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How to Keep Garden Records

13 December, 2019 by amygwh

Most gardeners, I think, are aware that they should be keeping records of what goes on in the garden each year, but not all gardeners are equally skilled at organizing the information. Personally, I do keep records of many garden activities, but each year’s notes have not always been gathered up in one place.

Excerpt from a garden journal with notes from two planting dates in January, 1995. Ink on light blue paper. — Garden notes on a notebook page from 1995.

Why keep garden records?

Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia says this:

Keeping garden records will improve the quality of your gardening experience as the seasons go by. You and your garden are unique, so personal records are important. You’ll discover what works and what doesn’t, weeding out mistakes and making better decisions.
Garden record keeping, from Agriculture Extended Learning, Dalhousie University.

My experience is that the records I keep do for me exactly what Dalhousie University says. I learn from the failures, and I repeat what works. Over time, there are fewer failures and more successes.

What should gardeners write down?

The kinds of information that are truly helpful include these:

Soil test results and all the things done to improve the soil, from compost additions to cover crops to fertilizers
Exactly which vegetable varieties were planted, when they were planted, how many of each, and whether they did well in the garden
Weather notes, especially about any weather events that might have affected the garden, and including frost dates
Harvest notes — when each crop was ready for harvest, and whether your harvest matched the catalog description for the crop
Garden layout, including where each crop was placed and how much square footage was given to each
Planting calendar that shows when each crop was planted, plus the timing of other garden-related events (such as fertilizer applications, compost additions, arrival of pests)
Notes about pests and diseases, and their effect on specific crops
Notes about crop rotation

Hand-drawn map of a vegetable garden with notes about what is planted in each part of the garden. — Map of this year’s fall crops.

The above list is not all-inclusive, but the observations a gardener makes about those topics form a base from which good decisions can be made.

The trick is remembering, as the year rolls on, to get most of that activity recorded.

What kind of journal works best?

The notes below are about my own experience. It would be weird if every gardener was exactly like me in terms of best-record-keeping-method, so feel welcome to disagree with my opinion!

Blank books filled with lined pages

Many garden journals that I have been given are lovely — hard-cover books filled with lined pages, separated into chapters by month, sprinkled about with inspirational quotes and drawings of beautiful flowers.

I love looking at these and am often actually inspired by the quotes. However, I have not had good success using these journals for record-keeping. The main difficulty has been keeping the information organized in any way that is different from the month-by-month design of the books.

Other roadblocks include laziness (the lined pages seem to be asking for full sentences) and not-wanting-to-ruin such lovely books with my less-than-lovely handwriting.

It is likely, though, that these beautiful blank books are exactly what some gardeners want and need. We are all different!

A record-keeping mish-mash

Mish-mash may be the best way to describe my garden record-keeping style for the past few decades.

Some of my own garden information is recorded on websites/blogs, where I’ve been writing for ten years. Some garden notes are in various types of lined journals such as spiral notebooks, some are on loose pages gathered up in three-ring binders, and some are saved as plant tags that are stored in envelopes.

It is not too hard to imagine that other gardeners have a similar mish-mash of records, possibly stored in shoeboxes.

Garden Planner and Notebook

I have put together a new book that will make it easier for me to keep the most useful information all together in one place for each gardening year. Even though I designed the book for my own use, I’ve added guiding text so other gardeners can use it, too.

The book is titled Garden Planner and Notebook, a Vegetable Garden Guide and Journal.

One reason for creating the planner is that, sometime late next summer or early fall, I will be moving. There will be much to learn about the new yard, with its unfamiliar soil, weeds, insects, and history.

The new garden planner and notebook is full of the reminders, prompts, tables, and other spaces for recording specific information that will help flatten my learning curve in gardening in the new space.

The book includes tables for recording some kinds of information, for example about specific crops, and pages of lines for writing down other kinds of information, such as weather notes, food notes, and the story of the garden.

When I say “story”, I mean writing about the funny comments visitors make about my garden (“Black popcorn! It looks rotted.”) or about finding a black widow spider in the rock wall or reaching into a bag of compost and getting a handful of snake.

I wanted to have all of that together in one book for each year. However, this year, I will use two books. One will be for my spring and early summer garden here in north Georgia, and one will be for the garden that I will start in our new yard, which will be further south.

If you decide to try using the Garden Planner and Notebook, please let me know what you think about its usefulness. You can leave a comment here on this website or on Amazon.com, where the book is available for purchase.

Regardless of the format you use for record-keeping, if you haven’t kept good notes in the past, try it this coming year. You may be amazed at how much you learn about gardening, just by writing down your observations and reviewing them at the end of each season.

