Plotting and Planning

Almost as fun as watching the garden turn into a lovely patch of flowers and vegetables, for me, is the planning of it.  And re-planning.  Not everything turns out the way I imagine it will.  This year, mainly because I bought more rose bushes than I should have, I decided to create a rose garden out of a space in the wildflower garden that had been overtaken by something that looks like oregano, but has very little aroma and no flavor that would enhance anything.  I don't think the rabbits dine on it, and not even any insects go after it.

In my last post, I talked about putting weed cloth over the whole thing and mulching on top of that.  Since then, I've thought again about all the reasons not to put down weed cloth: moisture gets trapped on the surface of the ground encouraging plants to put out fine, shallow roots that grow into the cloth over time;  oxygenation of the soil is retarded; water penetration into the ground is inhibited, to name three.  But  I'm concerned about being able to keep that oregano-like stuff from growing back up and choking the roses and herbs I plan to grow there.  I think I'll use the cloth to cover the plot over the winter and pull it off in parts as I plant an area.  I guess we'll see what actually happens when I actually do it.

Yesterday I finally got the last of the area dug and I'm waiting on an order of lawn edging to put around the perimeter to keep the oregano stuff and other grasses and wildflowers from growing into the plot.  The space I've created is kind of an arcing trapezoid about 15 feet long, 9 feet wide at the rear, and 16 feet wide at the front where it joins up with a patch on the south side of my vegetable garden.  The total effort to dig all that was around 14 hours, shovel by shovel, sweat and tears.  Luckily, no blood.

Last Thursday I went with my sister to nearby Vintage Hill Farm in Franklin, Missouri, to look at specimen evergreens for a landscaping project she has underway.  I couldn't resist this ornamental pepper - 'Black Pearl'.  I'm hoping that I'll be able to collect seed and grow some more next year.   If not, I will definitely have to purchase some.  Isn't it gorgeous?

I've got two red varieties of rhubarb started.  They're tiny seedlings at this point.  Well, I'm not sure if they qualify for seedling status since they're just emergent cotyledons, so maybe sprouts would be more accurate.  But a couple of them are starting to produce their first set of true leaves.  If the weather stays warm so that they grow to a big enough size to get them in the ground this year, I'll put them out.  Otherwise, I'm going to be sorry that I have to overwinter them in the cellar.

Although I won't be able to harvest anything from these plants until the second year, we're going to have rhubarb coming out our ears one day.  I have rhubarb in the freezer now from the two 'Victoria' (green-stemmed) plants I set out two years ago.  Can you get sick of rhubarb pie?

When I first decided to plant a garden, I knew I'd want some kind of system to draw plots and keep records.  I used a trial version of garden planning software from GroVeg, which is pretty darned comprehensive.  Much more so than I would make use of, so I decided not to invest any money in it.   (Side note:  GroVeg has some great videos on YouTube, and I get their newsletter via email.)

Since then, I found I could draw my plot and add pictures I found on the web using Open Office Impress presentation software, and could keep my records in Open Office Calc, a spreadsheet. (Screenshots of both below.)  I love (Apache) Open Office.  They have a full suite of software that rivals Microsoft Office Suite.  All their programs are compatible with Microsoft Office, and the big plus: Open Office is free.  They've been around for years and have excellent bug-free, malware- and virus-free software.  I've also used them for years, and they've never let me down.  Here's to open source software and all the brilliant and generous people who make it possible!

When I was ready to create my rose garden plot, however, I thought I'd take another look online to see what's being offered these days. I came across interactive software that you can use free without downloading and installing anything on your computer.  You can't save the file unless you purchase the program, but you can create to your heart's content and print it.  I used it to create my rose garden plan, and it was easy to use while being complex enough to do some serious designing.  If you've used anything similar in the past, this is a snap.  If you haven't, but you're familiar with computer jargon, it shouldn't take long to figure it out.  They have a similar program for architecture.  Get there by this address:  http://smallblueprinter.com/   (Disclaimer:  Use your own judgment as to whether you want to visit.  I have good antivirus software on my computer, though (Webroot - same program used by Best Buy Geek Squad), and I don't see any indication that the site is harmful in any way.)

Enjoy your last days of September, and don't forget to stop and smell the flowers.

Til next time.

