Progress of the Family Vegetable Garden

Last year, my 'Honeycrisp' was loaded with bloom.  This year not a single blossom.  The crabapples and wild apples around me have blosssoms, as well as the probably 150 year old apple tree at the historic house of my brother.  On further investigation, at the tips where I would expect a blossom are tiny dead dry dots which fall off easily when I touch them.  My blossom buds from that night in April when the temperatures fell to somewhere around 9-12 degrees (F).

We like to make a lot of sauce, juice, and sliced apples and can them as a family.

Adding Ornamental Edibles to Your Landscape

The beautiful fall orange color of a blackberry cane is decidedly ornamental.

I have always had an eye toward growing my own food.  Maybe it is because my dad is a farmer.  I know where food comes from; someone has to grow it.  Maybe it is because I live in a food desert of a sort; because I live in an agricultural area, unless you grow it, it is terribly expensive, or not to be had unless you find something that is damaged falling off a truck.  Maybe I am just too cheap to buy it because I can grow it.

The decorative aspect of the savoy type cabbage which was grown in a large pot along with a canna and crocosimia  (non-edibles) is hard to deny.  As I only eat a cabbage or two a year, growing a couple in a pot is ideal.

I don't know, but I have always tried to incorporate as many edibles into my landscape as possible.

View of a Garden: Garden Walk 2013

Pagoda dogwood 'Golden Shadows', the other pictures can be seen by clicking on the "Read More"

On Saturday, 240 new sets of eyes saw my garden, most for the very first time.  This after Wednesday's Master Gardeners walk through of around 50 people.  These (pictured) are the plants and things I was asked most about.

In general, I was surprised at the level of discernment among this group of garden walkers.  Many of them were gardeners themselves, although vegetable or fruit gardeners, so these items, although not the most interesting and not the coolest things in my yard garnered a lot of attention.  But overall, lot of them asked if mine was a "real" garden?

I thought this was the very best question I was asked, although the first time I was asked it, I was a bit perplexed.  I stopped a moment and digressed a bit.  I told them the whole garden walk process starts almost a year in advance (just in case they didn't know).  As it was, there are always things that a gardener plans to do and stuff that we should be doing that doesn't get done.  The idea that my garden would be on the walk pushed me to finally deal with some of those issues.

I went on to explain how the long border had originally been created ten years ago, with newspaper, and wood chips, and leaves raked and collected from the library lawn a block away, as I had NO trees at the time.  I told them when I came to this lot I wanted to garden as organically as possible.  I told them how I lugged those leaves home and mowed them into the beds for a couple years.  How I composted everything organic I could find.  And how I still battle the terrible quack grass that is my lawn and how it runs from lawn to beds. And, how I had made the decision not to use Round-up because I have my own well and the garden sits on top of my drinking water, how I could probably dig my next well with a spoon, I'm so close to that water table.

I talked about how I don't use lawn chemicals, and the Village Maintenance Person dumps wood chips for me and how they are incorporated into the shrub and alley border, how I compost in place, everything but quack grass, weeds with seed heads, and really big sticks.   I talked about how when I dig a wider bed or a new area or remove sod I find the equivalent of beach sand, great drainage, but...

I talked about how I felt clean crisp bed lines is what draws a border into one cohesive "all."  and yet how the early long border has a couple ton of rock dragged in from my father's local dairy farm and how dragging it back would be too onerous, but how do you deal with it?

I talked about how I had redone the rock border 3 times in ten years.  First to weed it and raise the rock up as it sinks over time.  Second, to again raise it up and make an attempt to prohibit the quack grass entry into my long border.   I had put down REALLY heavy landscape fabric only to have the quack use it as a rooting mat and weaving itself into an un-weed-able, impenetrable barrier.

And how last fall I had dug everything up in a 20 foot section at a time and threw it on two tarps and laid down the rock yet again and replanted the long border.  And finally I had come across what I now think is "The Solution": a six inch deadzone between the rock and the lawn.   Finally, a clean bedline!

