Grow Your Own Vs. The Wilsonator
by John Weckerle
Senior Animal Affairs Correspondent Wilson
We recently received the latest in a series of verbal and e-mail requests for updates on our vegetable gardening experiences and the progress of New Mexico Central Senior Animal Affairs Correspondent Wilson. Wilson, who was billed by the adoption agency as a Chihuahua/heeler mix, recently celebrated the passage of his fourth month by tipping the scales at 30 pounds. So much for the Chihuahua half. He is as loving, good-tempered, friendly, and intelligent as we hoped for, and we will all be starting puppy training this coming Saturday at Acoma Training in Albuquerque. He was house trained within about a week and a half. He already knows sit, including moving to the side of the road and sitting when a car comes; is pretty good (but not yet great) at coming when called; is starting to “do his business” on command; and, of course, has learned to understand the word “no.”
As for vegetables: By coincidence, we harevested what may be the last of the kale from the current plants yesterday (time to poke more seeds into the ground), and made a hearty and delicious white bean stew with butternut squash and kale, using a recipe from Farmer John’s Cookbook. We still have broccoli (which doesn’t look like it will amount to much), cabbage (pretty small heads, though), chard, one kale plant. The tomatoes, which were disappointing (small fruit, and very few ripened) this year, are finished, as are the green and mexi-bell peppers, which didn’t yield at all. The squash (zucchini and yellow) yielded decently but were done in by cold temperatures. Oregano, thyme, parsely, and sage (key ingredient for garbanzo-artichoke stew!) are all still growing, and we have noted that the scallions are up, if a bit small. We will likely replace the tomatoes with snow peas soon. We also have harvested one small spaghetti squash – again, just after frost killed the plant.
This year’s yield was affected by a number of factors. Life, and a cooler-than-normal early summer, got in the way and resulted in a later-than-expected planting. The hot and dry weather, complicated by a hectic work schedule, long travel, and dealing with the car accident, certainly didn’t help. Squirrels infiltrated Bed 1 and wiped out our lettuce and string beans more than once, an issue we can solve by reconfiguring the critter control to something more like that used in Bed 3. We will be doing some research over the winter, but we think the small tomato and lack of peppers issues may be due to an imbalance in nutrients; perhaps too much nitrogen and not enough phosphorus. It may also be a function of soil depth; even at a foot deep, the beds are still containers, and the tomatoes seem to be behaving as such. A fourth bed may be in the wings; this time with no weed cloth on the bottom and fertilized soil underneath.