Early December Garden

6 December, 2019 by amygwh

My garden is still full of crops that were planted in late summer, and we have been enjoying them bit by bit. The most abundant plant group in my fall/winter garden this year is the chicory group; these crops include escarole, frisée (an endive), and radicchio.

Other crops still coming in, bit by bit, are the carrots, radishes, lettuce, parsley, and winter onions (harvested as slender, green onions). I am still waiting for a beet to be large enough to bring in. The beet patch contains a few that are getting close.

The “bit by bit” style of harvest is partly because the crops are all heirlooms, which means they weren’t bred for uniform speed of growth. They all were chosen for flavor, not uniformity, which means my garden has a kind of wild look. We are really, though, enjoying the good food.

Tips of broad green leaves, growing upright and packed together in a bed of escarole and radicchio. — Looking across the tops of the escaroles and radicchios.

In the garden

Crops in the garden right now are growing well in our recent cool weather. When we had those few much-colder days, back in mid-November, down into the low twenties fahrenheit, I covered most of my garden to keep the plants a little warmer.

The wire supports that I set into the garden to support the spun row covers through those cold days are still in place. When the next hard freeze comes, I am ready.

Until then, my only work in the garden — besides harvesting good food — is pulling out a bit of chickweed and henbit, two common winter weeds that I snack on as I pull them and also bring inside to share with my pet rabbits.

These are some of the crops in my garden today:

Leaves from the trees are filtering down through the plants, and the plan is for those leaves to remain in the garden. All those old leaves will add a little insulation for the plants and soil in the next hard freeze.

Why so many chicories?

Chicories are my current major crop-group for a couple of reasons.

One is that, when I have been in Italy, eating at restaurants, one commonly served side dish has been cooked greens. At first, I thought these were all spinach, but a lot of the time they were actually chicory/escarole (I found out by asking).

In addition, the little local grocery store in Montepulciano, where we stayed, sells several kinds of radicchios and escaroles all summer long. Growing so many kinds of chicories keeps memories of some great meals in my mind, and it also brings an Italian flavor to more of our meals at home.

Another reason for growing chicories is that they are not very bothered by pests and diseases. At least, so far they have been trouble-free.

Growing chicories in fall versus in spring

I have grown some kinds of chicories before now, but those were planted as spring crops, not as fall/winter crops. The different results of growing in these different seasons has been interesting.

One main difference that I have seen is that the heading-types, like the red radicchio Palla rossa, are slower to form those tight, central heads when grown as a fall crop.

However, the fall-grown plants are larger than I’ve seen in my spring-grown crops.

Other goings-on

I obviously have not been keeping up a weekly writing schedule on my website these past couple of months.

One reason is that we have had many visitors this fall — two sisters-in-law, then a brother, then another sister-in-law, then my youngest son and his partner. Being able to spend time with so many family members has been glorious! In a little more than a week, our oldest son will visit from Colorado, which will also be glorious. Then, our only guests for awhile will be pets of friends who are traveling for the winter holiday.

Front cover of a book, with the title "Garden planner and notebook" on a background of green leaves.

The other main reason for the lack of writing on this website is that I was writing something else — a new book!

More about the Garden Planner and Notebook next week.

Small Farm Tools Demonstration at KSU Field Station

16 September, 2019 by amygwh

Kennesaw State University has scheduled a Small Farm Tools Demonstration day at its field station, which is also the site of its farm. This is the basic event information:

DATE: Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019 @ 1 PM (3.5 hours)

LOCATION: KSU Field Station, 1875 Hickory Grove Road, Acworth

Tools to be discussed and demonstrated include long-handled hand tools, flame weeders, walk-behind tractors, seeders, transplanters, and wheel hoes. Attendees will get a chance to try some of these tools out, to learn first-hand how they work, to help determine which tools may be appropriate for their own farms.

ADDITIONAL: The event is free. A full description of the event is on KSU’s Community events calendar. The visitor parking lot at the field station is on the right, just before the gate, but it is small. If you are attending with a friend, carpooling is recommended. Also, bring water. It will probably be a hot day.

Representatives from Johnny’s Selected Seeds and Georgia Organics are also participating in the Demonstration Day, bringing additional perspectives and conversation about sustainable small farming practices.

The KSU farm produces salad greens in a hydroponics greenhouse, other crops in two high-tunnels, and transplants in its propagation greenhouse.

