Watering While Away - Just Add Wine

Keeping your plants 'hydrated' while you fly off to fun adventures is always a bit of a conundrum.
 Unless you have some form of automatic watering system in place, you must turn to begging or borrowing - especially when it comes to containers.

As I took stock a couple of weeks ago of the weather forecast, state my veggies were in, and length of my trip, I came upon a simple plan that seems to have work wonders.

I was only leaving for three days, and rain was possibly anticipated for the night of our return (you know how those meteorologist like to hedge). So I decided to front-load the water by giving everything a good thorough soaking the day before I left.  This would suffice for all the big half-barrels, but I worried more about some of the smaller pots.

I know that peppers can take some drought, and you even want to keep them a little underwatered in the case of hot peppers if you want to develop that heat. Ever wonder why some jalapenos are so much hotter than others? Usually its due to how they were watered. As the developing peppers are only the size of a baby's thumbnail right now, I took the chance to leave them be (after the good soaking of course).

For the leavy veggies, I was a little more concerned.  I knew that the window boxes of lettuce would wilt in 3 days for sure, leading to bitter, leathery leaves. Another compounding factor was their location - under the roof of the back deck - leaving all their water needs to me.  My other concern was my actively-growing lemon verbena. She is putting out such quantity of new growth that I new she'd dislike drying out.

So with all that said, I decided to give my lettuce & lemon verbena wine! With a plethora of wine bottles empty in the
recycling, I just filled three of them up and put one, upside-down, in each pot burring the neck.  It worked like a charm! They were empty when I got back, but all the plants seemed happy and ready to resume the normal course of
watering the next day.  For bigger pots, or longer away, you might consider placing 2 or more in each pot, if large enough to accommodate.

As a bonus, any rainwater that accumulates in the 'dimple' at the bottom of the upturned bottle provides a great little butterfly pond. They need water to you know, and the rim gives them a place to land to get a sip.  So not only are we watering the plants, but local insect-life too.

Bring on the Tomatoes!

I’ve started a page for the Warm Season Varieties that I have experience growing to give you some ideas for what has or hasen’t worked for me.  The crops are those that you typically associate with the sexy bumper crops of summer - tomatoes, peppers, cucs, squash, melons, and the like..  What they have in common is they need warm soil and air temperatures to thrive, and in the Pacific Northwest typically aren't planted until mid May (okay, we do chomp at the bit to plant them earlier, but they don’t really do much until the soil hits 60 degrees F).  Thus, the majority of these are best started indoors or purchased as transplants in order to get the most out of the harvest before the first frost.

I've started with tomatoes, as this is likely to be the most interesting to the most people.  I will follow up shortly with the descriptions to some of the pepper, eggplant, squash family plants that I’m growing but the varieties are all listed, along with selected flowers and herbs. Check it out here.

Some tomato-growing basics

Sun

You’ll get the tastiest fruit with the best color if you can give them 10 hours of sun a day – and this is
pretty much a must if you want to grow the big, beautiful beefsteak heirlooms like Brandywine and Purple Cherokee.  I don’t have this much sun (and you might not either) so I suggest going for quicker-to-mature varieties - signified by the number of days on the label.  Shoot for 75 days and under.  Cherry types are also a good bet, as it takes less energy to put out a small-yet-tasty fruit.

Water

Consistent watering is the key to good tomatoes – and keep that water where the plant will use it, the roots.  Try not to get the foliage wet as this only gives fungal diseases a chance to reproduce.  Regular, deep waterings are key to developing deep roots and strong plants, as well as prevent blossom end rot.

Fertilizing

Tomatoes are heavy feeders, so give ‘em what they want! Many commercial organic blends are
available specifically for tomatoes and peppers, and usually include the trace minerals they crave like sulphur, calcium and magnesium.  For the relatively small amount you need for container gardening, its probably not cost effective to buy in bulk and mix your own, but this is definitely an option if you want greater control of what goes into your plants (and your food).

Containers

If you are growing tomatoes in a container (as I do) you need at least a 5-gallon bucket for the smaller
varieties, and really would do better with 20 gallon or a half-barrel for a better yield, not to mention a more reasonable watering schedule as they are less likely to dry out in a day.  You also want to find ways to warm the soil and/or use reflected heat to your advantage to help you out, especially in areas not receiving those 10 hours of sun.

