Keeping the shed clean

I noticed over the past few weeks that we are using the tools more and more in the big red shed. To help in keeping the dust and dirt to a minimum in the barn we should be cleaning the tools after each use before we hang them back on their hooks.

We have a spigot to the left of the door and if you will spray some of the water into the compost bin that would be accomplishing two tasks. So in short please take the effort to clean as we go. Thanks.

Hooray - the new hoses are installed

Today was a most excellent workday. We got the pile of dirt moved into all the new beds plus topped off a few other beds. Weeding took place, the compost was turned and even more exciting is that the 4 new hoses got installed. Those dratted green ones have been replaced!! Hip hip hooray! Everyone now has access to wonderful hoses.

 

The Bluebird Trail Tour was a great success as well. Kitty and Kathy (KC) both brought blueberry muffins. Soooo delicious!  Jim's talk and tour was very interesting and provided great information. The sun even came out while we were out walking to make it nicer.

 

If you weren't able to come to the Thursday workday and Bluebird Trail Tour, be sure and come out on Saturday.

        (If you are in doubt weather wise, check the blog and an update will be posted by 1:00 pm)

Count the Grubs

If you are thinking maybe you are going to skip turning the soil in your bed before you plant this spring, think again! As the two pictures demonstrate, you really SHOULD turn your soil to look for grubs.  Rita completely turned the soil in one bed during the workday and this is what she found.

 All these grubs came out of one bed!

How many grubs can you see in here?

(Don't count the brown mealworms.)

 

A close up of the grubs. Noticed they range in size

 from big fat ones to small white ones.

Freeze Warning(s)

There is a Freeze warning out for Thursday night. More than likely there will be a freeze warning for Fri (low 30), Sat (low 27) and Sun (low 25) nights as well.

Protect your carrots!

Collard Greens with Roasted Kabocha Squash & Coconut

And for those of you that don't think I am completely off my rocker, this will be my next attempt at having collards with coconut.  I so love trying something new utilizing what I grow!  I ran across this recipe on Peas and Thank You by Mama Pea.  If anyone would like to grow Buttercup Squash or Kabocha, I do have a few extra seeds. 

A sweet buttercup squash, creamy coconut milk, collards, and toasted coconut, who would have guessed?  

Ingredients:  Recipe makes 2 entree servings or 4 sides

1 1/2 cups kabocha squash, peeled and cubed (can substitute butternut squash or sweet potatoes)

1-2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted and divided

Yummy!

coarse ground sea salt and pepper

1 small sweet onion, chopped

1 bunch collard greens, cleaned, trimmed from stem and chopped

1 can coconut milk (full or reduced fat)

1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce

1-2 teaspoons brown sugar or maple syrup (optional)

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut, toasted

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Arrange coconut in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Place on the center rack and bake approximately 12 minutes.  Remove the toasted coconut from the baking sheet to cool in order to avoid over cooking.  

Raise oven temperature to 425 degrees.

Toss peeled and cubed squash with a pat of coconut oil and place on a baking sheet.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Roast for 20 - 25 minutes, stirring at least once halfway through.

Place a deep skillet or pot over medium high heat and add remaining coconut oil. Sauté onion until starting to soften and brown, about 4-5 minutes. Add collard greens that have been trimmed from the stem and cut into 1 x 2 inch strips. Toss to coat with coconut oil, adding slightly more if necessary.

Pour in coconut milk, tamari or soy sauce, brown sugar or maple syrup, if using, and nutmeg.

Bring to a low boil, then lower heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until greens have softened but are still vibrant.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Now that's Collard's!

Add roasted squash to greens and place in a serving dish.

Top with toasted coconut.

Hope you enjoy! 

Denise, Beds 25 & 29

Bad Grub Kit

No...we aren't giving out bad grubs. Instead I'll show you my favorite Catch A Bad Grub/Bug method.