Inside one of the high tunnels at the KSU field station

When I visited the farm last week (I know — I am sooo lucky!), I had a tour of part of the farm. I learned that the farm is focusing not just on producing food for the KSU cafeteria, but also on beginning research aimed at helping urban farmers.

Hydroponic salad greens
Hydroponic basil crops

The farm has been at this location for only one year. It had been up in Ballground, GA, previously, but this new location is much closer to the main campus, which makes it easier for students to participate in on-site activities. Already, the Ecology classes have been sending students to the field station on buses for their grasshopper mark-and-recapture lab.

Two Days for Pollinators

23 August, 2019 by amygwh

Today and tomorrow, August 23 and 24, are the days set for UGA’s Great Georgia Pollinator Census (GGPC). UGA’s goal is to create a “snapshot” of the pollinators in Georgia on these two days in August.

Since UGA research staff can’t cover the whole state in two days, they have called for “all hands on deck” — inviting the entire population of the state to help. I went to one of my favorite neighborhood gardens to participate this morning.

Sign for a community garden with painted images of children working in a garden, tomato plant, a pumpkin, carrots growing, a tree, and a butterfly

My day at the garden

A woman in blue shirt, shorts and a hat, with a clipboard, observing a patch of flowers. — One of this morning’s pollinator counters

A total of nine of us showed up to count pollinators, but the garden will be open again tomorrow, for people who couldn’t participate on a weekday.

We had a great time watching the insects, identifying butterflies, and being in a garden full of flowers.

The garden includes a patch of milkweeds, more than one kind, for the monarchs, and we found monarch butterfly eggs on the backs of some of the leaves. It is always heartening to see evidence that the monarch migration continues.

Some pictures from my morning:

Pollinator Census sheet for the GGPC
Carpenter bee on marigold
A fellow pollinator-counter
Sulfur butterfly on red Pentas flowers
Chrysalis for a swallowtail butterfly, on fennel
Fritillary caterpillar on passionflower vine

What we learned

One plant can be visited by five or six or more kinds of butterflies in just the fifteen minute window of counting time. The good news is that we didn’t have to identify the exact kinds, just know that they were butterflies. Many were skippers, and those can be hard to tell apart.

Also, some plants are visited by so many teeny tiny bees that counting can be difficult.

Two tiny bees in the yellow center of a red-petaled zinnia flower

The husband of one of our pollinator counters did a “dry run” on a plant in their yard yesterday, the day before the census, to see how it would go. He saw a hummingbird moth (his wife identified it), and he had never seen one before. He was entranced.

Still another day to participate!

If you weren’t able to pitch in today, there is still tomorrow. Visit the GGPC website to read about how-to-count and to download a copy of the counting sheet.

Then, on Saturday the 24th of August, find a plant that has flowers on it and insects visiting the flowers. Set a timer for 15 minutes, then count the insects that visit the flowers.

You don’t have to have great insect-ID skills for this. The categories of pollinators are for just eight kinds, and the GGPC website includes a guide to download that shows pictures.

Growing Turmeric, and Other Garden Adventures

5 August, 2019 by amygwh

An abiding desire to grow more good food is evident at The Metro Atlanta Urban Farm (MAUF). Some of that evidence is in experiments and unconventional practices seen throughout the farm. One recent experiment at the urban farm is turmeric.

Man in jeans, a red and blue plaid shirt, and red and blue striped hat, pulls aside large green leaves of turmeric plant to show the white flower spike coming up behind the leaves. — Mr. Moses Cobb, with some of his turmeric plants.

When I visited the farm and its community garden last week, one volunteer, Mr. Moses (Robert) Cobb, showed me around the farm, which includes ginger and turmeric plants. These plants are his own project, and they are beautiful.

He told me that the project originally was to grow ginger. He had bought some rhizomes, the thick root-like part that we use in the kitchen, at a grocery store to grow, but they never did grow for him. He suspected that they had been treated with something to prevent sprouting.

He finally was able to get some fresh, untreated ginger rhizomes. A friend had located and mailed them to him, and the packet, when it arrived, included turmeric rhizomes.

If you want to grow turmeric and ginger

Moses noted that ginger is a slow grower for him. Right now, it is protected in a glass-house. The ginger is growing in several pots. The plants look healthy, but the rhizomes do not appear to be spreading robustly across their containers.

The turmeric, however, is growing very well. Moses started the rhizomes together in one container, but he has separated and divided and had to rustle up additional large-size containers to transplant them into.

Ginger plants, with large leaves on tall stems, growing in a greenhouse. — Healthy ginger plants, but less lush than the turmeric.

Healthy ginger plants, but less lush than the turmeric.

