Dig!

We have very rocky, poor soil on our hilltop. I use raised beds for my vegetable gardens. I have used Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening mix of peat moss, vermiculite, and compost for a few years. It has lots of advantages, the greatest of which is the lack of weeds (I pulled 3 weeds from a bed one season). However, since it consists of most or all purchased materials, this method is not economically feasible on any scale.
I have read of the wonders of double dug beds, but assumed they were too labor intensive for this busy stay-at-home mom. Double dug beds, in a nutshell, involve digging two shovel depths into the ground.

I thought I'd try a combination of the two ideas. So I dug one shovel depth down and worked in some purchased organic soil. The overall depth of loosened soil was almost equivalent to a double dug bed. Here is the sorghum growing in this space.

Not 50' away, planted on the same day, receiving the same light, is the other sorghum. I dug about a half shovel depth and worked in the same purchased soil. 

I am completely sold on my hybrid method. Obviously the digging depth has an enormous effect on the plants. I plan to garden in well-dug fluffy soil from here on. 

Freezing Corn

This year, I planted corn expressly to freeze some of the bounty. I chose the variety Bodacious, which had excellent reviews. It proved to have excellent flavor.

I blanched the corn for about 5 minutes and then immediately submerged in ice water until cool.

I cut it from the cob the old fashioned way - with a knife. I love my Old Hickory knives from Lehman's. https://www.lehmans.com For me, about a dozen ears made one quart of corn for the freezer.

Someday I'll invest in lots of glass jars for food storage. I have small jars I use for dried foods and I have large jars for canning, but not much in between. So I resorted to plastic bags to store the corn. I like to use Ziploc freezer bags, which are BPA free.

As a side note, I imagine in a few years we'll find some other terrible chemical that's in plastic and is going to cause loads of health problems (like BPA). I try to minimize my use of plastic and am always sure to only put cool (never hot) foods in plastic containers. I am slowly transitioning everything to steel and glass.

I fold the bag over like so to keep the seal clean. I wipe the seal with a wet paper towel to remove any bits of corn that might have made contact. Then simply remove as much air as possible from the bag, seal it, date it, and put it in the freezer.

Drying Tomatoes

In my youth, I despised fresh tomatoes. They were a unique form of torture. Now I can tolerate them; occasionally I even enjoy them. But I love dried tomatoes. My preferred method of consumption is on top of freshly cooked pasta covered in olive oil with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and pine nuts. That dish is so wonderful, in fact, that I planted tomato plants expressly for the purpose of drying the fruits.

The ones I grew myself are below. I simply sliced them, sprinkled some sea salt on top and threw on some basil.

These I purchased. I blanched (about 30 seconds) them and removed the skins to facilitate quicker drying. I sliced these grape tomatoes in half.

I dried the tomatoes at 145 F for a couple hours and then 135 F for about five more hours. The time can vary greatly depending on the size of the tomato. They should be leathery, somewhat pliable, but ...well, dry.

Some in the top photo are actually a bit too done. Notice the handful of dark tomatoes. And some of these were not quite dry enough for storage. I left those a bit longer.

 I stored them in an airtight container and am looking forward to my favorite pasta dish on a cold winter day!

Nature as Pest Control

Several weeks ago, I noticed my kale was starting to show signs of pest damage. I was determined to let things run their course and refused to spray anything on my food source. Predictably, things got worse before they got better. The kale started to look like swiss cheese.

I could see the nasty little pests crawling all over the leaves. The kale was loaded with them. I continued to ride it out.

After a few weeks, I started to see predatory insects on the leaves. Gradually, there were fewer and fewer pests and corresponding holes. The new growth was lovely.

Kale is very bitter during the hot summer months. I did not plan on eating any of the greens until they got a good frost, which makes them much sweeter. So I simply pulled off the damaged growth and was left with beautiful greens and a stronger predatory insect population.

Daylilies

I love Daylilies. They produce lovely flowers in an astounding array of colors, are hardy and can handle lots of abuse; many varieties are edible - leaves, tubers, and flowers!

Simple Sheet Mulch

Mulch helps conserve water, calms temperature swings, and improves soil. Sheet mulching is one of the gardener's most powerful tools. It builds soil and eradicates weeds without power equipment or chemicals.

Sheet mulch is beautifully simple. It begins with a weed barrier next to the soil, such as cardboard or newspaper. You can also use cloth, but it obviously takes longer to break down. I prefer cardboard because it is so much easier and faster to cover large areas. And I purchase a lot of things online, so it's an easy way to use all the boxes! (As a side note, I read that the ink in glossy newspaper contains metal pigments, but the black and white ink is soy-based and nontoxic; I assume cardboard is the same.)

If you wish to use soil amendments, such as lime for acidic soil, put them down first. You can also add some high-nitrogen material, such as fresh cut grass or produce waste from the kitchen. (For my ultra-simple sheet mulch in this area, I did neither of these.) Then add the weed barrier. This layer needs to block light in order to kill the existing plants; make sure the cardboard or newspaper overlaps so no light peeks through. It's a good idea to hose down the layer as you go so your paper doesn't blow away.

 A thin nitrogen-rich layer should be added next. Then comes the bulk of the sheet mulch: ideally, about a foot of organic matter such as straw, hay, leaves, wood shavings, etc. For my simple version, I put down only a few inches of straw. If you are using a high carbon mulch, you may add some nitrogen to this layer so the mulch decomposes more quickly. Again, it is beneficial for the mulch to be moistened.

On top of this, add a couple inches of compost. If the new bed won't be planted for several months, throw on some kitchen waste and treat this space as a compost pile.

The final layer is a couple inches of weed-seed-free material such as straw. I wouldn't recommend using hay for this top layer, as the dormant seeds will germinate and cause lots of unnecessary weed-pulling. I used wood chip mulch for my top layer. My goal was to keep the straw in place and give a finished look to the space.

I plan to plant this space next spring when the cardboard is well-rotted and easy to put a shovel through. A newly-constructed sheet mulch bed can be planted immediately, however. Sheet mulching is also known as lasagna gardening. Here is an excellent article with growing information for specific plants.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/lasagna-gardening-zmaz99amztak.aspx?page=8#axzz2N4iMBChZ

Crocasmia

Crocasmia is a lovely flower in the Iris family. It is native to South Africa and, like many foreign plants, can become invasive if left untended. I wanted to share my plant's progress this season.

developing buds...

 

opening...

 And then....pow!