I was asked if I fertilize?  This year I did.  The last two years, I did not.  I did not fertilize my lawn.  I mostly fertilized roses and clematis.  I didn't fertilize my veggies.  Some years I mulch with compost; some years with wood chips.  The year I exclusively used wood chips I added chemical nitrogen.  I used to fertilize with cow manure, until there seemed to be too much of a thistle problem at my dads.

My worst weed?  Quack grass, clover, and turkey foot.  I seldom see creeping Charlie-- when I do it is all hands on deck. I don't tolerate violets and I am still eradicating the last of the lady bells, code name "campanula horribilis".


Do I spray?  No fungicides, I use 1:1 2 % milk to water and spray it every 3-5 days.  Yes, fungal stuff has been terrible this year, but my ninebark had that fungal disease that tends to kill ninebarks here and it appears nearly clean of it at this point.  Vigilance and good tool sanitation is key.

I explained the village's composting/chipping program, and the "too mulch of a good thing problem".  I told how I trim my shrubs and throw the trimmings and raked pine needles under shrubs in the long border.  I told how the duff under the iconic white pine is so fluffy, I can dig planting holes with my fingers because I never remove much there, just add mini pine bark nuggets each May.


And I talked about starting my own seedlings, cuttings and overwintering most of the annuals they see.

These were more the types of questions I had hoped to have.

I have been sweating the ornamentation aspects.  I overheard several comments on how I nailed it with my signature green apple paint and ultra-modern "green" squiggle.

Update on Garden Projects:Apples

Sticky trap hanging in the Chicago Botanic Gardens (CBG).


This is a picture of some apples on an espaliered apple tree at the CBG. The black blemishes show the apple has been infected by either apple fly maggot or codling moth.

The CBG is in the fourth year of their organic gardening project. They have a number of apple trees, which I have to assume are also under the same organic dictates. The CBG was not bagging the "king" apple. They did not allow the grass to grow under their feet, so to speak. Some organic apple growers cite a dense, taller grass as a method to prevent or lesser the number of insect going to ground during certain life stages of the insect.



These are great tips, but they don't go far enough. Seeing the heavily-dimpled and spotted apples, the CBG will not have many, if any, blemish-free apples this fall.

As you might remember, I used a dormant oil spray in late February. In May, when I had nearly complete petal drop I sprayed with the chemical Malathion, not an organic choice. The recommendation is spraying at 75 percent petal drop. High winds took the trees from no petal drop to complete petal drop in the matter of hours.

The idea of Malathion use is treating codling moth and apple fly maggot during particular life stages. Another application will be done in the third week of July. I also hung sticky traps to capture apple fly maggot. These application of Malathion at specific dates are in contrast to spraying every two weeks.

If you do not have tall grass under your apple trees, black landscape fabric is recommended. I did not put down landscape fabric, but I do have my apple trees under planted with lilies, onions, and alliums.

So far I see no dimples, frass (a extruded gooey jelly typically from the blossom end), or any other blemishes that signals larval insect damage.

I am hopeful.

Two sprayings and a dose of dormant oil, the last a good two months before harvest, seems a lot better than regular twice monthly spraying. This one application of Malathion has been the only pesticide or fungicide has been the only chemical use in either the potager or family garden necessary so far this season.

Now, if I could get the Mantis tiller to cooperate!

The Family Garden and Potager Update

Well, over in the family garden we had some frost. It nailed the tomatillos we had planted there. I'm pretty sure they are goners, but we'll wait and see as we do have some space. It also nipped the very top leaves of the basil, not a big deal. We have more basil, but only one tomatillo plant growing in the potager.

The asparagus bed is sending up its first tiny purple spears. That is pretty exciting. Where I see top growth, I know the roots are making themselves at home as well.

The 'Reliance' seedless table grapes are opening leaf buds. Pretty exciting to see growth on something that is just twisty dry sticks!

And my brother scared up the first rat snake, of what my sister-in-law informs me is an infestation, but so far I have not seen. Sister-in-law says the snake was four feet long and a bit bigger in diameter than a garden hose. That's a good sized snake! I hope it works on the rodent problem of which I have seen more than a bit of evidence.

