12:48 PM [19 Jul 2007 | Thursday] |
Bugs ‘n Such |
I am pleased to report that the replanting efforts to the beet, carrot, chard and fennel plots proved successful. There are little babies coming up in most of the spots and where there aren't, well you can't have everything. Our tomatoes, bush beans are coming on strong followed closely by pole beans that needed parental direction, you know how these adolescent plants can go astray if you're not there to wrap them around their poles. I worry about the onion crop, I didn't do any weeding for a week and when I went in yesterday they were overrun with weeds and grass. When I pull out the big honking clots of grass I inadvertently yank out an onion or two, look around to see if anyone noticed and then stick it back in. I keep thinking the onions should be bigger by now, we planted so many of them, but they look a little puny. I could be experiencing gardener's anxiety or as the Pharmaceutical world calls it GA. GA is a midsummer condition, those afflicted show signs of distress, angst and some even get paralyzing vegetable envy (PVE), a sneaking suspicion their vegetables just aren't measuring up to last year's crop. This can be exacerbated by well meaning neighbors dropping by with bushels of their vegetables sighing, "It's the best year we've ever had, What oh what shall we do with these?" GA can cause a gardener to run and hide, leaving the poor garden to fend for itself. I have faith big Pharma will eventually come up with a chemical solution, but in the meantime, I suggest kicking yourself in the pants and start weeding! I also find picking potato beetles off your plants and dropping them into a cup of soapy water does wonders for me. You must find your own solution.
Which brings me to the bug/pest front. Our cucumbers have once again been destroyed by cucumber beetles, the wretched vandals. A pox on their house, which is sadly, my cucumber patch. I bought a pheromone and attached it to a sticky trap and caught every insect imaginable except for cucumber beetles. They smell the pheromone and then go back to destroying my crop. I even tried pasting one on there to lure it's compatriots, to no avail. Oh well. As I mentioned earlier, I'm controlling the potato beetles manually, a solitary pursuit as my wife for some reason can't bring herself to grab the disgusting larvae and drop them in the soapy cup. The Japanese beetles, the gift from the land of the rising sun that keeps giving, are here but I think I've got the situation under control. I put out Safer beetle traps in early June. They use a mixture of pheromone and sweet smells on a yellow background to lure them and then they drop into a plastic bag and well . . . DIE! Some say these traps actually lure the little varmints to your yard but that doesn't explain the multitudinous flocks of beetles in our yard for the past three years before I had the traps. I used the traps last year for the first time but I put them out too late in the season (late July) where they would fill up faster than a kid's bag on Halloween. (Non-US readers consult Wikipedia for an explanation of Halloween) This year I think I have the situation under control, the bags are slowly filling but not in the previous summer's nightmarish fashion. I still have to go out and plunk the occasional beetle into the soapy cup, but nothing like before. Time will tell if I toil in vain. |
Mood: relaxed
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11:04 AM [01 Jul 2007 | Sunday] |
Weeding, Mumbling, Mulching, Humming |
Now that everything is in the ground the Sisyphean task of weeding begins. This is something that cannot be left to the amateur. You have to be able to distinguish between a weed and the baby plants you're trying to protect. I'm weeding little tiny carrots, fennel, chard, and beets. I literally pull the weeds out one at a time keeping a close eye on those baby plants cause if you don't when you're done weeding there will be nothing left. Pull them out two, three at a time, which is tempting and you'll see little dead plants in your fingers, you'll desperately try to replant but to no avail. I save the weeds and dirt and place them in strategic dry spots on my lawn to encourage growth. It's very time consuming but necessary. Yesterday while I weeded the temperature was perfect, mid 60's, sunny, the birds were singing, with an intoxicating aroma of pre-blossoming milkweed in the air or is that the pheromone from the Japanese Beetle trap?
There is a downside to the weeding process, besides distinguishing what we planted from the weed freeloaders. Occasionally when I'm all alone doing a task I have a tendency to mumble, internally usually and if I've had a particularly rough week the mumbling might be of a negative nature. I replay scenes in my head of some misperceived wrong or maybe something I should have done or even more an alternative scenario I envision for a situation that will set things right. These scenarios can get complicated and ultimately pointless. Whenever I find myself indulging in these revenge dramas I apply the brakes. That's not what being in the garden is supposed to be about. I'm supposed to be relaxing.
