Fountain Does Work

Saturday morning the fountain was set back into the birdbath and hooked up. After a few minutes it started working. It was not shooting a great jet of water or anything, but it did work. It was put in the greenhouse before I went to the office because a freeze was projected for Sunday morning.

The greenhouse is almost ready for the bedding plants to be started. All that is missing is the seeds. An attempt was made to place an order with Park Seed, but their webpage did not seem to be working properly. The order was submitted several times but there was some type of endless loop that prevented the order going through. There has not been time to re-place the order.

Sunday morning a new planting of onions and radishes was set out. The weather will likely be too cold for them to grow as fast as the earlier plantings but the freezes don’t really hurt them and the sunny days will produce some growth. The radishes that were planted earlier are so big that they look like turnips.

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/

Productive Weekend

In spite of time out for Mother’s day this was a productive weekend. Little fences were built for the cucumbers to climb. One whole row of stakes were put in for the peppers. The garden was sprayed with BT to eliminate the cabbage loopers and other villains. The pole beans, okra and winter squash were all heavily side dressed with compost. Another step in completed the fence on the eastern side of the garden was completed.

There is still a lot to do. The remaining squash, cucumbers, lima beans, broccoli and cabbage still need to be side dressed. The irrigation system and the fence need to be finished. There is still a lot of stuff to plant in the front yard. The grass cutting and compost turning go on ad- infinitem.

The greenhouse is empty of plants and will need to be cleaned up before starting the propagation cycle. All of the cups and flats need to be washed and disinfected. The heat pads need to be cleaned and some of the shelves need renovation.

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/

Young & Tender and All Mine

That describes the first harvest of the spring mixed greens (turnips and mustard). They are totally delicious. The kale is almost ready to pick as well. The Russian red kale from last fall is growing like crazy. The onions are doing well also. The radishes are almost ready to pick and the mesclun is really enjoying the weather. The arugula bolted and had to be pulled off. It was replaced with a follow up planting of pak choy, broccoli and onions. The spinach is still rocking and rolling with the largest spinach leaves ever.

The bottom heat pads in the greenhouse were turned off yesterday as a precursor to hardening off the plants for transplanting to the garden. Most of them look like they are too small to take away from their mama, but they should grow some in two weeks.

There was a major thunderstorm and very high winds last night. Trees are down all over town. Hopefully there will be a windfall (no pun intended) of firewood in the aftermath of the cleanup. At any rate the water will help the planted part of the garden. The part that still has not been tilled will have to wait a while.


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 Smell of Wet Wool

Well, if March came in like a pussycat instead of a lion, it is going out like a very wet little lamb. It is raining, raining, raining. Everyone’s beautiful lawn is up to their knees. The gardens and flowering trees are soaking it up too. The wet weather has confined me to the greenhouse, which isn’t all bad.

The repotting and transplanting are almost completed. There is no more room to add more pots. It seems that almost every seed germinated and almost all of the plants survived, so as the plants are repotted they wind up in 2, 3 or even 4 pots instead of one. The greenhouse was being watered every night. The wet weather has caused this to be cut back to every other night for the time being.

Monday the warmer weather is supposed to return. That will be the time to start hardening off the plants that will go to the garden. Putting them on the ground will invite the rabbits to a feast. The table that is used for hardening off will never hold all of the plants, so a temporary bench will have to be set up.

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/

And the Rains Came (written 3/28)

The day before yesterday brought 1.4” of rain and confined me to the greenhouse. Yesterday (the 26th) the ground was too wet for most things. It was ideal weed pulling weather. The greenhouse did get some attention because repotting is so back breaking, it is better to do a little at a time. Today the rain is coming down big time. There are no more cups or potting soil and very little space on the heated mats.

The rain barrel is in overflow mode. The grass needs cutting. At least it was easy digging the post holes for the fence on the unfenced side of the garden. It is too wet to put the posts in though. Most of the sugar pea trellis was installed. Renfrow’s had some string net that looks like it will work really well. 30’ was not enough and they don’t open again until Tuesday.

All of the greens are doing great except for the arugula. It has gone to seed. At least it will be easy to pull off with the ground so wet. The onions that were started last month are already appearing in green salads and being chopped for garnish on soups and mashed potatoes and things like that.

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/

Working Moon

The first day of spring brought with it the biggest moon in almost 20 years. The night was cloudy so it was not visible from our house. This is the time in the garden where the hardest physical work comes in. There are a lot of compostable materials. The compost needs turning. The ground that is not in beds has to have the mulch cleared so it will dry out. That is hard on the biceps. The fence needs to be finished to keep the deer out. Chopping through roots and digging postholes is hard work too.

