Author Archives: Anita Mills

Monarch and Pollinator Plantings

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Monarch_In_MayLast night I attended a call to action meeting for saving monarchs as well as other pollinators.

Randy Johnson, Dallas-based horticulturist and passionate pollinator protector, gave a quick run-down of plants and plantings designed to provide migrating monarchs with host and nectar plants.

He stressed staying with native plants because the prairie ecosystem is critical to monarch migration (in March they come through going north; in October they move south).  It’s the longest insect migration in the world (except maybe locusts!).

Those attending who are “of age” remember when monarchs filled the sky on their migrations. Now, it is a cause to celebrate if one sees scores on a plant.

So what does one do?

One plants milkweed (host plant) and other native flowering plants (for nectar). Recommended are:

Milkweeds:

  • Asclepias viridis – the most common, “green milkweed”
  • A. asperula – antelope horns
  • A. tuberosa – brilliant orange flowers
  • A. viridiflora – “green comet”

Plants for nectar:

  • Zizia aurea – golden alexanders – which also tolerate shade!
  • Coral honesuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)
  • Monarda fisulosa – beebalm
  • Salvia gregii – autumn sage with bright red blooms
  • Turk’s cap – which blooms till frost and tolerates shade
  • Flame acanthus – which also tolerates shade or partial shade
  • Frostweed (Verbesina virginica) – for nectar
  • Salvia azurea – prairie sage which is a late bloomer
  • Lantanas

There are many more, but this will get you started.  The key is to provide blooms stretching from March through fall – “succession blooming”.

Randy also stressed that plantings should be in blocks, or patches.  He warned against a single plant here and one over there, as the pollinators may find one but not the other.  Best to plant together.

And, of course, plantings should be organic, with no spraying.

Calls for city-wide action for pollinator protection was also discussed.  Kevin Lefebvre with the City of Dallas reminded attendees of www.GreenDallas.net  as a place to learn of upcoming issues before City Council.  Folks can register to receive notices and alerts.

Permaculture Farms

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The last few weeks, I’ve been on the road, attending first the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group Conference in Lexington, Kentucky, and now the Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Conference in Rockwall, Texas.

For each conference, I chose a farm trip that was to a permaculture farm.

KY road uphill

The first, to Salamander Creek Farm outside of Berea, KY, was a hillside full of swales and berms, under lots of snow.  We had to hike in, up a hill, to view the farm.

Totally off-grid, Susana has a sustainable operation that throws off some surplus for sale at the farmers market.

KY berm swale

She feeds her chickens, ducks and geese as well as herself from what she grows onsite.  Quite impressive.

Barking Cat high tunnel

The second farm is Barking Cat Farm in West Tawakoni, Texas.  Lauren and Kim are converting the farm to permaculture; away from their market garden annuals to perennials.  Their property sports a high tunnel greenhouse, that can be moved on rails from one spot to the other.  They plan to move it once a year. This allows them to fallow the ground and build up soil for the portion not under greenhouse.

They are also dealing with deer.  Consequently, the greenhouse is surrounded with electric fencing. Also surrounded is their “esplanade,” a long narrow strip of ground in which they still have onions growing.

Barking Cat esplanade

I’ll talk more about their fencing and plans in another post.  Rather tired right now, and there are still two days of conference to go!

 

Golden Harvest Time, And Greens Go Wild

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Leaves
Leaves – they are appearing by the bagful on curbs all over the city. And I’ve been driving about, collecting as many as I can. I particularly like the large clear bags of leaves so that I can be sure it’s just leaves, and not trash.

Leaves are gardener’s gold. They provide carbon for the compost pile. They are a good soil amendment and are great for mulch. I use them prolifically in my hugelkultur beds.

And most important – They are free.

So save your leaves and put them on your garden beds or work into your compost pile now and gather a few extra bags for use later in the year.

Garden greens more dec 2015

Remember that hugelkultur bed I installed a month or so ago? The greens are taking over! We had our first dish of greens – collards and mustard – from the garden last week. And I go through and remove ragged leaves for the hens – which they, of course, love. The greens have weathered our almost-freezes well, and the chard is beginning to take off.

