent findings. Below is the link for the article:

Fresh Vegetable Salads Provide Maximum Nutrition for Each Food Dollar Spent

The first finding is that fresh colorful vegetables have the most nutrition when compared to prepackaged and prepared foods. The second is that naturally grown chemical free vegetables have more minerals and nutrients as compared to conventional chemically grown ones. The third is that the dollar return on money spent for seeds to grow a vegetable garden- even a modest one- is staggering. Several articles I’ve read put the return from $100 in seeds at anywhere from $1000 to $1800 in fresh produce!

“Salads that offer the most nutrition for the money are made with fresh, unprocessed vegetables. Color is the key. Those veggies with the bright, vibrant colors are trying to tell you something. The more colors added to the bowl, the more the salad can keep you looking and feeling young, and put a bounce in your step for the rest of the day. That’s because vibrant colored veggies are loaded with antioxidants, plant compounds that slow the aging process and ward off disease.”

The more colors in the vegetables you eat, the more different types of nutrients, minerals and other vitamins that you get. This is a great start!

“All of these varieties are excellent sources of Vitamins A, E and K. Vitamin A supports eye and respiratory health, and makes sure the immune system is up to speed. It keeps the outer layers of tissues and organs healthy, and promotes strong bones, healthy skin and hair, and strong teeth. Vitamin E slows the aging process, maintains positive cholesterol ratios, provides endurance boosting oxygen, protects lungs from pollution, prevents various forms of cancer, and alleviates fatigue. Vitamin K keeps blood vessels strong and prevents blood clots.

Greens are also excellent sources of folate, manganese, chromium, and potassium. Folate prevents heart disease, defends against intestinal parasites and food poisoning, promotes healthy skin, and helps maintain hair color. Manganese keeps fatigue away, helps muscle reflexes and coordination, boosts memory, and helps prevent osteoporosis. Chromium helps normalize blood pressure and insulin levels. It prevents sugar cravings and sudden drops in energy. Potassium regulates the body’s water balance and normalizes heart rhythms. It aids in clear thinking by sending oxygen to the brain.”

Now if we take this a step further and grow these vegetables ourselves, or at least buy them locally- from the farmers market or “our” farmer/gardener/neighbor that grows way too much to eat themselves- we can stack the advantages of the nutrition in our favor.

Several recently released studies show what is at first glance somewhat common sense- naturally grown vegetables have more nutrients, vitamins and minerals than those grown in the conventional chemically grown manner. The common sense part comes from the fact that chemical agriculture on any scale depends on very few chemicals- NPK familiar to anyone? Nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium are important, but they aren’t the only elements that plants need to grow and produce healthy fruits and vegetables. One study I’ve read showed that a naturally grown vegetable had 84 minerals and elements that were identified as opposed to 8-10 in the same exact vegetable planted from seeds from the same seed packet but grown conventionally with the standard chemical fertilizers and pesticides/herbicides. Something to note- the test didn’t identify the negative elements in the vegetables- such as chemical residues.

Which do you think has better nutrition, which has better taste, and which would you want to eat or serve as dinner to your family?

Continuing the stacking of benefits idea- this is the introduction to the article:

“It looks like food prices will continue to creep steadily higher throughout 2009, even in the face of an economic crisis that has reduced the purchasing power of most Americans. This makes it more important that ever to get the best nutritional value for every food dollar spent.”

I agree completely with this, and seeing this at the end of 2009, the truth of the cost of food vs purchasing power is apparent. What if we can turn this truth around, and make it pay instead of save money? That’s an exciting idea, as saving money is good, but saving in this case is only a stop to spending money. Growing a garden can actually pay you! It is truly not very difficult to grow a garden that produces more than you and your family can eat. Sell the excess, make some money! Farmers and local markets are the fastest growing segment of agriculture for the past several years. Most have a booth just for the backyard gardener to sell/trade their abundance.

Or trade it to your neighbor in return for services or something you need. This won’t give you dollars, but will give you something of value that you didn’t have to spend dollars to obtain.

Or donate some to your local food bank/soup kitchen/Meals on Wheels/etc. Again, not dollars, but karma is good too. So is the increased community that you’ve just created that can help you in ways unforeseen right now.

Now please don’t misunderstand me. I really like the article! I think that there are some ways to capitalize on a good idea and great benefit to achieve much greater results for all of us. Please take the time to read the entire article.

by

How to Store Your Seeds for Next Year

Cleaning Pumpkin Seeds


We get a lot of questions on how to save seeds. Most of them are general seed saving questions, but most boil down to how to save seeds for the next year. Most of the seed packets have more seeds than will be used in one year, and most seeds are good for several years in proper storage conditions.

Please realize that seeds are meant to be planted, not stored!

We get a chuckle from the e-bay seed sellers and survivalist stores that proclaim their seeds are nitrogen flushed, vacuum packed in tin cans or aluminum foil pouches, and are good for 5 or 10 years.

That’s great, but if the seeds are tossed out in the unheated/uncooled garage for 3+ years- guess what?

They’re DEAD!

