Things are going well in the container garden.
The pole beans are bearing heavily now, I can pick enough from just one container of them to use in my soup. I lost a few plants of the Rattlesnake beans, but the Mississippi Skip Beans aka White Half Runner had no such issues. The Skip Beans may be better adapted to the humid climate of Florida than Rattlesnake, I suspect the Rattlesnake plants succumbed to a fungus.
This is the first time I've tried growing Skip Beans in pots and giving them poles to climb, I usually plant them in a bed and let them sprawl. I'm very pleased with the results. The only disadvantage is the need for a stepladder to harvest the beans. I think they're definitely growing better as climbers. I might try giving my sweet potatoes some poles and tying up the vines. That way they won't be rooting in the ground or getting nibbled by my friends the rabbits.
I enjoy the company of the rabbits, they don't seem to mind my walking past them while they're munching on things they find in my weedy lawns. I've never had any serious trouble from them, they don't seem to bother my veggies except for the sweet potato vines. The diggers haven't been bothering me anymore either. Those were unknown animals that excavated the soil out of my pots and planting beds, and dumped out my seedling pots on the ground. I keep the pots mulched now, or covered with chicken wire, and I've fenced in the planting beds with chicken wire. When I first tried gardening at this house, they dug up my garden every night.
The Swiss Chard has been really outstanding. The flavor and texture of the leaves seems to be better in the large containers than when I grew them last time in the planting beds. I'm growing Ruby Red, same variety both times. Though it's interesting, I got one plant of some green variety of chard that was very tasty and tender...must have been some other seed got mixed in, or it was just due to a lack of separation between seed crops by the people who grew the seed. I wouldn't mind growing more of the green variety again.
I've tried growing chard from some of the major seed houses here in the US, but I didn't like that chard at all. Years ago I grew some seed that someone brought back from Europe and that tasted so much better. Not all chard is the same. I've been staying with Ruby Red for a while now.
The eggplant is doing very well too. I like them stir-fried or in soup. I'm growing Bangladeshi Long, Florida Market, Long Purple, and some unknown Asian variety that's somewhat long with green and white striping. I only have one plant of the green and white variety, it showed up from a batch of Bangladeshi Long seed I planted. I think I like it the best of the four, though I've only harvested one fruit so far. Maybe I'll move it to a bigger container, southeast Asian eggplant are perennial here in my climate. I might even try air layering it to produce more plants. With only one plant, I can't very well expect to save the seed and have them breed true. Some plants are very amenable to air layering, you never know until you try.
With oregano and sweet potato, all I have to do is set a new pot next to the old one, lay a vine over the new pot and hold it down with something. After it roots, I clip the connecting vine and I'm done. Propagation can't get much easier than that. I've got oregano and sweet potato I've been growing that way for years. If you live in a temperate climate, you would have to take a plant of your favorite varieties indoors for the winter, of course. We didn't get a killing frost this year, so no need for me to do anything like that.
The unusually warm weather continues, so I've been setting my alarm and getting up at first light. I don't deal well with tropical sun anymore, have to avoid getting too much of it. But as far as the garden plants go, all I have to do is switch crops and keep right on planting and harvesting. It will soon be too hot even for most peppers, I'll probably switch to growing only Caribbean Red and Tabasco before much longer. They're a different species of plant from the usual hot pepper and bell pepper varieties, and they like the heat. The pole beans will be replaced with long beans and blackeyed peas too. You have to grow the right varieties of veggies for your climate or you're working against yourself.
Friday, March 20, 2015
Friday, March 13, 2015
Moving Along
The new container garden is coming along nicely. I've already been picking Swiss chard for steaming and soups, and the pole beans are just now getting little pods on them. Those are Mississippi Skip beans aka White Half Runner beans. I have several big pots of those and also some Rattlesnake beans in different locations around the property.
