Creating Shade in the Garden

The good thing about gardening in a field is the sun that shines on the vegetables so they can grow tall and be happy.

The bad thing about gardening in a field is the sun that beats down on the gardener making them wilt and be miserable.

If you are going to be working out in the sun a long time and want to create some shade - here is an easy portable method.

All you need is a huge beach umbrella and a bucket full of dirt or rocks. Open the umbrella and poke the spike end in the bucket and voila..instant, portable shade.

And if it is really hot and you want to have deluxe shade, get a box fan and run the extension cord out to where you are working so the fan blows on you while you are under the umbrella weeding.

Somebody Has To Be The Average Joe/Jane!

Hey Everyone,

And the "Average Joe/Jane" Prize goes to Vann Gaskin in Bed 44!

If you are following along with the warming of the garden soil temperatures, we have had our "Garden Hottie", our "Chilly Nilly", and now it only seems appropriate to crown a bed that falls somewhere in between as the "Average Joe/Jane!"  I know, I know, where does she come up with this stuff?

Our "Average Joe/Jane" prize goes to the bed whose average temperature is closest to the overall weekly garden average without going over.  All temperatures were taken throughout last week between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. using a digital meat thermometer and then cross-checked with the compost thermometer to ensure accuracy.   The overall garden average last week was 63.8 degrees and excellent warming should be anticipated with this lovely weather upon us.

Lemon Thyme and Perpetual Spinach!
Heirloom Chard has a striking appearance and offers a Chard/Spinach
for the summer months when most others have bolted.
 It will not go to seed until the second year.  

With a few chilly nights and some rain mixed in, the ground temperatures were more than sluggish last week.  On Monday, April 1, we were off to a great start.  The lowest temperature was 61.2 degrees and the highest ran 71.9 degrees.  The swing of ten degrees was all in one section of the garden, whereby all the other sections were stable with readings in the mid 60's.  The complete average temperature for the garden on that day was 66.4 degrees.

Tuesday saw a downward trend and everyone was losing quite a bit of heat.  In just one day, our average dropped to 63.1 degrees.  The hottest bed in the garden at 71.9 degrees (Doug & Nancy's #50) on Monday was already down to 65.3 degrees on Tuesday.

By Friday, the temperatures had taken yet another downward turn due to rain and a chilly day and night on Thursday.  The garden average for Friday, April 5, was right at 62.0 degrees.  The highest temperature, once again, was Doug and Nancy's bed at 68.9 degrees.  The lowest bed in the garden was 57.7 degrees.

Our "Average Joe/Jane" winner consistently placed close to the averages all week while most beds were showing great fluctuations.  On Monday, her bed was 66.2, Tuesday it ran 61.6, and Friday it was 63.2 degrees.  Average those together and we have a winner at 63.6 degrees.

The plant is in your bed and the seeds are in the shed for you, Congratulations Vann!

Hope you enjoy,

Denise, Beds 25 & 29

As the saying says....

Necessity is the Mother of Invention.

Recently I got some brand new clipper/scissors and they are very sharp. I knew I was going to stab myself or put a hole in the bag I was using. Usually I wrap a paper towel or a rag around sharp objects but it just so happens I had the inner part of a toilet paper roll sitting there. AH HA!!

After a bit of squishing and using some good packing tape, I now have a holster to keep my sharp implements in.  (But I still have plenty more cardboard rolls to use for cutworms when the time comes.)

The green ones are the super sharp ones

 

 

 

Water Wands

What are the advantages of using a water wand or an adjustable nozzle? LOTS!

Yes, the "pump" handle on our faucets at the garden help control the water flow that comes out but you need even more control when your plants are small and tender, especially when the seedlings  start coming up. You don't want to beat your new plants to death when you water them.

Shut off valve/water regulator

Water wands are long so they reach further into your bed and you can direct the water exactly where you want it to go.  They also make it easier to get down under the bottom of a plant when the plants get big.

All my water wands have a water regulator/shut off valve on them. In fact, all my hoses have shut off valves to make it easier to control how much water comes out at any given time. If you are standing right next to the faucet the entire time, you wouldn't need a shut off valve but to reach all parts of my bed I have to move around and depending on the plant I'm watering, I adjust the water.

