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Miscellaneous Thoughts, Ideas, Discoveries and Projects
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Four decades of Growing
Good Food
in the Northwoods of Michigan's Upper Peninsula |
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There is nothing like a question to get you thinking, and coming up with
solutions. In spite of how it might seem at the time, there is never a dead end
but always many options. Here I'll address some of the gardening questions that
have come my way, as well as odds and ends of notes and ideas that come to mind. |
August 1, 2019 - For Thee and the Bee I spend a fair amount of time searching and reading, planning and planting specifically for the pollinators, thinking that as I add more and more fruit that I'm counting on them to pollinate I should be adding special extras for their enjoyment and use. This is fine, and they do make use of these gifts, but they also often remind me by their actions that they are quite capable of taking care of themselves with what is already there. I do know this, it's quite obvious as our homestead is blessed with a wide and generous variety of wildflowers, and many a blossoming tree is loud with buzzing during peak time. But our pollinator population has definitely dropped. Only bumble bees seem to be in good supply, or maybe they are just the most obvious. But flowers are being pollinated, fruit and seed is being produced, nature is doing the job that nature does. There are ups and downs in all things.
Some years ago more Wild Bergamots showed up by the garden gate, to our delight. We marked those few beginners so we wouldn't mow them and they responded by spreading into a really nice patch, along with a growing population of Black Eyed Susans, apparently enjoying each others company. They are a pleasing welcome to the garden, loved by the bees and other pollinators (and us), and with no assistance from me.
The
July 17, 2019 -- Carrot Adventures Over the many years I’ve tried almost all the open-pollinated carrots available and none have compared to Kinko 6" (a chantenay type), which I started growing in 1980. It is sweet when young, still very good flavor when old, good in storage, good over-wintered, nicely shaped - a great all-round carrot. All this makes it rather frustrating that it was dropped from the industry - the seed no longer available. For years I hadn’t noticed it was not available because it somewhat common ‘back when’, and I’ve grown my own seed several times since, keeping my own line alive, and hadn't needed to buy new. But my latest seed supply was running low so I started searching to buy seed, with no success. So why not just grow my own. In a way, carrot seed is one of the easiest seeds to grow. It's biennial so one has to overwinter the roots, either inside storage or outside in the ground. Both work. But there is one very large challenge called Queen Anne’s Lace, which we have in abundance. QAL is the wild version of our garden carrot. One can eat the roots but they tend to be thinner and longer, rougher, harder to dig, white (which isn't a problem) and quite strong flavored raw though they are sweeter cooked. Our garden carrots have been selected and bred over the years to be, generally, what we prefer. The problem in growing seed is that the garden carrot when grown for seed will cross readily with QAL resulting in future roots that tend to be strong toward the wild type. When I grew my seed in the past I did my best to mow, cut, pick, pluck the QAL flowers in our surrounding fields to avoid crossing. This was no small endeavor, fussy and time consuming, in a way futile but fairly successful. I did my best and am OK with my crop of not pure Kinko’s having occasional white roots (which though rougher are sweeter and more tender cooked than ‘regular’ carrots). But we have even more QAL now and I didn't want to go through that again, nor do I want even more wild genes in my tame seed. The solution is to keep the pollinators from visiting and carrying pollen from the wild flowers to the tame flowers when they open. But, carrot flowers being as they are, do need to be cross pollinated - someone has to carry pollen from one flower to a different plant's flower, easily handled by the pollinators, clumsily handled by humans, at least this human. But I figured I could do that. Normally I would choose my best roots in the fall, replant them in the garden to grow the next year. But this time I didn't decide to do this till I was digging the very last of the overwintered roots this spring, and many of them had been a bit frozen on the tops and so, though good for eating wouldn't grow a seed stalk. But I managed to get seven roots to grow and flower and, like Queen Anne's lace, thankfully they do that readily.