The temperature/humidity fluctuations shortens the life of the stored seeds drastically. Seeds are the plant’s mechanism for propagation and survival. They have evolved to survive for a short time- e.g. a winter or two- in the ground until the optimum conditions arrive to sprout.

For almost all domesticated varieties that are used for food, the optimum conditions  mean next spring. There definitely are seeds that will last longer, but most are non-food plants. Throughout history people would collect and save seeds for the next year or two and have kept plant varieties alive for thousands of years.

Today we have methods to stabilize temperature and humidity; we have advantages in prolonging the life of the stored seed.

The best way to save seeds for future plantings are to keep the seeds in the original seed packets; that way you know where they came from, the name, planting instructions, etc. Then put them in clear Ziplock sandwich baggies with the date on the baggie.

This way you know when you started storing them.

Put all of the baggies in a gallon Ziplock and put it into the freezer.

“But won’t that hurt the seeds?”, people ask. Not at all!

This is why the Vavilov Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia uses liquid nitrogen to freeze seeds for a long time. This is also why the “Doomsday Vault” in Svalbard, Norway is located above the Arctic Circle and dug into the side of a mountain and several hundred feet down, to keep the vault below zero if the cooling system fails.

Your freezer is cold and has low humidity. You probably don’t go into the freezer several times a day like the refrigerator. Each time you open/shut the door, the outside air comes in, raising the temperature and humidity.

This isn’t good for your seeds if they are in the fridge. The freezer is more stable. Please understand the fridge is better than the garage or basement, but the freezer is even better, and you probably have space!

When time comes for planting next spring, take out the packets you will use, take out the seeds you will plant if there are a lot left, and put the bag back into the Ziplock and into the freezer. Let the seed to be planted come to room temperature before planting into the soil.

Most varieties will keep for 3+ years with no loss of germination.

There are exceptions, of course. Onion seeds are good for 1 year, no more, no matter the method of keeping. Garlic only grows from the bulb or clove, freezing kills it.

There are some other varieties that have a short life in storage, but don’t get too caught up in that. If you plant each year, you will be fine.

When you start to save your own seed, the same procedure applies- just be sure the seed is DRY, or else the freeze will expand any moisture in the seed and destroy it.

Label the bag with the name, date harvested, date stored and freeze it.

If you get into seed saving, or want a lot more information on the methods and details for each variety of vegetable, Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth is a wonderful book. It is not light reading, but if treated like a reference book or text book, you’ll do just fine. 

by

Raised Garden Beds at Underwood Gardens


We are finishing up our raised bed garden, and wanted to show you what we have been working on.  The raised beds will be both production garden for our family, and a test garden for the seed business.  Our garden is 35 x 70 feet;  smaller than some,  larger than others. There are several projects that we are working on that we will keep you up to date on with the blog, so check back often!

Today is an overview of the gardens, our climate and challenges that we face, as well as an introduction of some of the projects that we are working on.

We are at 5000 feet elevation, with 4 full seasons, and are located between Phoenix and Flagstaff, so we avoid the temperature extremes of both places. Our temperatures range from 110 to 20 degrees F. We are in a high desert environment with about 12 inches of rain annually. The soil here is good, but needs organic matter worked into it to be productive.  Arizona has a lot of microclimates, as does most areas of the US that have hills and elevation changes, so this presents unique challenges to growing depending on where you live.

Some of our challenges include the wind, heat and dry climate.  These combine to dry out a garden severely unless measures are taken.  Wind protection, drip irrigation and lots of mulch are some of the things we do to keep moisture where we need it.  Even with our challenges, we can grow a ton of food, and so can you!

Let’s take a look-

A plant growing in the dirt on a sunny day.

This South facing shot shows the raised beds, the blue wind break on the fence and the wood chips in the walkway. Over the fence in the background is the native grassland. There is weed cloth under the wood chips;  this gives a good walking surface that keeps the weeds out!  We are moving worms into each bed to help build soil and keep the beds aerated and healthy.

A plant growing in the dirt on a sunny day.

Here is a  photo of  the worm bed. We haven’t put the weed cloth and chips in the walkway yet, but the weed cloth under the bed is visible. This is where we will have lots of worms, in addition to charcoal, coffee grounds, and horse manure compost.  The worms love coffee grounds, which also retain a lot of moisture to help jump start the soil building process.  The white PVC piping is the drip manifold with the shut off valves and the garden hose that connects each bed to the next. The charcoal is visible under the drip tape.  It acts as condos for the micro-organisms that live in healthy soil. The humus-like soil will be used to amend or top-dress the other growing beds in the fall and spring. Once we have enough, we can use the excess humus as another product to sell locally. We will keep you updated on the progress.

This should give a good overview of what we are doing and where we are going. We will give more detailed info in the next few posts, so stay tuned!

Please don’t think that this level of gardening is required to be successful, it’s not! A lot smaller garden can be just as productive on a smaller scale- all the way down to 2×2 feet… The most important thing is to just get started! We will go over options on sizes in future blogs. As always, if you have questions or comments, please leave them on the comments section, or call us at 888-878-5247!

by