And the Rains Came

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Finally it is raining. There were 1 ½ “ last Saturday. There was 1/10 of an inch Monday and last night we got ½”. This is making the garden and the weeds grow. The weeds are a product too. They go into the compost pile. The greens are growing so fast they could be picked every day. The squash is growing quicker than projected. Greens were planted on the edges of the squash beds. The squash will need that room soon.

Mammoth dill was planted this year because it can be sowed directly into the ground. The greenhouse dill has not done very well. The row where it was planted looked like it was sprouting grass. It was, but it was sprouting dill as well. The grass was in such a neat little row, that I decided to wait to pull it. Now the grass and the dill are both identifiable. The grass goes to the compost. The dill grows. It is still to small to take a recognizable picture.

The bay tree goes through stages of looking like it will really do well and looking like it is dying. The important factor has not been identified yet. The tree is still growing most of the time. Perhaps it needs less observation. The paw-paws are much more vigorous this year than last year. It will be great to find out what it really tastes like.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Where Have all the Flowers Gone

The sugar peas are chest high. They have no blossoms yet. It seems that they are of a size to have flowers by now and possibly even some pods. The sugar peas were our first garden construction of the season. 4’ bamboo poles were placed in the ground at the corners. 12’ poles were put at the top and bottom and string was woven between them like a cats cradle. We hope to facilitate and extend the harvest this year. Normally the peas lay on the ground and are very hard to find for us but not for the slugs. The vines are damaged harvesting the peas.

The spinach has been very prolific this year. Normally we get all we can eat; but no more. This year we have frozen some and given a lot away. No e-coli in home-grown spinach. The pepper spray seems to have worked pretty well to keep the critters away from the crops. There was 1 ½” of rain Saturday night, so the mess needs to be re-applied.

The corn is 1’ high and except for the first depredations, it has been left to grow. Some of it was side-dressed with compost this weekend. Some was not. It will be interesting to see how much difference the compost makes, if any.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Adding Spice to Life for Brer Rabbit

As mentioned in the last blog, Bugs Bunny and or Brer Rabbit have been munching on the corn and beans in the garden. Since putting human hair in the rows from a beauty shop, there have been no further depredations, but why take chances? Hot chili peppers and garlic should be a tasty treat; but rabbits supposedly don’t like them.

The peppers and garlic are placed in the blender with a little cheap vegetable oil. They are whirred until they are as pulverized as they will get. There will still be some chunks. This is all poured into a 2 gallon container. A couple of squirts of dish soap are added and the container is filled as full with water as the soap suds will allow. After it is settled some it is strained into a 1 gallon sprayer through a fine screen. Enough should be used to bring the container to ½ of the fill line. Finish the fill with water.

This worked well last year with habanero peppers. No habaneros were available this year so hot chili’s were used. We will see.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Nibble Nibble

The little munchers have arrived in the garden. They ate about 4’ of a bean row. Later they came back and finished the row off and started another. Last night they sampled the corn. I spread some human hair in those beds, but I really don’t have a lot of faith in that method. A little pepper and garlic spray will work until the rains come. It is a real shame that rabbit is not good to eat this time of year. A rabbit box would provide a little extra protein to compensate for the missing beans.

It probably doesn’t really matter if an irrigation system leaks; but the wasted water does not seem to be going in the right place. A 10-pack of hose washers only costs 98 cents. Every connection to which they have been applied has stopped leaking. That is a good investment. It is really early to be watering the garden, but it seems to be a drier than normal spring.

The garden is really growing well. The raised bed system seems to have less weeds so far. The growth of everything is really good. This is the time of year when the garden really gives a lot of joy.

One fig tree was pruned, the other was not. The idea was to see if the pruning reduced the yield. The pruned tree seems to have as many or more figs than the un-pruned tree. The figs from each will be weighed and that will be the real test.s

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

The Long Silence

It is almost always better to do something than talk about it. That has been the situation in the garden this month. Now everything is coming up great and the concentration is on weeding and building support structures. Watering has also become important very early in the season.

The only thing that has not come up well is the potatoes. They were planted in raised bed boxes that had not been filled, so they are really just planted in the dirt. Only 5 potato plants have come up. They will get one more week to manifest themselves or they will be covered with compost and dirt and the new bed will be either planted with something else or covered with leaves until it is needed.

Both salad and sallet greens are gracing our table and the tables of our friends in abundance. Onions too. Even a few asparagus are showing up. They are not very thick. Not even as thick as last year. There are more of them though. The sugar peas (sugar snap) are 30” tall already; but they do not have blossoms yet. They are supported by bamboo poles and a cats cradle type of string arrangement. String is a necessary evil in the garden. If it is not carefully and completely removed after use, it can really cause havoc with the tiller.

OK… I’m back to doing and eating.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Holy Week in the Garden

Any week in the garden is holy to me; but in most of the south, there are some significant dates to consider. Regardless of the position of the moon and the stars, Good Friday is always considered to be an auspicious day for planting. Rotten Saturday (the Saturday before Easter Sunday) is always a bad day to plant anything. I have never had the courage to break these rules, so I don’t know if they are valid or not. Why take a chance?

Finally a single potato plant has stuck his pretty little head out of the ground. It looks like a little green rose. The grape vines have swelling buds. This is a great sign, because a dormant grape vine looks so dead that one doesn’t expect it to ever come back. The pea-vines are about 5” high and it is time to start supporting them.

The fall planted arugula and turnips have flowered and been pulled off. The Texas blue-bonnets have bloomed and are as pervasive as ever. It is inconceivable they should be a state flower. Why not the yellow rose? The blue bonnet could be the state weed.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Buying Seeds

Buying seeds has got to be one of the most exciting parts of gardening. No dirt under the fingernails, just the satisfaction of thinking about the beautiful plants enclosed in that tiny little shell. I always buy most of my seeds in bulk from Renfrow’s Hardware in Matthews. Just going in the old fashioned hardware store is a large part of the experience.

They had everything on the list except for the spaghetti squash. We saved seeds from last years crop, which was the best crop ever. I planted a few in the greenhouse and they did not come up; so I was afraid of them. Who wants to waste weeks waiting on seeds that are not viable. Last night we started a more scientific test. About 30 seeds were put between sheets of paper towels and soaked. They were put in the greenhouse with bottom heat to see what happens. This should yield a rough percentage of viability if some of them germinate

This will tell us how many extra seeds to put in each hole. Last year we planted 3 hills and got 8 large squash. Each squash made 3 meals for 2 people. This year 7 hills will be planted.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/