Archive for Gardening
Grow Your Own – Boxing Day (Part Deux)
by John Weckerle
In our last Grow Your Own article, we went through the basic construction of a box for raised bed gardening (again, with a nod to Mel Bartholemew’s The New Square Foot Gardening). After writing that article, we moved the bed into place, leveled it, and mixed some soil. This new bed contains approximately one large wheelbarrow (alas, the last) of the soil given to us by Roger Alink of Wildlife West Nature Park last year, one bag each of composted cotton burr and chicken compost, one 2 ft3 bale of sphagnum peat moss, the last of the harvest from our household/yard compost bin, and a dozen or so shovels full of sand. The result is a rich and friable soil that is similar to the mix in the other two beds. We then added the grid to the top, simply attaching three pieces of lath in each direction using sheetrock screws and providing a visual aid to help us fit our plants into their square-foot domains. With all that done, it was time to plant and create the new critter control system.
Grow Your Own – Boxing Day (Part 1)
by John Weckerle
Editor’s note: Our design is an adaptation of that shown in Mel Bartholemew’s The New Square Foot Gardening. This is an easy-to-read and informative book on raised bed gardening, and we highly recommend it. Our principal adaptation is the height of the box, which is twice that of Mr. Bartholemew’s design. He considers this unnecessary, but given our often dry and windy climate, we like the idea of a slightly greater rooting depth and more soil to retain moisture. This project took far less than an hour to build.
Unlike the British, Canadians, and other Commonwealth countries, we don’t celebrate Boxing Day on or about December 26; here at New Mexico Central headquarters, we celebrate it whenever we build a new box to plant vegetables in. Well, yesterday we celebrated Boxing Day, building our third 4 foot-square by one foot-high bed. Today, we’ll walk you through the process of building the box; in Part 2, we’ll discuss our next experiment in critter strategy. Of course, you can always come up with your own designs to keep the wildlife from sampling your bounty. »» Grow Your Own – Boxing Day (Part 1)
Grow Your Own – The Rise Of The Horicultural Sneaker
by John Weckerle
Today’s gardening adventure started relatively early – before the remains of yesterday’s impotent clouds had entirely cleared from the sky. The sounds of Rice Krispies rose in the surrounding woods. That’s right…Rice Krispies. I am one of those people lucky enough to have enough hearing left to actually hear the tentative tune-ups of recently emerged cicadas testing out their instruments before bursting into symphonic harmony, and the sound (as I hear it; nobody else here at NM-Central.com headquarters can) closely approximates that audibly entertaining breakfast cereal that we enjoyed so many years ago, and many still do today.
Today’s objective was to prepare and begin planting the north bed. Having learned my lesson last year, and having seen the benefits of temporary enclosures, the first step was to begin construction of a wind-protection setup that could be quickly converted to a full-blown mini-greenhouse should the temperature pull the sort of fast one it did last May. I set out to create something that would be easy to water and inspect – and ended up with a running shoe. »» Grow Your Own – The Rise Of The Horicultural Sneaker
Happy Birthday, New Mexico Central!
by John Weckerle
It hardly seems possible that, just a year ago today, NM-Central.com sprang into being. A lot has happened over the past year, and we thought it might be entertaining to take a stroll down memory lane, look over our early stories, and see what, if anything, has changed.
Our debut article – Will the Grinches steal Edgewood’s music festival? – discussed the Town of Edgewood’s decision to abruptly cut all its funding for the annual music festival at Wildlife West Nature Park. The pretext for this decision had to do with the Town’s position that funding the event represented a violation of the State anti-donation clause, an assertion that we disputed then and still dispute today. Because the funding was terminated after the Park had signed contracts with the performers, the Park had no choice but to produce the event under its own steam. The community came together and, with donations and other funds raised, the festival almost – but not quite – broke even. The financial strain from this situation, coupled with the subsequent economic downturn, have put the Park in a state of difficulty, and we again ask that people consider making donations at the Park’s web site. This year’s music festival, featuring nationally acclaimed folk performer John McCutcheon, promises to be a top-notch event, and tickets can be purchased in advance on the Park web site. »» Happy Birthday, New Mexico Central!
Grow Your Own – Happy Earth Day!
by John Weckerle
As a sort of celebration of earth day this morning, I took some time to spend with the plants, trees, shrubs, etc. Things are looking excellent! The Tartarian honeysuckle is about to burst into bloom, and the chokecherries are showing flower buds. The Nanking cherries are also putting out leaves, and the lilacs have already done so. All the strawberries – even those not protected from the rabbits – appear to have survived the winter and are flourishing. The butterfly bushes are looking good, as well. The “mini-greenhouse” experiment has shown great promise, and it looks as if I’ll be able to start putting vegetables into it within a week. We’ll start with cool weather vegetables there – kale, chard, lettuce, snow peas, etc. We’ll need to make another cover for the north bed, so that tomatoes, etc. – already flowering – can get settled in and ready to add zest to my salads and sandwiches.
