The Yellow Farmhouse Garden

April 21, 2011

Good Friday Potato Planting

Filed under: Planting,Vegetables — bob @ 10:01 am

Traditionally Good Friday is potato planting day.  I remember when I was young the farmers in our neighborhood telling me to “plant your potatoes on Good Friday”.  It was always a little puzzling to me since the date of Good Friday changes every year.  My guess is that it was their way of remembering that seed potatoes needed to get into the ground early.

Cool weather crops are about all that can be planted this time of year; things like peas, lettuce or spinach.  Potatoes are resistant to moderate frost and can tolerate cold soil conditions so I suppose they can be considered a cool weather crop too.

Check your garden soil; if it is dry enough to work in, it is alright to plant your seed potatoes.  Don’t be too concerned if you don’t get yours planted early; potatoes can be planted well into May and still have time to produce a crop.

Keep in mind that under these cool weather conditions it may take three weeks before you see a sprout emerging from the soil.

Bob

February 18, 2011

Healthier Tomatoes

Filed under: Vegetables — bob @ 1:49 pm

During the last few years tomatoes have been gaining ground as one of the healthiest foods that can be grown in the garden.  They contain lots of vitamin C,  have very few calories and are a rich source of lycopene.

Lycopene,  a nutrient produced by tomatoes and other red colored vegetables,  has been found to be an antioxidant that helps people resist certain diseases and health disorders.  Maybe you have seen some ketchup labels extolling the virtues of lycopene.

Until recently red tomatoes were thought to deliver the highest amounts of lycopene.  Now according to a report published in the February issue of USDA Agricultural Research Magazine, preliminary research has shown that an orange colored heirloom tomato called ‘Tangerine’ actually has more usable lycopene than the typical red tomato.

The difference seems to be in the different types of lycopene produced by red vs. Tangerine tomatoes.  The lycopene in the Tangerine variety is of a form that is more easily absorbed by our bodies.

It sounds like ‘Tangerine’ was the only orange colored variety tested in this study. It remains to be seen if other orange colored varieties produce similar results.

I’m sure there will be a run on Tangerine tomato seeds this spring, so it may be a good idea to get your order in early. Another  good thing about this variety is that like most old heirloom varieties it is not a hybrid.  Seeds saved from these tomatoes will come back true to type year after year.

October 23, 2010

Plant Garlic in the Fall for Summer Harvest

Filed under: Herbs,Vegetables — bob @ 2:16 pm

In past years I have written about the subject of planting garlic.  I think it never hurts to remind experienced gardeners that they need to get that garlic in now. Also, there may be new readers that would like to try their hand at growing their own garlic.

To grow garlic like these, you need to follow a few simple guidelines.

To get garlic like those shown in the photo, you need to follow just a few simple guidelines.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that garlic needs to be planted in the fall.  That means if you are thinking about doing it, now’s the time.  Fall planting allows the plant to establish roots before the ground freezes. You can plant garlic in the spring but keep in mind that the bulbs will be quite a bit smaller that if you planted now. Don’t wait too late in the season either. Planting too late in the fall will have similar results as spring planting… small bulbs.

I should mention that garlic is planted from cloves separated from a garlic bulb. If you are planting a small crop, one or two bulbs from the grocery store will work fine.  So called seed garlic is available from seed suppliers for those who want to plant a larger amount.

Since garlic is considered a heavy feeder, be sure the area you select has fertile soil and full sun. Addition of manure or compost is always a good idea.

After separating the cloves, place them into the soil at a depth of one to two inches.  You can dig a furrow  and set the cloves into it or just push them into the soil.  They need to be about six inches apart so they have room to grow next spring. The space between the rows should be at least six inches or more depending on the amount of space you have.

Once the soil freezes, mulch the area with straw, leaves, grass clippings or something similar to a depth of  four to six inches. Your new garlic will be happily tucked away and protected against the harsh winter conditions and freezing and thawing cycles.

Next spring rake off the mulch to let them begin their growth.

Keep in mind that garlic cannot compete against weeds. Any weeds present will drastically reduce your harvest.

Bob

August 17, 2010

Parasitized Tomato Hornworm

Filed under: Insects,Vegetables — bob @ 12:55 pm

There seems to be an abundance of Hornworms in the garden this year.  A couple of posts ago I discussed picking the pests off of the plants by hand as one way of controlling them.

This morning while picking even more Hornworms off the tomatoes, I came across one that I though you should see. It had been parasitized by a small insect  known as a braconid wasp.

These tiny wasps  fly around the garden looking for likely victims. When they find a suitable host, they sting the caterpillar and lay their eggs inside its body.  The eggs hatch and the larvae feed on the innards the worm.  As the wasp larvae near the pupation stage, they chew through the caterpillar’s skin and spin small white  cocoons made of silk which remain stuck on the surface of their host. The cocoons are sometimes mistaken for eggs by some gardeners.

This Hornworm has 3 or 4 dozen cocoons on its back. Each cocoon contains one wasp that will emerge and begin hunting more caterpillars to parasitize.

Days later the new fully-developed adult wasps will emerge from the cocoons and  fly off to find new caterpillars to parasitize.  Needless to say the caterpillar does not survive the procedure, which is good news for us gardeners.

The adult flying wasp does get hungry but does not eat caterpillars instead it feeds on nectar from flowers

If you find a caterpillar with these cocoons on its body, leave it undisturbed where you found it so that you will have dozens more helpers in the battle against the Tomato Hornworm.

Bob

August 9, 2010

Tomato Blight

Filed under: Vegetables — bob @ 9:44 am

By now if you have tomatoes in your garden, I’m sure you have been seeing leaves that have started to turn yellow and develop spots.  These are symptoms of any one of three fungal diseases that infect tomato plants in our area; Early Blight, Late Blight and Septoria Leaf Spot.  They are often referred to by many gardeners as just “Tomato Blight”.

Early Blight spots usually form concentric rings as the spots get bigger.  Late Blight Spots have less distinctive borders and often look watery, while Septoria Spots appear smaller and separated.

Blight on my tomato plant, can you guess which one it might be?

Early Blight and Septoria are the most common and  show up very frequently  in tomatoes, so much so that many gardeners accept this as a normal part of tomato growing.  Late Blight is a much more serious infection.

Late Blight and Early Blight will infect the fruit as well as the leaves while Septoria will cause reduced yields and damage from sun scald due to lack of leaves available for photosynthesis and to protect the fruit from the direct rays of the sun. Late Blight can be particularly damaging as it can kill an entire garden full of tomatoes in 10 days if the weather conditions are right

The treatment is about the same for all three diseases: spraying the plants with a fungicide.  The treatment will not “cure” the disease but will help keep the symptoms from progressing further. Be aware that you need to be vigilant in applying your fungicides if you decide to spray.  Rotation of your planting from year to year helps somewhat if you have the space to do so.  Dead and dying plants should be removed and bagged up and be sent to the landfill along with your regular trash to avoid spreading the diseases.

Michigan State University has a good Fact Sheet that discuses these diseases in more detail.

These Blights will also infect Potatoes which belong to the same plant family as  tomatoes.

Bob

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