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Fall Gardening To-Do List
For those who are cooling down for the winter, there are plenty of things to do before saying goodbye to gardening this fall. As the leaves change color and the weather becomes more crisp, here are a couple fall gardening check lists for your end-of-season needs:
Organic Gardening Magazine’s Fall To-Do List
Better Homes and Gardens Fall Garden Checklist
I also found a section on Consumer Reports’ website that you might enjoy surfing through:
Consumer Reports Fall Lawn and Yard Checklist
Happy fall gardening! …
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Trial and Error with Irrigation
Every gardener has moments of trial and error, simply because there are some things you just don’t know until you try. Irrigation is one of those things for me.
Now that the seedlings (that were started under grow lights) have been planted out into the garden, it’s time to figure out how to integrate them into our new irrigation system. The irrigation is relatively simple, in that each bed has its own spigot with a hose attachment on the end. (You can read more about it in this blog entry). It is complicated, however, in that each bed has different watering …
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Battling Mealy Bugs
One more question came in this week at Ask Gardenerd:
“I have large New Zealand Flax in planters on the balcony, they got white mealy buys – how can I treat it? I removed the nearby smaller plants where the bugs seemed to have invaded…but want to be sure I can save the large flax. Please help! Is there anything organic that works… the internet suggests malathion….ekkk! thanks…Beatrice”
I’m pretty sure we can save your New Zealand Flax (Phormium), Beatrice. But first, let’s make sure we have the right bug. Is this the culprit?
http://floriculture.osu.edu/archive/oct97/mealy2.html
If so, there are a few …
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Fall Garden Planning Workshop Review
There are so many things to consider when planning out a garden, and whether you’ve done it before, or it’s your first time, the task can always be a little daunting. Luckily, the excitement of having fresh produce growing steps away from your kitchen overshadows almost all of those feelings of intimidation. Still, it’s always nice to have help.
That’s why at the end of September we debuted a new class. The Gardenerd Fall Garden Planning Workshop drew five enthusiastic gardeners, each with a different plan in mind for their garden. Some had a space already defined and needed only to fill it. Others had a blank canvas …
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Seed Starting for Fall
It’s a little late to be talking about this, but I just
wanted to wait to make sure it worked before reporting on my
progress. As I wipe my hand across my forehead in relief, I can say that I
successfully started brassicas from seed indoors for the first time this
year.
I’ve always grown them straight in the ground because I
haven’t had space to start seeds indoors. As you know, if you’ve been
reading along, this is my first full year starting seeds under grow lights and I
have to …
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Veggies in a Pot
A couple months ago, I got a call from a mother of two who was looking to plant a vegetable garden in her back yard. The problem was that they had recently remodeled the yard, installing a large stone patio that pretty much ruled out a vegetable garden. The yard was beautiful will all of its new improvements, and it seemed to me that planting in containers right on top of the patio would be our best option, especially since that spot got more direct sunlight than any other part of the yard.
After a consultation, Michelle decided to shop for some nice …
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Green Beetles – What’s the Buzz?
Another question came in today:
“Metallic green beetles keep invading my garden–about 1″ long. Green wings with brown edges. Friend or foe?”
Well – I know my Permaculture friends would say that there’s no such thing as a bad insect, but to answer your question in a word: foe.
I’ve watched these little buggers make lunch out of my neighbor’s roses. They sure love ’em. They are known as Figeater Beetles with a Latin name of Cotinis Mutabilis. Here is a
blog entry I found about them:
http://fireflyforest.net/firefly/2008/03/08/figeater-beetle/
The bugs themselves are harmless, meaning they …
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Our Landscaping Project – Part 2
We had a flurry of jackhammers and 3-foot deep trenches in recent weeks. New plumbing (for proper drainage away from the house) and a sump pump were installed. We also had irrigation to all the major watering areas installed.
Here’s something very nerdy and exciting: My raised bed garden now has drip irrigation in each of the raised beds, each with a separate zone and the capacity to set different watering times for each bed! Fancy and possibly unnecessary, but we couldn’t resist the chance to experiment with such a personalized watering system. There is a spigot in each bed, with a …
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Monster Green Onions
Today I spent a good few hours cleaning up the summer garden, in preparation for our upcoming fall growing season. Sometimes it takes these dedicated hours in the garden to notice things that haven’t quite caught your attention before. Like the massive green onions growing in the middle of the pumpkin patch that seem to have gotten away from me.
When I say massive, I might be exaggerating, but most people walk by my plot and say, “nice leeks” when they see them. I guess there’s something about our American mentality of bigger is better that made me leave …
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White Fly Terror
Another great question came through Ask Gardenerd this week:
“We have white flies on our hibiscus trees, and I was wondering if there is a pesticide free way to get rid of them. The infestation is on one tree, and I don’t want it to spread to the other trees or anything else in our garden. We have dogs, and I don’t want to use malathion or diazinone. What would be safe to use?Thanks!”
In many cases, your hose is your best friend. If you have a hose nozzle set on my favorite setting: Kill (read: Jet or Full), you …
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