Cucumbers: Overview

Well with summer well underway i'd like give some tips on growing a very popular vegetable:

Cumcumbers!

This deilicious little plant is good for all types of things: juicing, salads, pickling, ect. I'll just go over the basic requirements for cucumbers and a couple tricks and tips for growing them.

Sun

This plant enjoys HOT climate with plenty of sun. You shouldn't plant this plant until the weather is at a steady 70 degrees fareinheight, as this plant is very frost sensitive. To warm the soil you can use black plastic or any type of mulch over the soil if it is still cold outside.

Water

This plant enjoys plenty of water. However overwatering can lead to problems

• Powdery Mildew: This occurs when to much water is applied to the leaves and creates a fungus. This can be combatted by using:
1. Serenade (can be found on the internet)
2. Baking soda formula:
• 4 Level teaspoons or 1 1/3 tablespoons of Baking Soda
  1 teaspoon of Mild Soap (Dawn, Ivory, should be biodegradable with no phosphates)
  1 gallon of Water

• Yellowing leaves: This is the cause of root rot and is a definite sign of overwatering.

To prevent from overwatering or underwatering, when ever you are about to water make sure you check the soil; if it is moist then do not water. Once the soil an inch down is dry then you should water. Mark and take notes too make a watering pattern and schedule.

Soil
Cuncumbers like loose and well drained soil with plenty of organic matter. They are very greedy when it comes to taking alot from the soil so when growing these plants it would be better to use an ORGANIC fertilizer. Notice I said organic, I strongly encourage you to stay away from any commercial fertilizer as it will damage your soil.

Trellis

Now there are two types of cucumbers:

• Bush Cucumbers
• Vining Cucumbers

The vining cucumbers need a trellis of some kind so here is an easy do it your self trellis for cucumbers:

http://www.gardendesk.com/201105/building-a-trellis-for-the-cucumbers.html

Storage

When storing cucumbers it is important NOT to refrigerate them. It is better to keep them in a cool and dark place, because when you refrigerate they are more likely to spoil faster. 

• Here's an article on that: http://www.rootsimple.com/2012/06/dont-store-your-cucumbers-in-the-fridge/

Here are just a couple other ways you can store you cucmbers:

• Pickling Cucumbers (without boiling): http://www.diynatural.com/how-to-pickle-cucumbers/
• Pickiling cucumbers: http://kosherfood.about.com/od/sidedishes/r/pickles.htm

Thanks for reading and Enjoy your cucumbers!

Permaculture Week: Trees

So today's the last day of permaculture week :(

I know i'm sad too, but I decided to end the week with the most important topic in permaculture:

TREES!!

So why are trees so important?

Well did you know that trees are the only reason we are alive today on the earth?

They are that important.

So you may be saying "yes, yes I know they provide us with oxygen to survive, I learned that when I was in five" haha

But trees do so much more than that!

Did you know that trees are responsible for 80% of our fresh drinking water. That is right. 80% of the water we drink to survive comes some way or another from a forest.

Also where are you right now?

In your room maybe? Well what is your room made out of? Trees!!

What about the paper you write on, the desk you sit on, the pencil you use, the books you read?

TREES!!

Now you see why trees can be so important.

Trees can create rainfall.

So how do trees actually help it rain?

Well think about this.

What happens when it rains in a forest? Where does all the water go?  Well the trees suck up that water and store it. Also they provide shade for the ground to to keep the water from evaporating so quickly. So the water is able to soak into the ground thus helping more plants to grow.

Now what happens when the sun comes back around and starts to shine it's rays and heat on the forest? Well the water that was stored is now released into the air in great quantities thus humidifying the air and helping it rain. And the cycle continues.


Now think of this.

Rain falls in the desert. What happens? The water is immediately evaporated into the air and doesn't have any time to sink into the land or create humidity. Thus the land suffers by not getting the original rainfall to soak in properly and doesn't get the benefit of another rain when the sun comes back out again. It just evaporates and that is the end of it. Not a good place to be.