My latest, greatest water wand is from Tractor Supply over on Hwy 278 in Hiram. Besides it being a beautiful color it works like a dream. After Denise tried it out, she really, really wanted it.

Ouch! Ouch cry the seedlings!

Oh, much better the seedlings say.

Ahhhhhh.....the seedlings say

Weekly Calendar April 5 to April 11

April 6
10:00 - 12:00
Gardeners on Duty

April 9
NO Gardeners on Duty

Starting Your Spring Garden Class
6:30 to 7:30 pm
Quick link to class details
Lost Mountain Park

April 11
9:30 am
Monthly Meeting
Warm Weather location: at the garden

April 12
12:00 noon to 1:00 pm
Growing Tomatoes
Cobb County Extension Upcoming Events

More pictures from our workday

Grub Hunting

Planting tiny seeds




Happy weeders

Eating, talking and holding our
new treasures from the door prize drawing

 

Milk Jug Cloche

It is getting late enough in the season that we might be able to squeak by without having to use more frost covers. For those of you that don't have a frost cover system, you can use milk jugs, buckets or plastic bottles for a temporary system if the need arises. It probably works best if it is only a quick cold spell and is going to be a light frost.

Denise tried it a few years ago but prefers using the frost blankets. But then again, she is covering lots of plants so that makes sense.  She does have a friend that uses milk jugs but the thing you have to watch out for is over heating. You don't want to broil the plants you just saved from freezing so you will need to go out early and move the jugs or figure out a way to vent them easily.

My research on the web shows a multitude of ways to do it.  Here is one link to a how to - Milk jug as cloche. I was curious how well it would fit over Mark's tomato plants so I took my sample up to the garden to give it a try. It went over some of his tomato plants but not all of them.

Leaving the bottom attached really does make it easy to anchor down with a rock or any other heavy object.. But you do want to pull dirt up around the edges so no cold air gets in under the bottom. Letting cold air in is going to counteract the effort to capture the radiant energy coming up from the ground.

Nesting material for birds

Spring is the season when birds are frantically gathering nesting material. My yard is not ultra tidy so they find lots of natural material available (leaves, moss, pine needles, twigs, etc.) But over the years I’ve inadvertently provided more nesting material by having cedar branches and hanging baskets available to tear apart.

 

The cedar branch had been made into a suet log but that didn't keep the birds from stripping all the bark fibers off to put in a nest. I enjoyed watching the brown-headed nuthatch strip it actually.

 

This year a Carolina chickadee is working it over again. The hanging basket was one of those wire ones with a coconut fiber liner. Over the years it kept getting holes in it and the dirt would leak out. It puzzled me until I finally caught the culprit in action (Carolina chickadee in that case).

 

Last year when I emptied out a bunch of hanging baskets, I saved the coconut fiber liners so I could set the fiber out as nesting material this year. I've already filled this suet feeder twice with fiber so I know the birds are using it. I was lucky enough to glance out the window in time to see a female eastern bluebird pulling lots of coconut fiber to take away for nest building. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera nearby.  

Compost Sifter

Paulie is shoveling dirt while Eric, Patsy and Cina watch.
And yes, they found some grubs but no pupas.

Thanks to Mike for making a great compost sifter. It fits over the top of the wheelbarrow which makes it handy to transport and dump what you've sifted.

It also work very well if you decide you want to take out ALL the dirt in your bed and sift it looking for lumps, grubs, pupa, pecans and other assorted undesirables.  I'd heard about it and seen the end results but hadn't seen it in action.

If you want your own personal sifter at home I have one that is extremely easy to make and is very light so it is easy to use.  I got the idea from my friend Hal Massie about 20 years ago.

I use an old plant tray I got with plants one year (you want to use one with an open weave - a solid bottom one won't work.) Vic had a piece of hardware cloth that we cut down to size and then I attached it with twisties to the plant tray. Voila...a small, lightweight sifter.

Vicki's compost sifter

Denise  had sifter envy so went home and she made one for herself. She didn't have hardware cloth so she used a mesh with 1/4 inch holes which works well also. She also used zip ties (cable ties) to attach her mesh which I'll do the next time my twisties break.


