The Best Time to Pick Vegetables

Picture by: harry22

Everyone wants their vegetables to be full of flavor and bursting with juicy goodness, when they harvest them. When you pick the vegetables is just as important as how you store them after harvesting. This article will give you some helpful tips on picking and storage.  

Sweet Corn

 

Pick sweet corn when you have the water almost at a boil on the stove. Only harvest the ears of corn when the husk is green, but the silk is dry and brown. You can test the corn for maturity by pulling the husk down to reveal the kernels. Press your fingernail into the kernel. If the kernel squirts juice when you puncture it with your fingernail, then it is ready to pick. 

The key to sweet corn is to only harvest as much corn as you want for your meal. Clean the corn by removing the husk and silk. The best place for this chore is outside where you can toss the husks and silk straight into the compost pile. Once you have the ears cleaned, they are ready to go straight into the pot of boiling water. Sweet corn is naturally sweet, but if you add a teaspoon of sugar into the water, the corn will be even better. The corn loses its natural sweetness and flavor ten minutes after you pick it. This is why the corn you buy at the store never tastes as good as fresh picked. 

Early Morning Harvesting

 

The best time to harvest the other vegetables, like peas, broccoli, radishes, cabbage, and leafy greens is early in the morning. It is during the cool part of the day that your vegetables will be full of juice. They will stay crisp longer and their storage time increases. This is especially good for people who sell their produce at the market, or those who want to can during the day.  

Afternoon Harvesting

Vegetables harvested during the heat of the day or early evening, are under stress from the day. The sun removes vitamins and minerals out of the plant’s leaves. So if you pick them during that time, they will quickly wilt and become limp. Sometimes we can’t pick things early in the morning. If this is the case, wait until the evening, when the temperatures cool down. This gives your plants time to replenish what the sun took away.

Canning

 

If you are picking vegetables for canning, you need to pick the produce and store them correctly. Harvest early in the morning. If you cannot take them into the house right away, store them in the cool shade as you pick more. 

Prepare and use the vegetables as soon as possible. Keeping the vegetables for later use is possible if you store them in the dark place  like a root cellar, or basement where it stays cool. You can also place the vegetables in a paper bag. Close the bag and store it in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator.

Harvest tomatoes early in the morning, but store them differently. Line some flat boxes, (the kind that beer or pop comes in) with newspapers. Place the tomatoes in a single layer and store them in a cool location until you can use them.

 Harvest onions any time of year. Dig them out of the ground, and brush off the excess soil. Lay them on a screen in the sun to air dry. Do not leave them out if it is raining or they will mold and rot.

How to Make a Raised Bed

 How to Make a Raised Bed

Today, as I was looking through YouTube, I came across this video. Although I have written articles on how to do a raised bed, this video will show you how to build one from start to finish.

This video was done in Las Vegas, but the ideas will work almost anywhere. Hope you enjoy and happy gardening.

How To Grow The Best Carrots

Photo by: nerdcoregirl

How To Grow The Best Carrots

Carrots. Rabbits love them. People love them. Even snowmen need them for their colorful noses. Carrots are a healthy, sweet and crunchy vegetable used for snacking, in salads, or other recipes. Their nutritional properties help maintain and improve eyesight. Carrots also helps prevent and reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer, too. What makes this vegetable so nutritious? It is loaded with Vitamin A, carotenes, anti-oxidants, poly-acetylene antioxidant falcarinol, vitamin C, and B complex and minerals. Just ½ cup sliced carrots provide you with a 205 to 256% RDA.

Carrot Varieties

When you go to buy a package of carrots, you will find many choices and colors. Yes, not all carrots are orange. Some are Purple, white, pale yellow, red, or black. Here are some popular carrot varieties that will grow well in almost any garden. 

Danvers carrot grows about 7 inches long. If you want to extend the season on this variety, plant them every 2 weeks. This carrot yields a long, thin root. It is firm, crisp, and sweet tasting. The maturity date is 77 days after seeds germinate. This carrot needs loose soil so it will grow straight. 

Red Core Chantenay takes 8 to 12 days for the seeds to germinate, and 70 days before you can harvest. This carrot is one of the better tasting vegetables, because it is sweet, crisp, and free of fiber. The orange-red roots grow 5 to 6 inches long, with blunt ends and narrow shoulders. This variety grows best in loose soil that is rich in organic matter. 

Scarlet Nantes is a certified organic heirloom seed passed down through the generations of gardeners. The roots grow 6 to 8 inches in length, but if you want a sweeter tasting carrot, pull them when they are smaller. The maturity date is 60 days after the seeds germinate. This variety will grow well in almost any soil.  

