Sunday, March 18, 2012

Its 70 degrees!


Garlic is up in full force as the picture shows and lettuce, spinach, cilantro, and more that overwintered at Garden Dreams is full grown and hiding under row cover to beat the heat!

This weekend it was in the 70s and I was able to look in on our two beehives. Spotted the queen in Hive A as we call it, waddling around doing her thing and lots of healthy brood and young bees to prove she has been hard at work. I didn't see the queen in Hive B, but saw plenty of proof that she was hard at work as well. Both hives are bringing in orange, yellow, and green pollen from maple, weeds, and whatever else they can find that is blooming. And boy are they finding it...as I watched them this morning they were bringing in huge loads. Very cool.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Powdery Mildew Comes to Visit


Powdery mildew is a fungus that loves warmth, moisture, and lower light. It appears as a greyish dusting on leaves and saps nutrients from its plant host. Whenever I overwinter my rosemary plants inside, they get powdery mildew. Last season at Garden Dreams, we tried out several home remedies and preventions for powdery mildew, and they worked quite well. There are many versions out there, but below are the formulas that worked well for us. Mix in a spray bottle and shake well before each use.

I used a cycle of baking soda spray one week, neem oil spray the next week, and milk spray the next week to control the mildew. Baking soda spray did seem to be a good preventative on suceptable plants such as the cucumber family, rosemary, and tarragon.

1. Baking Soda Preventative Spray: 1 heaping T baking soda, 1 T veg oil, 1 T unscented dishwashing soap (optional), 1 gallon warm water. Shake well and spray. Leaves a white residue.

2. Neem Oil Spray (not a home remedy but it works well)

3. Vinegar Fungicide: 3 T apple cider vinegar, 1 T molasses, 1 gallon water. Shake well and spray when temperatures are cool.

4. Milk Spray: 1 part milk to 9 parts water - works best when plants are in sun - spray when sun is shining.


Saturday, November 19, 2011

Celery & Horseradish!


Horseradish! Armoracia rusticana So cute - like a creature.

Some celery, variety Utah 52 - 70. Despite blanching it with plastic collars, it's still a tad more bitter than grocery store celery but still good. Very strong celeryey flavor. Next year I'm going to try growing in tight rows and blanching it with boards leaned against the rows as I read in an old gardening book.


From left to right: dried cayenne, hot pepper mix, tomatoes, sweet peppers, garlic, and tomatoes. I highly recommend the Excalibur 5 tray dehydrator. A gift from my folks last year...it is just awesome!


Dug the horseradish...but its more pungent when its dormant, so going to try throwing it in the fridge for 2 weeks like Bert suggests here . He has all kinds of good horseradish tips. One root is still in the ground though so we will try digging it later. Maybe not growing much but holding well under hoops and row cover at the garden: leeks, scallions, chard, arugula, lettuce, kales, collards, mizuna, mustard, and parsley.

It was in the mid 50s today so I checked on the beehives for what might be the last time in awhile. I made them some bee fondant - sugar and water, heated, whipped, and poured into molds, that I placed on the top bars in the hives. Even though we didn't harvest honey, one hive got robbed in October of 8 frames of their honey. When nectar is not flowing and winter is nearing, honeybees are on the prowl to extra extra stock up for winter. Just as I had read, I came to look at their honey stores and where there used to be honey, there was chewed away wax cappings and empty honeycomb. My ladies must have been so pissed! I had the top of the hive vented to let out moisture but apparently also let in robbers. To remedy this, we notched the inner cover for a vent and placed screen over it. Hard to picture if one isn't familiar with hives - I will post some beehive drawings soon. The fondant is a poor substitute, but hopefully it will get them through.


Thursday, November 3, 2011

A Visit to Blackberry Meadows Farm


Today we had super nice fall day for a drive up to Natrona Heights, just about 30 minutes from Wilkinsburg/Pittsburgh, to visit our friends at Blackberry Meadows Farm. Here are some photos of what Jen, Greg, Lynn, Nate, and Kristen have been up to.


A colorful flock of many chicken breeds, many of them dual-purpose heavy breeds such as Black Australorp and Rhode Island Red.

Eggmobile exterior.

Quail.

Quail tractor.


Turkies in their cattle panel welded tractor.

And More Blackberry Meadows...


Eggmobile interior

An eggmobile resident resting in a nest box.

Gravity fed chicken waterer.

Nate distributes treats in the form of kitchen waste.

Moving the turkey tractor to fresh grass.


More Blackberry Meadows...


Nate works on the brick oven, adding more concrete so 3 batches of bread will hopefully be able to be baked without having to rebuild the fire. CSA members that pick up on-farm will get treated to homemade pizza. Yum!

Closer view of the beauty.


Planting garlic.

Maggie surveys the fields.


Lynn's sweet new (old) Allis-Chalmers G tractor.

And More Plackberry Meadows!

Sheep!

Where all the seedling magic happens.

Salad greens growing in a high tunnel for their first ever winter CSA.

A manure and heat lamp heated germinating chamber for seedlings.

Awesome water catchment system Greg built using corn syrup containers from a candy factory.