Dry Hurricane

The rain from Hurricane Irene may have drenched the coast, but it left Charlotte high and dry. The garden had to be watered on Sunday. Watching people fighting high water on the coast, while the soaker hoses are running seems so unfair. The dry weather seems to have slowed the tomatoes and ended the squash, but it does not seem to bother the okra.

Sunday was a good time to start the fall garden. The soil is still too warm for cabbage and things like that, but the turnips, mustard and kale do not seem to be as sensitive to soil temperature for germination. Carrots, beets, spinach, cabbage, onion sets, broccoli and Brussels sprouts will have to wait.

Several beds that were occupied by squash and squash family plants need to be renewed for fall or spring planting. The ones for fall planting can just be reworked and not mulched. The ones for spring will get a heavy layer of mulch to stimulate decomposition of compost and generation of earthworms.

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

Cool Soil for Fall Planting

Some of the things in your fall garden can be planted now. Most of the greens will be fine. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts need for the soil to be around 70 degrees or less to get reliable germination. If they are being planted, it should be plants instead of seeds. Onions should wait a couple more months.

Beans, okra, egg plants and peppers should bear well until the 1st frost. Tomatoes are probably slacking off a little. Lots of water and a liberal side dressing of compost and organic fertilizer will stretch the season on them until frost, but with a reduced yield. Squash and cucumbers from the 1st planting are on their last leg if they haven’t already given up. The later planting will take over. The problem with the later planting is that the pests that like the cucurbits are well established. They may wipe out the tender young plants unless they are controlled early.

The main pests to watch for are cucumber beetles, pickle worms, stink bugs and other bugs from these families. BT will control the pickle worms. Stink bugs and other members of this group need to be picked off by hand. Neem oil will help some, but not 100%.


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/

Propagation

There are several methods of propagating plants. Using seeds is the most common. Planting bulbs is similar. Planting a bulb like an onion feels like there is little net gain. “Plant an onion to get an onion.” Cloning or taking cuttings is fun, because something that would normally be thrown away (pruning leftovers) is turned into a new plant. The advantage of this method is that the new plant has the exact same DNA as the old plant. If you have a plant that produces really great fruit or wonderful flowers, it will breed true.

The exception to this is grafted plants of course. Often this really fantastic plant is taken as a cutting and grafted onto a stronger rootstock. Taking a cutting may result in a weak plant. It is also important to sterilize the clippers or knife with bleach to avoid spreading disease.

Each cutting should have a node close to the place where the limb is cut. This is where the roots will come from when the cutting goes into the medium. The cuttings should ideally be about 6” long. The medium should be something that will hold moisture but still drain well and stay loose enough that the roots can grow. The cutting is stripped of branches and leaves except for a couple of leaves at the top end. These leaves are cut in half. The cutting is then dipped into rooting hormone and stuck in the dirt as deeply as possible, being careful to bury at least 1 node.

Pour some of the hormone into a cup to avoid contaminating the whole container.
Several cuttings can be placed in a single pot of medium. The whole thing is then capped off with a “private greenhouse”. Old soda or juice bottles with the bottom cut out make great “private greenhouses”. Be sure the medium is wet, but not soggy, at planting time. Check the medium every few days to make sure it doesn’t dry out.

When the cutting shows signs of new growth, it should be transplanted to an individual pot to avoid tangling of roots with other cuttings. The cover is not needed at this point. Keep the dirt moist until the plant is strong enough to transplant.


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/

Garden Pests on Vacation

It is not definite whether they are on vacation or if they have gone back to school, but the garden pests are not much in evidence now. The garden has not been sprayed with sulfur or BT since the last several rains. Except for one squash plant there seems to be little deprivation. That one plant only has about 3 leaves that are damaged. The powdery mildew seems to have been put out of business by the hot weather.

There are a lot of writing spiders everywhere. They are fearsome looking beasts, but they eat a lot of bugs and they are big enough to knock back a stink bug or something like that. There seems to be a bumper crop of rabbits this year, but the only damage from them seems to be some of the cucumber sprouts. They were sprinkled with powdered cayenne pepper and that seems to have broken the rabbits from sucking eggs.

Production has dropped off too. The new tomatoes are small and defective. The squash has almost quit. The peppers and okra are doing great.

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/

Using Stevia for Canning

The question posed in the last article was, “Can we use a sugar substitute in canning?” The answer turned out to be yes. Stevia was the substitute that I had in mind. All of the recipes I found were for “store-bought” stevia. We raise stevia in the garden and use it to make simple syrup. This will probably work well, but the strength could vary. We will try it soon.

One consideration in using a sugar substitute, and specifically stevia, is that the thickening that comes from sugar will not result. A little extra pectin will be needed. The recipes found suggested using a non-sugar pectin. Another issue using sugar substitutes other than stevia is that they lose their sweetness when subjected to high heat. Stevia does not.

To make the simple syrup from stevia, just throw a handful of leaves in boiling water and boil it for a while. Put a little bit in a glass of water to test the strength. Some experimentation will be required to get the proportions right. This syrup can also be used to sweeten tea or coffee. It can be mixed with milk to sweeten cereal.