Starting Your Spring Garden

Tuesday April 9th, 2013
6:30 - 7:30 pm
Lost Mountain Park
Western District Operations Building

You are invited to attend a free (and open to the public) gardening class sponsored by The Green Meadows Preserve Community Garden.

Starting Your Spring Garden
This class will be presented by Amy Whitney, who is a Cobb Cooperative Extension Program Assistant in Horticulture, Master Gardener, teacher, blogger and more. Based on Amy’s years of successful experience and teaching, this class will provide gardeners with the basics of what, how, when, and where to plant your spring garden. Planning for insect and disease control will also be covered.

Please RSVP to greenmeadowscg@gmail.com

We want to make sure we have enough handouts for everyone.

Directions From the Community Garden:

• Take Dallas Hwy West 2.0 miles (to the 2nd traffic light from the garden.)
• Turn left at the traffic light into Lost Mountain Park

• Take the first left.
• Once you turn, go straight and the road dead ends into a parking lot between Boots Ward Recreation Building and the Western District Operations Building. If the parking lot is full, park in the parking lot in front of the ball fields.

Lost Mountain Park

Western District Operations Building

4845 Dallas Highway

Powder Springs, GA 30127

 

 

Great Big Thanks to All!

Hey Everyone,

Just a great big THANK YOU to all those who came out and supported the workday Saturday afternoon!

It is so nice to assist the Master Gardeners who do so much and provide us with such a nice place to come out and play!  They even feed us yummy cookies.  Those were delicious Carol!


What a wonderful turnout!

We truly hope you had a great time mingling and working as we continue to form a wonderful community of gardeners.

All of us are such a vital part to its success and it is such a pleasure to garden alongside each of you.


Sphinx moth - adult form of
 tomato hornworm

Whether doing battle with the weeds, learning how to prune fruit trees, checking out the hornworm pupa, or simply having fun with Door Prize Bonanza, a great day seemed to be had by all.



Weeding under the shade and door prizes on the table.

Door Prize Bonanza is always fun and it was so nice to see everyone go home a winner.
Hope you enjoyed!



Have a great week and thanks again for all your help!

Denise & Vicki, Beds 25, 29, and 41

Gardeners on Duty

Gardener on Duty Time Change
 

In April the Gardeners on Duty spring forward and fall back at the same time! It is warmer and stays light longer so it was time for a schedule change.

The New Hours are:

Tuesday evenings 5:00 to 7:00 am

Saturday mornings 10:00 to 12:00 am


Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny came to the garden! It was kind of fun walking around
this evening to see where he had been and all the fun things that were left.

Pruning the Fruit Trees

Carol is teaching them the correct way to prune fruit trees. Right now she is working on a fig.
 All participants got a chance to prune a tree.

Tomato Hornworm Pupa

During Saturday's workday Wendy found 3 pupa and Mark found one. At first we thought they were luna moth pupa but after consulting the bug book in the shed we discovered they were HIGHLY undesirable pupa as they are tomato hornworms waiting to emerge.

If you want to learn more about tomato hornworms in all stages of their life cycle, this link tomato hornworms has great pictures and information about hornworms.

Notice the handle like thing on the pupa on the left. Hornworms

 have "handles" and luna moth pupa don't. Also, hornworm pupa are

 found in the soil and luna moth pupa are found in cocoons above ground.

Checkbooks, Stools and the Three Bears

Growing Vegetables is like:

Maintaining a healthy checking account

A 3 legged stool – all legs have to be in balance to stay up right

Using the 3 Bears scale

Out of balance means unhappy and unproductive plants

Remember we talked about the Three Bears Scale previously when it came to the soil level in the garden beds? Well, the Three Bears scale applies to all aspects of gardening.

  Too much       –       Too little         –             Just right 

 



 Too much or too little water. Too much or too little fertilizer. Too much or too little sun.  To achieve that Happy Medium (as in getting the scales to balance to Just Right) think of your bed as a checking account.

 

  You have to make regular deposits because the soil only holds a finite amount of water and fertilizer. When the plant uses fertilizer and water (makes withdrawals) you need to make deposits again.  When the plant has a negative balance in the account….it suffers, quits producing fruit and ultimately dies if no deposits are made. Even if deposits are made to prevent death, the health of the plant has been harmed.

Besides watering and fertilizing, there is a 3rd component to a happy garden. Mulching.

