Onions and Potatoes

Welcome back.  Yesterday I pulled the yellow Stuttgart and red onions.  It's hard to believe that the growing season is winding down.  The summer sure went fast.  But it's not quite over yet.

So when is the proper time to harvest the onions?

Generally, when the tops start to turn brown and die off, it is time to harvest.  This indicates that they have stopped growing.  Of course, different varieties will mature at different times as is true with all vegetables. For example, the yellow sweet Spanish onions that I planted are still growing, I normally wait until September to harvest them.

You may recall my post on May 10, 2014 (http://dansgardening.blogspot.com/2014/05/planting-more-early-season.html), in which I described planting the Stuttgart and red onions.  It doesn't seem that long ago, but it's been over three months now.

Below are the results of that planting:

Once the onions are pulled, it is best to let them dry in the sun for a few days as a type of aging.  A wheelbarrow works well for this.   Of course, they can be used as soon as they are harvested, but if you want to store them, it is better to make sure they are dry.  Onions can be stored over the winter in a cool dark place, preferably around 40 to 50 degrees.  I store mine in our cellar, which maintains that approximate temperature range during the winter.  These conditions also work well for potatoes.

Some varieties store better than others.  The Stuttgart onion is an excellent keeper.  The red onions do fairly well also, but not as well at the Stuttgart.  The yellow sweet Spanish onion is not a good storing onion.

I also dug 4 or 5 hills of potatoes yesterday, for several reasons.  The vines are still growing, but they are starting to wilt down a little.  Similar to the onions, I usually dig the potatoes once the vines have died off, which is normally mid-August to September depending on the variety.

I described planting the potatoes in my blog entry of May 30, 2014 (http://dansgardening.blogspot.com/2014/05/in-with-potatoes.html).

I dug a few of the Yukon Gold hills, since we are going on vacation and we wanted to use them to make a potato salad.  This variety is an excellent choice for potato salad.  I also wanted to "test" the crop to see how well they have grown this season.

Based on the results from digging these 4 or 5 hills, It is going to be an excellent potato harvest this year:

Yukon Gold Sampling

Finally, a photo of a pretty sky this evening with a small rainbow included:

Until next time and as always, thanks for reading.

Wildflowers, Sunflowers, and a Garden Pest

Welcome back.

As promised, this week I will take a break from the veggies and dedicate my post to the flowers in my garden.

Preparing the garden to plant wildflowers is pretty much the same as it is for vegetables, as far as rototiling, etc.  I have a small raised portion of my lower garden that I have been using for the wildflowers for the past 4 or 5 years.  Prior to that I planted sunflowers there.

After rototilling, the next step is to rake the soil.  However, I take a little more time to remove as many stones and coarse material as possible.  The seeds are very fine, actually similar in size to lettuce seeds.

There are many different mixtures of wildflower seeds you can purchase.  The mixtures are categorized according to region of the country, color, plant height, sun preference, moisture preference, etc.  Some mixes are designed to attract butterflies.   Following is one of the packages I used this year..  I also used a butterfly mixture:

Wildflower mixture that contains Chrysanthemum,  Dianthus, Coreopsis, Cosmos, Alyssum and more

After preparing the soil, sprinkle the seeds on the surface according to the package directions.  Most packages will tell you how many square feet the seeds will cover.

Next, I use a rake to gently rake in the seeds to an approximate depth of one quarter of an inch.  The idea is to mix the seeds with the soil to prevent them from washing away, and also to keep them moist to promote germination.  As an added precaution, I put a very light coating of grass clippings over the top to further prevent erosion of the seeds and to retain moisture.

One very important aspect is to water daily until germination occurs.  The seeds are so tiny, therefore they must be kept moist.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos at the time of planting, however I did take one about 2 weeks later near the end of May:

Wildflower Bed

If you look closely, you can see that the seeds have begun to sprout.

The flowers have been blooming for a month or more, and are starting to fill in nicely  Following are a few photos I took this past Sunday, August 10th:

Also, as you may remember, I planted sunflowers as I wrote about in my post on June 23, 2014 (http://dansgardening.blogspot.com.br/2014/06/sunflowers-and-nesting-tree-swallows.html).  In that post I also described how I moved some of the plants to create an evenly spaced plot.

This past Sunday I also took a few photos of the sunflowers:

Finally, a certain garden pest has been nibbling in my garden, mostly affecting the beans.  I planted the pole beans 3 times, each time they were mysteriously eaten,  After the third planting, I even put a little fence around the bean poles, however that didn't work either.  Can any of you guess who the culprit was?

Scroll down for my guess......

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Until next time.

Harvest Time Has Begun/Blanching Beans

Welcome back and as always thanks for reading.

August has arrived and the garden is really starting to produce nicely overall.

So far this season we have been enjoying lettuce, scallions, and peas.  Over the last week or so the green and yellow beans have been ready to pick.

Green Romano Beans

Although I didn't post an entry on planting beans, this year I planted yellow wax beans and a Romano type flat green bean.  The Romano beans are delicious and I have found that I prefer this type of green beans as compared to the typical green bean.  

