Finally! Summer has arrived in Western Washington. And, although it has been a cool, wet spring and summer so far, believe it or not, your soil may not be all that moist below the surface. Best way to tell if you need to water yet? Stick your finger in the ground. There’s no calender or clock that’s a better at telling you it’s time to water. Touch makes the best sense. So, get out there. Stick your finger in the ground. It’s okay. Dirt washes off with a little soap and water. You and your plants will be glad you checked. Still not sure what to do once you determine whether your root zones are too dry or you see mildew forming on leaves or slime in your water feature? Read on for more ways to help your garden beat the summer heat:
Posts Tagged ‘edibles’
How To Help Your Garden Beat the Heat
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Small Space Broccoli Growing Success
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010Just a few posts ago I shared that we were having a great broccoli harvest year. In that post, I included a delicious meal to make with broccoli. What I didn’t share was a little more detail on how much harvest we were able to produce in such a small space.
A Basketful of Fresh Broccoli from the Garden
Here’s the deal: I’m fairly certain adding lime and nitrogen-rich fish meal early in the season made all the difference in growing fantastic broccoli. Broccoli needs both. It’s a heavy nitrogen feeder, and if the soil’s too acidic it just doesn’t perform well. In the past we’ve had measly broccoli crops, but not this year.
I seeded our crop inside the unheated greenhouse in mid-February. I transplanted starts out of the greenhouse, into the prepped garden beds, under protective row cover at the end of March. We began harvesting in late June. On the 4th of July, I harvested the full crop so I could prep our precious food growing space for a late season crop of Long Keeper tomatoes. If you’re counting the months, you’ve just realized broccoli takes a long time to grow, but it does grow in the cool season and can be rotated out of the garden in time for a late season, heat loving crop.
So, how much did we get out of how much space? Our broccoli bed was fairly small. I over planted, putting my small young plants less than 1′ apart, so I ran the risk of getting nothing off of spindly plants. The bed itself was about 3′ deep by 6′ long — all of 18 square feet. Broccoli plants get quite wide with large leaves, so I thought I’d be thinning out middle plants early, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. I simply got smaller heads from those interior, crowded plants. I chose to over-plant in case some plants failed along the way. I’d have backup in the end. Also, I had seeded a few times, but the extras have already gone to friends and the food bank, so those backups left the garden early. Hopefully, others are enjoying a similar bounty by now. In the end, we managed to harvest about 7 pounds total of broccoli heads and stalks from our 18′ area.
Although we’re enjoying it fresh in nearly every meal these days, I plan to freeze quite a bit of the harvest into side-dish sized packages for winter. A flash-blanching and quick freeze will ensure a bit of snap remains to this yummy crop even when we cook them up mid-winter in a tasty side salad or one of my favorites – broccoli-cheddar soup!
So, how’s your broccoli coming? If you’re seeing tiny yellow flowers, it’s time to decide whether you’ll harvest and enjoy it or leave it as a favorite food for the bees.
Ankle High Corn by the 5th of July
Monday, July 5th, 2010
Tasty Homegrown Corn - A Good Year
We’ve had good corn growing years, and we’ve had not-so-good corn growing years in our small urban space. Two years ago, we were gorging ourselves on delicious, home-grown cobs. Ironically, we hadn’t even planned to grow it that year. I simply ended up with leftover starts that we tucked into open spots in the parking-hellstrip. And, bam! We were enjoying sweet corn right off the stalk daily for weeks. We had so much of it, we froze much and enjoyed it throughout the winter. Then, last year, our corn was fit for feeding pigs — what little we harvested.
Because we live in a small urban setting and because we rotate crop locations, it takes some finesse to create a good corn growing spot each year. Last year we had a fairly good spot for the corn, but the stalks, despite being planted at the same time, simply didn’t mature together – with some started early in the greenhouse and a second round direct seeded into the ground later in spring. The plants bolted quickly in the early and incredible heat. Tassles and silks simply didn’t have their timing down, and the end result was stumpy, chewy, starchy cobs — and very few of them at that. I should have let them dry for the birds in winter.
There could be something to say for the varieties of corn I selected. But, I can’t attribute all the success to just the variety. In 2008 and in 2009 we grew F-1 Sugar Pearls. Each year they came from different sources and performed with very mixed results. So what about this year? (more…)
Growing Tomatoes Successfully Despite Cold Temperatures and Rain
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010I’m still grumbling about the cold, wet late spring we’re having in Seattle. I like some sunshine, and I like some heat. And so does my garden.
Under 45F Does Not a Good Tomato Make
Sure, rain out of the sky is better than rain out of the tap. It’s likely more pure, and it’s certainly less expensive. With all the rain we’ve had so far this spring, I haven’t turned on my irrigation once. That’s a bonus. But in return, I’m having to tent crops like garlic to protect it from too much rain and keep it from rotting. As well, I’ve had to come up with creative solutions to get my heat-loving crops into the ground and growing despite the cold.
My first line of defense against unpredictable Seattle spring and summer weather is to grow tomatoes designed for short, cool growing seasons. And, I grow them from seed (or at the very least buy starts from local growers who produce starts designed for this area). A few of my favorite tomatoes for our region are Oregon Springs, Stupice, Siberia and Gold Nugget. Plus, this year I’m trying out another – Peron. These have proven to hold up against the cold, grow strongly and withstand fungal diseases like blight.
My next trick is to do several successions of seedings and potting. This way, if an early crop fails, I have others coming up behind them. Even in a short growing season, this can make a difference. (more…)
Don’t Pass Up the Seattle Green Festival – Get In Free!
Sunday, May 23rd, 2010On Saturday, June 5, 2010 at 6pm I’ll be speaking at the Seattle Green Festival at the Local Food and Farming Pavilion. Throughout the weekend, the Green Festival is bringing an amazing array of speakers to educate our community on any number of environmentally conscious topics.
Delicious and Beautiful Purple Cabbage
For my own part, I’ll be discussing ways individuals can work at a grassroots level to grow food, develop community gardens, and grow and distribute food and food crops to those in need. Too, I’ll share proven, beautiful ways to incorporate food into your own home garden.
The Green Festival organizers have offered a generous number of free passes to me to distribute. If you would like to attend my seminar or if you would just like to stroll through the vendors or catch any of the other speakers over the weekend, please let me know in the comment section below (on this page only). Please share why the Green Festival is important to you or share what “green” tech you’re interested in exploring at the festival or let us know what you’ve enjoyed at prior Green Festival events. Be sure to provide an email address in your post or other way I can contact you to let you know if you have been selected for a free pass. I will review requests until I either run out of passes or until just prior to the event on June 5th. So, submit early!
(Fine Print: No cash value. Nothing other than the free passes offered to me by Seattle Green Festival are offered. And, there’s no guarantee everyone will get a free pass.)
More on the event itself:
