Test Gardens Part 3

It is now mid August and our raised beds are growing and providing some great examples of some of the veggie plants that we had for sale earlier this year. We have had lots of beans, but mostly just bush beans so far. We have harvested several tomatoes of various colors and sizes so far. We have also harvested several cucumbers mostly White Stallions and Persienne Cornichon. Here is a look at a few of the vegetables that we have harvested.

This is one of our kohlrabi. They did suffer a little slug damage, but that quickly scabbed over. They have been very nice and mild.

We picked about 3 lbs of beans in one day and about same amount a week later.

Test Gardens Part 2

Okay, it has been a little while since an update to our blog. Well, the first 5 beds are done in our new raised beds.

Bed 1: Which I talked about last time and our seed and transplanted crops in that bed. That bed has had a few changes since last time. I have added a soaker hose. (For those not familiar with soaker hoses: They are recycled tires made into a porous hose from which the water can seep.) It is not ideal placement in the bed, but it was the best I could do since I was putting it into such a well established bed. There have also been a few plant changes in Bed 1. Due to the early warm weather our radishes were getting close to blooming so I removed them. I replaced them with some left over Zefa Fino fennel starts that were left over in the greenhouse. I also added a few corn salad plugs. I have never grown corn salad before, but I thought I would give it a try.

Bed 2: In bed 2 I have planted legumes. I took the left over Snow Pod pea starts from the greenhouse and planted those. It was really a little late in the season for me to plant peas, but I hate throwing plants out. I also plant my oldest daughter’s rescued mystery bean starts. We don’t know if they are pole or bush beans so I gave them all a little string to climb. In between those two I planted bush beans. I am normally a pole bean person, but I thought I would try something new. The varieties planted in bed 2 are: Oregon II Po d Peas, Blue Lake Pole Beans and Oregon 54 Bush Beans.

Bed 3: In bed 3 I have planted tomatoes. I chose most very small to medium sized fruiting varieties for this bed. When planting these I removed the bottom sets of leaves, added 1 cup of bone meal to each hole and planted each about 1-2 deeper than they were in the pot. I always cage all of my tomatoes so I placed a cage around each. I didn’t not remove the fruit when planting these, which not something I would recommend doing. Not removing the fruit will more than likely give me smaller plants. I also planted my plants fairly close together. This is our first year with these beds so I am not sure how big the plants will get. Next year we may plant our tomatoes differently. The varieties planted in bed 3 are: Red Currant, Yellow Pear, Sungold, Sweet 100, Cabernet, Christmas Grape, Jelly Bean, Roma, and Celebrity.

Bed 4: In bed 4 I also planted tomatoes. We eat a lot of tomatoes in our household. For this bed I chose medium to extra large fruiting varieties. I followed the same procedure as in bed 3. The varieties in bed 4 are: Mortgage Lifter, Brandywine OTV, Kellogg’s Breakfast, Lemon Boy, Cherokee Purple, Polish Linguisa, Black Prince, Aunt Ruby’s Green, Legend, Vera Pepper Tomato, and Pineapple.

Bed 5: In bed five I planted peppers, basil and parsley. I put ½ cup bone meal in each hole and planted each level with the soil as they were in the pots. The varieties plant in this bed are: Peppers- Carmen, Mini Apple, Serrano Del Sol, Early Sunsation, Satsuma, New Ace, Volcano, Fooled You, Shishito, Mexibell Basil- Napoletano, Sweet Mammoth, Lettuce Leaf, Mrs. Burn Lemon, Marseilles, Ararat, Red Rubin, Cinnamon, Superbo, Siam Queen, Serrata Other- Lisette Parsley, Par-Cel, Safir Cutting Celery

Test Gardens Part1

I thought I would take a little time to talk about the creation of our new raised beds which are going to be part of our test gardens for this year.

This is the space we started with. Our garden is heavy clay that has been amended, but we spent a lot of time battling the mole and gophers. So we decided to abandon the idea of garden in the ground.

So we ordered 10 yards of blended soil mix and some of our own clay soil graciously provide by our many moles.

We built our 8 by 4 ft by 18 inches beds by using untreated 2 by 6 pine boards. Then we lined the bottom with chicken wire, in hope of keeping the moles and gophers out. Then we lined the with weed barrier to keep the weeds from growing up from the bottom. Then we filled it with our purchased soil mix and our clay soil.

So we filled our first finished bed we veggies choosen by our girls. From seed we planted radishes, brussel sprouts, and carrots. Then we added kohlrabi, cauliflower and onions that were starts from our greenhouses. Here is a look at the the radishes. We harvested the first few last night.

Here is a look at the kohlrabi. The starts were planted last week and have already started to bulb up. In the up coming weeks I hope to talk more about what is going on in the test gardens. We are very excited to have fresh stuff from that garden again. Go grow what you eat!