In a half barrel, use the space around the tomato for quick leafy crops

Varieties such as Bush Goliath, and other determinate types (that only grow to a certain height and then put out fruit more-or-less all at once) are tailor made for containers.  If you want to go the indeterminate route (where they grow on and on until frost), don’t hesitate to prune the suckers and even the whole plant to keep things manageable.  This help the plant direct more energy into fruit production, rather than keep on with the leaves.

For more great tomatoes growing advice, check out this Organic Gardening post for the Complete Guide or just check out the 10 Best Tips to get you started.

Varieties

Sungold in bloom

Here are the varieties that I’m trying this year.  Some of my tried and true favorites will also be on Warm Season Varieties tab at the top of the page, so don’t hesitate to check those out too.  This year I’m mixing it up a bit so I can speak more intelligently about more varieties, and we’ll see if it pays off, switching Stupice for Paul Robeson.
the 

CHERRY TYPES - a great way to go for containers, and areas without the 10 hours of sun that tomatoes prefer.  At the very least plan one cherry along with your slicers, for a quick and continuous harvest of pop-in-your-mouth delights.

Sungold | 60 days | A great reliable orange cherry tomato that is a must have for the PNW

Chocolate Cherry | 70 days | A new one for me this year, looking forward to a great dark colored cherry

PASTE TYPES - while not always, these tend to be determinate tomatoes, which means that they grow to a certain height and put out their fruit all at once (and are a more manageable size for containers).  While often used to make sauces because of their lower moisture content, these are still great fresh-eating tomatoes and their smaller size is easier to use up in one serving, such as on a sandwich.

San Marzano | 80 days | This Italian heirloom has always been a reliable producer for me with meaty flavor, such that I have not tried another paste type yet! Many people rave about the Amish Paste variety, and Roma is a standby.

SLICERS - what wonderful things can't you say about slicing tomatoes?! These are the epitome of a ripe juicy summer tomato for most people.  A word of caution though - those big meaty beefsteaks take a looooooong time to mature - when it says 90 days, that's to the first ripe tomato. Due to our cool nights in the PNW, unless you have an area with all-day unobstructed sun you'll likely be disappointed growing anything that takes over 80 days.  Those 10 days might not seem like much, but when you consider you can get some varieties that mature in only 60 days, then the difference is a whole month - a whole month more with tomatoes. You decide if waiting for that big beefsteak is worth it - I buy them at the market late in the season instead while I enjoy my earlier tomatoes at home in early July.

Bloody Butcher | 55 days | A new, somewhat crudely named variety for me this year, it has endeared itself already by being the first one to flower (on May 20th!). Now to see what a 55 day tomato tastes like!

Taxi | 62 days | An early yellow variety that I'm excited to try - this determinate type should stay small and yield a good crop.

Bush Goliath | 68 days | This is a fantastic variety for containers, as it is a slicer that stays bushy and compact as the name implies, with such as sturdy stock that I grow it without staking it (!).

Paul Robeson | 75 days | Another new variety for me this year, I was tempted by the description of dark mahogany fruit, and the setting of fruit at lower temperatures (typical of many Russian heirloom varieties).

Aunt Ruby's Green | 80 days | Even though this is at the far end of my usual 'days to maturity spectrum', the description of bright green fruit, and the vision of someone's Aunt in Tennessee saving seeds to pass down this heirloom.

Garden Interlude

As the days grow longer and the temperatures warmer, I encourage you to pause, breathe in stillness, smell the roses.  The heady perfume of these velvet red wonders caught my attention today; be present in the moment and grateful for the small miracles all around you.

Coming Down to Earth

On this day that we make a point of celebrating the one earth we all call home, take some time out to contemplate her beauties.  Sit in stillness and be awed by the many miracles that abound every day.  And then contemplate too how you can protect, nurture and multiply all that makes life abound on this planet.