Moses has found that the turmeric does best when grown in partial shade. Too much sun results in burnt leaves.

Time-to-harvest for ginger and turmeric

An article out of North Carolina State University (NCSU) about growing turmeric and ginger tells that both of these crops can produce new rhizomes in the eight months of growing time that many gardeners in the Southeastern US have.

The article points out that neither of these plants will survive a freeze. In addition, the growing season is too short, across much of the Southeastern US, for the turmeric to form the thick skin that helps it “keep” through the winter.

Turmeric plants need a full twelve months for their rhizomes to develop that thicker skin. NCSU suggests planting in containers that can be moved indoors or into a greenhouse, to produce the more mature rhizomes if those are your goal.

Starting ginger and turmeric plants from rhizomes

This is NCSU’s information on sprouting rhizomes for both ginger and turmeric:

To initiate sprouts, place a 1.5” piece of rhizome in potting media with ample moisture in a warm, humid location (72-80 degrees F) for 4-6 weeks. A tray with a plastic dome or some kind of enclosed container is ideal to keep in moisture, but light is not necessary until the sprouts start growing. You can sprout either mature, shelf-stable rhizomes, or baby rhizomes may also produce sprouts. Once they have sprouted, gradually harden them off before planting. Take the plants outside an hour or two per day, gradually increasing that time, for approximately two weeks before transplanting outside.
Read more at: https://caldwell.ces.ncsu.edu/2018/10/ginger-and-turmeric-tropical-superfoods-for-the-garden/

Where to get good rhizomes

Rhizomes are the root-like part that we use in the kitchen for both of these plants. The rhizomes are also what we plant in the soil for growing new plants. Many of the rhizomes in grocery stores, as Moses found, won’t sprout.

Not all of us have a friend who can send us fresh, untreated rhizomes, but some seed companies sell them. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, in Virginia, sells turmeric rhizomes and ginger and turmeric plants. Fedco Seeds, up in Maine, also sells ginger and turmeric pieces for sprouting.

Neither of these sources sells the rhizomes year-round, and shipping is limited to March/April. Plan to order early if you want to grow these, because it looks like supplies may be limited.

Why grow turmeric at home?

The glossy green leaves and spectacular flowers are reason-enough to try growing this plant at home. The plant is beautiful! Some of us, though, also use a little turmeric in our cooking. For veggie gardeners who like to “grow their own” as much as possible, adding this spice to the landscape is a big win.

Also, although I do not typically spend much time looking into specific health benefits of each and every veg, herb, spice, and fruit that I grow, some gardeners do. My gardening friends who pay more attention to chemical properties of plants probably already have found loads of research about the health-boosting benefits of turmeric.

Elsewhere on The Metro Atlanta Urban Farm

Two pink zinnia flowers and one butterfly, a silver spotted skipper — MAUF also grows flowers that attract pollinators.

Like in gardens all across the Southeastern US, weeds are gaining ground in spots, and some crops are starting to look a little ragged. Tomato plants in particular are beginning to slow down. Tomato plants growing in the high tunnels, though, that are protected from rainfall, had healthier looking leaves than plants that are exposed to rain.

Many of the melons are growing on hugelkultur mounds. The farm is producing a LOT of watermelons this year, and they all look good. Hugelkultur beds, which are built on and around piles of woody debris, maintain an even moisture level, which is a big boost for many crops. (How to build your own hugelkutur bed is described in this Permaculture News article.)

The melon areas have a lot of weeds growing in them, but this seemed to be helpful in one particular way. When I volunteered at a farm here in Cobb County, any melons that touched the bare ground ended up with a “belly rot”. We had to find the developing fruit and place a protective barrier (styrofoam tray, plastic sheeting) under each one to prevent this rot from invading the melons.

At MAUF this week, I didn’t see any belly rot on the melons. This could be because the thick weeds formed a barrier that held the melons away from the soil. The potential for rot-prevention may be a good reason to leave some weeds, strategically, around the garden.

Equipment maintenance and repair is an ongoing project for most small farms.

Another experiment on the farm, in one of the high tunnels, was growing strawberries in long fabric tubes. The fabric tubes had been filled with growing medium (soil). The plants were planted in slits made on the top side of the tube. The plants looked good, so this probably counts as a successful experiment.

When I asked Moses about the baby plants growing on the long runners that the original strawberry plants were sending out, he said that in a few weeks, as the little plants developed more of their own roots, he would be planting those.

The Metro Atlanta Urban Farm

The farm (MAUF) includes a community garden, and it also assists other community gardens and school gardens in Atlanta. I visited the farm because Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds had sent me a box full of lovely seeds.

