N & C Midwest: May 2016!

As we mourn the passing of our Founding Father, the promise of Spring is upon us in our region...and much of the country! Today, I was pleasantly surprised with NO RAIN, and a glowing orb that just might be the Sun peaking out a bit...been a while

Thinned the sunflowers, and ate the sacrifices! Yum! They really germinated well, almost 100% actually. Nasturtium and Wild Carrot Dara just beginning to come up. Watered everything else and put them on the patio.

What is everyone up to?

Somehow I knew you would have no rain, today, SR.  

Just finished a Sunday brunch of eggs, steamed spinach - and now kale - from the garden, followed by toast with some home canned cinnamon apple butter we scored at the local Saturday farmers' market. Lovely feast!

Um, remember what I said awhile back about when spinach leaves get pointy, they start to taste bitter and the plants are on the verge of bolting?  Well, that's how it played out last year, but this year, I haven't found a bitter leaf yet, and I haven't had a single plant bolt yet.  Some of them have to be getting close, though, they're standing up pretty tall now.  Got a dozen new starts ready to go in as soon as they do.  Gotta celebrate my dumb luck with the spinach this year!

Also, remember those little insect eggs I found on the spinach at the beginning of the season?  I'm pretty sure they are spider mites, because I found some while out snipping some, and they're starting to do quite a bit of damage.  I had been squirting the eggs off the plants with a strong jet of water.  That worked pretty well for a while, but wasn't able to keep after it while we were out of town.  And now there are so many leaves, it's almost impossible to get down in the heart of the plant and the underside of all the leaves.  So it's looking now like I'm going to have to get out the neem oil.

Oh - and sanderson, confirmed it, the sluggo plus is taking care of the pill bugs.  Found some dead ones in the box this morning.  Thanks for sharing that.

Seems like there is always something to deal with in gardening, but today was one of those days when it isn't hard to remember why we do this.

Yeah, I always know what I am getting when you. Post your weather!

Nice, Kate! Glad you are enjoying some luck with your spinach! And everything! Also good score at the farmer's market; my neighbor gave me some homemade apple butter last fall in exchange for a bunch of Patty pans....where did I put that

Ate my first sugar pea pod this morning...I think I have around 65 linear feet of pea trellis loaded with blossoms.

Concerning spinach, earlier I was picking spinach and kept finding what I thought were tiny white insect eggs...they felt like fine grains of sand.  I googled it is calcium oxalate...basically little crystals forming around the leaf stomas as the plant transpires.


Other than that, hoping that the cooler rainy weather for another day is some benefit to my cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli.  Broccoli heads are forming but it looks as if they may open up before getting big.  Broccoli has to be my most finicky plant almost to the point where it's not worth large space it takes up in the garden.  80's predicted for the end of the week.

Calcium oxalate on the stomas, that's a fantastic little piece of knowledge, thanks for sharing the picture also. 

I have had very nice results with broccoli in the fall.  Why?  You transplant the little guys when temperatures are warm to get them going.  By the time they are mature there they are just sitting around in their favorite cool temperatures of Fall, looking gorgeous.  In contrast to the Spring where the timing of their maturity is becoming more lousy and too warm for them.  That's my take on it anyway.  I tried spring broc just once, it wasn't worth it and ticked me off, lol.

landarch wrote:
Concerning spinach, earlier I was picking spinach and kept finding what I thought were tiny white insect eggs...they felt like fine grains of sand.  I googled it is calcium oxalate...basically little crystals forming around the leaf stomas as the plant transpires.

That's exactly what I was seeing on my spinach - thanks for helping us get to the bottom of it! I can stop wasting my time keeping them off the plants, now. (I'd also like to know what search phrase you used to google it, because my search came up with everything from spider mite eggs to nothing at all.)

Then again, I still have something eating some of my plants. I don't think it's the pill bugs, because they usually go after them when they are just sprouted, just like they do with the green bean sprouts. This pest is eating more mature leaves, and I haven't spotted any larvae that usually create this kind of damage... hmmm....

llama momma wrote:I have had very nice results with broccoli in the fall.  Why?  You transplant the little guys when temperatures are warm to get them going.  By the time they are mature there they are just sitting around in their favorite cool temperatures of Fall, looking gorgeous.  In contrast to the Spring where the timing of their maturity is becoming more lousy and too warm for them.  That's my take on it anyway.  I tried spring broc just once, it wasn't worth it and ticked me off, lol.

