Tag: Ozark gardening

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Really Big Garden Weeds

I’ve mentioned my weedy garden a few times lately. Perhaps you are picturing those pesky little seedling weeds needing only a bit of cultivating to end their careers. Picture instead some really big garden weeds.

Ozark Spring Plant Paradise

Usually the Ozarks enjoys spring for, at most, a week. Then temperatures and humidity soar into summer. That didn’t happen this spring.

Cool weather now in the seventies with frequent quarter to half inch rains are only now edging toward those summer temperatures. In the meantime the cool crops like turnips, cabbage and snow peas are looking luxuriant. Weeds love this too.

meet some really big weeds
Although lambs quarters and evening primrose are allowed to grow in my garden, they do tend to become a nuisance. These have invaded my asparagus patch and will end up as goat treats or compost. They did get really out of control this year.

Classes of Weeds

There are those pesky little seedling weeds. Then there is the chickweed beloved by baby chicks and others about ankle tall. Lambs quarters, daisy fleabane and oats are some of the really big garden weeds.

Another way of dividing weeds is into those that stay and those that definitely go. Many weeds have lovely flowers. I leave a few – note the word few – of these to bloom. All others leave as soon as I can get to them.

Weather Considerations

I will work out in the garden in a misty rain. It is annoying, but not enough of one to make me quit and head for cover

Serious sprinkles and downpours mean garden time is over. Lately I’ve taken several showers as I head for the house.

Moth Mullein is not one of the really big weeds
Moth mullein is one of the wildflowers I let grow in my garden. Others are: chicory, evening primrose, yellow wood sorrel, lambs quarters, blue and purple morning glories and chickweed. Although I enjoy having them there, they do tend to become a problem as they produce lots of seeds. That means many of the plants are pulled out as weeds with only selected plants allowed to grow and bloom.

Where Do Really Big Garden Weeds Go?

Since the grasses are busy making seeds, the compost pile is not a good option. Grasses and small weeds end up on a brush pile.

The really big garden weeds get pulled, trimmed, piled and carted off each afternoon. I pile them up in the goat hay trough shortly before letting the herd in for the night.

Goats are sloppy eaters so many stems end up on the floor. These will end up in the compost pile. The rest is savored by the herd.

There will be a lot of unhappy goats when the really big garden weeds are all pulled.

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Why Garden?

Why garden? I don’t know why other people garden. Sometimes I’m not sure why I garden. It’s a lot or work for produce cheaply available in the market.

Then again, much of what I grow is not in the market, cheap or expensive. Perhaps that is an answer to Why garden? There are so many available varieties.

Exercise?

Tillers, hoeing, weeding, planting, picking all provide exercise. These can strin the back, ruin the fingernails, wear out jean knees and more. They do burn off a lot of calories.

Some of these methods are long since discarded in my garden. Tillers are verboten. Hoes are used sparingly. I prefer potato forks, weeders and mulch.

More to the point, gardening gives a way to destress. Mad at someone? Pull some weeds and pound them to loosen the dirt in their roots. Feeling blue? Enjoy creating color and food.

Prize Peppers an answer to why garden?
Growing your own vegetable varieties lets you grow heirlooms like my Prize Peppers. This is one you will not find in any catalogue. It’s a Macedonian sweet pepper that won blue ribbons at the Indiana State Fair. The seeds were a gift from a friend. As all such heirlooms, it’s continuation depends on those seeds being shared with other gardeners unless some seed company like Bakers Creek wants to add it to their collection. This is one of two Macedonian sweet peppers I grow every year as they are the best peppers I’ve found.

Health?

More and more I hear this answer to Why garden. Market produce is sprayed with pesticides and herbicides. Seeds can be treated as well.

All these chemicals do provide those perfect, or close to perfect vegetables we get in the market. They cut down on any actual work such as weeding, cultivating and mulching not really feasible on huge scales.

So, is home grown produce really better? It can have fewer chemicals dumped on it. But, is any place really chemical free?

Probably not. Manmade chemicals are in the rain, the air. Watering hoses shed them. They are found in the remotest places on Earth.