To help keep track of what flowers I'm cross pollinating I came up with the solution of sewing every two or three bags with a different color thread and just unbagging each color at a time. Almost all the bagged flowers are open now and I expect I'll be doing this every morning for another two or three weeks, until they (hopefully) start becoming seed heads. It is getting easier and rather fun in its own way. Since I only have 7 plants this year I'll do it again next year with more plants for greater genetic diversity in my seed. I'll know soon enough if I've been a successful pollinator - when the flowers do or don't set seed - but I won't know until I plant the seed next year if I've managed to keep more QAL genes out of my home grown seed. Another one of those little garden adventures I lay out for myself.
May 26, 2019 -- Finding Gold on the Homestead
A few days ago I was up at the mailbox (which is a half mile from our
house) and saw our neighbor slowly walking across her lawn, intently
looking down. Figuring she must have dropped something I walked over to
offer help. She showed me what she had in the paper bag in her hand.
Morels! And some nice ones at that, right in their lawn. Now we've only
found morels on our property a few times and that was many decades ago,
barely remembered. But then we've never searched for them either.
Inspired by our neighbor's find I walked back home, slowly, looking
carefully down and around as I went, getting distracted by any number of
interesting things. But I persevered and wandered around here and there
on the homestead where it seemed morels might be. Didn't find any, but
it was a nice wander. A few days later I was in the garden on hands and knees weeding a path particularly well endowed with such things, intent in the job and whatever was in my mind, getting towards the end. Sitting back on my heels and looking ahead I saw, to my great surprise, just a few feet away, a beautiful specimen of a morel, beautifully positioned in front of the big green leaves of the rhubarb as if for a photo shoot. Well, really! I stared at it for some moments, went closer and kneeled down - was it really? Yep, that was one nice morel. I had to laugh, then went to get Steve.
So we had morels in our dinner. They sort of got lost in the shuffle since there weren't many of them, and since I'm not real fond of the texture of mushrooms I'd cut them up. But they added their bit of flavor and nutrition, and the fun of discovering them on this magical place where we live. December 3, 2018 - Thinking Green
It's been a particularly cloudy November heading into December. Though
colder than usual the lack of sun isn't unusual for this time of Several years ago I decided there had to be an easier way to keep the surrounding vegetation out of the garden beds. We'd tried many things over the years - mulch, carpeting, tilling, hoeing - all OK but too temporary and not particularly satisfying. I wondered about concrete pavers. We checked what was available in the simple and inexpensive line and decided to try it. Steve agreed to the job (much neater than if I'd have done it) and did the west, east and half the south borders of the 50' x 70' garden last year. It worked well and I liked it. For sure some grass roots do find their way under but not many. I was a bit afraid it might look too formal for my very 'down to earth' garden/orchard but it would take more than a neat line of pavers to make this area formal. They fit in surprisingly well. Most important, I no longer feel like I'm fighting vegetation. My garden is a wonderfully peaceful area full of joy. I like it that way and the pavers are helping. This year Steve did the north border. Almost complete! He couldn't finish the south border because the squash was growing there and vigorously spreading out onto the surrounding vegetation, both in and out of the garden. It was a great year for the squash! It loved the long hot summer and made the most of it. Next year Steve will have to get the remaining pavers in before it starts growing. August 27, 2018 - Magic!
Our world is full of magic and magical moments which we don't always
notice, but sometimes they are so right in front of you that you can't
miss them. This was one such. A few weeks ago we saw that
We didn't know how long it would take for the butterfly to emerge but chose not to 'look it up', just enjoy it. The last days we'd noticed the chrysalis darkening so knew something would be happening soon. I was concerned that there wasn't anything near by for the emerged butterfly to grab, if it indeed needed anything. Maybe not, but I put up a small branch just in case.