Trees keep soil in place

Now im sure this seems like common sense but think of this. What happens when you don't have trees holding your soil in place. Let's say you have a farm. And you plant one acre with corn and the acre with potatoes. Now this doesn't seem to abnormal right? But think about nature. Does this ever occur in nature? Does nature ever put one species in place to be taken out all at the same time. NO. And why is that?

Well what happens when at the end of the season you harvest all your crops. The crops are gone. The soil is bare. Nothing is holding it down. What happens when a gust of wind comes? All that top soil BLOWS AWAY. And even if it didn't all blow away then and there, what happens when the next rain comes and lands on that bare soil?  The rain will likely either WASH AWAY all your soil or if it doesn't do that you still won't get much benefit because as soon as the sun comes back out the water will evaporate very quickly.

But if you have your system set up with trees, that can block the sun from drying up the ground and making it easier to blow away, block the wind, prevent water from washing away your soil, the water that does land can be stored, and the roots can hold the soil down. Now how much better is that!

Finally Food Forests. 

Now they are a bit complicated so I won't get into them now. But here is a prime example of what you can build in 10 years from bare soil.

Thanks again for reading.

Enjoy!

Permaculture Week: 5 Ways Ponds Benefit You and Your Garden

5 Ways Ponds can Benefit Yourself and Your Garden

1.)Provide you with fish, ducks, reptiles, and other animals that you can use for food.

2.)Can create biodiversity in your garden by attracting beneficial insects.

3.) Nutrient rich water, filled with fish poop, microbiology, and all that good stuff :), can be used as a natural fertilizer to water your garden.   

4.) Can be used to reflect light from the sun and heat cold-sensitive trees.

5.) Can be used to grow mulch and other nutrient rich plants to add to your compost pile. Some good plants to use include:

• Taro
• Cattail
• Pickerel
• Tule
• Wapato

Here's a youtube video of Geoff Lawton creating some ponds and using water:

Enjoy!

Permaculture Week: Hugelkulture

It's hard to say where hugelkulture originated some say it's been done in Europe as far back as the middle ages. The most modern pioneer of this technique though is Sepp Holzer. Sepp practices permaculture techniques on his farm in Austria and is credited with bringing hugekulture back to life.

Learn more about Sepp Holzer here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepp_Holzer

So what the heck is Hugelkulture????

Well very simply put hugelkulture is stacking wood into a hill like formation, throwing soil on top of it, and growing. This technique of growing is said to reduce and in some cases even Eliminate the need to water all together.

Although not watering at all is sometimes known not to work, there is no doubt that this method can DRASTICALLY  reduce your need for irrigation.

How does it work?

Well the way this works is basically the wood, while it rots underground, acts like a sponge. This in turn holds much of the water that would otherwise be lost and stores it. Think about a piece of rotting wood in the forest, can you imagine not being damp and wet? 

So while the wood holds the water and stores it your plants roots can easily access the water with their roots and take whatever water they need to take. So whenever you plant needs water it takes it and when it doesn't need it, it doesn't take it. How cool is that!

2 Types of Hugelkulture

1.) The Original Hugelkulture:

This style is what was originally invented and that is stacking the wood about 6 ft tall and growing on that. This technique is said to work the best and is the best technique if you are looking to greatly reduce your watering needs, since it captures water the best. 

The downside is it looks WEIRD :/ hahaha

Well if you can get over the original wierdness of how it looks this is the original way that it has been done and is said to be the best.

2.) The Modern Hugelkulture/ Woody Beds

Now if you have a hard time getting over the way the original way looks don't worry about it :) Because you are not alone. 

This method follows the same principle just without the height. Bury a bunch of wood and grow on top of it. Some people like to call them woody beds. This way by far looks more appealing. The effects are most likely lessened but that doesn't mean it still doesn't have an impact. As the wood rots it will hold water like a sponge and increase the your soil fertility by adding to your soil microbiology. And will lessen your need to irrigate.

