CONTROLLING WEEDS

Notice, I didn’t say killing weeds, I said controlling. Controlling is a better, more realistic word. I found out the hard way, killing weeds doesn’t always work. Did you know there are about 20 years of weed seeds in your soil? If you don’t prevent weeds for going to seed, you will add even more to the thousands of weed seeds already in your garden.

So try not to let the weeds get out of hand, weed them when they are small, when they are easy to control. Don’t get me wrong, I have had lots of large weeds and sometimes my garden doesn’t look as good as I would like. So try to prevent weeds from coming up in the first place.

My Mother used to say ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’. This is so true when it comes to weeds. Below is a list of several products I have good luck with.

1. Caserone
Caserone is a granule, it can be found at most Greenhouses or Home Improvement Stores. It is $15 to $20 for an 8 pound bag. It is a pre-emergent, meaning that it prevents germination so nothing can come up through the ground. You can use it around woody plants, such as trees, raspberries, currants and shrubs (read the label carefully). NOTE: Raspberries have new starts coming in the early Spring. Caserone DOES allow the raspberries, currants to come up through the barrier it makes. In fact, it is a raspberry garden's miracle. I use it around my trees and in my raspberries, currants and down some rows of my garden. I also use it on ditch banks, pathways and around plants after they have come up, but it is very strong stuff, so I wouldn’t get it too close to the plants. It works best when applied in the Fall after everything has died back, or in the Spring before anything begins to turn green. I sometimes apply it in a walk-behind fertilizer spreader, on the smallest setting. Or it can be spread by hand, spread it about as thick as you would use pepper. Sometimes I use a hand held fertilizer spreader (this works good for ditch banks). It is best if you water it in, or have a rain storm to soak it in. Don’t put it on too thick, for best results rake all weeds off first, so it goes on bare ground. Still, I have had good results even if some dry grass or dead weeds are present.

2. Preen
Preen is a granule, it is easy to find in any store that sells garden supplies. Use it around flowers or vegetables that are already up. Mix it in the ground around the plants, it will prevent anything from coming up. If you want the plants to spread, don’t put it too close to the plants. I usually put it on in the early Spring to prevent weeds from coming around the flower beds or by the driveway. It only lasts about 6 to 8 weeks, so you will have to reapply it. It is less expensive than Caserone, but in some ways it is less effective.

3. Hi Yield Grass Killer
Hi Yield Grass Killer is a miracle worker, it actually kills quack grass, lawn grass or any other kind of grass in flower beds without killing the flowers. Yes, that’s right, it doesn’t kill the flowers. My cousin Debbie told me about it four or five years ago, and I have used it every year since. My Mother had some flowers along the driveway, about 100 feet long, the quack grass had gotten out of hand there and was about four feet tall. It was so bad that some flowers were choked out completely. More than 15 Lilies hadn’t grown above ground or bloomed in years, but came back and are blooming now. I spray this area at least twice a year and am controlling it very nicely. One or two areas are still quite grassy, but the grass has gone from four feet to about 6" so I feel much better about it. It is best to spray it in the early Spring, when the grass is about 3" to 6" tall and tender, then repeat in about 6 weeks. Always use a spreader sticker with the spray, mix 1-to-1. Read the labels carefully!

4. Round up
Most of you have heard of Round up, and I use it sparingly. I sometimes use a small hand sprayer and spray the weed directly. I usually spray thistle and morning glory, with Round up, I have had good results spot spraying. I spot spray about once a month. Don’t spray too close to your plants and vegetables, Round up will drift to other plants. Make sure you read the label directions carefully. Time of year and temperature can make a big difference in your results.

Always use a mask, rubber gloves, long sleeves and boots when applying sprays or granules, read the labels carefully!!!! If you are spraying, consider early morning, the winds are calmer and the weather is cooler.

Please remember, I am not an expert, read the labels carefully!!!!!

WHY YOU SHOULD EAT FROM YOUR GARDEN

Money, Money, Money
Flavor, Flavor, Flavor

Fresh food is so good for you, imagine going out in your garden and picking, pulling or digging enough food to prepare an entire meal. I can remember growing up when ‘everything’ from our meal we raised; meat, green relish, chili sauce, potatoes, gravy, bread, butter, raspberry jam, peas, milk, tomatoes, cucumbers and canned plums with cream (yum). Doesn’t that sound good !!!

It was a great feeling to be able to say that. My Parents were so proud to remind us of that quite often. I sometimes look at what I am eating and wish I could say that too. Most of my ‘garden meals’ consist of vegetables in a salad, but of course much of what I eat does not come from my garden. Below is a list of what my Mother canned in 1956 for our family.

About 450 quarts of food, I marvel at this list every time I see it. How hard she and Dad worked to put food on our table.

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.