Obviously I've been away. Haven't stopped growing food, I'm still at it. But the smoke was horrendous, even healthy people without respiratory illness were coughing and complaining of sore eyes and burning throats.
But I kept on, in limited fashion, in containers.
Recently I've overhauled about seven of the 57 cm nursery pots and replanted them. Tonight I had a nice meal of onion, rice, and long beans that came from containers. I did buy the rice in a supermarket, but I'm still growing all my own vegetable crops. I'm currently harvesting Swiss chard, collards, onion, leek, long bean pods, sage, Malabar spinach, and parsley. Every year or so, I have to dump the big pots and replace the sticks in the bottom or they get all waterlogged.
The long beans Vigna unguiculata variety Green Pod Red Seed are doing especially well.
The containers didn't budge during Hurricane Irma. For once all the weight of that wet soil was a positive thing. Moving those things around can be a challenge. We had winds here that went well over a hundred miles an hour (probably over 200 kph), the eyewall went right over the house and then all the wind stopped. I've been inside hurricane eyes before, but this one was much bigger. We were in the eye for about a half hour. Lost a lot of trees, still haven't cut them all up. I keep waiting for the air to clear. It took me months just to gather up all the pine branches that covered all the ground.
The weather's been hot, heat indexes over a hundred every day (upper 30's Celsius). June is always a tough month, my body takes time to adapt to the tropical air. But nothing stops me, really. I just go more slowly when things are difficult.
Thursday, June 7, 2018
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Rain
Looks like we're finally starting to see some rain in significant amounts. Right now there's a squall line coming this way, with rains of up to five cm predicted. We had a few rain showers over the past week, so the ground is no longer powder-dry.
The smoke pollution has been a big problem for me lately, so I haven't done much gardening. There isn't always a strong odor, but the pollution lingers in the air from hundreds of fires around the State.
I have managed to upgrade the plantings in the 57 cm containers. I decided to rotate them with onions and leeks after discovering heavy root-knot infestation in all of them. Plants in the genus Allium are immune to root knot...though they are susceptible to cyst nematodes and sting nematodes...both of which I've had trouble with in the South Garden.
My carrots were a mixed bag during harvest. The plants grown in containers with fallowed soil were usable, but the ones I rotated by just mixing in compost and replanting were massively infested with root knot. They were completely covered with ugly knobs, deformed, and rotting away from some kind of secondary disease. Well, live and learn...no more planting susceptible crops like carrots without prolonged fallowing. The fallowing doesn't eliminate parasitic nematodes, but by starving them out you can greatly reduce their numbers. But you have to keep the soil moist or the nematodes just lay lots of eggs, which hatch out and massively infest your crop as soon as you moisten the dry soil and plant in it. I've had plants just die outright in newly moistened soil.
Just a reminder here...the vast majority of soil nematodes are beneficial to plants, it's only nematodes in a few genera which have taken up the life of parasitism. It's often been said that the main obstacle to tropical and subtropical crop growing is the abundance of plant-parasitic nematodes (PPN) in warm soils. That has been my experience in gardening here in the subtropics.
Actually my location may no longer be subtropical. We haven't had frost here in years, so it's possible we've shifted to fully tropical conditions. Our cold snaps are now brief and not very intense...and the cool season has been greatly reduced in duration.
I'm ready for the rains to start and the smoldering fires to finally be extinguished. I have seedlings of molokhia, mustard, chili peppers, collards, long bean, sweet potato, onion, etc. that are all ready to transplant from their 8 cm pots. All I need is better air to breathe.
The collards are an experiment, don't know if they will grow in tropical heat. I'm trying the variety Georgia Southern...just a few plants.
I did discover something new. Leeks are not, as I was led to believe, a crop limited to cool climates. It is true that the variety I always grew, Broad London aka American Flag, is heat intolerant. But I tried some Carentan leeks and they actually grew faster in the heat than they did when it was cooler. So I looked up leeks online...and found that the earliest known accounts of leek growing are from ancient Egypt, not northern Europe. Egypt is definitely a warm place. Once again, I was misled by gardening books and catalogues. So I planted all my seedlings in one of the 57 cm pots and so far they're doing fine. It always seems to be true that varietal choices are extremely important. Carentan leeks are French, while Broad London you can guess where they are grown. Both varieties are described in Vilmorin's book on vegetable varieties, so they are both very old heirlooms.
