I don't know why not a single one of you stopped me from renting another community plot when I said I was getting an extra one this year. I now have two 40' x 20' garden plots to take care of along with my backyard, front yard vegetable garden and a persnickety half dead succulent in a pot.
For real. What's wrong with you people? It's too much. Why wouldn't you say anything? I also have to plant the vegetable garden I forced my niece to grow last year and my mother's raised planter. I'm not sure, but it's like you aren't even paying attention. Seriously. Why would you do this to me? Bunch of snarklefarts you are.
At the time of writing this post I've managed to plant ONE of my community plots, get my strawberries and asparagus in my second plot and cancelled on planting my niece and mother's gardens 4 times. Oh, and my front yard I haven't even touched yet, so, so much for turning it into the French Countryside Potager garden I envisioned. At this point it looks like the kind of house you stayed away from as a kid because the person who lived there obviously ate kids. On the upside I think my succulent is almost dead enough to throw out.
There isn't a lot of growing going on in my main community plot yet but I do have 5 tricks I'm going to use this year that I thought you might like to try too. Even though I really shouldn't be sharing any fantastic information with you, what with you pretty much ruining my life and all.
THE HOOP HOUSE
Suck on that cabbage moths. If you read my blog you know the cabbage moth and I have a love hate relationship. I hate it and it loves all of the plants that I grow. Dinosaur kale, cabbages, broccoli, swiss chard ... all of it covered by the second week in summer with tiny little green cabbage worms that stand up on their hind legs, look me in the eye and then slam back down into my brassicas mouth first. It's not the holes they make in my food, it's the fact that they're the exact same colour as it which makes them invisible. So no matter how many times I wash it there's a good chance they're still hanging on.
I've tried traps, scare tactics, kill crops, everything. When none of that worked I decided this year I was going all out and building a hoop house to cover all of the my cole crops (also known as brassicas). I'll keep you updated on how this experiment goes. I've built many hoop houses over the years but never one this big and never for this purpose. I could just end up trapping in all the other bastard insects like Swede Midge, guaranteeing the death of all my crops, not just cabbage moth holes.
GROWING POTATOES IN STRAW
I've grown potatoes in straw before and it was a complete disaster so don't even ASK me why I'm not only trying it again this year but I'm solely using this method. It's a type of straw bale gardening where you don't use soil to grow, but straw. You plant your potato in a trench of nice, loose soil and then hill it immediately with 6 inches of straw instead of soil. Then you continue to hill with straw. The logic is the straw is good for keeping weeds down, keeps the light out that would turn the potatoes green and most importantly makes the potatoes MUCH easier to harvest. You just pull the straw away and don't need to use a fork or shovel.
Last year I hated digging up my potatoes so much I laid down in the dirt, threw a hissy fit and cried. Then I ate a kid.
I've done my research and potatoes grown in straw DO have a lower yield than potatoes grown in soil BUT you don't have any potato loss because you can easily find all of them and you aren't stabbing and injuring any of them with a pitchfork. To make up for the possible loss in yield I'm just going to plant more potatoes.
The most important things for a high yield in potatoes is making sure the soil is cool. Potatoes don't like hot soil. So I'll dig a trench as deep into the soil as I can when I first plant them. The deeper down you dig, the cooler the soil which is especially important since I'm planting my potatoes WAY later than I should be so the soil is warmer.
The one problem I had with straw when I originally planted them in straw was the fact that straw really, REALLY holds in moisture. I had planted them in peach baskets which maybe didn't drain enough and I really packed the straw in. The vines all just kind of rotted. I was angry. So I ate a kid.
This time I'll loosely scatter the straw and I might water the potato beds with soaker hoses that won't get the straw wet, which should help with that problem.
When did I get so serious? I'm so serious when I talk about gardening tips.
ESPALIERED TOMATOES
This one I'm not convinced will work at all based on how tomatoes grow, but I'm going to try to espalier a few tomatoes along my garden fence just like you'd espalier a fruit tree. So the tomato will grow flat against a wall or fence with the the lateral branches flat. They'll take up less space, get a ton of sun and air flow, and hopefully grow healthy tomatoes less prone to disease. Although as I mentioned at the beginning, I'm not convinced this will work but I sure am excited to try it.
Wow. Now I'm not only serious, I'm pretty dorky when talking about vegetable gardening. If you're new here, I'm normally more entertaining than this. I swear. So please give me another chance.
OMG, now I'm also needy. This is nuts.
HONEYDEW
The circled plants are the Honeydew. The rest of the plants are potatoes I missed digging up last year that are now growing! Which is why I'm trying the easy dig straw planting method.
This isn't so much a trick as a test. I grew cantaloupe years ago in this zone when I was a teenager (because yes I was an unfunny, needy, vegetable dork as far back as then) and as far as I remember it was a success. So honeydew can't be that different can it? My little niece that doesn't like me (although I'm growing on her) wanted to grow cantaloupe so I gave her a section in my garden for cantaloupe and dedicated another section to trying Honeydew. Which everyone knows is much more delicious than cantaloupe. Also easier to spell.
