More on Septoria (blight), and avoiding it next year

Posted on by APerkins Posted in disease

“… If you are an organic gardener, you can use a sulfur spray once a week — but for future reference, those crumbled leaves that fell off into the garden soil can be the startup for septoria next year.To not be dragged into a panic attack next year: Begin spraying when the tomatoes are about the size of small marbles or just start preventatively spraying at the beginning of July. …”

copper sulfate spray (Concern copper soap fungicide) would be what to look for – thanks Skippy!

via Gretchen Voyle: Steps will ensure the T arrives to the BLT | livingstondaily.com | Livingston Daily.

WECK Home Canning Products – NO BPA!

Posted on by APerkins Posted in Tangents

Yep, it’s in the baby food, it’s in the tin cans, and it’s in the canning products you’re using to get away from it in the first place!  No mechanical seal after it’s cooled, which is actually a good thing – it allows you to pick up the preserve via the lid: if it smashes to the floor, you really didn’t want to serve that one anyway ’cause the seal has been compromised.  Messy, but effective.

WECK Home Canning Products.

See more information about how to avoid BPA at: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/04/bpa-danger-from-cans.php

Spotting Late Blight

Posted on by APerkins Posted in disease

The warmer days and cooler nights are prime conditioins for late blight. “… Late blight symptoms first appear as somewhat circular, water-soaked spots near the edge of expanded leaflets. These spots expand rapidly during moist weather to form irregular brown, dead areas. There is often a light green margin between the dead tissue in the center of the spot and the normal green tissue outside the spot. The real diagnostic feature of late blight is the white, downy-looking mold that develops at the margin of the spot on the underside of the leaflet. If the white mold is not obvious, remove the suspicious leaflet and put it in a plastic bag with a moist (rung out well, not sopping wet) paper towel for 24 hours to see if this symptom develops. If it does not develop, late blight is probably not the cause of the leaf spots you are seeing. …”

Late blight possible as warm days head into cooler nights.

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Craftzine.com blog : Tiny Terrariums

Posted on by APerkins Posted in Tangents

Craftzine.com has a dead link to this idea, though if you’re persistant, you can find a lot of information about making small terrariums. There’s a number of ways you can make similar items – there’s a great globe here, and an excellent site here for other creative terrariums of all shapes and sizes.

Reaching back into the archives, I was able to find this information from Kate D. Karam regarding useable plants:

Baby’s tears (Helxine soleirolii): Tiny-leafed spreading ground cover

Coleus: a bit tricky because it can rot, but worth a try

Creeping Charlie (Pilea nummulariifloria): Trailing or creeping perennial with deeply quilted pale green leaves

Creeping fig (Ficus pumila ‘Curly’): Tiny, crinkled green leaves with bright yellow centers (most creeping fig will work—look for small, pretty leaves)

Hedera helix ‘Itsy Bitsy’: Miniature ivy with very tiny, pointed, dark green leaves. Grows in small bushy mounds (most ivies will work—look for small-leafed specimens)

Miniature Pilea (Pilea depressa): Tiny dark green leaves; doesn’t need much water (invasive weed; not suggested for outdoor replanting)

Oxalis (most varieties): Oxalis hedysaroides ‘Rubra’ has red leaves (invasive weed, not suggested for outdoor replanting)

Peperomia caperata: Mounding, with rosette of deeply corrugated, heart-shaped dark green leaves; sometimes sends off spikes of tiny white flowers

Polka-dot plant (Hypoestes sanguinolenta): Pink dots cover deep green leaves; can get tall but takes well to pinching back

selaginella (most varieties): Tiny mosses that range from pincushion habit to arching plumes

Sinningia pusilla: Micro-mini version of gloxinia—dark green leaves; sometimes sends off spikes of purple flowers

Small-leafed Peperomia ‘minima’: Tiny green leaves on upright, bright red stems

Sundew (Drosera intermedia ‘Cuba’): Uses its leaves to trap moisture—very colorful

Sword fern (Nephrolepsis exaltata ‘Fluffy Ruffles’): Densely growing miniature fern with fine, lacy fronds (most small ferns will work)

Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens): Spreading ground cover with fragrant, tiny leaves

A Word About Moss
Think twice before adding moss to your tiny terrarium. Many mosses can rot, turning your terrarium into a moldy, mucky mess. Use only living sphagnum (ask a florist) or Java moss (used in aquariums and found at fish/pet-supply stores).

Hmm. Okay, nix peeling the moss off the wet step behind the house.
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Eggshells and Banana Peels for your Tomatoes

Posted on by APerkins Posted in Fertilizing, Soil

eggshells and banana by oshendoschenAdding selectively what normally goes out in the trash can keep away blossom end rot and compliment your soil.

The Hacks:  save your eggshells and banana peels and add them when you plant tomatoes out – an interesting thought too: “…(Note:  Just recently learned that some gardeners have gone to either baking their eggshells or boiling them (you can water your plants with the egg water when done too) to avoid the risk of spreading salmonella. …”

I’ve seen from 3-4 eggshells per plant to 12-18.  I err on the side of caution going for about 3-4 per plant, but I also grind mine in a blender, so it comes out to about a rounded teaspoon per plant.  The bananas that have gone bad over the winter in our house have normally gone into the compost bin, but having a small box in the freezer for the peels would be an easy addition.  Wonder if I can dry them out and grind them too…

Growing Tips.