The really back-breaking work though is the greenhouse. Almost everything has to be re-planted in larger pots. The new method is really paying off so far. It seems that every seed has germinated and most have survived. Some of the little 5 ounce cups had as many as 12 basil plants and as many as 5 tomato plants. The basil was just separated into separate 5 oz cups. The Tomatoes had to be transferred to larger cups. The peppers go in large cups as well.

All the leaves are finally up, but there was not enough mulch to do all of the beds. The leaves in the garden were not mulched, so they will have to be sucked up with the vacuum-mulcher and used in the beds. There are still quite a few of the early plants that have not been planted into the garden. They are mostly parsley and cilantro, so they can be put into the flower beds.

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/

Early Planting

Turnips and mustard were planted under plastic last month and are faring well now. The Kale was planted last week and Thursday afternoon the sugar peas went into the ground and a row of onions were planted beside the Kale. This morning (Saturday the 19th), the cabbage, broccoli and pak choy plants were set out. The flower bed out front became the new home of the hyacinth bulbs that I gave mama for Valentines.

That bed also got three short rows of iris bulbs. In the master gardener class, we were told to make a furrow and lay the iris bulbs out without covering them with dirt. They were then covered with about 5” of mulch. Everything was watered in well of course.

In the greenhouse, there is only a little more than a ½ flat of un-germinated seeds. Everything else has come up. There were about 3 flats of plants that came up and then died. They were replanted. Some plants have already been transferred to large containers. Quite a few more will have to be moved this weekend.


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/

Master Gardener Day 1

The day before yesterday (1/19) was the 1st class for Master Gardener. It was primarily orientation so nothing was learned about gardening, only about the program and the co-operative service. We did get to meet each other. The next class will be on botany and will take place at UNCC. That should be very informative.

A bunch more stuff sprouted in the greenhouse. There are now a lot more plants under the lights than in the “incubators”. The decision time is coming close about culling some of the little plants that don’t look so healthy or a few that are obviously dead. The reason for reluctance is that there were several seeds put into each cup and maybe there are un-sprouted seeds hanging around.

The warmer temperatures have made the garden more enticing. Maybe this weekend there will be an opportunity to replant the greens and rework any un-refreshed beds. The old turnips and mustard still need to be pulled off.

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/

So Much for Resolutions

There is no way that there will be 15 posts this month. I will try to do better next month. The snow kept me out of the garden for the most part, but the greenhouse is doing well. The “new regime” seems to be keeping more of the plants alive and healthy. There was an organic liquid fertilizer in a spray bottle that attaches to the hose at Home Depot. It makes a really nice spray. At first the spray seemed too heavy. The water pressure was turned down and it got worse. The pressure was turned all the way up and by standing back from the plants a nice sprinkle was achieved.

The snow seemed to perk up some of the things in the garden. Others are just beyond hope. They are now in the compost pile. New seeds have been purchased along with a roll of 1.5 mil polyethylene. 2 raised beds will be converted to tunnels so that they can be covered on extremely cold nights.

The greenhouse is filled to capacity with sprouted and un-sprouted plants. The cabbage, broccoli and pak choy can possibly be transferred to the garden once the tunnels are finished. They would normally be planted outside in mid-February anyway.

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/

Thinking Green(house)

(Written Jan 10)
Last night all of the little growies in the greenhouse that had sprouted got a good dose of an organic foliar feed. Three more flats got planted. There is only room under lights for one more flat. It is time to look into at least one more light. When going through the seeds last night to do the planting, I realized that I had forgotten to order Jalapeño pepper seeds. One packet of seeds won’t cover a minimum order, so an alternate source will need to be found. The stores don’t have many summer seeds right now.

The compost is accumulating really slowly right now. There are plenty of leaves available, but they don’t really make very good compost by themselves. The main thing going into the bins is wood ashes and kitchen scraps. The little snow we had did a good job of soaking through the piles, so the compost is heating and decomposing well.

The only thing in the garden to eat is onions, kale and spinach. Everything else is frost killed. Nothing appears to be coming back except some of the cabbage. I may replant some of the greens this weekend depending on the advice I get from Mr. Blackley at Renfrow’s.

Greenhouse Green

Almost everything from the first sowing in the greenhouse has sprouted. This in itself is a big improvement over last year. Of the three subsequent sowings, most of that has come up as well. The sprouted plants were moved to flats without cloches as they came up. Now it is a matter of moving the un-sprouted plants to a covered flat. Everything that had sprouted as of Monday received a foliar feeding of organic fertilizer.

