Author: Kyle

Learning to Love Bugs in the Garden, or How I Became Obsessed With Pollinators

Bumble Bee, Tomatillo

Let me start by saying that I’ve not always been a fan of bugs, with one exception: the firefly. My dislike for them has never reached Blathers from Animal Crossing level, but I’ve always wanted them in their space, which is separate from mine. This has been the case despite my love for the outdoors. I spent countless hours hiking, mountain biking, fishing, hunting, and camping growing up, but bugs were one of my least favorite parts of it. Meanwhile, bugs have always loved me. They will bite me every chance they can, and in a group of people, I’ll be covered in bites when others have none. So, it’s safe to say that it’s been a one-sided relationship.

That has changed with our garden this year. Before our garden, I knew how important pollinators were to a garden’s success. I was also aware of the declining bee and butterfly populations. As a result, Magz and I were focused on planting flowers that would attract pollinators. But little did I know just how many pollinators there are. Nor did I know how beneficial non-pollinating bugs can be to our garden and the environment at large.

Research Changed My Mind

When we were planning our garden and researching seeds, we came across a lot of vegetable seeds that rely on pollinators to reach their peak. Many plants, such as tomatoes, peppers, and other members of the nightshade family, self-pollinate but need help from pollinators to reach their fullest potential. Meanwhile, squash, melons, cucumbers, and many fruit plants or trees can’t self-pollinate and need a helping hand. Humans can make this happen by removing the male flower and touching it to the female flower. However, it’s much easier to let our pollinator friends do the work for us. Letting pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, do this work is mutually beneficial. Our plants grow and produce ample fruit, while the pollinators get the food they need to survive.

For the longest time, the extent of my pollination knowledge ended with what I described above and the two types of insects: bees and butterflies. And, if I’m being honest, I was under the impression that the most important bee species was the honey bee. For years, the honey bee was the poster insect for environmental destruction and the collapse of native insect populations. This focus resulted in people buying local honey and establishing bee colonies to rebuild the population. However, I recently learned that the problem and the ways we can address it go much deeper.

Earlier this summer, I learned about Buzzkill, which was a podcast series produced by the Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN) focused on the declining pollinator population. I learned so much, but what stood out the most was that the number of bees and beehives isn’t the problem. We have plenty of apiaries and beekeepers. The larger issue is a lack of food for the pollinators. Because we have destroyed a large portion of the natural habitat in the United States and many people choose not to grow native plants, we have reduced the amount of food for these insects and animals. Buzzkill also taught me that there are a lot more bee species than I ever realized, and honey bees aren’t necessarily the most important. After learning all of this and discussing it with Magz, it changed our approach to planting and gardening this year.

The Benefits of Bugs

Like most people, I was aware of pollinators and the benefits they bring, but that was largely the extent of my knowledge until I began doing more research and learned about all the ways that bugs help us. The World Wildlife Federation estimates that only 0.5% of all insects damage crops. That doesn’t mean that 99.5% of all insects are good, but it does mean that well over half of the insects are beneficial.

Tackling Problematic Insects

This was the benefit that surprised me the most. I didn’t know that some bugs help to manage the pest population. I ignorantly thought that the only way to handle these pests was with insecticides. As I typed that last sentence, I forgot that I had watched an episode of Ask This Old House, where Roger the landscaping expert traveled to Florida to help answer questions about pest control. Instead of recommending a potentially harmful spray, he brought in an entomology professor from the University of South Florida to educate the homeowner (and the audience) about beneficial insects and how they can destroy the population of invasive species. Now remembering that episode, the information I learned through my research makes a ton of sense.

Not having to solely rely on insecticide sprays or dust is a big deal. Our Creator has provided us with a natural remedy for problematic insects that can destroy our garden. When that’s the case, why would we want to only use chemicals? The majority of these insects are predators (ladybugs, lacewings, praying mantises) that kill and feed on individual pests, such as aphids. However, some of them are called parasitizers that lay eggs on other insects. The resulting larvae then feed on the insect. An example of this is the parasitic wasp.

Decomposition

Insects also operate as the garbage collectors and recyclers of our ecosystem. They eat and break down what we don’t want to touch or do anything with: animal matter, dead plants, food that we didn’t or can’t eat, etc. If you have a composter, you will have witnessed this. Anytime I open the lid to our composters when it’s warm, I see insects flying around or crawling on the rotting food and grass. As the insects consume these items, they produce nutrient-rich organic matter that improves your soil.

Soil Improvement

Soil improvement is slightly different from decomposition. This category applies to the insects (earthworms, ants, and termites) that tunnel through the soil. This aerates compacted soil, improving drainage and leading to better soil. So, the next time you’re digging in the garden and come across an earthworm, remember that it’s doing yeoman’s work to provide you with better soil.

Why it Matters & Applying the Knowledge

Why it matters is pretty obvious. Humanity has severely damaged the environment through selfish acts committed in the name of progress. The commercial farming industry has used chemicals that have killed all insects, including beneficial ones, stripped the ground of its nutrients, and run off into our water sources. We plant non-native or non-pollinating species of flowers that don’t provide food to pollinators, and international shipping has led to invasive species being transported throughout the world, so the native insects can no longer control the population. And to top it all off, we aren’t doing anything on a large scale to put nutrients back in the soil or restrict the importing of ornamental flowers that serve no purpose beyond looking pretty.

Focusing on beneficial bugs, growing plants that attract pollinators, and creating an environment where native, productive insects can thrive has many benefits. As mentioned above, predator and parisitizer insects reduce our dependency on chemicals to control the bad insects. Even organic insecticides can kill the beneficial bugs that we want to thrive. Relying on insects to do the job lets nature take its course.

Providing pollinators with a food source helps your plants to reach their full potential while also letting some of the most beautiful and productive insects (honeybees and butterflies) succeed. Furthermore, flowers that attract pollinators not only feed insects; They also serve as a food source for hummingbirds and bats. Both species eat a lot of insects, with brown bats capable of consuming up to 1,000 mosquitoes per hour, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Meanwhile, hummingbirds feed on aphids, weevils, and spiders, all of which can be detrimental to your garden. In fact, hummingbirds eat far more insects than the nectar they get from feeders or flowers.

Finally, we arrive at my last point. As gardeners, we should all be motivated to create native habitats on our property. That means growing native species, creating safe spaces for prey animals, and providing food and water sources for birds, insects, and herbivores. The benefits of doing this are innumerable, but include serving as the foundation of the entire food system, hosting native insects, and often having deeper root systems that address water runoff problems. Not to mention, there’s also the benefit of fitting into your area’s history and culture.

Magz and I applied this knowledge as soon as we started to plan our garden. We only bought flowers that attract pollinators, and when possible, we planted them close to our vegetables that need to be pollinated. We also started researching insects found in the garden to learn if they are beneficial or detrimental. Previously, I would have killed them without a second thought. I have also started to sincerely appreciate bees and not fear them when I’m in the garden. Of course, I still hate hornets, wasps, and yellow jackets, but being around bumblebees in the garden is a wonderful experience. I recently watched a bumblebee crawling over the flowers of a tomatillo plant as it collected pollen on its legs. It was such a peaceful environment to be in, and I recommend doing it unless you’re allergic to bee stings. Even then, though, you have to bother bumblebees to get them to sting.

Where We Want to Be

I’m at a place where I would say I’m borderline obsessed with pollinators, saving native habitats, and treating the earth with respect. Like I said, I’ve always loved being outside and have been committed to preserving nature. But my motivation has been intensified this year. The attempt to sell off protected lands pushed me over the edge and pissed me off. As an individual, I can’t change the nation’s direction on my own (although I did contact our representatives), but I can make a difference in my backyard.

Bumble Bee, Tomatillo
Bee Pollinating Tomatillo Blossom

We’re going to dive deeper into native plants next year and continue our commitment to only growing flowers that attract pollinators. We are also going to continue converting our yard into gardens, both flower and vegetable. Ultimately, we’d love to have the bulk of our current yard be a wildflower meadow in the future. We’re also going to continue to provide animals with safe spaces with brush piles.

We recently learned that you can have your property certified by the National Wildlife Federation as an official Wildlife Habitat. The requirements aren’t outrageous and are pretty easy to meet. We’re going to pursue this in the coming years, and when combining it with our conscious gardening practices, we’re hoping to make a real difference. It may be difficult to fix commercial farming practices, but if we all focus on our own property, it will add up.

Future Preservation Content

I know that this post wasn’t as focused on our garden as my content typically is, but I think it’s important to think about. I also hope you enjoyed it, because I’m planning to write more posts in this area. I have plans to write about how we’ve blended flower and vegetable gardening, the frustration I have with lawn obsession, and more environmental content in general.

