Vegetable gardening and nutrients

I had a lovely visit this afternoon with good friends from the Lowcountry of South Carolina to a biodynamic vegetable garden here in Asheville, grown by experienced vegetable gardeners and committed water recyclers (their gray water system was amazing).

This tumbler works well enough to be the second one they've bought.  They compost animal manure, vegetable debris, and leaves in this tumbler in fast batches quite rapidly, so they can produce finished compost in several weeks.

Their vegetable beds were perfectly maintained and extremely productive, reminding me (yet again) that vegetables are nutrient AND water hogs.

Brussel sprouts side-dressed with compost, ready for fall production

Their biodynamic treatments are nutrient-rich; although, as a scientist, I'm not inclined to think that energy is transferred to the mixtures through stirring,  I'm more than happy to see the results.

Their garden was producing LOTS of vegetables, and their plants looked great.

Read more...

Mountains, winter, and spring vegetables

Bare branches, open landscapes and remnants of snow greeted us in the mountains. The air was clear and the mountains visible, without the humid haze of summer.

With more normal winter temperatures, it's not frigid, thankfully.

But happily it's time to be thinking about spring and summer vegetables.

I just have an order or two to still put in; I've already received the tomato, pepper, eggplant, and tomatillo seeds for growing for transplants (most will be donated to produce transplants for Garden Fest, an event to promote vegetable gardening in home gardens at the botanical garden where I work). The rest are for vegetables that benefit from direct seeding -- also many will be offered at Garden Fest.

It's so encouraging to see the interest in growing vegetables and other edibles expand. It's part of a sustainable garden, for sure.

Read more...

Vegetable gardening successes and failures

Every year is different. Some vegetables (and varieties) do well some years, and others are challenged.

I've had lots of tomatoes this year, thanks to abundant spring rains, but largely of a few varieties. Thank goodness for sturdy hybrids that happily produce faced with the usual tomato diseases.

My second round of plantings (from tip cuttings) are doing well, too, along with heirloom tomato plants growing in pots (in nice disease-free soil, of course). The second round of squash is flourishing, too, although between squash vine borers and woodchuck herbivory, the early plantings are just about gone.

I've left the winter squash and tromboncino squash growing in the satellite garden (maybe they'll outgrow the woodchucks?). The tomatoes look good, maybe the eggplants will produce some non-bitter fruits (some of them have been truly nasty), and maybe the yard-long beans will shake off the aphids, which have been a major garden pest this year.

Read more...

More thoughts on a White House vegetable garden

Maybe I didn't realize quite how remarkable this was before, but this piece in the NY Times was eye-opening. 60 years?

Hmm, no wonder there was a campaign going to encourage the next inhabitants of the White House to 'Eat the View.'

And thank goodness that Michele Obama is willing to give it a try, although I was touched to see her photo with the kids from a local elementary literally digging up the lawn, accompanied by one of the White House chefs, too. None of their garb seemed suitable for gardening, nor does turning over turf necessarily create a good garden. But, they'll learn, and enjoy the fruits of gardening, to be sure.

Read more...

Gardening and cooking

Rainbow carrots from my garden

I was struck by a comment CEN made in response to a recent post: Growing Vegetables.

Among other interesting points, she wrote:
'It's hard to work up much of an interest in vegetable gardening if people don't cook or enjoy a variety of foods or have a curiosity about them-- economic reasons or no. If all people know is to microwave packaged stuff, what's the point of growing vegetables?'

Hmm, of course, she's right. But how could you resist these rainbow carrots?

Why spend any time growing vegetables unless you enjoy eating them, first and foremost?

Sharing and preserving the harvest, as well as the pleasure in gardening itself -- those things are nice, but vegetables and fruits almost nudge you towards harvesting them, no matter how much you might be enjoying their appearance.

Thomas Jefferson reportedly took great pleasure in his vegetable garden from an eater's perspective, focusing on vegetables as the primary part of his diet and waiting for the early peas, growing sesame for oil for his salads, planting fruit trees, etc. (My Esopus Spitzenburg apple sapling from Monticello's Center for Historic Plants is now planted in a sunny spot in the NC mountains, BTW).