The organic spray bottle fits on a garden hose. The spray is a little bit strong for tiny plants. It may be necessary to mix some of it in a spray bottle until the plants get a little bit larger and stronger. A new hose nozzle was purchased at the same time. It has not been tried yet, but it has a mist feature which should provide a more gentle spray.

The garden plants that were damaged by the hard freeze have not recovered. If they have not shown more resilience by the weekend they will be pulled off. I wonder if a new planting of any of the greens would be successful. There are cabbage, broccoli and pak choy plants in the greenhouse which will go into the garden as soon as they are large enough. They can be covered if another really hard freeze is predicted after they are set 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/

Happy New Year

The New Year is starting mixed. Almost everything in the winter garden got killed by the sustained cold snap last month. The greenhouse is having exceptionally good results early on. It is hoped that the lessons learned last year will make the garden better this year. This year I will begin training to become a master gardener. The lessons there should improve my garden and maybe your garden as well. They will be shared as they are learned.

A Year in the Life of the Garden is the working title for a new garden book. The progress on that book can be followed at http://davidsegrest.com. It gets posted almost every day and is much more in depth than the blog. The postings began on December 7th at the beginning of the hard cold spell. The rationale being that creation begins with destruction, the cold snap definitely wreaked destruction on the winter garden.

As usual, I made a lot of New Year’s revolutions (resolutions). Some of them involve the garden and this blog and those I will share. The most important is to complete the Master Gardener Certification program. Another is to make a minimum of 15 posts per month to the blog. Every year I try to increase the yield from the garden. That is more of an aspiration than a goal, but this year the goal in that resolution is to develop an improved storage system for the produce we get so that less (much less) of it winds up in the compost because it wasn’t used.

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/

Looking Forward, Looking Back

I expect this to be the last post for 2010. It has been a good year for the garden. 2011 should be even better. Looking forward…Looking back. There were lessons learned that should improve the garden next year. Fortunately some of them were learned from successes. A few were learned from disappointments.

The greenhouse did very poorly last year. I think it was mostly my fault and changes have been made to this year’s procedures. The tomatoes were delicious, but there were not enough of them. Everyone whom I spoke with seemed to have disappointing results in the tomato department. The things I did this past year have worked well in the past, so the only thing to really change is the location within the garden, which changes every year anyway. The problem seems to have been the extreme heat, which is not normal. The summer squash and cucumbers got wiped out by the spotted cucumber beetle. A lot of control methods were discovered on the internet. Most of them project a marginal success at best.

I have been accepted into the NC Agricultural Extension offices “Master Gardener Program”. It is hoped that I will learn enough to avoid some mistakes and improve results. By learning to help other people with their gardens and yards, I should learn to help myself.

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/

Santa Claus Visits Charlotte Gardeners

He was actually a day late, but he brought a gift of Snow. It was about 6”deep and it has not melted yet. Snow is wonderful for gardens for several reasons. It makes a wonderful blanket of insulation for any plants that have not already succumbed to the heavy frost. It also fixes nitrogen in the soil. Rain does this too, but the rain runs off fast and takes a lot of the nitrogen with it. It may actually take more than it gives. Snow melts slowly and the nitrogen seeps into the soil.

The snow of course forced me to take refuge in the greenhouse. 6 flats got planted this weekend. Three of the thyme plants have come up from the 5 flats that were planted last Sunday. The bottom heat from the heating pads is the only heat being used this year as a buffer to the weather. There is a small electric heater in the greenhouse, but that is to keep me warm.

The woodstove has made two fairly generous contributions to the compost bins so far this year. That means that the PH of the compost will need to be tested as it is used. If the PH is too high, some sulfur can be added.

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 Plan 2011

It is time to plant the greenhouse. The first step in that is to plan the garden. The garden has 7 rows of 3 raised beds and two rows with no beds. The no bed rows are 3’ wide and 4’ wide plus of course the paths. When planning last year’s garden, the beds seemed to reduce the number of plants that could be planted. When actual planting began this was not the case.

This years garden will have a lot of changes from last years. There will be no potatoes or corn. There will be more tomatoes, eggplants and squash. There will be a lot more beans. The beds will all have corner posts for attaching trellises or other types of support. The okra is the only plant that will use soaker hoses and it will be planted in a no-bed row. There will several new varieties of tomatoes and some cherry peppers. Mick McNeely made some stuffed cherry peppers. Just thinking about them is making my mouth water.

A few beds are planted with fall crops and they will not be available for the early spring planting. They will be used for succession planting of squash and cucumbers. There will also be a few beds used for early planting of sugar peas and various greens. Onions will be inter-planted with almost everything. There will be more specifics about the garden plan in the next post.

