One Good Reason to Make Your Bed...

...raised.

Check out the standing water in my backyard this evening. Three to four inches deep in some locations and usually very slow to drain.

Standing water at .09 Acres. This is the primary reason I decided to build raised beds in early 2010.

After I purchased my home in 2009, it didn't take me very long to decide between in-ground vs. raised beds. I actually didn't have much of a choice. The low, slow-draining yard dictated what would be best. If I didn't want sopping wet soil and rotting roots, I would have to build raised beds.

So that's what I did. Actually didn't take too long or much material; a weekend, a bunch of 2 x 8s, some wood screws, battery-powered screwdriver, saw, and lots of compost. I even decided to expand and connect my raised beds because of the ease of use and multiple successful harvests.

Now I don't have much to worry about when I come home from work and see this...

...because I already made my bed(s).

Mulch Ado About Nothing

Mulch. Beginning gardeners don't think much about it. "What's the big deal, why all the fuss? It's not necessary, is it?! I can still grow veggies and fruit without it, so why bother?"

Here's my 2 cents on the subject. Mulch is a huge part of my backyard. I use it on my raised beds as well as on the ground beneath my fruit trees, berry canes, flowers, and herbs. Heck, I spread the stuff everywhere!

That's what I'm talking about! 5 cubic yards of mulch delivered from a local garden center. I already spread 2 cubic yards the other weekend, but completely underestimated how much I needed.

Why use mulch? I use mulch for multiple reasons. First, it helps maintain even moisture in my raised beds by minimizing moisture evaporation and blocking bright sunlight from "baking" the soil in brutal summer heat. I use considerably less water in the warm months for my raised beds when they are mulched. Second, it smothers growth from unwanted weeds, grass, and seeds. That's the main reason I use it over my entire backyard, and I will continue to use it so I never have to mow grass again. So far, so good. Third, mulch breaks down over time and adds nutrients and organic material back into to the soil. Fourth, appearance. Mulch adds a uniform look and rich color to any yard or raised beds.

What type of mulch? Mulch comes in dozens of varieties. Hardwood, softwood, ground up trees debris, wheat straw, pine needles (for acid loving plants), cut grass, leaves, rough and fine texture, even recycled tires and other "green" options. Basically, anything that can be applied in a thick layer for the reasons listed above.

Detail pic from the huge mulch pile. It's nearly impossible to shovel this stuff with a regular shovel or spade. Use a pitch fork or special mulch fork instead.

Where can I get some? Most large nurseries and greenhouses carry mulch. I prefer to buy it in bulk (cubic yards) rather than the bagged version from the big box stores. It is considerably cheaper this way. You can also find it at city waste processing facilities. Hit the internet to find the best sources near your house or yard. I also like to look at and feel what I'm buying. All mulch is not the same in quality, color, or general appearance.

Freshly applied wheat straw mulch around recently planted cucumber vines. I covered the entire raised bed with this straw mulch to conserve water and moderate soil temperatures. It also decomposes and adds organic material to the soil.

How should I apply mulch to my yard or raised beds? I won't speak for every gardener because we all have different mulch preferences and uses. But I will tell you what I do at .09 Acres.

For raised beds: I apply 3-4" thick layers of wheat straw over all my raised beds. I simply pull sections of it off a compressed bale of straw and spread it over the beds. Sometimes after a few weeks or decent rain a few sprouts of wheat straw will grow from seeds in the bale, but it is easy to pull them by hand. I delay mulch application on warm-season crops that prefer higher soil temps, like sweet and hot peppers. I let the soil sit exposed in the sun until temps are generally warm, then I mulch. It is May 12 and I still haven't mulched my pepper beds. I likely won't until next month. I also mulch heavily for fall and winter crops. The added layer of protection often means that I can leave root vegetables and hardy greens uncovered (no hoop house or low tunnel).