As part of the celebration, I watered everything – including the approximately two dozen red hot poker “splits” I planted Sunday – with water from the rain harvesting system which, while not entirely full after the winter, still holds a good bit of water. The red hot pokers are great for the hummingbirds and, as a special Earth Day treat, I saw my first hummingbird of the season this morning, taking a bath in the fountain.
Sometime in the next couple of weeks, we’ll be building the third bed – and going through it step by step here in case any of our readers are interested. This is a surprisingly easy task, and well worth the effort. Happy Earth Day!
Grow Your Own – Go Ahead, Snow All You Want
by John Weckerle
We’ll take all the moisture we can get.
As Winter wraps her lovely white arms around us once again, we take some time to enjoy the indoor gardening as well as preparation for the upcoming transfer of plants to the southernmost of the two beds we installed last year.
It’s harvest time here, with plenty of lettuce available for salads and sandwiches. Two pots full of mixed lettuces should hold us for the time being, and the arugula is similarly ready for use. The hanging tomatoes have adapted well to their suspended existence, and both the hanging and traditional cherry tomatoes have flower buds. One of the kale plants is now in a larger pot, as well, although it’s just a bit early to start harvesting it. The cilantro is ready for a bigger pot, as well, and the basil – while small – now looks as if it will survive and grow nicely. Petunias, zinnias, and some of the impatiens have been removed from the starter trays, and we hope to see some real growth on these soon. »» Grow Your Own – Go Ahead, Snow All You Want
Grow Your Own – Alas, Poor Stringbean; I Knew Him, Horatio…
by John Weckerle
In a tragedy of not exactly Shakespearian proportions, we must finally accept the fate of the string beans we’ve been attempting to grow in the plant room. They appear to have succumbed to pests, or at least very nearly succumbed. This is too bad, as they had actually produced a few string beans. We believe the culprits to be fungus gnats and perhaps some odd-looking creature that appears occasionally on the undersides of the leaves – but only on the pea/bean contingent (the snow peas appear to have bounced back from this). This is not our first abortive attempt at indoor string bean cultivation; we had similar problems last year. While the fungus gnats don’t seem to damage anything else, string beans seem unusually susceptible. We’ll give it another shot soon. The lettuce is doing nicely, and has produced leaves for a few sandwiches already. »» Grow Your Own – Alas, Poor Stringbean; I Knew Him, Horatio…
Grow Your Own – Hang ‘Em High, Bury ‘Em Deep
by John Weckerle
As we restlessly await the beginning of growing season, we’ve decided to reinvestigate the prospect of upside-down tomatoes. Previous experiments were of mixed success. Most resulted in very tasty, but very small, fruit. We learned in the meantime that it is important NOT to use standard house plant food or potting soil fortified with house plant food. Our prior efforts involved both. This time, we’re trying an unfortified potting mix, which wasn’t that easy to find (after checking Lowes and Home Depot, we finally found one by Hyponex, an old favorite from many years ago, at the Edgewood Walmart). Houseplant formulations contain too much nitrogen and not enough phosphorous, which results in small fruit. We want big ones this time; last time, our cherry tomatoes were about twice the size of peas, and the beefsteaks were about twice the size of regular cherry tomatoes. »» Grow Your Own – Hang ‘Em High, Bury ‘Em Deep
Grow Your Own – Ready…Set…Wait For It…
by John Weckerle
As the sprouting vegetables continue growing and requiring larger pots, we turn our thoughts briefly outdoors again with a longing eye turned toward the coming Spring. With that in mind, I decided to prepare the next experiment – a mini-greenhouse made of plastic wrapped and taped over the existing PVC hoop and chicken wire structure. To do this, I simply set the roll of plastic sheeting on the ground at one end and pulled the plastic up over the other, leaving a little extra on each side, and made a straight cut along the edge of the roll. Then I unfolded the plastic, and voila! – perfect fit (whew). A little folding, a little tape, and a couple of rocks, and we have a tiny greenhouse that, in theory, should allow me to plant earlier than would otherwise be the case. One modification – a little observation/ventilation flap in the top – remains to be completed, and I need to pick up a thermometer for monitoring purposes. The entire enterprise took about 15 to 20 minutes, with just one person. »» Grow Your Own – Ready…Set…Wait For It…
Grow Your Own – A Winter Update
by John Weckerle
