Just Feedin' the Birds!

Want to do something nice for the birds?  Feed them!  Here's an easy way to do it!

1. Get a grapefruit (any suitable citrus will work).
2. Cut it in half.
3. Eat the grapefruit. (Important step)
4. Fill grapefruit halves with bird seed.
5. Set grapefruit halves on a deck rail
6. Enjoy watching the birds!

Piece of cake - or rather a piece of fruit!

Bargain Blueberries

'Bluecrop' Blueberry Bush

As I indicated in my last post about the two camellias in one pot I'm always looking for ways to garden cheap.  Imagine my excitement when I stumbled across some 'Bluecrop' blueberries that are normally over $20 marked down to $5 each!  Of course I snatched two up (I might have gotten more had they had a second variety) for planting in my garden.  My kids love eating blueberries but they can get expensive in the stores, especially if you prefer the organic ones. The cheapest price I've seen blueberries for in the store was about $2 for an 8oz. package.  With a potential yield at maturity of 10-20 lbs. these two plants will pay for themselves many, many times over.

Blueberries typically enjoy acidic soil and if the soil isn't ideal it will need amended.  Getting a soil test to find out what the soil is like (I have to admit that I've never had my soil tested) from your local agricultural extension program is a good idea!

Here is my strategy for improving the soil for blueberries:

1. Add aluminum sulfate and bonemeal to the soil prior to planting.  The aluminum sulfate is a common soil acidifier often used in to change the color of hydrangea blooms.  Bonemeal has a high phosphorus content which is good for promoting rooting.  I want the blueberries to have a great root system to start off with.
2. Add organic matter to the soil area.  I'll scratch in compost periodically to the top layers of soil and allow the nutrients to soak down into the root system. Working in compost
3. Water periodically with diluted coffee.  There's almost always a little bit of coffee at the end of the carafe when we're done with the coffee in the morning.  Unless of course one of the children kept us up in which case we'd be strongly considering brewing a second pot of coffee just to get through the day.  Diluted coffee has a low nitrogen level and is slightly acidic.  I'll also integrate the coffee grounds in and around the base of each plant on a semi-regular basis to improve the organic matter in the soil and improve the acidity.
4. Mulch well!  Blueberries need moisture and a good organic mulch like pine needles is perfect. They will slightly (just a little) acidify the soil over time, allow water to move to the root system, and shade the ground to keep the root systems cool and moist. Blueberries like their moisture!

Most blueberries enjoy having a second variety somewhere nearby as a pollinator but 'Bluecrop' blueberries are reportedly self-fertile. Yields increase with better pollination provided by another variety that has overlapping bloom times. Fortunately I have two other varieties that should be cross pollination compatible with my new 'Bluecrop' blueberries called 'Reka' and 'Chippewa'.  My first blueberry cutting experiment didn't work out so well. The gardener let the cuttings dry out.  Better monitoring by the gardener will give be better results. I'll have to get onto him for his lapse in cutting care!

I'm looking forward to the fruits of spring and winter hasn't even begun yet!  

What fruits do you grow in your garden?

Join the 2011 Fall Color Project and share the brilliance of Autumn!

Muskmelon Madness!

The other day I went out to the garden and picked one of the best cantaloupes we've ever eaten. The taste of a store bought melon can never beat that of one that is homegrown!

Cantaloupes are actually muskmelons (Cucumis melo 'reticulatus') that are given the name cantaloupe to sound more palatable. Musk just refers to the smell but if you think of musk you might think more of a skunk, so most people just call them cantaloupes. True cantaloupes (Cucumis melo 'cantaloupensis') aren't actually commercially grown in the United States.

Our cantaloupes or muskmelons are going wild in the raised bed garden (Raised Bed Vegetable Garden Layout). They've completely overrun the bed they are in and are partially covering two other beds. I don't mind since we eat a good deal of fruit and as long as they keep producing we'll be eating. I was at the store today and saw the price of muskmelons was two for $5, so for every two melons the vine produces we save $5. It's almost like growing money!

Cantaloupes have male a female flowers like squash, cucumbers, pumpkins and many other vining fruits. You can tell when the cantaloupe is ripe when it pulls gently off the vine. It will have a generally tan appearance on the surface. A couple of the melons I picked this morning felt like they had just fallen off the vine.