Does not need to be wood

Now while hugelkulture is best known to work with wood it doesn't have to be! It can be any carbon material you can find. Anything from wood chips, crushed leaves, hay, twigs, straw, ect. This all can be used instead of wood and have the desired effect. More water retention, more soil life, and more carbon added to the soil. Now that being said wood is the best option but if you don't have wood you can always use different material, or use some wood or mix it in with other material. Whatever you have available to you. The point is don't forget to get creative and have fun with it! 

Here is a youtube video:

Enjoy!

Reference:

All pics and info courtesy of:

http://www.homesteadingwife.com/2013_02_01_archive.html

http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/

http://www.permies.com/

Permaculture Week: A-Frames to find Contour!!!

With this very simple tool you can find the contour lines on your property so that you can dig swales and harvest water to make YOUR property more hydrated, fertile, and more productive.

So let's get started!

So how do you make an A-Frame?

List of materials include:

1. 3 pieces of wood, 2 about the same length, the other one a little shorter (lumber, sticks on the ground, old tree branches, rebar can even work)
2. String
3. A heavy object (rock, marble, anything solid small and heavy)
4. Pencil
5. (Optional): screws and a drill
6. Hammer

Step 1

Use the three pieces of wood to make an A shape, using the two same lengths for the outer and the last one for the inner. You can screw these in place with a drill and a couple of screws or you can tie them together with some string.

Step 2

By using either a screwdriver or a hammer, put in a a nail or screw at the top of the a frame to hang a string off of. Once that is done tie a rock (or any other heavy small object) to the string so it is weighted down.

Step 3

Lastly to find the level on your A frame take it to a ground that looks about level (doesn't have to be perfectly level) and place it down, marking where the two legs are. Then take your pencil and mark where the string lies on the middle of your A frame. 

Then turn your A frame exactly 180 degrees around so that it comes back on the markings but the left leg is where the right leg was and right is where the left was. Now take your pencil and mark again where the string lies.

After that take those two marking and find the middle between them, mark that and WALA that is your center!

Now where ever you are on your land, when ever that string touches that line on your A frame that means that spot is contour.

Thanks so much for reading here is the article I got most my info off of... they do a good job explaining it as well:

http://reap-eastafrica.org/blogs.info/reap/pdf/AFrame.pdf

Also here are some youtube videos:

Skip to 2:10 to find out how to mark the level on your A frame.

Stay tuned next topic will be on Hugelkulture!

Permaculture Week: Swales

Swales

What are swales?

Swales are basically a ditch dug on CONTOUR LINES  in order to catch and store water for the land.

So what the heck are CONTOUR LINES?!?!

Well contour is the point at which the hill/ slope is level (meaning the whole line is completley the same height). Every part of every land has contour points on it.

Now think about this.. if swales were dug on these lines, what happens when water falls on these lines...

Does it the water go down? up? sideways?

No it stays exactly where it is it and moves very little or VERY slowly (to get the water to not move at all is nearly impossible).

This is why contour is so important because it is the level line that allows the land to hold the water long enough to SOAK it in and hydrate itself.

Tune in next time where I will stalk about how to FIND the contour lines using an A-Frame!

Here are some more youtube videos:

Enjoy!

Permaculture Week: Intro

Welcome!

This is going to be the first post until sunday june 30th on Permaculture techniques.

What is permaculture?

Permaculture:

Permaculture is a branch of ecological design, ecological engineering, and environmental design which develops sustainable architecture and self-maintained agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems.^[1][2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture

Straight off of wikipedia.

Here are the three ethics of Permaculture:

1. Care for the earth
2. Care for people
3. Return of surplus

Why is it important?

It is a system of design that offers I believe hope to humanity. Think about it, is our way of life really sustainable? All the agriculture that destroys and depletes our soils, the deforestation, the extraction and mining of raw materials.  How can we create a way of life that will last for generations to come. Well permaculture offers a way to live in harmony with the earth so we are have a positive impact on this earth.

How amazing is that!