Ground Preparation

Most carrots need a light sandy soil that is loose to grow . The pH level of the soil should be 6.5 to 7.5. Til the soil to a depth of 12 inches. Remove any rocks, sticks, or hard dirt clods, so the carrot root can grow straight into the soil. Amend the soil with organic compost. Provide some potassium rich fertilizer to the soil to grow a sweeter tasting carrot. Allow the soil to settle for seven days so the seed doesn’t fall too deep. 

Sowing the Seeds

Lay a board over the soil where you are going to plant the seeds and then walk across it. This will compact the ground just enough to keep the seeds from being too deep.

Thinly scatter the carrot seeds over the soil. In order to get the seeds from clumping together I mix the seeds with about 2 to 4 cups of sand. Also, because carrot seeds are slow to germinate, I will mix in a package of radish seeds. My family loves radishes, and this utilizes the extra space in the garden. The radish seeds will be harvested long before the carrots are fully developed. Cover the seeds to a depth of 1.4 inch. Press your hands over the soil to ensure that the seed coat is in contact with the soil.  

Gently water the soil. It is important to keep the soil moist until the seeds germinate. It can take 10 to 20 days for the seeds to sprout. 

Thinning

Thin the carrot plants when they are 2 inches tall. The back of the seed packet should give you the recommended distance for the plants. If not, they usually need 2 to 3 inches of space between each plant.  Continue to keep the soil evenly moist through the growing season.  Carrots that are hard or bitter is usually caused from the lack of water.

 Pests

 

Inspect your plants for carrot rust fly and/or carrot weevil. These are tiny black flies about 1/5 inches long. They have yellow on their head and legs. Yellow-orange color attracts these flies. Buy some yellow sticky traps to control this pest or you can make your own at a fraction of the cost. Glue some yellow paper onto a piece of cardboard, or paint it yellow. Punch a hole at the top of the cardboard and tie a piece of string there to make a loop. Spread a layer of petroleum jelly over the surface of the cardboard. Hang it on a stake in your carrot bed.

The carrot weevil will eat everything except for the stems and the ribs of the carrot leaves. Spray the area with Peppermint Soap Spray that you make at home. In a sprayer, combine 2 tablespoons liquid dish soap, 1 gallon water together and 2 teaspoons peppermint oil. Spray the carrot plants. This mixture works against most hard-bodied insects.

How to Easily Prepare Garden Soil

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Everyone knows that gardening is hard work, but probably the most difficult task is in soil preparation. Not everyone has a tiller. It is an expensive investment, especially when you consider that you'll probably only use it once a year. Years ago, everyone tilled their garden sites every year.  I would suggest doing this for a couple years if possible, until you have built the soil up into a nice, rich, organic compost. Some years, it is almost impossible to till because of the spring rains. If you til wet ground, it will only turn hard and clumpy. It is during times like this that you need a backup plan, one that will give you a good gardens soil without the backbreaking work of tilling or spading.

Fall Preparations

The best time to start your spring garden is in the fall, after you have raked the fallen leaves. After all, you need someplace to put those leaves. Do not throw the leaves away, or burn them. You will need them for your garden. If this is a new garden spot, mow the garden area at the lowest setting.  Water this area thoroughly. You will be covering the garden with three layers or organic materials. 

First Layer; Cardboard and Newspapers

Cover the soil with cardboard boxes or newspapers. These  are the best, because they will break down into the soil. Prepare the cardboard boxes by taking them apart so they will lay flat on the ground. When using magazines or newspapers, take out the glossy pages, because they do not easily break down into the soil. Remove any plastic, tape, or staples because they do not decompose. Place the boxes or newspapers over the area that you just mowed on top of the weeds or plants. What is nice about using cardboard boxes or newspapers is that you don't have to pull or dig out the weeds first. The will die from lack of sunlight. As you lay the cardboard or newspapers over the soil, overlap them by 6 inches. The newspapers should be at least six pages thick. When the entire garden spot is covered with the dismantled boxes or newspapers, water the area again until the top cover is thoroughly soaked. 

Second Layer; Organic Mulch

Pile some organic mulch over the boxes in a thick layer. This is the time to use those leaves that you raked from the yard. If you don't have enough leaves to cover the garden, use grass clippings or straw. Just make sure that the grass clippings you use have not been treated with an herbicide or pesticide because this can kill your plants. Hay is not recommended either, because weed seeds come with it.  

Once again, water this layer down thoroughly.  

Third Layer; Compost

Cover the mulch with a layer of compost or good top soil. Thoroughly wet the area again. For the best results, all layers combined should be at least 1 to 2 feet thick.