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Weekly Garden Update #23 – Powdery Mildew, Tomatillos, Drought & More

Chinese Red Noodle Bean

In this week’s update, we had our first encounter with powdery mildew this year. We’ve also been in a drought, which has led us to find creative ways to water. In harvesting news, we got our first ripe tomatillos and long bean. Finally, I’ll go over all the updates from this past week and highlight the seed of the week. Let’s dive in.

Powdery Mildew

Late last week, we were in the garden looking over things, and Magz noticed that a few of our squash and melon plants had powdery mildew on them. Even though we hadn’t encountered it before, she correctly diagnosed it. While still in the garden, I researched how to get rid of it, learning that hydrogen peroxide will kill it without harming the plant. There appear to be several home remedies that can tackle the problem, including baking soda and water and vinegar. I’ve also read of people who don’t treat the mildew and haven’t noticed any negative impacts on their plants. We addressed it because we want our plants to grow in the best environment possible.

First Tomatillos & Long Beans

Our tomatillos have been growing fast and abundantly. I’ve read that once they take off, you can become overwhelmed by how much fruit you’ll have. We have four plants, including three with large fruit on them, so we likely have close to 100 tomatillos growing. On Friday, we harvested the first two ripe fruits. If you’ve never grown tomatillos before (and we haven’t), they are interesting to watch develop. The plants produce blossoms similar to tomatoes and peppers, but from those blossoms appear papery greenish-yellow husks. The tomatillos develop inside these husks, and as they grow, you can feel the fruit get bigger through the husk. Near the end, when they’re close to being ripe, the tomatillo breaks through the husk so that you can see the fruit.

Tomatillo
First Tomatillo Harvest

We also harvested our first Chinese Red Noodle Bean last week. This is a bean that Magz has been excited about since she first saw it in the Baker Creek seed catalog. It’s also the one I built a planter box and trellis for, and it’s been a joy to watch these plants grow to the height of our garage roof and see the pods begin to form. We watched the first pod grow for a few weeks, starting from being uncertain if we were actually looking at a bean pod to being nearly two feet long. We haven’t eaten the bean yet, but it’s supposed to retain its color during the cooking process and be very tasty. We have more developing on the vines too, which is exciting.

Chinese Red Noodle Bean
Chinese Red Noodle Bean

Drought – Eating My Words From the Spring

This spring was one of the rainiest I can remember. I haven’t looked into the historical data, but I’m confident it was one of the wettest on record. There were multiple weeks with consecutive days of rain totals greater than one inch. We went weeks without walking in sections of the garden because we would sink in the mud. The rain also delayed planting some of our seeds for fear that they’d wash away or the conditions would be too damp. At the time, I wanted everything to dry out so badly, but Magz reminded me that there’d be a time in summer when we would be wishing for rain. That time is now. Although it hasn’t been overly hot or humid recently, we haven’t had much rain over the past couple of weeks, with no rain in over a week. Our rain barrel is tapped out, so we’ve had to resort to city water for the garden.

Unfortunately, our outdoor hose spigot also broke last week. It was a pretty old faucet and had been on the fritz since we bought our house last year, but it finally kicked the bucket, snapping the stem off inside. I thought I would be able to fix it, but I was unable to extract the old stem. I also don’t have enough plumbing experience at this time to solder the new faucet to the existing water line and install a shutoff valve inside the house. So, we have a plumber coming this morning to do the work. In the meantime, we had to find creative ways to water the garden because we don’t have another exterior water source. We used teamwork to make many trips inside with our watering cans, empty two-quart juice bottles, and a five-gallon bucket to fill them at our kitchen faucet, but it ended up going smoother than either of us thought it would. While it took longer than it would have with a hose, we were done in about an hour and thoroughly watered every plant and flower. While it wasn’t ideal, it ended up being somewhat of a fun experience.

Notes From the Garden

  • We were finally able to harvest some paste tomatoes after they began to ripen last week. This is the tomato variety I’ve had to be most patient with, as we’ve had dozens of full-size tomatoes for a couple of weeks now, but they’ve remained green until recently.
  • A couple of our Cal Wonder peppers have started to ripen to a lovely orange color.
  • The Candy Roaster melon that I discussed in last week’s update is now the size of a volleyball. There are roughly five additional Candy Roaster melons growing in the same bed.
  • We have noticed a lot more small melons growing in recent days, including the Tigger, Kajari, and Noir des Carmes.
  • The first Richmond Green Apple cucumber was ready to be pulled last week. This is the cucumber I was most excited about this year, and I’ve been struggling with patience as we wait for the cucumbers to grow and ripen. We brought it inside and immediately ate it. It’s a wonderful cucumber. It’s crunchier than more common varieties, such as Marketmore or Tendergreen, and is also sweeter. They have no bitterness.
  • We also harvested our first Zapallito Del Tronco zucchini. This is another plant we were excited about this year. Baker Creek says it has a “creamy, buttery soft flesh” and “creamy in consistency.” Other gardeners have called it a cross between a squash and an avocado. It’s also sort of a hybrid between a winter and summer squash, as it ripens in summer like a zucchini but has a more durable rind like a winter squash. We had it for dinner the night after harvesting it. Magz roasted it in the oven with some oil and seasoned salt, which is how we typically prepare our squash. I thought it was delicious, and you can recognize the difference in texture compared to other squashes. However, I think I could have left it on the plant to ripen for a few more days, as the flesh was still green instead of a creamy yellow.
Richmond Green Apple Cucumber
Richmond Green Apple Cucumber
Zapallito Del Tronco Zucchini
Zapallito Del Tronco Zucchini

Seed of the Week

This edition of Seed of the Week takes us to the land down under and the Richmond Green Apple cucumber. Because we harvested the first one last week, it’s only fitting to write about it. This is an heirloom cucumber from Australia that has become popular throughout the world. I couldn’t find any historical details about the seeds with a quick Google search, but I’m planning on doing a deep dive this winter to learn more. I love these cucumbers. I described their flavor and texture above, and be assured, these are different from other cucumber varieties. They are definitely worth giving a try, as they’re easy to grow and very productive.

Up Next

We’re holding out for rain. The most recent forecast I looked at didn’t show any potential for rain until Wednesday, but it was a 70 percent chance. Hopefully, that changes, because we need rain. The lack of rain also confirms our plan to add at least one more rain barrel to our setup. It wouldn’t have prevented us from needing to use city water in the garden, but it would have put it off a bit longer. In the garden, we will look forward to harvesting more zucchini, squash, and tomatoes. Happy gardening!

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Weekly Garden Update #22 – Corn Harvest, Pickles, and Baby Melons

Hopi Blue Corn

In this week’s update, we harvested our first ears of corn and ate them the same day. We have had an abundance of cucumbers, which led to me making some pickles and giving them to neighbors. Finally, our melon plants are setting fruit, and we’re starting to see what makes each variety unique. Finally, what is the seed of the week in this update?

Harvesting the First Ears of Corn

On Friday, Magz and I harvested the first ears of corn from the garden. For several weeks, our Butter & Sugar stalks have had silk growing, which began turning brown last week. I was originally going to let it go a bit longer because I thought it took a long time to ripen. But, after coming back inside, I researched how to determine when corn is ready to be harvested, and I’m glad I did. If you are like me and don’t know, it’s when the silk starts to dry out at the end. You can also pull back the top of the husk to feel the kernels. If they’re full and have some give, it means they’ve reached the milk stage and are ripe. In total, we harvested about half of the Butter & Sugar ears.

Butter and Sugar Corn
Butter and Sugar Corn
Corn
Corn Harvest

We also checked the Sweet Mexican/Black Iroquois corn that has shown similar progress to the Butter & Sugar – full tassel with silk for over a week. However, the first ear we pulled didn’t have the dark blue to black kernels that define this variety. They also weren’t at the milk stage yet. We’re going to leave them on the stalk for a few more days to a week to see if they’ll be ready at that time. After gathering all the ears, we promptly husked and boiled them, eating about half the ears for dinner. We even split the Sweet Mexican ear that we prematurely harvested. There is nothing like eating corn that fresh. From stalk to plate, it probably only took 30 minutes. The Butter & Sugar was incredibly sweet, with full kernels. It’s every bit as good as that corn you can buy from roadside stands in rural parts of America. The ears weren’t big (about seven inches long and two inches in diameter), but the majority were full.

