Propagating Strawberries, continued

It’s been almost 4 weeks and time to separate the young runnered strawberry plants from their parents.  Each plant in its 4 inch pot is cut free from its runner, weeded and its wiggly-wire staple removed.  If I wait longer to remove the staple, it can become ingrown in the roots and will tear roots if forced out.

The 50 new plants are placed on trays and elevated off the ground to keep the Strawberry Root Weevils confused, hopefully.  They’re kept in a handy spot in full sun where I can keep an eye on them for their watering needs.  

They can grow in their pots another couple of weeks at the most and then need to be transplanted into their new bed a good distance from the old bed --- so the weevils don't find them right away.  I have a potato bed saved for them that should be harvested and cleared out soon.

The old strawberry bed is immediately pulled and cleaned of all roots, runners and foliage.  I find the old root crowns don’t compost hardly at all in my slow, four-year compost box and with weevils about I’m glad to set them all out for my curbside compostables weekly pickup.

My old strawberry bed was located right next to this year’s onion bed and the onions are almost ready to lift so that will give me two fine fresh beds for my chicken run with my two hens.  They will fertilize those two beds for some of next year’s potatoes.

Chickens in the Backyard. Again.

I haven’t had birds for about five years.  Not since the racoons broke into the deteriorating run and ate the last pair while I was away with my telescope.  

But these are critical times calling for special measures and last February, as I saw lockdowns imminent, I got my ducks chickens in a row.  I wasn’t sure how far the lockdowns would extend.  Would we be trapped in our homes like the people in Wuhan with only ambulances in the streets and crematoriums going full tilt?  Backyard hens would be a valuable asset if it came to that.  Plus paying $6.50 for a dozen for organic eggs was a bit stiff.  

As the seriousness of the emergency progressed, I progressively bought the pieces of lumber, then the chicken wire, then fencing wire -- all for a new, more secure run.  I arranged for two brand new laying hens from my nephew and my son TOG showed me the special place in Chilliwack where he picks up his Organic feed.  The plan was to set the run up on a piece of lawn right next to the garden.  This would eventually enlarge my garden for this time of emergency.

I assembled the new run made of four individual, 4 foot high frames and screwed them together at the four corners to include my beefed up old 4 by 4 foot henhouse.  The frames were taller than the last ones I’d had for years and I included a small gate so I could enter the run, kneeling to service any of it as necessary.  The overhead wire was of my favourite 2 by 4 inch mesh, 4 foot wide wire fencing.

The final days before lockdown I got a bale of hay for the nesting box from Buckerfields, a new water font, and finally picked up the two birds.  They’re the friendliest girls.  And really most quiet.  When I lift the roof lid and kneel to get the eggs or add feed or water, they immediately jump up onto the sill near my face to say hi.  They love it when I fetch young dandelion leaves for them – that makes their yolks so orange.

They occupy two 50 square foot beds plus one path for a total of 114 square feet.  For two birds that’s quite the Life of Riley.  Their default names are Number One and Number Two – the one being yellow and the other brown.  No, not really, they are both the same breast-fed baby poo golden brown.  Well, actually, they’re just brown. 

Right from the start they’ve given me two eggs a day for weeks on end – usually one of them missing an egg after 2 and a half weeks.  After I finished the first bag of feed my feed cost ratio came out to $1.40 per dozen.

One early morning at 05:00 there was a ruckus.  Number Two was upset about something.  I think there was a hawk flying overhead. From then on I was
set to lock them into their henhouse until I got up in the morning – I do have neighbours and birds aren’t legal in my town.  That’s right, the big city of Vancouver can have backyard flocks but we get to inhale all the farm fresh local air from the massive commercial chicken barns nearby but can’t have any of our own birds in so much better conditions at home. 

I was concerned about ventilation in the warmer nights so left the door ajar.  Somehow, they managed to get out but couldn’t get back in.  I think that delay to access to the nesting box caused Number Two to miss a day.  Later I was finding eaten eggs – ooze in the hay in the nesting box with shells missing – an Egg Eater!  

This has forced me to finally, after all these years of having birds, make a ‘roll the egg down and out of the way’ nesting box.  It’s a hinged lid / platform over the nesting box floor that is tilted a bit and carpeted to get the egg to roll away and out of sight as soon as the bird stands up.  

Alas, now Number Two has totally stopped.  Oh well.  Some birds don’t last through the summer.  We’ll see when she starts up later.