Want some concrete examples of how you can honor your connection to earth every day?  Of all the "Top 10" lists out there, the best I've seen so far is by Maryam Henein on Earth Techling.  I've used her list as a jumping off point for some of my own thoughts. Her's is definitely worth a read and contains some startling statistics, especially around recycling.  I've combined and condensed into the five following areas that I think are most important:

1. Buy local and sustainable whenever possible - while Henein uses "organic and local" in relation to food as her top category, I think this can be expanded to include all consumer choices with an emphasis on local and sustainable.  Of course the most local and sustainable food is the stuff you grow yourself!  After that, neighbors, local farms, markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) are the next best ways for you to feed your family and your local economy. A win-win for everyone, including the earth.
2. Be mindful of plastic - plastic really has become insidious, over-used and under-recycled in our consumer culture.  From the huge floating islands of garbage in the oceans, to the fact that less than 80% of plastic water bottles are recycled, there are many reasons to "just say no" to single-use plastic items.  Support companies that use less packaging, and with a greater recycled content - or better yet, no or compostable "packaging". Recycle what you can, but avoiding it in the first place is the most effective (see #5 below).
3. Read labels - in buying products with less packaging, especially when it comes to food, you are also less likely to be ingesting multi-syllabic preservatives, chemicals and other franken-food ingredients.  Checking the label should also be the rule when considering cosmetics, cleaners, and personal care products.  When in doubt, look them up online.  Get out from under the estimated 14,000 man-made chemicals that are added to food alone - and seriously question if that paraben-laden shampoo is really worth it to get luscious locks.
4. Bee the change - reducing the amount of chemicals that you exposure yourself to will also help
   
   the plight numerous other earth inhabitants and support the dynamic interconnectedness of life.  Buying organic does not mean that farmers don't use pesticides, it means that they use OMRI-listed pesticides.  Don't get me wrong, this is a great start as OMRI-listed pesticides are usually more targeted, less toxic and break down faster, but buying plastic clamshells of spinach from organic mega-farms is missing the point a little.  We need to support sustainable, diverse agriculture that is part of a broader ecology.  The effect where this is most obvious is in the decimation of bee populations through Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) - a collection of mutually reinforcing factors including parasites, rampant pesticide use, malnutrition due to monoculture, and low genetic diversity that have come together in a perfect storm of deadly proportions. For more information, a good place to start is my summary of a recent talk by OSU Bee Researcher Ramesh Sagili for the Master Gardeners.
5. The 6 Rs - perhaps the largest way you can "bee the change" is to REDUCE the amount of things you use and/or accumulate.  The average American generates 4.38 pounds of waste per day! according to the Environmental Protection Agency.  This is some 90,000 pounds of trash over one lifetime, or roughly 600 times your body weight.  What other living thing on earth gets away with this skewed a use of resources? I can be just as mindless in this regard as the next guy, but I really try to stop and think "do I want to have a relationship with this (item/object/thing)?".  Is it worth it? Will it really contribute to my life? Otherwise we have to expand the traditional "3 R's" to six:

1. Rethink - collectively we can be a very intelligent, creative, and compassionate species; lets put some brainpower into redesigning packaging/products and the whole system to be better in line with earth-centric values and the reality of a finite planet
2. Reduce (can't stress it enough)
3. Refuse - be it over-packaging, a bag for that single item you purchased, or the disposable cutlery that comes with your take-out; no need to make a big show of it, just say "thanks but no thanks"
4. Rot - nature's ultimate recycling has worked since time-immemorial, we need to increasingly question why we are making "disposable" items that don't rot
5. Repair/Recreate/Repurpose - buy durable, long lasting goods, and find innovative other uses for them once they are damaged or no longer needed
6. Respect - for earth, for self, for the resources that go into making something, for the beauty of being alive, for the interconnectedness of life, for the opportunity to responsible

In whatever way that you choose to acknowledge the connection between your life and that of the planet that supports us all, I hope you find much beauty in contemplation, and many reasons to make today the first step in getting closer to earth.

Happy Earth Day Everyday

Spring is Here!

Get outside and celebrate the Spring Equinox today,
and look forward to the growing days ahead!

