Rock dust

I have been reading quite a few articles on the benefits of rock dust for the garden. The rock dust can provide essential minerals that may have been used up by over farming an area for years. Micro-organisms can benefit and in turn can improve the soils with the plants being the final beneficiary. Some of the best rock dust ( stone that has been crushed to a dust form) is glacier dust. This glacier dust has been created by the glaciers picking up rock ( all types) in there movement and crushing the stone with there tremendous force. The different kinds of stone have different mineral makeups which in turn have different benefits. One example is the limestone. The limestone can have calcium and magnesium. My garden was low in these areas when I tested it. The other day I stopped at a Stone masons place in Kansas City, Missouri and he was cutting a lot of limestone. I asked if I could have some of the dust. I got about a pound. I have sprinkled about a tablespoon around a bunch of my tomatoes. I will watch and see if it has an effect. I am going to also try an experiment I read about in a garden magazine. It basically said if you could find a rock dust from a stone plant or other source you could check to see if the dust gathered has a benefit. Take pots and fill will standard potting soil or dirt from the garden. Add a tablespoon to one of the pots and mix in and plant seeds in the two plants and watch for the next 8 weeks., The one with the dust is suppose to do noticeably better. I am going to try it and see.

Cans for tomatoes

I put tin gallon cans around my tomato plants just like my parents did in the garden. I never gave it a lot of thought until a few years ago. There are a few reasons to put cans around your new transplants. They are as follows: 1) it gives protection from the wind for the first few days. The wind in Kansas can be relentless. The last few days we have 30 to 40 mile gusts. 2) It can keep some small animals like rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks away from digging, chewing or plain eating your plant. 3) Bugs. It can keep ground crawler type bugs away from the plant. 4) They can be used in the watering process. I do not recommend this for the first 30 days, , but after they are close to full size. The one gallon cans are about the perfect quantity of water for each plant once a week unless you have adequate rainfall. The water in the can slowly soaks directly down around the plant and does not run off. The can saves water resources. So you may want to consider cans around your tomatoes. I get my cans from a friend who runs a restaurant and goes through about 50 cans a week. It works so give it a try.

Morels

Its that time of year again. Morel hunting has begun. I found my first Morel yesterday. It is getting to be just about the ideal conditions for morels to sprout. Morels like it moist and temperatures to be about 65 degrees to 75 degrees in early spring. Also morels do not like frost at all. This year is looking great with all the rain in the last couple weeks. Where do you find there mushrooms. You find them in wooded areas with dead tree limbs and leaves scattered on the ground. They especially like ash and maple trees for some reason, I am not sure why. It takes a trained eye to spot these mushrooms. After finding a few you will get your eyes trained to pick them out of the leaves and debris. . Here is a picture. Happy mushroom hunting.

Getting ready for spring

On these wonderful winter ( I mean spring ) days its time to get ready for spring. Here are a few things you can do to get ready for spring:



1) Service your lawnmower. ( sharpen blade, change spark plug, clean air filter, and brush off the dirt.)

2) Turn over your compost pile. ( If you don't have one start one. )

3) Sharpen all your tools for the garden. All you need is a file. ( Sharpen your shovels, spades, hoes, and misc. ) Sharp tools work so much better than dull ones.

4) Clean out your purple martin house. We will probably see purple martin scouts in the next 10 days or so.

5) Go shop for seeds for your garden. It is only about one month till we can plant about anything. I have already planted onions and potatoes.

6) Get some fresh mulch for perennial flower beds.

7) Trim back any dead wood on trees.

8) Hit the lawn and garden shows for ideas for your garden or landscaping.

9) Draw out a detailed layout of your vegetable garden so you know what seeds and plants you need and how many.

10) Rake up old leaves, sticks, dead plant stocks, and thatch left in your lawn. Put all but the sticks in your compost pile.



Hey if you get all these chores done now you can have more fun when it finally does gets nice out there..

Organic pest control

I have a formula of ingredients that I use for natural pest control. This spray that I am going to share with you is not a poison , but a deterrent to small animals and many insects. Caution: this recipe involves the use of hot peppers so be very careful in handling the peppers. Avoid inhaling the steam when peppers are cooking or getting the solution on your skin after it's prepared - it will burn.