Preparation for this year’s micro-agricultural pursuits are proceeding. We have now sprouted lettuce, tomatoes (beefsteak and cherry), yellow squash, string beans, kale, Swiss chard, arugula, basil, green onions, cilantro, brussels sprouts, and snow peas. So far, only the green bell peppers have not sprouted. The snow peas are furthest along, with the largest now nearly two feet high and the other two not far behind. The string beans (bush, not vine) only sprouted a few days ago, but had to be removed from the starting trays because they were pushing the top off – a familiar occurrence. »» Grow Your Own – A Winter Update
The Bees’ Knees, And It’s Time For Trees
by John Weckerle
Long ago, in a county far, far away…
…Your editor took first place in the county science fair for his project on bees. I had live bees, posters, and materials, and learned a few things about our great friends and partners of the order Hymenoptera, and wanted at that time to be a beekeeper (but failed to inspire the parents to the same degree) – so you can imagine the little jump of enthusiasm I experienced when I read the latest East Torrance Soil and Water Conservation District newsletter and found that the District is hosting a workshop on raising bees at the Torrance County Fairgrounds on January 30, 2009 from 10:30 a.m. to noon. Now, more than ever, we need to understand how bees make life as we know it possible (no kidding, there) and learn how those of us with a little room and a little time can help keep these incredible creatures working for themselves, the ecosystem, agriculture, and all of us – and maybe get a little honey, to boot. For more information, and to reserve a seat or three, contact Cheri or Kitty at (505) 384-2272, extension 3.
The District’s Spring plant sale has also started, and we recommend getting your order in as soon as possible. For more information and to download an order form, visit the District’s plant sale page.
Grow Your Own – A Long Winter’s WHAT?
by John Weckerle
What does a would-be sustainable food gardener do when the temperatures drop too low to grow?
a) Stay home, sit by the fire and plan for next year.
b) Start collecting recipes for next year’s harvest.
c) Move to warmer environs so as to continue growing.
d) All of the above.
If you answered “d,” you were correct, even though a and c appear mutually exclusive; as long as you don’t have to move far, and one of your hobbies is house plants, you can have it all – or, at least, that’s what I’m betting on. »» Grow Your Own – A Long Winter’s WHAT?
Grow Your Own – Winding Down
by John Weckerle
With the beginning of autumn now safely behind us, we find that the yield on the garden has begun to decline. At least part of this is due to the fact that something, probably a squirrel, managed to gain entry to the south bed and took out several eggplants and part of the string beans. I believe it was entering through a spot where the vegetation had pushed the chicken wire away from the frame, and have closed that point of entry. They have had access to the north bed, and have been taking tomatoes. New enclosures next year should prevent future depredations.
There are still a few string beans to be had from time to time, and the zucchini and yellow squash continue to produce. the first of the brussels sprouts should be ready in a couple of days. There will still likely be enough eggplant for one more parmigiana. The spaghetti squash provided dinner Friday and lunch yesterday (made with tomato sauce and Trader Joe’s meatless meatballs). The lettuce is about gone, and the field greens are still too small to harvest, so at this point it’s just a question of how long we can hold out before the frost.
Mountainair Community Garden Building Up Steam
by John Weckerle
Checking in with our friends at the Mountainair Arts blog, we find that the efforts toward building a community vegetable garden, spearheaded by iCreate, has been moving forward. A planning meeting was held last Thursday, and another will be held this Thursday, August 21, at 6 p.m. at the Community Park. For more information, including links to associated articles and information about the field trip in September, check out the letter from Dennis Fulfer posted August 18 on the Mountainair Arts blog.
Grow Your Own – Food Aplenty
by John Weckerle
This week we return to our regular (more or less) garden report. Both beds are doing very well, although the peppers have been largely overwhelmed by the surrounding plants (but are still trying to put out a few peppers for us). We’re not too concerned about that, as we have peppers growing in pots on the deck. Over the past week, the string beans have been the star, having yielded about three pounds of beans or so. Some of these were steamed and then tossed in a wok with olive oil, dill, and lemon juice, and the rest are headed for tonight’s string bean casserole. Last night was pasta primavera, with everything except onions and tomatoes (and, of course, the pasta) coming from the garden. Several eggplants (white and regular) are nearly ready to pick – there will be a lot of them before all this is through – and we picked the first tomato yesterday. The spaghetti squash also looks as if it is nearly ready to collect. »» Grow Your Own – Food Aplenty