Today I had to quit work setting up another pot due to smoke. I think there might have been a brush fire upwind, heard a helicopter circling for some time around noon. Seems as though I'm getting smoke every morning around 1000 hours EST, so I'd better set my alarm for 0600 to stay ahead of it. I don't observe Daylight Savings Time, it makes no sense to me whatsoever. I recently learned that the principle opposition to it came historically from farmers, then for some unknown reason the media reversed that and said it was for the benefit of farmers. So in the end it benefits no one, yet we do it anyway.
They said today that we tied another record for heat yesterday. My mizuna looks awful, it just lays down like it's exhausted. Turnips are not known for their heat resistance...mizuna is a variety of turnip greens. I won't be growing so much of it next year, it's too sensitive to heat.
I decided to plant all three varieties of sweet potato in the big pots...the 100 liter size. Nothing wrong with a little variety. I don't get along with the high sugar content, but I've found that cutting the potatoes into chunks and parboiling them lowers the sugar considerably. Then I can store them in the fridge and use as needed. I currently have Porto Rico, Liberty, and Hannah growing in the garden. They're each very different in their flavor and consistency...Porto Rico is high in carotenes, moist and sweet; Liberty is cream-colored, dry, and nutty-flavored; Hannah is cream-colored also, dry and starchy. I like them all. I would love to find a sweet potato that's very starchy and very low in sugar, but I'm not sure such a thing exists.
The sweet potatoes are being stimulated by the hot sun, they love this weather. It's always best to pay attention to these seasonal changes...I'm going all-out with sweet potatoes from now on. It's time to plant the long beans too, they also love warm weather. That would be Vigna sesquipedalis. They always do well for me and produce loads of those long, tender string beans.
Now that I'm used to working with the big pots, I really like them. They don't desiccate as quickly as the 34 cm pots, so it's easier to keep up with irrigation. I would really like to get my plumbing issues taken care of before the rains come...I've got a buried pipe out there that's leaky and I need to find the leak and fix it before that area goes underwater again. It's a hundred foot run past a lot of big pines, so the digging isn't easy...lots of thick roots to chop.
As soon as I get the rest of my big pots planted and producing food, digging up that piping is next on my list.
Today I had to quit work setting up another pot due to smoke. I think there might have been a brush fire upwind, heard a helicopter circling for some time around noon. Seems as though I'm getting smoke every morning around 1000 hours EST, so I'd better set my alarm for 0600 to stay ahead of it. I don't observe Daylight Savings Time, it makes no sense to me whatsoever. I recently learned that the principle opposition to it came historically from farmers, then for some unknown reason the media reversed that and said it was for the benefit of farmers. So in the end it benefits no one, yet we do it anyway.
They said today that we tied another record for heat yesterday. My mizuna looks awful, it just lays down like it's exhausted. Turnips are not known for their heat resistance...mizuna is a variety of turnip greens. I won't be growing so much of it next year, it's too sensitive to heat.
I decided to plant all three varieties of sweet potato in the big pots...the 100 liter size. Nothing wrong with a little variety. I don't get along with the high sugar content, but I've found that cutting the potatoes into chunks and parboiling them lowers the sugar considerably. Then I can store them in the fridge and use as needed. I currently have Porto Rico, Liberty, and Hannah growing in the garden. They're each very different in their flavor and consistency...Porto Rico is high in carotenes, moist and sweet; Liberty is cream-colored, dry, and nutty-flavored; Hannah is cream-colored also, dry and starchy. I like them all. I would love to find a sweet potato that's very starchy and very low in sugar, but I'm not sure such a thing exists.
The sweet potatoes are being stimulated by the hot sun, they love this weather. It's always best to pay attention to these seasonal changes...I'm going all-out with sweet potatoes from now on. It's time to plant the long beans too, they also love warm weather. That would be Vigna sesquipedalis. They always do well for me and produce loads of those long, tender string beans.
Now that I'm used to working with the big pots, I really like them. They don't desiccate as quickly as the 34 cm pots, so it's easier to keep up with irrigation. I would really like to get my plumbing issues taken care of before the rains come...I've got a buried pipe out there that's leaky and I need to find the leak and fix it before that area goes underwater again. It's a hundred foot run past a lot of big pines, so the digging isn't easy...lots of thick roots to chop.
