Organic Gardening Info from Peaceful Valley

Cover crops cover a lot of ground. They hold, shield and replenish soil. They also choke out weeds and attract beneficial insects.

Growing grasses, oats, vetches, buckwheats, peas, beans, mustards and other plants through the winter has long been a practice of organic farmers, but more home gardeners are catching onto the concept.

“It definitely applies to the backyard gardener,” said Mark Fenton, new product development manager for Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply, a retail and online organic business in Grass Valley. “It’s a real good way to build the soil.”

Read the rest of the article by Laura Christman at redding.com by clicking here.

Here is a good use of emitterline and bean scaffolding.

The scaffold is made of 1 1/4” X 8’ redwood stakes lashed at the top where they cross and then extra cross beams for strength. The stakes are 12” apart to coincide with the emitterline holes and then the beans planted at the same point. It really cuts down on weeds, virtually none, and only the beans get the water. They immediately start climbing the stakes and are easy to harvest because they are up off the ground.

The first and third pictures were taken on June 20, and the second picture was taken June 27. They’ve grown a lot in the recent heat. They also create a nice shady spot inside for my fox terrier to escape the sun. The birds like to perch on top of the stakes and are hopefully eating any worms or other unwanted insects. I hope this might inspire someone to build something pretty in the garden that functions so well. It also comes apart easily and stores well for the next season.

Emailed Question from PVFS Customer - Reply By PVFS Staff Member.

Question:

I purchased some Cowpea inoculant for some black-eyed pea cover cropping. I was wondering if I can also use that to inoculate some bean seeds (royal purple and golden wax). I know it isn’t the perfect blend of bacteria, but your bean inoculant is $18 which is way more than I need for the two seed packs I’m buying. So do you think that the cowpea inoculant will actually hurt the beans?

Thanks,

Answer:

The inoculant you have won’t hurt nor will it help your beans.  I’m including a short explanation of how it works to help you understand the two different reasons you would need the inoculant.

In fact the bacteria has a shelf life and if you have some left over at the time of the expiration date on the pk. you can simply sprinkle it into your soil for next years cowpea or other pea cover crop thus lessening the need to use inoculant next time.  However I prefer to inoculate my cover crop seed each year anyway to insure that the bacteria is sufficiently surrounding each individual root ball and forming those nitrogen nodes which stay in the soil when you till it in.  This is the whole point of the cover crop in the first place.

Bean inoculant is a different strain of the bacteria that is attracted to the beans and forms the nitrogen nodules to bean roots  thus insuring that the plant has sufficient energy to form fruit as well as grow.  Those nodes will be largely used up by the plant rather than incorporated into your soil (unlike the cover crop.)  You can use other sources of nitrogen to accomplish this if your prefer to.

Our Combination Garden legume inoculant will inoculate both peas and beans and is very reasonably priced,  A pack that covers 8 lbs of pea/beans item# ISE350 is $4.99 and the pk that covers 50 lbs is $4.99 item# ISE505.
Your cowpea inoculant should be good for your next pea cover crop if you keep it cool and use it some time close to the expiration date (generally three and sometimes up to six months after the date on the pk.)

Hope this helps.  Thank  you so much for your question, your business and for growing organic.

- Long time organic gardener and Nursery Staff @ PVFS

I belong to a CSA, which means every week I get a box of the freshest veggies possible… from just down the road. Every year I find myself subconsciously competing with my CSA farmer… and I must admit I always lose. He always has tomatoes and peppers sooner, his lettuce and cabbage heads up better than mine, in short his thumb is just plain greener. And this year I’ve decided to be alright with that, I’ve decided to grow all the other things I like to eat that I never get from my CSA. Now this idea may seem elementary, but to me it’s a revelation.

For those of you who are not hip to CSA membership here’s a quick overview; A farmer near you grows a diverse yet practical variety of veggies, usually on a small amount of acreage (1-5 acres). You join the CSA (community supported agriculture) and pay for a box of veggies a week. It’s kind of a subscription to fresh local food. Usually $15-$40 a week paid in advance or in two or three payments. The idea is that by paying in advance you give the farmers the money they need to get off to a good start. In return you not only get the freshest veggies possible, you also get to”know your grower” which is a rare thing these days. For a more detailed explanation of CSA here is what Wikipedia has to say.

So this year I will grow some unusual greens; Double Purple Orach, Purslane, Miners Lettuce, Italienischer and Regal Spinach. Most of which I have no idea what they will taste like. Even though my CSA has tons of tomatoes, I’m still going to grow my own, mostly sauce tomatoes for canning, you can never have too many tomatoes in my opinion. The same goes for onions and garlic, in my house we eat so much of these it’s a surprise our friends can stand our breath. In addition I plan to grow pickling cucumbers, some specialty squashes like flying saucer and portofino. I also acquired a few giant pumpkin seeds from a winning giant pumpkin (800+ lbs) and I can’t wait to see what comes of that! Herbs are still on the plan this year, dill (for the pickles), cilantro, basil and parsley, and thyme. Shelling peas will be a new addition to my garden and so will the beautiful scarlet runner beans I picked up at a seed swap. Also in the plan this year are berries of the straw, blue and rasp varieties. The blueberries will be the only new item on the menu and even though I just put them in the ground yesterday… my mouth waters already.

My garden plan for this year started out as a supplement to my CSA, giving me the veggies I would not see in my weekly box. It quickly became more about exploring new kinds of vegetables. And while I realize that my garden this year will barely scratch the surface of the vast realm of vegetable variety… I’ve got to start somewhere… and my garden seems like the right place.

What’s in your garden this year?