For the rest of my yard (walking paths and beneath fruit trees): First, I pull any existing weeds or unwanted seedlings from the ground before I spread any mulch. Then, I'm ready to spread a 3-4" thick layer of mulch over the entire yard. It will take me dozens of trips with a wheelbarrow, but I load it with a pitch fork and then push it into my backyard. I then dump the wheelbarrow and repeat the process. Only after I have dozens of piles scattered in my backyard do I attempt to spread it. I use a bow rake rather than a leaf rake because it is stronger and I can use it to push and pull the mulch into a uniformly thick layer.

Three distinct layers of mulch in my backyard. Last year's layer of mulch is visible on the right near the raised beds. This year's layer (not fully spread over entire yard yet) is the dark brown stuff visible on the left.  I will eventually cover all of last year's mulch with a thick layer of new mulch. Also, note the wheat straw mulch directly beneath the fig trees.

Will I still be singing the praises of mulch when I'm sweating my tail off in the midst of shoveling and spreading 5 cubic yards of mulch? Probably not. But as soon as I'm finished, showered, and standing out in the yard with a cold beer in my hand, I'll quickly remember why I do this every year. You should try it to.

Back in the Garden Again

My apologies!  It's been well over a month since my last post. The holidays and an INTENSE workload really put a dent in my gardening and blogging time. In the past 6 weeks I've done little in the yard and nothing with the blog.

Considering my neglect of the garden during this period of time, I expected Mother Nature to force me to tighten my belt a notch or two by wreaking total havoc on my tasty veggies and herbs. I imagined hard frosts, harsh winds, and cold dry air conspiring against me. I pictured languishing lettuce, crusty carrots, and beat up beets.

What did I find? Beautiful broccoli.

Calabrese broccoli head approximately 8" in diameter. This plant was grown in a glazed ceramic pot.

Don't think broccoli is beautiful? How about now?

Calabrese broccoli head.

This head of broccoli looks almost like a coral reef you'd expect to see off the Florida Keys rather than in a backyard garden in Newport News, Virginia. This plant was grown from seed in a large glazed ceramic pot. I mulched it with a thick layer of wheat straw after it germinated and haven't fussed over it since then. Yes, I hand-picked a few caterpillars but did little else. It is also growing smaller side shoots that I will only cut after I harvest the main head.

What else did I find that I didn't deserve? A cool cover crop.

Diego standing guard over a 4' x 8' bed of winter rye and hairy vetch cover crop.

I purchased Wren's Abruzzi Winter Rye and Hairy Vetch cover crop seeds last September from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange at the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello. I mixed and planted them in a 4' x 8' bed previously occupied by my Inchelium Red garlic. The seeds germinated easily and very quickly filled the bed. It's a vibrant addition to the otherwise muted colors of the winter landscape. I plan to cut and till the cover crop into the bed in early spring before planting tomatoes in late spring.

The cover crop is also important for another reason I did not anticipate. Dogs are natural foragers, and my two dogs often ate grass in my previous yard to aid in digestion. By successfully smothering my grass, I unintentionally eliminated one of their favorite diet supplements. Last summer, I often found my dogs sampling different weeds and other greens because they were looking for a suitable substitute for their favorite but now missing forage. As soon as the cover crop germinated and grew, Diego would regularly run over to the bed and dine on selected shoots of Winter Rye. He still does, seems to love the stuff! So in a way, it's a happy system. Soil feeds cover crop; cover crop feeds soil, dog, and future plants; plants feed human; human feeds cover crop to the soil; repeat. My only concern is that Diego doesn't get comfortable dining on whatever he choses from the raised beds. That could be a problem.

Maybe I'll construct a bone-shaped raised bed for dog edibles...then again, maybe not.

The broccoli and cover crops are just two of the many reasons why Diego and I are beginning to appreciate winter gardening more than summer gardening. There is little to do after planting and germination other than to harvest the rewards of Mother Nature. No toiling, no tilling, no sweating.

Many other veggies are doing very well despite my neglect, but I'll save them for another post. Hope all is well in your gardens.