Now, we’re going to be installing a spiral garden in another part of the yard, and more growing space. Stay tuned for updates!

Greenhouse Installed! Hugelkultur Bed Greens Are Thriving

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As the weather turns colder, we are getting serious about growing food for the winter. Yes, we can grow year-round in the DFW area.

Hugel greens

The hugelkultur bed out front is covered with greens – mostly mustard and collards, with some chard. The mustard is taking over and is now soaking up the wonderful light drizzle.

Meanwhile, the greenhouse has been reassembled and tied to the deck out back.  It will allow us to start seeds for herbs for the spring, as well as cultivate Malabar spinach from cuttings we obtained a month or so ago (the porch kitties keep trying to eat our attempts to start it on the front porch!).

The peek inside shows supports where I’ll be installing the shelves.  The greenhouse itself is pretty roomy, with room for up to 4 flats of seedlings on the shelves and another couple on the ground underneath.  I can even walk in!  It’s about 36″ deep (I know, because I assembled it indoors and it barely fit through the 36″ doorways on the way out to the backyard!)

Greenhouse compact

The greenhouse (a Gardman) is a kit that I bought a couple of years ago, then stacked and stored sometime last year.  It is compact, and stores in a minimal space when not in use.  It is remarkable for a kit – in February 2014 when it was freezing outside, I unzipped the door and walked into a warm, humid environment.  Not exactly 60 or so degrees, mind you, but certainly very much above freezing and seedlings were thriving.

Greenhouse inside

One caution on greenhouses – when it rains, the plants do not get water!  Now that might seem intuitive, but I speak from experience – I keep a watering can inside the greenhouse for dowsing seedlings.

Compost and Hugelkultur

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We’ve been busy here at the urban homestead….

compost now

First, we salvaged several pallets to start a measured compost pile.  Now, there are many ways of composting – from piling some vegetable matter in a heap and walking away … for as much as a year. After all everything composts eventually. All the way to the 18-day Berkeley method that requires careful building and turning religiously throughout the 18-day period.

I chose to go with a medium-time way.  Pallet-walled bins that allow turning on an occasional basis.  We’ll have compost within a month or so.  In fact, much of the vegetable matter that went into the bin were composting of themselves in the plastic bags!  With the chicken-coop litter, nitrogen was incorporated to help heat the pile up.  Made sure it was damp and then covered it with a tarp.

compost site bins

It was great to have the bins made…I’d been using old tree-planters and before that a little galvanized can.  The bin method will suit me, because I’ve been expanding my planting areas in the front yard and will need a bunch of compost to complete it.

We cleared the backyard of downed and cut branches and sticks and put them on the street for the bulk pickup.  But THEN…. we decided to start another growing bed – in the ground, actually, rather than in a container (!).  So we took the pile down by half by laying out the sticks and branches to form a narrow, curving bed to follow the walkway in a portion of the front yard.

hugel sticks

Then, because my straw bales had seen better days for growing (after all, they had survived two seasons!), they went on top of the sticks, mixed in with some leaves I begged off the landscapers at my bank.

Next, we’ll put more vegetable matter on the bed, then top it all off with mulch and plant.

Hugel straw layer

This type of bed is called “hugelkultur” which is a technique that has been used in Eastern Europe for centuries.  (See my earlier postings on hugelkultur – they are more detailed.)  BUT….the essential thing about this technique is that it retains water.  That’s what we need in dry times, like we’re having now.  As the wood on the bottom decomposes, not only does it serve as a habitat for fungi, particularly mycorrhizal fungi (which are so important for the soil food web), but the wood becomes like a sponge and holds water.

Remember this – if nothing else – the more organic matter we can put into the soil, the more water it will hold when it rains, and the less you will have to water your plants!

Fall is Here! Egg Production Up… and Strawbale Class coming

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Fall is here, and egg production is beginning to ramp up in the coop.  I guess it’s the cooler nights and not-so-hot days.  All three Ameraucanas are now laying….with an occasional egg from the Rhode Island Red.  But I’m still waiting for the Black Cochin and Black Austrolorp to come online.  I’ll supplement their feed with some more protein – yummy meal worms and maybe some calcium to help them along.