What you Need:
1 pair of hands
1 or 2 newspaper bags (or gloves if they are handy)
1 plastic container with a lid
Some bad critters

Put the newspaper bag on one or both of your hands

if you can't stand to touch the bad critters.

Reach for the critter you don't like

Put the bad critter in the container that has a lid

Put a lid on the container so the critter doesn't

escape when you aren't looking

Take the critters home and freeze them to kill them. Or put them in a blue bird feeder so the birds will eat them. I personally like the bluebird feeder by the birdbath because more birds go to it and the bugs get eaten faster.

 

Just keep an empty container stuffed with several empty newspaper bags in your "go the garden" work bag and you'll never find you don't have something to pick the bad critters up with. Or worse yet, let them escape you after you picked them up.

Welcome New Gardeners

Welcome to all the New Gardener's for 2013! Sunday afternoon was a gorgeous afternoon to spend at the garden getting oriented and meeting some of the current gardeners.

Don't hesitate to ask questions - someone will know or find the answer. I'm still asking lots of questions myself. In fact, I don't know any gardener that knows everything!

I know there are several new gardeners not pictured but don't worry, sooner or later, your moment of fame will come when I ask you to help me stage a photograph for the blog.

Change to Combination Locks

On March 1st ALL the combinations will change so that all the locks for the gates, water faucets and the shed will have the same combination.

 

NO, this is NOT the new combination

 

Be sure to scramble the combination each time you relock any of the locks. Yes, you have to move the tumblers more but it means that the lock won't accidentally slide open after you leave the garden. And yes, this has happened a number of times.

If you don't have the new combination or have forgotten what it will be, be sure and email Carol before March 1st.

The Three Bear's Scale

The Gardening version of the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears:

You can have too much soil, not enough soil and just the right amount of soil in your bed.

TOO much soil in the bed means any rain that comes down will just run off and not sink in. Plus, where will you put the extra dirt when you dig holes to plant your veggies. (No one at the garden has this problem at the moment.)

NOT enough soil in your bed means there isn't enough to keep the roots of your plants healthy and happy. The bed in the picture below definitely doesn't have enough soil in it and needs to be brought up pronto.

The best way to bring up your soil level is to amend it with organic matter BEFORE you plant any of your spring vegetables. Any kind of composted material is excellent. You can buy composted manure, mushroom compost, etc or if you have leaves that have composted that works as well. The more organic matter you amend your bed with, the better your vegetables will grow.

 

Incorporating composted material is the key at this time of year. Don't use "fresh" leaves, grass etc. You don't want to tie the nitrogen up right before you put in plants. Chuck put a layer of chopped up leaves on top of his bed in the fall and by the time he plants his spring crop, most of the leaves will have decomposed and enriched the soil.

Not enough soil in the bed

JUST the right amount of soil means the water won't run off and instead will soak into the soil. Also, all your plants will have plenty of space for their roots and will be happy to grow.

JUST the right amount.

 

 

Grubs in the Garden

Dalita has been thoroughly turning, amending and refreshing her garden bed to prepare it for spring planting. She has found quite a few grubs like the ones in this picture. I know it is easier to just fluff a little and then plant the new plants but these are undesirable grubs and need to come out.

There are two ways you can fluff your bed - with a shovel or digging fork while the dirt/soil stays in the bed or by putting a tarp down and taking all the soil out and then putting it back in.

While you are fluffing your soil, be sure and watch for all the pecans the squirrels planted this fall. If you don't remove the pecans now, you'll be removing baby pecan trees all spring and summer.

The BEST way to remove the grubs is by hand picking. If you use Sevin you will kill all your good bugs and critters like the earthworms which have hopefully started moving into your bed. Sevin is not organic at all and kills everything.

                  Thanks Dalita for sending me this picture to share with everyone.