The weeds are starting to come, mostly grassy weeds, as are the potatoes! The radishes are up, The 'Early Sunglow' sweetcorn has sprouted. This is a type that does well in cooler wetter ground. It looks like a good germination level. So far, with its reported early ripening it looks like the easy winner for our future plantings as well.

We planted the the blueberries in an area that will be enclosed from rodents and birds. We amended the bed with donkey dung, compost, shredded paper, and peat moss. My two-year-old nephews found the spreading of the bags of confetti-like paper definitely the garden chore they have excelled at to-date.

On each edge of what will be an enclosed area for the blueberries and hazelnuts, we laid down black landscape fabric. Sister-in-law cut holes into it and planted tomatoes. The plan is to use the blueberry caging to tie up our tomatoes, saving us the effort and expense of caging them.

In another 500 square foot area that has been covered by black landscape fabric, we planted the first of our peppers: sweet red 'Carmen', jalapeno, and some Cayenne.

Finally, the sweet potato 'Georgia Jet' slips arrived from Jung's. They looked wilted and dead on arrival. I got home at 8 P.M. last evening to be greeted by these dead things standing upright in a bowl of water. My son had gotten the mail and was intrigued by the the small box labeled 'Georgia Jet.' Not sure what he thought they were, he did do the right thing, I believe, by giving them plant CPR. I, in turn, potted them in 3" x 3" x 6" deep pots of compost and watered them and set them on my heat mat. Knowing they like completely warm soil, a week in nice, fluffy compost on my heat mats and under the lights will be like old home week, compared to the cool nights and indifferent daytime temps we have been blessed with here in central Wisconsin.

On the fruit tree scene in my potager, the apricot 'Moorpark' has several half a dime size apricots. I did not hand pollinate this year. The tree was loaded with buds, but I would guess at this time less than a quarter were polinated. That will probably save me thinning fruit. My 'Seckl' pear is boasting handfuls of rust-colored pre-pears at this point, all the petals having dropped last week. My 'Honeycrisp' is in full bloom, or I should say 1/3 bloom; as it appears that cold snap got some of my buds on the north side where it was not protected as it was on the south side by my massive 'Diablo' ninebark. When 75% of its petals have dropped I will spray both it and the pear with Malathion to deter coddling moth. There is literature out there stating a dormant oil in the winter and two well-timed application of Malathion might be a preferred method of preventing the pests most apt to get my apples.

Some New Best Practices for Organic Apples

Michael Phillips picking apples at his Lost Nation Orchard (Photo: Frank Siteman).

Organic apples are supposedly the last frontier for organics. As you may be aware, I am the granddaughter of a small apple orchardist. At one time when apples were supplied locally, it was my grandfather's apples that everyone in the area ate. In the fall it was not unusual to see one of my grandfather's apples on the dessert section of my school lunch tray. These weren't the cute little section Delicious apples with a gloppy faux caramel dipping sauce, but 'Cortlands' and 'Macintosh'.

Once in a while I would see my grandfather in the school hallway talking to the principal; talking business, how many apples did the school want next week? It was the same school my grandfather graduated from, I think in the second or third class to ever graduate there. My grandfather also raised potatoes, and had a few hundred laying hens. I remember learning to candle eggs as a girl. I'm sure now that my school was once a large customer of many of the local farmers.

I also know that those eggs were being candled to look for blood spots or fertilized eggs, and those apples were sprayed with DDT and lead arsenics to make them marketable.

My grandfather and his farm are long gone. Only a few of the trees in the orchard remain, producing no better than "deer-apples" along the edge of a feed lot where a dairy farmer milking 1,000 head of cows with numbers instead of names, raises out his young replacement stock.

My love for a good fresh apple remains. Apples were a treat. As a gradeschooler, I could name and identify a couple dozen apple varieties. I remember my grandfather bringing me a yearly "Halloween" apple as big a my head, it seemed, and so perfect, I would gaze at it for days before attempting to eat it. (This apple was probably the locally discovered apple 'Wolf River'.)