Odds & Ends

One of the oddest insects - and one of the most fascinating to me - is the praying mantis.  I spied one on a rose bush the other day.  As far as I know, they're the only insect that can swivel its head. Watching them watch me is always a source of amusement.  (Yes, I am easily amused, why do you ask?)

Butterflies of all sorts are plentiful these late summer days.  The sulphurs seem to be particularly fond of the Mexican sunflowers in the vegetable garden.  These large ones are called cloudless sulphurs, Phoebis sennae.

Most all of the wildflowers have come to an end and dried up, but the Goldenrod is in full bloom.  Bees and butterlies have hit paydirt big time.

As for the vegetables, I'm ready to call an end to my okra even though it's still putting out the odd pod.  The plants in full sun are way over my head and have lost all their lower leaves, so those left are spindly whips with large pods at the tops, making them bend way over in the wind and rain - and stay that way.  The plants that are in shade much of the day are about as high as my shoulders, and they're not producing much - they never did.

I've been cutting dried pods that look like they're ready to split open and collecting the seeds.  I'm saving the pods for the Arrow Rock merchants to use in their Christmas decorations.  Each year, they get together in the late fall and make wreaths and sprays out of evergreen clippings and dried grasses and pods to decorate the downtown and major historic buildings.  I left some of the tall stalks to dry on their own to see if they'll be anything that can be used.  Otherwise, I've cut down the rest.

Tomatoes and peppers are still coming on strong, and I've still got basil coming out of my ears.  The other day I built a fire in the patio fire pit and roasted some of the red minibells until they had black blisters.  They were delicious.   

Black Prince and Golden Jubilee tomatoes with coarse ground pink Himalayan salt

I'm harvesting the tender young fall lettuce, and waiting to see if the cucumbers I planted will do anything before frost.  It's going to have to be a late frost to get any fruit, although, since they're planted in a tomato cage, perhaps I can cover them if we get an early frost.

The lima beans are setting pods, but the seeds haven't yet developed inside.  They're flowering profusely, and the bumble bees are busy collecting their pollen and nectar.

The hyacinth bean vines are flowering and fruiting.  Those beans are pretty - and toxic if eaten.

The weather has cooled off enough that I decided to tackle a job that will take many hours of work.  Next to the garden, within the wildflower garden, there's a patch about 10'x15' of something that looks like a member of the oregano family.  I had originally thought maybe a mint, but it doesn't have that square stem, and it definitely looks like oregano.  It doesn't have any distinct aroma or flavor, though, so it's not useful for anything.  And it spreads both underground and on the surface, so it has the potential to become a real pest.  I've put an edging barrier between it and the vegetable plots, and luckily, that's working out well.

The patch is neither useful nor particularly attractive, and has the possibility of taking over the wildflower garden, so I've decided to try to make a rose garden out of that space.  It's going to be a challenge to get rid of the stuff, but I'm going to give it a shot.  I hope I don't regret it.  Today I decided to begin.  I sharpened my shovel with a large metal file (something I should have been doing all along - amazing how much better a sharp shovel works than a dull one), and dug and turned under an area about 4 feet square and 8 inches deep.  What I don't know is if every piece of root I chopped up in the process is going to be the start of a new plant!  I piled a load of old garden cuttings on top, but I'm wondering if I should have just put down a cloth weed barrier directly.   If it looks like it's going to come right back, I'll have to rethink my approach.  My plan is to get the whole patch dug and turned and then put a thick layer of compost on top over which I intend to stretch cloth weed barrier and then wood mulch on top of that.  Oh, and somewhere in there, plant some rose bushes.    

Enjoy your late September days.  In this area, they're some of the best.

UPDATE:

I've been rethinking that weed barrier cloth.  I've stayed away from it because of complaints I've heard, and now I've just read something on the Vintage Hill Farms website that's got me leery again.  It can become a problem if roots of your desirable plants grow into it, and it also acts as a retardant to water and air penetration of the soil.  I've also seen cases where weeds actually grow right beneath it even though they lack sunlight.  I just don't know.  I just don't know.

Fall Crops

I always think I'm going to plant a fall crop and enjoy gardening and fresh food until the first freeze.  So far, I'm 0 for 3 in years that I've done this.  By this time of the year, I'm a little tired of keeping up with what I've already got.