A Jekyll and Hyde December

.09 Acres is having an identity crisis this December, and I fear that Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde are living in my garden shed.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the well-appointed garden shed at .09 Acres. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Let's start with Dr. Jekyll, shall we?! The vegetables at .09 Acres are much like Jekyll. They are mature and respectable. The lettuces and chard are good looking, tasty, and protected by the mini hoop house. The carrots, beets, and broccoli are doing just fine while prominently exposed to the elements. At this point in the year, they are all content in their beds until harvest. I'm not one to boast, but my greens look like they belong in a gardening catalog. If you were to walk by the lettuce bed, you might even respectfully tip your cap as if you were passing Dr. Jekyll on the street.

On the flip-side, my fruit trees, shrubs, and brambles are behaving in an irrational and unpredictable Hyde-like fashion. The inconsistent weather, much like Mr. Hyde's strange potions, is triggering all kinds of strange reactions from the plants. Raspberries continue to mature on a  semi-regular basis almost like it's early fall. The Celeste fig tree and espalier dropped all their leaves weeks ago. In contrast, my Violette de Bordeaux and Negronne fig trees are still covered in leaves and figs. It is quite grotesque to see them growing side-by-side. My Red Russian pomegranate is the only "normal" tree in the yard, having gone dormant in November. But who knows...it may be inwardly lusting for some sinister transformation.

A little bit of Jekyll, but certainly a lot more of Hyde at .09 Acres.

If .09 Acres is Dr. Jekyll (and Mr. Hyde), I guess that makes me Jekyll's loyal servant Poole. This December I've been out in the yard early in the morning and late in the evening to cover the greens in plastic. I've also changed quite a few things in the yard to keep Jekyll happy and productive. I dug up and potted my in-ground blueberry bushes and replaced them with a young Angel Red pomegranate tree (visible on right side of above picture in middle of straw mulch). I also transplanted a Peter's Honey fig and an unknown fig from my yard to my aunt and uncle's property and replaced them with Strawberry Verte and Hardy Chicago figs (visible on left side of above picture in middle of straw mulch).

Hopefully this will decrease the likelihood that Mr. Hyde shows up again at .09 Acres, but I may be losing my mind in the process...

Frost Protection

We had our first frosts of the year in late November. Two or three of them. Fortunately all the fall/winter veggies survived, but I'm making preparations to protect the crops once the temps remain consistently cold.

Last year I constructed two experimental mini hoop houses in mid January after the frost had already taken a nasty toll on the greens. This year I expanded the idea by building one long, continuous hoop house.

PVC hoop house frame built over raised beds of lettuce, spinach, chard, and other tender greens. Plastic will be attached soon.

Currently only the PVC has been added to the raised beds. I used 10-foot sections of 1/2" PVC pipe and pushed it directly into the soil within the raised beds. I bent each pipe by hand over the bed, forming the "ribs". I then attached the "ribs" to a long "spine" with plastic zip-ties. The structure is fairly strong and will withstand wind and snow. We are expecting warmer weather for the next 5 days so I likely won't secure the plastic covering until sometime next week.

Note how the PVC is pushed into the soil against the interior sides of the raised beds. No screws, brackets, or fasteners are required. It's an easy, effective, and inexpensive setup.

I only opted to cover my more tender vegetables like lettuce, arugula, spinach, and chard.  I did not cover the kale and root crops like carrots and beets. They are, however, heavily mulched with a thick layer of wheat straw for protection. They withstood just about everything last year and I'm hoping they do the same this year.

From left to right: Buttercrunch, Winter Density, Parris Island Cos, and Rouge d'Hiver lettuce. Spinach is barely visible farther down the bed. This hoop house will function like a mini refrigerator once it is covered with plastic, protecting the vegetables and keeping them cold but not frozen.

Colorful head of Rouge d'Hiver lettuce.

Ruby Red Swiss chard. I planted these seeds on September 15, but they took a long time to germinate because of very hot temperatures in late September and early October.