I had already shared some of the seeds at a meeting of Cobb Community Gardens, a group of garden coordinators and other garden leaders. Participants at that meeting all took some seeds back to their community gardens, but there were still seed packets left. To get more of the seeds into the hands of gardeners who could use them, I contacted Bobby Wilson, co-founder of MAUF.

MAUF’s work with so many area gardens means the seeds will get distributed to even more gardeners.

National Public Gardens Week

10 May, 2019 by amygwh

Today is National Public Gardens Day, but next week, from 13-19 May, is National Public Gardens Week. For many of my readers, the Atlanta Botanical Garden may seem like the obvious choice of gardens to visit that week, but my nearest public garden actually is Smith Gilbert Gardens (SGG) in Kennesaw.

Years ago (2007-12) I worked in that garden, because it provided a space in those years for the Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) garden for which I volunteer. The PAR garden is on another property now, but SGG is still a great place to visit, especially for people whose yards are shaded by numerous tall trees and who are looking for inspiration about how to enhance those wooded areas.

Woodland plants at Smith Gilbert Gardens

Dr. Bob Gilbert, a former owner of the property, told us (volunteers in the early days) that he and his partner had planted small fruiting trees and shrubs below and around the existing trees to support the annual bird migration, especially of warblers. Each spring, when I see black-throated blues or other warblers in my backyard, I am reminded of the nearby SGG.

Leaves of bloodroot shaped like fat hands, and trillium plants that have only three leaves that attach at the top of a single stem. — Spring ephemerals, Trillium and bloodroot.

Some of the fruiting trees and shrubs planted for birds provide fruit that people can eat, too. Along the trails through the woods you can find hawthorn and the less common parsley-leaf hawthorn. A sparkleberry, with its tart but gritty fruits, is growing in the rock garden.

Growing in the shade are also many non-edible “spring ephemerals” – plants that die back in summer, but re-appear each spring.

Unusual dogwood species at SGG

Some of my favorite plants at SGG are the dogwoods.

White four-petaled flowers of Kousa dogwood on branch with dark green leaves. Petals are actually bracts. — Kousa dogwood flowers

Kousa dogwood, Cornus kousa, makes its flowers later than our native dogwood tree, Cornus florida. Kousa dogwoods resist the disease that has been killing our native dogwoods, making it a good alternative small tree for suburban yards. Even better, the fruits are edible. Like most new foods, it takes a few tries (trust me on this one) before they are a loved-fruit, but anyone looking for a “stealth fruit” for the yard might want to try this tree.

Small tree, Cornelian cherry, growing on open lawn at a woodland edge at Smith Gilbert Gardens. — Cornelian cherry at SGG.

Cornelian cherry, Cornus mas, is another unusual dogwood growing as SGG. The flowers are yellow instead of white, and the leaves tend to hang downward. This small tree is growing in full sun at SGG, but it can also grow in partial shade. Fruits of this plant are edible, and are reported to taste somewhat like tart cherries, but I have not tasted these. According to Stark Brothers nursery, two trees are needed for good pollination, to make the fruit.

Our native silky dogwood, Cornus amomum, is my other favorite dogwood at SGG. It is a shrub, not a tree. The fruits are not edible (for people), but it is great for birds, and the flowers attract many kinds of native pollinators. The specimen at SGG is along one of the woodland trails. When I saw it last week, the shrub had been heavily pruned, so it might be hard to find this year for anyone who doesn’t know where to look.

The silky dogwood in my yard is about to bloom. The flowers will be small and in clusters. When they open, the flowers will be white. The fruits, when they form, ripen to black.

Arisaema plants are Smith Gilbert Gardens, tall flowers with purple spathe and long spadix emerging. — Arisaema plants along a woodland trail at SGG.

Even if you are not super-fond of dogwoods

A visit to either SGG or your nearest botanical garden in National Public Gardens Week is a good idea. Each garden has its own mission and design aesthetic. Seeing how someone else chooses the plants and then places the plants with regard to their form, color, and other characteristics can spark ideas for our own gardens.

Smith Gilbert Gardens does not have special programs planned for National Public Gardens Week, that I know of, but check the website for hours of entry. If your nearest public garden is not SGG, consider visiting that nearer garden, instead.

After the Soil3 Garden Show

2 April, 2019 by amygwh

The Soil3 Garden Show gave us all plenty of opportunities to learn more about gardening and to make new gardening friends. I had great conversations with fellow-gardeners, and the handouts in our “swag bags” contained helpful information.