 

I was reflecting the other day how going out to take care of the chickens in the morning has become a time of untime.  I move into a zen and no-time, as I care for them, cluck at them and generally carry on the morning conversation.  It would seem odd to hurry through the routine.  Chickens truly are a stress reducer… ask anyone who has sat and watched them scratching as they foraged.

I’ll be teaching strawbale gardening on October 3, Saturday, 10 am at Trinity Haymarket (1715 Market Center Blvd).  The class is free, and the proprietors Bill and Fred have coffee and pastries to munch on before the class begins.  You can learn how to condition strawbales organically to grow (especially) greens for the winter.  Strawbales are excellent choices for a temporary garden, a garden for not bending over, or just plain fun!  and when the season or two the bales last are over, you have COMPOST!

Also come and check out Trinity Haymarket’s new offerings – Sojos freeze-dried, no-grain dog food.  Super nutritious, as well as local honey, chicken and bee supplies as well as organic garden supplies.  It’s like an old-time feedstore and really fun to visit.

Fall Planting – Mulch and Crop Rotation A Must

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So fall is upon us. Just like spring, it’s time to think about planting!   So what do you consider? First, there’s mulch and feeding the soil. Second it’s planning what to plant – and that means rotating crops.

Mulching

Mulch, mulch, mulch. That means don’t till. Do you know what happens when you turn over the soil? You destroy this whole civilization of micro-organisms that are just waiting to help your plants grow! Can’t you hear the screams?

Okay….maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but there is a whole world of life in the soil ecosystem. It starts with mycorrhizal fungi that form the base of the pyramid. These little folks send out microscopic hairs, called hyphae that go through the soil and grab minerals and nutrients and bring them to plant roots.

What happens when you till or turn over the ground? Those miles and miles (yes – in a small space!) of hyphae are broken and have to re-grow. Which takes time that they could otherwise be feeding your plants.

Instead, add organic material on top of the ground – like leaves, or compost, or mulch. That way, you’re giving the bacteria (who also live below-ground) something to munch on and add to the fertility of the soil – as well as its moisture tolerance.

 

Crop Rotation

Certain plants grow best when they are planted after another type of plant. For instance,

Legumes (think: beans and peas mostly) fix nitrogen from the air to the soil for leafy plants.

Leaf Plants (as in coles, leafy greens and corn) like lots of nitrogen. They grow best when planted after the legumes.

Fruits (as in tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, squash and melon) like phosphorus to set fruit, but too much nitrogen prevents them from setting the fruit. They just grow and grow and grow, but don’t set fruit.

Roots need even less nitrogen, but they need potassium. Roots include beets, carrots, turnips, radishes, garlic and potatoes.

Then cycle through again.

It’s also important to note that when you plant certain things in the same place year after year, they get covered with pests – like tomatoes get covered with hornworms. So never plant tomatoes in the same place year after year. Even if that is the best sunny spot.

So Rotate, Rotate, Rotate.

Garden Musings

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Snce this hot time of the summer is more like the doldrums – it’s hard to get energy up to go out into 100+ degree heat, even to water the plants that are surviving.  But the tatume squash I wrote about last time is thriving!  One squash gives me two meals.  And it is still sending tendrils outward and blooming.  Definitely going to be on my list for next year!

The okra I planted is doing pretty well – I just didn’t plant enough of it!  It is a long-podded okra, that doesn’t get woody when it is over 2-3 inches long.  I like it, especially when I cut a pod in the morning, slice it and fry it up with my fresh-from-the-next eggs!  Yum.

I have been flicking my tomato blossoms whenever I had a chance – but the plants are just taking a break.  Why flick the blossoms?  Tomatoes are wind-pollinated.  That means that vibrations release the pollen.  Bees and other insect pollinators are not needed.  A couple of years ago my daughter asked why, when her plants bloomed as much as mine, I had more tomatoes – it is because I flicked them.