The only advantage is having fewer chemicals in my organic garden. Since the insets take their toll on my produce, the chemical load must be less.

Why Garden?

Thinking about it, I garden for many reasons. One is having many different tastes and vegetables. Another is the exercise and mental reflection time. It’s nice to have fewer chemicals on my food.

Most of all, I garden because I love cooking up a dinner of produce I just picked out in my garden.

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Desperate Seedlings

May is here with warm, wet (very wet) weather in the Ozarks. Trays of desperate seedlings get carried out to the porch in the morning and back into the house every night.

They aren’t taken in every night because of frost. Moths come out at night. Cut worms and other caterpillars make meals out of the seedlings. These are really hard to find as they dig down into the dirt during the day.

desperate seedlings
The cups are roomier than the usual ones for seedlings. Still, my tomato seedlings are more than ready to move out into the garden. The pepper seedlings and other plants are just as desperate. This weekend is their escape, if I can work fast enough.

Frost Date Is Past

The average frost date was a week ago. These desperate seedlings are begging to get transplanted into the garden.

Experience tells me to wait. Setting out tomatoes and peppers before Mother’s Day is usually a mistake. The weather is watching for anyone foolish enough to try it.

Late frosts are a surprise. The evening is warm enough to leave the gardener confident. In the morning those precious seedlings are black.

Not Ready Yet

Waiting is easier for me this year. My garden is not ready for all the summer planting. I am still setting things up.

Several new containers need holes drilled, gravel and dirt. The small raised bed is getting rebuilt, sort of. My impatience and sloppy masonry skills are obvious.

Last winter had cold, wet weather so some things didn’t get done. I know: excuses. It doesn’t help as I pull weeds. At least most of the garden did get done, although the weeds are moving in as fast as they can.

What Garden Plan?

There is a garden plan. All the beds, containers and extra spots are labeled. Future occupants are listed for each one.

It seems I now have a sage and a French tarragon to take over two containers. The carrots have to move to? The parsley doesn’t seem to be on the list. Oops.

Then there are the extra Black Krim tomato and two globe artichokes. I won’t mention the four kinds of basil, four kinds of marigolds, all needing to be separated from each other.

Those desperate seedlings will make it into the garden. I’m aiming for Mother’s Day, depending on the weather. The blankets will be at the ready.

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Gardens Need Seeds

As I try to finish putting my garden to bed for the winter, the seed catalogs lure me with their gorgeous pictures. After all, gardens need seeds to grow all those crops next season.

The Fun Part

Seed catalogs are the fun part of gardening. Each kind and variety looks so enticing. Each page is pored over, drooled over and finally flipped over to expose the next list of possible plants.

As I look through the catalogs, I start a list of seeds I would like to order. The list gets longer and longer. Window shopping is fun.

gardens need seeds and transplants like Broccoli
This fall I planted broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts transplants. With the arrival of cold weather, the two beds were put under plastic ‘tents’ to keep them warmer overnight and during the day. Cauliflower is much more cold sensitive and was cheerfully consumed by my Nubian buck. The broccoli is making florets. The sprouts have sprouts on them. Big tomato cages provide supports under the plastic draped over wires strung around posts. Rain does pool in the plastic in places, but these temporary shelters do work.

Reality Sets In

There are vegetables we don’t like to eat. There are vegetables I can’t grow for one reason or another.

Corn is one of these. We love sweet corn. Raccoons do too. Unless I want to spend my nights out in the garden, gun in hand, the raccoons eat all of the corn.

My garden is finite. The wish list is not. Unfortunately, the garden wins, mostly.

Time is also finite. The Ozarks does have a long growing season, but I don’t want to wait until September for those first tomatoes. Since I can’t set tomatoes and peppers out until mid to late May, those plants with long growing times won’t produce in time.

gardens need seeds and transplants like Brussels sprouts
Buying Brussels sprouts is much more convenient than growing them. The plants take up a lot of room yielding not that many sprouts. However, the leaves are good to eat too. They can be shredded for stir fry or dropped into soups and stews. Of course, my Nubian goats (especially Augustus) think I grow these just for them, a welcome winter treat.