Container Basics: GRound Rules

These days of wind and rain (and possibly) snow are a great time to curl up with a gardening book and dream of warmer days to come.  If your future gardening plans might involve a container or two, here is the first in a Series of Container Basics with some things for you to consider to ensure that you have a successful season.

Why Garden "in the Round"?

You might not be thinking of adding containers this year - you might be blessed with a sizable yard or community garden plot.  Even so, there are many reasons you might still want to add a container or two. Containers are especially valuable to the urban gardener, restricted as we often are in the sun and space available to us. Read on for how they can help your garden succeed.

Comfrey Attracting Bees

Minimize

There are some edibles that are exceedingly vigorous and so are often better off being grown in containers.  If you've ever planted mint, sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes), lemon balm, comfrey, or bamboo in the ground you might be regretting that decision.  So traditional garden or not, you will be much happier with these plants in a large pot, half-barrel, or upcycled horse trough.

Maximize

By the same token, containers can help you to maximize the

amount of land, light or heat available to you for growing plants. Maybe the best sun you get is on your front porch or driveway edge - containers allow you to "move the soil to the sun" and exploit an otherwise unplantable area for growing sun or heat-loving plants.  The reverse is also true, if you have a very sunny yard but want to grow ferns, hostas or other shade-dwellers and have a suitable patch on a shady back patio.

Microclimate

Say you want to grow blueberries in your traditional veggie garden.  This creates a conflict between the neutral-to-basic-loving vegetables, and the acid-loving blueberries.  A great solution to this could be containers, which allow you to make a soil-less mix with a lower pH (more acidic) while still having your blueberries near to the garden for efficient picking and watering.  More acidic soils are just the start - the microclimate of the container could be adapted to the specific needs of the plant, be they for pH, organic matter, nutrients, or heat.

Speaking of heat (which we are often lacking in the Pacific Northwest), you can also affect the microclimate by putting the pot on or against a surface that retains and reflects warmth, such as a concrete patio or a stucco wall. This is one way to encourage peppers to set fruit and ripen fruit. Containers also warm up faster in the spring and are better-draining than our native clayey soils (in Portland at least), giving you a jump start on planing. However they are also more sensitive to the cold, which can create some challenges for overwintering (we'll get to that in a future post).

Mobility

Microclimate and mobility go hand-in-hand, as containers can be moved as the temperatures drop to protected them from freezing.  Their movable nature can also be an advantage in chasing the sun throughout the day or season, to change up a design grouping, or even move them to a friends house for watering while you're on vacation!  I use the rolling platform at right to move containerized, heat-loving veggies from one side of the back deck to the other during the day as the sun and shadows change.  This effectively gives them "full sun" even though the whole deck is not in full sun all day.

Some Container Caveats

While there are very few hard & fast rules when it comes to growing in containers (depending on who you ask) there are come caveats that you should be aware of to be successful.

NUMBER 1 RULE!

You. Must. Have. Holes. Period.  Without holes, plant roots drown.  Perhaps surprisingly (or not) they need oxygen too!  In fact, in container 'soils' the optimum capacity is about 50% water, 20% air, and 30% solids. So you must give the water somewhere to go in order to let the roots "breathe".  And don't put gravel in the pot bottom to increase drainage, because it doesn't.  It simply gives you less room to plant in.  This will be the topic of a separate post, so you'll just have to trust me for now.

Meet Your New Puppy

YOU - and whomever you rope in to help you - are solely responsible for the growth & success of containerized plants! Being segregated from the native soil, containerized plants rely on you for regular water and soil nutrients.  You will also need to protect these plants from extremes of weather & temperature - heat as well as cold.  If you were planning on bringing home a new puppy you'd have done a bunch of research on the breed, what kinds of problems they are prone to, what makes a good diet, and likely even have a name picked out - so get reading and researching just what will help Julio the Jalapeno or Lucy the Lemon Tree grow and thrive.

Reduce Expectations

Constriction of the plant roots by the container can mean smaller size and/or reduced yields.  This is especially true when growing sun-lovers in areas of marginal sun (less than 6 hours), or when you forget the point above about you being the one responsible for the food and water.  However, you can use this feature to your advantage, for example the root constriction will also dwarf fruit trees, thus making them more manageable in height and spread.