Their droppings are worth a lot and currently they’re occupying new beds that will be put into potatoes next year.  I’ll no longer need that bale of hay for nesting.  I think I’ll use it later in the year for an attempt at a special, fast compost pile – but that’s another posting.

Happy Gardening.

Harvesting Garlic

The time had come.  The garlic stalks had started yellowing right on time.  Watering had been restricted for over a week.  I started hand pulling like usual.  That had always worked before but they were stuck fast.  Had I planted them too deep?  With a shovel I loosened each row well away from the bulbs.  They lifted out easier then.

The 16 cloves of Red Russian Garlic had been planted last year on November 1^st in three rows across the bed.  The 6 cloves in each row were spaced 8 inches apart and each row was one foot apart.  One half cup each of bone meal and soya meal were stirred directly into the bottom of each row’s trench.  I might have put them 3 inches deep.  

They were later top dressed with some alfalfa meal that was gently scratched in near March 15^th – I didn’t record the amount.  Well composted chicken manure would have worked well too.  I’ve even used fresh, raw chicken manure but it must be added by mid-March for health / pathogen safety for root crops.  Fresh manures must be used no closer than 120 days before harvest of root crops. 

The lifted bulbs will now sit under the deck in the shade for several weeks for the greens to completely dry and the bulbs to cure.  Then they’ll go into the frost free garage either on a tray or in an onion sack hanging up on a hook.  They’ll be retrieved as needed.  The average weight of each bulb is a quarter pound so that gives me about 4 lbs. consisting of about 96 cloves. 

From that supply another 3 bulbs of 6 cloves each will be planted in late October.  In our climate, we (TOG and I) have found that September plantings might be too early --- they put on too much growth before winter that may be vulnerable to thaws between heavy frosts.

In my rotation plan, the garlic follows the greenhouse, so it can't be planted until the tomato crop is completely finished and the greenhouse is rolled to its next location.  That's the end of October.

Happy Gardening.

New Spuds

Yesterday we ate our last old winter stored potato.  The poor thing was quite rubbery.  But we were amazed that they had lasted to mid-July.  Our storage cabinet system in the corner of the garage floor seems to work really well.  We haven’t purchased a store-bought potato since last summer.

Early Summer was the time of year when our grandparents would patiently wait for their new potatoes.  They’d be down to just rice or pasta for their supper starch staple and many would be tempted to steal a few small early spuds from the hills, trying hard to wait for full sizing and production levels.

Today we dug up our first plant of Alta Blush – a slightly pink skinned, white early potato.  An excellent baker for starters.  A great change from our old Pontiacs.

These are the remaining 4, we ate the other 2.

The single plant gave us just under 2 lbs of good-sized spuds.  Figuring 1.5 lbs. per plant with 16 plants per 50 square foot bed could give us maybe 24 lbs. for the bed.  That’s just under half a lb. per square foot.   Not the 1 lb. per square foot that I’m hoping for from my main season Pontiacs but for earlies I think that is pretty good considering this bed is from a newly dug up piece of lawn that has never been cultivated in 40 years.

Happy Gardening.

Growing Carrots: Beating the Carrot Fly

The bain of growing carrots in my garden has always been the Carrot (rust) Fly.  From late summer and through the winter storing, my carrots had suffered the brown holes and bruised markings from the maggots of the carrot fly.  The damage would get worse as the season progressed and eventually these number 3 carrots would be totally unusable.

Over the many years I’d tried a number of things to alleviate the problem.  In the ‘80’s I tried some polyester row cover.  It was too light and tore easily.  I then went to wooden frame panels with window screen vinyl.  That started out better but soon I had aphid buildups with no way for the ladybugs to get at them.  I had to abandon these frames. 

Another year I’d heard if one had wild carrot growing nearby, the carrot fly would be attracted to that instead of your carrots.  I even brought one wild carrot plant (free of soil) over the USA border with me from just a few miles away.  That didn’t work either.

For several years I just didn’t grow carrots.  When I finally started back up I did quite well for the first couple of years and then it all came back.  I tried different landscape fabrics between the rows.  And heavy leaf mulches.  Nope.

Finally, about five years ago, my son TOG was talking with a fellow grower at the local farmer’s market.  He asked what they did (organically) for Carrot Fly.  The fellow said: “Oh, you don’t know?”  and then explained they always rotate their carrots in the beds between their long hoop houses.  It turns out the fly can’t fly higher than 2 feet and they set up a barrier at the ends of the beds that are sandwiched between the hoop houses, blocking the access to the flies.