A basic vegetable gardening 'rule' is: grow what you and your family like to eat.

I was a cook before I was a gardener, although I have fond childhood memories of picking wild blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and salmon berries. As a grad student in California, the abundance and diversity of produce available in local produce markets (eg. the Monterey Market) was eye-opening -- fresh mushrooms were a revelation to me at the time (late 70's, early 80's). Another revelation were the wonderful Hunan and Szechuan dishes produced by local restaurants.

My parents were neither cooks or gardeners, although they certainly were interested in fitness and health.

But I remember buying a book in those graduate school years about 'Growing Vegetables the Chinese Way' which showed beautiful raised beds of attractive well-maintained vegetables, similar to the one we saw many years later near Hoi An, Vietnam. This gardener was pleased to show us the results of his effort.


And I also bought a book by Rosalind Creasey, called 'Cooking from the Garden' -- a fabulous book describing different sorts of food gardens and the kind of vegetables that were grown in each. I still have both books. Creasey's books were instrumental in launching an edible gardening trend (micro as it may have been). And there are many more since then.

I read a recent piece in Eating Well by Ellen Ecker Ogden about how she founded Cook's Garden Seeds some years ago (which she sold recently to Ball Seed Company), and how she started providing recipes to encourage customers to try something new.

And a comment by a keen vegetable gardener who isn't the primary cook in his family has got me thinking about this, too. He said he'd like to learn to be a better cook so he could use more of what he grew.

There's a total connection between what I cook for dinner and what's in the garden in the primary growing season. Fresh brussel sprouts were the vegetable for today (thanks to Kathy and the walled veggie garden next to the visitor center). Fabulous.

Read more...

Planting times and sowing seeds

It can seem hard to figure out when to start transplants or sow seeds outdoors. You certainly can't rely on when transplants become available in local garden centers (it's usually WAY too early to put warm season vegetables in the ground).

But the best starting point advice (in the U.S.) is information from our state networks of the Cooperative Extension Service, and their equivalents in other places.

In my state, I can rely on fact sheets from Clemson University (our state's land grant institution, which through its Public Service Activities includes in its mission to provide science-based agricultural information to end-users.) Our CU Home and Garden Information Center's factsheet, Planning a Garden, is a great reference for sowing and planting times in the Piedmont, Midlands, and Coastal Plain of South Carolina. Our neighboring states (and states through the U.S., for that matter) have similar useful information distributed through their equivalent Cooperative Extension Service activities.

Another useful device that I'm using is a downloadable Excel spreadsheet for seed starting times, distributed by YouGrowGirl.com. One of their readers (I think) created an extremely useful chart to determine (based on date of last frost) when to start transplants, sow seeds, and transplant seedlings. Check it out!

Read more...

Eat the View campaign

It would be fabulous if the Obamas diverted part of the White House lawn to an organic vegetable garden. Why not, really? Lawns are fine, in moderation, but huge expanses don't make a lot of sense, ecologically or otherwise.

Kitchen Gardeners International has been using blogging and internet power to encourage this idea since WAY before our US election in November. And this idea won a non-profit contest for best initiative from OnDayOne.org.

And why shouldn't we try to grow more food in the city, as this link suggests? And those of us in rural and suburban areas, with available space, certainly why not?

Read more...

Cabbages and their kin

Cabbage is a crop with many relatives. They include broccoli, kale, collard greens, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, broccoli rabe, and kohlrabi, in addition to other variations. Brassica oleracea, or Wild Mustard, has given rise to an impressive diversity of crop plants, illustrating the selective possibilities in a single species, to be sure.

A keen and experienced local (near where I garden) vegetable gardener (CEN) mentioned cabbages in a comment on a recent post. She mentioned a large cabbage with a pointed top, that was so large that it's chopped off in pieces for sale.

It got me thinking about cabbage variations, and the HUGE cabbages that we saw in northern Vietnam.