Making Pickles

Our cucumber plants are regularly producing ripe fruits, and we’re able to harvest at least one per day right now. The only variety we haven’t harvested any cucumbers from yet is the Richmond Green Apple, which is the variety I’m most excited about…because of course it would be. Anyway, last week, we had a half-dozen or so cucumbers in the fridge, and something needed to be done with them, so I made pickles.

I love pickles and have made them before. I’ve tried making both dill and bread and butter versions. Unfortunately, though, they weren’t great. They were either too salty or not dilly enough. They also didn’t retain their crunch. So, this time, I wanted to make refrigerator pickles that don’t need to be canned. By not canning them, chilling the cucumbers and jars, and letting the brine cool to room temperature before pouring it into the jars, the cucumbers can stay firm and retain their crunch. They were a great success. They still have their crunch after a week of being in the brine. The downside is that they won’t keep as long as they would if they were canned, but they can still last more than a month before going bad. The recipe I used came from Love and Lemons. I didn’t have fresh dill or garlic on hand, so I substituted them for dried dill and jarred garlic in oil, and it was still delicious. Magz isn’t the biggest fan of dill pickles, and she really likes them!

Baby Melons

In recent updates, I’ve mentioned that we’ve seen some of our melon plants put on fruit. Since last week’s update, at least one fruit for each type of melon is close to golf ball size. At this size, we’re starting to see small differences develop between the different varieties. Some examples of the differences are:

  • The Candy Roaster Melon/Seminole Pumpkin starts yellow before turning green. It is also staying perfectly round.
  • The Kajari Melon is very small-about the size of a marble-but it already has dark and light green alternating stripes.
  • The Ali Baba Watermelon looks like, well…a very small watermelon.

What I have found fascinating about our melon plants is how the plants look similar to each other. Most have similar leaf structures and vine in the same manner. They also put on flowers that are nearly identical. I knew that the varieties would eventually separate themselves, but I didn’t expect it to happen so early in the fruiting process. I can’t wait to watch them grow more and continue to see each variety’s unique qualities.

Kajari Melon
Kajari Melon
Candy Roaster Melon, Seminole Pumpkin
Candy Roaster Melon or Seminole Pumpkin

Notes From the Garden

  • Our tomato plants’ leaves have been curling recently. I can’t tell if it’s because they need water, have too much water, need nutrients, have too much fertilizer, or have some sort of disease. And the internet isn’t helpful at all. The fruit still looks good, though, so I’m not too concerned about it. I’m also going to water the plants with leaves that are dry on the edges. I’ll probably let the others go.
  • Also about tomatoes, our paste variety has a ton of tomatoes on the plants, but none have ripened yet. It’s a similar story with our Queen Aliquippa plants. Being patient while they ripen is a struggle.
  • Our Hopi Blue corn has reached nine feet, which seemed impossible at the beginning. I never thought that we’d be able to get the corn stalks that tall.
  • In the above section on our corn harvest, I mentioned that the ears weren’t as long as I expected, nor were they as thick. I haven’t done the research yet, but I’m curious to know what causes that. Initial speculation is that there is not enough nitrogen. I fed those plants once a month or so, but I wonder if feeding them every two weeks would have produced larger ears. I’m going to be more consistent in feeding the new rows of corn to see if it makes a difference.
  • We lost our first Spaghetti Squash, which is super sad. The vine it was growing on died out of nowhere. I think it either got too damp and died off or there was a pest problem.
  • We think we know what the mystery melon that’s been growing is. Or at least we’ve narrowed it down to two options: Seminole Pumpkin or Candy Roaster Melon Winter Squash. This plant is one of the starts that I transplanted without a marker, so we have no idea what it is, but the color and shape look like one of these varieties.
  • Our tomatillos are starting to get papery husks on them, which is supposed to be an indicator of them continuing to ripen properly. I’ve read that tomatillos are a vegetable that requires a ton of patience.
  • Our Chinese Long Beans have put on their first bean pod. It’s currently longer than my hand and is a beautiful purple color.
Hopi Blue Corn
Hopi Blue Height
Chinese Long Bean
Chinese Long Bean

Seed of the Week

This edition of the Seed of the Week takes us back into the cornfield since we harvested and ate many ears of it last week. I’ve already written about the Hopi Blue and have discussed the Sweet Mexican/Black Iroquois corn in several places on the blog. So, I’m going to highlight the third variety we’re growing: Butter & Sugar sweet corn. It isn’t an heirloom, nor does its history span the centuries, but it’s one of the most popular and best-tasting corn varieties grown in the United States. When we were picking corn seeds in the spring, we wanted one variety that was relatively easy to grow and has a track record of success. That led us to this bi-color variety. Ours came from NE Seed in Connecticut.

Up Next

Hopefully, we’ll definitely learn what the mystery melon/squash is this week. The fruit shows visible growth on a daily basis, with the color consistently changing too. It started yellow, went to a light green, and currently has some yellow streaks on it. I’m also hoping that our paste and Queen Aliquippa tomatoes ripen.

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Blending Gardening & Woodworking

Planting Table, Gardening

If you’ve been reading my gardening articles for a bit now, you know I’ve written about using my woodshop to create things for the garden. Some examples are the planter box and trellis for our beans, the trellis system for our snow peas, and the fence posts I’ve been cutting. Lately, I’ve been looking forward to getting back into the woodshop and doing serious woodworking again. The garden and our screened-in porch projects took precedent over woodworking projects this spring and summer, and I’m now ready to get back at it.

As I’m thinking about and planning my next projects, I wanted to write about blending two of my favorite hobbies: gardening and woodworking. I mentioned the ways I’ve used my woodshop to build things for the garden this year, but only the planter box was somewhat serious woodworking. It was the only thing that required glue, but not even that project needed me to use my table saw. In this post, I’ll go over some future project ideas I’d like to pursue and a previous piece that I built and we still use. And if I have fun writing about this, and it seems interesting, I may write more woodworking articles.

A Planting Table

In 2022, I wanted a planting table that would aid in the process of transplanting starts, starting seeds, mixing the soil, and filling the containers of our container garden. I’ve always been a fan of the classic planting table that includes multiple areas for storage, a place to hang tools, and a flat surface to work on. There are a lot of videos of woodworkers and makers building these, including Bob Clagett (I Like to Make Stuff), Norm Abram (The New Yankee Workshop), and Steve Ramsey (Woodworking for Mere Mortals). These three makers represent three versions of a planting bench. Bob Clagett’s was made of dimensional cedar, Norm Abram’s was based on an antique found in Savannah, Georgia, and built from recycled pine, and Steve Ramsey’s was built with scrap wood, largely reclaimed pallets. A planting table can be made as cheaply or expensively as you’d like. I went somewhere in the middle of these three.

I didn’t have any recycled or reclaimed wood to use for the project, so we bought pressure-treated lumber for it. This included two 4x4x8s and numerous 2x4x8s and 1x6x8s. The 4x4s served as the main strength of the table, with one at each corner. The 2x4s were used as the main framework to connect the 4x4s to each other, while the 1x4s became the slats for the tabletop and shelves. Here are two pictures of how it turned out:

Planting Table, Gardening
Planting table with our containers on it.
Planting Table, Gardening
Planting Table

This table was a blast to work on. Dimensional lumber, which you can find in the big box stores (Home Depot or Lowes), is really easy to use, and I would encourage everyone to try building one for your gardening needs. I used my table saw to rip the 1x6s down to narrower pieces, but I could have bought 1x4s instead and not needed a table saw. If I didn’t need to rip those pieces down, the entire thing could have been built with a circular saw and a drill. It’s a perfect project to dip your toes into woodworking if you’re curious.

Tips if You Want to Build One

  • Bulk cut all the pieces that are the same length. Because all but one of the slats for the top were the same length, I set up a stop block on my miter saw and cut all the pieces in quick succession. This made it so I didn’t have to measure each piece and potentially have small differences in the lengths. This was also the case with the bottom shelf pieces.
  • Clamps are your best friend. Clamps weren’t required to build this table, but they were really helpful. It can be difficult to hold pieces together with one hand while you’re using a drill with the other. Clamps hold it all together so that both hands can be used for drilling. They also work to prevent the pieces from moving off your mark.
  • Use a level. This applies when you are attaching the 2x4s to the 4x4s. You’ll measure up from the bottom or down from the top to mark where the 2×4 will go on the 4×4, but it’s wise to use a level to ensure the slats will sit flat and the entire table will be level when assembled.

What I Would Do Different

In general, I’ve been pleased with how the planting table turned out and continues to serve us. However, there are some areas that I’d like to improve and address in the future. The first is trimming the table slat closest to the front. It sticks out over the 2×4 framing piece by an inch or so, which has resulted in that piece cupping and needing to be attached with extra screws. I would like to remove this piece and trim it down so it sits flush on top of the 2×4.