The barrier can be made of anything: plywood, row cover polyester, screening, black or clear plastic.  It just has to physically block the way for the flies. 

And so I built my first four Carrot Frames to surround my carrot beds.  Made of ripped 2 X 4’s and 2 X 2’s and stapled on old pieces of clear greenhouse plastic, I’ve surrounded my carrot beds and have had good success for three years.  Until last year.

Last year had a few extra variables.  In the rotation, my carrots follow the greenhouse.  That means every other year the carrot frames must butt onto my new, larger greenhouse.  And I need to be able to open the northern doors of the greenhouse for ventilation which then open into the carrot beds.  I had constructed a screen door for the greenhouse that was 3 feet high but somehow the flies still got in.

I did have one side of my carrot frames that was only 2.5 feet high plus I wasn’t as careful with anchoring the plastic at the bottom of the frames.  Perhaps they went over or under the plastic?  Also, I now till old leaves into the bed before planting.  Could I have used leaves that had been sitting on the previous carrot bed all winter that contained eggs or larvae that infiltrated the new bed?

This year I’ve battened down the hatches (of flies).  The frames are not next to the greenhouse and I raised my one shorter frame to 3.5 feet like the rest.  I’ve weighted down the 6 inch plastic skirts on the paths and on the surrounding lawn.  I made sure I had virgin, aged leaves for digging into the bed. (Remember, those leaves tilled in increased my poundage by 50%).

For the winter and spring, I store my carrot frames against the back fence.  To set up I just wash them, screw them together in their corners and wrap and staple the extra plastic at the corners.  To access the beds, I step over the frames using two 5-gallon pails as stile steps.  For weeding and maintenance and reaching the outer half of the beds, since I only have one centre path, I have a nice, portable, plank “bed bridge’ that spans a bed so I can get at all of the two 50 square foot beds without stepping in them.

 

This year I was surprised with the poorer germination of my carrot seed.  This June was exceptionally cool and I may have covered the furrows with a bit too much sifted soil.  It wasn’t the older seed since I did some rows with my brand-new seed with the same result.  Thankfully, I got enough growing to fill most of the rows.  Although it is nice to have the option of thinning the weaker seedlings out – just not this year.

TOG uses a set of hoops with some polyester row / bed cover to cover his carrot beds to keep the fly out.  It seems to work for him.  I’m hoping this year’s changes will solve last year’s glitch.  There’s nothing like bright, clear, clean carrots fresh from the garden all winter until April.

Happy Gardening.

 

Climbing Cucumbers

Space in a backyard garden is often tight and if not, then weeding can become another incentive to keeping things tighter.  Training things up is a productive way to optimize space. 

Cucumbers really do well climbing.  When trained up a trellis or twine I can keep a close eye on what they’re up to and control their output.  I haven’t yet perfected pickling cukes but I’ve managed to do quite well with slicers.

For years I’ve grown my cucumbers in a single 4 foot row across a bed of maybe 4 plants.  My old standby has been Marketmore 76.  It was one of the earlier releases that were ‘bitter free’ and was productive, thicker skinned, digestible and very mild tasting.  Plus it was open pollinated so I could save my own seed.

I’d drive two 6 foot high stakes at the ends of the short row, with a cross piece across the top with about ten pieces of twine hanging down.  Up these I’d train 8 to 10 leaders from the 4 plants and pick cukes for a modestly short period.  Every time it became a mess of vines and side shoots and it was finicky in its production and I had a hard time maintaining it.  There were either lost, oversized cukes in the mess that stopped the vines from producing anymore or too many leaders competing for space and light.

Last year, with my new roomier greenhouse, I used my north east corner to grow just a pair of cucumber climbers.  The production levels were astounding.  My son, The Organic Grower (TOG), gave me one Socrates cucumber plant and I had started a few Marketmores as well.  His Socrates was more of a greenhouse plant and he said the seeds were almost 50 cents a piece, so I followed his careful instructions on how to train it. 

The resulting crop from mid-June to the beginning of October gave me 58 Socrates and 38 Marketmores.  At an average of half a pound each, that gave me 48 lbs of cukes from 8 square feet of space.  We supplied my mom and others with slicing cucumbers.  My Lovely Wife even managed to put up some excellent bread and butter pickles.  Using our surplus of sweet red peppers and large onions, she pickled five jars at a time.

