Growing Basil

Where to Plant:

• In your garden: basil is a companion plant to tomatoes. Supposedly, it will make your tomatoes sweeter. I have never noticed a difference, but why not plant them next to each other! It makes it easier for harvesting come caprese salad time!
• Plant in containers that have good drainage and are at least 8 inches deep.
• Basil requires at least 6 hours of full sun per day. 

Growing Tips:

• Do not over fertilize basil as this will cause it to lose its flavor.
• Wait until temperatures are above 50 degrees F at night to plant outside, uncovered.
• Watering: Some say you should let the soil dry out in between watering and some say basil needs consistent moisture. I usually keep my basil consistently moist and it works out fine for me!

How and When to Harvest:

• In the first few months, once the plant is over 6 inches tall, find the bottom two leaves and cut the stem right above the two leaves (see image below). This will make the plant more stocky and it will produce more leaves. 
• Remove any blossoms that appear by pinching them off. 
• Prune your basil plant every two to three weeks throughout the summer. 

 Leggy basil I grew from seed, time for a trim!

Here's a picture a week later, you can see the new leaves coming in from where I cut. 

Bugs/disease:
Watch out for aphids, slugs, mealy bugs, and spit bugs! Basil is prone to root rot as well (where the roots stay too wet and begin to rot). This is why I imagine people let their basil dry out in between watering. If you have good drainage, it shouldn't be a problem. If you aren't sure, try adding some perlite to your soil.


Common types of basil:

Thai Basil: has more of a licorice flavor.

Purple Basil-tastes like regular basil, primarily used for its color. Try placing a few leaves into a bottle of vinegar!

Citrus basil-will obviously have more of a citrus taste:

Sweet basil-the most commonly used basil:

Did you know that you can cut a stem off of your basil and grow another plant from it? Place the stem in water until roots appear, then transplant to a container!

I harvested a bunch of basil and *tried* to make different sorbets (using agave syrup instead of sugar)! Tomorrow I will post about the different flavors I made and how I did it!

Pin It

Hardening Off

Seedlings that have been grown indoors or in greenhouses are very delicate. Their life has involved perfect temperatures, ideal humidity, the right amount of sun, and a pest free environment. This makes for silky-smooth leaves, and wimpy stems. Perfect for little insects to gnaw on.

Time to beef up your plants to prepare them for the garden.

This is also called "hardening off"

(Hardening off my plants. And yes I was drinking wine while enjoying my little plants)

What happens if you don't harden off your plant:

• I jumped the gun and placed my wussy plants outside on a sunny day and their leaves were burned by either the sun or the wind. You can see their leaves have turned a pale color.

• Your plant may "bolt" or "go to seed". The plant becomes stressed and confused so it produces flowers/seeds as quickly as possible, ending your chances of consuming a yummy vegetable.

(Kale that has bolted)

• It may affect your plants growth.

How to harden off your seedlings:

• Harden off your seedling for 7-10 days. 
• The first day you will want to give your plant indirect sun for two hours. This can be done by choosing a cloudy day or placing the start in an area that receives just partial sun (I placed  mine in the shade of our bamboo, so it allowed some sun through).
• Over the next few days, leave out your plants for longer and longer periods of time.

• Gradually expose the plant to wind.
• Gradually expose to cooler temperatures at night.
• Direct sun seems to be the most harmful to the seedlings so make sure that is the most gradual element you add.

You may want to spend 4 or so days hardening off any vegetable starts you purchase from the store. Especially if the start was in a greenhouse or protected from the elements when you purchased it.

Cheers to buff plants!

Pin It

Growing Radishes

Let's talk radishes. 

Why grow them?

• They are a cool weather veggie that can be planted BEFORE your last frost date.
• When temperatures haven't warmed up, radishes will keep you motivated because:
• They germinate and grow quickly!

How to grow radishes:

• Sow them directly into your garden. There is no point in buying starts as they grow quickly. Only 30 days until they will be ready for harvest! 
• Once they have sprouted, thin them out so they are about 2-3 inches apart. 
• Try planting a few new seeds every week so you don't end up with all your radishes ready for harvest at once.
• Keep them moist to avoid losing that "radish crunch".

What about insects?

• I'm afraid that worms do love radishes. 
• You may find holes in your radish leaves, or in the actual radish. A few holes in the leaves isn't a problem, holes in your radish is.
• To prevent this you can try covering your radishes with a "floating row cover". This will also keep your radishes from over-heating. You can find a floating row cover at most garden stores (click the image to view more info. You could also try using cheesecloth. 

• Other tips: when planting the seeds use epsom salt, wood ash, or coffee grounds, and place in the row next to the seeds. 

Tips on growing radishes:

• They have shallow roots,  so that you can grow them in containers.
• They do not like temperatures above 75 degrees. If you're a lucky duck soaking up 75 degree weather, you should grow your radishes in a location that receives a "cooler" sun (morning or partial sun). 
• You can harvest radishes whenever they look ready. The longer you leave them in the soil the more spicy (but spongy) they will become.
• If your radish "bolts" or shoots up a long stem with a flower, you've lost her. This most likely happened because the weather was too warm or you did not provide enough water. 

What got me on a radish kick? Check out this post from SeattleSeedling.com about a homemade butter she made to have on her just-picked radishes:

Check out her blog to find out how to do it:

http://seattleseedling.com/2011/05/butter-doesnt-count/

Yum!

Pin It

Temperature Tips on Tomato Tuesday

 I'd like to thank my sister-in-law for coming up with the clever alliteration. My apologies if you are one of those "read out loud" types as I imagine you now have spit on your screen courtesy of today's tomato title...I'm on a roll, somebody stop me.

