DELICATA SQUASH, MY FAVORITE FOR THE WEEK

DELICATA WINTER SQUASH

I discovered this squash last year. I planted the bush varitey, it was a great producer. This is one squash I will grow every year. I still have one in my basement, I will cook it and let you know how it turned out.

It can be cooked in the microwave, whole or halved. (If you cook it whole, put several vent holes in it first. If you cut it in half, cook it upside down or put butter in the cavity). I like it because the ‘meat’ of the squash can be cleaned out easily. You can also eat the skin too, you can cube it and put it in recipes. Below is the link for recipes and pictures of the squash, using google images search.
http://images.google.com/images?q=delicata+squash&ie=ISO-8859-1&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images

SOURCES

Perhaps you are planting a garden for the first time, or you want to try a new plant, tree or vegetable. Here is some information so you can learn more about a specific thing.

1. You can ask a person who grows that particiular plant. You may have seen it in a friend’s garden, so ask them all you can about the plant. If it is an unusual plant they can tell you a lot about it, such as where they purchased it or how to take care of it.

2. Get to know your local green house workers. So they know you when you enter their store. Ask for them by name, they will become a great source of information. After you get to know them, you can call or stop by with your questions. I recommend you have at least three questions ready to ask them. Then I support their store, sometimes I buy things other places, but most of the time I buy things from them.

3. Third source is family and friends, you can always learn something new from others, brainstorming with them to find a solution. I wish I would have listened and learned more from my Parents. They knew so much about gardening, but I didn't think it was as important as I do now. I wish I would have spent more time watching and learning the many secrets they knew. I can remember every time I came to visit, my Dad would take me out to see his garden. Now I find myself doing the same thing. Most things I have to learn the hard way, they already knew the easy way. The gardening ideas from others are endless.

4. Gardening books are great sources of information, I read them quite often. Even the old books have valuable information. I recommend ‘365 Days of Gardening’ by Christine Allison, it is so well written and has so many neat ideas and tips.

5. The last source is the internet. You can use google search, to ask a question or just type in the name of the plant. When the results come up, you can then type in the same name in the new search box but this time also click the image button. Then images come up with the links, it is a much faster way to search for what you are looking for.

SERENDIPITY CORN, MY FAVORITE OF THE WEEK

SERENDIPITY CORN (Bi-Color)

This corn is a hybrid corn with yellow and white kernals. This corn does have smaller ears, but it is the sweetest corn I have ever tasted. People I have shared it with, enjoy this corn, it freezes well too.

It isn’t the largest producer, so you may have to plant a few extra hills, but it is so worth it. Mine usually has one large ear and one small ear per stock. The small ears rippen almost as fast as the large ones, so watch them closely.

This corn stays sweet (doesn’t get old) longer than any other corn I have tried. It will keep at least one week in the refrigerator.

WHAT TO BUY AND WHEN TO PLANT

This should take about a week to explain, but I will try to do it in a few paragraphs. First, some of you may be overwhelmed with starting a garden. Even those of you who have gardened for years may be a little stressed. So let me tell all of you to relax !!!! Your garden is to enjoy. So just slow down and enjoy it, enjoy every minute you spend in it.

Buy seeds or plants?
I buy seeds for things like peas, radishes, beans, corn, carrots and lettuce, they grow quite easily planted directly into the soil. I buy plants from the greenhouse for things like pumpkins, squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, cabbage, tomatoes and peppers. I sometimes buy seeds from this last group and plant them, too. If you need a faster start, you may buy the plants to try to get a successful crop. The seeds are much cheaper, but you do take more of a risk with seeds. However, the plants that come up from the seeds you plant directly into the soil will usually be more healthy looking and will already hardened in when they come up.

Helpful hint: When planting seeds outside it is sometimes useful to soak the seeds. I usually soak seeds like cantaloupe, watermelon, pumpkin, squash, (I soak them for at least three days). I dig a hole about 4" square and 2" deep, then put about 1/4 cup of fertilizer in the hole and fill the hole with water. When the water sinks, I put the soaked seeds in the hole (5 seeds in the hole) and cover with about ½ inch of soft soil. Pretty simple huh? This way the seeds are soft and ready to germinate when you plant them, they are in damp soil and will come up about one week earlier.

Please read the back of your seed package, before and after you buy the seeds. It has a lot of information, if the seeds can be planted inside or outside, when to plant, and lots of other valuable information.

When to plant, (these are my suggestions for eastern Idaho).
Guidelines for planting seeds inside for transplanting outside (after the last frost).
Plant peppers from seeds the first of March, or even mid February, (10 to 12 weeks before the last frost) depending on the seed, as most are slow growing.
Plant tomatoes from seeds the first of April (6 to 8 weeks before the last frost). plant seed of squash, cantaloupe, watermelon and pumpkins around April 20th (4 to 6 weeks before the last frost).
I am GUESSING the last frost in this area is May 31. But according to my Mother, we 'always have a first of June frost!!! So expect one more frost around June 5th, if you have planted, just cover the plants for a few nights.

If you are planting indoors you can buy planting trays with soil disks and clear tops. You should have a light source, plants need 8 to 10 hours of light each day. If you are using artificial light, keep the light close to the plants or they will become tall and skinny. Keep the plants in a semi warm place (a constant temperature of 40 to 50 degrees is ideal). Notice I said semi-warm, why get them use to 70 degrees when they will be transplanted into a much cooler environment?
Wow, lots of information, I hope you can understand much of what I said. Any questions so far?

