Whats blooming in the neighborhood?

All over the neighborhood new & beautiful things are starting to bloom! Here are some pictures I took this week:

I noticed this pretty tree while walking Pace...

Pace wanted a sniff!

This picture is from when we first got him 3 years ago.
I guess he has a thing for sniffing flowers :)

False Tarragon Conspiracy!

Much to my dismay I recently discovered that I had been sold Russian Tarragon. I was suspicious of my tarragon because I noticed that unlike my basil and chives, which had flavor from the time they were wee little sprouts, my tarragon tasted like nothing at all. I thought maybe it just needed some time to grow, so for the last several weeks I have nurtured and loved it along with my other plants. When it was about 5 inches tall and still had no flavor I started to get suspicious & turned to google for answers. This is where I discovered that there are two types of tarragon. The one we all know and love, French Tarragon, is a very finicky plant and does not seed or reproduce well. However, its flavorless but visually identical cousin, Russian Tarragon, seeds like a weed. So, when you buy seed packets of Tarragon, 99% of the time it's the wrong variety. Burpee doesn't care that it's selling you a weed, it's just happy to turn a profit. So this is my warning to anyone hoping to grow this herb at home. Only buy transplants, not seeds. Before you buy the transplant, tear a piece of the leaf off and taste it! If it tastes like nothing, don't buy it! My beautiful well loved little weeds ended up in the garbage. So sad.

RIP Russian Tarragon

Possible Edema on Tomatoes

I am having an unusual issue with some of my tomato plants. I have noticed some small spots showing up on the leaves that look like tiny blisters. After a few days the blisters get more numerous and eventually the leaf gets dry & crunchy and falls off. This problem seems to be specific to certain varieties of my tomatoes, and although they are all growing in close proximity it is not spreading. My first worry was that I had Septoria leaf spot or something similar to that, but when I started googling images of that it didn't look the same. I eventually found my way to some postings about Edema. In short, this is caused when the roots take up more water than the leaves can use, causing blisters on the leaves.


"The most common cause of edema is the presence of abundant, warm soil water and a cool, moist atmosphere. Under these conditions the roots absorb water at a rate faster than is lost through transpiration. Excess water accumulates in the leaf, some parenchyma cells enlarge and block the stomatal openings through which water vapor is normally released from the plant; thereby contributing to further water retention in the leaf. If this condition persists, the enlarged cells divide, differentiate a cork cambium, and develop elongate cork cells externally to form a periderm. The rupture of the epidermis by the enlarged inner cells and the periderm account for the raised, crusty appearance of older edema spots."
-Plant Pathology Extension of North Carolina State University

So I have tried to cut back on my watering in hopes that things will get better. I also need to increase the amount of airflow around the plants. Now I am trying to find a medium between dry wilted plants and over watering... Wish me luck!

Can you see the small white spots?
The leaves at the tip have been more severely effected
and have started to dry out and curl.
Eventually they will fall off.

Sprouts are up!

Tomatoes!





Basil!

Tarragon




The whole gang

More to come... :)

Seed Starting

Today I started some seeds for the community garden that Jody and I will be starting this summer. I planted some basil, tarragon, and chives. Tomorrow I will get my tomatoes, melons, and peppers started.

My set up is limited because our apartment is so small, but where there's a will there's a way!



This window is south facing, and I was able to clip on that little light, so I really hope it will be enough to get some transplants going.





My BGFF Kendra introduced me to these little peat pellets. Thanks Kendra! These were super easy.

I am also going to direct sow a few of these seeds just to see what happens. Maybe I will get lucky and they will grow okay without being started indoors first. I will run a little trial of transplants vs. direct sow and see what differences there are.

My first sprouts should be up in about a week, so check back soon!

Wonderful Worms

Worm Composting 101

Vermicompost-
Worm humus is the end-product of the breakdown of organic matter by Eisenia fetida Vermicompost is a nutrient-rich, natural fertilizer and soil conditioner. The process of producing vermicompost is called vermicomposting .


My WCFFL (worm-composting-friend-for-life, duh) Kendra and I set out last week with the plan of starting worm compost bins for her NHNG (New-House/New-Garden) and my NHPG (No-House/Porch-Garden... get with it guys) and the ultimate goal of WPCoLTGH (worm-poop-circle-of-life-total-garden-happiness!) On 2/24 our worms came in the mail! Kendra ordered our worms from Uncle Jims Worm Farm and I give them a thumbs up for fast delivery and for all of the worms still being alive when we opened them up. Way to go Uncle Jim! It is important to get your worms into their new home ASAP so without further delay we dove into the process of setting up our worm bins. The steps are as follows:



Order the right worms. You will need Red Wrigglers, not earth worms from your garden. Our worms arrived in an adorable and totally random tiny white fire hydrant....



You will need to set up the worm boxes before you bust those worms out of their tiny mobile hotel room. Start with about a 10 gallon opaque Tupperware bin. You could spend lots of money on a fancy worm bin but it isn't totally necessary for the average home gardener. Drill air holes in your bin, no larger than 1/4th on an inch. We put maybe 30 holes? Then fill your bin with torn up news paper.



Next, you will need to thoroughly wet down the news paper. It should feel uniformly like a wrung out sponge. Damp, but not dripping. Moist enough for worms to slide through without dry spots they will get stuck in.

Next add some food scraps. This can be things like banana peels, apple cores, broccoli stems, wilted lettuce, etc. Almost any fruit/veggie is fine. We used expired portabella mushrooms, stale bread, and some cooked rice. DO NOT put meat, dairy, spicy, or citrus foods in your bin.




Next you need to add a small scoop of garden soil to the bin to help the worms grind and digest their food.



Here comes the fun part!


Worms!!




Each bin should get about 1lb of worms.

Don't leave any stuck to the bag!


Now give the soil a good soaking. Ours were packaged in extra dry peat that needed to be rehydrated.


Once they are moist go ahead and cover them with the newspaper.




Ta-Da!! Now you have a worm bin! In a few weeks I'll be sprinkling compost in my NHPG with my WCFFL! :)

Worm Composting

Today my friend Kendra and I got our supplies together to start our worm composting boxes! Why would anyone want a box of worms you say? For their poop of course! It is with their generously donated "Brown Gold" that I will fertilize my plants and enrich my soil. Worms eat kitchen scraps like left over or wilted veggies and coffee grounds. Feeding these scraps to the worms makes me feel Green and Environmentally Responsible.

Right now, without any worm poop, my soil looks something like this:






But once I mix in a bit of Brown Gold.....






So now I bet you can understand why I'm excited about the worm box thing! ;) Kendra ordered our wormies in the mail (2 lbs, about 2,000 worms!) so I hope they will be here soon. When they come in I will post pictures of how to put together the worm box and step by step instructions in case you are inspired to start one for yourself. Until then I will need some help coming up with 2,000 names for my new pets...



-Katie