Here's what I picked this morning with many more still to come. One melon from the other day plus the five from this morning makes six. One we've eaten, another we are working on, two were given to my parents (who incidentally gave us the plants), and the last two will eventually get eaten by a hungry almost three year old! Of course she will have help! Yum...


For some good information about muskmelons check out this page at the North Carolina State University Department of Horticulture.

'Old Time Tennessee' Melon

This was definitely the year for trying new melons, at least here at The Home Garden. Yesterday I showed you the 'Tigger' melon we grew and tasted, today let's welcome 'Old Time Tennessee' to the blog! Where the 'Tigger' melon is small, compact, and tasty 'Old Time Tennessee' is large, football shaped (perfect for football season), and tasty.  You will notice that both of these have one thing in common - tasty! 'Old Time Tennessee' is much more like the traditional musk melon (what most people call cantaloupe) in taste than little 'Tigger'.

'Old Time Tennessee' melon

 
The flesh is orange (also good for football time in Tennessee) and the rind is a soft brown color. Don't pick 'OTT' when green, it tastes like a cucumber (I accidentally did that, my eagerness got the best of me).  The rind is thin and easy to cut through which can be dangerous if you are competing with critters (like rabbits) for your garden produce. Frequent monitoring of the garden will result in a bounty of fruit. While I have one 'Old Time Tennessee' melon in my custody there are at least four others soon to be ripe on the vine.

As far as pests go, I did have trouble this year with the squash vine borer on my squash plants but they have completely avoided my 'Old Time Tennessee' melons. You can't count that as an official study in vine borer resistance for these melons but you can at least take comfort that if there are other things available for the borers to get maybe they will attack them first and spare the melons! I also planted zinnias and nasturtium as companion plants which may have had a significant impact. (Don't forget to consider companion planting when planning your vegetable garden.)

I'm saving seed for these melons too so those who wanted 'Tigger' melons will find themselves with bonus melon seeds in the mail!

'Tigger' Melon - Light and Sweet

Every year I try something new in the vegetable garden. When I was selecting seeds back in the dormant season I ran across this small melon called 'Tigger'.  Of course as a parent with three children anything with the name 'Tigger' catches my attention. The 'Tigger' melon was described in the Baker Creek catalog as "vibrant yellow with brilliant fire-red, zigzag stripes."  It's appearance is a little less fancy than hyped in the catalog but that could be due to different growing conditions or a variety of other factors. But it is an orange and yellowish (or maybe orange-yellow) striped melon.  According to the description the seed was found in an Armenian Market.  It's always neat to learn a little about the history around the seeds.

I have my 'Tigger' melons growing on one of our cucumber and melon trellises. When the fruit is ripe the melons simply drop from the vine into the raised bed below.  The small melons rapidly grow to form the green striped melon in the picture below.

After a few days the skin begins to change color into a ruddy orange-green color hinting at the final stages of the fruit.

And when it is ripe it falls to the ground ready to be eaten by a hungry family!  I put this melon in the refrigerator right away to begin chilling.

When sliced open it reveals a while flesh with a thin outer skin. The center has lots of seed perfect for saving (or sharing, more on that in a minute!) The melon's flesh has a light and sweet taste perfect for breakfast!  

I will definitely plant this melon in my garden again. It's flavor may not be the strongest but I kind of like the light sweetness of the fruit. It's not overpowering and would delicious to eat just about any time of the day.


Would you like some seeds?  If so comment below!  I'm sure I can have enough seed for 5 participants to win and maybe more, I'll see what I can do.  Comment by the end of the day on Monday August 8th if you want some 'Tigger' Melon seeds.

I wouldn't recommend that this 'Tigger' bounce!

Original Seeds were purchased from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and have been grown organically in my garden.

Propagating Blueberries through Cuttings - My First Attempt

Last week I acquired three blueberry bushes in a secret deal from my local big blue box store. OK it really wasn't a secret since they were offering them for half off to anyone. But what they don't know is that those three blueberries bushes I bought for $15.00 (Total) might become 50 one day, that is if I can get the plants to root from the cuttings I made over the weekend.  There are two big advantages to taking greenwood cuttings of blueberries. First, and most obvious, you might be able to make a few extra blueberry bushes. Second, each new cut will spur new growth and since blueberries flower and produce fruit on the previous season's growth it should encourage a higher yield.