In Joseph Ellis's great book about Thomas Jefferson, American Sphinx, a witness to Jefferson's personal behavior said whenever Jefferson (a noted gardener and emotional mumbler) was engaged in a solitary activity he always was humming or singing a song under his breath. Another group of noted workman, the Seven Dwarves, you know their names, encouraged whistling whilst they worked. I know the reason. I think the idea was help Grumpy and our third President through the rough spots. Whistling, humming really helps to keep those pointless scenarios and mumbled imprecations at bay. Full throated operatic arias can lead to pulling out the wrong plants and should be avoided. I suppose you could wear an ipod with your favorite songs but then you can't hear the birds. I leave that choice to you.
After weeding the plant beds I mulch with shredded bark. Completing that allows you to see where remaining weeds are and where you need to replant. Which is what I'm going to do right now. I'll fill in those empty spots with leftover seeds.
We finally have sugar snap peas, little baby zucchini and yellow squash, and while I was weeding the beets I saw them forming globes, so soon we will be stocking our menu with more food from the yard.
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Mood: accomplished
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8:40 AM [19 Jun 2007 | Tuesday] |
Just About There |
Over this weekend we finally got the rest of the garden planted. You have to motivate yourself. How do you motivate yourself to work in the garden?
It’s a beautiful Saturday morning, the birds are singing, the sun is shining, perfect weather to go out and plant. But when you get up, you realize you didn’t do last night’s dishes, you forgot to set up the coffee pot, you’ve got to brush your teeth and the cat really wants to have a good petting then a can of food. Where do you start? If it wasn’t for the cat I might turn around and go back to bed but she won’t stand for that, no how, no way, she wants someone up. And there is work to be done, so start with the cat, maybe the rest will fall into place. But other issues take priority. We don’t have garbage pick up out here in the country, we have to go to the dump and if garbage is left outside black bears turn into garbage devouring hoodlums. You leave the garbage out there two or three times and those bears are ruined, they’ll come into your house looking for your leftovers. I keep the garbage in an out-building that is well sealed but you can only do that for two long, so before we start work in the garden, it’s time for a trip to the dump! And right down the road from the dump is the Pakatakan Farmer’s Market. That’s our local green market where you can buy everything and it’s all local produce, local meats, local fish, local crafts, local plants and hanging baskets. So after heaving the week’s refuse into the dump, (wouldn’t it be great if there was some way to use all of it to run the power in your house) it’s off to the Pakatakan. We bought a beautiful hanging Fuchsia, then a trip to the local Garden store to fill the propane tank for the barbecue, a trip to the local usurious gas station to fill the gas can for the lawnmower, (wouldn’t be great if I could run the lawnmower with the garbage) and finally back home to put the rest of the garden in, right? Wrong! A thunderstorm came a calling. So I run around gathering up all the pads from the outdoor furniture and it starts to pour. That’s good news for the plants that are in the ground. We also set up buckets to catch the rainwater to fill a water cistern in the garden so we don’t have use the water from our well. It pours, then stops, gets sunny, then pours again. Finally around dinner time it stops. Then the sun comes streaming through the valley, as the steam rises from the ground we realize it’s time to walk around and ogle. When the ogling is done, it’s time for a barbecue and guess what, none of those plants got in the ground. But what a grand dinner we had as we watched the sun set and the next day, Sunday, we got the plants in the ground.
First I prepared the soil with my pick-ax, a useful tool and a great work out for the shoulders. Just make sure you don’t miss when swinging it and puncture your shin.
We planted:
Lancelot Leeks, Walla Walla Onions and Olympus Shallots my wife grew from seeds.
Purple Trionfo Pole Beans around a teepee I lashed together from old six foot poles.
Shallot and Red Weathersfield Onion Sets from Johnny’s we’d ordered just in case the planted ones didn’t work out.
A flower garden
Hubbard Squash and another Winter Squash with a French name that escapes me now.
Not to mention, alyssum, marigolds, petunias and snap dragons all over the garden.
We also weeded the beets and boy those carrots and chard need some assistance but that may have to wait for another day, according to the calendar, there’ll be more of them.
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Mood: content
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9:08 AM [15 Jun 2007 | Friday] |
More Plants in the Ground |
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At 8:30 AM ET it was 56 F. It got rather cold last night.
