Garden video on YouTube!

 Recently, I've been enjoying watching garden videos on YouTube. One of my favorite YouTubers has a challenge between him and another channel to grow the heaviest tomato. They invited viewers to also share videos and/or photos of theirs. I just found that video, 2+ months after the challenge began. Since I've already planted cherry tomatoes and some plum tomatoes, none of mine currently growing are the beefsteak variety that are likely to be large. I do happen to have 2 volunteer tomatoes, though, and I'm not sure what type they are. For fun, I made a video showing my tomatoes as entries into a made-up "volunteer" category. 

Check out my video: https://youtu.be/v0xE_nbzTiI?si=n8aM9e20K6g2eSch

Fish Emulsion to Citrus and Apple, Summer Garden

 A few more times this spring, twice in March and twice in June, I've applied fish emulsion to the citrus and apple trees. I wonder if it is helping my smallest mandarin a bit, but it is hard to tell if it is just normal spring growth. 

In the meantime, I'm harvesting delicious grape and cherry tomatoes that are mostly volunteers from the compost I spread near the trees or in pots. I planted some Celebrity tomatoes and Annie Oakley II okra starts in pots and at the community garden in June. 

The aphids and bagrada bugs have put a halt to the amazing swiss chard from this spring and really slowed down the kale. This seems to be a pretty normal cycle each year, so I'm just moving on.

At the garden, I planted seeds saved from kabocha squash and also planted whole mini pumpkins that are the descendants of the ones my daughters got at school 4.5 years ago. Like last year, I'm getting some bizarre squash from those that I didn't actually plant in addition to the mini pumpkins and kabocha I desired. At this point, there are some pumpkins although they look rounder. There's one that looks exactly like a golden acorn. And there's the omnipresent zucchini/random summer squash thing that's chubbier than a zucchini and more oval. Time will tell on the squash project, although it is fun to watch them and guess what's coming. For the record, some years I do grow squash from actual seed packets. I just didn't do it this year or last. 

Anyway, Happy Summer!

Fertilized garden; Pumpkin and squash harvest; Hawk

 Today, I used organic fruit tree fertilizer on all of the fruit trees in our yard. I also used an all purpose fertilizer on several landscape plants and pots, including the star jasmine that seems to get reddish leaves less if it has a boost of fertilizer.

We had a great harvest this summer of tomatoes such that we were eating them three times a day for weeks. They've slowed a lot, although we're still getting a few here and there. We did plant my daughter's baby pumpkin that's descended from a few (maybe 3?) she "bought" in a classroom auction 4 years ago. Some years she's had a handful, one year just one, and this year over 25!

Also, I don't recall planting zucchini, although I might have planted some old seeds. We ended up with many overgrown summer squash things that never really looked like zucchini, even when caught young, but they tasted about the same. One day, DD and I made 4 loaves of zucchini bread from one of them. With the remaining shredded squash from the one, I then made several pans of vegetable falafel-ish patties. I've given away some of the squash but still have a few left. I think next will be zoodles. 

This lovely hawk showed up for my birthday this year to help celebrate. 😏 I'm not sure what type it is, but it doesn't appear to be the usual red tailed hawk that we see frequently.

Planting seeds

 Today at the community garden plot, I tore out the rest of the old, aphid-infested kale that had been there a long time. The plants were big and woody, although they did provide new leaves that were fine. But they were so large that they were all over the place and felt like they took up half the space. In that area, I planted new seeds for kale, chard, carrots, beets and lima beans. The tomato plants from last week look fine and the newly replaced irrigation timer appears to be working. 

Planting tomatoes

 Yesterday we planted Sun Gold Cherry tomatoes in pots at our house. We added in compost from the bin and organic fertilizer. It was a nice family project for Mother's Day weekend. This week, I will plant the Champion tomato 6 pack that I bought at the same time at the community garden. We're still not going into stores, so these were both selected over the phone at a place that offers curbside pick up. I grew Sun Gold last year and actually prefer some red cherry tomatoes, but this is what they had. The plants in the packs look nice and healthy, which is better than I'd expected for curbside pickup. Kudos to Armstrong Nursery.

Spring Update

Spring is here!

Community Garden: I've continued to rip out the broccoli at the community garden.  The bean seeds are sprout well.  Some tomato starts are struggling.  The cucumber and carrots are sprouting minimally.  Likely the seed is too old.  I dug out some cosmos from the garden box and brought it home to enjoy here.