Here's how I made my blueberry bush cuttings:

1. I took 4-6 inch greenwood stem tip cuttings from two of the same variety of blueberry bushes. I made my cuts just above a node on the plant. After that I cut back the remaining stem so that a node was left at the bottom of the cutting.

2. I removed all but the top two leaves from the blueberry cuttings. More leaves means more water loss. I probably could have left another pair of leaves on the cutting which is in fact what my favorite plant propagation book says to do.
3. While I was getting the rooting hormone prepared in a clean baby food jar I placed the cuttings in a jar with water so they would remain hydrated. I always put my rooting hormone in a separate container just in case any cuttings may be contaminated with a disease. I don't want to put any pathogens into the original jar of rooting hormone.
4. I dabbed the cuttings in the jar of rooting hormone and covered the base of the stems as much as possible with rooting hormone. Having the cuttings moist to begin with helps significantly!

5. Then I stuck the cutting into a previously prepared container with a mix of sand and peat. 
6. My last step was to put the cuttings into my plant propagating box! 

Now I have to wait to see when the plants will root. I'm estimating about 6-8 weeks but that could vary greatly. Since blueberries need a pollinator for cross pollination I'll be attempting a few cuttings from my other variety soon. Maybe one of these days I'll have my backyard orchard ready to grow!

Planting Bareroot Grape Vines

Grape vines area great edible plant to add to the garden. Grape vines can be used in many ways and have the attributes of an ornamental plant with high value as an edible plant. As an edible plant grapes can be used to make wine, juice, and their leaves are edible making them an interesting choice for wrapping food inside to create stuffed grape leaves. As an ornamental grapes can cover arbors, decorate pergolas, or dress up trellises. When planting grapes you want to give them every chance at a great start so in this post you can see how I planted a bareroot 'Marquette' grape vine in the garden.

Grape vines are usually shipped bareroot. Bareroot simply means there isn't any soil material. This saves on shipping costs and prevents the transfer of insects or disease through the soil. Usually they will be packed in plastic with a moist material inside like spaghnum peat moss, sawdust, or shredded newspaper. Once you get your bareroot plants it's a good idea to get them out of the box, remove the packing material, and put the vine into some water to rehydrate. Usually it is recommended to soak them overnight.

Choosing a Location for Grape Vines

Find a location in full sun to plant your grapes. Low lying areas can become frost pockets in the early spring which can damage early grapevine growth so avoid those areas if possible.

Planting the Grape Vines

In early spring dig a hole 10-12 inches wide and deep. (I just planted this one so I'm late to the game.) In the center of the hole make a small mound about 3-4 inches tall in the center.  Then spread the roots over the mound while keeping the grapevine centered on the mound gradually back fill with the soil and tamp it down with your hands as you go.

Each time I tamped down the soil I watered a little to make sure the roots had easy access to water.  I incorporated a little leaf mold into the planting hole to add some quality organic matter into the soil which is probably not necessary but I figured a little extra compost will only help it get a good start.  Once the whole was filled I covered it with mulch and put a little piece of fencing around it to prevent the deer from eating my new grape vine.

Later after planting

Once the grapevine grows a little it will need trellised in some way. An arbor, pergola, or some other structure will be needed to help the grapevine grow. Ideally you should have already done this but I haven't decided exactly how I want to trellis these up. In commercial production grape vines are trellised along a post with a "Y" or "T" shape and the vines are tied to strong wires or pipes.

Keep the vine pruned to 2-3 branches during the first year. Each year it will need pruned back in the early spring because grapes form fruit on the new growth.

When these vines are older I'll demonstrate how to prune your grapes.  For now though we'll just have to watch the vines grow! Of course we could always do a little grape vine propagating as they grow!  Do you grow grape vines in your garden?

Vegetable Garden Updates

It's been a few days since any real vegetable garden update so I figured it was time to show you a little of what's going on out there in veggie land!