Not everything in the garden looks great right now. I had a heck of a time battling  caterpillars on my broccoli and kale. Fortunately they only seemed interested in those two plantings and not the other veggies, but it didn't take long for them to completely defoliate this poor plant.

Kale that was completely devoured by caterpillars. Lots of carnage and not a lot of leftovers.

There are a handful of chemicals and products (organic ones too) to battle these beasts. I did buy a bag of powdered Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), an organic bacteria that is effective on caterpillars, but I got lazy and never applied the stuff.

Now I just need somebody to play Taps on the trumpet while I add these remains to the compost pile and pay my respects.

Enjoying the Fall Garden

Like many people, I started out as a spring and summer vegetable and fruit gardener. Warm weather meant planting and harvesting. Cold weather meant waiting for next year's harvest.

It took me a few years and lots of trial and error to realize that cool season gardening can sometimes be the most rewarding gardening of all. The most notable differences between fall and summer gardening in Zone 7b are comfortable temps, very few bugs and pests, care-free veggies, and generally easy tasks. 

In its simplest form, fall gardening consists of sowing seed (in late summer), watering, mulching, more watering, and harvesting. That's just about all there is to it. Some hardier crops even survive repeated frosts and in a location like Newport News, VA, a productive four season garden is a realistic goal. 

I took the following photos of my fall garden at .09 Acres on Halloween, 2011.  

Long rows of Buttercrunch and Winter Density lettuce.

Young Rouge d'Hiver lettuce sown in succession with other lettuce varieties to extend the harvest. Succession planting spreads out the harvest over a few weeks or months.

Long Standing Bloomsdale spinach. This is my first attempt at growing spinach. I found that warmer soil temps in late September definitely hindered germination, but the spinach seems much happier in early November.

I had spotty germination of my carrots. Notice that the center two rows filled out nicely while the outer rows (far left and far right) are fairly sparse. I'll have to wait and see how they do this year. Last year was an amazing year for carrots.

It's tough to beat good beets. Here are four short rows of Detroit Dark Red and Chioggia beets. These are still quite young and probably need another month to grow. I thinned them in mid-October to allow the beet roots to grow larger, and I added the thinned greens to a salad. Definitely a great addition.

I am growing kale from seeds I saved (this spring) from last years kale plants. I battled tiny caterpillars for a few weeks when the plants were young, and you can see some of the leaf damage they caused in this picture. 

I am growing broccoli in two large pots and in a raised bed. I'm curious to see whether it grows better in-ground or in the pots. I can't remember if I planted Calabrese or Waltham broccoli. I have to check my seek packet. I may have started these seeds too late for the plants to mature in time to produce harvestable broccoli, but only time will tell. The tiny caterpillars that hit my kale also like the broccoli. Damage is visible on the right-most leaf.

Apple mint growing in half a wine barrel near the gate to my yard. It has made an amazing comeback from the crippling heat of mid-summer. This plant thrives in mid-late spring, suffers through summer, then regrows with a vengeance in fall. This entire barrel grew from a small rooted cutting I dug up from a yard where I previously lived. Mint will take over the world if it's not contained, but it's also a must-have in any yard.

Russian Red pomegranate ready for harvest. There are appx. twenty of these hanging from my 4-year old pomegranate tree. I can't say enough good things about this tree.

Negronne figs that definitely will not have enough time to ripen before the first frost. This tree keeps growing larger and producing more figs. Next year should be an amazing harvest. 

Two unripe Eureka lemons hanging from a small branch on my potted tree.

New foliage on my Eureka lemon. It usually starts out with a reddish tinge, then turns bright green as the leaves grow and mature.

More blossoms keep appearing on my potted Bearss lime tree. Citrus flowers are arguably some of the best smelling flowers in nature. My lime tree is currently holding about 10 limes. After last year's harvest, I thought it could've grown 50 limes this year. But a strong gust of wind knocked it off a table in early spring and snapped off the main trunk. I'm pretty sure I cried when I finally found out what happened.