The tree Swallows next to the garden are fledging. They always make tight circles around objects (like our pole bean towers) as if they are going to fly into their bird house. Sometimes I'll be sitting in the garden and they'll make a tight circle around me and I imagine their parents are chidingly chirping "stay away from the humans, how many times must I tell you stay away from the humans! Fledglings, what are you going to do?" and they shrug their wings skyward.
The cedar waxwings are back, another one of my favorite bug catching avians. They tend to congregate in gangs and as they fly through the sky they appear to hit the brakes with their tail feathers and dart to the side to grab a bug. The way they ride their tail feathers sometimes reminds me of a dolphin. They fledge later in the year because they feed their young berries so that means August babies. I have a photo of them in the nest in my Garden Friends group. A beautiful bird I'd never seen until I moved to the Catskills.
We did a lot of planting that I neglected to mention last Saturday and Sunday, so I will list what we did:
We Planted:
Pole Beans
Angelino, Gold of Bachau, Romano
Bush Beans
Masai (they're up), Dragon Langerie (already up), Royal Burgundy
Onions (from seeds)
Super Star, Ailsa Craig, Red King, Sweet Spanish
Tomatoes
Black Krim, Super Marmande, Yellow Pear, Big Rainbow, Sun Gold, Speckled Roman, Amish Paste, Buffalo, Red Zebra, Stupice, Peron, Nyagous, Larissa, Sweet 100. I may have missed a few.
All of the potato plants are up, and all of the pumpkins planted from seed are up.
There is still room left in the garden and this weekend we'll finish planting. The garden is at that great stage where the weeds haven't come up in great profusion so we're not obsessed with weeding.
Soon we will mulch. |
Mood: cheerful
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10:32 AM [08 Jun 2007 | Friday] |
Cucumber Beetles! |
The frost was minor, killing some of the basil, the newspapers spared the rest.
However:
I have one word for you, cucumber beetles! Maybe that's two words. I saw one of the little pests on the cucumbers yesterday. Then this morning many more of them and I noticed half of the melon plants had died. The war was on. We'd ordered a cucumber scent lure from Johnny's so I dug it out. There were no directions on it. So I called Johnny's and was connected to someone who explained that I also should have received some sticky traps in another seed order from them. The lure is supposed to hang on the sticky trap, the beetles are attracted and get stuck. I didn't remember seeing the sticky trap but I did have some Safer sticky white fly traps, so I tried that. The traps are yellow and the beetles are attracted to the color. I placed it over the cucumbers and went away for an hour. When I came back I could see the cucumber beetles massing around the trap but it wasn't sticky enough to trap them. They'd just bounce off. So I rummaged around in the seed box until I found the sticky traps from Johnny's, these were uber sticky. I opened the first one in a hurry and got the sticky stuff all over my hands, becoming the trap's first victim. I ran up to the garden and reattached the lure to this one, and waited. Some were sticking on it along with a ton of these big house fly looking insects that breed this time of year that eat the tent worms we have. But it wasn't enough for my taste. I took matters into my own hands and started dispatching them by hand. Hopefully between the traps and my manual ministrations we can keep the population in check but we'll have to plant the rest of the squash in another location or we'll never get anything. There is also the nagging suspicion that I'm attracting the more of the beetles to the plant by putting up the lure. At least I'm getting on them earlier than last year, so we'll see.
Here's a bit on cucumber beetles.
Cucumber beetle
Cucumber beetle is a common name given to members of two genera of beetles, Diabrotica http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabrotica and Acalymma , both in the family Chrysomelidae.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysomelidae The name stems from the tendency for adults of these beetles to be found on the leaves and flowers of cucurbits; which are plant species of the melon, cucumber and squash varieties. The two most common pests in this family are the striped cucumber beetle and spotted cucumber beetle, which looks very much like a green ladybug However, unlike the ladybug, cucumber beetles are not considered benefical insects. They are sucking invaders which harm crops and ornamental plants. At two stages of their approx. 8 week lifespan, these insects cause damage to plants. Adults will attack the tender young growth of stems and leaves, and the buds and petals on mature specimens. They also carry and spread the bacterial wilt organism, Pseudomonas lachrymans. Eggs are laid in clusters on the underside of host leaves, and hatch into yellowish larvae (coloration varies) approx 1/2" long. The larvae then commence to feed on plant roots by tunneling into the ground. In some areas, the larvae is called the "corn rootworm". Cucumber beetles can attack and overwinter in corn and bean fields; in some areas they may hide out in compost or trash piles. Eradication consists of manual removal, pyrethrin-containing insecticides applied directly to host plants, and in keeping cultivated areas free of litter and debris from infested plants. Caution and strict adherence to safety instructions and directions-for-use are advised when using insecticides, especially on plants bearing produce for human or animal consumption.
