The turnips were definitely a success this year. The variety I grew, Golden Ball, didn't give me indigestion and produced a nice heap of turnips in just one planting bed. I'd say as a guess I got twenty pounds of them altogether. They had some RKN on the roots, but they grew anyway. RKN stands for root knot nematodes.
So if I need to increase my calorie production in the garden, turnips would be a good choice for the cool season. I've been growing them since the seventies, and they're always very reliable. They're nutritious too, it would be hard to find a greens crop with better nutritional analysis than turnip. Next year I'll plant even more if possible.
The cool weather quit at just the right time, when the turnips were done. They don't like heat. If we don't get more chilly weather, I've got to start thinking about switching to the heat-tolerant crops like molokhia, Vigna, and sweet potatoes. We haven't really had any significant frost this year...so far. I have sweet potatoes in the South Garden that just keep right on growing. If it stays warm, I can start new potatoes by snipping off the growing tips and planting them in new pots and beds. The coldest temp I've seen this cool season was two degrees Celsius on the flagpole next to the South Garden. Right now I've got Hannah, Porto Rico, and Liberty potatoes growing out there. I used to wait till the frost killed most of the vines before digging, but the past few years they just kept growing. If we keep getting frost-free years like this, I might have to change the name of the blog from subtropical to tropical.
The new container garden is coming along well. I'm working on the second row of pots, and I've been harvesting loads of salad greens from the pots with lettuce and mizuna. Haven't really kept up with things well lately, had some difficulties that kept me busy. But I'm almost done with setting up the final compost bin with shredded landscaping waste, that will give me a tumbler, three bins, and an open pile going at once. With that amount of compost, I'll be able to set up lots of larger pots for the new container garden...and maybe a planting bed in the South Garden too.
Been harvesting lots of eggplant and hot pepper, two of my favorites. The turnips are done, the radishes almost finished...time to start some new seedlings of peppers and maybe some molokhia...it makes an outstanding soup. But I think I'll wait till April 1 to plant okra and Vigna. They'll grow now, but not vigorously. I like to plant crops that really grow well, not just survive.
Monday, February 23, 2015
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Permaculture?
I've been reading a lot about permaculture lately. I like sustainable gardening and living, but after studying permaculture for some time, I'm not buying into it.
The problem I have with it is this idea that disturbing the soil damages the soil structure and its biota...especially the mycorrhizae. Those are fungi that grow in symbiosis with plant roots and help extract minerals from the organic matter in the soil.
In my garden, the dominant mycorrhizae are likely to be those associated with pine roots, which grow everywhere here. I don't want those in my planting beds...I'm trying to grow vegetables, not bigger pine trees. By digging the beds and remixing my potting soil, I distribute compost throughout the soil horizon and make it more available to the crop roots and THEIR mycorrhizae.
I know how fast fungi grow...they have no trouble recovering from soil disturbance as far as I've seen. In fact it seems to stimulate them to have compost mixed into the soil. So I suspect that many permaculture devotees are simply people who don't like to get all dirty and sweaty when they garden...to each his or her own.
I'll try to keep an open mind, but my methods work and I'm staying with them.
Currently I'm worried about brush fire season...so gardening dropped down a notch on my priority listing. This morning I cleared out a lot of deadwood and dry brush near my house to protect it. That will get shredded and composted, so in a way I'm still growing food when I'm clearing brush.
Lots of good things to harvest lately in the garden...mizuna, chives, and red romaine lettuce for salads, pole beans and mustard greens for stir fries and soups, loads of radishes and turnips. Tonight I think I'll dig another turnip and cook it up with some potato. I bought a few red potatoes in the supermarket the other day, I think I'll plant some in containers to see how things go. The red varieties seem to grow better for me. I hope they haven't treated these things with chemicals to suppress sprouting...maybe I'll plant the eyes in smaller pots to see if they grow before I put them in bigger pots. Usually I use organic potatoes, but they wanted something like seven dollars for a little bag of them in Target. And my local market didn't have any organic reds. So I'll see what happens.
And eggplant...got a lot of those coming along. They really seem to like that liquid feeding I give them every few days. These are the healthiest-looking eggplants I've ever grown. The hot peppers are doing well too...I'm growing Poblano, Jwala, and Serrano. Some kind of pepper disease hit me hard a couple of years ago and I haven't had luck with bell peppers ever since. It's ok, I like a little spiciness in my peppers...and hot peppers have more nutritional value than bell peppers anyway.
The air has been poor quality lately...lots of burning going on. That holds me back, I often cancel plans due to smoke. But those chemical odors are gone, pretty sure it was from somebody cooking meth...the cops were at that house recently and now the odors have stopped.
Things do get done around here...one way or another...air pollution notwithstanding.
The problem I have with it is this idea that disturbing the soil damages the soil structure and its biota...especially the mycorrhizae. Those are fungi that grow in symbiosis with plant roots and help extract minerals from the organic matter in the soil.
In my garden, the dominant mycorrhizae are likely to be those associated with pine roots, which grow everywhere here. I don't want those in my planting beds...I'm trying to grow vegetables, not bigger pine trees. By digging the beds and remixing my potting soil, I distribute compost throughout the soil horizon and make it more available to the crop roots and THEIR mycorrhizae.
I know how fast fungi grow...they have no trouble recovering from soil disturbance as far as I've seen. In fact it seems to stimulate them to have compost mixed into the soil. So I suspect that many permaculture devotees are simply people who don't like to get all dirty and sweaty when they garden...to each his or her own.
I'll try to keep an open mind, but my methods work and I'm staying with them.
Currently I'm worried about brush fire season...so gardening dropped down a notch on my priority listing. This morning I cleared out a lot of deadwood and dry brush near my house to protect it. That will get shredded and composted, so in a way I'm still growing food when I'm clearing brush.
Recently Harvested Turnip...Ruler is 12 inch/30cm.
Lots of good things to harvest lately in the garden...mizuna, chives, and red romaine lettuce for salads, pole beans and mustard greens for stir fries and soups, loads of radishes and turnips. Tonight I think I'll dig another turnip and cook it up with some potato. I bought a few red potatoes in the supermarket the other day, I think I'll plant some in containers to see how things go. The red varieties seem to grow better for me. I hope they haven't treated these things with chemicals to suppress sprouting...maybe I'll plant the eyes in smaller pots to see if they grow before I put them in bigger pots. Usually I use organic potatoes, but they wanted something like seven dollars for a little bag of them in Target. And my local market didn't have any organic reds. So I'll see what happens.
And eggplant...got a lot of those coming along. They really seem to like that liquid feeding I give them every few days. These are the healthiest-looking eggplants I've ever grown. The hot peppers are doing well too...I'm growing Poblano, Jwala, and Serrano. Some kind of pepper disease hit me hard a couple of years ago and I haven't had luck with bell peppers ever since. It's ok, I like a little spiciness in my peppers...and hot peppers have more nutritional value than bell peppers anyway.
The air has been poor quality lately...lots of burning going on. That holds me back, I often cancel plans due to smoke. But those chemical odors are gone, pretty sure it was from somebody cooking meth...the cops were at that house recently and now the odors have stopped.
Things do get done around here...one way or another...air pollution notwithstanding.
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