MY GARDEN

Here is the layout of my garden to date! I do this every year, it helps me plan the next year with rotation of crops. The information I find valuable year to year is; PH of soil, date of planting, date of harvest, and the flowers I plant throughout my garden for pest control. I also keep a journal with more detail information on fertilizing, weeds, temperatures, and the general look / health of my garden!

Spring Garden 2012
20'X25'

YARD OVERVIEW

Spring Garden 2012
Total Planted In Yard

Soil Test

Soil Tips:

Want to see the quality of your soil? Here is a tip I got from Ed Smith the author of “The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible.

In the spring before the soil gets to warm. With a spade, outline and remove a block of soil about a foot square and 7 inches deep. Spread the soil out on a board, gently break up the soil, and count the worms. Fewer than 10 worms in your soil sample is bad news. Chances are your soil is lacking in organic matter, and organic matter is the breakfast buffet to a worm. Worms do two things very, very well! They eat and make more worms. Add organic matter to the soil and you supply them with food, and with food they’ll happily make lots more worms.

When I first started my garden 12 years ago I had few worms....don't be discouraged, you can turn in some Mushroom Compost (buy it by the bag at Portland Nursery) as you plant. 

 When I first started my garden in 2000 I bought 4 yards of Mushroom Compost and turn it into the soil in the fall and let it feed my little wiggly friends. I now have over 30per my square block.

My little wiggle friends 
It's going to be a good year!
32 and counting!

Flowers in your Vegetable Garden

Flowers in your vegetable garden:

French and African Marigold Flowers add color and make GREAT vegetable garden friends. Planting Marigolds as a border or among your vegetables are a good organic pest control that repel insects. Marigolds do an excellent job of keeping bean beetles, whiteflies, and cucumber beetles out of your garden.

• The French Dwarf Marigold are very effective for bush beans and beetles will stay clear of my bean rows. 



French Marigold Flower

• African Marigolds are great to plant among larger vegetables like cucumbers, corn or pole beans

African Marigold Flowers

Asters

Plant Cosmos, Calendula and Asters to attract Lady Bugs!

      Happy Gardening,

    Ruby

Lady Bugs...Lady Bugs....and More Lady Bugs!

Did You Know!

• We have 400 different kinds of Ladybugs in North America.
• Aphids are a Ladybugs favorite food.
• The male Ladybug is smaller than the female ladybug.
• A Ladybug beats its wings 85 times a second when it flies.
• Although most Ladybugs live for one season, some hibernate under treebark, stumps, and leaves  or in a Ladybug house until the next spring.
• Predators won't eat an insect if it doesn't move, so Ladybugs have been known to play dead!
• You can attract Ladybugs to your garden by putting out white or yellow flowers, such as Marigold, Calendula, Cosmos (white, pink, orange or yellow), and Chives (they produce a beautiful herb flower).

This year I will have 2 Ladybug houses in my yard to give them a safe place to spend the night and protect them from predators, wind and rain. I also hope they will hibernate in them over the winter.

                                    About Ladybugs! 

Ladybugs can be very beneficial to your garden! They keep annoying pests away and help pollinate other plants, but how do you keep them in the garden? SOLUTION FOUND! When you first buy your Ladybugs from your local gardening store, make a fun little concoction: 1 part water to 2 parts flat soda (like Root beer or Orange) then spray it on the lady bugs while in the bag. This will sort of "glue" their wings together for about 2 or 3 days (don't worry, it doesn't hurt them at all) this way, they'll lay their eggs around your garden, and where ever a Ladybug lays her eggs is considered her home. So, she'll keep returning to that place in the garden and eating the little aphids and other pests in your garden!

A Ladybug's eggs look like this small, orange, and football shaped photo below. The eggs will hatch in 2 to 5 days.

Ladybug Eggs

They look very similar to aphid eggs. The difference is the color and size. Aphid eggs look like this photo below, very small, black, and football shaped.

    

Aphid Eggs

When Ladybug eggs hatch they look like this photo below; creepy looking right? This is the larva stage and can last up to 3 weeks. Make sure you don't harm these little guys! Not that you could, well easily at least. They're very fast! They eat a good amount of aphids in this stage of life. 

Larva

At this stage they stay inactive for a short time and become a Pupa which looks like this photo below. Slightly smaller than a full grown Ladybug. Their shell is growing and is a light orange-brown color with some spots. In about 7 days, they become full grown Ladybugs. Ladybugs do not have their spots until 24 hours, so if you find one without spots, you have found a brand new adult! Now the life cycle starts over again. 

Enjoy your Ladybugs and watching your garden thrive pest free!