The cucumbers:

I always direct sow cucumbers, squash, and other cucurbits. Unless you have them in biodegradable pots they don't always transplant well. I also like the cost effectiveness of growing them from seed. Cucumbers are one of the easiest vegetables to grow from seed - especially so if you have a trellis. I'll show you my MacGyver trellis later in the week. I've had problems in the past with verticullum wilt which is transmitted by the cucumber beetle. So if you happen across a beetle the shape of a lightning bug (or firefly) but orange/yellow with either stripes or spots you'll know that you've found the dreaded cucumber beetle! They spread disease as they nibble on the plants.

Here you can see the cucumber seedling with the first two leaves called cotyledons fully emerged along my 1/4 inch soaker hose.

Here's another one that was planted a little earlier with the first true leaf all ready to go.

The Lettuce:

The lettuce has done very well considering our wacky weather. It won't be long before it bolts and that will be the end of lettuce until fall ... maybe. I'm going to try a few spots of lettuce underneath our cucumber trellis. The shade may helps us get an extra crop or two before the heat of summer makes it next to impossible. Lettuce likes to germinate in the mid 60's and we don't see that often until fall!

The Strawberries:

Strawberries are by far the tastiest of fruits from the garden right now! They are producing very well but will never match the size of the store bought varieties. What they don't have in size though they make up for in flavor! You just can't beat fresh from the garden. After the strawberries finish producing it's a good idea to give them a nitrogen based fertilizer like bloodmeal to encourage new leaf/runner growth. Never, never, never  do that before they set fruit or you may end up with lots of leaves and no strawberries

 Other vegetables not featured in this post but are producing: The Sugar Snap Peas.

(I tried to get a hold of their agent for but due to scheduling conflicts the Peas were unable to make the photo shoot.)

Growing Blueberries in the Home Garden

With all the edible choices of plants to add to your garden blueberries are at the top of most lists.  They taste good, come back every year, and highly nutritious, and aren't hard to grow if you do the right things for them. What do you need to do to grow a bumper crop of blueberries every year? Here are things you might find useful for growing blueberries in your home garden!

The soil is the number one thing to work on before planting.  Use acidic fertilizers to help improve the soil acidity and amend with compost and peat moss.  Coffee grounds make a good amendment to add but only adjust the pH a little bit at a time so additional fertilizers maybe necessary.  By adjusting the pH you are setting the soil to a pH that allows the plant to achieve the ideal transfer of nutrients from the soil. Compost can help with that too.  Cover the ground around your blueberries with mulches like pine straw or pine bark. 2-4 inches of mulch is ideal and will keep the soil moist and cool to help those roots do their work.

After planting prune away the first year's blooms (I didn't do that, just couldn't bring myself to remove those potential berries!) to encourage the plant to grow roots and branches. After the second year prune away dead branches and old branches that are 3-4 years old.  

Not only are blueberries good to eat but the plants have beautiful fall color and are great to use as edible landscape plantings!

Do you grow blueberries in your garden?

Name that Plant: Blueberry Bush

It's about time I positively identify the Name that Plant. It was a 'Duke' Blueberry bush. Our eldest daughter loves blueberries and while I'll eat them occasionally they were planted for her. I planted two this spring and while we are hopeful that this Northern Highbush blueberry will bear fruit we may have to be patient and expect it next year. From what I have read on the Duke variety of blueberry (vaccinium) it is nearly guaranteed to grow well in zones 4-7. Blueberries are one of those power foods that are high in antioxidants, good stuff for fighting off free radicals.



We typically eat our blueberries plain but there are many ways to eat them. Blueberries go well in muffins, pies, and there is even a blue berry soda! Go check out the recipe by Alton Brown if you don't believe me!



So who got this one right? Only two got it right from the beginning: Lola and Tina. Skeeter and Nancy both found a hint and get second prize!

Here are the current scores:

Tina (In The Garden): 2
Lola: 1
Jen (Jen-O-Topia): 1
Nancy (Soliloquy): 1.5
Chey (A Maritime Gardener):1
Melanie (Old Country Garden): 1
Skeeter: 1
Jillybean (Post-it-Place): .5

Bunnies in the Garden

What do you do when cute little furry bunnies that eat your strawberries? Good question! I'm not sure I have the best answer and maybe you have some suggestions for this issue but over the weekend I found a solution that so far seems to have worked.  First let me share with you how I found bunnies in my garden.

