Get those harvests in now!

Here in southwest Missouri, October is a time to try and get as much of your 'temperature tender' crops in as quickly as you can. Pictured above are banana peppers, long red cayenne and some basil leaves that will be left out in the sun to dry.

Utilizing small corners for great veggies!

Whenever I plant my gardens in the early spring, I always keep an eye out for out of the way spots to throw in a vegetable or two or three. Doing this seems to often times throw off those insects that otherwise might decimate the more formal planting locations where larger numbers of similar plants may attract them.

I've done this type of planting for years and have had great success. The four plants pictured above, (2 long red stir fry cayenne and 2 banana peppers) have been productive all season long. This very small area has supplied me with all the peppers I've needed to make daily and chili dishes!

My garden did just fine in 2013!

This spring and summer, for the first time in my gardening experience brought onto me a realization, actually a couple of things dawned on me. First, I was getting older and therefore presumably wiser. I'm not at all sure that one is working out for me. Secondly, I realized that in years past, I always seems to have way more vegetables than I could eat or even pass around. I was, after all, eating for only one.

So, I resolved to throw out a few seeds, plant a couple of store bought transplants and call it a day. Sure, I did think to weed and water, but all in all, nothing was much of a chore. And, my garden looked it too. Not a thing of beauty with a lone cucumber plant here and a scraggly tomato plant or two there. Don't even ask me about the peppers! (I never gave them any special care and they never produced very big fruit, so we came out about even). Still, there was a steady flow of something to put in a stew pot or salad starting on about mid July. And, lo and behold, I was using just about every bit of produce or herb that my beds produced! At the end of the day, I thought that to be a little bit of progress...

Onion in a pot harvest day!

Well, it's been some time since I planted an onion set in a pot just to see what would happen. I wasn't sure that an onion would even grow in such a limited amount of space. Turns out, the onion did just fine!I harvested it on July the 25th and the useable portion weighed in at 107 grams - not too shabby!

So, while it's not really economical to grow onions in this manner, it was still fun and I ended up with an onion that got sliced and put on a great tasting hamburger!

Onions and potatoes for everyone!

Of all the garden vegetables that us non-green thumb folks can plant in the spring, potatoes and onions can make you look good! 

 

Trust me on this! Just a little plot of garden soil, a feed seed potatoes and onion sets can make even the most inept wanna-be gardener look like a pro! I use both just about every day and by mid July I've got a good supply of both that can stay in the ground until they're needed.

Earlier this year, I prepared a space of about 2 feet by four feet in on of my raised beds, making sure to have plenty of space soil off to one side of a shallow trench I made with a spade. Into this went some store bought 'seed' potatoes, at a local store, that promised to produce a red variety that was good to either bake or boil. At the same time, I purchased about a pound of onion sets that were of the white variety. The seed potatoes were cut into pieces and allow to dry for a day while the onion sets were haphazardly stuck here and there around where the potatoes were to go and which were spaced about three inches apart. This was a small investment, money wise, maybe about $2. I made sure to weed and water the bed as needed, but other than that, I didn't pay much attention to what they were doing. Before long, the potatoes sent up sprouts that flowered in May and June and then died back in July. The onion sets, likewise, grew long shoots which also died back at about the same time. Representatives of this effort can be seen in the picture above. And, while neither the onions or the potatoes were particularly large, there were to be found in abundance!

Now the question can be asked. 'Did I save any money compared to just buying a sack of potatoes and onions in the store?' Probably not. But, I do have the satisfaction of ignoring these items when I shop (every little bit you save helps) and I know with out a doubt that these vegetables are pesticide and chemical free!

Where did they all go?

It's just a day before the official start of summer and those pesky Japanese beetles that most always made an appearance in early June are nowhere to be found in 2013! Tis a puzzler for sure.

Also, AWOL are the ticks (hunters have killed all the deer in my area), the grasshoppers. mosquitoes and the other irksome insects that generally make gardening such an irksome battle! The only real problems I've encountered, thus far, are tiny flea beetles which took an early and lasting liking to my potato plants. The shotgun appearance of the leaves, pictured above, are testament to their collective hunger. In spite of that, the tater plants seem to be surviving just fine.

This 'insect free' situation has made for a very pleasant spring down here in southwest Missouri. But, it makes me also wonder if this is natural for nature – i.e. some cyclical species variation, or is this a trend that could prove deleterious down the road? You know, like the honey bees that are disappearing worldwide. A side note: i.e. means "that is". It's from the latin "id est"!

Home grown tomatoes! This year for sure!

While I've never been accused of having a green thumb, I generally do alright in the home garden arena. Over the years, I've produced bumper crops of romaine lettuce, Kentucky pole beans, onions and even some potatoes just last season. But, its tomato growing where I've consistently fallen on my face. I'm not sure what it is I'm doing wrong, but something always seems to go wrong. One year it was deer that ate all my plants down to the ground, and then over the past couple of seasons ,it's been both the deer and some hungry Japanese beetles that have left me having to resort to farmers markets in order to sate my appetite.

But this year is going to be different! First off, all the deer have been killed by hunters and not only are they not around but the tics that generally accompany them have bee absent too. That just leaves those pesky beetles and they are due to show in just a few more days! But, I'll be ready for those little critters with lots of grow cloth or as its commercially known reemay. And, any deer that might show up will have to cut their way through some chicken wire. Wish me luck!