Progress in the garden

Lots has been happening in the garden since I last posted.  About two weeks ago, I fertilized the garden with an 8-8-8 balanced fertilizer called Purely Organic.  Catchy name eh?  I did research this and it came out looking pretty good.  Again, I prefer organic and will seek it out and yes, I will pay a little more for it versus the chemical fertilizers.  It is blended for both quick and time release of nutrients to the plants.
I must say, the plants did respond to the fertilizer and have shown some real significant progress. The tomatoes and peppers have shot up like rockets and most of the tomatoes have put on both healthy growth and fruit buds.  I saw my first pepper that is about the size of a dime today.  Very exciting indeed!
All the other plants have also shown significant increases in growth to a point I think they have overcome our earlier stunted period in late May.  Since I haven't changed anything and the weather has only recently heated up, I can attribute this growth to the fertilizer.  Will I use it again?  Yes indeed.
I also did on two waterings of compost tea in the last 3 weeks and I think this, combined with the fertilizer, may have done the trick.  I have to keep an eye on things but it is definitely promising at this point in the season.
One other thing that I have done is to use a cover crop in the fall of each of the last two years.  I covered that in an earlier post but it bears repeating.  When it is cut and left to rot and then lightly rototilled in the spring, it enhances the overall nutrient levels in the soil and it also helps with the tilth of the soil.  A organization called the Rodale Institute in Kutztown Pa. has pioneered these processes and done the hard research for well over 60 years.  If you're in the area, you should visit them.  I plan on doing that in the near future myself.  If not, look at their website - rodaleinstitute.org.
I think that my soil has taken some big leaps since I went all in on organic.  I will post about that when the time comes in the fall to begin the next round of soil improvement.
And, the big news is, I have mason bees in the hive I hung up this past Spring.  Establishing the hive is, from what I have read, the hardest part.  Putting it simply, the bees just have to find the hive and they will do all the rest.  I am hoping since they found it, they will stay put.  If you have no idea what mason bees are about, do a little research and you might too want to establish a hive.  In all honesty, it was my wife that spurred this on by buying me a hive for Christmas.  I had no idea until then.
Well, that's about it for now.  I hope everyone's gardens are going great guns now.  Until next time, happy gardening!      

Are you really growing organically?

That is a very hard question to answer with just a simple yes or no. There are many reasons to grow vegetables in your own backyard. Most people speak of the superior freshness and taste of the produce. Some point to the rampant use of GMO seed stock and the use of herbecides and such on the produce you get in most stores. Not to mention the carbon footprint of some of the foods we eat that travel over 1,000 miles or more. But, a fair portion of the gardening world will answer that they garden in order to have "organic" vegetables and fruit. But, if you have a garden, the question remains - are you truly organic? I always thought that I was truly organic. I have my three composters, 4 rain barrels and I don't generally use any herbecides on my plants. I tolerate some destruction in my garden as the natural course of events. If the infestation is intolerable with the risk of total loss being high, I then us a BT based powder to combat the issue at hand. BT is a targeted insecticide that does not kill beneficial insects. It is considered to be organic as it is a naturally occurring bacterium found in the soil. I recently watched a gardening show where I discovered that while I practice generally organic principles, I have been acutely unaware of one area I hadn't given much thought to - seeds! Yes, seeds. I mean, who knew? As pointed out by the guest on the show, if you are using GMO produced seeds or hybrid seeds, then you are truly not growing organic. As a person with a multitude of such seeds, that was quite an eye opener. I guess I need to be careful where I buy my seeds. That's a topic for another post. I hope this was an eye opener for you too. Well, till next time, happy gardening everyone!