On Saturday I was out in the vegetable garden filling a few raised beds (including the Greenland Gardener bed I mentioned a few weeks ago - more on that later this week) and picked up the hose to water a few plants. I looked to the strawberry plants and though "they could use a drink" and began to spray at the base of the strawberry plants as best as I could when something ran out - the first little bunny! It was soaking wet from the hose but otherwise unharmed.  I snuck up behind it, gently picked it up, and moved it out of the garden into the brushy hillside area. Then I thought "I wonder who else is hiding in there?" and proceeded to spray more of the strawberry patch. Two more bunnies raced out and ran for cover. I doubted they would stay out of the garden - you know how bunnies are - always hungry - and always making more mouths to feed!



Later in the day I came back to the vegetable garden and checked the strawberry patch again for bunnies - sure enough - the three bunnies were back!  This time I captured all three bunnies and placed them in a tall nursery pot. I kept them there while I worked in the garden some more and planted cantaloupe, squash, zinnias, marigolds, and beans, beans, and more beans! I can't wait for this summer's harvest to come rolling in. Back to the bunnies...

I decided I would give them one more chance to stay away from the garden and in my territory (AKA yard). I moved all three bunnies underneath a large - and quite wild - multiflora rose bush on our hillside. I figured it would offer them adequate protection from predators (which consist mostly of neighborhood cats) and was a good distance away from my vegetable garden. But I couldn't stop there. I went to my garden shelf (OK I don't have just one - things tend to end up all over the place) and brought out my bloodmeal. I sprinkled the bloodmeal around the strawberries, asparagus, tomatoes, and all around the vegetable garden. Bloodmeal has a Nitrogen content of 12% which is useful to all those plants. Bloodmeal also scares away creatures that tend to be lower on the food chain. They smell the scent of blood and are afraid a predator may be lurking about. After two days we seem to be bunny free in the vegetable garden. Hopefully now that they are out they will stay out, but it is a wake up call for me - my fence needs bunny proofed! 

We'll see how this goes! How do you keep rabbits out of your garden?

Propagating Grape Vines with Greenwood Cuttings

I'm always looking for new plants to experiment on to see if I can get them to root.  Yesterday I took some cuttings from a grape vine at my mom's house.  Grape vines are pretty popular with home gardeners who want to grow their own food in the backyard so I thought I'd give them a try.  I haven't successfully rooted grape vines before so these cuttings are somewhat of an experiment! These are most likely from a Concord grape.

How to Root Greenwood Grape Vine Cuttings

First I trimmed off a few branches that needed removed.  Grapes need frequent maintenance pruning to get them to grow in a form that will maximize their fruiting!  From those trimmings I selected several 3 node sections.

On the top node of the grape cutting I retained one leaf and because of its size I cut it back significantly to reduce water loss. If you try this look for nodes that are as close together as you can find as they will have a higher concentration of the natural growth hormones and will speed the rooting process up. 

Then I dusted the base of each cutting with rooting hormone and placed them in a pot with a mix of sand, peat and perlite. 

I watered them thoroughly and now I just have to wait and see if rooting takes place. I haven't done this yet but will probably place a plastic bag over the top of the cuttings in order to maintain a decent level of humidity around the cuttings.

Hopefully in 4-6 weeks I'll be able to see some roots and can pot them up to care for them over the summer until fall. 

Grape vines are also good subjects for hardwood cuttings and layering!

Inside the Strawberry Patch

OK it's not really a strawberry patch as much as it is a raised bed in the vegetable garden that is overflowing with strawberry plants. A couple years ago I planted the bed with these strawberry plants, I believe there were twelve plants total, and let them grow in the bed. I fertilized after their fruiting was complete with an organic fertilizer and watched as the 12 little strawberry plants became many, many more. Strawberry mother plants create runners that root then become mother plants themselves. They are the ultimate in self-layering plants! In fact I had so many strawberry plants that I've given away over 150 plants this year and can't tell a difference in my garden.  My strawberries are June bearing but I don't know what variety.