Keep this area watered until it snows or freezes hard. Now there is nothing left to do until spring. Use this time to work on what you want to grow in your garden.  

Planting

In the spring,while everyone else is tilling and digging, you can begin planting. You will find your garden soil has changed. It is perfect for planting those vegetables. If the cardboard has not completely decomposed, just dig through it when planting. Through the months, the mulch will continue to break down, making your soil richer. Keep adding mulch over the soil through the growing season. This helps the soil retain moisture, eliminating the need to water so much. 

Advantages

So why chose this method for planting your next garden? There are several reasons. From the mulch, you are increasing the soils composition and adding essential nutrients. The worms and microorganisms have what they need to build up the soil and add important soil fungi. The carbon dependent nutrients in the soil are released slowly. Best of all, you don't have to wait for the soil to dry, or do any tilling or digging. Another advantage to this method is weed control. The weeds below the cardboard barrier will not come through. If any weeds do pop up, they will be easy to pull.

How to Grow Strawberries in a Whiskey Barrel

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How to Grow Strawberries in a Whiskey Barrel

Many people have been growing strawberries in old whiskey barrels. One of the advantages for a barrel to plant the strawberries is that it doesn't take up much room if you have limited space. If you put the barrel on a plant carrier, you can move it wherever you want. When all danger of frost is past, it is time to start planting strawberry plants. You will need to locate a whiskey barrel made out of cedar, oak, or redwood. These are found at some garden stores and home improvement stores like Menards, Lowes, or Bomgaars. You can also order them online or through garden catalogs. When you are picking up your barrel, grab some hardware cloth. You will need to form a 4 to 6 inch diameter cylinder shape out of the hardware cloth, and it should be as tall as your barrel. 

Drainage Holes, Planting Holes

Not all whiskey barrels come with drainage holes at the bottom, or the holes to plant your strawberry plants. You will need to make some before filling the barrel with soil. Position your electrical saw or hand held saw about one foot above ground level. You'll want to cut a 3 to 4 inch hole in the side of the barrel. Repeat this procedure spacing the holes 10 inches apart. Continue cutting holes up the side of the barrel but keep the last row of holes 1 foot below the top rim.

Make some drainage holes on the bottom of the barrel. Drill several small holes around the bottom. This is a very important step, because without drainage holes, the water cannot drain away and the plants will rot. 

Place the Barrel on a Trolley

Before you fill the barrel with soil, place your barrel on a plant trolley. This is a platform with wheels underneath. If you have to move the barrel, this makes the job much easier. The whiskey barrel is heavy as it is, but once filled with soil, it will be almost impossible to move. The trolley will also enable you to move the planter around so all the plants receive sunlight. 

Hardware Cloth

Form the hardware cloth into a cylinder shape and use pieces of wire to keep the hardware cloth closed. Place this in the center of your barrel. You fill this section with coarse sand or gravel, while the outside perimeter is filled with potting soil. The sand or gravel in the center of the barrel allows the water soak into the soil and it allows the excess water to drain away. When you fill the barrel with soil  and the hardware cloth with sand or gravel, do so in 6 to 10 inch increments. Moisten the soil with water. This will settle the soil and collapse air pockets. Repeat this process of filling and watering until the barrel is full.

 

You can use bagged potting soil that you find at the garden store, or you may mix your own by combining equal amounts of peat moss, perlite and compost. Add some well-rotted cow manure into the soil as well for fertilizer. If you don't have access to manure, use granular fertilizer, but please read and follow label directions on how much to use. Allow the soil to settle for at least 1 week before you start planting.

Plants and Planting

The best strawberry plants to use in the whiskey barrel planters are the everbearing or day neutral varieties. Everbearing will give you two to three harvest of fruits in the spring, summer and fall. The day neutral strawberries produce fruit throughout the growing season. 

Dig a hole in the soil through each drilled hole and plant the strawberries. Gently fan out the roots and plant the strawberry plants as the label directions show you. This is vital to the health of your plants. If you bury the crown too deep, the plant will rot, but if the crown is too high above the soil, the roots will dry out. You can plant strawberries or other plants on top of the barrel around the center ring.

Allow the water to run through the middle section filled with gravel. You will probably need to water twice a week. Water through the when the planter is dry. Remove the blossoms until mid-summer.  After that, leave the blossoms on and fruit will form. It won't take too long, and you will be picking fresh, delicious strawberries.

When plants are growing in a container, then need frequent fertilizing than plants growing in the ground. Fertilize every two to three weeks according to label directions. Cut off any runners that form.

When wintertime comes, or the season ends, either bring the barrel indoors or wrap it in 6 inches of straw or mulch to protect the plants from drying out or freezing.