Around home: The Mr. says he wants more flowers in our yard, which we've done very little with since moving in.  So I bought a dahlia this week and added that with cosmos to a prominently placed pot in the backyard.  Also, there was this old, scraggly and sad poinsettia plant in a pot in a fake well decoration that I was sick of looking at.  The location is tough due to water issues.  Now I'm trying some succulents in there.  We'll see how that works.





















I'm loving the apple tree blossoms in the front yard that we walk past multiple times daily.



These little freesia are blooming in a spot we see out our back windows.

Many of our potted plants I topped off with finished compost.  Some I planted seeds in, including some Super Snow White Cherry seeds I'd saved from 2012.  It was an incredibly sweet and flavorful cherry.  I doubt those old seeds will sprout, but its worth a try.

I also put Basil in a pot and some flowers, including these Bachelor Buttons, Carnations and a Black Eyed Susan, which I'm hoping will vine up a tomato cage.









We've had a heck of a time this winter with first DS, then DD, then DH getting pneumonia.  I'm grateful to say that no one currently has pneumonia or is on antibiotics.  Everyone is on probiotics, though!

Harvested Worm Castings

At home, we harvested the worm castings from our vermicomposter.  I used the castings in a pot near the front door that had some white fly problems, plus gave some to the roses, apple tree, valencia, and peach.  Giving the worm tea regularly to the roses seems to keep at bay the bugs that want to eat it.  I also gave a good dose of fish emulsion to the struggling bougainvillea on the west side.

At the community garden, I continue to harvest kale, tomatoes, yellow crookneck squash, and green beans.  I really should remove the tomatoes to make room for fall planting, but I hate to do it when I'm still getting fruit off them.  Having put in more chicken manure, steer manure, and bags of coffee grounds recently really gave things a second wind.  The yellow crookneck was from a mixed seed pack that in theory had zucchini and pattypan as well, but none of those came up.

Community Garden and Home Garden Updates

I've been getting a great harvest of yellow crookneck squash, which I'd planted from an old seed pack that, in theory, contained 4 different types of summer squash.  But each plant that took was yellow crookneck.  We like it most roasted with garlic cloves, crimini mushrooms, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

We're also eating tons of tomatoes - I think they were Celebrity.  They are plenty tasty and are resistant enough that they're doing reasonably well.

I had the pleasure of trying a friend's plum tomato called Enchantment that was incredible!  I hope to track down a source for that one in the future.  Wonderful flavor.

At home today I used fish emulsion on our trees: apple, navel, valencia, peach, pomegranate.  Also gave some to the roses and bougainvillea.  I'm hoping it will perk up the latter, which has surprisingly few leaves.

Harvesting and Planting of Community Garden, Citrus, and Rain

On Friday 2/27, at the community garden, I harvested broccoli and removed most of the remaining plants.  Also some cheddar and carnival cauliflower.  The latter seemed to have more aphid problems this week.  Overall, the best thing about preventing the aphids from getting to the broccoli and cauliflower seemed to be for me to pick them ASAP.  I also harvested a lot of kale (Luciano, Green, and Red Russian, plus Kalette).  Some of this we used in an omelette for the egg-eaters in the family.  Some I sauteed with crimini mushrooms.  I also harvested a great beets and its greens.  Plus one whopper of a romaine lettuce.  On the same day, I also planted San Diego tomatoes, a banana pepper and a miniature red pepper.  I sprayed water forcefully on aphids, but they are winning since I'm not there spraying daily.

On Saturday 2/28  I added Organic Growth Power fertilizer with high aconcentration of humic acid to the mandarins.  I'm wondering if this might adjust the pH, especially in the lower hole that looked so chalky on planting.  The Dr. Earth's I used recently has about 10% humic acid, if I recall correctly, and this product has about 20%.  I watered them, and the transplanted Australian willow, deeply.  I also planted the Plumaria sticks in potting soil and compost.  This is my first attempt at rooting Plumeria, so we'll see how that goes.  I also added compost to all of the garden pots in the back yard to top them off.  I have some snapdragons resprouting from last year's plants and sprouting from last year's seeds in some of those pots.  I had to remove fennel from a number of pots as it is self-seeding everywhere.

Friday night was supposed to start a series of days with a bunch of rain, which is quite rare for here.  It didn't start on time, but Saturday night and most Sunday did rain, clearing up toward evening.  Again, it was supposed to rain starting in the early morning of Monday, but it was late to get going.  Around 10 am, it suddenly started with thunder, hard rain, and some hail - again very rare.  But so far, that seems to have ended quickly.  It would be nice if it drizzled for about a month.  That would sure help the drought.

