Organic Gardening Info from Peaceful Valley

A PVFS Customer Question with staff answer.

Question:
Hi there,

We inherited a pasture with a terrible weed problem. I’m new to farming and would like to some how “magically” transform it into a wildflower meadow with some food for our hens. From my reading i understand that the best way to do this is to till it a few times and then plant several generations of cover crops that will die back as the new one is seeded in order to smother the weeds and make room for our meadow. Can you recommend some varieties or mixes that we can grow to make this happen? My first concern is crowding out the weeds, next is that we would love it if our chickens can eat it. We can irrigate if necessary although it’s 2/3 acre so that’s not too desirable. We live near Portland OR and we would like to get started before our weeds have another year to take over. As a bonus question, I’d love some suggestions for meadow mixes that would help feed the hens as well. Thank you for any advice you may have!

Answer:
The best way to rid your pasture of weeds is to exhaust the seed bank and then plant what you want to grow. To exhaust the seed bank, till the area, water and then hoe, flame or VERY shallowly till to kill the seedlings. Rinse and repeat 2 -4 times depending on how strong the seed bank is. The idea is to germinate as many of the seeds on the surface as possible, which is why you don’t want to till deeply which just brings more seeds to the surface.

When you are ready to plant (right after your final weeding) spread some compost and your seeds of choice. Water and you should have a great pasture.

As far as suggestions for what to plant, the Grasses and Wild Flower Mix (SCG055) would be good, or the Sheep Fescue (SCG295) mixed with an annual or perennial clover (chickens LOVE clover!) and the Pacific NW Wildflower mix (SWF810), Mediterranean Dryland Mix (SWF910), Hummingbird Mix (SWF670), or any of the other mixes that catch you eye. The Omega-3 Chicken Forage Blend is a great chicken pasture mix, but it does need summer irrigation.

Hope this helps, and thanks for growing organically!

Here at Peaceful Valley, we are in the throes of bare-root sales. However, the terms and restrictions for what can and cannot be planted can be confusing, especially for the first time grower.

The first thing to consider is your growing zone. This is a general description of how warm or cold your temperatures get year round. Where people tend to get confused, even experienced growers, is that in the US, there are two different forms of zone charting: The USDA and Sunset Magazine, possibly more. For simplicity, Peaceful Valley employs the USDA chart exclusively.

How, then, can you find, with any certainty, what USDA zone are you in? You can find zone maps in many locations, but even those cannot be as specific as you need. Fortunately, the good folks at the National Gardening Association have put together a searchable zone chart! Simply go here, and enter your zip code. You will get not only your USDA zone, but links to articles pertaining to growing conditions in YOUR area!

Another question many people have is “How many chill hours do I have? What is a chill hour, anyway?” According to Dave Wilson (the company that has supplied the majority of our bare-root trees for nearly a decade, and services many other nurseries around the nation) a chill hour is defined as one hour under 45 degrees Fahrenheit. However, its not always that simple. For every hour over 60 degrees, you have to subtract one hour. There are other, more specific rules (search for Utah Model Chill), but this is a good general guide.

Now, most people don’t sit out with a clipboard and a thermometer every day, calculating chill data. So, to get your approximate number of chill hours, you would go to your local Ag department — they usually have that data. If you are lucky enough to live in California, our wonderful UC system actually has monitoring up and down the state, with not only recent data, but in some cases, going back 5 years — you get a great picture of trends. The website, broken down by county, can be found here.

As always, we are here to help. Our catalog features many different icons to give you an idea of what grows well in warm climates (ideal for areas like Los Angeles), and what grows well in frigid areas, like Nebraska. But remember, we cannot hold shipments until it gets warm enough for you to plant. There is a method called “heeling in”, which allows you to care for your bare root plants until you are able to plant them in their permanent home. The literature we send out with our plants includes that information, but it can be viewed by downloading the .pdf file on the description page of all our bare-root stock.

Good luck, and Happy Planting!

We are busy, busy, busy, around here at PVFS. Besides working 24 hours a day (well some of that time is dreaming about working) on the 2010 catalog. Tomorrow we will be working 7 to 7 counting every item of inventory in the whole building! It is our yearly inventory marathon.

We are also doing all the germination testing of our Peaceful Valley brand organic seeds and packing seed with ferocity for the 2010 year. We created this video to show you our seed packing wonder!! The Ballard Brown Bag Seed Packing Marvel!!

Beautiful colorful organic potato varieties!

(Taken from PVFS October In the Loop Newsletter) if you would like to receive this newsletter email us at orderdesk@groworganic.com with your full name and email address.

First of all, a Customer Success Story:
Bill Bird and his wife Venus planted one pound of potatoes in their 4′x8′ raised bed and harvested nearly 100 pounds of potatoes this summer! They enjoyed many Cranberry Red and All Blue potatoes this year.

Bill said he fertilizerd two to three times a month with a mixture of Omega 2000 and diluted Maxicrop, which he believes aided in their success. Great job Bill & Venus!

