Veggie Garden Info

planting thyme

Original post from Sustainable Garden, March 29, 2008

                                                               Our garden redesign is nearing the end of this phase with the planting of the new path.

 This side of the garden is south facing and the soil becomes dessicated during the summer. Ideal then for herbs and this weekend I bought a dozen or so small pots of herbs (mainly thymes) to finish the new path.

 The intention is to create a path that looks good, tastes good and, by golly, does the wildlife good!

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How to Plant Leggy Tomatoes with the Trench Method

Original post from Garden Desk, March 28, 2008

I wrote in my "how to grow healthy seedlings" post that you should be careful not to plant under the lights too early. My example was tomatoes. Kimberley from The Life of a Garden and some others have expressed concern now that their early-started tomatoes might get too big and leggy before planting time.I didn't mean to scare anyone. If your tomato plants do get leggy, don't worry. You can always correct that at planting time by burying more of the stem.After the danger of frost in your area has passed, you should plant too-tall tomatoes very deep in the ground. This encourages adventitious roots to develop along the buried portion of the stem. Its also okay to snap off the lower branches if necessary.If you can't get a deep enough hole, you can plant the tomato sideways in a trench and carefully bend it upright so the above ground portion is straight. Even if it isn't all the way straight, the plant will adjust itself later.

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Pepper Recovery - the overwintering tale

Original post from Ottawa Hortiphilia, March 28, 2008

 

My Fatali and Long Cayenne peppers have been attacked by aphids and I believe spider mites this winter. They have lost a fair number of leaves and all developing buds but then with the longer days, things are improving.

 Much to my surprise the long cayenne appears to be bouncing back. I didn't take a picture of it at its worst out of respect for its dignity but suffice it to say that it had lost almost all of its leaves. The only reason I didn't ditch it was because I hesistate to end my experiments prematurely. When it started to re-leaf I thought that the leaves would come in even smaller than the decreased size they were before they all fell off so am pleasantly surprised by their increasing diametre. It even has some flowers on it.

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Sautéed Swiss Chard and Spinach

Original post from The Inadvertent Gardener, March 27, 2008

 Not long ago, Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen posted a fabulous-looking recipe for chard stems. It had never occurred to me to cook chard stems separately from the rest of the chard—while I realize they’re tougher than the leaves and require a slightly longer cooking time, I’ve always circumvented that issue by just cooking them first, then adding the leaves later.

 I’ll admit a little laziness is at play, too. I’m not one to spend the time actually slicing the leaves from the chard stems. I tend, instead, to take my bunch of chard and chop it up almost like I’m chiffonading basil—I roll it into a monster log of leaves, then slice narrow ribbons by cutting perpendicular to the log. It’s effective, albeit unorthodox.

 When I have worked my way through the leaves, I just chop up the part of the stems that stick out at the bottom, and keep those in a separate pile. I usually trim the bottom quarter-inch or so of the stems, just to keep the raggedy pieces out of whatever I’m cooking.

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Asparagus action

Original post from Adekun's Japan Blog, March 27, 2008

It’s been a busy month both in and out of the garden. The cabbage went to soup; eight mini ones (those that didn’t swell) with some of the beetroot. My wife made lots of kimchi with the hakusai. I’ve been trying to manage the consumption of the latter around teaching. On Tuesday I espied the first asparagus thrusting through the earth.

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Lemon balm massacre

Original post from Fluffius Muppetus, March 26, 2008

The horrendous weather has kept me out of the garden for days, and it felt like all progress had stopped. But the thermometer is finally rising again, although nothing but rain is forecast for the next week.One of the jobs on my To Do list was to sort out the lemon balm. It was an unexpected star of last year’s garden, and we want more of it. Spring is a good time to divide lemon balm, so I chopped back all the dead stems and gave it a go.

 Division is a violent process, especially when the plant in question has had several years of vigorous growth. I’d planted my lemon balm in one of the planting holes around the edge of my raised beds – long before I realised that this wasn’t a good place to grow perennials.

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Blackberries Budding!

Original post from My Grandpa's Garden, March 26, 2008

 

One of the things that is the hardest for me to deal with is the slow time in the garden. Some things happen quickly; new blooms appear, seeds sprout, a tomato blushes the moment you look away. But the garden is also a slow creature. Some investments you make today you won’t reap the rewards until next year or even the year after that. Last year I bought some berry bushes for Mother’s Day.

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raised bed design and construction

Original post from Skippy's Vegetable Garden, March 26, 2008

 

While I wait for more sprouts and planting, I'm posting some information on my raised beds.

My husband made the beds about 10 years ago from boards of 2x6 pressure treated lumber. They measure 3.8 ft by 9 ft. I have five adjacent beds. Between each is a pathway that ranges from 15 to 17 inches wide, but you might want to make them wide enough for your rake (I use an adjustable rake). To make the beds, my husband just laid the wood on the surface of ground. He made stakes (about 2x2x12) that were pounded into 3 of the 4 corners of each bed. The frame is screwed into these stakes. The stakes hold the beds in place. After making the frames, we filled them with about 3 or 4 inches of a mixture of peat, composted manure and topsoil.

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slow down, you move too fast

Original post from Sustainable Garden, March 26, 2008

                                                           There's an unnatural rush to get the vegetable garden planted up at this time of year. 'Wait!' I say. There is no hurry!

I say that because this photo shows one quarter of the four bed rotation fully planted. We're waiting on the broccoli, chard and sorrel from last year, but apart from that we're fully planted. But that leaves three quarters of the allotment waiting. Plants put in later usually catch up - and so there is no rush! 'Stuttgarter' white onion sets have been planted today in the bed previously occupied by brussels sprouts. These join the 'Red Baron' and 'Sturon' onion sets planted a couple of weeks ago.

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How to grow healthy seedlings under lights

Original post from Garden Desk, March 25, 2008

 

There were several questions asked on my last early tomato post so I thought I should expound on what has worked well for me. I have grown most of my vegetables and annuals from seed under lights for years. I have made many mistakes along the way and have developed a system that works well for me.

There are a few simple tips that I have learned that might be helpful to you. The five most often overlooked tips for growing successful seedlings:

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