I do like leeks in my soups or in stir fries, and they are one of the toughest vegetable crops you can grow. Something ate my onion plants in two containers, but would not eat the leeks...which may have been protected by their outer husk. So leeks it is. I've always grown a few leeks in my gardens, but from now on I'll be growing a lot more of them. Nothing gives a soup a nicer flavor than a leek.
The smoke pollution has been a big problem for me lately, so I haven't done much gardening. There isn't always a strong odor, but the pollution lingers in the air from hundreds of fires around the State.
I have managed to upgrade the plantings in the 57 cm containers. I decided to rotate them with onions and leeks after discovering heavy root-knot infestation in all of them. Plants in the genus Allium are immune to root knot...though they are susceptible to cyst nematodes and sting nematodes...both of which I've had trouble with in the South Garden.
My carrots were a mixed bag during harvest. The plants grown in containers with fallowed soil were usable, but the ones I rotated by just mixing in compost and replanting were massively infested with root knot. They were completely covered with ugly knobs, deformed, and rotting away from some kind of secondary disease. Well, live and learn...no more planting susceptible crops like carrots without prolonged fallowing. The fallowing doesn't eliminate parasitic nematodes, but by starving them out you can greatly reduce their numbers. But you have to keep the soil moist or the nematodes just lay lots of eggs, which hatch out and massively infest your crop as soon as you moisten the dry soil and plant in it. I've had plants just die outright in newly moistened soil.
Just a reminder here...the vast majority of soil nematodes are beneficial to plants, it's only nematodes in a few genera which have taken up the life of parasitism. It's often been said that the main obstacle to tropical and subtropical crop growing is the abundance of plant-parasitic nematodes (PPN) in warm soils. That has been my experience in gardening here in the subtropics.
Actually my location may no longer be subtropical. We haven't had frost here in years, so it's possible we've shifted to fully tropical conditions. Our cold snaps are now brief and not very intense...and the cool season has been greatly reduced in duration.
I'm ready for the rains to start and the smoldering fires to finally be extinguished. I have seedlings of molokhia, mustard, chili peppers, collards, long bean, sweet potato, onion, etc. that are all ready to transplant from their 8 cm pots. All I need is better air to breathe.
The collards are an experiment, don't know if they will grow in tropical heat. I'm trying the variety Georgia Southern...just a few plants.
I did discover something new. Leeks are not, as I was led to believe, a crop limited to cool climates. It is true that the variety I always grew, Broad London aka American Flag, is heat intolerant. But I tried some Carentan leeks and they actually grew faster in the heat than they did when it was cooler. So I looked up leeks online...and found that the earliest known accounts of leek growing are from ancient Egypt, not northern Europe. Egypt is definitely a warm place. Once again, I was misled by gardening books and catalogues. So I planted all my seedlings in one of the 57 cm pots and so far they're doing fine. It always seems to be true that varietal choices are extremely important. Carentan leeks are French, while Broad London you can guess where they are grown. Both varieties are described in Vilmorin's book on vegetable varieties, so they are both very old heirlooms.
I do like leeks in my soups or in stir fries, and they are one of the toughest vegetable crops you can grow. Something ate my onion plants in two containers, but would not eat the leeks...which may have been protected by their outer husk. So leeks it is. I've always grown a few leeks in my gardens, but from now on I'll be growing a lot more of them. Nothing gives a soup a nicer flavor than a leek.
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
New Drought Update
The governor has declared a state of emergency, there are hundreds of wildfires burning now. They've burned over 70,000 acres so far this year, most of that since February.
I've put off planting the South Garden. The containers use much less water, and I'm very busy now clearing the brush near the house. It's not easy work, and I don't have a lot of energy for gardening lately. The weather has been exceptionally hot, as it has been for the previous five years or so. My chard and kale aren't good quality as a result, but they're edible and full of nutrients to keep me going.
I'm preparing for the rainy season, got the hot-season plants starting and so forth. I'm hoping to plant a lot of Vigna unguiculata, a species known as the Blackeyed Pea and Long Bean...among many other names. And of course my favorite veggie, Abelmoschus esculentus aka okra or gumbo or ngombo, etc. For greens I use Corchorus olitorius and Basella alba. In catalogues they're listed as Molokhia and Malabar spinach. Ipomoea batatus continue to thrive, they grow all year round now, since we stopped getting frost and turned full tropical.
I've put off planting the South Garden. The containers use much less water, and I'm very busy now clearing the brush near the house. It's not easy work, and I don't have a lot of energy for gardening lately. The weather has been exceptionally hot, as it has been for the previous five years or so. My chard and kale aren't good quality as a result, but they're edible and full of nutrients to keep me going.