Planted and Fertilized at home

Ah!  Spring is definitely here, and I've go the bug!  I spent almost the whole day in the garden, after starting the morning at Zumba.  I pulled out some old veggies and gathered fennel and basil seeds before planting.  I put in basil, dill, and chive seeds.  Plus I had starts of Celebrity Tomatoes that I planted, which are VFNT resistant.  If anything can survive my diseased home garden beds, they seem the most likely candidates.  They went in the North and West beds.  I hope they at least taste decent.  Also, I planted marigolds (for looks and to discourage nematodes), snapdragons, and celosia.  The latter I've never grown before.  The flowers went in North, West and South beds, plus pots.  DH harvested the worm bin and put the castings in the North and West beds.  Finally I gave a very thorough fish fertilizing to the Carrotwood tree and the hedge on the North side of the house that I'm hoping will pep them up, along with the deep watering they've been getting.

Trip to the Nursery, VFN tomatoes, Marigolds, and Compost

After the bad news of my infestation, I wanted to know more about VFN varieties.  Interestingly, the Territorial Seed Company seed catalog that I had at home did not seem to comment on VFN status.  I wonder if I missed it or if the info really isn't there.

Friday afternoon, we went to the nursery.  There we found only a few hybrid seed packets labeled with VFN information in small italic, light font.  The tags on actually plants weren't very helpful either - the most informative said "disease resistant" but didn't specify which diseases.  The customer service desk did have some helpful printouts regarding VFN status of some varieties they carried.

To test the theory that my tomatoes' big issues at home are the wilt and nematodes, I bought a 6 pack of Champion hybrid tomatoes.

Reading more on the root knot nematodes online, I saw information about using marigolds to help control them.  So, I bought 24 French Marigolds to plant at home.

I also read that using compost may help, as it may up the beneficials populations such that they can prey upon the parasitic nematodes.  I need to also read further about whether it is worthwhile to purchase predatory nematodes.

Saturday, I put our entire supply of finished compost into the North and West beds, which gave several inches of new compost to each.  I removed dead plants, cut diseased ones, planted the new tomatoes and the 20 or the 24 marigolds.  (The other 4 I'm saving for the community garden bed.)

Here are the beds as I'm cleaning them out and adding compost:

And here they are when I was done:

I also supported the tomatoes in the front bed with an approximation of a Florida weave.  Despite the fact that all of those plants are heirlooms, some of them are doing okay.  I haven't grown any vegetables in that soil before.  It isn't the best soil, but it also isn't too infested apparently.

Here is the weave in progress:

Here is the finished photo:

Lastly, here are some of my garden helpers.  They supervised some of the gardening from up in the Carrotwood tree:

Infestation Lessons from the Plant Pathologist

This morning I had an appointment at the County Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures with the plant pathologist to look at my sickly heirloom tomato plants.  She was kind enough to actually let me come in with my plants and learn from her!  Thank you!  These are my notes from our appointment.

I had 2 terribly stunted samples form the North Bed, one moderately stunted and wilting sample from the West bed, and 2 larger and rapidly wilting samples from the Community Garden bed.  I made the appointment figuring that since not everything responded miraculously to my fish emulsion that the problem went deeper than nitrogen deficiency.  And oh how very deep the problem is!

From the North Bed:
Plants 1 + 2: Snow White Cherry + Orange Cherry
a) chewing damage along stems consistent with pill bugs, ear wigs, etc. (I knew this, but the problem seemed more extensive than this)
b) tomato russet mite - can decimate fields, but not that many were present
c) no evidence of fusarium wilt or parasitic nematodes but the sample tomatoes were so stunted that one really couldn't tell for sure.  Easier to diagnose in bigger plants.  These were tiny - like less than 4 inches tall despite being seedlings from the spring.

From the West Bed:
Plant 1: Mortgage Lifter
a) Root Knot Nematode (prominently!).  Easy to see the knotting, not uniformly tapering roots.  Parasitic worm in a gall, which is a reaction to her presence.  The pathologist shaved off the gall carefully with a scalpel under the microscrope and we could see the small gooey white looking balls that were the adult nematodes.
b) Fusarium Wilt - plenty.  Easy to see when we cut the plant's stem in cross section near the soil line.
c) Tomato Russet Mite - mild
d) no spider mites