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Mood: anxious
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2:34 AM [07 Jun 2007 | Thursday] |
Frost!?!? In June? Argghhh! |
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It’s 2:00 AM and the temperature outside is 35 F. We are in danger of frost. My procrastinating on planting the tomatoes may have paid off. I drove up from NYC this evening and didn’t arrive until 11:00 PM. My wife had already put all the unplanted plants in the greenhouse anticipating a freeze. She gave me a look and I knew I had to go out and protect the planted plants in the garden, even thought what I wanted to do was put my legs up and watch The Daily Show. So I put on my headlamp, pick up some old New York Times I use to start fires and made my way up to the garden. It was a beautiful clear starry night with just a hint of wind, but for the most part, calm and cold. I started by bringing in all the hanging baskets, I’d hate to lose them. Then I laid the newspaper over all the plants that might not be able to handle a frost, squash, cukes, basil, baby’s breath, melons. It won’t be a hard frost, but who knows? I can’t take that chance. As I was laying the New York Times on the plants I recognized a story I’d meant to read six months ago and was tempted to take that part back to the house, but I resisted. The plants needed protection. Then I saw a story about fall gardening with beautiful photos and I thought maybe I should read this, but what could be more appropriate than protecting your plants with a gardening story, so I soldiered on. That New York Times does it to me every time. Often when I’m building a fire with the NYT, I’ll see something interesting and put it aside but not tonight! Must protect plants! Anyway the plants are covered, even the baby beets though I know they could withstand a light frost, they’re just so small I don’t want to lose any. Also saw a webworm eating one of my cuke plants which I immediately dispatched. My neighbor saw their first Japanese Beetle today so I must get those traps out tomorrow. |
Mood: anxious
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12:05 PM [05 Jun 2007 | Tuesday] |
Beets are up |
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Eureka, the beets are coming up! I’ve put a photo in my collection. This morning the weather at 9:00 AM was 72 F under kaleidoscope skies, alternating with clouds and sun. Must plant rest of garden, beans, pole bean, tomatoes and all the other stuff I can’t think of. So far, no cucumber beetles or Japanese Beetles but something is eating the eggplants and it ain’t me. We've had lots of rain so I imagine the slug and snail armies led by their spineless Generals are out there planning a massive assault. I'll put out those slug saloons today. |
Mood: determined
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2:12 AM [04 Jun 2007 | Monday] |
Moving Forward |
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Oh what a weekend. Beautiful, sunny and the birds are nesting and really yakking up a storm when you go out for a sunset walk. We have one pair of tree swallows nesting in a bluebird box next to the garden and I bring them grubs I find in the garden. What I do is put them on the deck. Do they eat them? I'd like to think they do. No sign of the Cedar Waxwings yet, although it's early for them here. There are plenty of bugs happening so when they get here there'll be food for them. They usually visit in the garden if you keep still. They are a beautiful bird and prolific bug eaters.
We were able to get some planting done this weekend, despite the usual setbacks, sleeping late, reading, eating that sort of thing. In my growing area the last frost is traditionally done after May 31 and though this has been a very warm spring, we haven't had frost for over two weeks, we still waited with the delicate things. This weekend we planted:
Cucumbers, Tasty Jade, Diva, Lemon, Suyo Long, Armenian
Winter squash, Delicata Pumpkins, Howden, One Too Many, Rouge Vif d'Etempes
Melons, Moon & Stars, Oka, Eden's Gem, Passprt, Alaska, Collective Farm Woman
Eggplant, Diamond
Peppers, Not sure of the name, should be red, probably will stay green,
There are also onions interspersed in the cabbage patch, which is looking fantastic. Because of the warm weather the weeds are high and you have to cut the grass every 5 days or so, I don't of course, but you should. Now we are being inundated with rain and it makes working in the garden one big mucky mess. The mud sticks to your boots and then the mud sticks to the mud on your boots and next thing you know you're getting heavier and you feel like the garden might swallow you whole.