DELAYED PLANTING
This is another risky one, but I'm going to have a safety net just in case. A lot of people don't have the opportunity to rent huge garden beds like mine. Or they have reliable true friends to talk them out of it. Either way, they have a regular backyard vegetable garden which only has a certain amount of room and that means having to choose what you really want to grow. But if you think about it a little bit and time things right you might have a lot more garden space than you think you do.
Lettuce croaks as soon as the weather gets hot so all the room that lettuce was taking will be available for something else that loves the heat. That means when the lettuce bolts in the middle of June you can take that space to plant your zucchini which will still have plenty of time to grow. This year I decided I could save a lot of gardening space if I waited to plant my squash until I harvested my garlic. I'd plant the squash in the huge bed I pulled my garlic out of. I'll also be planting some squash over in my second garden so I won't be squashless if this experiment doesn't work. But if it does, then I know for next year that I can save a whole lot of space by delaying the planting of my squash.
Yeah, but for real. just to reiterate, I'm normally really entertaining. I mean I once nearly killed my sister I'm so funny. If I'd thrown in a knock knock joke, she'd be as dead as a head of lettuce in July.
Nancy Blue Moon
Well Miss Snarklefart yourself..we all contacted Betty when you told us you were going to rent another garden space...We were very concerned that you may be in a bit over your head and we wanted her advice on how to tell you to not do it...Betty informed us that you have a very dense skull and our pleas with you would likely be ignored and may just send you into a temper tantrum the kind which I have not witnessed since my my son was two years old...Being the loving, concerned type of readers that we are..we decided that it would be best for you if we just backed off and let you learn your lesson..And after all our concern and caring for your health and sanity...this is what we get...Snarklefarts our we?..This just hurts young lady...I know you tried so hard with this one Betty...tisk tisk..
Nancy Blue Moon
Oh yeah...have a nice weekend...
Karen
Hurumph. Yeah. You too. ~ karen!
Nancy Blue Moon
lol...xoxo
Gayle''
I've done the growing of potatoes in straw. We dug the trench, planted, laid out the soaker hose as we do in all our beds. Then, once the potatoes are about 6 inches tall, we'd hill up the straw and wait for the most to clear the straw by 6 incest and pile on straw, and so goes the summer. Had no problems at all. Good luck on your plantings this summer. The espaliered tomatoes look interesting, tho...
Jean
Lee Valley has a lovely, easy pop-up row cover. Do you not still have a connection with LV?
Jan
Karen, personally I wouldn't change a thing in the front yard, except put in a few leg snares for the little smart asses that take the dare of treading there.
Who tries to grow brassicas in the spring anyway!!! Holy cow that's a fall/winter crop down here in NC! It's GREAT cause the weeds don't grow (MUCH) and most of the bugs are gone. I've given up summer gardening the last few years because of mosquitoes, etc, but can't wait for the luscious turnips and rutabagas and lettuce and brussel sprouts , etc... etc.. I'll be starting come August. Yeah it's a hot bitch getting the garden going then, but sooooo easy afterwards!
BTW, tried growing in straw several years, but we've got FIRE ANTS, and they just love a pile of straw. !@#$%^&*_ !!!
Yes, I'd say you're spread a little thin LOL!
Garth Wunsch
In my part of Ontario, if you don't garden in spring... you don't have a garden. :-(
Jody
Seriously when are you just going to buy a farm? You could have lots of veggies and fruit trees, lots of broody chickens, and goats, lots and lots of goats. And sheep that you could shear for the wool that you would then spin to knit with or weave into fabric to then be cut up into teeny tiny strips for rug hooking. I can see you riding some big-ass farm machinery thingy. And then sell all your wares at local farmers markets.
Or....is this my own dream of homesteading.
whitequeen96
OMG, you are crazy, woman! I have trouble remembering to water the potted plants on my porch; anything more would be too much for my poor brain!
Ardith
Why are you growing purple aliens in your garden?????
Ardith
Is this your passive aggressive way of getting back at us for not calling a gardening intervention? We're sorry. We're really, really sorry.
Marna
I love reading your posts, you are a riot! You make me laugh out loud, at least I am at home! I don't do much growing now, other than lots of flowers, which the poor bees love. I think I am the only person now in blocks that has any flowers growing. I do have vegetables in pots. I tried the potatoes in some barrel pots a few times, they didn't grow very large, it is so hot here in Texas, but I had little fingerlings. I used straw too, it wasn't good quality though. I was going to use some sort of cover for my plants, in pots but in the original garden, but then worried the poor bees wouldn't get in. I am probably going to plant a butterfly garden to help them too. It will be on the opposite side of my yard, so the caterpillars don't try to eat my veggies too. You are amazing, can't believe all the work you put in for produce, well everything! Thanks for sharing, you make me laugh! :)
Marna
Forgot to mention when I first saw the marker with the name Juliet, I thought maybe you were naming your plants! LOL! Then I realized that would take too long, so it must be the variety! :)
Karen
Ha! Yes. The variety. I haven't got to the point that I'm naming my tomatoes yet. ?