I was watching the lantana, which is heating loving and blooms like crazy in the Texas mid-summer heat, and saw a butterfly moving from blossom to blossom.  Then it would start to fly away, but turn around for just another drink of the nectar.  Must have been pretty tasty, because that butterfly kept working the blooms on that plant for about 15 minutes.  A long time.  Note to self…more lantanas.

 

 

A Squash Resistant to Those Borers!

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At the recommendation of a gardener at Homestead Heritage in Elm Mott, Texas (a great place to visit! or take classes!  http:// www.homesteadheritage.com) I tried Tatume Squash this year.

She told me that it was resistant to squash vine borers. Since I have been plagued by them, and the only remedy that seems to work is to inject starts with bt, I decided to give it a try. I’m a bit lazy in my own garden and have been seeking other ways of avoiding the dreaded vine borer.

But a warning is in order … this plant SPREADS! I’ve been redirecting runners from the neighboring tomato (which is doing its own spreading into the rosemary close by) and sending it towards the lawn. The seed catalog says iit can send runners up to 15 feet or more. So leave it lots of room.

You can still plannt Tatume by seed. It’s a native of Mexico, but available from Baker Creek (www.rareseeds.com).

I have two plants and have started harvesting. I cut off my first squash – all of about 3-5 lbs! I was leary of a woody fruit, because that’s what you get with zucchini that gets away from you.

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I was surprised … it was just like a BIG small zucchini inside. I cut large slices about 1/2 inch thick, slathered with olive oil, garlic and pepper, and fried it in the cast iron skillet. When it was browned, I added a bit of water to help it cook. You could also grill it.

It was very tasty. Next, I’ll try cubing it and cooking in a stew with some Rotel tomato/pepper, garlic and onion, for serving over rice.

I’ll probably let the next squash get a bit bigger to see how it fares cooking and eating-wise.

Drought Planting Technique Works in Flood….and Carrots

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A few weeks ago, I wrote about planting techniques that worked in drought conditions.  Now it’s apparent that heavy mulching also works in flood.

A garden columnist recently recommended that gardeners just pull their spring tomato plants and give up until fall planting. The reason was that so many tomato plants were suffering from the abundance of rain, and suffering from fungus and other ills caused by wet conditions and wet feet.

Tomatoes may 2015

However, as you can see from the pictures, tomatoes planted using heavy mulch – and in some cases only mulch – fared quite well and are flourishing and producing tomatoes.  The tomato plant in my straw bale also is doing well, blooming and getting ready to put forth tomatoes.  In addition, my container tomato just yielded a lovely cluster of cherry tomatoes.  It is not suffering either.

The secret?  DRAINAGE.  As long as the days are long, there are a reasonable number of days in the 80s, and the plant’s feet are wet, the tomato will be just fine.

 

What about fall tomatoes?  There are a couple of ways to achieve this without going out and buying new transplants (although it’s nice to support local businesses).

First, June is the time to start seeds so that your seedlings will be ready to plant in time for a fall crop.

Second, the suckers that develop at the junction of each tomato branch can be removed and placed in a rooting mix to develop roots and should be available for transplanting in time for a fall crop.

Finally, there is the lazy person’s way…just prune those plants that are doing well.  Tomato branches that have borne for the spring will be less likely to bear fruit for the fall.  So, prune them off during the heat of the summer when production has fallen off.  Those suckers I mentioned earlier?  Leave them and they will develop new branches, ready to bear at the right time.  You can get two crops off the same plant, without the labor of transplanting or the expense of buying new transplants.

 

Carrots Carrots 2

I mentioned some time ago that I “winter” plant my carrots.  With the cold weather, their growth and maturity has been delayed, but they are now ready for harvest.  Since the carrots were lonely in their container, I transplanted a couple of tomato plants to keep them company this spring.  As the tomatoes have now grown and need space, I started harvesting carrots.  Wow – was I surprised (I always am)!  Here’s a picture of the harvest of these few.  There are many more waiting.  They are bound for a roasting with some red potatoes and onions, chunked and covered with olive oil and a sprinkling of time.  Add a little water and cover the roaster, then put in the oven for an hour or till everything is nice and tender.  Another lazy person’s dinner – and so delicious!

Carrots 1