 It was created by two men named Bill Mollison and David Holmgren back in the 1970's. Today Bill is retired and has handed it down too Geoff Lawton who has done extensive work in putting permaculture into practice. Including his infamous video greening the desert:

The first topic will be on swales:

• What
• Why 
• How

See you next time!

Tomatoe Recipes

Hey guys!

So here's 3 tomatoe recipes I think you'll enjoy:

Tangy Spaghetti Sauce for Canning 

-3 medium onions, chopped

-2 cups green bell peppers, chopped

-1 cup banana peppers, chopped

-2 pkg. fresh sliced mushrooms

-4 cloves minced garlic

-16 cups tomatoes, peeled and chopped

-3(12oz) cans tomato paste

-1/4 c. balsamic vinegar

-3 tablespoons brown sugar

-1 tablespoon dried oregano

-4 teaspoons canning salt

-2 teaspoons dried basil

-1 teaspoon black pepper

-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

-2 tablespoons Italian seasoning

-1/2 teaspoon cumin

Add all ingredients to stock pot. Heat until boiling. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered for about 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally. Fill clean, sterilized jars within ½” of top. Put on tops and tighten. Process for 35 minutes for quart jars in water bath. Serve over pasta.

http://sherellechristensen.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/10/recipes-for-canning-tomatoes-stewed-tomatoes-pizza-sauce-spaghetti-sauce-salsa.html

Jen's Fresh and Spicy Salsa 

• 5 tomatoes
• 10 green onions
• 2 jalapeno peppers
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt

In a blender or food processor, pulse the tomatoes, green onions, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro to desired consistency. Transfer to a bowl, and mix in the lime juice, hot pepper sauce, black pepper, garlic powder, and salt.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Jens-Fresh-and-Spicy-Salsa/Detail.aspx

Pasta Pomodoro

• 1 pack angel hair pasta (16 ounce)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 cups diced tomatoes
• 2 tbsp basalmic vinegar
• 1 can chicken broth ( or 1/2 cup homemade)
• crushed red pepper to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. Pour olive oil in a large deep skillet over high-heat. Saute onions and garlic until lightly browned. Reduce heat to medium-high and add tomatoes, vinegar and chicken broth; simmer for about 8 minutes.
3. Stir in red pepper, black pepper, basil and cooked pasta, tossing thoroughly with sauce. Simmer for about 5 more minutes and serve topped with grated cheese.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pasta-Pomodoro/Detail.aspx

Canning Tomatoes

Canning Tomatoes

Alright so now that you have your tomatoes harvested and do not know what to do with all your tomatoes, I have an idea:  Can Them!

So I found a website that has all the info for what you need for canning and I want to share what I learned from it.

   1.)There are 2 methods to can your tomatoes:
            Pressure Canner
            Large Container to boil water in, (other wise known as "water bath boiling method")

   2.)This specific site claims that your Altitude has an effect on your cooking time when canning tomatoes, because the higher the elevation the easier the water boils, so the water may not be as hot to kill the All the bacteria.

Although I see the logic in this I don't really believe that it will be the deciding factor if your tomatoes are canned successfully ( as it also only adds/ or subtracts about five minutes to your boiling time). So I in my opinion it is not a huge factor to stress about.

However here is a site if you would like to know you elevation: http://veloroutes.org/elevation/?location=santa+clarita+ca&units=e

And your elevation time requirements for "water bath method":

0- 1,000 ft =            Pints 35 minutes

                               Quarts 45 minutes

1,000- 3,000 ft =     Pints 40 minutes

                                Quarts 50 minutes

3,000- 6,000 ft =     Pints 45 minutes

                               Quarts 55 minutes

6,000 - above =      Pints 50 minutes

                               Quartz 60 minutes

                                

3.) Adding lime, lemon juice, or salt to your jar before you can them will greatly reduce the chances of spoilage. (bacteria hate acidity!)

And finally HERE IS THE SITE: http://www.pickyourown.org/canning_tomatoes.htm

Also a short youtube video on canning tomatoes:

Enjoy!

