Lots to do in March!

 Happy Spring everyone! I'm so excited. It's just a great time of year. There is sooooo much to do in the garden. Everyone is always wondering what to do when in the garden and if it's too early or too late to do something. SO, here is a list of what I have done and what I will be doing this month. 

My daughter at a Spring Garden Show

1. Plant out Spring vegetables. This I do around St. Patrick's Day. Here in York County, PA I planted onion sets, broccoli plants and the following seeds: lettuce, spinach, kale, peas, carrots, radishes and turnips. Yum!

2. Pull the mulch off of strawberries and other perennials. It's now warm enough the perennials don't need the mulch but they do need sunlight so uncover them soon. 

3. Do any winter pruning you never got to. I still need to prune my rose bush but I'm mostly done. Once your plants have budded out, forget it. You've missed your chance. 

4. General clean up. It's not fun but winter winds blow trash and garden refuse around and now's a great time to clean it up. 

5. Speaking of refuse, now is a great time to start minding your compost pile again. Ideally, it should be mixed once a week during the growing season. 

6. I'll be giving my fruit trees their first spray. More info on this in my next post. 

7. Start any warm weather seeds that you want to start indoors. I don't do much of this but I am trying with some alpine strawberries. So far I've discovered why people usually buy strawberries as plants. Sigh. 

8. Pull winter weeds. Yes, there are weeds that grow well in cold weather. You've probably got them in your garden. Go pull them out. 

Well, that should be enough to keep you busy for a while! I've been busy and loving it. Do you have other projects going on? Feel free to share in the comments below. 

More Peas Please!

Mature pea plants.

 My 7 year old daughter loves peas. I mean, LOVES peas. You don't even have to cook them, she will eat them raw. Now, if your kid who can be a bit picky loves a certain kind of vegetable, that's good reason to grow it, right? Fortunately, peas are really easy to grow. Here's how.

Peas are another kind of cool weather vegetable. They don't do very well in hot July weather. Here in York County, PA it's easy to grow 2 crops of them a year, once in spring and once in fall. It is important that you get them planted on time. The plants will likely die in the hot July sun and at a certain point in the fall, they will stop growing all together due to a lack of sunlight. So, in Spring I plant peas between St. Patricks Day and the first week of April, no later. In summer, the second planting goes in around the end of July or beginning of August. 

There are basically two kinds of peas, those you grow to eat the pods (snap peas or snow peas) and those you grow to eat the seeds (traditional peas). I grow mostly traditional peas since that's what my daughter loves but snap peas ripen quicker and are delicious. 

Pea seedlings

Peas don't require any special kind of soil. They aren't heavy feeders so I wouldn't worry about fertilizing them unless you soil is truly deplorable. Adding compost or other organic soil amendments (read, manure) is always a good idea. Their water needs are also typical. In the Spring, I don't need to water them but in the summer, as with all fall crops I'm trying to start, I need to water them frequently due to hot dry weather. 

What peas do need is structure. They grow up and do best when they have a fence, tee pee, or trellis to support them. I've even used tomato cages with good success. 

Finally, once your seedlings get to about 4 inches tall, as with most veggies, it's a great idea to mulch them with either shredded leaves, straw or even dried out lawn cuttings. This will help the soil retain moisture and will also keep down the weeds. 

That's really all there is to it. Peas are a great veggie for the beginner grower. Do you grow peas? What kind do you like? Feel free to comment in the section below. 

Yes! You Can Still Enjoy Your Garden!

 I've had several people ask me if I was still gardening this year. Of course, my answer is yes! Fall days are glorious and it seems a travesty to stay in doors when winter's chill will truly limit our outdoor time so soon. Gardening has been shown to have a multitude of benefits for your physical and mental well being. You don't have to give that up just because your tomato plants succumbed to disease or even if a light frost has taken out a lot of your plants. Here are some great ways to enjoy your garden in October. 

I just got these two beds cleaned up and mulched 
last weekend.

First, there is nothing wrong with just sitting and relaxing in your garden. Every garden should have some seating, even if it's just a bench. Or, you can bring out a blanket with your favorite book and some hot tea. So relaxing!

Second, if you fancy doing some work out there, not is a great time to clean up your vegetable beds and mulch them for winter. Be sure to especially get rid of anything with diseased material. I'm doing a mix of cover crops and mulching with my compost and then straw or leaves. Bare soil over winter will be leached of it's nutrients and beneficial organisms. Always cover your dirt. 