I’d also like to add hooks to the bottom of the top shelf and chicken wire to the back to hold tools. The last improvement I’d make is having a water source and a place to rinse veggies when they’re pulled from the garden. This would be a bit more complicated than the other improvements, but I want to cut a hole in the table slats where a plastic bowl or dish washing basin would sit. That basin would have a hole in it with a small piece of PVC attached for the water to drain into a bucket below. I will also need to have a water source. For that, I want to attach a simple outdoor spigot or faucet that a hose can connect to and mount it close to the basin. Because the planting table is close to where we’re going to add another rain barrel, we’ll have a water source without needing to run a long hose. These are minor improvements, but once they’re done, I think the planting table will be even more useful.

Future Woodworking Projects for the Garden

  • Planters – These include all the types of planters, including planter boxes that sit on the ground, ones that are attached to porch railings, and window boxes.
  • Garden Bench – Magz and I want to eventually have our garden be a place where we can sit and enjoy nature. It won’t just be a place to work in, but also a place to relax. Having a bench in our garden would also provide us with a place to rest while working.
  • Whirligigs – Whirligigs are an area of woodworking that I’m interested in. If you’re unfamiliar with them, they are a nifty decoration that spins when the wind blows. They can be bought or made, and there are endless possibilities for design, style, color, etc. Norm Abram built one on The New Yankee Workshop, and the YouTube video below features the Whirligig Festival. I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head of how to build different versions.
  • Garden Gate – We’re eventually going to upgrade our fence, likely to something that we build out of wood. When that happens, I want to design and build an aesthetically pleasing garden gate similar to what you see in English gardens. They are incorporated into the fence and can be as ornate or as simple as you want.
  • Greenhouse – We have talked about wanting to have a greenhouse for some time. We want to be able to start plants outside sooner than we currently can. You can buy greenhouses, but they can be expensive. Instead, we’ll probably build one that perfectly fits our needs and is cost-effective.
  • Swing – I want to build multiple swings. One is a porch swing or bed that hangs from the ceiling. The other is a covered swing in the garden. Similar to the garden bench, a swing would help in our pursuit of creating a relaxing garden.
  • Arbor – I have a lovely vision of an arbor in our garden that you can either walk under or sit under. The arbor will be placed so that vining plants, such as cucumbers, squash, or flowers, can climb the arbor, leaving you totally immersed in nature.

To me, woodworking and gardening perfectly go together. They’re both creative, can be hard work, and result in the satisfaction that you built or grew something from scratch. Building something with one hobby that can be used in another hobby is a cool experience. I also try to build something instead of buying something whenever I can. Is woodworking one of your hobbies? If not, what are your favorite hobbies? I hope you enjoyed reading about my experiences with woodworking and gardening. Have a great day.

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Weekly Garden Update #21 – Humidity, Sagging Fences & Work Is Paying Off

Cucumbers, Tomatoes

In this week’s update, it is late July in Pennsylvania, which means the humidity level has been ratcheted up to 10. You sweat if you’re outside for more than five minutes, regardless of how active you are. We’ve also been dealing with some of our fence sections sagging. How have we addressed that problem? We’re beginning to harvest vegetables from the garden on a daily basis, so we’re seeing the hard work pay off in a big way. Finally, what will the seed of the week be? Let’s dive in.

Always Drenched in Sweat

Depending on where you live, your view of July’s weather will vary greatly. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s winter and one of the coldest months of the year. However, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s peak summer. In the United States, we have multiple versions of summer. West of the Rockies, it’s a searing dry heat where temperatures regularly surpass 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but with little humidity. Along the Pacific Coast, there’s humidity, but the temperature remains comfortable due to the proximity to the ocean. East of the Rockies, especially in states that have a coast (Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, or the Great Lakes), it is often hot and humid. In Western Pennsylvania, where we live, the air temperature may only be in the mid-80s, but when you factor in the humidity and UV Index, the real feel is often in the 90s. High-pressure systems occasionally come through to knock down the humidity, but at this point in summer, we are usually stuck with it until mid-August.

I’m someone who tolerates the heat pretty well, but humidity is rough. Regardless of what time you get outside, you will sweat, and that’s where I’ve found myself over the past week or so. Apart from a couple of days early last week, the temperatures have consistently been in the mid-to-upper-80s with high humidity. Despite the uncomfortable conditions, the garden still needed to be tended to. The plants needed to be watered after we went several days without rain, the weeds needed to be addressed, and the ripe vegetables needed to be harvested. It wasn’t always fun, but it does serve as a reminder of how hard farmers work to grow/produce our food. When we’re able to harvest a ripe vegetable, it makes all the hot and humid days worth it. When you are working outside in the middle of summer, the importance of staying hydrated, wearing sunscreen, and taking breaks can’t be overstated.

Mending Fences

Okay, so I didn’t really mend the problematic fence sections since they weren’t technically broken, but I wanted to use the phrase nonetheless. If you remember, we bought deer fencing for our garden. It’s extruded plastic that is seven feet tall and comes in rolls. It’s been nearly flawless to this point, with any issues being my fault. Recently, though, some of the longer sections have started to sag in the middle. I think this is the result of less tension, since the sections are longer than normal, as well as grass growing at the bottom, which pulls the fence down a bit. In some places, it was so bad that I could have stepped over the fence if I wanted to, and if I can do that, a deer can jump it.

The fix was pretty easy: I cut some fence posts from leftover pressure-treated lumber. If you’re interested in doing this yourself, I started by cutting the pieces to length. For us, this was six feet. I wanted them to be long enough to sink into the ground at least a foot. After that, I ripped the pieces to width (one inch) on the table saw. With that done, I went back to the miter saw and cut a point on one end at a 30-degree angle. This helps them go into the ground more easily. With the pieces cut, I hammered them into the ground and attached the fence with a few staples and twist ties. It ended up being a quick and easy fix. If you have a workshop and some tools, you can make your own fence posts rather than pay for the finished product.

Hard Work Is Paying Off

There were different points in the gardening process where I was unsure if all our hard work was going to be worth it. Struggles with germination, inconsistent weather, and other things out of our control led me to question if we were going to harvest anything from the garden this year. Thankfully, that is no longer a question, and we’re regularly harvesting vegetables with plenty more on the way. We have more cucumbers than we know what to do with, and there are probably more than 100 tomatoes on the vine. Plus, the corn is growing nicely, and we’re going to have lots of melons, squash, pumpkins, and tomatillos. I’ve said it before, but if you’re curious about gardening but have yet to pull the trigger, you should. You can start small with one or two containers of your favorite vegetables. It’s not a ton of work with only a few plants, but the payoff is well worth it.

Cucumbers, Tomatoes
Cucumbers & Tomatoes

Notes From the Garden

  • We harvested our first full-size tomatoes this week. Two were Cherokee Purples (or maybe Black Krims?) and two were Queen Aliquippas. We haven’t eaten them yet, since we only pulled them on Saturday night, but it’s definitely a big step.
  • We continue to have a problem with grass growing in our beds, largely the beets and carrots bed, so I’m trying something new. I took some black garbage bags and laid them on the problem areas, using ground staples to hold them down. The goal is to suffocate the weeds by preventing sun and water from reaching them.
  • The first cantaloupes and watermelons have started growing. They’re quite small right now, but they look like tiny versions of the fruit, which is cute.
  • Our third spaghetti squash is bigger than the first two now, and our first squashes have turned from light green to a creamy yellow, so they are ripening.
  • Our first Tendergreen cucumbers were harvested on Sunday, marking the first time that we’ve harvested this type of cucumber.
Noir des Carmes Cantaloupe
Noir des Carmes Cantaloupe
Zucchini
Our first zucchini
Weed Control
Garbage bag weed control
Watermelon
Baby Watermelon

Seed of the Week

The seed of the week this time takes us to France for the Noir des Carmes melon. This muskmelon is a true cantaloupe, whereas most cantaloupes that we find in stores are simply muskmelons. From what I understand, true cantaloupes tend to be grown in Europe. The Noir des Carmes melon dates back to the 18th century and is named for Carmelite monks who grew it. These melons don’t have the tan colored “webbed” skin that we often find in the United States. Instead, this melon stays greenish black for most of the growing process until it transitions to yellow and green, indicating that it’s ripe. It also has a smooth rind. We got our seeds from Southern Exposure.