Harvesting Tomatoes

Alright so it's almost that time... That time when your tomatoes are ready to be picked!

Remember a couple things when harvesting your tomatoes:

1. Once you harvest tomatoes off the vine they still continue to ripen.
2. You can harvest tomatoes early when they are a yellowish orange color, however this will minimize their taste and overall nutrient value, nevertheless, they will still ripen and still be edible.
3. It is best though to harvest tomatoes when fully red (or yellow/ purple for rare varieties).
4. Once tomatoes are picked it it is best to keep out of the sunlight too keep from spoiling.

Here's a cool video to show you:

Enjoy!

Tomatoe Hardiness and Frosts

So tomatoes can you grow them from where you are?

First I'd like to apologize to anyone reading this from any foreign country that doesn't live in the United States, since I am only going to discuss the growing conditions here.

Okay.

So where do you live and can you grow tomatoes there?

Well tomatoes are naturally a warm loving crop. They love the warm, dry weather originally. Tomatoes in general cannot stand any temperature lower than 50 degrees fahrenheit and will either be stunted in growth or worse die! OHHH NOO! Now if where you live is cold and wet then don't worry! There are plenty of things you can do to fix this. Greenhouses, hoops over your tomatoes, placing black plastic on the soil to heat it up underground.

Plan for a mini greenhouse can be modified to fit tomatoes I got off of instructables.com :

Now when deciding what type of tomatoe you want, you need to consider how long is your warm season where you live? If it is long then you should consider getting a slow maturing variety that will take longer to produce. If you live in place with very short summers then you should consider getting a very fast maturing tomatoe variety.

Here is a place that sells fast maturing crops:

http://store.tomatofest.com/Tomato_Varieties_for_Cooler_Climates_s/47.htm

Tomatoes a Quick Overview...

So today I wanted to talk about Tomatoes! Yum!

 

Nothing fancy just a quick overview.

 

The tomatoe "Solanum lycopersicum" as the proper name is originally native to mexico after the Spanish conquered Aztec city of Tenochtítlan, now Mexico City, in 1521, it was shipped to Euorpe and cultivated there, though some think that it goes even as far back as Christopher Columbus. 

 

And I used to always think that tomatoes were from Italy!

Basic Needs for Tomatoes:

Sun:

Tomatoes enjoy full sun for most of the day. So if you are in the western hemisphere make sure they are south facing.

 

Water

Tomatoes in general like to be watered once a day in my experience. It also depends how often you water them. Also if you are watering with a gardening hose make sure to not water the leaves because this can increase the chance of getting diseases and we don't want that! Instead water the soil directly. In general though especially in warm climates watering them daily will do the trick.

 

Soil:

A rich loamy soil with good drainage is good for tomatoes. They also prefer their ph 6.0-6.8. I generally don't follow the ph rules, I like too make sure that my soil is getting plenty of compost as too increase the microbiology of the soil. I always encourage you if you are not already to be adding compost to your soil as to improve it's microbiology, or add compost tea. See the bottom for more details.

 

Nutrients and Fertilizers: 

The three most common ingredients in fertilzers are NPK (nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium) they will be labeled on the bottle and for example 1-4-1 in the order of nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium. Now I will break these down as to show you which functions each of them serve.

 

Nitrogen- 

this ingredient is responsible for producing leaf growth, although a fertilizer 10-1-1 will give you a massive tomatoe plant but with little tomatoe production.

 

Phosphorous- 

this is what encourages flowering in plants.

 

Pottasium- 

this is what the plant uses to produce the actual tomatoe. yum!

 

Encourage Microbiology!

That being said I highly encourage you to use organic fertilizer and avoid commercial fertilizer because commercial ones will tend to give your plants the NPK but will generally made from petroleum and will end up damaging the LIFE in your soil and killing the microbiology. And what good is soil if it is dead? 