When I stepped outside before breakfast today I saw an oval spot of
monarch wing color and pattern on the side of the chrysalis. Today was
the magical day! After breakfast I carefully opened the door to find the
fully emerged beautiful butterfly holding onto its thin (but strong!)
empty case. Wow!! It was a cloudy and windy day. I'd often watched
butterflies in the garden sitting on a plant in the sun slowly working
their new wings but there was no sun today. Maybe later. But it wasn't
time to work those wings yet. Thankfully it was warm. I checked on her often during the morning as I cut up tomatoes to can. It appeared she was trying to get a better hold as the wind rocked her back and forth but the metal trough didn't give any purchase. So I carefully clamped a soft plant stem beside her. She wrapped a leg around it and settled back down. I went back inside. It was taking a long time to get the tomatoes cut up.
Finally, tomatoes done and on the stove, I headed out to the garden to
pick lunch. Cam
August 18, 2018 - Wildlife Co-workers Conversations with other gardeners tend often to veer at some point towards the 'wildlife bandits and outlaws' -- those creatures whose desire and search for a good meal (or maybe just a good time!) are often in conflict with the gardener's own desires for a good harvest. Over the years I've come to terms with all the varied wildlife we share this part of the world with, and generally enjoy them (a good fence helps!). They get some of ours, we get some of theirs, and overall it's a peaceful co-existence. But this year was a bit more of a challenge, thanks to the over-abundance (in our opinion) of voles. When the snow melted this spring we had the most amazing network of runs in the grass that I've ever seen (or ever hope to see again!). And I understood why we had a Barred Owl move in and stay around all winter. It saw it often in the garden and orchard. I thought it was because of the logging around us. But I'm pretty sure now that it was because of the great food supply. Thankfully, most of my trees and bushes had hardware cloth barriers so my losses due to vole damage wasn't as bad as it could have been, and many things have recovered/regrown over the summer. The wild shrubs, trees, brambles - anything that could be chewed and eaten - had a great deal of 'thinning out', too. I bought more hardware cloth and set in to make sure ALL of my plantings are protected for this winter. I wasn't concerned about summer months because the voles pretty much are eating grass and such, not bark. But then about every time I went out to the compost pile I had a vole or two run in or out of it, almost across my feet. That was just going too far. It was obvious they had set up a vole housing complex in my compost pile. So I got out some wooden mouse live traps Steve had made many years ago, and started catching voles - one almost every morning, and I'd take what became a routine walk to a far section of our property and release them. I certainly didn't mind the walk, but after several months the three traps (made for indoor use) were looking pretty rough, and I was getting tired of transporting voles (and cleaning the traps). Plus they were eating my red ripe peppers and cherry tomatoes. It was time to get serious about clearing this community out. I knew I wouldn't get all voles out of the garden/orchard area (there are plenty of fields around for new ones to move in from) but I needed to get this population down. So soon I had 6 new purchased plastic vole/mouse live traps in place, baited with the the best (well, cheapest) peanut butter. I was ready. First morning - no voles. Second morning - no voles. Third, fourth. Well this was irritating. I supposed I could have gotten them all, though somehow I didn't think so. Maybe the didn't like the peanut butter. Maybe they didn't like the traps. Then the fifth day I was making my rounds checking the traps and there in the middle of the path, near one of the traps was a small scat. Mmmm. Could it be? I came in, looked up in our "Animal Tracks" book (which includes scat drawings), and yep, there it was -- a weasel. A weasel had moved in and cleared out the voles. This wasn't too much of a surprise - there had been weasel tracks this past winter by the compost pile (along with owl wing prints). It had simply come back for some more good eating. I hope it sticks around this winter. I picked up my new traps and put them away. The weasel is much better at vole control than I am.
August 2, 2018 - Abundance!
