Day 116 Bush Beans and Snow Peas Experiments End

2011/08/25

It’s been a great summer for gardening, and I wish I had kept up on the 30 minutes/day challenge, but we still have been eating well from the garden and will continue to do so.  The bush beans (providor) and the snow peas (oregon giant) have had their day, at least for the plantings in the individual garden beds and have been cut down.  The bush beans in what will be the strawberry pyramid are going strong, though – giving an additional 1.2 lbs (0.544 kg) of beans all at once from the eighteen plants.  A second harvest, and possibly a third should be in the future, as there are no pests and few weeds.  It was easy pickings, too! Walked around the bed and picked, stooping only slightly for the lower tier.  May experiment with more pyramids next year. Bush Beans totals are: Lasagna bed produced 31.25 oz (), followed by the Box Bed at 13.88 oz (),...

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Day 107 – Spills and a Squashed Patty Pan Plant

2011/08/16
Day 107 – Spills and a Squashed Patty Pan Plant

Managed to trip and land on one of my squash plants in the Hugelkultur bed, attempting to get at some of the tomatoes that have been almost completely covered by the amazingly large leaves of the patty pan.  Also bent the daylights out of the tomato cage (why just destroy one thing?).   We’re practically swimming in patty pan squash, which have been going to neighbors, friends, new teachers… kind of reminds you of zucchini dilemmas? I’ve got three taste tested recipes that are great for patty pan squash, as well as any other summer squash: Stuffed Patty Pan Squash       Patty Pan Squash and Couscous     Sauteed Patty Pan Squash with Fresh Basil and Goat Cheese     Beyond that, the Hugelkultur bed is now producing cucumbers, the box bed is forming it’s first patty pan squash, the wicking bed is now beginning to produce beans. One day this week (probably tomorrow, as it will...

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Day 99 – Numbers skewed but the trends continue to favor the Lasagna garden bed

2011/08/08
Day 99 – Numbers skewed but the trends continue to favor the Lasagna garden bed

Took a week away last week, and it seems technology took a holiday as well in many forms.  First I lost (then later found) my flash drive. Then my MP3 player decided it had enough (Sansa Clip that was working great – even after being run over several months ago, just couldn’t take the rain with it’s cracked case, having fallen from my pocket while relaxing in an Adirondack chair). If that wasn’t bad enough, I had a neighbor set up to track the progress of the beds, only to have the scale (analog scale – no batteries or electronics!) go haywire!  They did their best, and I’ve just picked up where I left off recording what I have picked.  As you can see for 2011-08-08, the lasagna garden bed continues to do great, with the hugelkultur bed starting to perk up quite a bit, the pattypan squash really spiking the numbers.  Got our first broccoli as well, and...

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Day 88 – Patty Pan Push Lasagna Bed Further Ahead

2011/07/28
Day 88 – Patty Pan Push Lasagna Bed Further Ahead

A couple of more pattypan squash have pushed the lasagna bed even further ahead, at almost 2.5 pounds (1.13kg) total yield from this gardening technique.  I remember over fourty years ago getting ready for “the coming of the metric system”.  Now, thankfully – we’re seeing it replacing the imperial system with popular foods measured in whole metric amounts (2 litres of beverage, 1 litre of cooking oil, etc.), glad I had those lessons, wish I remembered them – but I digress. Patty pan squash, aka pattypan, cibleme, scallopini, button squash,  and others (see wikipedia for details), is similar in texture and flavor to zucchini squash.  They are often picked when they are no more than three inches in diameter (76mm).  At this stage, the seeds are immature enough tthat they are similar in texture to the rest of the squash and are cooked and eaten with no difficulty. When grown beyond three inches, the seeds become tougher, the insides start to become...

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Day 85 – Lasagna Bed Takes the Lead

2011/07/25
Day 85 – Lasagna Bed Takes the Lead

After a weekend away, the lasagna bed pulled ahead in the race for the most produce, with the hugelkultur bed surpassing the box bed by a little less than an ounce.  Bringing up the rear is the leaky wicking bed.  Putting the soaker hose on trickle for the wicking bed hoping that it will begin to produce in earnest and at least come in line with the lasagna bed and the other beds. There is evidence of the rabbit I’d seen tasting our green beans, nibbling 1/2 a bean and leaving the rest. The potato plants are starting to turn, meaning that in a couple of weeks it will be time to harvest – they have already cut them back in Deerfield, MA* which is usually two weeks ahead of Goshen, MA. The carrots have begun to emerge in the insulated container garden, and I will have to hook up either some shade cloth or something shiny to scare away...

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Comfrey tea for plants?

2011/07/22
Comfrey tea for plants?

I just gave my patty pan squash, as well as my broccoli seedlings and carrot seedlings a shot of comfrey tea.  Feeding tea to plants?  Comfrey itself has a good amount of nitrogen potassium and phosphorus.  According to http://www.allotment.org.uk/vegetable/comfrey/comfrey.PDF, dried wilted comfrey has 0.74% nitrogen,  0.24% phosphorus, and 1.19% potassium.  Making a quick comfrey tea by cutting some fresh comfrey and steeping it for about four hours will probably yield less than this amount, but it is a quick addition and is not harmful to the plants, nor do you have to worry about any bacteria.  I cut one plant down, chopped it up and covered it with water (it filled about 1/6 of a tall pot).  Steeping on the stove for ten minutes then letting it cool, I pulled out the material, filled the rest of the pot up (so it was a 6:1 ratio of tea to water), then applied it to the base of the plants, and in...

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