I'm so tired of okra. It always starts out as one of my most-looked-forward-to garden vegetables, and by this time, I don't even want to eat any more of it, much less pick it.  This year's crop has just about done all it's going to.  The plants that were in full sun are starting to fall over since they were so crowded this year that the stalks are thin. At least I think that's why.  It could just be this particular variety (Burgundy).  With the large, heavy pods that I haven't been picking, the stalks are unable to stand up to the winds and rain.  But since they've been thinning out a bit, the lemon grass has been getting more sun and has picked up.

At any rate, my lima beans are setting fruit and looking good.

Tomatoes are still plentiful if we don't get an early frost.  I was thinking the other day that I might consider covering a couple of the plants if we do.

Recently, I cleaned up my big compost pile and harvested some volunteer tomatoes.

I've been getting a few half-way decent fruits off those plants.

I also harvested a nice haul of tomato hornworms in my garden proper on the one tomato plant that's somewhat shaded.  Apparently that was a perfect spot for them.  They weren't even confining themselves to the foliage.  They were going right after the green fruits, too.

Stripped leaves: a sure sign of tomato hornworm presence.

I found this many yesterday - on just the one plant - and another three on it this morning.  I really must pay closer attention!  I didn't collect even this many on all of the other four plants put together.  The only difference that I know of is that the others were in a sunnier part of the garden.

The ones with the black stripe next to the white stripe are, I believe, tobacco hornworms, but both kinds attack tomato plants.  And tobacco plants, I assume.

Speaking of insects, I found a lady beetle-type larva on one of my flower pots.  Since this guy has no red coloration at all, I'm not sure what specific type of beetle it will molt into, but it will be in the lady beetle family of beneficial insects.  There are only a couple of types of lady beetles that are plant eaters, and their larvae are fat and spiny.  The adults are usually yellow with black spots.  I've never actually seen one.

I'm used to seeing lady beetle larvae that have more red on them.  This one seems mostly black and white, and I don't know what specific variety that indicates.  Most of the ones I've seen in the past are red where this one is white.  But, there are lots and lots of color variations in lady beetles.  Just don't be confused with the cucumber beetle - a somewhat elongated yellow or greenish beetle with black spots.   They have longer antennae, and the helpful lady beetles are more rounded.  Think Volkswagon beetle.

Apparently, acording to Insect Identification - Beetles of Missouri, there are squash lady beetles in the state that feed on plants in the squash, bean and pea families.  The identification information says they're slightly larger than regular lady beetles and are yellow with black spots on both the wings and thorax (or pronotum - that little shield-like piece covering the thorax, which is between the body and the head), whereas the beneficial guys have spots only on their wing covers.  Click here for a picture of the squash lady beetle.  I'm thinking that an easy rule-of-thumb to know which ones to leave alone and which to kill is that if it's yellow, you can kill it.  (This makes me think of the yellow/red/black snake stripe ID rhyme:  Red and black - friend of Jack; red and yellow - kill the fellow.  Meaning, if the red stripe is next to the yellow stripe, it's poisonous.)

We have lots and lots of the big red-orange Asian lady beetles around here nowadays.  They'll be coming inside before winter gets here.  By the droves.  I vaccuum the ones that have the bad luck to think they can hang out anywhere but the windowsills.  Those I just leave alone.  They are a nuisance to some people, but they actually do much more good than harm, feeding on aphids and scale insects.  I wonder if they'll evolve the ability to stay outside in the winter.  Or maybe the winter will soon be warm enough they won't freeze if they stay out.

(For those of you who are interested in insects, and particularly in identifying those that are beneficial in your garden, I've added a couple of permanent links in the right-hand side bar of the blog.)

Leaving insects now...

My newly planted lettuces are coming right along.

The beets...not so much.

The Pink Enchantment roses are none the worse for the wear after the early Japanese beetle infestation when I sprayed Deadbug and ruined the leaves back in June.

Somebody is feeding on Julia Child, but it's not noticeable until she starts to lose her dark butter color, and then the dead spots look like pink sprinkle decorations.

My friend and neighbor Monna gave me some of her freshly dug potatoes last week.  I can't bring myself to cook this guy.

Happy Fall on the way!  Til next time.