Roots Are Sensitive

Roots are more sensitive and more crucial than above-ground parts - if the top freezes back, it can re-grow as long as the roots are alive, but the reverse is not true.  Remember: containers lower the USDA hardiness zone by 1 – 2 categories, so plants that might be hardy in the ground can be vulnerable in a container.  Roots are more sensitive to heat as well as cold, so dark-colored pots exposed to full sun in the heat of summer might also need protection.

Good Gardening Practices Still Apply

Right Plant - Right Place - Right Pot

Choosing plants, look for the following phrases that can lead you to more appropriate varieties: dwarf, compact, patio, small, mini, and early.  In general go small over big, bush over pole, and multiuse/season over mature crops such as lettuce that you can harvest while young versus cabbage that must form a full head. Additionally, unless you have lots of time or space, avoid anything that takes 85 days or more to mature; this includes winter squash, melons, corn, cabbage, storage onions, beefsteak tomatoes, mammoth sunflowers.

Choosing a place be aware of the amount of sun; access to water, the front/back door, or the place

you are most likely to use & care for the plant; and how the site might be affected by reflected heat, shade from the neighbors tree or house, or the prevailing wind; and the likelihood of being knocked over by kids, mowers, and/or dogs (or for that matter, peed on!).

Choosing a pot can affect how much you have to water, as well as how much heat reaches the soil.  More porous materials such as coil & moss (often founds as hanging basket liners), along with terracotta and wood are more porous, and will loose water more quickly.  Plastic, metal, stone and glazed pottery are less porous and this retain more water.  Dark colored containers, metal ones, and those with a dull finish conduct heat faster than those those with light or reflective surfaces.  Keep in mind too, that smaller pots will loose water and heat up more quickly than larger pots.  Thus bigger pots are better until they become a weight issue to move them.

Integrated Pest Management

Known as IPM for short, this is a pest management philosophy that uses a diverse hierarchy of methods and holistic approach to best gardening practices.  The hierarchy to control pests and disease is:

• Cultural - growing disease-resistant plants, crop rotation, pruning for air circulation, fertilization & watering schedules, and removing downed or fallen leaves & limbs (aka sanitation)
• Physical - using hand labor or machinery i.e. picking slugs of leave or spraying aphids off plants with a hard stream of water from the hose
• Biological - encouraging natural predators, parasites and microbes by planting a diverse landscape - providing food, shelter and protection for 'good bugs', also you can purchase predators such lacewings.
• Chemical - preventing and controlling pests and diseases with the least toxic but effective dose of pesticides. Those pesticides that are OMRI listed are approved for use in organic operations. Remember that even OMRI-listed pesticides are still by definition designed to kill.  As such, practice good pesticide application, including choosing a narrow-spectrum product, not applying on breezy days to avoid drift, and not spraying blooming plants to avoid catching pollinators in the crossfire. 

The Oregon State Extension publication Growing Your Own has a wealth of information on how to manage pests in your garden, as well as alternatives to chemicals, and a wealth of veggie growing information including a section on containers.

For pest management handbooks specific to the Pacific Northwest, you can beat what are collectively known as the PNW Guides that address Plant Disease, Insects, and Weeds respectively.  Bonus - they are all searchable online.

For guides specific to your region, check with your local state extension service - search for yours here.

Stay tuned for the next installment: Picking & Placing Pots

When the Pollen Rains, it Reigns

I've always been especially in tune with the spring-time raining down of pollen - and often suffered some what as a result.  And with this beautiful balmy boost to the spirits, in the full sun I see the golden snow as the trees release - and we sneeze.

One of the best and simplest way to combat the pollen onslaught is to cover your mouth and nose while you are outside, and shower off promptly when you come inside.  This keeps you from further tracking pollen all over the house, sprinkled on your dog and falling in your eyes as you toss your hair in the gentle breeze.

I was also reading an Organic Gardening article on Springtime Allergies and saw that they mention broccoli, kale, collards, and citrus as having 'the right stuff' to help prevent symptoms in the first place.  This happen to conveniently fit into the time of the year that you can buy or harvest these wonder veggies.