Karen
Well it's too bad you use an ad blocker Marna. It's my only source of income. And with the rise in people using ad blocker I've been contemplating adding my own blocker (which blocks people who use ad blocker, lol). So if you come to my site one day and can't get on it it's nothing personal. I just have to pay the mortgage. :/ ~ karen!
Marna
Sorry, I do undo my blocker and popupextensions for specific sites I like, otherwise how would I know what's new etc. So your site I see it all! You know there are sites that are nothing but "junk" ads, not anything really of interest, eventually I stop going. I do research, so I have to have some popups allowed. I didn't mean to imply your site has anything annoying at all! :)
Karen
Ha! ~ karen
Carole
When we lived in NY, 13 miles from the St. Lawrence River (rude awakening for a Fort Lauderdale girl) , we placed potatoes right on the ground on top of the mowed grass, covered with hay and kept piling on the hay as they grew. In the fall just raised the hay and picked up the potatoes. It had the added advantage of leaving us with a nice plot of soil to increase the size of the garden without digging.
Stephanie
I bet telling you "you can't" is like pressing the gas.
Jan
Karen needs a T shirt with TELL ME I CAN OR I WILL!!!
AnnW
I've been busy, but I did'nt notice that you asked us about the second plot. I would Get An Intern. Also, I think you a ready for a farm stand. Think about it.
Dale
I chopped up all my leaves from this past fall and dumped them in a fenced in area with chicken wire. Instead of taking this mulch to my veggies, I've planted the veggies in the middle of this mulch plot. So far so good. The plants love it.
Dana
So sorry I didn't warn you off this madness. I would certainly want to be good to you, but my brain only works in metric. 20 x 40 would be plain ridiculous in meters, but I always guess feet are so small so you must know what you're doing... ?
Jeanne
I only have one patch about 20'x40' (+ landscaping the front and back gardens) and I cannot keep up with it! If I had two I might become catatonic! My husband would find me in the garden drooling and talking to the weeds...wait, I already do that. :\
Good Luck Girl!
I am trying my taters in burlap sacks with a mixture of soil and straw, we'll see. Like you I have potatoes coming up all over that I missed last fall and unfortunately that is a strawberry patch now! Hmmm.
Love your posts, shall warn you off adding more garden space next year.
Barbie
So glad to know someone else is feeling overwhelmed with the workload of the large garden. We cut ours in half this year... first I said I didn't want one but then I started adding just one thing and then another....I need to can for the winter damit! I'm late on getting green beans and cucumbers in ...also my dill and other herbs....onions...won't do potatoes....can't control the potato beetles that are now attacking my tomato plants too! YIKES.
We put a pool in the other side of the garden this year! So I can jump into it when I'm hot from all the weeding and crushing of potato beetles!
PS: I followed your link in this post to the Christies Antique sale and I know you go every year...I always think "Oh Karen would just love "Farm Chicks" we have it here every year in Spokane. It's SO you. https://www.facebook.com/thefarmchicks/
Mary W
Really aught to try the squished bug juice method of ridding whatever of a particular bug/worm. It may even work just to squish them, water and stir and sprinkle around the plants. I think it is the smell so it may just work that easy. I didn't try but there is always next year.
Phyllis Kraemer
Hmmmmphh!...your memory is slipping...I recall asking you a question when you told me about the second plot...like...."have you lost your mind?...of course I knew the answer...and also that there was no talking you out of it!..Turns out it's just more amusement for all of us!..perfect...thank you!
Woniya
I eat kid too when stuff doesn't grow well in t he garden. After all…no vegetables=kid soup, I guess.
I have espaliered my tomatoes year after year. But I use concrete reinforcing grid so I can actually weave branches in and out and I have to tie limbs up less. It works really well, and the plants are prettier, AND it's so much easier to pick the tomatoes rather than reaching through a cage wire.
I wish I had the ability to rent a plot someplace to experiment with things that I have no real room for in the garden at home. It must be a heck of a lot of work, but really rewarding for you.
Karen
The issue I can't get past is the tomato keeps getting taller and therefore the branches get higher don't they? Or maybe they don't, lol. I'm giving it a shot both at home and at the garden. I want things a bit neater all around. Glad to hear you've had success with it. ~ karen!
Stephanie Barnhart
I wanted to question you about that second plot, but I was afraid you'd eat me. I know how you are.
Karen
True dat. ~ karen!
Jane S
It might be time to give up and buy a farm. Then you could have goats.
Karen
I CAN BARELY KEEP UP WITH THIS WORK!!!! LOL. But yeah. I'd love a farm. ~ karen!