Tomatoes Still

The tomatoes were picked green a week or two ago, when the 1st frost was predicted. There have been a couple of frosts since then. The tomatoes were pretty much forgotten. Monday as the figs were being pruned, I found some red tomatoes. Wow.

The figs were pruned to eye level again. Last year one fig tree was left un-pruned and one tree was pruned. The yield from the un-pruned tree was marginally greater, but the figs were harder too pick. The decision to not prune that tree was really regretted when pruning was done Monday. Some of the branches were too thick for a lopper and had to be cut with a bow saw. The city has a 5’ long rule for curbside pickup. Many of the branches from that tree had to be cut again.

Kale has been picked 3 times now. Salad greens have been picked twice and I have lost count of how many times the sallet greens have been picked. The lima bean vines are still health and blooming, but the lima bean pods have not filled out much. A different variety will definitely be in the works for next year.

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

The Perfect Garden (again)

The garden will soon be perfect. At least the one in my head will. It is time to plan for next year. Step 1 is to review the garden plan for last year and read through the garden journal, totaling up the yields of the different plants. Some things did exceptionally well. Those successes will be replicated. (I hope.) Some things did not do well. That is where the challenge comes in.

Is it worth the trouble to try again? Charlie Brown kicking the football that Lucy holds comes to mind. Potatoes…no way. Speckled lima beans? The vines are loaded, but the beans are not filled out yet. They were planted on Good Friday. This is Veterans Day. Maybe a different variety will work. The bush type speckled limas from the grocery store dried beans worked great, but bush beans are a pain in the back, literally.

Next the plan comes. The blank garden map is copied and the soil is tested for PH. The soil can be amended where necessary, but it is much better if the PH is appropriate for what is being planted. It is also important to consider plant height and sunlight to get the plants in the right place. Then, of course, many of the crops should be rotated to avoid or at least minimize pest problems. It is a lot of work, but at least the garden will be perfect until it is planted in the spring.

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

Sweet Greens

The greens are getting more and more plentiful. Even though the leaves are getting really large, they are tender and tasty. I picked a bunch last night and washed and stemmed them this morning. The will be delicious tonight. We will even eat them with breakfast tomorrow morning. The leftovers are a great addition to vegetable soup. The “pot likker” is a tasty and healthy drink.

The days are getting so short that there is little time to work in the yard and the garden in the evenings. These short days also affect the setting of blossoms on the tomato plants that were moved inside the greenhouse. One of the weekend chores will to be re-rig and set the lights in the greenhouse to extend day length.

I don’t have as much wood as I thought to build new raised beds. Another weekend chore will be to mulch down the bare dirt in the garden. The beds that were planned for those areas will have to wait until more wood is scrounged. The compost is building up in the finished compost holding bin. It will have to be put on a tarp and covered to prevent all the goodies from leaching out.

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

First Frost

The first frost came on Monday morning. It did not kill anything, so we won’t call it the 1st killing frost. It did make me nervous. So I picked the green tomatoes last week. Usually the kiss of 1st frost improves the flavor of crucifers. We haven’t picked any yet so who knows. They were pretty good before.

Getting the leaves up is a real pain. The leaf blower is really hard to start and even when it is started it takes forever to warm up enough to blow leaves. I used the mulching lawn mower to reduce the bulk of leaves. The side delivery lawn mower will be used to go around the edge of the beds and blow at least one pass into them. By then maybe the blower will be warm enough to finish the job.

My wife gets really irritated at me for blowing our leaves into the flower beds and natural areas instead of picking them up. We need leaves to mulch in the garden, but it is much easier to pick them up in nice neat bags from the side of the road.

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

The Incomplete Garden Book

My new book is now available on Lulu.com. There is a button on the blog for ordering. This is a pretty basic how-to book on home vegetable gardening. It starts with the soil and soil building techniques and ends with cooking and preserving the harvest. Many of the recipes come from my friends. Some of them have been featured in this blog already.

For someone who wants to garden organically, this is a really good guide. Everything possible has been done to keep the price as low as possible. The paperback edition is under $10. The download edition is under $5. This is not a coffee table book. It is meant to stay in the garden shed and have dirty fingerprints all over it.

There will be a companion website developed in the coming weeks. The pictures in the book are black and white. The website will offer color versions of the pictures. There will also be 8 ½” by 11” versions of the planning pages that can be printed out for the gardener’s personalized planning notebook.

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/

If You Got’em Pick’em

The temperature should drop to 33 on Thursday night (Friday morning). That is too close to freezing for comfort. If you have tomatoes, peppers or eggplants in the garden, this is the time to pick them. The peppers and eggplants can be eaten at almost any stage. The tomatoes can be put on the windowsill to ripen or fried as green tomatoes or chopped for chutney.

Greens, lettuce, spinach, and other brassicas don’t mind the cold. If the promised rain for today and tomorrow arrives, it will be good to mulch them, if it hasn’t been done already. A little frost actually improves the flavor and kills most of the bugs.

This is a good time to test the soil so that it can be prepared for spring. Take samples and put them into the free soil test boxes from the agricultural extension service or use the test meters or kits that can be purchased from almost any garden store or catalog. Some people just assume that the soil needs lime. Many garden plants require acid soil and the lime may actually inhibit their growth.

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/

Kick or Treat

That’s what the little tree that I cut down on Sunday said to me. The tree was tied up with grapevines. I cut the grapevine and the tree. The tree was only about 2” in diameter. It bound when the saw was almost all the way through. I thought the grapevines were holding the tree so I just cut from the side. When the stump let go the tree flew up and hit me in the face like the kick of a mule. No treat.

Sunday’s plan was to build another raised bed. Instead I lay around with a bag of ice on my eye.

October is gone. The lowest temperature was about 39 degrees. There were frost warnings for Saturday that chased the topsy-turvy tomatoes into the greenhouse. The frost didn’t happen. Saturday was dedicated to splitting wood and filling the wood ring and the kindling box in the garage. The wood in the yard is stored in a beehive.

A beehive is a vertical wood pile. A post is planted in the ground. The pieces of wood are stood up around the post. As the bottom expands a second, third and fourth layer of wood is added, all standing up. This helps green wood dry faster and causes rain to run off rather than soaking the firewood. The whole thing could be covered with a tarp, but that just adds a couple of steps to the task of bringing in firewood. The name beehive comes from the shape and appearance of the finished stack.

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/

Putting the Beds to Bed

It is almost time for the dirt in the garden to begin its winter rest. If your garden has raised beds there are a few little things to be done. Old vegetation should be gotten rid of. If there was even a hint of pest infestation, it should be burned or put in the trash to be hauled off. Any beds not used for winter crops should be gotten ready for the winter sleep.

For a 4’ X 8’ bed, about 1 wheelbarrow load of compost should be worked in the top 6” or 8” of soil. An easy way to do this is to dig fairly deep furrows with a hoe. Fill these with compost and then dig new furrows where the ridges are letting the soil fall on the filled furrows. Then the whole bed can be smoothed with a rake and covered with mulch. Leave are great, but don’t use leaves from walnut or hickory as they contain a powerful natural herbicide.

Gardens not in beds should be stripped of old vegetation, covered lightly with leaves and tilled deeply. They should then receive a covering of about 4” to 6” of mulch. Leaves from the side of the road are good for this.
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/