An early morning outside of Sapa found us poking around in nearby vegetable and flower gardens. There were the largest cabbages I'd ever seen growing in the understory of a forest canopy. This photo doesn't really reflect how LARGE the cabbages were, without a relative scale to compare.

We were certainly off the tourist route, having taken a downward path from the main road, very early in the morning (the flash reflection on the photo shows that).

As we continued to walk down the valley, a young woman overtook us, loaded with giant cabbages for market.

The other crop here was roses, destined for flower markets in Hanoi, and maybe elsewhere. They were grown with protective paper cones around the buds.

Read more...

Vegetable garden rotations

A brief mention of rotating vegetables in a talk yesterday morning encouraged a question about how to rotate garden crops -- important for a sustainable (organic) kitchen garden, simple in concept, but sometimes challenging in practice.

The principle is simple: rotate crops that are grown in a single area by plant family. There are a number of plant families represented in common vegetables, but not so many that it's easy to avoid repeat plantings.

Ground rules:

Don't plant tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, or potatoes (tomato family: Solanaceae) in the same area for 3 (preferably four) years, ditto with kale, broccoli, cabbage (mustard family: Brassicaceae). Alternate plantings with lettuce, chicory, marigolds (in the Asteraceae, or daisy family), carrots, parsley, fennel, or dill (in the parsley family: Apiaceae), onions, garlic, and shallots (in the onion family: Alliaceae), beans and peas (in the pea family: Fabaceae), squash and gourds (in the squash family: Cucurbitaceae), or beets, turnip, or chard (in the beet family: Chenopodiaceae). Wheat, rye, barley, and oats aren't commonly grown in home gardens, but make a great cover crop rotation, being in the grass family: Poaceae.

Some plant families are more disease-prone (because we grow them all the time) than others. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, and green beans fall in that category.

It's important not to plant vegetables in the same family year after year because of pest buildup-- soil critters like root-knot nematodes, fungal problems such as fusarium wilt, and presence of larval pests like squash-vine borers LOVE having their hosts there year after year.

I'm learning that lesson first hand.

My main vegetable garden isn't that big. It's basically a long row of five blocks (roughly 5 X 5 ft) loosely adhering to the Square-Foot Gardening principles described by Mel Bartholomew. They're a little bit too big to reach in easily, but simple to dig by hand. Each block is separated by stepping stones and a mulched path, and edged by gray fieldstone.

I like to play around with my beds and mix up different vegetables, herbs, and flowers, and do NOT have a great record-keeping orientation, so after growing tomatoes, peppers, and 'cole' crops in various places in the blocks, I'm starting to see a build-up of soil-based problems for these common species in the main vegetable garden after the 10 or so years I've been gardening there, root-knot nematodes and fusarium wilt (I think) in particular.

The satellite garden, started 3 years ago, provides a more expansive opportunity for rotations and cover crops (very helpful for soil replenishment and dealing with soil difficulties).

So, I'm planning on being much more scrupulous about rotations (I WILL keep a plan of what I planted, I hope), using cover (and trap) crops, and introducing predatory (supposedly) beneficial nematodes, in the coming months.

There are lots of sites that provide useful information about rotations. A quick Google search finds Yankee Gardener, an Iowa State University site, and a Texas A&M site at the top of the heap.

Read more...

Local produce

The photos are from the market in Hoi An, Vietnam, the market in Pisac, Peru, and a vegetable grower in his home garden near Hoi An.

We have two farmer's markets in our immediate community now -- the one on campus is associated with the Student Organic Farm, and the other is in a small historic town nearby. Both are wonderful to have; I like to visit both, even though we don't exactly need many vegetables this time of the year. (We did a CSA share with the Student Farm for several seasons, before I realized that there was no way that the two of us could eat all those vegetables, in addition to what I was growing - and finally, the huge bunches of edamame two weeks in a row - in pods and on their stems in a giant bag, was the tipping point).

And, they're really nice students, but they don't always know that the secret to delectable vegetables is to harvest them at the perfect time -- when they're young and tender, not when they're big, especially with squash and beans.