First I get 3 or 4 habanero peppers and crush them up in a medium sauce pan. The habanero peppers have a high Scoville rating which means they are at the top end of the hot scale. Small rodents and a majority of bugs do not like the smell or the taste. Next add 4 or 5 cloves of garlic and crush them up in the same sauce pan. The same goes for garlic. Most pests do not like the smell or taste of garlic. Add about a quart of water and bring the mixture to a boil for 10 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and let stand until cool. Now you need a t-shirt, cheese cloth or other material you can use to strain out all the solids. Strain the liquid into a pitcher or clean milk jug. Now add to the liquid 2 or 3 tablespoons of dish washing soap. The soap is going to help the mixture stick to the vegetation you spray it on. Finally add another gallon of water to the solution to dilute it before using, and put into a Hudson type sprayer. Set the sprayer nozzle for a fine mist. Take your sprayer into the garden and spray all your plant foliage generously. I like to spray about every 10 days or so. I do discontinue the spraying when plants are in bloom so I do not discourage beneficial bugs during pollination. It has been fairly effective on most common pests. It does not work on the worst pest in the garden , the squash beetle. I have tried many things that are organic on these pests, but I have found no control that is not chemically based that works. The best advice I have for squash beetles is to rotate your crops and pick the eggs off the leaves. If anyone has found an organic control for pests I would love to hear about it. Happy spraying.

Compost tea

Yesterday a neighbor asked me about compost tea. I have read a few articles on compost tea and have used it a few times. Compost tea is basically brewed compost water for feeding plants. This is how I make compost tea. First you need some well-composted material from your compost pile. You'll need a porous bag or nylon stocking to hold your compost. Place approximately a shovel full of compost in the bag or nylon and tie up it up securely. Fill a 5 gallon bucket with water. I prefer water from the rain barrel in lieu of tap water because of the chlorine in our water. Place the bag in the bucket of water and push it down until it is saturated with water. Cover the bucket with a lid or plastic and let the mixture sit for at least 24 hours. 24 hours later open the bucket and you should have a dark, tea-looking mixture. Remove the bag from the water. Now you have a compost tea for fertilizer. I pour this in at the base of the plants I want to feed. Another use is as a foliage spray. I strain the bucket of tea through an old t-shirt and then dilute the mixture 4 parts water to 1 part compost tea. I take that mixture and pour it into a Hudson handheld sprayer. I spray this directly on the leaves in a fine mist. The foliage is supposed to absorb a portion of the nutrients. I would recommend you use this on outdoor plants, and not with new starts. I have had good results with this, it just takes some extra time. Good Luck.

Planting tomatoes

In another 6 weeks or so it will be time to plant our tomato starts. I thought I'd give you some methods I use. There are many ways to plant tomatoes, but I am going for the faster growing and heaviest producers. First we need to consider the location for planting the tomatoes. I have a specific way I prep the field for my garden. The area should be prepped several months before you plant by tilling and adding any amendments (see prior blog post). If you only have a patio or deck and are using containers there are a couple of concerns to think about. One is the size of the pot or container. What I have experienced is that the container needs to be as large as a 5 gallon bucket or larger to have enough room for the roots. The container must have drainage holes so you do not drown your plant.

Back to planting your tomato. I dig my hole approximately 12" deep and loosen the soil in the bottom of the hole. Next are the amendments to the soil. This can vary from person to person. I like to mix in a large handful of compost. In some holes I have tried a dead fish carcass. I like to fish and after filleting the fish it is a good way to dispose of the remains. I try to dig the hole even deeper if I am using the fish due to animals and you should not let the roots come into direct contact with the plant. I place the fish in the bottom of the hole and cover with 4" to 6" of soil. The last amendment that my buddy Tony Haynes uses is Epsom salts. He mixes in about a Tablespoon per hole thoroughly mixed into the soil. It is my understanding that the magnesum promotes root growth.

Now we finally get to plant a tomato. First remove your tomato front the container, gently. If the start is in a peat pot you can break up the bottom of the pot to expose the roots. Next pinch off the bottom 2 or 3 limbs from the bottom up on the plant. This part of the plant will be buried and create more roots. Now put the plant in the hole leaving only about 1/3 of the plant above the ground. Break up the soil and fill in the hole around the plant. Pat the ground firmly around the plant without packing the soil to remove voids. Mulch around the plant with straw or grass clippings and water the plant.

This should be a good start for your tomato.

Lavender

I bought some lavender plants for my wife for Valentines Day. She would like to have a field of lavender. If you had to buy these plants it would be a fortune. So I want to propagate these plants. I have talked to 2 or 3 nurseries and read a couple articles on the topic. I am trying 2 variations. First you take a cutting from the existing plant. I chose to cut 6 pieces approximately 4" long. I stripped all the leaves and bark on the bottom 2 inches of the cuttings. Here is where I am trying something different to prep the cuttings. On a couple of the cuttings I dipped them in a hormone root stimulator on the stem and planted them in a 3" peat pot with my seed starter mix. The other method which may sound a little strange is to dip the stems in honey. Yes I said bee honey. Now I have to keep the plants damp and in a sunny place and see if one or both methods work. It has been a week with only one casualty. I will keep you posted.

