Organic Gardening Info from Peaceful Valley

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!

I recently moved to the midwest (Illinois)  I have raised beds in my yard for vegetables/flowers.  When do I put on the compost—in the Fall when I close down the beds for the season or in the Spring?

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!

A PVFS customer email – with reply from our staff.

Question:

I have 5 beds, 3′ x 8′ that are comprised of 6″ high cinder blocks.  The soil that the blocks are sitting on is clay and poor.  What cover crop seeds would you recommend for a 70 year old woman to be able to “turn under” by hand in the coming spring and that will not become invasive?

Answer:

Since you want to turn under your cover crop in Spring, I’ll assume you want a cool season seed that will be put out in fall. I don’t know where you live so you’ll have to check for appropriate hardiness zones. One of my favorite small clovers is Nitro Persian. It’s easy to work with and the flower smells wonderful. Foenugreek & Garbanzo Beans will be taller but also worth a try. If you cut the cover crop in spring before it makes seed, it shouldn’t become invasive.

Hope this helps,

Hi,

Can you suggest a ground cover for the summer for my five raised beds? I want to enrich weak soil and give the beds a rest for the rest of the year.

In the past I’ve used green manure for the winter for the soil on the ground. Is there anything like that for raised beds?

Thank You!

A PVFS customer email – with staff response.

Question:

I have made a raised bed garden past month. The soil needs preparing for Spring. What do you recommend? I would like to get something planted down to get some nitrogen fixation and to make the soil more loamy. I live near Pasadena and the soil in the raised beds is more sandy with little clay component. I am currently growing several fruit trees in the center of each raised bed. Plenty of .

thoughts? I do have plenty of Azomite, sun and non-chlorinated mountain water for irrigation

Answer:

Our most popular cover crop is called the Soil Builder mix. It’s a mix of vetches, peas, bell beans, and oats. It provides a lot of growth for organic matter and fixes a lot of nitrogen, especially when you use an inoculant. The part number is SCM120, the inoculant is ISE350.

Since you have trees in the beds, be careful when incorporating the cover crop into the soil in the spring. You might consider not tilling in the crop inside of the drip line of the trees, but pull it out and compost it instead. Outside of the drip line, you can dig in the crop manually or with a rototiller. Wait 4-6 weeks after incorporation to plant anything in the beds.

Hope that helps! Thank you for growing organically!

Last week I scored a BUNCH of Walla Walla Onion transplants. They were on their last leg and needed to get some TLC soon. So instead, I stuck them in the cooler until Friday, took them home and waited until Sunday to even take a look. What initially looked like a total loss turned out pretty well.

First I dumped the whole sloppy smelly mess into the left hand kitchen sink and cleaned them up, leaving the compostables in the right hand sink. After snipping and rinsing in a tub I laid them out on the counter to breathe. This part of things took the longest but I come from a background in organic produce and it was kind of fun… for a while. Once I’d culled the best ones and counted up 120 healthy, clean and ready to plant transplants, I was happy to chuck what looked like the remaining third in the compost. Yeah!

Alright! On to the bed. One of our 4 X 8 wood sided raised beds was an excellent candidate for the onions because of its deep fluffy loamy fertile soil. As opposed to the other “in the ground” albeit amended beds made with lots of local soil and better for things other than large bulbs.

So this bed grew potatoes which perished, at least above ground during our first frost this fall. First the fun part, harvesting a big ‘ol basket of varietal potatoes, rinsing and scrubbing and making home fries for brunch. Yum! So pretty too.

Next I amended the bed by leveling with a soil rake. (My favorite tool next to the breaker bar) I added some Sierra Foothills Fertilizer Mix we had on hand, sprinkled Nutri-Rich pellets, some Gaia Green and a little Oystershell Lime. No big science here, just what we had on hand, I like all these products.

I busted out the tape measure to make easy work of poking finger holes at six inch spacing in a hexagonal pattern to maximize my numbers. I really did’nt think I’d get them all in. Next I used a (veggie) plastic spoon (another good tool in the garden) to spoon in a little Down To Earth Myco-Inoculant into each hole. Up until this point it seemed like all this prep was taking up too much time and I’d never finish by sundown!

But not to worry, once I started the actual planting, I swear it only took about twenty minutes and wow! Done. Our little four by eight now has 116 transplants which left me with 4 in case any fail or whatever. Again I was impressed with the ease and speed with which the planting process went. So soon this week I’ll mulch heavily with the straw we keep around in bales, and this time next year… onions for days.