Last weekend I watched the first round of Premier League football in England and Scotland. That always triggers my thoughts of the fall vegetable garden. It is time to think about some fall planting.
In a previous article, we discussed broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower. It is not too late to still add these, but you had better hurry. You need to know your growing zone, and when your first frost will be coming. In the Ozarks, I have till around October 16.
Think back to spring time crops now also. Onions, lettuce, spinach, carrots are all good possibilities at this point. You can also use a cold frame to extend the growing season. The key is finding crops that can get their business done in around 60 days.
Get yourself some straw, and have it around to help with early frost. In addition, you want to make sure your crops are well watered through the remainder of the really hot weather. For me, that means mid-September.
Before you plant, make sure and fertilize the ground again, as summer crops will have taken needed nutrients from the soil. You can find an article on organic fertilizers in the archives of this blog. Feel free check it out. A good fish emulsion is also a favorite of mine for this time of year. Add a can or bottle of beer for the root system. Mix it all in 5 gallons of water, and add to the garden plot.
We will see you in the Celtic Ozark Garden again soon, feel free to email me with your questions about fall gardening, and I will share answers with everyone.
Ray Province
Ray Province is a retired minister who now works as an IT Programmer in the healthcare industry. He is also owner of The Celtic Ozarkian, a website that chronicles life in the Ozarks. He is an avid gardener, fly fisher, and Scottish football fan. You can reach him at contactus@celticozarkian.com or @celticozarkian on Twitter
Showing posts with label Ozarks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ozarks. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Get More Green Beans In
Folks,
Now is the time to get another crop of green beans into the ground. The current long term forecasts for most of the United States will allow another round of green bean planting. However, you need to get it done quick.
When looking for sytles of green beans, look for the varieties with shorter growing times. From my home in the Ozarks, we have approx 12 weeks until the average first frost. That is, then, the time frame we have to get the green beans finished.
As crops come in, try freezing them for a winter treet. Pick your green beans, remove the tip ends, and snap your beans into 2 or 3 segments. If you have any blemishes, take them out. Blanch your green beans for 2 minutes in boiling water, then drop them into an ice bath. This stops the "cooking" process.
Once your green beans have cooled, place them in freezer style baggies. I use an 8 cup measuring device, so I can divide my beans into 2 bags. You want to use quart bags. One bag will be equivalent to putting 2 cans of green beans on your table.
For those who plan ahead, plan on 52 bags for a family of 4 to have green beans once a week all year. You can thank my dad for that handy bit of info. I can still remember canning green beans to this level every summer.
slainte,
Ray Province
Celtic Ozark Garden
Ray Province is a retired minister and owner of The Celtic Ozarkian, a website dedicated to life in the Ozarks. Ray is also a freelance writer on religion, gardening, and travel. You can reach him at contactus@celticozarkian.com, or @celticozarkian on Twitter.
Now is the time to get another crop of green beans into the ground. The current long term forecasts for most of the United States will allow another round of green bean planting. However, you need to get it done quick.
When looking for sytles of green beans, look for the varieties with shorter growing times. From my home in the Ozarks, we have approx 12 weeks until the average first frost. That is, then, the time frame we have to get the green beans finished.
As crops come in, try freezing them for a winter treet. Pick your green beans, remove the tip ends, and snap your beans into 2 or 3 segments. If you have any blemishes, take them out. Blanch your green beans for 2 minutes in boiling water, then drop them into an ice bath. This stops the "cooking" process.
Once your green beans have cooled, place them in freezer style baggies. I use an 8 cup measuring device, so I can divide my beans into 2 bags. You want to use quart bags. One bag will be equivalent to putting 2 cans of green beans on your table.
For those who plan ahead, plan on 52 bags for a family of 4 to have green beans once a week all year. You can thank my dad for that handy bit of info. I can still remember canning green beans to this level every summer.
slainte,
Ray Province
Celtic Ozark Garden
Ray Province is a retired minister and owner of The Celtic Ozarkian, a website dedicated to life in the Ozarks. Ray is also a freelance writer on religion, gardening, and travel. You can reach him at contactus@celticozarkian.com, or @celticozarkian on Twitter.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
The Celtic Ozark Garden-Seeds Blossoming
In my last video, I talked about the vegetables that I had planted in a 4' x 8' raised bed garden. In this video, I have taken some footage of what the Springtime garden looks like as it begins to blossom. This video was shot by request for beginning gardeners. Hope you like it.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Liquid Fertilizers for the Spring Garden
Now that spring is 60 days away in the Ozarks, it is time to start gathering some supplies to make some liquid fertilizer. I have written about my dry fertilizer in previous articles. I like a little wet fertilizer around during the growing season, because it tends to interact quickly with plants, and tends not to burn them. Apply many dry fertilizers, either directly under a plant or close to it, and you can kill your plant. Too much goodie all at once spoils the party! A liquid fertilizer is often a product that is mostly water. Hence, the plants tolerate better. The liquid recipe also makes it easier for the plant to get the nutrients, via osmosis.