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Weekly Garden Update #20 – Tomatoes, Corn Silk, Beans & More

Tomatillo

In this week’s update, we have a lot of tomatoes ripening, but do we know the variety of each? It’s questionable. Our corn is starting to develop ears and silk. Along the same lines, we’re harvesting some beans, and there are a lot of blossoms on the other varieties. Finally, I’ll go over some general notes from the week, including pictures, and highlight this week’s Seed of the Week. Let’s dive in.

So Many Tomatoes

We have more than a dozen tomato plants, and the majority of them have fruit that is starting to ripen. Our paste tomatoes, which I originally thought were pear tomatoes, continue to grow and are now more than three inches long. Our actual pear tomatoes also have lots of fruit, and we harvested the first one on Saturday, immediately eating it. All of our pear and paste tomato plants have dozens of fruit on them. Then there are the Queen Aliquippa plants. These are the tallest tomato plants we have (more than three feet tall) and are growing lots of fruit. The problem we’re having is knowing when they’re ripe. Because they remain green when fully ripe, it’s not as obvious as red tomatoes. Thankfully, they develop a blushy red color on the bottom when they’re fully ripe, which will make it a bit easier to know when they’re ready.

That brings us to our Black Krim and Cherokee Purple tomatoes. These tomatoes look VERY similar to each other, growing to similar sizes when ripe and having similar colors and markings. Both are a deep red on the bottom with a dark blue/purple on the top. I think we bought two Cherokee Purple plants and four Black Krims, but it could be the other way around. The numbers could also be wrong. We kept the plant marker with the plants, but it’s currently buried under straw. If necessary, I’ll dig around to find it, but I’m hoping that we’ll be able to delineate between the two before that point.

Tomatoes
Black Krim or Cherokee Purple Tomatoes

Corn Silk Developing

Over the past week, our Butter & Sugar and Black Mexican-Sweet Iroquois sweet corn plants have grown to a point where they’re in tassel, with roughly half the plants now developing ears with silk showing. I think they’re still weeks away from being ready to be harvested, but they’re well on their way. The other variety, Hopi Blue, continues to grow and is close to five feet tall now. The three rows of Black Mexican-Sweet Iroquois that I planted a couple of weeks ago have germinated with nearly a 100 percent success rate. I’ll likely thin these seedlings as needed this week.

Corn
Corn Silk

Beans Are Finally Starting to Produce

We haven’t had the greatest success with growing beans this year. The late spring and overabundance of rain stunted their growth, and to this point, they’re still only about 18 inches tall. In the past, we’ve had bean plants reach 30 inches tall. That being said, we are starting to see some bean pods on the plants. We’ve been pulling Provider bush beans for about a week now, but only a few pods per plant. Although the pods are pretty small, they’re delicious eaten right out of the garden. Our Jamapa plants are also putting on pods, with at least one being five inches in length. This bean is a shelling variety, though, so we’re going to let it dry on the plant as much as possible before harvesting. Finally, we have the Kebarika beans. These can be harvested as snap beans or as shelling beans. Our plants have been flowering for about a week now, so the bean pods will be following.

Notes From the Garden

  • Last week, I weeded and thinned our carrot and beet bed. You may remember that we’ve had a lot of issues growing both this year; however, I’m refusing to give up. My hope is that by clearing the area around the plants and thinning them to only one root every four inches, they’ll be able to develop and be harvestable.
  • We now have four spaghetti squashes on our plant. The first two are about seven inches in length, the third one is now four inches in length but still green, and the newest one is still a baby with the blossom only recently falling off.
  • The mystery plant beside our spaghetti squash has started to put on fruit. After flowering, the fruit starts yellow and turns green.
  • We are beginning to become inundated with cucumbers. Our Boston Pickling cucumbers are rapidly growing. We’ve already harvested three, and there are at least a half-dozen more on the vine that will be ready in the next couple of days. Our burpless variety has produced two more full-size fruit, but we’ve had a pest getting to them. There have been little scrapes all over the fruit, and it’s the only variety with these, which is confusing. We’ve added some straw beneath the vines and fruit to help with any dampness problems, and I sprayed some insect killer on the plant.
  • Our tomatillos are coming on furiously. I understand why people say that you can quickly become overwhelmed by how many you’ll have. We have three plants, and each of them has more than two dozen husks.
  • The first White Scallop patty pan squash that we saw is now about four inches in diameter and two inches tall. Everything I’ve read has said that these will grow to six inches in diameter and three inches tall when fully ripe. They should be ready within a week.
Cucumbers
Damaged Cucumber
Paste Tomatoes
Paste Tomatoes
Tomatillo
Tomatillo
White Scallop
White Scallop

Seed of the Week

This week’s Seed of the Week is the White Scallop, mostly because it’s doing so well, and we’re close to harvesting our first one. The White Scallop is a patty pan summer squash that is rounder and flatter compared to a zucchini. It’s one of the oldest squash varieties and has been grown by Native Americans for hundreds of years. Baker Creek, which is where we bought the seeds, writes that these were first depicted by Europeans in 1591, so we have evidence of them being grown for at least 400 years. These are very easy to grow. The plants don’t vine out or sprawl, but instead grow vertically and stay compact. They’re supposed to be one of the best-tasting squashes. We’re very excited to eat these.

Up Next

We’ll harvest our first White Scallop squash this week. We’re also hoping to harvest more tomatoes, especially some of the larger varieties. We’ll also likely harvest more cucumbers and need to figure out how to preserve them. Happy gardening!

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Recycling in the Garden

Fence, Garden Beds

Recycling is an important thing we should do. In the United States, only 21% of all the plastic gets recycled, and of that percentage, roughly 60% actually makes it through the entire process and is turned into something else. Of course, recycling is about more than just plastic, but plastic is the biggest problem. Plastic takes a minimum of 20 years to decompose, but some research suggests it can take up to 500 years for certain types to break down on their own. In the past, metal, glass, and paper/cardboard served the roles we now use plastics for, and all are easier to reuse, repurpose, and recycle. Take cardboard, for instance, which decomposes in two months. Plastic has its positives: it’s stronger, lighter, more flexible, and cheaper to produce than other items. Yet, we’ve become so dependent upon it that our landfills and oceans are full of it, and at this point, it may never go away.

Let me say that I’m not the greenest person you’ll ever meet. We have two gasoline-powered cars, and I don’t see the benefits of buying an electric vehicle, considering the damage that is done to mine the lithium needed for the batteries. The majority of our outdoor power tools are gas-powered, with the exception of our push mower, which is battery-powered and has plenty of problems. I like gas-powered things for their simplicity and how easy they are to work on. I also don’t believe that humans are the sole culprit behind climate change, nor do I think we can be the sole reason it is reversed and saved. I believe that the Earth’s climate has always been cyclical and that we’re currently in a warming trend.

That being said, it is my belief as a Christian that God created the Earth and gave humans the responsibility of stewarding it and all that’s on it, and we’ve failed in just about every aspect. We treat animals and the Earth’s natural resources with a level of disrespect that we would be offended if we were treated the same way. Most don’t think about or value the sacrifices made by the animals when we consume them, and few stop to consider how we need to put resources and nutrients back into the land to replenish what we’re taking from it. I despise fast fashion because of the toll it’s taking on the land and those who make the garments. I also can’t stand the gross willingness to exchange our natural resources for a quick buck. At the same time, I despise greenwashing and any attempt to profit off people’s convictions, especially if there’s nothing behind a company or person’s marketing.

That tangent may have been unnecessary, but I wanted to explain the position I am coming from. I want to be as respectful and loving toward the Earth as I can, but I don’t think that should come at the cost of humans, especially those in underdeveloped areas (have we learned nothing from colonialism?). I think we should put forth real efforts to recycle, but recognizing that it remains a flawed process and system, reusing items is equally, if not more, important. This is where I found myself as I began to think about how to recycle in the garden. To me, it’s only natural to seek out ways to reuse items when you already care enough about the land to reduce your dependency on commercial farming.

Here are some ways we’ve been able to recycle and reuse household items in the garden.

Yogurt Containers

I first learned about using yogurt containers in the garden after watching an MI Gardener video on YouTube. He recommended cutting the small single-serving containers into 1-2″ strips and using them as labels for starting seeds or in the garden. This is a great way to repurpose these containers since many gardeners buy the plastic/vinyl labels anyway. Any plastic container can be cut for this purpose as long as the marker you’re using to write the seed name stands out from the plastic. To me, the best part of using plastic containers this way is that they can potentially be used for multiple years, but if they can’t, you can still recycle them when you’re done using them.