And Now….How-to Grow Potatoes:
by Dan Lake, Peaceful Valley Employee

Since I was 12 years old, my family has grown about 4 or 5 different varieties of potatoes in our garden at home every year. I would love to brag about my tater planting abilities, and with all of that experience one would think that I was a spud growing expert, but after reflecting on what I knew, I came to a different conclusion: I devoted most of my time harvesting & eating the delicious potatoes and have a lot to learn about the process of planting them!

Now that I have my own garden, I’ve done some research, talked to a friend who happens to be a farmer, and have compiled some good tips below.

Crop Rotation: When planting potatoes from season to season, they should be kept on a 3 year rotating cycle in terms of location in your garden where you choose to plant as to not plant in the same location. This means, 3-4 suitable sites are needed if you want to grow potatoes every year, rotating the site where you plant every season.

Soil & Sun: When it comes to soil, potatoes are not very picky. They are very adaptable and will usually produce a decent crop even when the soil conditions are less than perfect. What they do require, however, is as much sun as possible because of how aggressive their root systems are, so keep that in mind when picking your spot(s) to plant.

Preparing Seed Potatoes: When you have your seed, which are potatoes certified for growing, set them somewhere where they will be exposed to some light and warmth (between 60 and 70 degrees F). This will help them to start sprouting. A day or two before planting, use a clean knife to slice the larger potatoes into smaller sections that contain at least 1 or 2 “eyes” or buds on them (seeds). Each seed should be approximately 1 1/2-2 inches square, and the smaller potatoes may be planted whole. In the next day or so, your seed will form a thick callous over the cuts, which will help to prevent it from rotting once planted.

Planting Seed Potatoes: After you have trenched a 4′” deep furrow, plant the seeds or small potatoes 4″ deep in the furrow about 12″ apart and cover lightly with soil. The soil should be evenly moist, but not wet or soggy. If the soil is water logged when you dig, your seed potatoes will probably rot before they even get started. Depending on how cold it gets in your area, it might be a good idea to put a layer of mulch or straw on top of the furrow for a little extra frost protection. Two to Four months later, you will hopefully be enjoying some of the most delicious potatoes ever!

You can also reference our Potato Planting & Growing Guide online.

There’s been some interest of late in our Glaser Wheel Hoe’s.  These are worth taking a look at for the small garden or full production farms.  We carry two different styles and sizes.  One is the Standard and the other the Professional. Now for those of you that can remember sting ray bicycles you’ll recognize the same type of handles on the Standard Wheel Hoe.  You can ride that puppy through your garden making short work (and a whole lot less bending) of those new weeds that the recent rains have encouraged to grow.  The Professional is a little beefier and has wider coverage than the Standard, as well as more attachment options.  I have used the Standard and I must say they do take those young weeds out in a jiffy.  The blade sits on top of the ground and you push it along digging just underneath the soil line popping off weeds in one swift pass.  If they are bigger plants with bigger root systems it may take a couple passes.  The blades are designed so you can “rock” back and forth if you need to, they cut from both sides of the blade.  This long honored farmer’s tool has several blade sizes to fit most garden designs.  The Standard can take 5″ – 10″ stirrup hoe blades, center or offset.  The Professional can take 11″- 14″ stirrup hoe blades, center or offset, as well as hiller/furrower, goosefoot and 3-tine cultivator attachments.  This is one versatile tool.  Made of rust-protected steel hardware and galvanized tubular steel handles, which are exceptionally light and maneuverable.  If you are in the area stop by our store,  hold and touch one to see how it might feel out in your own field.   You’ll be surprised how light they are.  Happy Weeding!  I mean Happy Halloween!

A lot of our earliest and most vibrant reminders of Spring are bulbs.  But what happens after the flowers have gone and the leaf material has turned brown and wilted?  If they are inter-planted with other perennial plants or late blooming bulbs your beds will look wonderful through summer.  Then Winter hits and we sometimes wonder where the bulbs went and will they make it through our typical winter freezes?  The good news is that most of our favorite bulbs are in the hardy plant category that can over winter underground even where frost penetrates deeply into the soil.  Crocus, Daffodils, Tulips, Lillies and Hyacinths fall into this category.  Bulbs will benefit greatly from a 2-4″ deep mulch of shredded bark or hardwood, leaves or compost.  Mulch prevents the ground from alternately freezing and thawing, which can heave bulbs right out of the ground during winter.  In summer, mulch conserves moisture and keeps the weeds at bay.  Wait until the ground freezes to apply a winter mulch to fall planted bulbs.  Check your local Master Gardeners County Extension for more information in your area.

PVFS Customer Question with Staff Response.

Question:

Hi, I am a bit overwhelmed with cover crops. I have a raised bed garden that is 5-years old and I feel it is time to plant a cover crop for this soil. Every year I put in my compost, but have never done the cover crop thing. Can you give me any suggestions? It is 24 sq. ft. and I have had an increase in bad bugs: cabbage worms, snails and cucumber beetles to name the predominant. Also, my tomatoes that usually do really well were less than stellar this year. It could be the cooler, wet weather we had this season, but I would think the fixing of nitrogen could only help. So, please let me know what you think I should do. Thanks so much.

