playing n the dirt

For me, September is about the most perfect month of the year, especially in the garden.  The weather is cooling down and most days I can work in the middle of the afternoon.  It is getting darker a little sooner.  This is good, because I feel guilty when I come inside and there is still work to do and it is light outside.

I can pretty much kick back and just pick what is ready to be picked and not worry about the weeds because in a month the frost will kill them anyway.  There will still be about a million fall leaves to deal with and the extra hot day or two and I will still have to plant the green house when all the peppers and tomatos are done.

But for now, welcome sweet September. 

This spring was the first season for me to try green house gardening.  As a whole it was a big success.  I started with peppers and tomatos, because just north of Denver, Colorado the growing season is not much more than three months.

I did learn a few lessons, actually I kind of got a little greedy and forgot lessons that I already knew.  My biggest mistake was not thinning my seedlings enough.  So while I have lots of plants they are closer than they should be.  Being so close normal air flow is hindered and it does make the spread of pests easier.  I am also trying to get used to the green house being more humid.  Usually the natural weather is kind of on the dry side.  I’m not sure, but I wonder if the humidity made the pest problem worse.

I will try and remember these lessons and I am already looking forward to planting in the green house this fall once all the tomatos and peppers are harvested.

The soapy water is working on whatever type of lava got all over the leaves of my pepper plants.  The plants and leaves are looking much better.  The is some damage that can’t be repaired, but over all I think the peppers will be ok. 

I still don’t know what type of bug laid the lava, but I’m not to worried about that.  I think I did see one of them this afternoon.  It as an ugly red and black thing.  If I had tons of free time, I look up what kind of bug it is, but I have lots of other garden chores to do instead.

I am an organic gardener with a pretty laid back approach to gardening.  I have never really had a pest problem in all my years of gardening and I think the organic approach is one reason why.  I have a “no kill” rule when it comes to critters and pests in the garden and the natural order and ecosystem has proven good for my gardens.

This year however on my peppers I have some type of flying insect lava.  Until recently a good blast with the sprayer nozzle has kept the problem in check and the plants don’t seem to be doing to badly.  Now the lava seems to be spreading and the peppers are not producing much.  I’m not sure if the two are related but I think there is a good chance they are.

So how does an organic gardener control the pests and keep being organic.  I’m going to try one of the oldest pest control tricks in the bag, soapy water.  I’ll mix a few drops of liquid organic soap in a spray bottle full of water and spray it directly on the leaves of the plants.  It should control the lava without harming the plants or any other surrounding plants.

It’s been a great gardening season and now the crops are getting ready to harvest.  The harvest starts out kind of slow with a few ripe beans and zuchinni.  The wait for the first ripe tomato is almost unbearalbe.  But then things start to speed up and the next thing you know, you have dozens of everything.

So what do you do with all the crops you have to harvest?  Even the most die hard producer lover can only take so much of a good thing.  Sharing with friends and family is a great idea, but unless you have a lot of each, your still going to have more produce than you know what to do with.

The best thing to do with all that extra produce is to save it for later.  There are several good ways to do just that. 

Canning is what most people think of when they think about preserving food.  This is my least favorite way of preserving food.  It takes a lot of time, it is a hot job and it can make a big mess especially if a jar busts.

Freezing food is easier and you can do it to almost any produce.  Some food can just be washed and then frozen others should be blanched first and maybe peeled first and then frozen.

Roasting works great on any type of pepper.  We roast ours outside on the bar-b-que grill.  Then just let them cool and freeze them.  You do NOT have to peel them before you freeze them.

Drying food is about the easiest way to preserve food.  You can buy a dehydrator or let the sun to it for you.  Store the food in a clean,dry,dark area until ready to use.

Certain foods like carrots don’t need anything done to them.  You can store them in a clean, dry, cool area for up to several months.

Growing a great garden is a wonderful experience.  Eating the fruits of your labor in the dead of winter is an even greater experience.  If you’re new to food preserving I’d suggest you get some expert advice.  My favorite place to get that advice is MotherEarthNews.  They have a great website, www.MotherEarthNews.com where you’ll find all types of ways of preserving food. 

Any gardener faces the same question, to grow from seed or transplant?  I almost always pick the seed.  The reasons why make a lot of sense to me.

First, they are cheap.  You can buy packets of seed for as little as 99 cents.

Second, they are a good option if you’re NOT a good gambler.  Most packets of seed have somewhere between 25 and 100 seeds each.  That greatly increases the odds that you’ll get at least one nice plant.

Third, I really like watching plants grow.  Yes, you can watch transplant grow, put seeing that seed poke through the ground is much more of a thrill.

Fourth, discovery.  You have to let both seeds and weeds grow a little bit before you know for sure what it is.

Fifth, in my experience the seed usually makes a better plant. 

I have several good examples of seed out preforming transplant this year.  I planted all my tomatos and peppers from seed.  I have at least a dozen of each for about $3.00 total.  I also planted marigolds from seed.  One of them is at least two feet tall.

So is one way better than the other?  It depends on you.  The most important thing is to plant. 

For vegetable gardeners this is a great time of year.  Fresh vegetables are ready to eat or will be very soon.  At our house we have eaten all the first round of the sweet peas and spinach.  We’ve been eating green beans, carrots, lettuce and zuchinni for weeks now and there are many more yet to ripen.  The cucumbers are already as long as fingers.  While watering the peppers I’ve spotted some pretty big yellow ones and we’ve had fried green tomato’s while waiting for them to ripen.  Yep, all the hard work is paying off in some of the best tasting organic vegetables ever and they are all right out my back door.