Lettuce Have Salad the Whole Summer Long

Posted on by APerkins Posted in Time, Watering

Lettuce likes to bolt in the hot sun, but there are a couple of ways to keep the greens coming all summer long.

Hack #1: Leaf Lettuce –  Cut and Come Again – taking the outer leaves only, shocks the plant so it doesn’t think it’s matured.

Hack #2: Leaf Lettuce – Replant it – dig it up and move it to shock it once again.

Hack #3 Leaf and head lettuce – plant it in a shady spot.  I like to plant mine behind anything that’s going to take a while to mature and is going to be around awhile.  Since I let my peas grow on a trellis, I put my lettuce behind them and they just keep growing.  This works with tomato plants, too.  The only issue I’ve run into is with patty-pan squash that got enormous and shaded the lettuce completely.

Growing Lettuce – Keep Lettuce Growing in the Heat of Summer.

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Raised Bed from One Pallet

Posted on by APerkins Posted in Raised Bed

An oldie but a goodie, did this about one year ago, and as a green podcaster, I’m recycling.

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ALERT! Irish Potato Famine Disease affecting Gardens and Farmers throughout the Greater Northeast

Posted on by APerkins Posted in disease
Figure 1. Late blight lesion on infected tomato leaf at garden center and in a home garden.

Figure 1. Late blight lesion on infected tomato leaf at garden center and in a home garden.

taken from a pdf at From njfarmfresh.rutgers.edu – click this link to get it directly.
Irish Potato Famine Disease affecting Gardens and Farmers throughout the Greater Northeast

Revised by A. Wyenandt, NJAES, Rutgers University and M.T McGrath, Cornell University

Original article by Thomas A. Zitter, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

June 29, 2009 – Late blight, caused by Phytophthora infestans, is a serious disease that affects tomato and potato around the world. Late blight can become a serious problem because it can quickly kill affected plants and its spores are easily carried in wind currents to infect other susceptible plants in even the most remote areas in our region.

Late blight occurs sporadically in the Northeast in any given year because farmers diligently use methods to prevent the pathogen from surviving overwinter. Since our summer thus far has been cool with frequent rains, weather conditions have been very conducive for late blight development. Currently, all tomato and potato plants grown in home gardens and in commercial fields are susceptible to late blight!

The Hack – unfortunately, there’s only one known remedy for this, but “… Homeowners do have a few products that are registered for use; the most effective ones have the common name of chlorothalonil which will be on the label. These products are only effective if used before the disease appears and should be reapplied every 5-7 days if cool, wet weather persists. Chlorothalonil is a protectant fungicide, with no systemic movement in the plant, so thorough coverage is necessary. Copper applications are not as effective as chlorothalonil. …”

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YouTube – The Store Wars – Organic food versus chemicals and GMOs

Posted on by APerkins Posted in Tangents

Too good to miss – worth the watch! from What is GE, GMO, and GM food – genetically-modified food war, part 2

via YouTube – The Store Wars – Organic food versus chemicals and GMOs.

Where did strawberries come from?

Posted on by APerkins Posted in Tangents

Tangent: The amazing strawberry – love them fresh from the garden, but they’re only around from June through late July, typically (in Western MA).  So where did strawberries come from? California strawberries, sometimes the size of small apples, are available year-round.  Here’s some tid-bits from a very thorough article:

“… Humans have two sets of each chromosome. Strawberries have eight. …”

“… “This year we’ve got 300 million [Albion plants] in California,” Shaw says. “Every one traces back to one seed on one berry in history that could have gotten stuck in your teeth.” …”

“… The way strawberry plants produce clones is both their commercial strength and weakness. It means once you have a great product, you can mass produce it. But if one plant succumbs to disease, they all fall. …”

Here’s where it gets ugly:

“… Strawberry farming in California is highly mechanized. Before planting, every field is fumigated, often with methyl bromide. It’s a toxic, ozone-depleting gas that kills everything down to 2.4 metres – weeds, fungi, bugs …” NOTE: Methyl Bromide is an internationally banned chemical see http://www.epa.gov/Ozone/mbr/ – the loophole is “the Critical Use Exemption (CUE), designed for agricultural users with no technically or economically feasible alternatives.”

Regarding the cooling of the strawberries to preserve them
“… He yanks open a door to the plant’s thousand-horsepower back-up generator. Running full-tilt, it can produce 700,000 watts – enough to power three neighbourhood blocks in Toronto.

That box of California strawberries requires a lot of energy. …”

“… After cooling, the next step is Techtral treatment. That’s strawberry talk for carbon dioxide. The pallet including Qundeel’s berries is wrapped in plastic and sealed. Then, the oxygen is sucked out and replaced with 15 per cent carbon dioxide. …”

I recently got 75 plants some seasonal, mostly everbearing.  Not planning to use methyl bromide or install a generator, but I’m wondering what it would take to grow them over the winter, and if my cool (60-65 degree) indoor growing area will be enough to have them flower and grow.  Probably not enough to keep off the “store boughts’ initially – but if I can stem the flow, I’m sure my kids’ ‘d be more healthy because of my efforts.

TheStar.com | Insight | A strawberry’s journey: From West to feast .

See the responses to this article, too at thestar.com

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