After being away on vacation for 4 or 5 days, I returned to find a decent amount of vegetables to pick, including a few surprises.  There were also some disappointments:

Garden Harvest

The best surprise was the tomatoes!  I picked some of the Artisan and Corbarino varieties.  For information on these varieties, refer to my post on March 25, 2014 (http://dansgardening.blogspot.com/2014/03/its-tomato-starting-time.html).  In the basket above the Corbarino tomatoes are in the center, the Artisan tomatoes are in the right corner.

Another nice surprise was the lemon cucumbers, an heirloom type, which are producing very well.  See my post on June 4, 2014 for information on this variety (http://dansgardening.blogspot.com/2014/06/planting-cucumbersa-visit-from-turkey.html).  This cucumber is delicious, the best I have ever tasted, as they are slightly on the sweet side.

The cucumbers overall, however, are a disappointment since the vines seem to be dying off for some reason. It may be it has been too wet, or there is some sort of blight that is affecting them.   The same is true for the Zucchini and yellow squash, which are planted next to the cucumbers.  The squash seem to be producing fairly well despite the vines not being too healthy.

The pepper plants are also starting to yield, as I picked a couple of Hungarian Wax ones that were included in the hot pepper mixture I started from seed (http://dansgardening.blogspot.com/2014/03/planting-peppersspringtime-birds.html).

Finally, since I ended up with a fairly large batch of beans, I decided to freeze a bag of them so we can enjoy them later on this fall or winter.  To freeze the beans, I used the following procedure:

• Wash the beans thoroughly in cold water and then cut off the ends.  You can leave the beans whole, or cut up into smaller pieces, depending on your preference.

• Bring a pot of water to a boil.  A pinch of salt can be added if desired.
• Place the beans in the boiling water ans set a timer for 3 minutes.

• After 3 minutes, drain and place the beans in an ice water bath for 3 minutes.
• Drain the beans and pat dry to remove some of the moisture.
• Place in a freezer bag or container and freeze.  Be sure to label with the contents and date. The beans should keep well for at least 6 months.

This process of boiling for a few minutes, followed by rapid cooling is called blanching.  Blanching stops enzyme actions that can cause loss of flavor, color and texture.  It also cleanses the surface of microorganisms.

In my next post I will share some photos of some flowers that I am growing in the vegetable garden this season.

Until next time.

   

From Tree Stump to Perennial Flower Bed

Welcome back.

This week my post will be a little different from the norm for me.  Recently we had a large blue spruce tree cut down in our yard since it was growing too close to our swimming pool, creating a huge mess in the pool after storms and on windy days.  After the tree was cut, we decided to make a perennial flower bed where the tree was.  One obstacle remained:  the tree stump.

Instead of having it ground down which can be quite expensive, I decided to try another method.  I thought maybe I could burn it down to at least ground level, then mound soil up around it to create a flower bed. Over the years, the pine needles under the tree had decayed, therefore, there was already a good amount of rich soil already there.

I started by placing some tin and a few stones around the stump to confine the fire.  I then piled on some charcoal and got that burning.  Later on I added some firewood and let it burn for 24 hours, adding more wood as needed.

Stump Removal

Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the end result since at the time I didn't plan on writing a post about it. About three quarters of the stump burned down to ground level.   I got the best result from where I placed the charcoal.  I could have started another charcoal fire to completely  level the stump, but I decided not to since 24 hours of smoke was enough.  I thoroughly soaked what was left to make sure all of the coals were extinguished.

The other night we planted the perennials that we had purchased a few weeks ago.  Before planting, I added a few wheelbarrow loads of potting soil that we had left over from planting flower containers on the deck earlier this summer.  The remaining stump will decompose over time thus adding to the character of the soil.

The varieties we planted are as follows.  These photos are not of the actual plants that we planted, but are shown so you can get a detailed look at the different varieties.

Nano Purple Butterfly Bush

Zagreb Coreopsis

Flame Coral Phlox

Peridot Ice Plant

Prairie Splendor Coneflower

Snowcap Shasta Daisy

Topaz Ice Plant

Pow Wow White Coneflower

Pink Dianthus

Before planting, it is always a good idea to just place them on top of the ground to determine how the spacing will look.  Using groups of perennials is one technique to use and that is what we used this time. We ended up placing the two butterfly bushes in the center since they will be the tallest and largest plants.

Ready to Plant

Spacing and Grouping

Final Result

Although the plants look somewhat wilted, they will perk up with time and fill in this bed nicely.  I will also add more mulch as I didn't have as much as there really should be.  I will keep you updated on the progress of this flower bed.

In my next post I will cover some of the veggies I am now starting to harvest.  Until next time.

Tomato Blight

Welcome back and as always, thanks for reading.

As promised, I am writing a post about tomato blight.You probably have heard about early blight, late blight, and more.  In this post I will try to break them down and provide prevention and control tips.

Over the last few weeks, I have noticed that my tomato plants have developed some early blight.  Although this can be a little discouraging, this is not unusual at this point in the gardening season.  Both types of blight thrive in warm and humid conditions.

Early blight occurs at this time of the growing season.  Late blight occurs later on as the name implies. These two blights are caused by different organisms, both of which are fungi.