As soon as I get the rest of my big pots planted and producing food, digging up that piping is next on my list.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Seasonal Change
Looks right now like the cool weather is finished. Predictions are for continuing temps higher than average...at least for the next week or so. Beyond that is anyone's guess...I've seen frost on my garden mulch in April here.
But a gardener, especially one who's dependent on his garden for a lot of his sustenance, needs to make educated guesses so he knows what to plant. I'm going to lay my money on warm weather.
Current plans are for lots of pole beans, onions, sweet potatoes, and long beans. Got to watch out for those drooping vines on the sweet potatoes, though...I spotted a big rabbit contentedly devouring all the leaves he could reach on the sweet potato vines I have growing in big pots. It's OK, he'll keep them from setting potatoes in the ground. I want the potatoes to stay in the pots where the burrowing beasts are less likely to find them. I discovered years ago that sweet potato vines will set potatoes deep in the ground when the soil is sandy and dry. I happened to dig a deep hole for something and there were potatoes more than a foot below the surface of the ground.
My biggest problem with sweet potatoes is the roaches. They have the run of things here, my neighbors use a lot of pesticides. That has decimated the normal population of predatory insects, and pesticide-resistant roaches have taken over the whole area. Such are the hazards of living in an urban area. The only thing that seems to prey on them is Cuban frogs. Maybe when the rains start to come regularly, the frogs will deal with the roaches. It's depressing to harvest a nice big sweet potato, then cut it open and find a bunch of roaches have hollowed it out and made a home out of it. I don't care for roaches, especially when they show up on my kitchen counters like that. I think these are Asian flying roaches in the garden....they suddenly showed up here in the eighties.
Fire ants and roaches are inescapable here, the entire neighborhood is infested with them. Both are virtually immune to pesticides. I use a compound called spinosad on the fire ants now, and it seems to be working very well. It's non-toxic to humans and other insects, so it's approved for organic gardeners and farmers. It's also much more effective than the stuff they sell in the hardware stores and home improvement stores. It does take a while to work, though...you have to be patient...and it costs twice as much. But then you don't have to use nearly so much, because it works so much better. It interferes with the ants' growth hormones, so the colony can't expand. Eventually it dies off from natural causes.
The pole beans are doing very well. The first big wave of them is about done now, and subsequent plantings are almost ready to set pods. I like to keep planting them so I have a continuous supply. I'm planting Rattlesnake and White Half Runner mostly, but I have seeds for other types as well. I tend to go overboard when I have a new seed catalog in my eager grip. But I'm running out of time. The common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris, won't set pods here in the heat we get from May to September. So I'll be switching to blackeyed peas and long beans. Those are in the genus Vigna, which is more tropical. I got a really fine crop of peas last year from the West African variety Ologwe. Nothing produces as abundantly for me in the ground as blackeyed peas. When other gardeners are quitting until November, I'm gearing up for my most productive season.
I do love my blackeyed peas, freshly harvested from the garden.
But a gardener, especially one who's dependent on his garden for a lot of his sustenance, needs to make educated guesses so he knows what to plant. I'm going to lay my money on warm weather.
Current plans are for lots of pole beans, onions, sweet potatoes, and long beans. Got to watch out for those drooping vines on the sweet potatoes, though...I spotted a big rabbit contentedly devouring all the leaves he could reach on the sweet potato vines I have growing in big pots. It's OK, he'll keep them from setting potatoes in the ground. I want the potatoes to stay in the pots where the burrowing beasts are less likely to find them. I discovered years ago that sweet potato vines will set potatoes deep in the ground when the soil is sandy and dry. I happened to dig a deep hole for something and there were potatoes more than a foot below the surface of the ground.