I recently came across the blog and an interview with an organic apple farmer from New Hampshire. He espoused his philosophy on organic apples in a podcast. His goal, a 70% grade A product, and his aim to make local orchards common place once more.

I urge you to follow these links. He has written a book on the subject, as well.

Summarizing it, he is using a fine particle (that's very important) kaolin clay called Surround WP. Unfortunately, it is only sold in 25 pound bags, probably enough to do a 300-tree orchard all season, certainly more than I need with my one 'Honeycrisp'. The other takeaway, though, is he covered the soil around his tree with a paper or plastic mulch to prevent the codling moth burrowing into the earth during one phase of its life cycle. Phillips understand his enemy. This is something I will be doing this growing season. Unlike the tradition orchard of my grandfather's day with tall grass growing up around the trees that was mown down once a year before harvest, my tree grows in a composted garden with ample soil to provide protection during this one phase of the codling moths destructive life cycle.

Codling Moth and Apples, Insect Phenology

I want apples.

Think of this as my garden quest!

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r4300111.html

Spraying Apple Trees and the Organic Way

I have a gorgeous dwarf apple tree 'Honeycrisp'. The first year it bore fruit, it produced 44 perfect incredible apples. I did nothing but water it when the fruit grew heavy and the rain scarce.

I thought, "This is great! These new varieties really are pest and disease free!"

The next year-- ugh! Wormy, icky apples.

So I figured, okay. Organic controls. I read about the pests. Identified mine. And went about controlling this pest with red sticky balls. I planted garlic under my tree. I limbed it up a bit, less splash from the soil. I opened up the branching structure, better airflow. I studied the growth cycle of the icky coddling moth. I patrolled my tree for apples showing they had been infected, picking up any windfall, picking off any on the tree, trying to stymie the 40-day life cycle of the moth. I raked up the leaves and plastic bagged them along with any infected apple.

You are probably thinking, okay, she's going to have some beautiful apples, and some she will be able to use, but which will have some blemishing.

I really ended up with squat, zip, zilch, nada.

So I talked to UW-Extension agents. They pretty much told me to try all these things I had already done. Have I mentioned my grandfather was an orchardist in the 1960s? I know just a bit about growing apples. I could identify a couple dozen apples you have probably never seen, let alone eaten before I was 10. I just don't want to use arsenic, lead, and DDT to get beautiful apples.

To be completely honest, there is one organic method I have not tried. Bagging the "king" apple. in this one, you literally seal up the biggest apple, or king apple, in each cluster in a zip lock bag right on the tree, and pick off the other apples in the cluster. Does this sound crazy to anyone other than me?

So last year, I decided I'm going to spray. I thought dormant oil is the least toxic of my options. I read up how to do it and did it. No good. I decided I must have missed the first emergence of the coddling moth.

So, yesterday, with over a foot of snow still on the ground, I got out my sprayer to spray my apple tree with dormant oil. Did I mention I saw a mosquito yesterday? (I killed it; I figure it is worth 10,000 kills this time of year.) I didn't stop there. I sprayed everything in the rosacae family. See, the only other thought is that these coddling moths may have over-wintered on some other host plant. I want apples!

Some of you are thinking, dormant oil? That IS approved for organic use. Yes. I have read that, too.

So here is the kicker, the cautionary tale. I figured, timing is important, but also I need to be much more exacting on the ratio of dormant oil to water. Hunting a measuring device (I don't want to use my kitchen measures for dormant oil.) is always problematic. But, aha! I have one of those little plastic cup measures enclosed with liquid cough medicine. Yippee, a good, well-labeled easy to use measure, at my fingertips!

So I clean my sprayer. Measure out the water. Use my hand measure to add the dormant oil. I wade through a foot of snow and spray my trees. Even though there is a foot of snow, it got up to 50 degrees yesterday and is still above 40 degrees. I need to refill. I get the water and go to add the required measure of dormant oil, only to find the dormant oil has eaten through and dissolved the plastic measuring cup!

Dormant oil is an approved organic? It can dissolve plastics?