Third, if you planted some fall crops last summer like I said too, then you should still have plenty of veggies to be picking. I've got lettuce, kale, spinach, kohlrabi, carrots and peas all going at it.  Yum!

Fourthly, now is a great time to plant your garlic for next year. You can learn how to do that here.  You can also plant your bulbs for spring flowers in November. This

Peas love the cooler, Fall weather.

includes crocus, hyacinth, tulips, alliums and daffodils. 

Fifth, there are a multitude of flowers that bloom in the fall that make for lovely displays as well as cut bouquets inside. I still have zinnias, nasturtiums, yarrow, cup and saucer vine, solidaster, toad lilies, Iris, and lavender in flower in my yard. If you don't have any flowers now, look around your neighborhood to see what looks good and be sure to add it somewhere next year. 

Finally, be sure to rake up your leaves this fall. Leaving your leaves on the lawn will smother it and piles of leaves are also a haven for ticks. Put the leaves where they belong - on your vegetable bed. 

See, there is no reason you can't still be enjoying your garden this month. So, get out and enjoy it! 

Getting the Most Out of Your Tomatos

I am taking a slight break from my series of posts on the elements to bring some timely advice on tomatoes. Tomatoes have got to be the no 1 most popular thing to grow in gardens but they can be a bit tricky. As I"m writing this, it's getting towards the end of July here in PA. If you're growing tomatoes- in a pot, raised bed, or traditional garden -there are things you can still do to maximize your harvest. 

Let me be clear, it is too late to go buy plants and start growing them. Tomatoes require a fairly long growing period. So unless you go b

uy a fully grown plant in a five gallon pot (and that would be totally cheating, you might as well buy your tomatoes from the local farmers market which isn't a bad idea.) you can't start now. Try next year.

For those of you who are already growing tomatoes...

First, if you haven't already done so, mulch your plants. This accomplishes multiple things. It will keep the weeds down, help the soil to retain necessary moisture and will help prevent soil born diseases from leaching into your plants. Straw is a great mulch as is wood chips if you have them. This year, I'm using dried oak leaves from last fall. Dried out grass clippings work as well.

Second, all those juicy tomatoes require water. July and August tend to be rather dry here in PA  so I've been watering my plants about every other day. To help keep down fungus and mold, I only water the soil and not the plant.

Third, tomatoes are heavy feeders (they require nutrient rich soil) so side dressing (applying fertilizer to the soil around the plant, not on the plant itself) of fertilizer can be helpful however, an  over abundance of nitrogen will cause the plant to grow lots of leaves and not much fruit. An organic fertilizer heavy in phosphorus is your best bet. 

Fourth, there are way too many pests, diseases, and fungi that love tomatoes to get into all of them. Honestly, I think it's just a matter of time before all tomato plants get infected with something. Some of those problems come from the soil so I like to cut off all leaves from around the bottom of the plant. It won't hurt the plant and will delay fungal growth. 

Fifth, if you have insects on your plant, you can usually see them with some careful attention. Everything from horn worms (see picture) to tiny aphids. Bugs can either be picked off or sprayed off with a hose. If your leaves are spotting, or turning yellow or brown, then you might have a fungus or mold. You can use an organic spray on your plants but be aware that you wont cure the problem- just slow it down. I like to use Green Gold powder but it's hard to find in person. You can also use a copper fungicide which is much easier to find.

Growing your own tomatoes can be tricky but they are SO GOOD! What are your tricks to grow awesome tomatoes? Please write about it in the comments below.

Here are a few helpful links for further reading:
Joe Gardener Podcast on Tomatoes
Mother Earth News Growing Tomatoes

Earth

Arguably the most important element of gardening is earth - or soil (or dirt if you'd rather). I grew up in an area that had amazing top soil so I never had to think about it too much while gardening. However, once I moved to Pennsylvania, it was a different story. In both our last house and the current one, we have lots, and lots, and LOTS of clay. It is so far from ideal we've been fighting to improve it. But the quality of soil can make or break your garden. Below are two pictures of pink petunias. They came from the same pack of seedlings. One was planted in the clay soil and one was planted in the good soil of the window box. The differences are remarkable.

Good potting soil

Clay Soil

There is so much that can, and has, been written on the subject. I'll include some helpful links at the bottom of this post. My goal here is to get you thinking about it and give you a few essential pointers.

So, how can you get the best from your soil? Read on.

First, keep toxic chemicals out of your soil. This may sound like a no brainer but be careful to keep harsh pesticides, like roundup, oils, and even vinegar out of your soil. They can kill the good plants you want to keep and they kill worms and micro organisms that are beneficial.

