Over the Memorial Day weekend, a glowing disk in the sky radiated light and heat down on Ohio. This bright sphere, known in legends as “The Sun,” made witnesses blink and rub our eyes when it reappeared after weeks and weeks of rain and flooding. Farmers got to plant their corn crops. We got to start planting tomatoes. Things outside in our garden began to grow again! My sunburn attests to the worship of this legendary deity, performed by canoeing and then relaxing on the shore of a beautiful lake this weekend while the guys went fishing.
Before the Return of the Sun, the cool and moist conditions in Ohio created the right conditions for the spread of many fungal diseases. Even if our greenhouse prevents the transmission of most wind- and rain-borne pathogens, fungus spores can still affect our plants after they go to market. We are working on addressing these issues with one of our three clients and have recommended they try neem oil spray to make the microenvironment of the plant inhospitable to fungal diseases. Outcome remains to be seen - will update.
Here is where you can find a recipe to make your own neem oil spray: http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-insect-spray.html For the soap you will need to emulsify the neem oil in the water, I would recommend a non-toxic vegetable-based formula like Dr. Bronner’s castile soap.
Texas A&M University has a wonderful online tomato troubleshooter with excellent images of the various tomato afflictions. You can find it here: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/publications/tomatoproblemsolver/ To prevent fungal diseases from attacking the leaves of young tomato plants, it is important when they are being watered that the leaves are not getting wet, either from the watering wand or from soil-splash. Water the soil, not the leaves.
To prevent soil-splash and weeds in the garden, we put down black fabric weed-block before transplanting, and just cut through it to dig the holes. This breathable fabric lets moisture through and also warms the soil, which tomato plants, peppers, eggplants, melons and squash appreciate.
To prevent insect damage to crops, my dad is having great success using floating row covers over his young plants. On our way up to the lake this weekend, we saw these air- and water-permeable fabrics being used on a larger scale on a farm off Rt. 4 It was beautiful how the wind made them ripple and resemble some sort of large serpentine creature galloping down the field under a sheet. Prevention is one of the hallmarks of organic gardening. If you can nurture the soil correctly and provide the right environment for plants, you shouldn’t have many pest or pathogen worries.
I am extremely excited that we may have found a landowner on the near East side who is interested in a cooperative gardening arrangement. He has transplants ready to go in the ground, and if he hasn’t already planted them, we are willing to help. We have a lot of heirloom tomato starts that we would like to plant. Most are over a foot tall now. In fact, we have more tomato plants than should probably go in one garden. Alternate marketing, e.g. a roadside stand, of some of these may become necessary unless a bunch of our friends would like to plant some in their gardens. We also have broccoli, cauliflower, lots of flat-leaf and moss-curled parsleys, caraway, sweet marjoram, thyme, catnip, marigolds, Sweet Costa Rican Red peppers, jalapenos, Golden Calwonder bell peppers, California Wonder bell peppers, eggplant and chives to plant. The rosemary cuttings I took 3 weeks ago are now rooted and growing, and we just took cuttings of some lavender from the lake.
The greenhouse is being taken down this week due to the fact it encloses our air-conditioning unit and is no longer necessary to maintain night temperatures. We will probably suspend strings from its frame to train potted tomatoes & peppers vertically in our corner of the yard.
As we plant tomatoes etc. and clear more space on the patio, we will be able to grow more varieties of herbs for sale throughout the summer at Clintonville Community Market. I am especially keen on growing several of the different kinds of basil, like purple-leaved basil and cinnamon basil. It will be fun to start growing several different kinds of geranium too. One of my most enchanting childhood memories is from when we would visit the Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo, NC - www.elizabethangardens.org - because they had such beautiful grounds & statuary, and so many different kinds of scented geraniums. I remember a favorite being the chocolate-mint geranium. I currently have a citronella-scented geranium which I think will be very popular. I expect cuttings of this and lavender to be ready for sale in a few weeks.
Before the Return of the Sun, the cool and moist conditions in Ohio created the right conditions for the spread of many fungal diseases. Even if our greenhouse prevents the transmission of most wind- and rain-borne pathogens, fungus spores can still affect our plants after they go to market. We are working on addressing these issues with one of our three clients and have recommended they try neem oil spray to make the microenvironment of the plant inhospitable to fungal diseases. Outcome remains to be seen - will update.
Here is where you can find a recipe to make your own neem oil spray: http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-insect-spray.html For the soap you will need to emulsify the neem oil in the water, I would recommend a non-toxic vegetable-based formula like Dr. Bronner’s castile soap.
Texas A&M University has a wonderful online tomato troubleshooter with excellent images of the various tomato afflictions. You can find it here: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/publications/tomatoproblemsolver/ To prevent fungal diseases from attacking the leaves of young tomato plants, it is important when they are being watered that the leaves are not getting wet, either from the watering wand or from soil-splash. Water the soil, not the leaves.
To prevent soil-splash and weeds in the garden, we put down black fabric weed-block before transplanting, and just cut through it to dig the holes. This breathable fabric lets moisture through and also warms the soil, which tomato plants, peppers, eggplants, melons and squash appreciate.
To prevent insect damage to crops, my dad is having great success using floating row covers over his young plants. On our way up to the lake this weekend, we saw these air- and water-permeable fabrics being used on a larger scale on a farm off Rt. 4 It was beautiful how the wind made them ripple and resemble some sort of large serpentine creature galloping down the field under a sheet. Prevention is one of the hallmarks of organic gardening. If you can nurture the soil correctly and provide the right environment for plants, you shouldn’t have many pest or pathogen worries.
I am extremely excited that we may have found a landowner on the near East side who is interested in a cooperative gardening arrangement. He has transplants ready to go in the ground, and if he hasn’t already planted them, we are willing to help. We have a lot of heirloom tomato starts that we would like to plant. Most are over a foot tall now. In fact, we have more tomato plants than should probably go in one garden. Alternate marketing, e.g. a roadside stand, of some of these may become necessary unless a bunch of our friends would like to plant some in their gardens. We also have broccoli, cauliflower, lots of flat-leaf and moss-curled parsleys, caraway, sweet marjoram, thyme, catnip, marigolds, Sweet Costa Rican Red peppers, jalapenos, Golden Calwonder bell peppers, California Wonder bell peppers, eggplant and chives to plant. The rosemary cuttings I took 3 weeks ago are now rooted and growing, and we just took cuttings of some lavender from the lake.
The greenhouse is being taken down this week due to the fact it encloses our air-conditioning unit and is no longer necessary to maintain night temperatures. We will probably suspend strings from its frame to train potted tomatoes & peppers vertically in our corner of the yard.
As we plant tomatoes etc. and clear more space on the patio, we will be able to grow more varieties of herbs for sale throughout the summer at Clintonville Community Market. I am especially keen on growing several of the different kinds of basil, like purple-leaved basil and cinnamon basil. It will be fun to start growing several different kinds of geranium too. One of my most enchanting childhood memories is from when we would visit the Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo, NC - www.elizabethangardens.org - because they had such beautiful grounds & statuary, and so many different kinds of scented geraniums. I remember a favorite being the chocolate-mint geranium. I currently have a citronella-scented geranium which I think will be very popular. I expect cuttings of this and lavender to be ready for sale in a few weeks.