For the squash melon patch I spread some cockadoodle-doo, a chicken manure product and broke out the roto-tiller and worked it into the soil. Then I spread out some heavy landscaping plastic, both ends get rolled up in two by four and I bury the other two sides with dirt and rocks. We then get a scissor and make little x's in the plastic and plant the plants. It's very effective at keeping down the weeds and garter snakes like to live below it. I've got a photo of last years in my photo collection. It started to rain intermittently while we were doing this so we'd plant, plant, plant, thunder, lightening, run, run, run. Dry off. The rain would stop, plant, plant, plant and so on.
For the cucumbers we picked a patch and I worked in the cockadoodle-doo again but this time with my new favorite garden tool, my pickax. One side had a sharp end the other has a hoe and it's fantastic for digging fast. I then put up a cucumber fence roughly 8 feet long and planted. I'm still traumatized by last year's cucumber beetle infestation, so I worry for our cukes. I have some sticky traps and where they were last year (the cucumber beetles) we've planted garlic, potatoes and beets and soon an onion patch. Hopefully that will keep the little monsters at bay.
Earlier in the week we planted the
carrots, Dragon, Rainbow, Purple Haze, Purple Dragon, Bolero and Health Master.
Chard, Five Star Silver Beet, Ford Hook
Fennel, Florence.
Basil has been planted as well as an ongoing planting of Marigold and baby's breath.
Things are coming along nicely out there but there's lots more to get into the ground. Right now, outside the window I hear the rain falling, which is good but I worry about those carrot seeds. They are so small and could all wash away. I'm frankly amazed each year that the carrots actually grow. We always wind having more than we can eat but they are such a tiny plant. |
Mood: sleepy
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12:08 PM [28 May 2007 | Monday] |
A Minor Mishap |
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Woke up this morning all set to plant but before I started I wanted to get an umbrella for the table in the garden area to shade the potatoes before I planted them. I went into the shed that is overflowing with junk, located both parts of the umbrella, the top part (umbrella with handle), the bottom part (where top part snaps in). Coming out of the shed I tripped and the top of the bottom half of the umbrella stand hit the ground and smashed into the left side of my face just below my lower lip. It hit hard. I didn't pass out but I knew this might be serious so I felt my teeth, no loose ones, which I took as a good sign. Ran back to the house and gently told my wife, "I think I might have hurt myself." I looked in the mirror and saw the half circle outline of the umbrella stand accenting the line of my lower lip like some macabre grin. The cut wasn't bleeding at all, my inner cheek was bleeding, I'd chomped off quite a bit of my cheek but it was manageable. I then spent a half hour icing my jaw, which appeared to function even though sore. This being Memorial Day, "From Here to Eternity" was on and I watched a scene from the movie where Montgomery Clift gets beaten down by his platoon because he refuses to box, but he gets back up and stands by his convictions. So after realizing I wasn't seriously hurt, I too got up and went to plant those potatoes.
I use a pick axe to make a long furrow, then I dig out the dirt, then pick axe the furrow to loosen the soil so the potato roots have somewhere to go.
We pulled out the potatoes and some of them were moldy, some weren't, after much gnashing of teeth (ouch) we tossed the moldy ones and planted:
Ruby Gold, Purple Majesty, German Butterball and Burbank Russets.
Then we planted beets:
Forono, Golden, Detroit Red, Cylindra, Chioggia and a new fast grower, Crosby Egypt.
Then my wife planted New York Early onions, babies breath and marigolds in the cabbage patch.
I replanted the peas because only a paltry amount came up from the last planting.
I then iced my jaw. The left side of my face looks like a combination of Marlon Brando in the Godfather and Jack Nicholson's Joker in Batman. I was able to eat my dinner without any pain so hopefully the injury is not serious. This gardening is exciting.
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Mood: determined
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10:32 AM [27 May 2007 | Sunday] |
Tiller Is Fixed! |
5.27.07
Good news, the local auto parts shop had plenty of roto-tiller belts. I bought two. With unerring skill I deftly replaced the belt and fired up the Troy Bilt Pony Roto-tiller. I tilled the entire garden! Like a knife through butter. Butter that has lots of rock. Crunchy butter. I tilled all the gardens while my wife made 16 hanging baskets and five planters of flowers most of which she grew. Where on earth does she get this stuff? I also mowed all the grass around the gardens, finding old trowels, destroying another water gauge. But we’re ready to go! Tomorrow we do the potatoes.
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Mood: bouncy
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