Second, know your basic soil types and which one(s) you have. Clay is hard and has an orange color to it. I think we all know what sand looks like. Good top soil is a very dark brown and isn't too hard to work with.

Third, if you have really bad soil, consider raised beds. Then you can fill them with better quality soil from the garden center. We like to fill ours with a variety of things like shredded leaves, manure, compost and top soil. Mushroom compost is also awesome. We also add a general purpose, organic fertilizer occasionally.

Fourth, most experts suggest getting your soil tested to see what nutrients you really need to add. However, I've never done this as it seems like such a hassle.

Finally, as much as you can, keep your soil mulched. It will protect the soil from errosion, keep it wetter longer and encourage worms and such underneath. (Worms hate bare soil because it gets too hot).

I'll be honest, as important as soil is, I'm still probably not spending enough on making it as good as it could be. It's always a balance between cost savings and pay off in the garden for me. How is the dirt where you live? Feel free to write about it in the comments below.

Mother Earth News Build Better Garden Soil

9 Ways to Improve Your Garden Soil

Reclaiming an Overrun Garden Bed

Before

We've all done it. Life gets busy and before you know it, it's June and one (or more) of your garden beds is completely overrun by weeds and who knows what else. No worries! I'm here to walk you through how to reclaim your garden area.

Step 1: Determine what you want to save. We kept the two azalea bushes, despite their sickly appearance and transplanted some daffodils and bleeding hearts to another spot.

Step 2: Rip out everything you don't want. In this case, we tore out lots of weeds, dead leaves, rotted logs and two snakes. (They were tiny, no problem!) Of course, when pulling out weeds, get as much of the roots as possible.

Step 3: Be sure to outline your bed the way you want. We just used spades and, at the end, a string of rocks from the woods. However, you could also use any number of different edging from your local hardware store.

Step 4: Add any plants you want. We were going for a Japanese inspired look so in addition to the Azaleas, we also added small hostas. (Azaleas and hostas are from Japan)

Step 5: Baby any of the plants that are original to the bed. If the plants have been over run with weeds and forgotten, odds are they are going to need a little TLC. I pruned the Azaleas, fed them with an organic fertilizer and treated the plant with a fungicide. (If you interested, it's called Green Cure and you can order it here.)

Step:6: Lay down cardboard between plants. This will repress the weeds. You will thank yourself later.

After

Step 7: Mulch over the cardboard. In this case, because we are going for a Japanese look, we used rocks but you can also use wood chips.

Step 8: Water if needed. Be sure any new plants don't dry out.

That's it. I did the pictured garden bed in one afternoon with some help. Don't give up on a garden because it's over grown. The feeling of accomplishment is so worth the effort of cleaning it up. You can do it! If you'd like more information on Japanese gardens, then check out the links below.

The Elements of the Japanese Garden

9 Traditional Japanese Plants

Why Bare Ground Is Bad for Your Garden

Even after years of gardening growing up, one thing that I never realized was bad for the garden was bare ground. What do I mean? When you clear all the weeds and plants in a section of garden and then leave it empty so you can see the bare ground.  Mind you, my hard, clay soil makes this abundantly obvious when it develops deep cracks as it dries out but even if you have great soil, it's still not good to leave it bare - especially in the summer heat. Here's why.

1. Erosion: Any soil amendments and fertilizer you've put on your garden bed are likely to wash away in a summer downpour.

2. Heat: Bare ground heats up quickly which repels garden helpers like worms and other beneficial microbes.

3. Compaction: Bare ground will bake and get really hard so when you do want to plant something, it will be very difficult. This is especially true if you have clay soil like I do.

So what should you do instead? You can help your soil by covering it up in one of the following ways:

1. Mulch: Put any kind of non-treated organic matter and dump it on your empty space of ground until you are wanting to use it again. Anything from straw and grass clippings to pulled weeds. Seriously, I've temporarily got a pile of dead pea plants piled up in a part of my garden where I plan on planting fall crops in another month. Couldn't be easier or cheaper.

2. Cover Crops: These are plants like clover or buck wheat that help build your soil and keep it cool and covered while you're not using it. You can find seeds for this at most garden centers.

3. Let the weeds go: The caveat here is that you cant' let them go so long they go to seed and get out of hand. Even then, it's still probably better to leave some weeds than to let your ground go completely bare for long.

Keep in mind that nature abhors a vacuum. The only time you see bare ground in nature is in a dessert and we certainly don't want our gardens to resemble that. So do yourself a favor and keep your garden covered as much as you can and it will greatly improve your soil over time.