Posted by admin on July 22, 2009
When we began testing growing super sugar snap peas, we thought we may have the same results we had with some various beans. Most beans we have tried in San Francisco, CA, have not done well. One is doing well, and we will write about that one when it matures.
Super Sugar Snap Peas, on the other hand, are a delight. These peas grow fast, and are strong. We planted them with a well drained potting compost mix in a big container. We took a couple of tomato cages and put them in as we planted seeds so there would be something to cling to. As they sprouted, they grew about a foot and finally reached out and started to cling to the cage. It gets pretty windy here at times, and luckily these peas are very tough. From other peas we tried that didn’t do well, the keys to growing good peas is:
1. Putting them in their final location when planting so there is no chance of breaking stems.
2. Planting them from seed so they acclimate to your weather.
3. Covering the soil with a fine wire mesh until seeds sprout so that birds and animals don’t dig out the seeds and eat them.
We have found that growing any vegetable from seed, if you have the patience, can save effort in the long run. Not only does this save money, but the seeds acclimate to weather best. High yield gardening
is a great way to grow lots of good vegetables in a small space.
Super Sugar Snap Peas just under two months old from seed in a garden container
Posted by admin on July 19, 2009
After extensive research how to keep gophers and moles out of our garden, we have a favorite technique to keep them out of our vegetables. Normally, these techniques can be used to get rid of gophers and moles:
- One can use a mole trap or gopher trap
- A solar device with a high pitched noise can be used
- A gopher trap or mole trap can be used
- A gopher probe can be used
- Control for gophers can be used without poisons
- Gopher bait or mole bait can be used
- A wire mesh / chicken wire can be used
In your garden, you may find one of the above techniques suits you better than another. For our plants in the regular garden, we choose from the items above. For our vegetables, we choose to ensure a whole area is gopher and mole proof. To do this, we build a box that they cannot get in and plant the vegetables with high density gardening. The box below cost less than $50 to build and fill with excellent soil.
To build this we went to the local hardware store and got wood, screws, nails, and wire mesh. The idea here is to have a rectangular box that has mesh attached securely to the bottom. The box in the photos below is 4 x 8 feet. This is done with two 2 x 4’s that are not cut, and one cut in half. Three long screws are used to hold each corner together. Short nails or staples (we used nails) can be used to attach the wire mesh to the bottom of the wood rectangle structure. As the mesh we used was 2 feet wide, we wired two rolls of mesh together and unrolled them while attaching together.
To attach the mesh to the wood, we used a small nail, hammered it in 2/3 of the way to hold a section of the mesh to the wood, and then hammer and bend the nail to secure that piece of mesh from moving. Then five inches over would be the next nail. This particular mesh is coated with vinyl so will hopefully not rust for a long time. Because the metal mesh coated with vinyl has very small squares, a mole or gopher cannot chew or crawl through the mesh. At worst, a gopher or mole may chew roots of vegetables that are below the wire mesh.
Vegetable box built not to let gophers or moles in
In the below photo you can see the two sets of wire mesh are stitched together. We used small pieces of wire every two inches, twist tied, to attach the two rolls of wire mesh to each other.
A closeup of the corner of the box built not to let in gophers or moles
In the below photo it can be seen that we have three screws holding the 2×4’s together. Before we put in the screws, we drilled holes most of the way so that the wood would not split when we put in the screws. The soil we used to fill this up was 3/4 compost and 1/4 manure. If seeds are being planted in the soil, then the top half of the soil should not have manure mixed. This is what we did, mixing the bottom half with the manure and the top half being just bagged compost. Since this compost is from a store like Home Depot or Lowes, it is composted of quite a bit of ground wood which will take time to break down. The wood will take some nitrogen from the vegetables as they grow, so we will use an organic fertilizer and top dress with a bit of composted manure when plants are all sprouted and doing well. Here is better compost. This resource tells all about composting.
The box has been placed cage side down and filled with soil
Once this box is growing vegetables, we will post updates.
Or, one can just give up on getting rid of gophers and celebrate them. Here is one item that can be used to dance with them and celebrate them. I suppose this could be given as a joke to a friend with a gopher problem.
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Of course our number one use for vegetables can often be food, raw or cooked. In our testing with vegetables, many have beautiful flowers. If they can bloom, they can also go to seed. Watching some vegetables bloom does usually mean the vegetable will stop producing sooner. But the seeds one can gather can be very used to ones climate. It also feels good gathering seed, saving money, and having fun with it. In the photo below, this dwarf kale plant has been flowering for about a week so far. Many flowers are still yet to open. it will try to attract insects to pollinate it from other Kale plants. Once seeds have been set in coming weeks, seed pods will develop, and eventually those seeds can be collected. Here is an excellent curled kale to grow from seed.
Dwarf Kale Flowering
Posted by admin on July 9, 2009
Angel’s Trumpet is quite the rewarding plant to grow. This vigorous plant (also can be trained to grow as a shrub or tree) loves full sun, has fragrant flowers, and grows six to eight feet in height when mature. This plant can grow well in a pot or the ground. It does not like to dry out between waterings, and cannot get colder than 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Here is a beautiful white potted variety that can be transplanted into the ground, a pink one just like the one in our garden photo below you can grow from seed, an orange one that can be grown from seed, and a beautiful potted peach variety.
Pink Angels Trumpet Plant in Our Garden
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Growing Violas, also known as Johnny Jump Ups, is a real pleasure. This annual blooms from spring to early summer, about 5-8 inches in height. Although it can be bought in a pot, we would recommend starting it from seed, as we did in this photo. This hardy plant is great as a ground cover, and can grow in sun or partial shade. The flowers of this one in the photo are edible. Here is a yellow and purple variety, a blue variety, a unique yellow and black variety, and an orange and purple variety.
Violas also known as Johnny Jump Ups