Populations rise and fall naturally with the years and usually adjust themselves without any attention from us but we do tend to mostly notice the extremes of the peaks and valleys. Here on the homestead this past year has been a record high for voles (and I'm sincerely hoping they are on the downswing now -- at least in the garden and orchard. But I'm sure there are those who are happy with the abundance, such as the resident Barred owl, weasel, coyotes, fox, and our own LilliB.) Equally noticeable has been the unusually low population of flying insects, which means a low population of birds who depend on those insects for food. We miss having so many birds -- but we haven't missed AT ALL the usual abundance of black flys and mosquitoes. We do have birds, just not as many. Some, like the trees swallows, simply came, checked things out, and went elsewhere where the food was more plentiful (I'm guessing), though they stayed around long enough to harass the bluebirds for awhile. Some just didn't show up, like the sparrows and juncoes. Others it seems we have just one family instead of several families - robins, bluebirds, hummingbirds, gold finches, wrens, chickadees, indigo buntings, catbirds, cedar waxwings, and the hard working friendly co-gardeners Chipping Sparrows. And others. Life wouldn't be much without the birds. I don't even mind sharing some fruit with them (well, within reason!) (my reason, of course, not theirs).
But there are also many flowers that both the pollinators and us enjoy
and I'm having a good time adding to the mix. Most are wildflowers such
as the Purple
Coneflower, and some are imports that wouldn't survive without the
gardener's help. We all enjoy them each in our own way and every time I
see a "bee" working diligently on flowers tiny or large I marvel at
their ways. It makes the flowering time of year so very special.
Starting Seeds - February 26, 2018
MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS I'VE RECEIVED (and ANSWERED) GROWING GRAINS -- I am interested if it is possible to grow and mill my own alternative grains (sorghum, millet, etc). Is it possible or worth it? In our early years on our homestead I tried growing a number of grains for flour but found that it took a lot of space to grow enough to amount to much, and it was quite time consuming to thresh out even the easiest grains by hand and to winnow them clean. Grains in general aren't that hard to grow -- I think we grew, in addition to wheat -- rye, barley, naked oats, millet (the birds loved it), amaranth (didn't make it to maturity in our climate but it was beautiful). But it certainly can be done. For any quantity a good grass scythe is almost a must, though for small quantities grass shears work. Field corn is by far the easiest grain for the homestead (if you happen to be in a short season area Painted Mountain is a very good choice). I'd highly recommend Gene Logsdon's book -- "Small Scale Grain Raising -- An Organic Guide to Growing, Processing and using Nutritious Whole Grains for Home Gardeners and Local Farmers" -- which I see has been reissued (my well worn and falling apart copy is over thirty years old and still a wonderful resource). It's available from the Countryside Bookstore and other sources. SEED SAVING -- It is the gathering of seed for next year's crop that is presenting me with problems. I find a lack of sources of information on how to tell when plants are "going to seed" and how to get the seed from the plant for things like Brussels sprouts, lettuces and other greens, onions, carrots and others. I have been saving my own seed for many years and some vegetables are quite easy while others have more complex needs. The best source of information I have found on home seed saving, and one I highly recommend, is the book "Seed to Seed" by Suzanne Ashworth. I wish the book had been around when I first started! It is a great resource and should get you going the right direction. Some seed can be grown and saved in a small garden but many of the crops require more space and plants. It's fun to grow what you can though. Thankfully, good seed is available from many very good seed companies and is not very expensive so even if you can't grow your own you can obtain good seed. CANNING HORSERADISH SAUCE -- Well, I can safely tell you never, ever can horseradish. I pressure cooked it, big mistake. I followed directions from a website I found that gave a simple recipe and then said pressure cook according to pressure cooker's manufacturing direcitons, which there were none specifically for horseradish. So I did as I would a simple relish. It made a nasty smelling mess of goo. Had to throw it away. Lost all of the heat it had and tasted terrible, like rotten radishes. Never again. And yes, you can pass this on. -- Michael Thanks for sharing your experience! I think I'll stick to the simpler method I use. You can also store the roots in a cool spot and make "fresh" batches now and then. The roots will store longer than the sauce. SEED SOURCE -- We have 15 or so seed catalogues, heirloom and otherwise, but we cannot find the lettuce, tomato and pepper seeds you mention in your article. Could you tell us where you got those seeds? --Nancy from Canada Seed companies change their line-up regularly so it's often hard to find a particular variety -- this is why I save seed of my favorites, though I've found that there are so many other good varieties available that it's not much of a problem. Many of the varieties I grow came originally from growers listed in the Seed Savers Exchange Yearbook and are often not available commercially. I don't now recall exactly what I mentioned but you might try Kathleen Pluncket-Black's "Plum Creek Seeds" -- she sells a number of varieties not generally available. I've also had good luck with Fedco. In the past I've ordered from many of the companies listed on my Seed Sources page (see above left menu for link) and been happy with them. I don't order many seeds now since I grow most of my own.