Information from presenters

Woman with long hair standing next to taller man, both middle ages, both wearing glasses, standing in front of a banner that says Small Garden News. — Me (Amy) with Ken, longtime gardening friend and leader at my local Plant A Row for the Hungry garden, who also attended the Soil3 event. PHOTO/C. Sqrow, another gardening friend!

Night Song Native Plant Nursery in Canton, GA, provided a list of native edible plants. Many of these are lower-care fruits, like elderberry, paw paw, persimmon, and mulberry. Unlike most cultivated apples, peaches, and pears, these native plants need very little (or zero) pruning or spraying.

The handout provided by Brie Arthur contains a summary of the main points of her Foodscape Revolution. It also includes a short list of ideas for limiting mammal-damage in the garden – like from deer.

I am adding her favorite deer repellent, I Must Garden brand, which incorporates botanical oils, to my post about protecting plants from deer. Just so you know – I cannot find confirmation that the product is OMRI-approved; strictly-organic gardeners will want to try PlantSkydd deer repellent, instead, even though it will smell less pleasant.

On display at the Garden Show

Of course, Soil3 offered an attractive discount on its cubic-yard bags of OMRI-approved compost. The sales tent was a busy place during breaks between presentations, and the main vendor area was also busy with gardeners considering purchases of plants and other garden-related items, and asking questions of the expert gardeners on site.

Soil3 display and sales tent at the garden show
Vendor area at the Soil3 Garden Show

Participation of local college students

Lanier Technical College horticulture program sold plants grown by its students, with proceeds supporting the program. Lanier Tech students also entered the Raised Bed Garden contest. They put together an “adaptive” garden space, for people with physical limitations.

The tilted container-beds that improve access to the far-side of the bed, the one container that rotates like a “lazy susan” serving tray, and the drainage system that keeps wheelchair-bound laps dry, were all impressive. I was told that the students took turns using a wheelchair and a walker to gain an understanding of the modifications that would be most helpful.

Raised bed demonstration garden built by Lanier Tech students.
Garden “bed” is higher in back than in front.

If you bought plants last weekend

I hope no one north of Atlanta planted the tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, basil, and other summer vegetables that they took home. North Georgia had a freeze warning Sunday night, and none of those warm-season crops takes well to temperatures in the low 30s.

Most of the other plants, though, should be planted soon, if they haven’t been yet. That includes the dill, borage, fennel, and bee balm (Monarda) that I saw at Lanier Tech’s booth, and the fruiting shrubs and trees offered at the Night Song Native Plant nursery booth.

The attendees

I visited with many wonderful people, some of whom agreed to take home a tiny chicory plant – that I had brought to give away – to try in their gardens. For many gardeners, new crops are an adventure!

I also met a family that has a homestead business in Georgia, the Rehr family of Big Bear Homestead. We talked about gardening in Georgia, and I learned about their work with pastured animals and about rebalancing the local animal populations through trapping.

Best wishes for great gardening! – Amy

Soil3 Garden Show in Cumming, GA

27 March, 2019 by amygwh

On Saturday, March 30, Small Garden News (aka: Amy) will be at the Soil3 Garden Show in Cumming, GA. The event will be at Silver City Farm, an inspiring setting; the weather is forecast to be warm and sunny; and there will be fellow-gardeners everywhere you look. It will be a great day!

Fall Garden Planning book explains how to choose crops, create a schedule, and prepare the garden for fall planting. — My book will be available at this Soil3 event.

The lineup of presentations, about organic gardening, mixed garden landscapes, and edible native plants, will be perfect for beginning the new garden season. In addition, there will be raised bed garden examples, as part of a competition, that could provide planting ideas for new gardeners.

Plants and garden-related items (including my book!) will be sold at the event’s Garden Market, and food trucks will be on site at lunchtime.

Soil3 is the product used the past few years at the local Plant-a-Row-for-the-Hungry (PAR) garden to fill raised beds and amend the soil of in-ground beds. If you want to see whether Soil3 really works in the garden, view pictures at my post about the Winter Harvest at that garden.

GGIA Trade Show Notes for Organic Gardeners

29 January, 2019 by amygwh

The trade show at this year’s WinterGreen conference of the Georgia Green Industry Association (GGIA) provided a look at some new (and not so new) products and plants for organic gardeners. The event was held last week, in Duluth, GA.

Most vendors at the trade show specialized in ornamental (non-edible) plants, machinery for large operations, products for commercial nurseries, and chemical-companies, but I located some local/sustainable/organic-related vendors, to share with you.