I like to actually make the fertilizer in 5 gallon buckets! They are easy for me to carry. I have a stainless soup ladle that I use to put a scoop around each plant. I have enough old plastic buckets around, from home brewing, to meet my need. You can usually get a good plastic bucket, however, at any hardware store. I don’t recommend, however, using old buckets that you have used for painting!
So, here are some recipes for the 5 gallon bucket o’ garden love:
Tea Style Recipe No. 1 :
Fill your bucket half full of old grass and plant clippings. Fill bucket with water. Set it in the Sun for 2 days. Then add a cup of Fish emulsion (of some sort) to the batch. You are ready to go. Place 1 cup of the mix around each plant. You accomplish two tasks: fertilizing and watering. For new planting, where your plants are not very old yet, use ½ cup. You do not want to overwhelm the young plants.
Tea Style Recipe No. 2:
Fill your bucket half full of old grass and plant clippings, same as above. Then add one coffee can of well aged manure. (The definition of well aged is at least a year old, especially with cow and horse manure.) Fill bucket with water. Set it in the Sun for 2 days. Then add a cup of Fish emulsion (of some sort) to the batch. You are ready to go. Place 1 cup of the mix around each plant. You accomplish two tasks: fertilizing and watering. For new planting, where your plants are not very old yet, use ½ cup. You do not want to overwhelm the young plants. I like this recipe for plants that need lots of root structure, like carrots and onions! Works good on turnips as well. (What! You don’t eat turnips! Shame on you!)
Liquid Recipe No. 3:
This is a recipe you can use right out of the shoot! You do not have to wait for grass to grow, or animals to get their business done. Mix the following together in a 5 gallon bucket of water. 1 cup of Epsom Salts. 1 bottle of beer. 1 cup of ammonia. ½ cup of dish washing soap like Ivory (no detergent fighting power!) Again put a cup around each plant, and you get your watering done too. Also follow the rule for young plants.
Slainte from the Celtic Ozark Garden,
Ray Province
Ray Province is a retired minister, and owner of The Celtic Ozarkian, a website dedicated to life in the Ozarks, from a Celtic point of view! Ray also works as an IT programmer in the healthcare industry, and freelances in SEO and website development. You can reach Ray by emailing contactus@celticozarkian.com, or @celticozarkian on Twitter.
I like to actually make the fertilizer in 5 gallon buckets! They are easy for me to carry. I have a stainless soup ladle that I use to put a scoop around each plant. I have enough old plastic buckets around, from home brewing, to meet my need. You can usually get a good plastic bucket, however, at any hardware store. I don’t recommend, however, using old buckets that you have used for painting!
So, here are some recipes for the 5 gallon bucket o’ garden love:
Tea Style Recipe No. 1 :
Fill your bucket half full of old grass and plant clippings. Fill bucket with water. Set it in the Sun for 2 days. Then add a cup of Fish emulsion (of some sort) to the batch. You are ready to go. Place 1 cup of the mix around each plant. You accomplish two tasks: fertilizing and watering. For new planting, where your plants are not very old yet, use ½ cup. You do not want to overwhelm the young plants.
Tea Style Recipe No. 2:
Fill your bucket half full of old grass and plant clippings, same as above. Then add one coffee can of well aged manure. (The definition of well aged is at least a year old, especially with cow and horse manure.) Fill bucket with water. Set it in the Sun for 2 days. Then add a cup of Fish emulsion (of some sort) to the batch. You are ready to go. Place 1 cup of the mix around each plant. You accomplish two tasks: fertilizing and watering. For new planting, where your plants are not very old yet, use ½ cup. You do not want to overwhelm the young plants. I like this recipe for plants that need lots of root structure, like carrots and onions! Works good on turnips as well. (What! You don’t eat turnips! Shame on you!)
Liquid Recipe No. 3:
This is a recipe you can use right out of the shoot! You do not have to wait for grass to grow, or animals to get their business done. Mix the following together in a 5 gallon bucket of water. 1 cup of Epsom Salts. 1 bottle of beer. 1 cup of ammonia. ½ cup of dish washing soap like Ivory (no detergent fighting power!) Again put a cup around each plant, and you get your watering done too. Also follow the rule for young plants.