Edible Landscape, Creating Visual Interest

One of the great things about the concept of edible landscape is the great variations in visual interest that you can create in your yard ( or on your your porch, deck or patio for that matter). I think that is why I originally started planting edible landscape. I moved into our family farmhouse about thirty years ago and it came with a large, pretty yard that would take most of my time to maintain. It was loaded with Rhodadendrons, azaleas, begonias and a very large annual bed the length of the driveway that had been planted to exactly the same annuals every year since I could remember.

I knew several things right away about that yard. 1. I didn't have the time to take care of it or the money to hire people to do it. 2. It looked a lot like every yard in the area. Everyone planted the rhodies and azeleas and it reminded me of a lot of new subdivisions today. All of the front yards look the same because the same subcontractor designed all of them. 3. Rhodies and azaleas bloom once a year, we get our first hot weather the same week, then they are exceedingly ugly when the blooms fizzle. 4. I never have liked begonias. I used to be the poor fool who got to take care of them when I was growing up and they just don't appeal to me that much. 5. I was bored with that annual bed and I didn't like the colors in it anyway. Pink and yellow (or that much of it anyway) just didn't inspire me to work in my yard.

The begonias, being on the top of the hated list went first. That is what I'd like to write about today. I have some kind of ingrained need for visual diversity. I didn't really want plants that were all the same and in straight rows like the begonias had been. I decided to try to put in an herb garden in that spot. I really knew nothing about herb growing or cooking with them, but it sounded so much more fun than those life sucking begonias. I started slowly, but over the years I have learned that growing something both visually interesting and useful in your landscape can be a lot of fun. It has also led to some great eating.

On my quest to learn more about the herbs I discovered many other great ways to use edible landscape for fun and food. One of the first things I found that gave the yard great visual interest was artichokes. Here was a very unusual looking plant that also yielded an intersting edible flower. I have never really gotten into eating them, but the rest of my family did so I pretty much grow them all the time. They do grow and produce pretty well here if you give them enough water. I have never been much to cover them in the fall (we tend to be real busy with hazelnut harvest then and I just forget) so I have to replant them every 3 or 4 years, but that has given me the opportunity to move them to a different place each time to add interest to a different part of the yard. Wait until my family sees where I'm going to put them this year!

I do recommend trying unusual plants like artichokes. They can be a great addition to your edible landscape.

Grow What you Eat!

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are one of the most rewarding parts of your edible landscape. Fresh tomatoes of any variety taste better than something picked green, shipped for miles then gassed to turn red. Most gardeners have their favorites, small, hybrid or heirloom that they swear by. We offer 36 different kinds of plants so you should be able to find something you'll love to grow.

Tomatoes are either hybrids or open pollinated. Many open pollinated varieties are older and are considered to be heirlooms. Hybrids have had various traits bred into them, from earliness to resistance, to various diseases. Heirlooms are often a little more challenging to grow, but the reward is a full flavored, often colorful, interestingly shaped tomato. We recommend trying some of each to see what you like and what will grow best for you.

We haven't had too much problem with pests on tomatoes except slugs, deer and our Springer Spaniel with a serious tomato addiction. Keeping ripening tomatoes off the ground with good tomato cages or supports discourages slugs. For us, it takes a good fence for the other two pests.

Natural plant resistance and a good sanitation program (removing all dead vines and a 3 year crop rotation) will prevent most fungal diseases. One problem that we have encountered with some varieties is nutritional blossom end rot. If you have our typically acidic Oregon soil, you will need to use bone meal or some other supplement to adjust your soil pH and increase the available calcium. Consult your local garden store for pH test kits and calcium options. I usually use 1/2 c or so of bone meal in the planting hole.

When you take your plants home you should acclimate them in a sheltered area outside for a week or so. Bring them in at night or cover them to project them from frost. After the danger of frost has passed, space each plant 18-30 inches apart depending on the variety. I usually remove the bottom 2-4 leaves and place the plant to cover up to within an inch or two of the next set of leaves. I know that it hard to do, but if your plants have blossoms or tomatoes on them you should remove them. Water them to prevent stress, but try not to get the foliage wet. A drip irrigation system is great because it's an efficient use of the water because you are only watering the plant itself. Also it is a great way to prevent disease because the foliage will not get wet. You can use mushroom compost before planting or a mild fertilizer. A fish fertilizer is a good option for this.

Indeterminate tomatoes definitely need support, but I support all my tomatoes, regardless of their type, with cages to keep their tomatoes off the ground. Keeping the tomatoes off the ground will decrease the likelihood that slugs will eat the fruit. I have my little beer filled "Slug Bars" out where our dog, who is also a lush, can't get to them. Companion planting tomatoes with basil is good, but remember the tomatoes will grow tall so plant the basil on the south side.
Now just remember to keep your tomatoes watered and the deer out of them and you are well on your way to a great crop of fresh tomatoes!

Grow what you eat!!