From the Community Garden Bed:
Plant 1: Super Sweet White Cherry
a) Fusarium wilt - prominent
b) Root knot nematode - mild - it was harder for me to see in this specimen, but she saw it.
c) tomato russet mite - mild
d) spider mite - a few present, but not many at all
Plant 2: Yellow Pear
a) Fusarium wilt - plenty
b) tomato russet mite - some
c) aphid - present
d) no root knot nematode noted

Fusarium wilt is a soil born fungus.  "Basically there forever" due to spores.  When the stem is cut in cross section, it is easy to see the brown discolored ring in the plant's vasculature.  Further up the stem it becomes less obvious.  It is nightshade specific, thus the recommended rotation of nightshades, which can be very difficult to do in the home garden.  More practical to get VFN (Verticillium Wilt, Fusarium Wilt, Nematode) resistant tomato hybrid varieties.  If doing the rotation, rotate out at least 3 years and see if you can get one decent crop in before the fungus population rebounds significantly.

Root Knot Nematode - Parasitic nematode that lives in the soil, has a broad host range (including most vegetables and some weeds, etc), and is basically there forever according to her.  Some resistant varieties can be found (mostly tomatoes, though) and can solarize the soil as a last resort.  This involves a clear tarp on top of soil for 4-6 weeks in the heat of the summer.  Problem with this is that it kills everything, even beneficials in soil.

Also discussed powdery mildew on the squash - soap and water can help, but do not apply at hottest part of day.  Sulfer can work, too, but with the same caution.

Amending Soil to Fix the Zero Nitrogen Issue

I am aware that some organic vegetable gardens may have very low water soluble nitrogen levels, but ZERO seems a bit low to me.  I'm hoping this is the issue with my North and West beds, because it is one that I can fix.  Just to be sure, I dug up a few of my pathetic tomato plants to take them back to the nursery for show and tell, along with my soil test results.

I came back with some new tricks.

The first is blood meal.  I've heard that it is easy to burn plants with this as it can be too nitrogen-hot, but really, with ZERO, is that going to be an issue?  (Were those famous last words?)  One of the nursery guys told me to use it in 2-5x quantities on the label and he wasn't concerned.  Another just said he's had trouble with it attracting animals, so he recommended I scratch it in.  I don't want to attract the raccoon pair that's recently been sited in the neighborhood.

I used the blood meal in the North Bed: 4 1/6  cups total.
Blood meal in the West Bed: 1 5/6 cups total

I clawed it in for both locations.

The second photo shows what I'm hoping will be my new best friends: Dial N Spray and Fish Fertilizer.  Today I used the Sprayer for the first time and it was super easy.  We had something like this about 12 years ago that wasn't nearly as intuitive.  I used the fish emulsion on the North Bed, West Bed, South Bed, Pots, and Front.  (Plus the camellias were in my way, so I foliar sprayed them, too.)

I hope to see some improvement in the sorry state of some plants.  I hope I'm on the right track.

Massive Soil Testing: No nitrogen!

My northern, and to a lesser extent, my western garden beds have been suffering terribly.  I've put in dozens of tomatoes that died.  Plus many beet and green bean seeds have been total duds.  The shallots in the West bed are very sad as well.

Here are pictures from my north bed, where so many tomato seedlings have died.  The chard and parley are from last year.  There is one okay eggplant in that bed that is a start from a nursery this year.  Plus some of my cinnamon basil starts have survived.  Those things in yogurt containers are months old tomatoes that I started, like in February!  

I've been wondering if I've contaminated the bed with a persistent herbicide like Picloram because this fall I used horse manure that I composted in the bed before I knew about the issue.  I spoke about that some in this link.  But I was also hoping it was something like a pH issue.  In my compost pile use a ton of coffee grounds that I get in big bags from Starbucks, so I was wondering if perhaps the pH was just off.

On Friday I went to a good local nursery, Walter Anderson's, to gather advice.  I explored the send-away soil test options but the people there weren't selling it to hard, saying that the results were confusing, even for them to understand.  I'd heard that home test kits were iffy, but they seemed fairly confident in theirs.  So I came home with a new home test kit in addition to the pH probe I already had.

This weekend I did a lot of pH and NPK tests from these beds. I used both my pH probe and the pH that came in with the NPK test kits.  The probe gave readings about 0.5-0.75 lower than the test kit, but all were acceptable.  EVEREY SINGLE nitrogen test I did was ZERO!  The P and K were in the slightly low, to normal, to slightly high range.  So I'm averaging that out and calling the P and K good.  Here are my handwritten notes:

So how is it that my organic beds, amended with homemade compost and homemade worm castings has zero nitrogen??!!