But free-range eggs (from our university's flock), fresh melons, peaches, and whatever else might be offered are reason enough to visit and support both markets.

Today, I bought fresh figs (I really want to have a fig tree) and some delicious red-fleshed plums from an older couple, and then bought a small loaf of bread from a bread-baker who grinds her own flour. I definitely don't need to buy bread (being a keen bread-baker myself), but the idea is so appealing to me that she's baking bread and cookies from flour that she's freshly ground (even if the wheat kernels come from Montana) that I can't resist.

As a child, visiting my paternal grandparents in Northern California, I was fascinated by the navel orange tree that grew over the fence. My maternal grandmother had a pantry full of canned vegetables and preserves, and had a large vegetable garden and berry patch that was well-tended and productive. The produce markets in the East Bay area (across from San Francisco) were already thriving three decades ago; as a graduate student, I discovered a bounty of diverse peppers, fresh mushrooms, brussels sprouts, and fresh carrots (my mom, not an avid cook, relied on frozen vegetables, as did many of her 'modern' generation). The summer fruits that California produces in abundance were also available, fresher than any that were shipped.

And visiting markets in Europe, Asia, and South America and seeing the diversity of things that we can grow has only encouraged my interest in what I can grow (and what people in my community can grow) and the vital connection that we have with soil, habitat, and the plants and natural communities that sustain us.

Read more...

Starting fall vegetables

It's hard to imagine in mid-summer, when it's so hot and humid here, but I should already have stout brussels sprouts and broccoli seedlings ready to transplant if I want to attempt a fall crop. The seedlings that I have are pretty small, so I'll have to hope that they'll do OK.

But, I have all the seeds I need to start sowing the last rows of summer beans and squash, and gradually work my way through the sequence of planting beets, carrots, kale, lettuce, peas and spinach (not necessarily in that order!) A friend was lamenting the absence of any tomato transplants for fall in our local big box garden centers. It's a pity since it would be a great time to put in a 'second shift of tomatoes' in our warm climate. For us, as odd as it seems in a rural area, either growing your own seedlings, or ordering transplants through mail order are the primary options, unless you manage to get some at a local farmer's market.

I was delighted to read a By Design opinion piece Grow your own today in the New York Times. A city dweller, Allison Arieff reports on an urban trend (think NY, San Francisco, and Portland) of hiring an 'urban farmer' to come in and convert part of your yard to a vegetable garden, tending and picking it for you. The comments to date on the piece (and this trend) are fascinating, from raves to disparaging remarks.

I think it's a wonderful first step for Allison and her husband to start enjoying their backyard as a source of veggies (and green space), then realize that doing it themselves is even more fun. Just becoming more aware of where all of your food is coming from, how it's grown, and how it got to you is revealing.

Lots of people hire folks to mow their lawns and blow their leaves; why not hire someone (experienced) to grow vegetables, and teach you in the process?

Read more...

Community vegetable gardens

About a hundred yards away from the edge of a new development nearby -- through a woods edge full of muscadine and poison ivy -- is quite a different sight.

In an old city recreation park (the ball fields were moved to a larger park elsewhere), community garden plots have been available to residents for an annual fee.

There are about 12 of them -- very generously sized and provided, at least in this initial phase, with tilling, water, planting advice, and soaker hoses. I think this is the 3rd season of the program and every plot is currently taken.

I dropped by this afternoon, and several of the plot holders were harvesting tomatoes, okra, beet greens, and tidying and tending their plots.

This is something that I'd like to see a lot more here!

Read more...

Why not more vegetables?

My morning walk takes an occasional loop through a new neighborhood, not far from our established one. Developed on the site of a series of old horse pastures, it supported grasses and forbs with large trees on the perimeter. Currently, there are 4 completed houses with inhabitants, two houses for sale, and one in the final stages of construction. All quite large, of course, with expansive space around them. This is not remarkable, unfortunately, but what is fascinating (and scary) is how uncreative the landscapes are.

