June 20, 2010

The first photo, taken June 20, 2010, shows some decent sprouting, particularly of beets in the bottom left. The snapdragons have buds but no flowers, and the snow peas are making headway up the mesh on The Teepee at the back of the plot.

The second photo, taken just under 3 weeks later on July 9, 2010, shows a fabulous burst of growth and colour, thanks to our finally having received some steady sunshine. Hurrah!

July 9, 2010

• The snow peas have begun their happy ascent up the “teepee” (back right).
• Two different kinds of beets have sprouted and are flourishing thus far, largely because slugs do not appear to like them — they are in good company (bottom left).
• The carrots have sprouted (spot them front middle-ish).
• The poor, sad garlic has been denuded of it’s leaves and rust has taken over the remaining stalks. Scapes are in evidence (see if you can find them, mid-plot left side; use top photo showing healthy garlic as guide).
• The kohlrabi, two rows next to the beets, has not made an appearance. Not a single little sprout. Okay, no great loss.
• The dwarf tomato (front centre of plot where the kohlrabi was planted) appears none the worse for wear despite having been transplanted twice, however, it’s not thriving either. It may be hesitating to set down roots for fear of being roused once more, poor thing. I made an unfortunate choice — or two — of locations, both of which ended up being too shady. Note to self!
• Only a couple of the bush beans I seeded popped out and all of them are looking pretty sickly. Near as I can figure, it’s a mix of slugs and aphids, but I’ve caught only a few of each in the act.
• The two red cabbages I swapped with my neighbours D&D for 3 cauliflower are taking nicely to being transplanted.
• The spinach is just beginning to show itself (next to the rusty garlic).
• One kind of kale I seeded is happily growing away, while another kind is less enthusiastic about it’s emergence into daylight (here and there).  We’ll have to keep an eye on that.

And last but not least:

• The sprouted brassicas I bought and added are taking hold nicely: 3 Brussels sprouts, 3 broccoli and 2 cauliflower (mixed throughout).

Now if we could just get some sunshine instead of continuous clouds, cold and rain, we might see some real action!

Garlic rust fungus, close up

In further pest and pestilence news from the community garden, my garlic has developed a nasty rust fungus problem.  And mine is by  no means the only affected plot, thanks to a miserably cold and wet April and May. And June.

Thank heavens for our garden Education Committee of One who knew what it was and tenaciously spent time researching how to deal with it.

Notes-to-self if you are encountering this issue:

• The fungus can spread to leeks and onions also, but not other types of plants
• Caused by excess rain and lack of light and/or soil inadequacies
• Possible solutions: Create sprays with either baking soda, milk, neem oil (huh?) or chamomile tea (see recipes below)
• Cut off the leaves then dispose of them (NOT in your compost bin, people!) to ensure the fungus does not spread. Word on the street is, the stalk continues to photosynthesis even if you remove the leaves
• Disinfect your clippers, etc. also to ensure the fungus does not spread from plant to plant (this is serious, folks!)
• The good news is garlic rust does not appear to affect the garlic bulb — I pulled one to test and it looks just fine

Infected garlic, sans leaves

Organic, Rust Fungus Spray Recipes

1. 1 gallon water, 1Tbsp baking soda, 2.5 Tbsp vegetable oil
2. 1Tbsp milk per gallon water
3. 1 tsp neem oil, 1Litre water or chamomile tea

These teas may be more preventative than cures; spray on infected leaves in morning for several days in a row (especially if rain is washing off leaves – the oil helps spray stick to leaf).

I have cut off all the leaves and am trying the baking soda recipe. I have no great hope of eradicating the rust, but I do hope to minimize any further infestation on both mine and my neighbours’ plants.

More on Garlic

If you want additional general info about garlic such as how and when to harvest and cure it, check out the Garlic Farm website, which I found in my garlic research travels.

They are located in British Columbia (middle of the province at the US border in a town appropriately named Midway), and sell organic garlic seed in Canada and the US. They start taking orders July 2nd on a first come, first serve basis for delivery in September. Get your order in now!

With all of the moisture and cool temperatures we’ve had, slugs are having a field day in the community garden. My plot has not been particularly hard hit relatively speaking, but the slime masters have definitely enjoyed more than their fair share of my pole and bush bean sprouts.