I'm preparing for the rainy season, got the hot-season plants starting and so forth. I'm hoping to plant a lot of Vigna unguiculata, a species known as the Blackeyed Pea and Long Bean...among many other names. And of course my favorite veggie, Abelmoschus esculentus aka okra or gumbo or ngombo, etc. For greens I use Corchorus olitorius and Basella alba. In catalogues they're listed as Molokhia and Malabar spinach. Ipomoea batatus continue to thrive, they grow all year round now, since we stopped getting frost and turned full tropical.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Miscellaneous Pics
Just some pics I took over the past couple of months, I'll try to add more.
Kalura lettuce, container grown:
Turnip greens, variety Nozuwana:
This variety is grown for the tops, not the roots.
Carrot, Muscade from North Africa:
Kalura lettuce, container grown:
Turnip greens, variety Nozuwana:
This variety is grown for the tops, not the roots.
Carrot, Muscade from North Africa:
OK, not very pretty...but it probably weighs over a pound and these carrots taste really good in my soups. I grew a fair number of them. If I grew it in sandier soil it would be straight, but this came out of a 34 cm container with rich potting soil for a growth medium. I really don't care what they look like, so long as they're big and tasty.
Fire Season Update
I have managed a little gardening, and I'm harvesting string beans now. The smoke is still very bad, I get it every day. Thousands of acres have burned, and the wind doesn't always carry it off. At night it settles in, so the mornings are difficult to deal with. I often have to wait for the afternoon breeze to do any work outside.
This year I grew some beans I hadn't grown in decades. I remembered that they were better tasting in my stir fries and steamed, so this year I planted them again. Usually I grow White Half Runner beans because they seem to do well in my sandy soil, but I skipped them this year. Excuse the pun, they're sometimes called Skip Beans.
Instead I grew Landreth's and Black Valentine in containers where the soil is much richer, and they have been fabulously good in the kitchen. I'd forgotten how good string beans can be. They call them green beans here now, since the varieties are usually stringless. They're all just varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris.
The carrots were a big success, but a disappointment nevertheless. They're too sweet for me, so I'll have to parboil them and soak them in water for a few days to get rid of the excess sugar. I don't get along with sugary meals. Modern carrot varieties have as much sugar as ripe strawberries. I was hoping the African variety I'm growing would be less sweet, but that was a mistake. Everything seems to be bred for sweetness these days.
I'll just process the carrots like I do the sweet potatoes with parboiling and soaking, that seems to take care of the problem. But of course you lose a lot of flavor with soaking. I page through the seed catalogs and every description seems to emphasize the word sweet. I guess everyone is addicted to sugar these days.
It seems odd that the weather is cooler here in March than it was in February and January, but that's the case. Makes it hard to know what to plant, that's for sure. I'm in the process of grubbing out roots in the South Garden in preparation for planting of Vigna unguiculata variety Ologwe from Nigeria. I only have five plants going in pots, so it's critical that I get them producing seed. The variety has been discontinued in the catalog, and it was by far the best producer of "cowpeas" aka "blacked peas" I've ever grown. So seed saving is going to be critical. I had saved some seed that year, but something got into them and ate them all. I should have stored them in the fridge instead of leaving them on the carport like I did. I saved the variety from oblivion by coaxing the original seed from the packet to grow a few plants.
When I grew them in 2014, they took over most of the garden and climbed the fencing as well. I even had to move the vines to mow the grass south of the garden that year. And they rooted everywhere they sprawled. So five plants should be enough to raise a good crop in a planting bed. My beds are about a meter wide and about 8 meters long...not sure if that's accurate. I'll have to check when I set up the bed again.
I've pulled several cartloads of Pinus roots and Panicum repens rhizomes from the subsoil under the planting bed. The soil has all been removed, and will be returned after amending it with compost and granite dust. I'm determined to police the garden better this time around, it got heavily invaded with roots and rhizomes while I left it fallowed. The Pinus roots are particularly bad, they seem to secrete toxic terpenes to clear away competing roots from the soil they invade. Soil infested with Pinus roots smells like industrial waste. I'm going to try maintaining a clear perimeter to a depth of 50 cm or so by grubbing it monthly with my big hoe or cutting a narrow trench with a digging bar.