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 Cleanup Continues

There is a lot of old biological material in the garden right now. Some of it comes off everyday and goes to the compost. This old material harbors a lot of the garden’s enemies. There is some type of bug that is shaped and colored like a lady bug but bigger that is gobbling cucurbit leaves. It was sprayed with BT yesterday with little immediate effect. The little rascals have not been identified yet. If they are still there today they will get a dose of sulfur. I will also catch a few and take them to Renfrow’s.

The old squash plants and kale need to go. Likewise, the cornstalks will head for the compost bin. The three sisters experiment was a big failure. We got a few ears of corn, but when the corn got knocked down something ate the rest of the ears and all of the green beans. The only survivors are the butternut squash which is ready to pick. It and the spaghetti squash will come off today or tomorrow.

The greenhouse is coming along well. Some little cabbage and broccoli plants that were planted Sunday have already sprouted. They will be misted instead of bottom watered now that they have sprouted.

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/

Out with the Old, In with the New

Not New Years, just a turning point in the garden season. The old squash is getting raggedy. Some of the new squash is blooming. Some of the new squash is just getting planted. The sunflowers are almost all on the ground now. When they hit the ground they are finished whether they are finished or not. They will be pulled off this weekend and the bed will be freshened up for something in the fall garden.

The greenhouse is torn all to pieces inside. It needs to get back together for the starting of cabbage and broccoli plants. The spaghetti squash is coming off this weekend. A lady I met in Renfrow’s said that winter squash planted later in the season would taste better. It is too late to try that this year. Next year not everything will go in the ground on good Friday. Some of the plantings will be staggered. Winter squash is one of those things.

Another lesson from this years garden. The beds will either have two inch plastic pipes embedded in the corners or they will have bamboo poles set very deep. This will be to anchor any trellis or other structures needed to support growing plants.

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/

Clean Green(house) Again

This weekend started the annual clean-up of the greenhouse. Everything in there that might be rain-sensitive was put in the wheelbarrow and stored in the shed. Everything else was piled up in the yard. All the shelves and heat mats were taken out. Even the bricks on the floor were taken out.

The inside raised bed was something of a failure. The tomatoes were planted as upside down tomatoes last week and they can be brought inside of the greenhouse and hung from the rafters so the raised beds won’t be needed. They will be covered with plywood and more benches will be built along that wall with concrete blocks and boards. They will be very temporary in case it doesn’t work well. The floor will be smoothed and re-bricked. The shelves will be repainted and re-installed with more support on the long ones. The lights will be re-hung.

All of the pots and flats will be sterilized and brought back ready to plant. The heat mats will be on the window side of the greenhouse. The new benches will be used to mist the plants with water instead of bottom watering. The last two years the greenhouse has been a failure. I think the bottom watering is the problem.

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/

Sweet Basil

2 years ago we had so much basil that even after giving lots of it away we had huge plants to dry at the end of the season. We filled several 2 quart containers with dried basil. Last year we got almost nothing. All of the plants in the greenhouse failed. We bought 6 plants to set out in the garden. Only 2 lived and they were scanty producers.

This year everything in the greenhouse has done extremely well except for the basil. Experience is supposed to be a good teacher. What was different 2 years ago? For one thing our greenhouse was really just a big cold frame then. We did not have the bottom heating pads. We seeded directly many things into egg cartons. We used store-bought potting soil instead of home made.

Having read lots of stuff on the internet about growing basil, there seems to be no problem with anything we are doing; but I think it is time to go back to the egg cartons and no bottom heat. Basil is too wonderful to forgo. There is only 2 and ½ weeks before garden planting time; but we will start over with the basil and see what happens. I’ll let you know how it goes. Any suggestions?

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 First Day of Spring

The trees are budding, the girls are wearing short skirts and tank tops. Is that a lawn mower I hear? Some people say this has been the worst winter ever. I think Charlotte dodged the bullet. A good freeze is still possible. There are Indian Summers surely there can be Indian Winters.

The ground in the garden is ready for the serious planting. The summer seeds go in on Good Friday. The plants go in the ground the following weekend. Some of the plants are so big they may have to go in earlier. Nasturtiums and Cilantro are the heroes of the greenhouse this year. I hope they will be heroes in the garden. The basil is the week sister. It looks like the garden may have to play host to store-bought basil again. Everything else is pretty much on schedule.

Raised beds are really wonderful. They are easy to plant and weed and they can be planted when the rest of the garden is still wet. Also, they warm up faster than the dirt level beds.

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/