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/

Canning Peaches

Canning peaches or any fruit is pretty easy. Peaches can be skinned just like tomatoes. They don’t even have to be skinned, but they seem to be a little better if they are. Just get a pot of water boiling. Put the peaches in a wire basket and leave them in the boiling water for one to one and half minutes. Pull them out and dump them in a bowl of ice water. Our wire basket only held five or six peaches, so it took a while to do ½ bushel.

When the peaches are cool enough to handle just rub the skin off, cut the peaches in half and remove the pit. Cut the peach halves into crescents. If you were freezing them you could just put them in a freezer bag, with or without sugar, at this point. For canning, stuff them in the jars and pour hot simple syrup over them.

Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes and “voila”. It may be possible to can peaches with a sugar substitute. I will research that and let you know.

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/

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Anyone who thinks they are saving money by raising a garden, especially if there is a greenhouse involved, either keeps very poor records or values their time very low. Garden produce is probably the most expensive food you can eat. The important things about gardening are health, happiness and variety. Canning is similar to gardening in that it really is not a financially intelligent thing to do. Who cares? The process is fun and the food is delicious.

Yesterday, Michael Swol and I went to the “The Peach Shed” in Fort Mill, SC and bought peaches. Tonight my wife and I will can them. We enjoy canning as much as a movie. We can actually talk to each other when we are canning. That will get some unpleasant reactions in a theatre.

Peaches like most fruits can be canned by the water bath method. The pressure canner can be used, but the pressure cap is left off and the evacuation procedure is not necessary. Jars of canned fruits and vegetables make great decoration, but keep them out of sunlight.

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/

Replanting

Technically there are only 3 months left before our 1st killing frost, but some years it doesn’t come until December. A few leftover squash and cucumber seeds are not much to risk in order to continue harvesting the bounty a little longer. Three hills of yellow crookneck squash were planted this weekend. The old ones are starting to look kind of ragged. We are still picking a few. The zucchini and the cucumbers have quit producing. The patty-pan has slowed down but we are getting a couple a day.
The cucumber was replanted sometime back and came up well. In fact, it came up so well that a lot of the plants were given away. Then Bugs Bunny found the tender shoots delectable, so they wound up too thin. The survivors were sprinkled with cayenne pepper powder and a few seeds were inter-planted in the gaps.
The green beans finally started making, so they found their way to the supper table last night. The tomatoes are heroes this year. There are plenty of them and they are delicious. The vines are looking a little ragged, but the rain perked them up some.

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/

Fall Garden Time

It is time to start thinking about the Fall garden. We have already made a 2nd planting of cucumber that will hopefully produce right up till the 1st frost. Soon it will be time to plant onions, cabbages, greens of all kinds, carrots and radishes. Maybe even a few potatoes could go in the ground.

Supposedly almost any kind of greens can be used to make sauerkraut. The greens are really prolific enough that the only loss will be a little time and a handful of salt. How do you suppose kale kraut or mustard kraut will taste? There is one way to find out.

It is also a good time to take cuttings and start new plants. Fall planted perennials should be ordered for early September planting. Most of these plants need to get a good start before 1st frost so the roots will continue to grow and acclimate through the cold season. Our special fall planting project this year will be edible cherries.

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/

Do You Believe in Ghosts? (pepper that is)

A couple of years ago people started talking about ghost peppers, that are 1000 times hotter than a habanero. They do exist, because a friend of mine ate one on live radio and cried for hours. The good thing about the heat from peppers is that it does not really damage tissue, it just feels like it does.

I would never eat anything that hot, but for a novelty some were started in the greenhouse. They did not do really well, so when time to plant came a plant was purchased at the farmer’s market. A friend also purchased a few at the farmer’s market. His plants were planted in pots at his condo, and have grown well, but not produced even a blossom.

Both the plants from the greenhouse and the plant from the farmer’s market have grown well in the garden, but of about 30 pepper plants, these are the only ones that are getting munched by critters. In India the ghost peppers are said to keep elephants out of the garden. I believe in ghosts. I just don’t think my garden is haunted. The guy at the farmer’s market probably bought his seed at the same place I did and got screwed.

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/

Timely Rain

Watering the garden keeps it alive, but it just doesn’t seem to do the same thing as a good rain. The tomatoes especially seemed to look a little sad Saturday night. The plan was to get up really early Sunday morning and water the garden. Fortunately 1.4” of rain fell overnight. The garden was really happy and yielded a whole bunch of stuff.

Sunday, the ground was really too wet to do much outside. The morning was spent canning and preserving. We put up 10 jars of vegetable stew and dried a dryer full of patty pan squash and another dryer full of figs. Also about a quart of cherry peppers was initiated into the pickling process. Friday morning we put up 11 jars of tomatoes and 10 jars of fig preserves.

To pickle the cherry peppers, just cut the stems and seeds out and pack them in a jar with pickling salt and a solution of 1/3 water and 2/3 apple cider vinegar. They need a follower to hold them under the solution and they should hang out in the jar or crock for about 6 to 8 days.

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/