This is not for lack of spending money on the landscape, mind you. The rows of leyland cypresses, ornamental shrub beds, and heavily watered turf sodded in great expanses strikes me as unmodern and not forward-thinking at all. The water is streaming from overhead irrigation in the morning.

Why not add a diversity of interesting (and fast-growing) native trees to create shade instead of crepe-myrtles? Or native conifers and pine?

And where are the vegetables? One house has two tomato plants next to the garage near a sea of irrigated grass and 'foundation' plantings. I read a blog post in Garden Rant this afternoon that mentioned an article in Time magazine about Edible Estates, something I'd read about before, but I missed this article.

I love the idea of this -- I've been doing various programs (this link is one version of it) recently about creative and ornamental vegetable gardens, so I think Fritz Haeg's concept is brilliant.


We're fortunate enough to have lots of space in front and in back of our house, and the main and satellite vegetable gardens are in the backyard, but they're certainly attractive enough (in my opinion) to be out front!

Read more...

Vegetable change-outs

It's a good thing that we're not totally dependent on my potato harvest for sustenance, although South Carolina is hardly a prime potato growing location. 'Caribe' potatoes seem to do the best, although I've had harvests from all the varieties I've tried. I'm still learning about potatoes - in my second year of growing them, my ecological instincts (about native plants) don't necessarily serve me well with nutrient and water-hungry crops. And, certainly, dry weather doesn't help.

But we had some delicious fresh potatoes (along with new garlic and onions) for dinner, so I'm happy with that.

But, I'm enjoying thinking about rotations, and what to put in the potato beds after they're done. (They still have small developing potatoes at the end of underground stems -- do I water and side-dress with compost and hope for more potatoes -- or do I dig up everything and plant beans, or wait until mid-July and plant fall-maturing cole crops, or seed in basil, or transplant tomatoes, oh my...)

The red cabbages in pots have been an unexpected element, as has the redbor (I think) kale, transplanted from a salad mix, and now handsome in one of the vegetable garden blocks. There haven't been many cabbage butterflies, yet, or maybe tough older kale and cabbage leaves aren't preferred to the younger ones that were chewed up.

And there are young squashes to harvest soon.


And this is the first broccoli plant I've managed to get a head from (although quite small).

Read more...

Hoping for rain, again

The main vegetable garden is looking nice, thanks to water still available from the faucet.

But I'm worrying about the summer to come. It's been exceptionally hot for June (pushing 100°F) - yuck - and not a drop of rain for the last couple of weeks. Not 'normal' at all, and the midwestern U.S. has been deluged with rain.

I've got spots ready to swap out for new plantings, for beans, more tomatoes, and peppers, and basil. It looks like the potatoes are ready to be harvested, too, and something put in their place.

I'm hoping for thunderstorms this week!

Read more...

Three-season vegetables and Rhizobium

Before planting late this afternoon, I swirled around a batch of soaked peas (sugar snap and sugar sprint) in the recently-arrived packet; it created a rather evil-looking dark inoculant 'slurry' boasting 200 million live Rhizobium spp. good for peas, beans and other legumes.

I've had lots of fun sharing my enthusiasm for growing vegetables, edible flowers, and herbs in two recent programs. One was about Creative Uses of Herbs and Edibles, the other about Three-season Vegetable Gardening. I was inspired to extend my vegetable gardening seasons by Eliot Coleman, Four-Season Harvest, and Barbara Pleasant's Warm-Climate Gardening. If Eliot Coleman, in Maine, can be harvesting vegetables through the winter, surely here in South Carolina, even in the the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, I can grow things for three seasons, working on four.

I had a great group of participants for both programs. I love my vegetable garden; gardening for nature may be a primary interest, but growing interesting and tasty vegetables is right behind. There's no better way to eat local than to grow your own. And many of us here in the South are fortunate enough to have sunny space to grow all sorts of things, thanks to affordable land. I found myself checking out lawns this afternoon, thinking about why wouldn't someone rather have an attractive vegetable garden instead of a lawn. Often that's the sunniest spot in the yard. Worth thinking about!

Read more...