The differences are very well explained on the following site: http://organicgardening.about.com/b/2009/07/05/diagnosing-tomato-diseases-is-it-early-blight-late-blight-or-septoria.htm

As mentioned above, these two types of blight are caused by two different fungi.  Early blight is caused by the fungus Alternaria solani and usually appears as tan colored spots with concentric rings on the tomato leaves and also as dark sunken spots on the stem end of the tomatoes themselves.  This blight will ultimately turn the leaves and stems yellow as they die.  It normally occurs on the bottom of the plants, therefore it can be controlled organically by removing the bottom affected stems and leaves.

Early Blight/Will Also Turn Stems Yellow

Blight can also be controlled by using a copper or sulfur based  based fungicidal spray or even a baking soda spray.  For more information, refer to the following link: http://www.veggiegardener.com/tips-for-preventing-and-treating-tomato-blights/

Late blight, however, is more likely to kill the entire plant.  This blight is caused by the fungus Phytophthora infestans and appears as brown/black spots on the leaves and also fuzzy mold on the underside of the leaves. Unlike the early blight, late blight usually appears on the upper leaves and stems first.  This type of blight will affect the entire plant and also the tomatoes themselves.  It is recommended that you pull and destroy plants affected by the late blight.  It is best to bag them and dispose of them with your trash.  Do not place them on your compost pile or rototill them into the garden in the fall.as the fungus can survive the winter.

Late Blight

Blight Prevention Tips:

• Try to rotate your crops every year so as not to plant your tomatoes in the same spot every year.
• Do not plant tomatoes and potatoes near each other as potatoes can be affected by blight also.
• Leave adequate space between tomato plants for better air flow.
• Dispose of blight affected leaves/plants.  Do not compost them or rototill them into the soil in the fall.
• Use a copper or sulfur fungicidal spray or baking soda spray to prevent blight. 

Finally some more photos from my garden:

Potato Blossoms

Sunflowers

Green/Yellow Beans and Indian Corn

Until next time.

The Garden is Thriving/Duck Photos

Welcome back.  This week I thought I would just post some photos and take a break from my normal post. So far in July we've gotten almost 3 inches of rain in only 8 days.  That combined with plenty of warm sunny periods has made the garden "go wild".  The changes can be seen daily.

Enjoy the photos.

The Lettuce/Chard Patch

The Lower Garden

The Pumpkin Patch

Tomato Blossoms

I have more photos to share next time.  Also, I plan on writing a post about tomato blight and what can be done to prevent/control it.

Finally, a photo of some ducks that I found in my yard.....actually my pets.  They are Khaki Campbells, two pairs.  They are very entertaining to say the least.  Here they are just resting.  Oh, the life!

Until next time.

The Foursome

Tomato Blossoms/Picking Peas/Mystery Bird

Hi everyone and welcome back.

The garden has been doing extremely well especially during the last few weeks of June as a result of the hot weather and adequate rainfall.  We received 6 inches of rain in June, which I believe is actually above normal for this area.  A garden usually gets to a stage in later June where it really starts to thrive.  That time has arrived.

Tomato Update:

The tomatoes are growing in leaps and bounds as is the rest of the garden, and are now in blossom.  Upon closer inspection, I discovered my first green tomato on one of my heirloom plants.  However, within a week or so there will be many more tomatoes forming.  So far I haven't seen any evidence of blight, which has been prevalent in this area for the last 4 or 5 years. There are measures you can take to help prevent and/or control  the blight on tomato and potato plants.  I will discuss this topic in future posts.

For those of you who haven't read my previous blog entries regarding which tomato varieties I planted this year, I covered this information in my entries of March 25, 2014 (http://dansgardening.blogspot.com/2014/03/its-tomato-starting-time.html) and April 7, 2014 (http://dansgardening.blogspot.com/2014/04/planting-more-tomatoes-more-heirlooms.html).

Peas:

A few days ago, I picked my first batch of snap peas.  This year I planted one 15 foot row since I haven't planted them in a few years.  I haven't always had good luck growing peas, however this year has turned out to be a good year.

I planted the peas about one inch deep along a 30 inch high fence.   Peas need the support of a fence or trellis, some varieties can grow as high as 5 to 6 feet.

I gave the first small batch to my daughter, hopefully the next batch will be a little larger in a few days.

Oregon Sugar Pod Peas

For more information on planting peas, see my post from May 2, 2014 (http://dansgardening.blogspot.com/2014/05/planting-peasa-visit-from-great-blue.html).

Mystery Bird - Help Me ID This Species:

Finally, a week ago or so I saw a different bird at my feeder and on the lawn that I struggled to ID.  It has been hanging around and I see it daily.  I'm usually pretty good at species identification since I have been a bird watcher since I was 10 or 12 years old.  Take a look at the photos below and let me know what you think.  I have never seen this bird or at least have never noticed it.  I will write my guess at the end of the post:

Mystery Bird

Mystery Bird

Let me know what you think. Remember, I live in central New York State.

My guess is:


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?

Brown Thrasher.  Right or wrong?  Let me know.


Until next time