PLANTING FLATS -- What
is the bottom of your planter? Plywood? Do you drill holes? Maybe a screen
bottom? --Beverly
Yes, the flats are homemade, and I've used both solid wood and plywood for the
bottoms. I drill maybe 8 holes for drainage but they are as likely to drain out
the edges as out the holes. They both work and do rot out eventually. If the
sides are still good, I just replace the bottoms. I usually put a layer of
newspaper on the bottom before adding the dirt which I think helps them last
longer. Here is a description from the Greenhouse article in the March 2010
issue of "Countryside Magazine": POTATO SEED -- I have been planting certified seed potatoes in containers for about three years. I have a couple of plants with some seed-bearing fruit. I would like to try planting these seeds to see what varieties turn up. How and when do I harvest the seeds? And how do Ikeep them until next spring when they will be planted? --Jan from Alaska
It's fairly easy to harvest and save potato seed. Let the seed balls ripen --
they will turn from green to a pale tan or whitish, from hard to soft, not
unlike tomatoes. Mash them up together in a container such as a glass to
ferment. you may have to add a little water since they tend to be quite dry. Let
them ferment about three days, stirring once or twice a day. They will develop a
mold and probably smell (I don't remember on the potato seed but I know tomatoe
seeds fermenting do). The fermenting apparently destroys some possible diseases
and it breaks down the sac around the seed. TOMATO SUPPORTS -- The picture shows some kind of wood rack over your -- what is the reason for these? --Dale from West Virginia
QUEEN ANNES LACE FLOWERS -- Is the
Queen Anne`s Lace you speak of the same as the dried version they use in flower
arrangements? I love the smell, and have been trying to find some to grow and
dry for my own use. None of the seed catalogs I get have it listed. Maybe it is
not a good thing to have around. --Ila from central
Idaho CAT GRASS SAVER -- When I mentioned in an article my cats lounging in (and flattening) the flat of grass I plant for them for winter grazing, Dave from Michigan sent his solution which works great: He staples a piece of hardware cloth on the top of the flat; the grass grows up through but when the cats walk and lay down on the grass the plants are somewhat protected and survive much better. I happened to have a piece of hardware cloth in a frame (which is usually used on the vent between greenhouse and house when I want to keep the cats out of the greenhouse). I set it on the cat-grass-flat and the cats were able to graze at will but weren't inclined to lounge on it, thereby making the grass (actually mixed grains) much happier and healthier. TOMATO RACKS -- Are the tomato supports in the photo permanent or do they move with your tomatoes? -- Heather in New Windsor I do usually plant my tomatoes in the same plot each year but the wooden racks are portable. I often change my mind about what I want where, plus the tomatoes start the season in cold frames. When the frosts seem to be over (or the tomatoes are outgrowing the cold frames) they come off and the rack goes on. It's a simple affair made of wood we had on hand and suits the semi-determinant tomatoes I grow. [see photos above] ROTATING CROPS -- I've always read that you should rotate crops but in your article you indicate you don't. Why not? -- Karen
As in so many cases, I think there is some truth to the idea of rotating in some
cases but it got repeated again and again until it became a hard rule for all
with little questioning of why. It's been my experience that insects are very
capable of moving from one row to another to get to their favorites! Nature only
"rotates" occasionally and the trees, plants, bushes generally live a healthy
life, building up their own balanced ecosystems and that is what I strive to
imitate in my garden. There ARE times when I rotate, usually for convenience of
fitting the pieces of my plantings together (I'm always changing something),
sometimes for weed control (putting thickly mulched crops such as potatoes or
tomatoes in a weedy spot to clean up that area), and occasionally for a problem
such as root maggots in carrots. Though I'm not sure location matters as much as
timing. My tomatoes the last few years have died rather early of blight (though
the tomatoes also ripened early because of that so this may not be a "problem"
in my very short season!) so I'm thinking of changing the tomato and bean plots.