Good to know.  By fall I've given up on the brocc.  This year however I purposely spring planted a few in order to get them to bolt for seed.  Watch it not work for the first time EVER.


LM, when you have oodles of time, would you start a thread for 'SFG Pets: Llamas' purdy please?  I miss seeing those beauties.


CC

I searched for "white sandy grit on spinach"...found this.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2089810/small-white-dots-on-spinach-leaves-new-picture


cabin fever goads me in to trying broccoli every spring...fall does work better, however it feels weird to start seeds around the 4th of July for planting in the heat of early August.

CapeCoddess wrote:

llama momma wrote:I have had very nice results with broccoli in the fall.  Why?  You transplant the little guys when temperatures are warm to get them going.  By the time they are mature there they are just sitting around in their favorite cool temperatures of Fall, looking gorgeous.  In contrast to the Spring where the timing of their maturity is becoming more lousy and too warm for them.  That's my take on it anyway.  I tried spring broc just once, it wasn't worth it and ticked me off, lol.

Good to know.  By fall I've given up on the brocc.  This year however I purposely spring planted a few in order to get them to bolt for seed.  Watch it not work for the first time EVER.


LM, when you have oodles of time, would you start a thread for 'SFG Pets: Llamas' purdy please?  I miss seeing those beauties.


CC

Awe CC, how sweet of you to ask.  Sure I can share pictures. How about when we get them cleaned up and sheared after being all winter shaggy long wooly toasty warm, then spring muddy and dirty! Bath time and shearing makes such a difference Lol.  The annual transformation gets them wound up and the boys really strut their stuff for the girls too. Weather has to be consistently warm so they dry before evening to prevent chills. Nothing like big ol' pampered shampooed, crème rinsed, spoiled, cotton candy llamas as I call them ; )

Scorpio Rising wrote:As we mourn the passing of our Founding Father, the promise of Spring is upon us in our region...and much of the country!  Today, I was pleasantly surprised with NO RAIN, and a glowing orb that just might be the Sun peaking out a bit...been a while

Thinned the sunflowers, and ate the sacrifices!  Yum!  They really germinated well, almost 100% actually.  Nasturtium and Wild Carrot Dara just beginning to come up.  Watered everything else and put them on the patio.  

What is everyone up to?

I visited my Grandkids that live in Minneapolis (and their parents!) over the weekend, and brought back a passel of raspberry plants that popped up in his lawn. I wanted to turn one of my 4x6 boxes into a raspberry bed, today I did just that. The plants are pretty droopy, they didn't like being uprooted - but I am confident they will take root and thrive! Tomorrow I begin to harden off the tomatoes & peppers & prepare the unplanted boxes to receive seed. 

landarch wrote:I searched for "white sandy grit on spinach"...found this.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2089810/small-white-dots-on-spinach-leaves-new-picture


cabin fever goads me in to trying broccoli every spring...fall does work better, however it feels weird to start seeds around the 4th of July for planting in the heat of early August.

Very interesting on both fronts! As a nurse I am familiar with oxalic acid as a dietary concern for patients prone to renal calculi (kidney stones). However, like the whole cholesterol debate, some of this stuff is just our bodies doing something weird, like you are a stone former, or you just have high cholesterol because you make too much no matter how careful you are with your dietary intake or your statin regimen.

Nurses have thought this for a hundred years, allopathic medicine is just catching on to the whole individualized almost geneticized medical era we are encroaching upon...

Broccoli wise, I would be up to a fall crop...no room at the inn for summer!

Suzy! Hey! Sounds wonderful! I miss my raspberry patch, as weedy as it was, I always got berries! I am trying to figure out where to put the berry patch here!

They are very hardy, I am sure they will be fine! Especially with a bit of side dress compost to perk 'em up! Yum!

Scorpio Rising wrote:
Nurses have thought this for a hundred years, allopathic medicine is just catching on to the whole individualized almost geneticized medical era we are encroaching upon...

This may be a subject for a whole new thread, but I'm not familiar with the term "allopathic"... Whutisit?

CitizenKate wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:
Nurses have thought this for a hundred years, allopathic medicine is just catching on to the whole individualized almost geneticized medical era we are encroaching upon...

This may be a subject for a whole new thread, but I'm not familiar with the term "allopathic"... Whutisit?