Weekly Calendar: Feb 23 - Mar 2

Feb 23
2:00 pm
How to plant seed potatoes
Mike (Bed #30) will demonstrate different methods of planting seed potatoes. We'll be able to watch the potatoes grow all spring in our experimental area at the garden and see which method was most productive
 Feb 24
2:30 pm
New Gardener Orientation

Feb 26
4:00 - 5:30 pm
Gardeners on Duty

Feb 28
10:00 am - 12:00
Thursday Monthly Workday

12:00 -1:30
Bluebird Trail Tour
Bluebird Trail Tour Announcement

March 1
Lock combination changes
Be sure you have it before you come to the garden!

March 2
2:00 - 4:00
Saturday Monthly Workday

4:00 to 5:30
Bluebird Trail Tour
Bluebird Trail Tour Announcement

Cobb 4-H Plant Sale

Still opportunity to support Cobb County 4-H Club plant sale

Cobb County 4-H Club is having its annual plant sale and prepaid orders will be accepted through Friday, March 8. This year’s assortment includes blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, figs, muscadines, Admiral Semmes azalea, crape myrtles, edgeworthia, heuchera, forsythia, viburnum and loropetalum.

 

The order form is available at  Cobb County Extension or by calling 770-528-4076. Plants may be picked up at Jim Miller Park on Saturday, March 16 (one day only) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

 

A free seminar on growing and caring for blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and muscadines will be presented 6:30-8 p.m., Monday, March 4, at the Cobb County Water Lab, 662 South Cobb Drive , Marietta. Registration is required. For more information, visit Cobb County Extension or call 770-528-4070.

Carlos Montano's link to Christine Sibley

A previous post on this blog centers around a trip several of us Green Meadows gardeners made this week to Carlos Montano's garden art studio in Fairburn GA.  When I first visited his studio several months ago, an idea haunted me that I'd seen similar pieces somewhere before ... but where?  After rolling through my mental rolodex, an Aha! idea struck me that there were faces at an Atlanta Botanical Garden pool very, very similar to what I was seeing at Carlos'.  I was right!  Carlos explained that the mural and faces were Christine Sibley's art.  He was connected to her as a manager in Christine Sibley's own studio.  He knew just which faces at the Bot Garden pool that I was asking about.  In fact, he had been commissioned by the Garden to 'fix' the deteriorating pieces as he had the molds Christine had used to make the originals.


So I visited the Atlanta Botannical Garden the day before a second visit to Carlos' yesterday.  The pieces had been restored and looked wonderfully original!  The link below provides photos of Carlos as well as other artists who have reproduced Sibley's art.
 
http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/living/0424sibley/

Pilgrimage to Carlos Montano's Studio

In alphabetial order Bridget, Carol, Kitty, Lisa, Mike and Rita made another pilgrimage yesterday to Carlos Montano's showroom/studio and, of course, came back with more garden art and less $.  Having given us fair discounts, I think I speak for the group that it was worth the trip.  Wish I'd paid more attention to who bought what because all pieces will be thought of as prized possessions once established in their rightful gardens.  But 'The Book' wins the Most Outstanding Purchase, 'St. Francis' wins the Most Calming, 'The Plaque' wins the Most Wise, and the 'Stepping Stones' order wins the Most Practical.  'Sunflower Feeder' (shown here) wins a second place Most Practical award.  To see more of Carlos' artwork, visit http://casamontanogardenornaments.com/ .  Be sure to check out the Sibley page on his website.  There's a close connection between the Atlanta artist Christine Sibley and Carlos which makes for a great story coming soon to a blog near you.

Tree Planting has been Cancelled

 

Unfortunately the Tree Planting for the Orchard will NOT take place this Saturday. The weather conditions on Friday aren't right for digging holes. If the holes were dug, they would be swimming holes which the baby trees wouldn't like. Watch the blog for an announcement of when the tree planting will be rescheduled.