I used yogurt containers in two other ways. One was for soaking bean seeds overnight and transporting them out to the garden for planting. The second way was to start seeds in them. This wasn’t as successful as the dedicated starting cells, but I’m planning to try it again next year. In theory, yogurt containers should work well since they hold more soil than the starting cells you can buy. My attempt at using them this year failed because I didn’t cut enough drainage holes in the bottom to help the excess water run out.

Gatorade (or Other Plastic) Bottles

We keep our seed starting setup in our basement, so I carry water to the plants rather than the plants to a water source. You may remember that I initially recommended using a cheap spray bottle for starting seeds, but I eventually switched to Gatorade bottles and watered the seeds from the bottom. You can use any bottle for this purpose, but Gatorade bottles are a nice size.

Woodworking Scraps

As a woodworker, I accumulate a lot of scraps. I struggle to throw away any pieces, even if it’s unlikely that I’ll ever be able to use them again. Thankfully, gardening gives me a way to use scraps that can’t be used in other woodworking projects. I’ve found that a lot of my cut-offs from squaring up pieces of lumber are the perfect size to stake up plants. I will use any unfinished wood, including pressure-treated, and tie the plant to it with a garden twist tie. Using these cut-offs saves money, since we aren’t buying anything new, and they should last multiple years.

Long Beans, Gardening

I also used scraps to build the planter box and trellis system for our long beans. This project wasn’t technically recycling anything, but I decided to mostly use scraps instead of breaking down a full-size board.

Rabbit Droppings

Not everyone will be able to do this, because I’m not advocating for you searching through your yard for wild rabbit poop. However, if you’re lucky enough to have an adorable pet rabbit like we do, you can use their droppings as fertilizer. In fact, you can use most animals’ poop, but I would stay away from dog and cat feces. Rabbit poop is considered “cold” manure and doesn’t need to be composted or broken down before being applied to the garden. Basically, any animal that produces pelletized poop (goats and sheep are also in this category) can be directly applied. However, other animals, like chickens and horses, have “hot” manure and must be composted first. These animals can carry pathogens and diseases in their feces, and the poop can literally burn the plants if immediately applied. And dog or cat poop should never be used as fertilizer.

Rabbit poop, in particular, is a great fertilizer because it’s high in nitrogen, which is slowly released as the droppings decompose. When you figure that a domesticated rabbit produces up to 200 droppings each day, it can be a substantial fertilizer source, saving you a lot of money. Do yourself a favor: Adopt a rabbit, experience how wonderful they are as pets, and get the added benefits for your garden.

Milk & Juice Bottles

In the spring when the weather can be a bit volatile, it’s not uncommon to have frost advisories after your plants are in the ground, and they need to be protected. There are products sold to meet this need, including ground sheets, but my dad always kept his gallon-size milk bottles to keep his young plants insulated from the cold air. It’s easy to do. Cut either the top or bottom of the bottle off and place it over your plants. That’s it. This keeps warm air trapped inside, prevents the cold air from reaching the plant, and works as a greenhouse, which will help your plant to grow quickly. Milk bottles aren’t the only option, either. You can also save bottles that once held juice, vinegar, tea, etc. If the bottle was able to hold a consumable liquid, it’s probably okay to use in your garden. Just be sure to thoroughly clean it first.

Compost

This feels a little like cheating, but isn’t composting the ultimate act of recycling? You take food scraps that you didn’t eat and convert them into nutrients for your soil. These scraps can be the rinds of melons or strawberry tops. They can also be produce that has gone bad. Throw them in your composter, and they’ll eventually be converted into quality compost that can be mixed into your soil, which adds nutrients to help with your future gardens. If you don’t already compost, I recommend giving it a try. You can buy affordable composters or even build one yourself, and with a little bit of work and a lot of time, you can have a soil amendment that is nearly free.

Cardboard

Like plastic, we use a lot of cardboard in modern society. With all the online shopping and shipping that takes place, it’s common to have multiple cardboard boxes arrive at your house each week. Like I said in the intro, cardboard is great because it quickly decomposes, so no matter what you do with it, it isn’t going to cause long-term harm to the environment. Like most people, we always recycle our cardboard, but before doing that, we look for ways to reuse it. If we need to change the oil in the cars soon, we keep a few sheets on hand to put under the car when doing the oil change. We have also started keeping specific boxes and cardboard packaging to create Halloween and Christmas decorations. But cardboard can also be used in the garden. Because it breaks down so quickly, cardboard is a great form of mulch and compost. In the fall, after everything has been harvested and the plants have been pulled, you can lay sheets of cardboard on top of the soil and allow them to decompose. In the spring, this material will be organic matter that will improve soil quality.

Produce Containers

Eventually, if everything is successful in your garden, you’ll need containers to put your vegetables in after harvesting. We bought a couple of orchard baskets to use in the garden to make it easier to transport everything into the house, but those won’t work for storing vegetables. That’s where saving and repurposing produce containers come in. The plastic packages for cherry tomatoes, strawberries, and blueberries work perfectly for your smaller tomatoes. If you can find any of the cardboard/paper containers used at orchards, those are perfect for your larger tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and tomatillos. Finding a way to repurpose what you have will save you a lot of money versus buying something specifically for this purpose.

Future Recycling Opportunity: Egg Cartons

I haven’t tried this yet, so it may be a massive failure, but I saw some of our leftover pressed paper seed starting cells yesterday and noticed how similar they are to egg cartons. I’m talking about the cardboard/pressed paper ones; not the foam ones. They’re about the same size as the cells we have, and with a drainage hole added, they would probably work to start seeds. I am going to give this a try next year to see how they do and will report back.

Recycling Where Possible

None of what I mentioned in this post is what most would traditionally call recycling. But it’s a literal understanding of it. It’s repurposing things that may otherwise end up in a landfill. And at the end of the day, the plastic from the yogurt may eventually wind up there anyway, but we’re giving this plastic a second life before it ends up in the recycling bin. I think it’s important to make attempts to improve the environment where possible, especially when we’re already dedicated to sustainable gardening through crop rotation and doing as little tilling as possible. I hope that you found this post helpful and may consider one of the things I mentioned.

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Weekly Garden Update #19 – Cucumbers, Eggplants, Starting More Corn & More

In this week’s update, we harvested and began eating from our garden. I’ll tell you what vegetables they were and how we ate them. We also started more corn for a late harvest and planted the last melons we’re growing this year. I’ll provide a general update on everything we’re growing as well. Finally, this edition of the Seed of the Week takes us to the American Southwest, where a variety of corn has been grown for over 800 years. Let’s dive in.

First Harvest

This week saw us achieve a goal we set at the start of the garden: Harvest something from our garden and eat it the same day. That included three cucumbers and two eggplants. Two of the cucumbers were from plants gifted to us by our neighbor, but one was a Boston Pickling that I started from seed, making it the first fruit harvested from this year’s garden that I started from seed. We ate the cucumbers raw by slicing them and eating them on the side with dinner. For the eggplants, Magz sliced them into coin shapes and roasted them in oil and seasoning. They were delicious. We’ve found that doing as little as possible with high-quality, fresh vegetables is the best thing for them. We have a lot more cucumbers coming on, and there are more eggplants that are close to being harvestable, so we’ll be eating a lot more of them moving forward.

Starting More Corn

We had some open areas of our garden beds where potatoes weren’t growing, which we think is the result of poor drainage and too much rain early on. In the open rows, we wanted to grow more of something that we’ve had great success with: corn. We still had some Hopi Blue and Sweet Mexican/Black Iroquois seeds left, but because the Hopi Blue corn takes a lot longer to reach maturity, we planted the rest of the Sweet Mexican/Black Iroquois seeds. All three varieties (the above two and Butter & Sugar) have done exceptionally well, and a late planting of corn could lead to us having sweet corn in September.

At the same time, we planted all the remaining melons and squashes that we’re growing this year. In a few more open spots, we dedicated two of them to the White Scallop Winter Squash, three of them to Ali Baba Watermelons, and four to the Noir de Carmes cantaloupes.

A General Update (With Pictures!)