Adult Ladybug

This post on Ladybugs was written by: Rachel Collins and Ruby Collins

Art and animation of Ladybug by: Rachel Collins 

Lettuce

Lettuce Crop 2008

I love the lettuce you can grow in Washington! The variety makes for a beautiful salad worthy of some homemade dressing. That is another blog in itself?

It is a little early, but I did find some Buttercrunch at Watson's Nursery, and Branches. This year I will be planting Buttercrunch, Gourmet Salad Blend, and Baby Butterhead Lettuce. Buttercrunch is a delicious head lettuce that adds to a great salad, or great on burger. It is very popular and can be found in any nursery and grocery store. Gourmet Salad Blend is a variety of leaf lettuce, and the mix makes for a great salad. Baby Butterhead Lettuce, this is my favorite to grow. It is a small head, tender and sweet. Great things come in small packages...and that is the Baby Butterhead Lettuce! They will be carrying it as Gardensphere Nursery in 2 to 3 weeks. I was also able to get it last year at Portland Nursery. Enjoy this spring and summer growing some amazing lettuce, we live in the perfect climate!!!

About Growing Lettuce: Head lettuce need more room when planting than leaf. I put my plants out as early as I can get plants, although at times I have to protect them from a frost. You can use anything from milk cartons to pre-made row covers available at Watson's Nursery. You can make your own using fabric, slats of wood and PVC or metal wire.

The benefit in planting early is you can continually plant through the summer, as long as you make sure you keep the soil moist. If it dries out lettuce will become bitter. This is only a problem when we get into summer and don't get any rain. I found that planting in partial shade in mid-summer helps. I plant my tomato plant in the middle of my lettuce, then by the time my tomato plant grows, my lettuce has some shade to hold in moisture.

I am planting my first crop of lettuce March 17th. Some I will put in the ground, and some in pots. Slugs are a problem in spring with all the rain we get, so planting in pots help with slug control. I have found that making a perimeter of eggshells helps, and I know other friends have had success with a perimeter of saw dust, and wood ashes.

Good Companions: Everything! That's the beauty of lettuce. Especially carrot, onion and radish.

Bad Companions: NONE

Planting: Space leaf lettuce plants 8" apart in a row, and head lettuce 12". Soil needs to be turned in and loose enough for the shallow delicate roots to take hold. Soil must also be moist and not allowed to dry out. If you plant 2 shallow root plants in the same area, make sure to give them extra compost (onions are a good companion, but are also a shallow root plant). If your garden has plenty of organic matter and lots of wiggle friends, you know there is plenty of food to maintain a healthy crop of lettuce and onions.

Harvesting: Leaf lettuce matures 45-55 days and you can start harvesting the outer leaves as soon as they are big enough to add to your salad. Cut as close to the soil as you can. The plant will continue to grow and you should continue to harvest until a center stem starts to grow. At that point the lettuce harvest is over, and you can pull up the plant and replant another crop. Head lettuce matures in 65-75 days, make sure you harvest while the plant is still young and tender. Again, when the plant grows the center stem, the harvest is over. I prefer to harvest from the garden to the dinner table, but if you must harvest and store, make sure you harvest in the morning and store up to 1 week in the refrigerator.

Let us garden together!

Ruby

Pest Control

Companion Planting - Planting a garden in my backyard makes for close quarters for the variety of vegetables that I plant.  I found that you can solve lots of PEST problems by companion planting. I will list good and bad companions for each plant when I post the planting of a particular vegetable. Below are some other things to plant in your garden to help control pest.

Lady Bugs....Lady Bugs....and more Lady Bugs are one of the best things you can have in your garden!


Garlic is great to plant and ward off Japanese beetles, weevils, spider mites, and it is a good companion to beets, and lettuce.
Celery is great to plant and ward off Moths, and is a good companion to everything, except carrots, parsley, and parsnip.


African Marigolds are great at warding off pest like corn ear worms, and add color to your garden. 
Farmers and gardeners have long known that marigolds make important companion plants. Plant them all over your garden. The scents of the marigold repel animals and insects, and the underground workings of the marigold will repel microscopic worms and other pest. I am not planting corn this year, but this always worked for me, and I always had worm-free corn! (Do not fertilize marigolds they bloom better in poor dry soil, also if you deadhead the blossoms, they will continue to bloom profusely).


Garden Buddies - I plant my Green Beans (Bush) in an adjacent bed to my potatoes. Beans repel Colorado potato beetle, and potatoes repel Mexican bean beetles. Now that is what I call garden buddies!!!


Enjoy your friendly garden,
Ruby