Get an easy recipe for Grapefruit & Arugula Salad with Pecans from my kitchen

Great Advice From a Garden Designer

A big thank you to Lorene Edwards Forkner who was the guest speaker this month at the Multnomah County Master Gardener meeting (open to the public and free!).  She delivered an entertaining presentation Plotting the Garden Year (or possibly alternately titled, Getting More Out of Less).

Lorene is a fellow Pacific Northwest gardener who cautions us that PNW gardens are just like a toad's metabolism - slow to get going in the cold, but really ramps up for those moments of sun and heat (about 3 months worth here).  Thus it is better to plant more plants earlier in the year when each one isn't giving you much opportunity to harvest, which you can then thin to fewer, larger plants as the season progresses and each needs more space to achieve ultimate abundance in the "space time continuum". Lorene was full of great garden sayings, three of which I have joined together for the following little gem:

"Gardeners adapt, that's what we do, we adapt - and we throw the dice, because there is always next year."

She was full of great advice too - grow up (vertically that is), chose crops that you can eat one plant all season long such as kale and chard, and save your repeat sowing for tender things such as salad greens and herbs. Forgo waiting 3 months for a "speedy" cabbage, and instead choose a fast-growing flavor mimic like kale or mustard greens.

And speaking of mustard greens, Lorene posits, "I bet you'd save enough money to buy a car by the time you're done filling your yard with heucheras, if you plant red mustard instead". Now that's a design plan I'd like to try!  I've been a big fan of red mustard for years, and I think it's about time it leapt out of the barrel and into the "ornamental" garden, not that there much of a distinction at the best of times in my yard.

She's big on herbs too - and why not! They are fantastic to eat, beautiful to look at, and great food for the bees too.  And speaking of bees, check out next month's speaker, Dr. Ramesh Sagili, delivering a talk on the importance of honey bees, and their current plight. Hint: planting a diversity of flowing plants and avoiding the use of pesticides (even organic ones), especially in the middle of the day when bees are most likely to be out foraging for nectar, are two of the many things you can do to help out.

Now you may have guessed from the numerous post I have devoted to fava beans that I am a fan. (This post has even given me the excuse to set them up with their own label). Well I am in good company in this regard - and now Lorene has turned us all on to crimson favas!  The splendor!  I am on the hunt but everywhere I go online seems to be out of stock... oh the humanity! Time for a dash to Garden Fever...

Lorene also has a really big soft spot for pole beans - she must have mentioned them at least a half-dozen times throughout the talk.  I have largely kept to bush beans, as I'm growing in containers and they can really take over, but she points out too that pole varieties fall into the "one plant, continual harvest category" and so that does make sense for small spaces. These also come in beautiful purple and magenta varieties that make them all the more becoming.  And she points out that with the darling hues they are easier to find and pick!

Other veggies that are great for the "cut back and renew" treatment, or the "continual picking from

one plant" scenario are kale, chard, and beet tops for the former, and in addition to the pole beans (I'm sure Lorene would be happier if I mentioned them again) are cherry tomatoes and tromboncino summer squash for the latter.  She enjoys these especially because they are a firmer type, and can even be eaten when large if left and treated like a winter squash.  Talk about double duty! This variety is especially fun because it can grow into all sorts of fun and twisted shapes (though probably less fun when trying to dispatch them in the kitchen with the veggie peeler...).

This double use of the vegetable that is open to the home gardener is but one of the great examples of "nose to tail eating" as Lorene puts it.  Don't fret when the radishes bolt at the first sign of heat.  Let them feed the bees, and after pollination will follow delectable juicy-spicy seed pods.  I have encountered these myself, and decided that I need to try some to pickled this year.  The radish variety 'Rat Tail', while unfortunately named, has been chosen specifically for this purpose.  Hardneck garlic scapes, nasturtium seed pods, and kale flower buds are all good eats too!  Thus, it is best to let go a little, and make room for serendipity.  For, as my friend Tricia is woe to behold, "you can't control everything in the garden" - though it probably won't keep her from trying, for a couple more years at least.

Some parting words from our engaging speaker: feed the soil, be gentle with it, because we all don't have the luxury of geological time.

Enjoy the Hopeful Signs of Spring!