Recycled plastic nursery pots

East Jordan Plastics, in Michigan, displayed planting trays, growing pots, and some larger containers made from recycled plastics. Many gardeners are concerned about the excessive use of plastics in gardening. It is good to know of a plant-product company that is working to cut back on plastic waste, by re-using containers and recycling other plastics to create new containers.

RootMaker pots

Image from the RootMaker catalog showing difference in root growth between sprout in regular pot versus sprout in RootMaker pot. — Image from RootMaker catalog.

RootMaker trays and pots for growing plants are the result of research in container design, with the goal of more robust root systems. The trays and containers that I examined seemed very sturdy — like they would last for years — and the informational literature was very compelling. The pots and trays have an unusual pattern of protrusions and holes inside, and those, according to the information, guide root growth into more-branched root systems.

I will be trying a RootMaker tray this year. The representative at the Trade Show did give me a couple of fabric liners, for use when growing plants in cinderblocks, so I cannot say that I am 100% unbiased. I will have to buy the tray, though.

Rice hulls for mulch

Until this trade show, I had not heard of using rice hulls as mulch in containers or as a substitute for perlite in planting mixes.

PBH brought samples of parboiled rice hulls, so people could see the actual product and understand how it can be used. The rice hulls are approved for use in organic systems. I did not bring home a little baggie of rice hulls, but I could have. There were plenty on the table. I did bring home the informational literature, to learn more.

Rice hulls pictured on the cover of an article titled "Rice Hulls 101".

PBH Nature’s Media Amendment is from Riceland Foods. This shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it was. It makes sense that the rice industry would want to find a good use for this bi-product of rice production. Looks like they were successful.

Pope’s CBD oil

This isn’t organic and it isn’t about growing, but I did learn that Tennessee grows industrial hemp. The CBD oil was displayed in what was otherwise an all-succulent-plants booth, for Pope’s Plant Farm. CBD oil seems to be a popular product these days. If anyone was looking for a local (-ish) source of CBD oil, Pope’s Plant Farm is one place to try.

Display for Pope's Plant Farm at the 2019 GGIA Wintergreen Conference.

The little succulent plants in the Pope’s booth were very cute. If I were more of an indoor gardener, I would probably grow some. My oldest son in Colorado does grow little succulent plants, so I pay more attention to them than I used to.

Bottom’s Nursery for fruit trees and other plants

Its plants are not organically grown, but after they are planted, most of the varieties at Bottoms Nursery will not need intensive programs of chemical sprays. All the varieties I saw in the catalog are relatively easy-care fruits that would do well when switched to organic management after planting, even in the South. Some are varieties that would do well in small space gardens.

Front cover of the 2019 catalog for Bottoms Nursery, which is in Concord, GA.

The fruit trees at the back of the booth are what attracted my attention. The first tagged tree I noticed was a Kieffer pear, which I know to be both hardy and a producer of good-tasting fruit.

I wasn’t the only person drawn to the booth of Bottoms Nursery. Another vendor was there, discussing trees and other plants to order, to sell in his General Supply store.

General Supply, Inc, in Blairseville, GA

General Supply is the kind of “everything” store that makes some gardeners go into raptures. This is the store mentioned above that will be selling plants from Bottoms Nursery, but it is also a source of tools, pet supplies, small farm supplies, and a million more interesting things.

Hand tools display in General Supply booth at GGIA 2019 Wintergreen Conference.

Of course, hand-tools are pretty appealing for gardeners working in small space gardens. We don’t need a large assortment of full-sized equipment for our little plots, but good tools make the work easier.

I was especially interested in the Truper brand tools (long-reach 15″ length, ash wood handles, sturdy forged “business ends”), but a full line of Corona tools — which are long-lasting and easy to use — was also on display.

The guy at the booth (so sorry that I did not record his name!) and I discussed the ergonomic benefit of tools that have the “business end” at a right-angle to the handle, when he showed me another tool designed for easier use.

The pruner on the right, in the nearby image of two Corona-brand pruners, has a different angle for the cutting edges. Do you see the difference? According to the guy in the booth, the angled pruner on the right would be easier to use on some branches, because it allows your arm and wrist to stay aligned, rather than to bend.

I haven’t tried it, so I don’t whether that really works, but I would be interested to try. When late-winter pruning time comes around (soon!), it would be good to avoid aggravating old injuries.

Gardeners heading toward the Blairesville area might want to put this store on their list of places-to-visit.

What else happens at the GGIA WinterGreen conference?

