Stuck in the Middle Again

Some people would say winter is the hardest time of year in the garden. The turn of spring and summer has got to be close. Except for tying up tomatoes and pulling weeds there just is not a lot to do right now. The garden has been pretty heavily mulched so there are not even many weeds. Picking greens and peas and cutting broccoli and asparagus is fun; but it is already getting old. The summer stuff is not coming in yet.

Three small yellow squash have been picked. The first zucchini was 1 ½ ‘’ long when the blossom fell. It was rotten already. It did not appear to have been struck by a pest. Sometimes at the beginning of the season the first female blossoms don’t get pollinated. If the situation persists, I will have to engage in artificial insemination. (or something like that)

There are still no tomatoes on the tomato vines; but some of the little cucumbers at the base of the cucumber blossoms seem to be growing a little larger. The cabbage is heading up a little bit; but it will still be awhile before it is really a cabbage head. The broccoli is still making side shoots, so I won’t have either that space or the sugar pea space for planting something else for awhile. Ho-hum.

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 Leaves

That should really be holey leaves. We have had a solid week of rainy days. That is a week of feasting for leaf eating bugs. This afternoon their meal gets spoiled. BT to the rescue. The turnips and the cabbages seem to be the most affected. I worry most about spraying cabbage, because as the leaves curl into the head, they make the spray hard to wash off.

The broccoli is ready for heavy picking again. The side shoots on one or two plants are as large as the original heads were. The sugar peas are still producing and the cucumbers and tomatoes are teasing with flowers, but no fruit. The yellow squash is producing, but we have not accumulated enough to eat. The herbs are producing prodigiously. The lima beans and spaghetti squash are climbing the fence.

I am climbing the wall, with impatience. Mesclun salads are great, but the grocery store tomatoes are mealy. The salad is almost better without them. The nasturtium flowers are a great addition to the salads. I just hope we can have at least one salad with everything at the same time.


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/

Okra Dokey

The garden stores have okra plants in flats this year. How many okra plants would one have to buy to make a pot full of okra? Okra is better started in the garden from seed. It should be spaced about 6” between stalks. It is not too late to plant okra, but it is ok to plant after danger of frost. The okra stalks will be from 4’ to 6’ feet tall, so keep in mind the possibility of it shading other crops.

The okra will have flowers that look a lot like the flowers on rose-of Sharon. They are soon followed by the pods. Put a long sleeve shirt on to harvest okra, because it will make you itch. Pick it every day and don’t wait for the pods to get bigger. The young tender okra is the best. Okra is a heavy feeder so keep the compost and water coming. Keep the weeds pulled and watch it grow.

Some people really love fried okra. They don’t know what they are missing. Nice slimy boiled okra is not only a treat by itself, but is delicious in stews and combinations with other veggies. Corn, okra, and speckled lima beans is my favorite; but it is good with green beans too. Trim the ends off of the pods and soak them in a solution of apple cider vinegar and salt water for about thirty minutes. Just cook them until they get slimy.

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 Rise of the Queen

Silver Queen that is. You saw the pictures of the corn on the ground, smashed down by the rain. It is now standing straight and proud. The sunflowers are taller than I am. The tomatoes are chest high and loaded with blooms, but no little tomatoes. One of the peppers does have a little pepper. We picked a couple of yellow crookneck squash this weekend.

The peppers were not side-dressed with compost until the first blooms appeared. Too much fertilizer in the beginning stages will cause the peppers to make a big plant and almost no peppers. Side dressing needs to get heavy when the blossoms appear.

We have been getting quite a bit of rain lately, so the garden is being mulched a little each day to conserve this moisture and hopefully to suppress the weeds. We don’t really worry much about the weeds that grow in the pathways, but they do make the garden look raggedy. They also take some moisture; but with the raised bed structure, they are not a real problem. The weeds in the bed are pulled daily.

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/

Expert Advice on Mulberries

Yesterday(Friday) I had the pleasure to speak with Paul Banner of Banner Nurseries. This is a third generation nursery family and Paul knows his stuff. I had plans to propagate some mulberry plants this fall. He said “Do it now.” Take the new growth at the end of the branches, dip it in Rootone. Stick it in a good potting mix and keep it in the shade. I will do it this weekend.

The corn has started to stand back up a little bit. We are supposed to have more thunderstorms this weekend, so I hope it doesn’t get smashed again. The first yellow crookneck squash will be picked tomorrow or Sunday. There are zucchini as big as a pinky finger. Squash and onions, here we come. There are still no little tomatoes, just blossoms. The plants are beautiful; but eating is better than looking.