Panicum repens is the worst garden weed I've ever encountered. Most of the plant is deep underground, so surface hoeing doesn't work. You have to go deep into the ground to find its rhizomes, which is of course extremely time-consuming and laborious. But it seems to advance slowly, so I'm hoping a cleared perimeter will stop it once and for all. It is really frustrating to pull weeds that keep coming back again and again, so I'm going for total annihilation.
Nobody ever said gardening is easy. It's OK, I like digging in the ground, it's good therapy for me. I once knew someone who had to dig up a clogged drain field at work...he was really angry about it, but in the end he had so much fun that he dug up his backyard and started a garden. Had to be the strangest motivation for gardening I've ever heard of.
Incidentally, if you have Latin phobia, that's unfortunate. Anybody who reads my blogs will encounter it often. Scientific names avoid confusion, common garden plants can have dozens of different names in different cultures. If you think I'm going to be apologetic for being pro-science, it's not going to happen...not ever.
This year I grew some beans I hadn't grown in decades. I remembered that they were better tasting in my stir fries and steamed, so this year I planted them again. Usually I grow White Half Runner beans because they seem to do well in my sandy soil, but I skipped them this year. Excuse the pun, they're sometimes called Skip Beans.
Instead I grew Landreth's and Black Valentine in containers where the soil is much richer, and they have been fabulously good in the kitchen. I'd forgotten how good string beans can be. They call them green beans here now, since the varieties are usually stringless. They're all just varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris.
The carrots were a big success, but a disappointment nevertheless. They're too sweet for me, so I'll have to parboil them and soak them in water for a few days to get rid of the excess sugar. I don't get along with sugary meals. Modern carrot varieties have as much sugar as ripe strawberries. I was hoping the African variety I'm growing would be less sweet, but that was a mistake. Everything seems to be bred for sweetness these days.
I'll just process the carrots like I do the sweet potatoes with parboiling and soaking, that seems to take care of the problem. But of course you lose a lot of flavor with soaking. I page through the seed catalogs and every description seems to emphasize the word sweet. I guess everyone is addicted to sugar these days.
It seems odd that the weather is cooler here in March than it was in February and January, but that's the case. Makes it hard to know what to plant, that's for sure. I'm in the process of grubbing out roots in the South Garden in preparation for planting of Vigna unguiculata variety Ologwe from Nigeria. I only have five plants going in pots, so it's critical that I get them producing seed. The variety has been discontinued in the catalog, and it was by far the best producer of "cowpeas" aka "blacked peas" I've ever grown. So seed saving is going to be critical. I had saved some seed that year, but something got into them and ate them all. I should have stored them in the fridge instead of leaving them on the carport like I did. I saved the variety from oblivion by coaxing the original seed from the packet to grow a few plants.
When I grew them in 2014, they took over most of the garden and climbed the fencing as well. I even had to move the vines to mow the grass south of the garden that year. And they rooted everywhere they sprawled. So five plants should be enough to raise a good crop in a planting bed. My beds are about a meter wide and about 8 meters long...not sure if that's accurate. I'll have to check when I set up the bed again.
I've pulled several cartloads of Pinus roots and Panicum repens rhizomes from the subsoil under the planting bed. The soil has all been removed, and will be returned after amending it with compost and granite dust. I'm determined to police the garden better this time around, it got heavily invaded with roots and rhizomes while I left it fallowed. The Pinus roots are particularly bad, they seem to secrete toxic terpenes to clear away competing roots from the soil they invade. Soil infested with Pinus roots smells like industrial waste. I'm going to try maintaining a clear perimeter to a depth of 50 cm or so by grubbing it monthly with my big hoe or cutting a narrow trench with a digging bar.
Panicum repens is the worst garden weed I've ever encountered. Most of the plant is deep underground, so surface hoeing doesn't work. You have to go deep into the ground to find its rhizomes, which is of course extremely time-consuming and laborious. But it seems to advance slowly, so I'm hoping a cleared perimeter will stop it once and for all. It is really frustrating to pull weeds that keep coming back again and again, so I'm going for total annihilation.
Nobody ever said gardening is easy. It's OK, I like digging in the ground, it's good therapy for me. I once knew someone who had to dig up a clogged drain field at work...he was really angry about it, but in the end he had so much fun that he dug up his backyard and started a garden. Had to be the strangest motivation for gardening I've ever heard of.
Incidentally, if you have Latin phobia, that's unfortunate. Anybody who reads my blogs will encounter it often. Scientific names avoid confusion, common garden plants can have dozens of different names in different cultures. If you think I'm going to be apologetic for being pro-science, it's not going to happen...not ever.