Tomatoes are one of the most popular plants to grow, but also the most finicky....sigh

Fear not! For it is my hope that in a few short months we will be sharing salsa recipes, munching on caprese salad, and watching "Fried Green Tomatoes" whilst stuffing our faces with...you guessed it!

Generally speaking, tomato plants do well with a range of 50 degrees F to 80 degrees F.

In the Pacific Northwest, our evenings are still dipping below 50 degrees,  so our tomatoes aren't quite ready for the garden.

Growing tomatoes in containers is the easiest way to solve this dilemma. You can leave your tomato plant outside during the day and bring it in at night. Just make sure to bring the plant in at night as soil in your container tends to be cooler than in your garden.

So what happens if you already planted your tomatoes in your garden? What most likely will happen is your tomato plant will not bear fruit. When a tomato plant is exposed to colder temperatures,  the blossoms drop off of the vine before they are able to be pollinated. 

You can however stage an intervention and protect your harvest from temperatures below 50 degrees by implementing the following techniques. If you have been following my blog, you know the drill. 

• Hot Kaps you can leave these around the base of your tomato plant until temperatures warm up.

• Automater trays: I have not used these before and I've read mixed reviews. The purpose of them is to keep the soil warm, evenly distribute water and fertilizer to the roots, and prevent weeds from growing around the plant. If you have used these before, please share your thoughts!

• Water walls (Wall-o-water): See this post from Suburban Hobby Farmer on Water Walls. I have used these before, I did notice a difference!

• Cloches/hoop house: using a large cloche combined with a layer of mulch can increase your soil temperature by 10 degrees! 

My blogging buddy at Cohocton River Rock Minifarm said that these are also called hoop houses, or low houses.


Get ready for some terrifically, tasty, tender, tomatoes!

Pin It

Hotkaps and Cloches

It's an abnormally cold year. 

I've seen empty garden beds, drooping tomato plants in windowsills, and rusty garden tools.

Well La Nina, you are not stopping me. Time to talk cloches (the purpose of a cloche is to protect a plant from frost, winds, or heavy rain). 

I found these at the local garden store and have successfully been using them on my lettuce and strawberries. 

Here is how you can use them:

• Place over newly planted seeds, it will keep them warm and toasty. They will also prevent your seeds from drowning in the case of a rainstorm.
• Place over transplants, this will help them adjust to being outside.
• Keep around the base of tomato plants, if you ever get to plant them. 

Here are some things I have learned by trial and error from using HotKaps or other cloches. 

• They need some sort of ventilation to keep your plant from suffocating or getting too humid. I cut holes in the HotKaps:

• With HotKaps you can rip open the top to allow the plant to keep growing while keeping the base warm (similar to the tomato picture above).
• If your cloche seems like it won't allow much sun in, you may want to take off the cloche during the day and put it back on at night. 

Here are some other cloche ideas:

Remember these bottles from this post?

This is a top from a leftover seed starter kit:

What else could you use as a cloche?

Pin It

Creative Containers

  If you want to get a head start on your garden without the preparation I have mentioned in earlier posts, I have a solution for you! These are so great for getting a head start on your garden. I became addicted, after realizing how easy these are. It took me about 2 minutes and I was able to recycle our plastic bottles.

The best part about these little buggers is that they are self watering, and maintain a humid atmosphere for the seeds.

How to make your own:

1. Find a plastic bottle (2 liter is what I use, but you can use any plastic bottle). Peel off the label on your bottle. I'm not picky about getting all the glue off of my bottle, but I've heard Goo Gone, or nail polish remover will do the trick.

2. Sterilize the bottle with a diluted bleach solution (1 part bleach to 9 parts water), swirl the mixture around, and make sure to rinse well afterwards. I have heard of people using hot water, but I don't believe you can get the water hot enough to kill bacteria without melting the plastic. Hot water and plastic also release hazardous BPA's which are not good for us, or our little plants!

3. Cut your bottle about 1/3 from the Neck side. Then trim an additional 2 inches or so from the base side. Your goal is the have the neck of the bottle almost touch the bottom inside the base. The left picture is what you want. The right picture is what it looks like if you do not trim the additional 2 inches

4. Poke several holes in the bottle near the neck to help water seep into your dirt

5. Place a strip of paper towel covering the hole near the neck of the bottle to keep dirt from escaping.

6. Fill your base with water about 2 inches from the top. And your top with seed starter.

7. Plant your seeds (anything you want, lettuce, tomatoes, peas to name a few), spray the top of the dirt to get the ball rolling, and place in a sunny south (or west) facing window.

Voilà!

Pin It

Special Delivery

I received a very special hand delivered present today:

Grandma's Strawberries. Yum. This is going to take some preparation. 

Strawberries need room to spread their thick shallow roots, so it's a good idea to dedicate a place just for strawberries. They also should not be planted anywhere you have grown tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, or potatoes in the past three years! This is because they are prone to a disease called Verticillium wilt, which is left by these plants.  Planting strawberries in a new bed, or pot is best. 

I'm lucky to have a hunky husband that can whip me up a garden box in a few hours that is perfect for Grandma's Strawberries. 

It's a good idea to soak the roots of your strawberry plant, it will help ease them into their new home.

When you plant your strawberries make sure to dig a nice deep hole, to allow the roots pleanty of room to spread out. Hold the plant while you fill in the dirt. 

Space your plants about 8-12 inches a part:

Make sure to water throughly after planting. I didn't have to as mother nature took care of that for me.

Pin It