Eat those veggies

The reason you grow all those great vegetables is to eat them. So I thought I would put a simple way to eat them on the blog. This is a recipe for roasted vegetables. It is easy and quick to prepare, and healthy for you! You need a casserole dish that is safe in a high temperature oven. Next find all the veggies you have in the refrigerator or pantry. Some of the veggies I like in this dish are carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, squash, green beans, garlic and onions. You can use any vegetables that you like except the leafy type, they tend to turn to mush in the oven. I recommend fresh instead of frozen. Cut them into half inch to inch cubes and place them in the casserole dish. Drizzle 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil over all the veggies. Stir them up good and get the olive oil to coat all the veggies. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Place them in the oven and set the timer for an hour to an hour and a half. The veggies will carmelize and have a wonderful taste. Good eating.

Hot box and new starts

Here are some pictures of my new starts. The larger ones are the chinese cabbage and broculli. The smaller ones are habeneros and golden belles. I just put these under the lights today after coming out of the hot box. The hot box is a box I built with 1" foilface foam board cut into pieces to make a box enclosure that will hold at least 2 trays and a light. I put a standard shop incandescent light with a 40 watt bulb for heat. To test the temperture I put a thermometer in the box and left it for an hour. I want a constant temperture of approximately 75 to 80 degrees. This is the best temp for peppers to germinate. It got a little hotter than that, so I cut ventilation hole about 4" x 4" and the temp stabilized about 81 degrees. The first batch of peppers seeds germinated right at 6 days. 90 percent came up. It works well and is easy to make. Its great to learn the little tricks it makes it easier and alot more fun.

Starts for spring

Its that time of year to think about starting your plants from seed. This will be my 3rd year starting my tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and some melons from seeds. I have learned a great deal from reading gardening books and from my own mistakes.

First I put together my starter mix. I use 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, 1/6 potting soil and 1/6 worm castings all mixed together thoroughly. I keep the mixture in a large Tupperware container, this keeps it from drying out. The garden centers do sell seed starter mixes, but I like this one better. I purchase 3" peat pots to start my seeds because they are biodegradable, hold moisture well and are inexpensive (about 5 cents a piece ). Next you need plastic starter trays with clear lids. They are sold everywhere and can be used year after year. Make sure if you are using them over that you clean than with a 10% Clorox solution to kill fungus and bacteria which may be left from previous years use. Fill the peat pots full to the top with the starter mix and place them in the tray. Eighteen pots will fit in a standard tray. Next fill the plastic tray with approximately 1 1/2 quarts of warm clean water. Allow the water to soak into the mix and pots completely. Take your seeds (I like heirloom seeds ) and place 2 to 3 seeds per pot. The reason for more than one seed is that you do not always get all the seeds to germinate. Depending on the seed, you may get as few as 50% to come up. Press these seeds into the mix approximately 1/4 inch deep and cover the seed. If the top of the mix still feels dry add a small amount (1 Tablespoon ) to the top of the mix. Place the clear plastic cover over the tray and place in a warm spot, for example near a heat vent or on top of the refrigerator. Check them each day for sprouts. This can be from 3 to 10 days depending on the seed. As soon as a majority have sprouted, remove the cover and place under a fluorescent light. The plants should be within 2 to 3 inches of the light for 15 to 18 hours a day. Keep them damp, but not wet, and if possible water the tray so the plants are watered from the bottom. After a week or so I thin out the weaker plants if 2 or 3 plants come up in each pot. After a couple weeks the plants could use a mild fertilizer. I use a diluted fish emulsion solution: 1 part fish emulsion to 40 parts water which is approximately 1/4 cup emulsion to 1 gallon of water. You can purchase this at any garden center.

When the time comes for outside planting (varies with temperature zone and type of plant) you should harden the plants off. Start by setting them out an hour the 1st day, 2 hours the second, and so on. After a week you should be able to transplant your plants.

layered gardening

Over the winter months I have been preparing my vegetable garden by method of layering my rows. What this means is installing layers of materials to amend the soil. The materials I use are as follows. First, I install cardboard or newspaper over the grass or vegetation. This kills any weeds by blocking out all the sunlight. Also the newspaper or cardboard materials retain moisture and draw worms to the surface. They love to eat these materials. On the top of the cardboard or newspaper I spread chemical free grass clippings (no pesticides have been sprayed on the lawn), leaves (except walnut or locust), composted materials I have on hand, and horse manure from pasture fed horses. These layered materials act like a small compost pile. Finally I put wet, old, compacted straw on the piles, leaving a small space down the center of the rows. This acts as the final mulch. It holds in moisture and protects the piles. Letting this set for months allows the microbes & worms time to work though the materials and naturally improve the soil. In the spring about a month before planting I use a small hand hoe on the center to mix up the material and bring up some of the soil beneath to prep for planting.