Baby Bearss limes growing from recently pollinated flowers. I won't be dining on these limes for a LONG time!

What are your favorite fruits and veggies to grow in the fall? Are you thinking about adding additional cold-weather protection like floating row covers or plastic-covered hoop houses to extend your harvest into the winter? Fall is finally here so welcome it into your garden.

Late September

Late September at .09 Acres is a transitional period in the garden. The fig trees are lush and still loaded with a secondary crop of figs, reminiscent of mid-summer flavors. The slightly cooler weather, ripening pomegranates, and newly planted lettuce and spinach seedlings welcome the arrival of fall.

I put together this photo-mosaic on September 29 to give you an idea of what's taking shape in the yard. Please disregard the sunbathing hairless terrier lounging between the raised beds.

September at .09 Acres in Newport News, Virginia.

If you compare this picture with the main photo in the banner of my blog, you'll notice some pretty significant changes. The fig trees are quickly filling out against the south-facing fence (left). The espalier fig is reaching for the sky agains the shed (back left, near center). The raspberries and blackberries are looking a bit rough after the hot summer (back right). The peach tree has been replaced by 3 small rabbiteye blueberry bushes (right). I've found that peaches are nearly impossible to grow organically in this climate. And the pomegranate tree is flourishing (near right). I've also kept the grass and weeds in check with diligent digging, weeding, and mulching.

The raised vegetable beds look nearly naked, with the exception of a few emerging seedlings. You can see beet and carrot seedlings mid left and lettuce planted at staggered intervals near right. Within 30-45 days I'll be harvesting lettuce, spinach, radishes, and chard. I also plan on covering most beds with hoop houses to extend the growing season. They will also act like outdoor refrigerators keeping plants growing slowly but well preserved even during periods of frost and snow.

Garlic Harvest

Raised bed of Inchelium Red garlic in mid-May.

I harvested my Inchelium Red garlic about 2 weeks ago. Some of the stalks were starting to lean over and were laying on the soil. The bottom-most 5 or 6 leaves were also brown and dry. I'm not a garlic expert, but I've used these signs in past years to determine when to harvest and I did the same thing this year.

Dry and brown lower leaves on garlic plants.  This photo was taken around June 1.

I actually used a fork (think flatware not pitchfork) to dig up each bulb. I'm not sure why I used a fork. I guess it's because I found an old fork in the garden shed and figured "Why not?!" It worked quite well, and I gave a nod to MacGyver. After harvest, I placed all the bulbs (approximately 50) in my shed for about 2 weeks to cure. I hung them from the rafters, cracked the windows, and ran a box fan to provide ventilation.

This is my third harvest of garlic, and first at .09 Acres. I figured I should do something special to celebrate the occasion. I went online to figure out how to braid garlic. I found a lot of sites with various diagrams, contradicting information, and mostly confusion. I learn by watching and doing so I fired up YouTube and found this decent video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EIzZ3hAn9s) by Christi Wilhelmi of Gardenerd.com. I set aside about 1/3 of my cleaned and cured harvest and went to work. The results weren't stellar, but I started to get the hang of things.

My first attempt at a garlic braid.  These are my biggest bulbs and I will likely save them for next year's planting.  That's one reason I used them for my trial braid.  The other reason is that they have fairly thick necks and were more difficult to work with.  I wanted to save the easy stuff for last!

The trick is to keep a very tight braid as you introduce new bulbs to the braid. The other important thing to remember is that you won't produce a textbook garlic braid on your first attempt. I had the occasional bulb slip loose, I dropped one on the floor and scared the heck out of my dog that was sleeping nearby, and a rogue spider or two crawled from the pile of cured bulbs. All minor problems. After tying the top of the braid and making a loop for hanging, I worked up the courage to start my second braid with the remainder of my Inchelium Red garlic.

My second braid of Inchelium Red garlic.  Again, not textbook in appearance, but not bad either.  