Two weekends ago before I planted my lettuce I spent a couple of hours enduring a Saturday afternoon of misty rain — getting rather damp in the process — on serious slug patrol. They definitely let their guard down in weather that any normal person would know to come indoors from.

In some cases, the slugs were quite effective in blending in and only when I’d crouched still, thoroughly surveying a small area was I able to spot them. There were also some really big, nasty buggers (it’s okay to say that when they are, in fact, bugs).

And I noticed there is a crack between my and my neighbour’s garden plot where some of the larger ones are coming up from the depths. (Hmmm, note to self, bring salt for dropping into crack…)

To Squish or Not to Squish

On the question of preferred method of disposal, we gardeners are of differing opinions. Normally an advocate of non-violence, I chose the cut-’em-in-half method as it seemed the quickest. My mom uses the put-them-in-a-bag suffocation method. When I discussed the relative pros and cons with some of my fellow gardeners, one of them pointed out that at least suffocation is painless (loss of oxygen, falling asleep, dying) vs. the more abrupt, barbaric method I’d chosen. He has a point. Plus there’s less slime and goo to deal with. Aforementioned earlier comment aside, salt seems unusually cruel.

Organic Slug Remedies

With many other plots quite heavily affected there have been many suggestions to deal with slugs. Here are a few favourites, contributed by several garden members (the wisecracks are mine):

• Plant things slugs dislike: Ginger, garlic, mint, chives, red lettuce, red cabbage, sage, sunflower, fennel, foxglove, mint, chicory and endive seem to be less prone to slug attack. (This of course is no help if all you want to eat is tender, delicious lettuce, bok choy, and green beans.)
• Change your watering schedule: Probably one of the best ways to get rid of slugs is to water in the morning instead of the evening. Slugs have very delicate bodies that require a moist environment. They are abundant in the garden because it contains a great source of food and it is usually very moist from watering. (Well, that and we’ve had a very wet year so far.)
• The infamous beer trap: An age-old trick for controlling slugs is to use beer as a trap. Set a small amount of beer in a wide and shallow container or bowl and bury it in your garden soil, level with the ground. Slugs will crawl into the bowl and drown in the beer. (But they die happy. I tried that on a rooftop deck one year, but the slugs didn’t like the brand of beer I used. At least, that’s all I could assume since that trick didn’t work.)
• Copper wiring: Another slug control method is to attach small strips of copper around the sides of flower pots or raised beds. The copper acts as a barrier that slugs won’t cross. Make sure there aren’t any leaves or branches hanging over the side that will allow slugs to bypass the copper. (You can buy copper strips from the gardening store or finally use up that mega jar of pennies you’ve been saving for forever.)
• Lava rock: Lava rock has an abrasive surface that most slugs will avoid. (Haven’t seen any volcanoes nearby…)
• Crushed egg shells: Crushed up egg shells also have sharp edges that slugs will avoid. (I’ve tried this as a cheaper alternative than finding or buying lava rock, and thus far my salad sprouts remain uneaten.)
• Use a caffeine based spray: Spray around infected areas, especially on leaves and soil surrounding any slug delicacies. It is harmless to pets, kids and plants. It works by reducing the mollusc’s appetite; if you catch one near the plant you’ll see it doing a very unnatural u-turn of a twist to get away. (I’m guessing “caffeine based spray” could simply mean “coffee”.)
• Leave the beetles alone: Those large, black iridescent beetles you see in your garden are predators! (Which just proves once again that there is such thing as a good bug.)

And finally, my favourite, a low tech option:

“I’ve always just used a plastic lid from whatever. As long as it doesn’t let through much or any light. The dark moist environment under it is a nice place for a slug to curl up for the day. Then dispose of them as you feel most comfortable, Squish!”

Related Post: Good Bug or Bad Bug

Aside from last year’s garlic, a couple of thriving snap dragons and a pot of assorted flowers, the entire garden was a blank canvas. (The strawberries in boxes along side the plot are from last year and show promise of producing this year, unlike last.)

I decided since I was able to get an early start on the season, I’d try seeding my garden instead of buying sprouts. Last year I got a mid-July start because we’d only just got the plots and soil. In order to get a crop, I bought the last dregs of a nursery’s Brussels sprouts, cabbage and broccoli starts. In the end they flourished, I got a decent crop, and best of all, it actually looked like I  knew my way around a garden.