 

 

Potato Planting Demonstration

When: Saturday February 23

Time:  2:00 pm

Place: The Garden

What: Mike will be demonstrating 4 different methods of planting and growing potatoes.  We'll be able to watch how they grow all season and then feast on them when they are ready to eat. It will be interesting to see which method yields the most.

   If the weather looks iffy, check the blog as a note will be posted Saturday by 1:00 pm

 

  The rain date will be Sunday February 24 at 1:30 pm

How to Chit Potatoes

 

You can see the exposed cut skin drying out in

one hour. Put the chitted potatoes in a cool dark

at this point! A garage works like a root cellar this

time of year

What is chitting you say?


Chitting simply means getting the potatoes off to a good start by getting the sprouts to start growing before planting them. Home potato growers chit to increase the yield and quality of their potatoes.

 

Seed potato tubers need “chitting” before planting but if you don’t have time to do this, don’t worry. The potatoes will still grow but they will take several more weeks to mature. 



Start the chitting process about 6 weeks before you intend to plant. To do this you need to place them in seed trays, egg boxes or something similar in a cool well lighted place. Make sure you put the seed potato rose end up (the blunt end with the most shoots or ‘eyes’). After a while they will start shooting out new growing shoots. Once these are 1”- 4” long they can be planted out. This process is more important when planting early varieties of potato.

Planting times vary depending on when the last frosts are expected and potatoes need to be planted no earlier than about 6 weeks before this. Potato varieties are classed into three types: 1^stEarly, 2^nd Early and Main Crop. (These terms refer to the time from sowing to harvesting only.)

• Start the 1st Earlies in Mid to late February. 1^st Early are ready in around 10 weeks
• Start 2nd Earlies in March/April. 2^nd Early are ready in about 13 weeks
• Main Crop potatoes are planted a couple of weeks later. Main Crop potatoes are ready after 20 weeks or so. 

 Here are two ways you can grow your chitted potatoes once they are ready to be planted out.

1. Use a plastic container (with a lid). The lid is important because if the weather gets cold, you can just put the lid over the green potato leaves to keep them from being burned.
2. Or use a store bought potato growing bag. 

To turn this plastic container into a potato growing tote,
make holes two inches from the bottom for drainage.



Store bought potato growing bag

 

 

 

 

 

 

      Pictures and information provided by Mike

 

What to look for in Seed Potatoes & How to store Them



Healthy seed potato

Q:  Which potato should you choose to start your potato crop with - special seed potatoes or grocery store potatoes.

A:  Potatoes are best grown using specially grown seed potatoes. The most important reason to use seed potatoes is that they have not had an inhibitor applied to them.

That isn't to say you can't use potatoes from the grocery store. However, they usually have had an inhibitor applied to stop them sending out their “chits” (growing shoots).


Grocery store potato - notice the
 purple/black eyes.These are not healthy.

Because of the inhibitor applied, grocery store potatoes frequently have unhealthy looking eyes. As well, the inhibitor causes growth to be stunted and production is reduced by 50 to 100%.

Use 4 inch pots with crumpled paper
 in the bottom to store seed potatoes



Use an egg carton to store seed potatoes

Once you have purchased your seed potatoes, you need to store them so they don't get moldy.

Putting them in a bag in the dark is not the way to go. You want air around each potato so they don't touch and become moldy.

Put each potato in its own "room" so there is air around each potato and the eyes don't get squashed.

Be sure and put them rose end up (blunt end with the most eyes).

Two easy (and cheap) ways of storing the seed potatoes - use an egg carton or 4" pots that plants came in.


  Pictures and information provided by Mike



 

Another Lost & Found item

A new item has appeared in the Lost & Found box...a pair of eyeglasses. If you are missing a pair, they are in/on the green Lost & Found box in the shed.

Lost Glasses

Hey everyone,

Was at the garden uncovering my bed this morning and found a pair of glasses between my beds.  I put them in the shed on top of the lost and found box.

Have a great day,

Denise, Beds 25 & 29