  • Our tomatoes continue to put on fruit, with the Cherokee Blue, Black Krim, and Queen Aliquppa growing close to full size. Now, we just wait for them to ripen.
  • Our Cal Wonder pepper plants have quite a few fruit on them, but they haven’t reached full size or started to ripen yet. Our plants also haven’t grown to full height, which is weird. I read that peppers are one of the slowest-growing plants and require hot temperatures and full sun, which we’ve had lots of this summer. I’m still holding out hope for them.
  • Our melons, squash, and pumpkins are all doing well. We have spaghetti squash that are close to softball size and many cucumbers that are growing. Most of the other plants are producing blossoms.
  • The tomatillos have been growing their husks for more than a week now, with one of them larger than a golf ball. There are many husks starting and even more flowers coming on at the same time.
  • We are finally starting to see some progress with our beans. The first batch of Provider beans has a few beans on the plants, which is major progress, even if the pods are small. Our Kebarika and Jamapa plants have started to produce flowers.
Tomatillo
Bean blossom

Seed of the Week

Our Seed of the Week this time is the Hope Blue corn variety. It’s a very old type of corn that has been grown in Northern Arizona for over 800 years by the Hopi Native American tribe. This variety is a flint/flour type of corn and is milled down into cornmeal or flour. The Hopis use it to make a ceremonial type of bread called piki. But even though this variety is primarily used for flour, it can be eaten as sweet corn.

The kernels of Hopi Blue corn are dark blue, nearly black, and the stalks grow up to nine feet tall. We got our seeds from Fedco out of Maine, and on the listing, they quote one of their growers, who says that the corn is “crunchy, corny and wholesome.” We’ve had great success with our Hopi Blue seeds. They overcame torrential downpours within a week of being sown and have excelled. The stalks are currently taller than our fence (so about 4 1/2 feet) and are gorgeous. If you’re curious about growing different varieties of corn, give this one a try.

Up Next

This week, I’d love to see some of our tomatoes begin to ripen. Our cherry tomatoes are pretty much full size, so ripening is the next step. I also think we’ll harvest some of our beans. Beyond that, we’re enjoying how relaxing it is to watch our garden grow. Each day, something new happens or we can see measurable growth. For example, we had a cucumber grow multiple inches in one day. It’s unbelievable. I hope your garden is doing well. Happy gardening.

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5 Easiest Seeds to Grow

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post on the 5 hardest seeds to grow this year. If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend checking it out. In it, I went over the 5 seeds that I’ve had the most trouble with this year. It could have been the result of an error on my part, poor weather, or something else entirely, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t get them to grow.

Today, we’re going to look at the 5 seeds that I’ve had the best luck growing this year. I didn’t treat these seeds any differently from the ones listed in the previous post, yet they took off and are growing abundantly. With each seed, I’ll go over what has made them a success and why I think each was easy to grow. Let’s dive in.

5.) Queen Aliquippa Tomato

I’ve written about this seed so many times that people will get sick of it. We didn’t know this tomato variety existed until we saw it in this year’s Sow True Seeds catalog. They’ve been selling it for years, but this was the first year we requested their catalog. As a refresher, this tomato variety is named for Queen Aliquippa, a Seneca nation leader who lived in Pennsylvania during the 18th century. She is so well-known in Western Pennsylvania that a town, a school, and businesses are named in her honor. In fact, the town of Aliquippa is only 10 minutes from where Magz and I went to college.

These seeds could have been a bust, and I still would have been happy we bought them. Thankfully, that hasn’t been the case. Of the first batch of tomato seeds I started, only 3 are still alive, and 2 of them are Queen Aliquippas. I treated the Queen Aliquppas the same way as the other tomatoes; however, the others didn’t take off.

These plants have gone through a late Spring that resulted in them getting leggy at the start, multiple torrential downpours, and a week of excessive heat, but they remain our best-looking tomato plants. We have since transplanted a few more plants that I started later, and they are also looking good. The Queen Aliquippa tomato plant is unique among the others we’ve grown. It has potato leaves that aren’t serrated like a typical tomato plant. When ripe, the fruit will also mostly stay green with a bit of amber at the bottom. To this point, we’ve loved growing this variety, and assuming we like how they taste, we’ll continue to grow it in future years.

4.) Seminole Pumpkin

These pumpkins have done exceptionally well so far. We have plants that were started indoors and transplanted outside and ones that were direct sown. Regardless of how they were started, they’ve grown well. We don’t know how many of these plants we’re growing because I misplaced the labels when transplanting the ones I started from seeds, but we think there are 3 or 4 of them. The ones that were transplanted have vined out about 2 feet from the roots and are getting ready to produce flowers. The ones that were directly sown are smaller since they were started later, but all of the plants look healthy.

Even though these are called pumpkins and have pumpkin leaves, the fruit doesn’t look like a typical pumpkin. It’s buff-colored rather than bright orange and reaches about 6 inches in diameter. They can be stored for up to a year but can also be picked early as a summer squash. These have required little attention. Since transplanting or starting them, we’ve made sure they have been consistently watered, and I side-dressed the older plants with some bone meal. If you’re looking for a smaller and historical variety to grow (these were grown by the Seminole people of Florida) and you live in a hot and humid climate, you’ll love these.

3.) All Corn Varieties

Before we started gardening, a common remark I’d hear was that growing corn is hard or not worth having in the garden. I don’t remember any family members trying to grow it. Now, that could be because fresh sweet corn was plentiful and cheap where I grew up, so it may not have been worth the effort in people’s minds. Magz and I first tried growing it in containers in 2022 and had success with it. We had 3 stalks in each tote, and they produced small ears that were delicious.

This year, we bought 3 varieties: Hopi Blue, Black Iroquois/Mexican Sweet, and Butter & Sugar. The Hopi Blue is a flint corn for grinding into meal or flour, the Black Iroquois/Mexican Sweet is a dark-kernel sweet corn, and the Butter & Sugar is the common bi-color sweet corn. We planted a row of each on the same day in May after the threat of frost had passed. Immediately, we had a week of heavy rain that totaled more than 3 inches. I was nervous that the seeds had washed away because some of the soil had been relocated, exposing the seeds. We covered them over again, and within 2 weeks, nearly all of them germinated.

At this point, all 3 varieties are doing well. The Hopi Blue is more than 4 feet tall already and can grow up to 9 feet tall, while the others are about 3 feet tall and should only reach 5-6 feet tall. Yesterday, when I was checking out the plants, I noticed the tassel developing inside the leaves for the first time. Corn is an easy, low-maintenance vegetable to grow. Besides weeding and watering, the only thing I’ve done is give the plants consistent nitrogen. Corn is a heavy feeder, so it needs extra nutrients to reach full height and develop big, full ears. If you’ve been on the fence about growing corn, it’s worth a shot. It doesn’t require a lot of work, and seeing corn grow is a beautiful experience.

2.) All Cucumbers

Cucumbers are another vegetable we’ve had success growing in the past. In our container garden, we grew a pickling variety, and we were pulling multiple ripe cucumbers off it daily. This year, we bought 3 varieties to grow: Boston Pickling for pickles, Tendergreen, which can be harvested for pickles or left on for slicers, and Richmond Green Apple, an Australian heirloom. We were also gifted 2 starts of a burpless variety from our neighbor.

I started the 3 inside and transplanted 2 plants of each variety into the garden. At the time, they didn’t look good. Like other plants, they were leggy at the time, and the weather wasn’t friendly to growing cucumbers. However, within a couple of weeks, they took off and now have blossoms on them with small fruit growing. The starts we were gifted also weren’t healthy when we transplanted them, but they’ve taken off and have produced 2 fruits already. These have required little maintenance other than a side-dressing of fertilizer. We may need to trellis or stake them at some point, but up until now, they’ve grown nicely without any assistance.

Bonus: Most Melons, Squash & Pumpkins

Because I didn’t want to have a listing for all melons, squash, and pumpkins, in addition to already having all corn and cucumbers, I wanted to add an honorable mention or bonus section. In this section are all melons, squash, and pumpkins. The Seminole pumpkin deserved its own listing, but most of the things I wrote about it apply to all of these. Quickly, these are all the melons, squash, and pumpkins that we are growing:

  • Ali Baba Watermelon
  • Noir de Carmes
  • Tigger Melon
  • Hokkaido Pumpkin
  • Black Beauty Zucchini
  • Candy Roaster Melon
  • Golden Glory Yellow Zucchini
  • Queensland Blue Winter Squash
  • Zapallito Del Tronco Zucchini
  • Ping Tung Eggplant
  • White Scallop
  • Kakai Winter Squash
  • Jarrradale Pumpkin
  • Dark Green Yuxi Jiang Bing Gua
  • New England Sugar Pie Pumpkin

Of the above seeds, the only ones that haven’t done well are the Black Beauty Zucchini, Golden Glory Yellow Zucchini, and the Ping Tung Eggplant. I don’t know why the zucchinis didn’t do well since they were planted at the same time as the Zapallito Del Tronco, but they didn’t. Only 1 Black Beauty and none of the Golden Glory seeds germinated. The eggplants were started indoors and never got to the point where they could be transplanted outdoors. The others have all done well.