I need to cover the strawberries this week with bird netting. The birds are devouring the craneflies right now and are a little distracted but soon they'll notice the bright red berries ripening up in the garden. Then it will be a competition for who gets the strawberries - the birds or Dave's daughters! I can't blame the birds, after all who wouldn't want backyard fresh produce that is chemical free?

The Strawberry Bed (from the Vegetable Garden)

When redesigning the vegetable garden I decided to dedicate one 4'x6' bed solely to the cultivation of scrumptious strawberries. Since they are perennials this bed is no longer in any kind of rotation with the other beds but it was necessary, at least for now.  The strawberries began blooming this weekend which really isn't the greatest of times to start since a cold snap is on top of us. I'll cover the bed with a sheet propped up with bamboo stakes for now to keep the blooms from getting frosted.

Early spring time is not a good time to fertilize strawberries. It's counter intuitive when you tend to fertilize most things this time of year but you really need to fertilize after they have produced fruit. This will send out new green growth to form new plants via runners that can be separated from the mother plant and grown to produce more strawberries for next year. Too much nitrogen fertilizer early will cause the strawberries to produce more leaves and fewer blossoms and consequently fewer yummy strawberries!

I incorporated a clump of asparagus into the strawberry patch that Lola sent me but unfortunately I don't think it made it over the winter.  It's too bad becasue I love to grill asparagus dipped in olive oil with salt and pepper. I put the asparagus and strawberries together since they were both perennials but if your looking for a good companion (sorry not me I'm married) try asparagus and tomatoes!

Two Plums Up!

This weekend I am proud to say that our edible landscaping situation has been improved by two plums! We planted two (hopefully delicious) plum trees along our sideyard. To get proper pollination you have to plant two varieties that bloom within the same window so that they may cross pollinate. The two plums trees were Prunus salacina 'Morris' and Prunus salacina 'Bruce'. One of the trees was loaded with spent blossoms and the promise of fruit to come. I know that it isn't wise to allow it to fruit in its first year in the ground. I "should" pick off the fruits and encourage the root system of the plum to fill in and get well established.

The truth is I'm not disciplined enough! I will be thinning some of the potential plums  in order to make larger fruit. If you look at the first picture of one branch of the tree you will see lots of spent blossoms clustered on the branch. One fruit every 2-4 inches depending on the size of fruit is probably the ideal spacing. Thinning also helps prevent the branches from getting too heavy. I witnessed a peach tree with tons of peaches on its branches break under the weight of the fruit last year in our neighborhood. The tree is fine today but the whole branch had to be cut back to the trunk.

I planted my two plums up on a slope along one side of our driveway. You can't see the spacing too well form the photo but they are about 12 feet apart. With proper pruning these trees should stay fairly manageable.

These two trees bring our little backyard orchard to a total of four fruit trees. The other two trees are apples, one a 'Gala' and the other a 'Fuji'. Apples need cross pollination just like the plums. What fruit trees do you grow in your garden?

Impulse Buy Time

Last week I was in one of the home improvement stores and started wandering the gardening shelves...always a dangerous thing! I looked around at all the packaged plants which in most cases are way too early to plant out and got sucked in by the displays. I ended up coming home with one Arapaha thornless blackberry plant. I love blackberry jam and of course fruit right off the vine is pretty good too.  Since I have kids I figured the thornless would be the best choice. I only bought the one since blackberries are so easy to propagate and I figured I could easily have several by the end of the season.

The problem with the plant racks this time of year is that they are all kept indoors and the plants begin sprouting in the nice warm indoor store temperatures. It's not a big deal unless the temperatures outside are freezing! Once the dormancy is broken you risk damaging the plant in a freeze outdoors so you have to keep it protected. When I picked my blackberry plant from the mass of blackberries I made sure that it wasn't growing and still had tight buds so that I could place it in the garage until the weather warms. I probably could plant it out right now in the garden but I haven't found just the right place yet. That's another problem with impulse buys - you don't always have a location planned for that new plant - but you can always find one!

As for propagation blackberries can be easily propagated through stem tips, division of the suckers, tip layering, serpentine layering, and trench layering.