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Smoke Problem
I have enough coming along in containers now to cover my need for fresh produce, but it's been difficult to do much gardening lately. I do try, but then it makes me sick in the evening with asthma attacks.
Just wanted to post something about this briefly. I do miss the gardening and property maintenance, but sometimes you just have to deal with things as they are. The smoke has made the news sometimes, but they never call it smoke. It's "smoky odor". If I get severe chest pain and coughing fits, it's not because I don't like the odor. The air is polluted if it hurts a lot to breathe it. The red tide is flaring up too, so the sea breeze doesn't help much.
It is what it is.
Just wanted to post something about this briefly. I do miss the gardening and property maintenance, but sometimes you just have to deal with things as they are. The smoke has made the news sometimes, but they never call it smoke. It's "smoky odor". If I get severe chest pain and coughing fits, it's not because I don't like the odor. The air is polluted if it hurts a lot to breathe it. The red tide is flaring up too, so the sea breeze doesn't help much.
It is what it is.
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Garden for Next Month
You do have to think ahead in growing a garden. It's like playing chess, your moves have to be worked out ahead of time or you just flounder.
The weather is cool now in February, but next month is March. That is a very unpredictable month here, it can be chilly or hot. What I do is look back at my garden journals and figure out what worked a year ago in March, and two years ago in March...and April. If I start lettuce now, it will be maturing in April and it will likely be too hot for lettuce.
So I'm planting peppers, as I usually do this time of year. First the standbys...Serrano and Jwala. Those are very reliable for me. Bell peppers and other "sweet peppers" are hit or miss. And I actually prefer less sweet, more pungent peppers in my stir fries.
The lettuce was very successful this year, but now it's all bolting. So it's time to replace it all with string beans and peppers...and maybe some kale. Vates kale is very heat resistant and likes alkaline soil, so it's a very solid choice for me.
They're doing a lot of burning east of here, so the air in the morning and evening is too smoky for my lungs to deal with. I'll try going out around lunchtime tomorrow to see if I can mix more soil and get some material ready for shredding. Today's shredding is tomorrow's compost, today's planting is what I'll be eating two months from now...and so it goes.
Tonight I had a nice stir fry with onion, chard, Jwala pepper, lentil sprouts, cooked lentils, ginger, garlic, sage, and cumin powder...and of course lots of rice. So I'm really glad I planted those little chard plants a while back. My past self is taking care of my present self, and tomorrow I'll do what I can for future self.
And the crazy world of lies and manipulations spins around my little sanctuary of truth. Sometimes it all seems to be trying to destroy itself in some deranged suicidal dash for a cliff. You can all go run along, I have important things to do here...time to plant sweet potatoes again soon. Knowing how to grow sweet potatoes is important in a world that is getting warmer and warmer each year...they love hot weather...and compost.
The weather is cool now in February, but next month is March. That is a very unpredictable month here, it can be chilly or hot. What I do is look back at my garden journals and figure out what worked a year ago in March, and two years ago in March...and April. If I start lettuce now, it will be maturing in April and it will likely be too hot for lettuce.
So I'm planting peppers, as I usually do this time of year. First the standbys...Serrano and Jwala. Those are very reliable for me. Bell peppers and other "sweet peppers" are hit or miss. And I actually prefer less sweet, more pungent peppers in my stir fries.
The lettuce was very successful this year, but now it's all bolting. So it's time to replace it all with string beans and peppers...and maybe some kale. Vates kale is very heat resistant and likes alkaline soil, so it's a very solid choice for me.
They're doing a lot of burning east of here, so the air in the morning and evening is too smoky for my lungs to deal with. I'll try going out around lunchtime tomorrow to see if I can mix more soil and get some material ready for shredding. Today's shredding is tomorrow's compost, today's planting is what I'll be eating two months from now...and so it goes.
Tonight I had a nice stir fry with onion, chard, Jwala pepper, lentil sprouts, cooked lentils, ginger, garlic, sage, and cumin powder...and of course lots of rice. So I'm really glad I planted those little chard plants a while back. My past self is taking care of my present self, and tomorrow I'll do what I can for future self.
And the crazy world of lies and manipulations spins around my little sanctuary of truth. Sometimes it all seems to be trying to destroy itself in some deranged suicidal dash for a cliff. You can all go run along, I have important things to do here...time to plant sweet potatoes again soon. Knowing how to grow sweet potatoes is important in a world that is getting warmer and warmer each year...they love hot weather...and compost.
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