Mesclun is producing faster than we can eat it or give it away. It will probably not freeze well, so we will have to eat more salads. The cucumbers have blossoms and will soon have cukes. We will have everything except the home-grown tomatoes.

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/

Succession Planning for Gardens

This is not to keep my children from fighting over the garden after my demise. This is to keep the garden producing all year. There are several phases of succession planning. The overall garden plan needs to be considered. If inter-planting techniques are used, the succession may take care of itself. Greens or salad stuff may be planted at the edge of the squash beds (rows). When the greens start to bolt, they can be pulled off to leave more room for the squash. Summer squash takes a lot of space when it starts producing.

Some things can be planted at intervals to provide a longer eating season. Spinach, lettuce, carrots and radishes are good examples of this. Increasing day length causes the spinach and lettuce to bolt so the succession crops of these will be short lived. Old radishes and carrots tend to get woody as the season progresses.

Squash and tomato plants will produce until frost; but the plants get shabby and production declines. A follow-up crop in June will assure a continuous supply of these summer delights, to mix with the okra and lima beans. Potatoes will be finished in July in Charlotte. Peas will be finished in June. These rows or beds make a great place for follow-up plantings.


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/

Mulch Ado About Nothing

I know that’s bad and it really has very little to do with this article, but I couldn’t resist. The rains have come. The ground is wet and warm. The time for weeds has come. That means the time for mulch is here too. Yesterday saw a small beginning. Part of the garden was side-dressed with compost and one wheelbarrow load of much went down.

People have been putting leaves on the side of the road for the trash collectors, but now they have quit. Now that the mulch is needed it is not available. The mulch in the mulch pile has to be ferried with a wheelbarrow. The mulch from the street is much easier to use.

Yesterday brought side shoots from the broccoli that were almost as large as the original heads. That means the broccoli plants will soon be in the compost pile and will be replaced with late-season tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. The sugar peas are starting to produce more heavily too. There is not a plan for that bed currently. It won’t hurt to leave it fallow; but I may try some new herbs.

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/

Cornfusion

The rains finally came. When I went to work yesterday morning (5/17) at about 6:15, the rain gauge showed about ½ “. I went by the house at about lunchtime and it showed 5”. That has to be some kind of mistake; but we did have a lot of rain. Look at the corn. It is smashed completely down. Maybe it will come back up.

The broccoli all got ready at the same time. We have cut 5 good sized heads. Now the side shoots are almost as big as the heads were. The sugar peas are yielding a handful of pods every day. There are some little squash that will surely be ready to pick by the end of the week, if not sooner. The cucumbers are climbing their fence, as are the watermelon and cantaloupe. The spaghetti squash is getting ready to climb.

The greens are producing all that we can eat or give away. The salad greens are too. The herbs are all harvestable except for the parsley. It will be big enough to cut by the weekend. My friends all have little tomatoes. The tomatoes in our garden are only at the blossom stage.

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/

Cornucopia Time

Although it is not as nice as looking at my own garden, looking at any garden is fun. Sunday, I looked at Jane’s raised bed. Her tomatoes are blooming. Today, I walked past Charlie’s little garden. His tomatoes are knee high and blooming. His squash are filling out well. He told me Saturday that a weed did not have a chance in his garden. He is right so far. I haven’t seen Michael’s garden lately, but he say’s that he has green tomatoes already.

My garden is doing well too. The greens and salad stuff are especially prolific. The arugala is bolting; but there is plenty of other stuff. The tomatoes don’t have blossoms yet; but they are dark green and healthy and getting tall. The squash is getting really big, the corn is knee high. The cucumbers and beans are ready to start running. The watermelons and cantaloupes are so prolific they will have to be thinned.

Yesterday brought .4” of rain. Mulching has begun. If we have another dry year, that will save a lot of water. It will also keep the weeds down and add organic matter to the soil and make a nice habitat for earthworms. Today everything will be sprayed with either pepper spray or BT.

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/

Pak Choy

Don’t wait so long next time. This is the lesson learned from pak choy. The beautiful pak choy plants that were harvested this weekend were still good; but they were post-mature. The greens were saved by cooking them with garlic and ginger. The stalks were still good raw. Everything would have been better were the plants harvested 2 weeks ago.

The pepper spray seems to be effective against the 4 legged pests. It does little to stop the multi-legged villains. There is some type of little critter that attaches itself to a turnip leaf and just sucks. The leaf wilts and shrivels. The garden needs a good dose of BT. Rain was threatened all weekend so the application was post phoned. The rain finally came today so as soon as it quits, BT will go on the plants.

Arugula is going to seed. We have been eating it in salad, but now the flowering plants have gone to the compost bin. The rest will be cut short with the scissors and added to the mixed greens.

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/