My biggest problem with sweet potatoes is the roaches. They have the run of things here, my neighbors use a lot of pesticides. That has decimated the normal population of predatory insects, and pesticide-resistant roaches have taken over the whole area. Such are the hazards of living in an urban area. The only thing that seems to prey on them is Cuban frogs. Maybe when the rains start to come regularly, the frogs will deal with the roaches. It's depressing to harvest a nice big sweet potato, then cut it open and find a bunch of roaches have hollowed it out and made a home out of it. I don't care for roaches, especially when they show up on my kitchen counters like that. I think these are Asian flying roaches in the garden....they suddenly showed up here in the eighties.
Fire ants and roaches are inescapable here, the entire neighborhood is infested with them. Both are virtually immune to pesticides. I use a compound called spinosad on the fire ants now, and it seems to be working very well. It's non-toxic to humans and other insects, so it's approved for organic gardeners and farmers. It's also much more effective than the stuff they sell in the hardware stores and home improvement stores. It does take a while to work, though...you have to be patient...and it costs twice as much. But then you don't have to use nearly so much, because it works so much better. It interferes with the ants' growth hormones, so the colony can't expand. Eventually it dies off from natural causes.
The pole beans are doing very well. The first big wave of them is about done now, and subsequent plantings are almost ready to set pods. I like to keep planting them so I have a continuous supply. I'm planting Rattlesnake and White Half Runner mostly, but I have seeds for other types as well. I tend to go overboard when I have a new seed catalog in my eager grip. But I'm running out of time. The common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris, won't set pods here in the heat we get from May to September. So I'll be switching to blackeyed peas and long beans. Those are in the genus Vigna, which is more tropical. I got a really fine crop of peas last year from the West African variety Ologwe. Nothing produces as abundantly for me in the ground as blackeyed peas. When other gardeners are quitting until November, I'm gearing up for my most productive season.
I do love my blackeyed peas, freshly harvested from the garden.
Sunday, March 1, 2015
Garden Tour
I do keep up with the garden more or less in spite of all that goes on here. Here's a brief walking tour of the containers...as you can see there are a lot of growing plants in these various locations around the property.
The first pic is the new container garden north of the house, almost done setting it up.
The weather has changed drastically from cool, including some freeze damage, to very warm. Last time I went outside it was 27 degrees Celsius on the carport. We're expecting warmer than normal temps for the rest of this week.
So the lettuce is all bolting, for one thing. Tried making a salad with some at lunchtime, but it was bitter and left my mouth feeling dry. So into the compost it goes. I tossed out some mizuna this morning too, it's starting to bolt as well. Sometimes the seasons change suddenly here, looks like the cool season is winding down rapidly.
So it's time to switch to the heat-tolerant veggies like long beans, blackeyed peas, molokhia, and sweet potatoes. I usually plant okra in April and May, but maybe this year I'll get some seed started this month. I do love my okra...it's so soothing to my digestion and I love the way it changes a rice dish into a real treat. Looking forward to using molokhia in soups, it makes a really excellent soup. Lately I've been using a lot of mustard in my soups, that's also good. I'm talking about the greens, which are very nutritious and tasty. I grow Florida Broadleaf, been using that variety since the seventies. I've never found anything better in mustard. It's fairly mild, resists RKN, and grows like a weed.
Should have all the chard I want soon, that also makes a very fine soup...and it's good for stir fries too. I'm growing Ruby Red this year...again. Chard will keep going into the warmer days, assuming it doesn't get super-hot. The really hot days generally start in May...cool season is over when that happens. Even the peppers will need some shade from the sun after May. The soil in containers gets really warm in the afternoon sun, so things like lettuce and mustard will simply sicken and die under those conditions. It's one of the disadvantages of using black nursery containers...maybe I should try painting them white or silver.
We got 2.11 inches of rain in less than an hour last evening...went from bone dry to standing water just like that. My excavation project to repair a damaged water line will have to be postponed, the hole I dug is 2/3 full of water now. It's unusual to get that kind of heavy rain in February or March.
Everything seems unusual in the weather these days.
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