I started a lot of the squash, melons, and pumpkins indoors. They immediately took off, but we couldn’t transplant them right away due to the weather. As soon as the weather broke, they were moved outdoors, but I had little faith in them doing well. All but 3 of the plants lived and are thriving. We also directly sowed a bunch of them later in early June, and they’ve done exceptionally well. All of the plants look healthy and are growing vigorously. What’s most interesting is how all the squash, all the melons, and all the pumpkins have similar leaf structures and growing behaviors, but have subtle differences between the varieties. For example, the Seminole pumpkins have silver lines on the leaves that the other pumpkin plants don’t.

We bought additional seeds (these are the ones in orange text) in late June to have a wider variety of pumpkins and squash. To put into context how quickly and easily these grow, I started them on Saturday evening. By Tuesday morning, the Hokkaido had germinated, and by Wednesday evening, the Dark Green Yuxi Jiang Bing Gua and Sugar Pie Pumpkin seeds had as well. Consistent moisture levels, full sun, and warm temperatures are the perfect recipe for these. If you find a variety you are curious about, give it a go. Odds are that it will do well.

1.) Provider Bush Bean

I love beans. In the United States, we’ve done a horrible job of educating people on how many bean varieties there are and all the ways we can use them in food. In most grocery stores, the only fresh beans you’ll find are green beans, and you may find some edamame or snap peas, which aren’t beans but are similar enough to include them here. I think that a lot of Americans picture canned beans when they think of beans. Whether these are green beans, black beans, pinto beans, or kidney beans, the average American doesn’t envision bags of dried beans or fresh varieties that are a color other than green. I’ve grown bush beans in the past, but this year, we found ourselves interested in growing other varieties.

American history is filled with people of the past growing bean varieties that were vitally important to their culture and heritage. Baker Creek sells a variety that was found in a New Mexico cave and dates back 1,500 years. In the South, Southern peas (also known as asparagus beans or Cowpeas) were preserved by slaves as a way to save their heritage. It’s the same in Latin America, South America, and Asia – beans (and all seeds) tell stories.

We attempted to grow 5 varieties this year: Kebarika, Jamapa, Red Bush, Provider, and Chinese Red Noodle. We’ve had moderate success with the Kebarika and Jamapa and nearly no success with the Red Bush beans. However, the Provider and Chinese Red Noodle beans have excelled. I planted the Chinese Red Noodle beans in a planter box I built, and they are currently climbing the trellis to a height of 7 feet.

I planted the Provider beans in our bed with the Kebarika and Jamapa, and they’ve done pretty well. They’re not real tall yet (about 18 inches), but are still growing and have started to flower. But when our Red Bush beans failed (only 1 successful plant among a full row of seeds), I planted more Provider beans in the same row around the lone Red Bush bean plant. So, it was the same growing conditions. Within 2 days, almost all the seeds germinated, and at the time of writing this, the plants are nearly the height of the Red Bush bean plant, which is more than 2 weeks older. As Magz pointed out, the name Provider is pretty on point. These plants provide.

So, there it is. These are the (more than) 5 plants that I’ve had the easiest time growing this year. All have a few things in common: they grow in spite of the weather, my mistakes, and questionable soil quality. They’ve all required little maintenance and make you believe in yourself as a gardener. Have you tried any of these varieties? If not, I recommend giving them a go. Do you have any favorite seeds to grow?

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Weekly Update #18 – Farmer’s Market, Restarting Beds & Sneaky Rabbit

Watermelon, Baker Creek, Ali Baba Watermelon

In this week’s update, we went to a local farmer’s market and got to meet many people who are as invested in gardening as we are, we restarted a few of our garden beds, and we had a cute but unwanted visitor in one of our gardens. Finally, in the Seed of the Week section, virtually travel with me to the Middle East and learn about an Iraqi melon variety.

Farmer’s Market

Last week, we were looking forward to Saturday to visit the weekly farmer’s market in a nearby town. Our town has its own farmer’s market, but it takes place on Thursdays from 3 to 6 p.m., which makes it tough to attend. I work until 5 most days, so we wouldn’t get there until 5:15 at the earliest, and by that point, most of the items are gone. Early last week, our neighbor told us about the farmer’s market in the next town, and this market is held on Saturday mornings from 9 to 12, which is much friendlier to our schedule. We got up in time on Saturday and arrived by 9:45, and it was a great experience.

There were probably between 20 and 25 vendors, and they sold a lot of items, including produce, flowers, meat, baked goods, honey products, wooden kitchen utensils, and yarn. We came home with a bunch of red beets, green and yellow zucchini, 3 strawberry plants, a wooden flour scoop, and a skein of yarn. But it wasn’t just the items that got us excited. We were able to make connections with people in our area who have similar interests to ours and are motivated to grow their own food and be makers. Magz talked with a vendor who raises sheep and sends the wool away to a local mill to be spun into yarn. We also talked with the gardener who sold us the strawberry plants about the best way to grow them.

Lastly, the town’s library has a booth at the market each week, and we were able to become members. Up to this past Saturday, we haven’t had library cards since we moved to town in 2021. Our town’s library doesn’t have a great selection and is in the basement of the borough building, so it doesn’t feel like a library. Becoming members of our new library has us excited for the potential to get more involved in the community and find new books to read. I’m especially excited to check out their reference section for gardening books and to request such books from other libraries.

Restarting Garden Beds

For the past few weeks, we’ve been having some issues with grass growing out of control in a couple of our beds. It choked out the carrots and beets and also wasn’t allowing some of our greens to grow. Given that most of those plants were among the first things we planted, we weren’t confident that they’d grow to maturity at this point. So, we decided to get the mower and tiller out, and we mowed down everything that was growing and turned the soil over to start fresh. In those beds, we planted more winter squash/melons/pumpkins that we recently bought, more carrots and beets, and the strawberry plants we bought on Saturday. By restarting the beds, the plants will have a great chance to thrive, since the rows are spread out and everything is marked.

We’re also going to be turning over the soil where our potatoes were planted (they didn’t grow), where we pulled our ground cherry plant (also didn’t grow), and where a couple of our melons didn’t work. In their places, we’re going to plant a few more cantaloupes and watermelons, some late-season corn, and a final row of shelling beans. While it’s getting late in the season, there’s still time to get a late crop of seeds in the ground. July means hot temperatures for germination and plenty of sunlight to help the plants grow once they start.

A Potentially Unwanted Visitor

On Thursday evening, I was looking out the kitchen window at the backyard. It was close to 8 p.m., and I was about to get a shower. I saw two rabbits, which isn’t unusual. We have a populated woodland community on our property, and the rabbits are some of the most active members. They love our yard because we don’t cut our grass super short and have places that provide shade and protection. To this point, we haven’t had any issues with them getting into our beds or eating our plants. This day, however, one rabbit was outside the fence and one was inside.

The one that was inside the fence was getting dangerously close to one of the melon plants that Magz is passionate about and recently started. I quickly ran outside to get the rabbit out of the garden, which was an interesting experience. Thankfully, it left the way it entered, which revealed a hole in our fence that likely opened when we started the fence or was the result of the mower getting caught in it. I was able to put a new section of fence in and closed up the hole, and we haven’t had any more visitors, so fingers crossed that they stay outside the fence.

Seed of the Week

This edition of the Seed of the Week takes us to Iraq and the Ali Baba watermelon. We bought our seeds from Baker Creek, who originally got the seeds more than 2 decades ago from an Iraqi farmer who preserved them. Thankfully, that farmer and seed companies like Baker Creek have shared and preserved the seed, because it is now nearly impossible to get seeds from Iraq following decades of warfare.

Watermelon, Baker Creek, Ali Baba Watermelon
Ali Baba watermelon

We’ve never grown these before, but the Ali Baba watermelon plant produces an oblong fruit that grows to between 12 and 30 pounds and has a rind that is lighter in color compared to the watermelon we typically eat in the United States. We started these seeds in at least 3 spots, and they germinated successfully and quickly. All of our plants have produced their second set of leaves and will begin vining out next. As long as we keep them well watered, they should continue to grow and hopefully put on fruit. We’ll keep you updated on their progress.

Up Next

A small addition to the weekly update: we harvested our first cucumber last night. It was a burpless variety that our neighbor gave us and was about 5 inches long. It’s definitely a monumental occasion. Between now and next week’s update, we have plans to start a couple more rows of corn and beans in some spare space we have. We’re also going to start at least 1 more cantaloupe or watermelon plant. Hopefully, we’ll also get to harvest a few more items. Until next week, happy gardening!

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