                                                                 photo by Bob Myers

 Gardening is a never ending cycle of adding water, fertilizer and mulch to maintain the health and productivity of the plants we are growing. There is one more aspect you could add to this so that instead of a 3 legged stool it is a 4 legged table - amending the soil.

To amend your soil properly every year, work in 1 – 2 inches of organic matter into the top 6-8 inches of soil. Adding organic amendments increases moisture holding capacity in sandy soils and drainage in clay soils. It also breaks down further to stabilize soil structure and feed microorganisms and add micro nutrients. Denise talked about her favorite method of amending her soil a couple of days ago in her post on Prepping Garden Beds.

Amy Whitney at the Cobb County Extension Office made a post on her blog about Plant Health Management. It is really excellent reading about how important it is to prevent problems from occurring in the first place.

If we water, fertilize, mulch and choose the right plants for the right time of year, we can prevent many of our problems. 

Tomatoes - to Plant or Not to Plant

That is the question. In our zone (7b) it is generally advised to wait until April 15th before planting out tomato plants. Soil and air temperatures aren't dependably warm until then and even then  it can be iffy.

If you do decide to go for it and risk it, read these two articles to make an educated decision.
Cold weather effects on Tomatoes
Cold Damage to Tomato Plants

If cold weather does move back in you really DO need to cover any warm weather crops with row covers and anchor the cover completely to the ground so that no air gets in. You want to trap the radiant heat energy coming up from the ground and not let in any cold drafts.  Just like you wrap a scarf around your neck tightly to keep drafts from going down your back.

I found a really interesting article Temps for tomatoes and peppers that details what various low temperatures do at various stages of the life cycle of tomato and pepper plants.  The article mostly has temperatures in C versus F degrees but it does show enough F degree temps to use it. To convert any temperature from C to F - here is a Temperature Converter.

FACES - a GREAT resource for us to use

FACES ? A resource? Yes, it is a great resource to use.

Georgia FACES is the online news service of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, including UGA Cooperative Extension and the Georgia Agricultural Experiment Stations. They publish all kinds of great research based articles and information.

Here is a link to the Spring Garden 2013 media kit. I haven't had time to look at everything in it but I've included links to three of the interesting articles in the kit.

Remove all blossoms on new fruit trees and bushes
I hate the idea of having to remove ALL the blossoms on my 3 blueberries that I just planted but I guess I'll be out there cutting them off this weekend. And I'm thinking we'll have to go up to the orchard at the garden and remove ALL the blooms that appear on our pears, plums, apples, & figs as well. Boo hoo hoo.

Adding Organic Matter and Growing Tomatoes
This article addresses the importance of adding organic matter to your garden as well as fertilizing and watering tomatoes to make them healthy.

Deadheading pansies
Why should you deadhead pansies? Because if you don't deadhead them, they convert their energy into making seeds versus blooms.

How many pansies do you see in this picture that have started this process? (By the way, after this picture was taken, they were cut off!)

This is actually important to remember all year round.  The purpose of a plant is to make seeds and fruit.

If you don't dead head flowers (zinnias, marigolds, etc.) or pick the fruit (tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, etc.) the plant says AH HA! I'm going to succeed and quits making new flower buds.

Once you've dead headed the plant or picked the fruit, the plant goes Dang It! and starts making new buds to make new flowers.

Don't be seduced by this warm weather

This warm weather makes you want to go out and plant! plant! plant!

Soil Temperature probe - Photo by Sharon Dowdy

Read this great article about Soil Temperature and why it is so crucial to wait to plant our warm weather crops (tomatoes, beans, squash, cucumbers, etc) until the soil temperatures have risen.

In other words, if you plant now, you'll end up crying later.

Have a little patience, no crying later. But patience is hard to have when there are beautiful plants in the store and beautiful weather outside.

But you can plant the cool weather crops! In fact, now is the perfect time for them.


Weekly Calendar 3/29 - 4/4

March 30
2:00 - 4:00 pm
Saturday Workday
Surprises

April 2
5:00 - 7:00 pm
Gardeners on Duty
(note the time change)

From Your Garden to your Table
6:30 - 8:30 pm
Cobb Extension Program
Pre-registration required
Cost $10.00