 

If you want to bring the microbiology back in your soil and make it ALIVE, check out this site:

 

http://www.boogiebrew.net/

 

Here's a youtube video from one of my favorite gardeners John! Interviewing the boogie brew man.

 

Enjoy!

 

 Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/much-water-tomato-plant-need-day-55659.html

http://www.uri.edu/ce/factsheets/sheets/tomato.html

Serenade... Organic or not?

So I looked up Serenade for you guys and turns out ding ding ding, it is organic!
The main ingredient in it is called "Bacillus Subtilis strain QST 713.

Sounds scary huh? Well turns out it is not a GMO (Genetically engineered organism). It was discovered in Argentina in 1995 and was named Bacillus Subtilis strain QST 713/ not formed.It is also certified by the OMRI (Organic materials review institute). Ill put their link at the bottom.

However, Serenade does not offer a list of ingedients, this is because their formula is patented. So that raises some concerns of what else is in their formula.

I did find a baking soda alternative for you if you are like me and like to try the most basic solution.

4 Level teaspoons or 1 1/3 tablespoons of Baking Soda
1 teaspoon of Mild Soap (Dawn, Ivory, should be biodegradable with no phosphates)
1 gallon of Water

Mix well and keep agitated when spraying on plants


Links

Bacillus Subtilis Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_subtilis#Uses


B. subtilis not a gmo:
http://biotechawareness.com/index~option~com_content~view~article~id~216~Itemid~1.php


baking soda formula:
http://www.naturalgardeneraustin.com/baking-soda-fungicide.html

OMRI website:
http://www.omri.org/certifiers

3 Diseases for Tomatoe Plants

Septoria Leaf Spot
 
What: The fungus known as  "Septoria lycopersici" causes septoria leaf spot and is known to infect leaves and leave small black spots and as time goes on will get bigger and gray circles will appear in the center of the black spots. This can also occur on stems as well. When leaves are infected the leaves can turn yellow, die, and fall off. Do not want that!

Prevention: Any spot where tomatoes grew the year and might have been affected by a disease, do not plant in there.The fungus will still be contemplating you tomatoes demise! The fungus can still be alive in the soil and infect your plant that way. Make sure to spread tomatoes plants in different locations because this disease can spread and infect all the surrounding plants.

Solution: "Serenade" is a good organic solution for funguses or so i have heard so I will be doing a more thorough investigation on this next post. So stay tuned!



Early Blight

What: The fungal pathogen known as "Alternaria solani" produces characteristic bulls-eye marks on leaves when it infects a tomatoe plant. This fungus when it infects, affects the older leaves first and works it's way up. This disease can lower yields of tomatoes. OHHH NOOO! We do not want that, that means less tomatoes for eating!

Prevention: This fungus loves warm wet weather so make sure when watering your tomatoe plants try not to wet the leaves because that will increase the chances of infection occuring. Also using mulch on the garden bed will prevent and spores that are in the soil from splashing on your plant. If you are not already try shifting to drip irrigation.Make sure to spread tomatoes plants in different locations (spread those guys out in the garden!) because this disease can spread and infect all the surrounding plants.

Solution: "Serenade" is a good organic solution for funguses or so i have heard so I will be doing a more thorough investigation on this next post. So stay tuned!



Late Blight

What: This was the disease that caused the 1840's european irish potatoe famine. This fungus is known as "Phytophthora infestans" and is known to thrive in cool wet weather. It usually appears later in the season, mid to late August.The symptoms include dark blotches on leaf tips and white mold appearing on underside of leaves, the plant is also likely to start collapsing. Poor tomatoe!

Prevention:  This fungus again likes wet conditions, so do whatever you can to keep the leaves dry by not watering the whole plant but watering the soil. Also using mulch is also a good barrier between the fungus. Block those bad fungus from entering your plant! Make sure to spread tomatoes plants in different locations because this disease can spread and infect all the surrounding plants. Yes the prevention is the same for this fungus also.

Solution: "Serenade" is a good organic solution for funguses or so i have heard so I will be doing a more thorough investigation on this next post. So stay tuned!