Answer:

Don’t be overwhelmed! It’s true that there are a lot of choices for cover cropping, but when you narrow down the focus, it becomes more clear about how to handle it. Sounds like you want a “green manure” crop; that is, you want to grow something with the intent to till it back into the soil. It will fix nitrogen, stabilize the soil, encourage microorganism activity, add organic matter, etc. Please read the Peaceful Valley literature (here) on the topic for information on planting and more.

Our most popular green manure mix is called the Soil Builder Mix. Using Inoculant will ensure that your crop produces the most amount of Nitrogen possible. A couple of suggestions for your tomato and pest problems is to be sure to clean up the garden after the season (ie-remove leaves, debris, etc.), and be sure to rotate your crops every year.

Hope that helps and thank you for growing organically!

PVFS Customer Question – Staff Response

Question:

Should I put these stakes of good bug food in the shade under my orange trees,
or in the sun where the “low growing good bug blend” has been growing, gone
to seed, and is now dying out?

By the way, the low growing good bug seed works.  I’ve never seen so many
bees, lady bugs, and small wasps in the garden.  I don’t recommend planting
vegtables in with the good bug blend, however.  These vegtables were under
constant attack by bugs.  The vegtables planted in a bed beside the good bug
blend had less of a problem with bugs than in previous years.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely

Answer:

Thank you for your input on the Good Bug Blend, we appreciate it!  You can go ahead and put the Good Bug Food out in multiple places.  The idea is you want to encourage the good bugs to stick around your property, because they will leave if there isn’t a food source, so as many places as possible is best.

Hope that helps and thank you for growing organically!

PVFS Customer question – Staff Response

Question:

I have a question regarding flowers we purchased last year. The flowers are 10 Ranunculus Tecolote. I planted they in the late fall, but only one has appeared so far. I wondered what I should do to get the others to come up. If you can help me I would appreciate it. Thanks Paula

Answer:

I would gently dig the area to see if the bulbs are still there, trying not to disturb any new root hairs. Of course, they may have rotted or a rodent could have eaten them. Did you soak the bulbs first? If they are still there and hard little nuggets, you could soak them for a couple of hours and replant once they’ve swelled.

Hope this helps

Also Take a Look at our Fall Bulb Planting Guide here.

A PVFS Customer Question – Staff Response:

Question:

Hi,
I love your website and all the information you provide…I love your catalog too (call it a dream book). Up here in hot/dry/gardening-challenged Reno, my little experimental raised bed (first-time square-foot veggie garden here) has failed miserably. In spite of all my efforts to get good soil (Gardner & Bloome), good compost, daily hand-watering, nothing but the chives survived. Just today I discovered that the only tomato that emerged from my brandywine plant looks really weird on the bottom (a paler green plus a sort of lattice-looking). Each time a little zucchini blossom appeared, by the next day it had withered and there hasn’t been any hint of a little squash. Sigh. At first I thought the ‘pillbugs’ had gotten to everything, but as I patiently depleted that population by hand-picking, everything still failed to thrive. Double sigh. I don’t know whether to give up completely forever (what’s that famous Indian slogan: “I shall fight no more forever”?), OR try to succession-plant something like lettuce and chard, or just wait til next year?

Sorry to ramble on, but just wondered if you had any ideas?
Thanks – no emergency to respond, since the damage is already done.

Answer:

Thank you so much for your good feedback and support! We sure appreciate your business. Reno is really a hard place to garden and I’m sorry you’ve had such a difficult experience so far. But please, don’t give up yet! Gardening is all about trial and error, experimentation, and learning (there’s ALWAYS more to learn, even for the 20 year gardener!).
I’ll address your problems and offer possible reasons, as well as resources for you to look into for further information.
1.) Weird Brandywine bottoms-heirloom tomatoes often have lattice-looking bottoms, as well as funky ridges, it’s normal. If the bottom develops a rot, it could be a disease called Blossom End Rot. Here’s a good website for common tomato problems:

http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/4dmg/Pests/Diseases/tomaprob.htm

2.) Zucchini blossom wither-it could also be Blossom End Rot, or maybe poor pollination. Here’s a good discussion: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf48032930.tip.html
3.) I say “yes” to planting cool season crops like chard, kale, and lettuce. Those crops are a bit easier to deal with, and they just might boost your confidence and joy for next Summers’ gardening endeavors.

I’d also like to add that square foot gardening has both pros and cons. As far as I understand, it is a more intensive system, requiring more input and attention (yes, you can grow a lot in a little space, but only if you do it just right!). The root systems are more crowded, and the plants are competing for resources since they are so close together, causing some extra stress. Here’s what seemed like a good, balanced testimonial on the subject: http://www.beginner-gardening.com/square-foot-gardening.html

There are many resources and forums online, this one is specific for square foot gardening:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/sqfoot/

Organic gardening shouldn’t be viewed as a “fight” or a “war” as our conventional counterparts would have you believe. It’s a chance to observe the patterns of nature and the cycles of growth. It’s finding the balance between human intervention and natural systems in order to achieve both abundance and health for all involved. Sure there are “successes” and “failures”, but the journey should bring joy to your heart. If you find that it doesn’t, maybe then consider doing something else that will.

Hope that helps and thank you for growing organically!