SUN SUGAR TOMATO, MY FAVORITE OF THE WEEK

SUN SUGAR TOMATO

The Sun Sugar Tomato is one of my favorite tomatoes. It is a hybrid tomato, is small and orange in color. It is a very productive tomato and does not split like many other smaller cherry type tomatoes. If I had to choose only one tomato plant, this would be it.

I usually plant eight of these, but one or two plants will be enough for a family of four. My friends rave about this tomato, it is so sweet and good.

ORDER SEEDS NOW !!!

Last week I talked about taking an inventory of your seeds. This week it is time to order seeds. It could take as much as four weeks to get the seeds you order, so don’t delay. If you want to plant seeds inside for transplanting outside later, you may need to plant some of them very soon. Peppers need to be planted right away because it takes several weeks for them to germinate, they are very slow growing. It is too early in Eastern Idaho to plant things like tomatoes and squash, but you should buy the seeds you need now. Many more people are starting to garden this year and the seeds will go fast.

I suggest you go to a local nursery, or seed store to see if their new seeds are in yet. I get very excited when I see the new seed displays and look at almost everything in the display. I like to try new things every year. This year I am trying red sweet corn and planting red onions from seed. I will plant the onions as early as possible even mid-April to see if they will grow large enough for green (purple) onions through the Summer and Fall.

The seeds that aren’t available at your local nursery, (or stores with garden centers) can be ordered from the Internet or seed catalogs. These sources will have different seeds and unique seeds and plants than you can’t get from your local nursery.

A great source on the Internet is www.gardenlist.com. This is a garden catalog list of several hundred catalogs. It is a wonderful way to search out garden catalogs you may not be familiar with. I recommend the catalogs www.totallytomato.com and www.jungseed.com. The Totally Tomato catalog has almost 300 varieties of tomatoes. They have pink, purple, orange, yellow and black tomatoes in all sizes. They also have the Hybrids and Heirlooms separated so it is easy to search for the type of tomato needed.

So this week, do more dreaming and buy what you are dreaming about.

FRENCH BREAKFAST RADISH, MY FAVORITE OF THE WEEK

FRENCH BREAKFAST RADISH

My Parents always planted this radish and it is my favorite too. It is so fast growing, watch it closely - it will be one of the first things to eat out of the garden this year.

The radish has a normal green top, below the green leafy top is a small red top of the radish. Below the red top will be the large radish. So when you first look at the radish, you think it is still small, but it is pretty big if you look closer. Eat this radish when it is young, it tends to go to seed quickly.

This is one vegetable I planted late last year, (first of August), and had a wonderful harvest in late September.

Plant this radish very early in the year, I plan to try a small row the beginning of April. I will plant several different radishes every few weeks through the month of May.

INVENTORY

This week might be a good time to inventory your garden seeds. You do not want to spend money on seeds you already have. A few weeks ago you began to plan you garden, this week you can see if you have enough seeds from last year and what you need to purchase this year.

Also check the dates on the packages and see if they may be too old to plant. But do not be in a hurry to throw away the outdated seeds. I have planted flower packets my Mother had from the 1960s with some success.

You can test them to see if they will sprout (germinate), then you will know if the seed will be good this year. An easy way to do this is to put a few seeds on a paper towel, moisten the towel and place it in a zip lock bag. After a few days, (or weeks depending on the seed), they should sprout.

Some vegetables you can tell apart, but when doing several types of flowers, tomatoes or carrots, you will need to label the test towels. I suggest numbering each towel instead, then you can number the seed container with the same number. This way you can use a gallon zip lock and put several 'test towels' inside.

NOTE: You may not want to take a chance on out-dated seeds. If you plant them and they don’t grow, you are out more than the price of the package of seeds, and it may be too late to replant.

FOR THE RECORD

For the past three or four years I have kept a garden journal. I use a binder to write down ideas that come up through the year. It is best to use a binder so it is easy to add extra pages and remove pages to copy or share.

I keep my ideas, dreams and realities in this binder. When I have a new idea I jot it down, this way I do not have to remember the idea until Spring, I can just review it in the journal. When I see something I like in a magazine I tear out the page and staple it inside.

I take pictures of my garden as it grows to have a visual record of my plants and flowers. I write down the things I plant and sometimes staple the pictures from the packaging. This way I know what I planted and what it looks like. It is especially helpful when planting bulbs, I staple pictures and put notes about them. Where I planted them, even where I purchased them.

This log helps me keep on track for this year, and will be a great help next year. For example, when I picked the first tomato, pulled the first radish or list a new flower to try.

Here is a great example of taking a picture of the bulbs to plant.

This is a picture of where I am going to plant them.

The final picture of the flowers blooming. Actually, I didn't remember planting these and I didn't know what they were called. But lucky for me I had taken pictures, so now I know what they are called and I can buy more or tell others what they are. They are one of the first flowers to bloom in the Spring.

PLAN TO PLANT

Well here it is the second week of January, today I thought I would talk a little bit about planning. Now is the time to think about what to plant in your garden this year. I call this preliminary thinking 'plan to plant'.

Know the size of your garden and draw a map of your yard. Include what is already in your yard. It is a good idea to color code the map using a high lighters. Use one color for existing plants and a different color for the flowers, fruits and vegetables you would like to plant. I have garden plans from every year I have planted a garden.

I like to plant most of my garden in rows, so I draw out the rows and write in the names of what I want to plant in the row. Of course it takes several plans or changes in my plan before I have a complete plan. When it comes time to plant my garden, I take this plan on paper with me and make changes if necessary as I plant. I write the name of the seed or the plant on my perfect plan.

This way I know where everything is, what worked, what didn’t and the changes I should make next year. I sometimes take pictures too, so I have a better idea of what everything looks like.

So this week, begin to ‘plan to plant’.