Sunday, Sunday

Here's hoping all the Mothers had a very Happy Mother's Day. I sit here looking out into my backyard.  It is sunny and warm while my garden buddy Barkley is running amok with his youthful exuberance.  It has been quite the eventful week as our son graduated (Yeah!) from college yesterday. Both his mom and I are very proud parents.  So, I have a bunch of things to get caught up on as the garden was on minimal maintenance this week.  All the plants are still alive so there was no harm done by my absence.
And that is a very big lesson right there.  Regardless of how much we may think we have control and can affect the outcome of our gardens, the truth is that we are just stewards of the garden and not the master.  There are just so many other variables that go into a garden season that one has to be grateful for the harvest you do get each year.  I don't believe we should take credit for the output from our garden as I believe God has so much more influence.  We can only help the plants along the way.
I have a ton to do as I need to get my peppers and tomatoes planted along with starting the cucumbers.  Much to do very little time to spare.  It is unseasonably warm for this time of year which is having a negative effect on my lettuce that I planted.  Most, but not all lettuce likes it cool.  So far, because the hydroponic system gets the early morning sun and is shaded from the afternoon sun, the lettuce seems to be growing albeit at a slower than normal rate.  I can only hope that we will get back to the 70's which will help with that immensely.
So, for this week, the theme will be plant, plant and plant some more.  Here's hoping your garden is coming along well.  till next time, happy gardening everyone.

What a wonderful life!

This weekend was crazy busy to say the least.  Two days is hardly enough time to get all the work in. During periods like this, I often wonder if I am trying to do too much.  There is that little voice inside my head that doubts the sanity of doing so much to get the garden I really want.  If you are like me, you too will have those moments.  And, just like me, you will come realize in the long run, that it is indeed worth the effort.
We had two beautiful days that were absolutely ideal for gardening.  Both days highs reached near or 80 degrees.  I also had to fit in a family function on Saturday.  So, that compressed my gardening activities even further.  Both days I was up by 6 and in the garden.  Saturday, I put a fence around both beds in order to dissuade my gardening buddy (my puppy Barkley) from digging in my beds or worse.  I also worked on other home items so, for the most part, the fence was major item completed.
Sunday however, was a different story.  I was up by 6 (habit) and out in the garden.  I planted 3 cabbage and 3 cauliflower plants under my shade structure.  I also checked my hydroponic system for the progress of my various lettuce plants

As seen in the picture, there are many pots with plants in them.  The big ones in  bowl 11 are spinach.  It will take another couple of weeks before these are ready to eat.

I also put up a mason bee hive in hopes of getting these voracious workers to settle in my backyard.

They're supposed to be wonderful pollinators and aren't the least bit hostile.  Time will tell on whether this experiment works or not.
Additionally, I erected my mini greenhouse in order to harden my plants for transplanting in the next week or so.  As seen by the pictures, it is quite roomy and it ages well as this one is 6 years old.

Here is another view of it with my plants in them.

So, there is a little snippet of what I did on Sunday.  There is much more to do as the time to plant the warm weather crops is upon us in the Mid-Atlantic.  I can't wait to get digging into the dirt.  Till then, keep on gardening! 

Hallelujah!!

Well, April is always full of surprises when it comes to weather in the Mid-Atlantic region.  Last night was no exception to this.  We had a series of thunderstorms that were quite active with heavy downpours.  I was concerned as the night progressed that my shade structure and the attendant cabbage plants under it were goners.  So, when I went out at 6 this morning with my dog, to my surprise, it looked undamaged much to my delight.  Upon further review of it when I arrived home from work this evening, it did not have any damage I could detect.  And better yet, the plants were doing just fine.
We're certainly not out of the woods weather wise but it appears that the structure can stand up to storms.  I planted 3 Broccoli plants under it tonight.  Which brings to mind how I go about planting seedlings into my beds.  When I do this, I start by making a mixture of equal parts peat moss, composted manure and my fresh compost.  I generally use vermiculite in place of peat moss as the peat bogs are being farmed at alarming rates so I want to do my part to help with that issue.  But, I just happen to have some peat left over from a grass planting I did last fall soo I cannot let it go to waste.
Once I have the mixture made up, I water down the seedlings (soak them actually) and let them drain while I cut in the holes to plant the vegetables.  I cut the holes a little bigger than the size of the root ball and then take a little of my mixture and lay it in the bottom of the hole.  Then I pull the plants out of their containers and tease the roots if they are circled around the medium they are in.  Even if they aren't, I still pull them a little to ensure they're ready to plant.  I then put the plant into the hole and fill any voids around the plants with the mixture.  I lightly press in around the plants with my fingers, water them down and put more of the mixture around them to make sure the root ball is covered.  You should make a slight bowl shape around the seeding to hold the water near the plant to allow it to soak into soil and reach the roots.  It sounds difficult, but you will get the hang of it in no time.
Well, hope you are getting into your gardening full swing at this point.  Happy gardening!