Some of the bulbs aren't tightly spaced with nearby bulbs. There is also a bit of dirt on a few bulbs that I still need to remove. But other than that, I think it was a pretty successful first attempt at braiding garlic. Now I've got the pleasure and pride of hanging this beast in my kitchen. Garlic anyone?

Busy Day, Pictures Tomorrow

I was hoping to put up a full post today, but the yard won.  Clearing beds, pulling weeds, harvesting kale and carrots, shoveling and spreading 2 cubic yards of compost, and prepping for planting.  It was a productive day and I was outside until dark but I never took a picture.  I'll snap a bunch tomorrow so check back then, especially if you want to see the "mustache" that I harvested.

Uhhh...What is This Thing?!

I was poking around my raised beds and noticed about three or four of these weird things.  I have no idea what they are.  Maybe some type of fungus?  They are brown, fairly thin walled, and curve back toward the middle of the growth.  They are ribbon-like in appearance and the edges are raised much higher than the center, which is smoother and flatter than the slightly bumpy exterior.  They are currently approximately 5" in diameter. I don't know how long they have been growing.

Unidentified mystery growth near my garlic plants.

It would be great if they were edible, but at this point I have no idea.  They are growing in fairly close proximity to the wood side frames of the beds.  It has also been quite wet (lots of rain the past 3 weeks) with a warm week and then two cool weeks.

Any thoughts and/or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Fresh Air and Water

It was a mild and sunny day so I decided to open the roof of my convertible.  Okay, a bit of an exaggeration, but I have been keeping my hoop house / low tunnel plastic tied open for the past few days.  I folded and tied the plastic to the center PVC pipe with twine in order to allow rain to soak the beds.  I decided to keep it open since the weather hasn't dipped below freezing recently.

Raised bed with plastic covering tied in place.  Arugula is growing in the center and lettuce seedlings are also growing in this bed.

The weather forecast for the next 10 days varies between the mid-30s and low-60s.  No sign of really low temps but I will leave the plastic fastened to the pipe.  The weather in Virginia in March and early April is very unpredictable.  I will only remove the setup when we are definitely in the clear of snow and hard frost, which may be a few weeks from now.

Extending the Raised Beds

I took advantage of the nice weather this weekend to do something that was inevitable.  I extended my raised beds by joining some of them together.  Instead of 5 separate 4' x 8' beds, I now have two really long beds that run parallel down the center of my backyard.

First, on Friday evening I removed the wheat straw and cardboard mulch from the ground between the four-foot widths of the beds. There were MANY worms beneath the mulch and the soil looked very rich.  I took a pitchfork and loosened everything.  I let the freshly exposed mounds of soil sit exposed for two days.  Second, on Sunday I re-forked the mounds and removed every clump of grass and weed I could find.  Third, I framed in the newly dug areas with untreated whitewood 2 x 8 planks (same type of wood I used to construct the original beds).  I used outdoor wood screws to fasten everything together.

Extending and joining my raised vegetable beds.

I am going to let the newly framed in areas sit exposed to the elements for a few weeks.  I will then remove anything that germinates, re-fork the soil, add a thin layer of wheat straw, then fill the remainder of the spaces with compost.

By doing this I added an additional 4' x 11' growing area, which equates to adding a sixth 4' x 8' raised bed and an extra 4' x 3' raised area.  If you look at the title picture of the blog, imagine the left two beds joined together and the right set of beds joined together while maintaining the original pathway down the center of the yard.  I'll take an overall picture when the work is completed in a few weeks.

I maintained the original dividing walls between each bed in order to maintain distinct growing spaces within the two larger raised areas. This will be helpful when planning crop rotation to prevent the buildup of certain diseases within the beds.  I will simply move the crops from one divided area to the next based upon accepted practices.  For those of you interested in good guidelines for crop rotation and succession planting, you should read chapter 7 in the New Organic Grower by Eliot Colelman.