 

This year I begged two Socrates seeds from TOG (which he probably got from Osborne Seed Company in Mount Vernon WA) and started those and a few Marketmore 76 seeds (from Westcoast Seeds) under indoor grow lights on April 15.  Once the weather warmed up, their pots made it into the greenhouse and on May 24^th. I transplanted one of each into the bed in the greenhouse.

TOG had directed I leave only one leader to develop for each plant.  The Marketmore could be wound around its twine that was hung from the rafter and it would support itself, but the Socrates needed to be tomato clipped onto its twine just like I do my tomatoes.  Also, the first 3 or 4 infant cucumbers needed to be removed from the young plant to give it a good start.  After that I just keep on removing each young runner / leader that wants to start at each leaf node.  This is much easier to maintain than a mass of leaders from multiple plants.

 

This year my first Socrates ripened June 28^th.  (we’ve had a cloudier June).

 

 The Marketmore is later and should start in two or three weeks.  Once the plants reach the greenhouse ceiling, I can direct them across the roof line or down another twine.  If another shoot shows up from lower down, I can deadhead the original leader and raise the new shoot as the new leader.

This year’s watering for that one bed in the greenhouse is an experiment with drip irrigation.  This should keep the foliage nicely dry and hopefully less chance of viruses or wilts.

Happy Gardening.

 

Propagating Strawberries,.... Again.

As soon as my strawberry bed has finished bearing I immediately go into growing new plants mode.  This is all because my yard suffers from a pest: the Strawberry Root Weevil.  If I leave my strawberries in their bed for a second season, the next spring yields mostly shriveled plants that hardly produce anything.

I’ve never seen an adult weevil in my patch but the roots of the next season’s plants are all eaten by their maggot progeny.  These same weevils will attack the roots of rhododendrons (and leaving bites on the lower leaves) as well as blueberries. 

Over 30 years I’ve unsuccessfully tried growing blueberries.  Three times.  The first time I dug a whole bale of peat into the soil to imitate the soil that blueberries like best.  Failure to thrive.  The third time I started with some healthy plants from my cousin’s place and fed and watered and even mulched with sawdust every third year to no avail.  

I even purchased new, healthy, expensive plants from Minter’s in Chilliwack and set them in, replacing the less healthy ones.  Feed, water, mulch, rinse, repeat – nothing, barely any new growth.  When, after three years I finally pulled out those unhappy new plants -- they lifted up surprisingly easily.  All the new roots had been constantly eaten away as they emerged.

The way I dodge the strawberry root weevil in my strawberries is to move the bed every year to a different location – something you can’t do with blueberries.  I bounce the strawberry bed around the garden as my rotation will allow, always as far away from the last bed as practicable.

Is it worth It?  Oh yes. This year our 20-day picking season gave us 21 lbs. of big, sweet, tasty, organic Shuksan berries.  Far better than anything elsewhere, even at the u-picks or local farm gates.

My Lovely Wife has the berry picking gene -- well maybe it was environmental rather than genetic since she picked as a kid and all her picking earnings went to pay for her private high school tuition.  Once she’s picked the last strawberries I go to work with my pots and potting mix.

My 4 by 12.5 foot bed (50 square feet) has 11 rows of strawberries, each 4 feet long across the bed, each row spaced one foot apart and the plants are spaced one foot apart in the row. 

I set out a pair of 7-inch-high pots, upside down, between the first two rows of strawberries.  Across those two pots I lay a 3 or 4-foot-long 2 X 4.  More raised 2 X 4’s are set up down the bed, each between two rows.   Upon each 2 X 4, I line 4-inch pots filled with potting mix.  I then search out all the strawberry runners that are wandering among the plants and guide the strongest mini runner plants to rest into the pots.

 

From old aluminum wire, I’ve bent some convenient ‘staples’ that help hold the young runner plants into place in each pot.

 

I need 44 new plants, so I guide 50 runners into the elevated pots.  The elevation doesn’t really insulate the new plants from any adult weevils.  After all they can climb walls.  (They are those hard shelled smaller ‘beetles’ that you may find in your house – the ones with the long noses.)  The elevation does help in maintaining the pots of runners.  They need constant inspection in our dry July weather for when to water with a wand.

 

It usually takes them 3 or 4 weeks to develop a good root system and that’s when I cut the runners free from their parent plants.  The pots are then lifted and moved to somewhere in the sun where I can look after them until the main season potatoes are harvested. 

I like to transplant the new strawberry plants into the old spud bed as soon as the pots are just nicely filled with roots.  I’ll describe that procedure later when that happens.

Happy Gardening.