My Small List of Helpful Hints............

A small list of helpful hints......

1. Make sure onion necks are exposed to the sun and not covered by dirt...by harvest time they will be already be partly dried and ready for your root cellar.

2. Do you have trouble starting lettuce in the heat of summer try placing lettuce seeds in the refrigerator for a few days then plant. Place a little mulch, straw or hay over this and keep watered.

3. Do you have a shaded location in your garden bed? You can plant lettuce,spinach and mustard greens there.

4. When planting carrots add a little coffee to their soil this helps prevent root maggots

5. Are birds pulling out your corn plants? Save those milk and juice jugs cover seedlings until plants are big enough that the birds can't pull them out. I placed a small hole at the top about the size of a dime to vent it..I didn't want my corn to get to hot.

6. When I tie back my tomatoes I always use a piece of nylon stocking never an old rag remember the plant is going to grow and it will need something to be stretchy.

7. I try to plant my corn when my apple blossoms begin to fall (I haven't had time to do this... this year)

8. Cutworms: Protect your plants by adding a ring of cardboard, a tin can that has the top and bottom removed ( be careful doing this) My favorite and cheap way is a bathroom Dixie cup with the bottom removed.

9. Think about building a cold frame we use ours to harden off our plants and to keep lettuce a little longer (through the end of fall)

10. We have added chickens to our homestead this year we use the droppings in our compost bin and we enjoy eggs all year round. We only have 6 chickens on a 1 acre lot....so I think they are a perfect addition for a small gardener.

Happy Gardening.....

Lynn

A Friends Recipe to Keep Bugs Away.....

I have a dear friend that reads my blog and she gave me her recipe to get rid of bugs...I have never tried this but by looking at the ingredients it just might work.

Bug Spray:

1 Cup Murphy's Oil

1 Cup of Antiseptic mouthwash

1 cup of Tobacco tea

Mix together place in a hose-end sprayer..... soak plants to the point of run-off.


what is tobacco tea?

Place a handful of chewing tobacco in a gallon of water place in sun...after water turns dark brown strain with old screen window.


* My friend said this gets rid of all bugs and I say why wouldn't it.......


Happy Gardening...

Lynn

Garlic Spray

We planted our garlic in the fall and it is almost ready for us to pull up...and I will be glad because I really need to make a batch of bug spray. I still have been battling bugs on my herbs...I make this solution and it really seems to work.

Bug Spray:

6 large cloves of garlic chopped fine

1 small onion

1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon dish soap (cheap)

1 quart of water.

I mix this all together and let it sit over night. I strain with some cheese cloth...I then put the solution in a spray bottle.

This will work on many plants just don't let the solution sit on your plants for many days...I always test it on one plant to even see if it will kill the bugs and it usually does!

Happy Gardening...

Lynn

My Favorite Tool.... the Hoe

We have been busy working in the garden pulling weeds mostly...we have been getting so much rain it amazes me how fast the weeds seem to grow. I mostly hand weed because the raise beds make it easier...but after I hand weed I usually take the hoe through the whole bed. I started thinking this is my favorite tool in the whole shed.

I usually run the hoe along all my garden beds to stir up the soil and by doing this I am removing all smaller weeds, loosing up the soil which improves aeration. Many times after a hard rain our soil takes on a hard crust....this needs to be removed so the plant can get all the nutrients and moisture it needs to grow.

I hoe very shallow without going to close to the plant and never deep enough to hurt the roots. I scrap the top crust off making the soil look like new on top...it really looks nice after a good scraping.

I have many friends that mulch their beds with straw, leaves, hay, grass clippings etc.. I have not gotten into the habit of this...all my beds are plain dirt. I know if I did this I probably wouldn't have as many weeds and I wouldn't have to hoe.. I guess that would take all the fun out of me trying to battle the weeds every year. Plus it's good exercise.

What's your favorite gardening tool?

Happy Gardening...

Lynn

Raised Beds

When we first started gardening we started by planted all our vegetables and herbs in rows...It was very hard keeping up with weeds and we nearly gave up until we found out about square foot gardening or raised beds. We grow everything in raised beds all our vegetables, herbs and our fruit. Here are a few reasons why.....

We usually had big puddles in our beds after it rained our drainage has improved.

Soil warms up faster and dries out more quickly....this means we can plant earlier in the spring.

We don't walk up to our plants so we don't disturb the soil.

Our beds are smaller so we can reach the weeds easier....when we pull weeds it is easier to clean a whole bed in a matter of minutes instead of hours.

We can build our beds in the fall and have them ready for spring...remember we add lots of compost to all our beds in the fall.

We can plant our plants closer together so this leaves little room for weeds to grow.

Okay what are the disadvantages of raised beds?

Our garden beds dry out in the heat of the summer. (which means extra watering) (you could add extra mulch or even a soaker hose during this time.)

The paths down the middle get rather weedy.... we just mow between our beds and I kind of like the look. I have friends that pile up leaves or use straw to get rid of the weeds. I myself do not like this look so I would rather mow between the paths.

I wanted to remind you.... we don't use treated lumber for our raised beds so they do need to be replaced after a few years. I know lots of people that use cinder blocks which work great but they are a little expensive for me.

Happy Gardening...

Lynn

Lettuce for all Seasons.....and a recipe

We love that we can pick lettuce almost all season long...until it gets real hot. There are so many different kinds of lettuce and they all like different temperatures so you can almost grow it all season.

We grow a lot of Romaine lettuce because of its crunchy texture. We can grow this lettuce in the summer months. Our favorites are Apollo and Jericho.

We also like loose leaf lettuce...you just pick its outer leaves and it will keep on growing. We have had lettuce grow for months and months. I like that we can grow this in the summer months our favorite is Red Oakleaf and Salad Bowl.

My ultimate favorite lettuce is Butterhead or Buttercrunch (Yum!) It is soft green with red heads and has a buttery flavor you can grow this in early spring and summer. Cool season Capitane warm season Esmeralda.

What about Iceburg? We have tried to grow this....I think we get to warm in the spring time. We just can't get it to grow.

We plant lettuce all around our garden...we have lettuce in our potato beds around our onions ect... When it starts getting bitter we pull it up....making room for are other plants to grow. This works really well in the early season.

Here is one of my favorite Salad Dressings:

Creamy Herb

1/2 cup fat free mayonnaise

2 tablespoons and 1/2 teaspoon soymilk or fat free milk

4 teaspoons white vinegar

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 salt

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon pepper


In a small whisk together and then chill....wonderful over fresh crisped lettuce.



Happy Gardening...

Lynn

Recommended Seed Spacing

When you plant your seeds do you ever think about how far apart you need to space them? I know that not every seed will germinate but if they did I want them to be spaced far enough apart. It saves me time not having to thin them out. This is my recommended seed spacing I hope it helps you....out in your garden.

Radishes 1 inch apart

Onions 2 inches apart

Parsnips 2 inches apart (I thin to 4 inches apart)

Carrots 3 inches apart

Kohlrabi 3 inches apart

Beets 4 inches apart

Leeks 4 inches apart

Swiss Card 5 inches apart

Leaf Lettuce 6 inches apart ( I usually have to thin this)

Broccoli 15 inches apart

Cabbage 15 inches apart

Collards 15 inches apart

There are many vegetables I left off here because most of the time I start my seeds indoors like tomatoes. I think it is a lot cheaper to start your plants by seed and planting at seed out it good rich dirt does produce a hardy plant that will give you vegetables. Remember to buy extra seeds at your garden center for fall planting!

Happy Gardening...

Lynn