Not sure what the official definition is, but allopathic is what I think of as traditional Western medicine.  Treating with prescriptions, and MAYBE secondarily with lifestyle/diet/supplements for the more open minded traditional docs. Allopathic medicine is completely science based, which is good, but many alternative medicines and supplements work (anectodally). And there is just no financial incentive to do trials because no pharmaceutical company is involved in studying, for example, blueberries! So, no trials.  And some of it really does work/prevents/is helpful, but alas, no scientific studies to show the traditional medical world.  

Stepping off soapbox....

Totally off topic!  Sorry!

I see, and I'm glad to see someone in the medical profession so passionate about it. Many solutions to good health cannot be monetized by the medical industry, so it is left to us to find/research/develop our own.

No complaints, here... if that's how it is, that's how it is. But the more disciplined medical professionals and scientists we can get involved in that process, who understand the value of it beyond economic gain, the better for our efforts.

Agree.  Wholeheartedly!

On the plant front...sunflowers have germinated really well..the Wild Carrot Dara not so much; which surprises me..I mean it is a wild thing, it should germinate?!!?  

So....will pot up my marigolds this weekend.  They are huge.  And will hopefully get the Annex ready for my Hotties!  Melons and squash. And if the stupid wild carrot doesn't happen, yeah, we will rebuild !

You gotta post some nice photos of your marigolds.  I grew them the last two years, and I love them.  This year, the seed co. sent me some wildflower seeds they suggest for attracting bees, so I'd better get busy and get them started!

Still working around the clock, trying to get all the expansions/improvements done, and finish all the planting.  I just got the last of my extra kale plants into grow bags.  Poor things - they were soooo rootbound...     I think they'll be okay now, though.  They don't have as much protection as the first two I planted in the box with the tulle over it.  I was able to harvest some for breakfast the other day, and it's excellent!

Finally got the water source hooked up to my tomato/pepper box, and got the drip irrigation running on it.  I really love the new irrigation contraptions - huge work-saver, definitely worth the work to build them.

Here's our retriever-ish companion, Nigel, getting a lecture about not digging up the beds again this year.

@Kate...Nigel looks like he's already been busted.

Yesterday evening I noticed I had about 10 or so squares of carrots that had not yet been thinned...so instead of pinching extras off I decided to try pulling and transplanting to fill in any gaps.  I took a long pencil and created receiving holes and slipped the carrots in like a leek...then watered.  I need to check them tonight to see if they've wilted or not. 

Also getting ancy...thinking about taking half day off from work tomorrow and planting tomatoes and peppers before the weekend t-storms.

Nigel needs to be added to PETS: Garden Doggies.

Retriever-ish!   I have one too!  He is cute, but looking rather guilty I must say!  I am so surprised at how much I like that kale I am growing!  The stuff I have had from the store is so much tougher and cabbagey.  Need to direct seed a couple more, they are dwarf.

Landarch, I see a mental health day in your future!    I will be interested in hearing how the carrot relocation program goes. I too need to get it in gear outside!  Not only veggies, but my daughter is a senior, and she wants the party here!  Work, but fun, and will force me to do some long overdue stuff at the house.

And I have yet to see a single Ruby Crunch sprout?  What the?

CitizenKate wrote:Here's our retriever-ish companion, Nigel, getting a lecture about not digging up the beds again this year.

We have owned dogs in the past but not since our daughter got married ten years ago and took our last dog with her. When I look at Nigel I get the urge to go out and get another dog. Nigel is so cute. But for now I have to be satisfied with spending a few minutes with the neighbour's black lab.

Scorpio Rising wrote:I am so surprised at how much I like that kale I am growing!  The stuff I have had from the store is so much tougher and cabbagey.  Need to direct seed a couple more, they are dwarf.

Garden fresh kale is addicting!

Landarch, I see a mental health day in your future!    

Gads, I remember those. Retirement is sweet.

Scorpio Rising wrote: I too need to get it in gear outside!  Not only veggies, but my daughter is a senior, and she wants the party here!  Work, but fun, and will force me to do some long overdue stuff at the house.

Nothing like company to kick one in gear.

Truth! Lol!

Scorpio Rising wrote:I am so surprised at how much I like that kale I am growing!  The stuff I have had from the store is so much tougher and cabbagey.

I know, me too! Much more tender, with a milder flavor, a slight hint of sweet... and something else wonderful I can't quite put my finger on. So easy to grow, too.

Scorpio Rising wrote:And I have yet to see a single Ruby Crunch sprout?  What the?

Wish I knew, SR. I may have to try some myself next year and see what is up with that stuff.