How Does Your Garden Grow?
May 11th, 2010 § 2 Comments
So far, so good, thanks. Not that I have anything to do with it. I am merely the weekday waterer and photographer. My husband and his friend will–and should–take full credit for the bounty we are sure to reap this summer.
Most of these pictures were taken about a week ago; things are much greener now. The radish, however, was picked (and eaten) by my son this morning (“I wike wadish, mama. Mmmm”). I’m so happy that he will know that radishes and other vegetables come from the ground, from the sun-warmed dirt, not the misty chilled shelves at the supermarket.
Baby lettuce
Shovel
Pea plant, reaching for the sun
Twisty pea plants
Tools of the Trade
Spade
More Baby Lettuce
I'm not sure what these are...
Beautiful Dirty Radish
The Results Are In!
April 8th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
…and there’s hardly any lead in our garden soil!! Yes, our soil analysis report finally arrived yesterday. I’m sure you’ve been refreshing this page non-stop in anticipation of this post. Riiight. Well, I was relieved to see that our lead levels are low. That’s good news.
Some not so good news is that our raised-bed garden soil’s pH is “slightly higher than desired for most vegetables.” Poop. The report goes on to say that ”cole crops may prefer the current pH since they are more resistant [to] clubroot infection under slightly alkaline conditions. Take care, however, not to incorporate any amendment that would further raise soil pH.” Whaa?? I am a gardening novice, to say the least. I had to read the report more than once to understand it. I even had to look up the meaning of ”cole crops.” Here’s what I found: “‘Cole’ refers to any of various plants belonging to the Cruciferae or mustard family. Some plants in the mustard family are Brussels sprout, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, broccoli, turnips and watercress.” I guess our kale is going to do well, but I’m not sure how everything else is going to fare 
Oh, yes, we planted seeds last weekend before we received the soil results. Bcuz we is smert lyke dat.
Of course the question in my mind was: How can we lower the pH? Amherst provided a lengthy soil test results and interpretation document and, according to the document, the remedy for high pH levels is elemental sulfur. Yay, let’s go get some sulfur! Oh, wait. It says here that “unfortunately, sulfur is rarely available in garden centers.” Oh. Hmmm. We can contact the soil lab for other options, but I thought I’d put these questions out to the internet first: Does anyone know where can we buy elemental sulfur? Or, is there another way to lower the pH? I’d appreciate any feedback. Of course, we can’t do anything until the end of the season since the seeds are already planted (Doh!)
For our new garden, the results were better. For the pH adjustment, we were given these instructions: “incorporate 8 lbs. of ground dolomitic (magnesium rich) limestone per 100 sq. feet as early as possible prior to planting. Avoid mixing in lime when the soil is very wet.” We haven’t planted anything in that garden yet, so I guess if we add some limestone, we’ll be good to go.
The report also provided us with nutrient and micronutrient levels, but I won’t get into those here. It suffices to say that I’m now fascinated with our dirt. It’s a whole new world to me. There’s really manganese in our little old garden? Wow. It’s amazing. Coincidentally (the universe is a funny, funny thing), I received an email today promoting DIRT! The Movie which will be airing April 20 on PBS (check your local listings). I’ll be watching it for sure.
It’s probably too late in the season now, as most people have already planted seeds (Doh!), but I strongly recommend that other home gardeners get their soil tested in October/November. As I mentioned in the earlier post, it’s not expensive and preparing the soil sample is easy. Even I could do it, and that is saying something.
So, to reiterate, I think if you have a garden, especially if you grow vegetables or fruit, you should know what is lurking in your dirt.
Our Gardens and Soil Testing
March 22nd, 2010 § 6 Comments
My husband went out and bought himself a rototiller this weekend. Personally, I don’t think it’s a necessary item for a small home garden, but he’s been wanting one for years. And, since he’s the sole provider now, I don’t have the power (or desire) to deny him a splurge (especially when I do my fair share of splurging. <Pottery Barn pillows.> Ahem). So, he and his friend tilled up a sizable garden in our yard on Saturday. This new garden is in addition to the raised bed garden that we made last year. Here are some pics:
Our raised bed
Freshly tilled garden
Don’t get me wrong, I’m ecstatic to have gardens. I cannot wait to have fresh vegetables this summer and fall. I’m just choking a little bit on the tiller bill. However, if a tiller makes the man happy, so be it. Pillows for me, tiller for him, Venus, Mars, etc…. Anyway, the one regret I have about last year’s garden is that we never had the soil tested. We live in an older home which probably had or, God forbid, has lead paint that may have leached into the soil. So, this year I’m having the soil tested at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The process is simple and inexpensive, so my advice to other home gardeners out there is to get your soil tested. I simply googled “soil testing massachusetts” and found the UMass Amherst information. I would think that nearly every state has at least one school with an agriculture department. Tests can be done not only for toxic elements such as lead, but for the pH, soil nutrient, soil texture, and organic matter levels. Basically, if your pH is off , your vegetables won’t grow. And that kind of sucks. But, possibly even worse than your produce not growing is having toxic elements lurking in your soil. Lead tends to concentrate in leafy greens and on the surface of root vegetables–two of our favorites–so for my peace of mind, soil testing is mandatory. Especially since we have a 2 1/2-year-old who loves fresh, raw vegetables. Last summer he single-handedly ate our entire crop of sugar snap peas. Right off the vines, morning, noon and night. Thankfully, according to the lead article I linked to above, “lead does not readily accumulate in the fruiting parts of vegetable and fruit crops (e.g., corn, beans, squash, tomatoes, strawberries, apples).” So, I don’t think he ingested any lead with the peas.
Back to the soil sample; here are some pics:
Peter helping with soil sample
Soil sample - 6-8 inch vertical "slice"
Samples from each garden
I have yet to put them in labeled zip-lock sandwich baggies, mainly because I forgot to buy baggies at the store today. Actually, the small natural-foods store I shop at doesn’t even sell baggies, which I guess isn’t unusual, just a little inconvenient sometimes.
In any case, if my husband remembers to print the order form today and bring it home tonight, that will be amazing. But if a miracle does happen and he brings it home, I’ll fill it out tonight, buy baggies tomorrow and mail the samples tomorrow or Wednesday. I’ll let you know the results when I get them.
On a more personal note, we’re taking Peter to tour some preschools this week. Having been a full-time mom for only seven months, I feel like I haven’t spent enough time with him, but at the same time, I think it will be good for him to have a few hours away from me twice a week and vice versa. I can’t lie: it will be nice to have 6 “free” hours all to myself. Of course, I’m imagining pedicures and massages, but in reality, I’ll end up doing laundry and grocery shopping! It will also help with family time on the weekends. Currently, I feel like I dump Peter on my husband while I take off to run errands and get some much-needed alone time. I call it “Daddy and Peter time,” but it’s actually “Mommy dumping Peter on Daddy time,” and I feel really guilty about that. Here’s hoping that those 6 free hours during the week will allow the three of us to spend more time together on the weekend.