So on to the planning. Last year I planted rows that ran east/west in the bottom right section of the plot, then realized that because some plants shoot up quickly and others take a while, the late bloomers got left in the shade. This year I planted north/south in an attempt to alleviate that issue.

I also decided to draw up a garden map so I know what’s coming up where. This should enable me to have a better handle on what’s a weed and what’s a “real” plant.

And, I planted bush beans in the general area where winter barley was, in case this helps accommodate their nitrogen needs.

Then, it was water, watch and wait…

Here’s what the plot looked like after I worked in a bit of rich, horse manure, a bag of mushroom manure, and some winter barley bits in late April.

I am, after all, the Bumbling Gardener, so I rely a lot on hearsay from a variety of “experts” as to what I’m supposed to be doing. Someone said I shouldn’t plant right away after blending in manure because it can be too strong (acidic maybe?) and will burn the seeds. It needs to cure a bit. That makes sense, so I blended and let it rest.

Re: the barley…

Over the winter I grew a bit of winter barley in order to “fix the nitrogen.” The way I understand it, there are 2 key things to know: (a) some plants need more nitrogen than others; and (b) some plants taketh and some plants giveth. Winter barley giveth, peas and beans taketh. So I planted the barley where I would plant some beans in spring. I have NO idea if this will help, but you’ll know when I do by how well the beans are doing. Stay tuned.

I decided to blend in the barley plant bits while I was doing the rest of the blending, so it could become compost as it decomposed. You know, circle of life and all that. And maybe it will  “fix the nitrogen” some more, too.

Things I Learned From Blending

Here’s one tip for you to keep in mind if you try it: you can blend in the barley grass bits, but the roots are a tangly clump and you’re better off just to yank them out.

Something else I’ve realized with the blending experience is that I also turned up bits of the coconut coir I laid last year to help with moisture retention. I’ll have to keep an eye on that.

And, realized just how many wood chips and twigs there were in the compost we so gratefully accepted from the City of Vancouver last year. I’m not complaining (it was FREE and they brought us truck loads!), just saying. There are little bits of plastic and glass, as well as small stones, so I’m going through and picking those out a bit at a time.

Then came the planting…

I happen to love them, though until about 2 years ago I didn’t know how they grew. I never really thought about it, to be honest.

This year I planted a couple of them in my community garden plot but only one took off. Low and behold if it didn’t become a huge, thriving plant. Hurrah! (Everyone thinks I know what I’m doing, but I got the plant started from the nursery and stuck it in the ground. Aside from a little mushroom manure and keeping it watered, it did not get any assistance from me.)

I’d heard that you can wait until the first frost to harvest the sprouts, and that this makes them sweeter, but after I experienced some garden theft, I decided I better get them out while I could.

I trimmed off the big leaves first and, after mucking about with a knife and accidentally slicing into a couple of them, I figured out that you can snap them off horizontally.

I got quite a haul — a least a few meals worth — and tried them for the first time last night. I may be a little biased, but they were the sweetest, most tender Brussel sprouts I’ve ever eaten. And that’s many years’ worth.

Local and delicious!

If the individual in question was truly hungry, I’m happy to have my cabbage go to a good cause — though apparently even the starving don’t like Brussel sprouts, as these remained untouched.

I had a tarp go missing as well. My thought is that if someone is truly hungry enough to take a cabbage, then maybe they are exposed to the elements on a daily basis and the tarp will aid in keeping them dry.

That’s my hope, anyway.

The rhubarb, not so much (top middle of photo, completely wilted leaves).

The marigolds never skipped a beat despite the mid-heatwave transplant — I think they’d survive a nuclear attack.

Now that I have a more local plot, I decided to move some of them into the city to brighten up my new garden. In addition to half a dozen, bug-repellent marigolds interspersed among the brassicas, I transferred a few snap dragons, and a couple of fuschias.

I also brought along 3 sweet pepper plants that have not done well in the big garden’s climate, a clump of rhubarb, a lemon thyme perennial, and a giant pot containing 2 tomato plants.

We’re in the midst of a heatwave, and the rhubarb is decidedly unhappy, having made it’s displeasure known immediately. I’ll give it a few more days to see if it rallies, but it’s not looking good. The clump of pink snap dragons were looking a bit wilty, but haven’t given up just yet. As for the rest of them, they all look pretty happy to be in their new home.