Maybe that will help. POTATO HARVEST -- I planted potatoes in my garden and they are growing but when do I harvest them? -- Mary Potatoes can be dug to eat whenever they are a size you want to eat them. If you are careful you can dig around with your hand to pull out a few of the larger ones and leave the smaller ones to continue growing, usually about the time the plant is flowering. For storage they are dug after frost in fall after the plants have died down and the skins on the potatoes have firmed up (can't be easily rubbed off).
PUMPKIN SEED DRYING -- I'm interested in drying/saving
pumpkin seeds for next years planting. Is this covered in your web site? Unable
to locate it there and wish you might suggest a procedure.
--Tom from Michigan CANNING HORSERADISH SAUCE -- Could you tell me how to can horseradish sauce? --Donna, and --Cindy
Although you can buy "canned" horseradish sauce in the stores, none of the
preserving books I've seen talk about canning it. Years ago, when I first grew
and grated my own, I asked a long time homesteader and horseradish lover about
canning it and he said you shouldn't because the heat would ruin the flavor. But
it turns out it lasts a long time anyway without canning so that isn't a
problem.
GARDEN SIZE -- My husband and I are selling
our home in NH and looking for a few acres and a small house in Maine where we
plan to raise as much of our food as possible. I have previously grown, canned
and frozen food for winter consumption, but that was some many years ago and
really wasn't enough to be considered self-sufficient. Is there a simple way to
size a vegetable garden for two people other than actually trying to figure
yield per plant, etc.,? If there is a general rule of thumb, i'd love to hear
it. --Linda, moving from New Hampshire to Maine COMFREY FLOWERS, LEAVES -- Should I cut the flower stalks of my comfrey plants (which are growing very well!), and how can I use the leaves? --Sandy You don't have to cut the flowers off the plants -- they are quite hardy and you really don't have to pamper them at all. You can use the leaves for whatever you want to -- tea, animal feed, healing, mulch. It's a wonderfully versatile plant. HEIRLOOM PEPPER VARIETIES I only grew Vinedale a few years as I found another that did better in my garden (Georgescu -- a vigorous plant, large blocky yellow from NJ CA J), and I didn't maintain the Vinedale. Meantime, I've tried a number of peppers since as I continually had some rot in the Geogescu's (but they did well other than that). I found two that were more reliable here -- Sunshine (large green variable bell and non-bell with a thinner wall, turns yellow-orange early) (IN BL S '00); and Red Belgium (earliest, thick walled, mild, light yellow non-bell, smaller plant, turns bright red) (MI FL J '00). Getting some rot in Sunshine as well, so I've decided to stick with Red Belgium. I also occasionally grow a hot pepper that came originally from Johnny's many years ago, since dropped -- Caliente Hot Pepper. You have reminded me how much I enjoy the "other part" -- experimenting with varieties, searching out the histories and stories behind them, and the sharing. |
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Have you read "Frost Dancing - Tips from a Northern Gardener" ? A fun short read. or "Homesteading Adventures" Creating our backwoods homestead--the first 20 years. and "Growing Berries for Food and Fun" A journey you can use in your own garden. |
updated 10/06/2019 |