In addition to the trade show, the event provides continuing education opportunities for commercial lawn and garden folks. I did attend a workshop about Beneficial Insects, but that story is for another post.

Good Garden Soil

4 January, 2019 by amygwh

Small farm with red clay soil in north Georgia produces a lot of good food.

Several gardening books I’ve read include the note that good garden soil is a sandy loam, rich in organic matter. My yard’s soil is naturally a massive gob of red clay — like in the nearby photo — not at all what is recommended.

Red clay is actually not all bad. It holds nutrients much better than sandy soil, so it doesn’t need as much fertilizer. It also holds water — sometimes too well! — which means it is slow to dry out. When it does get dry, it becomes brick-hard and tough to dig.

Plants benefit from the nutrient-holding and water-holding capacity of clay soil. The problem is that the clay compacts and does not allow roots to move easily through the soil, and it doesn’t have good air spaces (which roots need).

Not every yard in this area has such dense red clay as mine. When we first moved here (in 1990), and for years afterward, an older gentleman in Kennesaw grew roses, lots and lots of roses, out near the road on Cherokee Street.

I stopped to talk with him once, when I saw him out tending his roses. He said that a friend brought him a truckload of oak leaves to use for mulch each year, but that his yard had naturally good soil. That comment stunned me into speechlessness for a moment — my experience was so different!

Most people I talk to around here have soil like mine. This may be why so many new gardeners use raised beds filled with soil mixes that don’t include clay.

My gardens, though, are not in raised beds. They are in the ground, in that red clay. I add amendments like compost (from my yard) and soil conditioner (from a garden center) to increase the organic matter and microbial activity. The amendments make the clay soil a more welcoming place for the roots of my crops.

How to create good garden soil from red clay

A recommendation from Cooperative Extension’s “Ask an Expert” page for improving clay soil, is below. The picture of the compost bin nearby, though, is a clue about at least one important amendment.

Here is the Extension Expert’s recommendation:

Choose an organic soil amendment like composted yard waste, rotten leaves, or well-rotted manure (make sure any composted manure does not contain residual herbicides!). Material that is well-rotted will not smell unpleasant; it will smell like the earth.
Spread a 3 to 4 inch layer of your chosen amendment on top of the clay soil; work it down into the soil about 6 to 8 inches.
After the compost has been worked into the soil, you can spread an inch or two layer of sand on top and gently spade it in.
Before planting in spring, lay on another 2-3 inch layer of compost and work it into the soil, about 6 to 8 inches down (the depth of a shovel blade).

Walter Reeves, The Georgia Gardener, has an updated article on Soil – Bed Preparation that suggests bagged soil conditioner as an alternate for compost. His article also suggests adding Permatil to the mix, to keep the clay soil looser, as the composts and soil conditioner decompose and disappear.

Permatil is expanded shale, and it creates air spaces in the soil. I have added a similar product to part of my upper garden, an area I don’t re-amend as often as the veggie area because it has some perennials (permanent plants).

If you can’t find Permatil but are interested in trying something similar, look for Espoma’s Soil Perfecter, bits of kiln-fired “ceramic mineral” that works in a similar way to open up air spaces in the soil.

Nutrients and pH?

The Extension recommendation above does not address soil pH (acid level) or fertility/nutrients. The Expert who answered the question may have assumed that everyone will know to send a soil sample to their state’s soil lab (Georgia’s is at UGA, in Athens) through their local Cooperative Extension office.

If you are not sending a soil sample to your state’s soil lab, consider buying a pH test kit (see my article on Soil pH and Garden Success for more information). For fertility, if you don’t have a soil lab recommendation for fertilizer, choose an organic-approved garden fertilizer and follow the package directions. To learn more about nutrient sources for your garden, check out my articles on Potassium Sources for an Organic Garden and on Fish Emulsion Fertilizers.

Dig soil when ground is not soggy

You will know your clay soil is dry enough for digging when you can squeeze a handful of it and it breaks up into bits. You should not be able to roll it into the kind of snake-shapes that can be coiled to make pottery bowls.

Clay soil needs to be not-soggy at digging time, partly so you can get the clay to let go of your shovel and partly so it won’t reform into giant, brick-like clods when the lumps finally dry. Digging in wet clay soil also causes it to compact, making it lose the air spaces that are vital to healthy plant roots.

Winter is a great time to work on improving garden soil or to create new planting beds. Here in the South, we have some pleasantly cool afternoons mixed in with the cold ones, which means we have good opportunities for working outdoors.

Right now, though, the ground is squishy under my feet when I walk in the yard. I just need to wait for the rain to stop and the ground to get drier.