Time to get the Garden Ready for Fall

It may feel hot and muggy in these dog days of summer, but this is the time to get the garden beds ready for fall planting.  As I cut back last years wildflowers and saved the seeds I decided to keep the base of the plant in tact and left some leaves on it to see if it will come back in the spring.  The leaves were still green, so my guess is it will.  I love to see what plants naturalize in my garden.  Annuals to some areas of the country become perennials in my garden!

I decided to dig out the hollyhocks that somehow found there way into my vegetable garden.  They took up too much precious real estate.  Out came the wild amaranth and anything else that was not going to produce food for me this winter.

The sweet pepper plants are holding their own fairly well this summer so they were allowed to stay - one of them is now 18 months in the garden and still producing red sweet peppers! In fact, you will find that sweet peppers will bounced back in the fall and produce another crop!

The basil is doing well, too. There are 2 eggplants that have not produced any fruit yet, nor flowered, but I will leave them in for now and see if they come back once it cools down again.

I also started to amend the soil in another garden bed.  I used my own compost and mixed it in with the existing garden soil with a shovel and water it well with rain water from my rain barrels.  I do a section every few days and it makes the process seem like less work.

The seed nursery is also started - I am using the broccoli seed from my own plant.  I bought some peat pellets (they expand to almost 2 inches when wet) and placed a few seeds in each one last Saturday morning.  By Monday they had sprouted and they are now taller then the little hot house I created using a plastic lettuce container I got from the grocery store. 

These little hot houses work well because they keep the moisture in so the seed scan sprout.  I also use the clear plastic clam shells.

Another thing you can use to make your own small seed starting pots are the cardboard rolls from paper towels and toilet paper.  I just cut them to about 2 inches tall, put them in one of these little hot houses, fill them with potting spoil and plant the seeds.  Then when the seedlings get big enough the entire roll can be planted directly into your garden or a larger pot if the garden is not ready or you wish to give them to someone.

Paper rolls cut for pots

October 1st is the target date for planting seeds into my garden beds.  I may start a few more seeds before then, but mostly seeds in the ground this year.

What about you?  What are your plans for your edible garden this year??

Happy Digging,
The Garden Goddess
http://www.donw2earthgardens.com/

Exploding Artichokes are a Wonder!

Notice the small seed near the penny

Last week I noticed something odd on the workbench in my garden shed. There were these fluffy ‘things’ with a seed on the end. They reminded me of a dandelion when it has gone to seed and the seeds take flight. But these were much larger, yet they danced lightly on the surface of the table when the air moved as I passed by. I look around to see where they came from – and I saw it! The artichoke I was drying on the table top was exploding with these seeds.

Articoke flowering

Disappointment was the first reaction – I was drying them so I could keep them around for a while. The pretty purple flower that emerges from the tight flower bud we usually eat was lovely. My neighbor told me I could dry them and use them in flower arrangements. I was dismayed when it started to fall apart and send its seed into the wild.

But then I thought - COOL - this is the full cycle of the artichoke plant. What a wonder to see it go from the small transplant that was planted in my garden last October to these tiny seeds that become airborne with the lightest breeze.

I have been amazed time and time again this year as I have allowed several plants to mature through their full cycle and not just pull them out because I had eaten them.

Artichoke plant before the bloom

This is yet another chapter in the journey my garden leads me through. I have enjoyed saving the seeds of the plants this year and will continue to do so, keeping those that do well in my yard/garden and composting the rest.

I took a trip up to Cornville, AZ last month to meet with one of the greats in seed saving, Bill McDorman, founder of Seeds Trust, a 25 year–old family seed company. I had a lovely tour of their gardens and their seed workshop where they lovingly and carefully package the seeds. I am excited about their upcoming 8-day Seed School. Whether you just purchase seeds from Bill, or register for the Seed School, I know you will be humbled by the wonder of seeds. I may never buy a transplant again!

AZ Garden Resources - friends of mine

AZ Garden Resources - new friends of mine

Today I came across some great resources for AZ Gardeners:

http://terroirseeds.net/ Heirloom Seeds, recipes and good advice

http://www.seedsave.org/ Bill McDormand is an expert is seed saving techniques and practices

http://humbleseed.com/blog/category/humbleseed/ Heirloom seeds, plant information, recipes and sustainable living advice

http://www.lgpg.com/ - this company helps lawn and garden businesses with new product launches as well as selling a business or acquiring one.

These fine folks are all members of the Garden Writers Association, http://www.gardenwriters.org/ which I am too!

Please check them out and tell them The Garden Goddess sent you!

Ahppy Digging
http://www.down2earthgardens.com/

Simple Gardening Tips for Earth Day

Love your Mother – Earth, that is!


Happy Earth Day 2010.

Forty years ago, in 1970 amidst the Vietnam War and the last of the real hippies, the first Earth Day was celebrated. I don’t think I took much notice back then and for the next two decades. I was too caught up in my own world of abundance and working for a large corporation where the money seemed endless. As long as my own little world wasn’t affected it was hard for me to feel that anything was going wrong. Sure there were movies that brought things to light, like Erin Brocovich and Three Mile Island, but again those things happened to other people, not me, so I never felt the impact.

But now days I DO care what happens to the Earth.  And one of the things that has been the most FUN for me is figuring out how to NOT buy new things, especially in the garden, except of course plants.  But even with plants I am learning more about propogating and collecting the seeds from my own plants and flowers so I do not need to buy anymore.

As my plants begin to end their life they will flower and go to seed.  I am learning patience as I watch nature's life cycle unfold before my eyes.  Last week, a started to collect the broccoli seeds.

Notice how long the stalks are in photo #1, the pods in #2 and finally the seeds in #3.  Amazing.  I have hundreds of seeds for next fall now all off of 4 plants that I let go to seed!  And this morning I started taking out my wildflowers and have hundres of blue bells, african daisy and soon California poppies.

But seed saving isn't the only thing you can do to help Mother Earth.  At a recent Garden Coaching session with Stefania, she showed me the compost sifter she made using an old plastic plant tray she got from the nursery when she bought plants and a piece of left over wire fencing she had from her garden fence. (you can see the fence in the background).  She used zip ties to hold it together.  She loves the size and light weight nature of it.  It is easy to use by herself over a small trash can.  Very creative.  No plastic going to the recycle plant here.

How will you celebrate Earth Day this year?  Perhaps stay home and play in the garden, get creative and find a use for the things you might dispose of or even recycle.  Start a tool share club with your neighbors, pledge to not buy anything new for 30 days, start a compost pile. YOU name it!

What will you plan to do for your Mother - Earth that is!

Happy Digging,

The Garden Goddess

http://www.down2earthgardens.com/