Slainte from the Celtic Ozark Garden,
Ray Province
Ray Province is a retired minister, and owner of The Celtic Ozarkian, a website dedicated to life in the Ozarks, from a Celtic point of view! Ray also works as an IT programmer in the healthcare industry, and freelances in SEO and website development. You can reach Ray by emailing contactus@celticozarkian.com, or @celticozarkian on Twitter.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
The Case For Raising Worms
I wanted to do an extra article for the month of January, so I decided to address the issue of having worms help your garden. One of the best forms of fertilizer is worm castings. The castings are what are left behind after it passes through the body of the worm! Enough said on that!
What one needs to consider is raising worms. It is an easy process to do. They will live in a small bin, eat your organic garbage, and make the best fertilizer around. If done correctly, you won’t even smell them!
You will need a bin of some sort for them to live in. I use plastic storage containers, like you keep Christmas stuff in! Don’t get the clear ones; the worms do not mind the dark. You will need to make some holes for air. Cover the holes with screen, so nothing gets in or out. You can add a hose spigot near the bottom of the bin to take advantage of worm tea. Worm tea is even better than compost tea for your plants. All you have to do is add a cup or two to a large watering can and fill the rest with water. You can then water your plants as you would normally.
Bedding will also need to be added to the bin. We use shredded newspaper, because we read the paper all the time, and it is a great way to recycle. Some dirt needs to go in as well. I like to use some potting soil, mixed with my backyard dirt. The Ozarks soil is very hard and rocky, full of class. Not the best soil in the world, even for an old Celtic gardener! The soil will provide the grit needed by the worms to digest food matter.
Red wiggler worms are the worms of choice. Don’t use worms from your backyard. Find a good dealer online and purchase your worms. Rule of thumb: for every pound of garbage you put in per day, you need to have two pounds of worms to do the work.
Feed your worms plant matter: vegetables, rotten fruit,egg shells. No meat, artificial anything! You also need to keep the paper/vegetable matter moist. I recommend using a spray bottle, so you don’t water log the soil and drown your worms!
Check your bin everyday to ensure that you get off to a good start. Keep the bedding moist and the bin should stay in a spot that's about 60 to 70 degrees. Leaving the bin outside in the summer sun is a good way to cook all of your worms. And remember if the worm bin starts to smell, then you probably need more bedding.
Get your bin started now, and you will reap the benefits of their work all summer. Here’s to your Celtic Ozark Garden!
Slainte,
Ray Province
Ray and Robin Province are the owners of The Celtic Ozarkian website, dedicated to issues surrounding life in the Ozarks. You can find us at: http://ping.fm/W0mRn
Ray is currently an IT programmer in the healthcare industry, and freelances in SEO and website development. Robin is a semi retired ICU nurse who now works in coding and compliance in the healthcare industry.
What one needs to consider is raising worms. It is an easy process to do. They will live in a small bin, eat your organic garbage, and make the best fertilizer around. If done correctly, you won’t even smell them!
You will need a bin of some sort for them to live in. I use plastic storage containers, like you keep Christmas stuff in! Don’t get the clear ones; the worms do not mind the dark. You will need to make some holes for air. Cover the holes with screen, so nothing gets in or out. You can add a hose spigot near the bottom of the bin to take advantage of worm tea. Worm tea is even better than compost tea for your plants. All you have to do is add a cup or two to a large watering can and fill the rest with water. You can then water your plants as you would normally.
Bedding will also need to be added to the bin. We use shredded newspaper, because we read the paper all the time, and it is a great way to recycle. Some dirt needs to go in as well. I like to use some potting soil, mixed with my backyard dirt. The Ozarks soil is very hard and rocky, full of class. Not the best soil in the world, even for an old Celtic gardener! The soil will provide the grit needed by the worms to digest food matter.
Red wiggler worms are the worms of choice. Don’t use worms from your backyard. Find a good dealer online and purchase your worms. Rule of thumb: for every pound of garbage you put in per day, you need to have two pounds of worms to do the work.
Feed your worms plant matter: vegetables, rotten fruit,egg shells. No meat, artificial anything! You also need to keep the paper/vegetable matter moist. I recommend using a spray bottle, so you don’t water log the soil and drown your worms!
Check your bin everyday to ensure that you get off to a good start. Keep the bedding moist and the bin should stay in a spot that's about 60 to 70 degrees. Leaving the bin outside in the summer sun is a good way to cook all of your worms. And remember if the worm bin starts to smell, then you probably need more bedding.
Get your bin started now, and you will reap the benefits of their work all summer. Here’s to your Celtic Ozark Garden!
Slainte,
Ray Province
Ray and Robin Province are the owners of The Celtic Ozarkian website, dedicated to issues surrounding life in the Ozarks. You can find us at: http://ping.fm/W0mRn
Ray is currently an IT programmer in the healthcare industry, and freelances in SEO and website development. Robin is a semi retired ICU nurse who now works in coding and compliance in the healthcare industry.
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