Gardens Need Seeds

Once the wish list is done and reality sets in, the seed list gets trimmed. What will get planted where? How many plants can I fit into the space allotted? Can I use succession planting? If I grow it, will we et it? If we can’t eat it all, can I sell it?

By mid January, the seed lists need to become seed orders. Gardening season begins in late January for my garden. That’s when the leek and Savoy cabbage seeds are started. The transplants move to the garden in March.

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Thoughts About Gardening

The wish books have arrived filled with gorgeous pictures of produce. Even a bit of snow can’t stop the thoughts about gardening.

Looking Back

Considering the heat, sun and drought this last summer, my garden did very well. My freezers are full. The fall garden is producing. It was a successful gardening year.

There were problems. The heat and sun kept me inside too much so the weeds got out of control.

These also made the tubs too hot for the plants growing in them. The dirt was bath water warm! Shade is an important item to plan for next year.

Rabbit Food?
My Savoy cabbages looked great until the rabbits found them. However my Nubian buck Augustus didn’t mind rabbit nibbled cabbage snacks. My garden fence needs improvements.

Looking Forward

I grew a number of new plants last summer. Some were a success. Others were not.

Chinese eggplant is a better tub plant than traditional eggplant. Carrots need more water and more shade.

Sunflowers will not be in the garden again. Better planning for succession planting will be in the garden.

My seed list is growing as I add more plants. Most are old friends like Napa cabbage, bok choi, Zephyr squash, butternut squash, long beans, tomatoes, sweet peppers, Chinese celery, potatoes, beets. Newer ones include more kinds of snow peas, leeks and Savoy cabbage.

Planning ahead for Chinese cabbage
Napa cabbage and bok choi grow well in the tubs as long as I cover to deter cabbage worms and add shade to keep the tubs from getting too hot.

Thoughts about Gardening

It occurred to me that I write about my garden a lot over the course of the year. I spend a lot of time in it doing and trying different aspects of gardening.

Although I am a serious amateur gardener and read gardening books about other gardeners, I never considered writing about gardening. My garden is not neat, rarely orderly and my methods adapt each year.

Last year I kept a monthly planner about my garden. It told me a lot about how successful my garden turned out to be. Other people find my methods interesting.

Perhaps I will write down my thoughts about gardening in more detail this year. Maybe they will become a book after that. After the six I’m presently working on get finished.

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Digging Jerusalem Artichokes

When I mention digging Jerusalem artichokes to people, most of them think about the globe artichokes sold in the markets. This is not what I am talking about at all.

Globe Artichoke or Jerusalem Artichoke?

The globe artichoke is the flower of a thistle. These are enormous flowers, but just like the ones on roadside thistles before they open. If you slice through one of these, it will look like the market variety in miniature.

The Jerusalem artichoke is a sunflower. Wild varieties bloom in August and do have small tubers. My garden variety grows much taller, has large tubers and blooms in late August.

Artichokes and Potatoes

Another comment from people is how a Jerusalem artichoke is like a potato. Other than both being tubers, this is far from the truth.

Potatoes can be grown, dug, dried and stored in the pantry in a box. Yes, Jerusalem artichokes can be grown and dug like potatoes. If you try to dry them and store the min the pantry, they will wither away into husks.

digging Jerusalem artichokes
When the Jerusalem artichokes first get turned up, they are covered with dirt. This clump doesn’t have a lot of them in it. Most of the chokes broke off and had to be dug out. I never find them all.

Digging Jerusalem Artichokes

Since Jerusalem artichokes do not store well, they get dug as they will be used. I dig my first ones after the stalks have frozen and turned brown and brittle. These are chopped off about six inches over the ground and the stalks carted away. The stubs mark where to dig for tubers.

The best tool I’ve found is a potato fork. Pick one plant to dig. Have a bucket of water handy.

Use the fork to lift out the plant. The tubers are connected to the roots and buried in the ground. I use the fork to lift the tubers buried as much as a foot deep up.

I knock a lot of the dirt off. The bucket of water is for swishing off much of the dirt still on the tubers. Not all of the dirt will come off.

cleaning Jerusalem artichokes
Digging Jerusalem artichokes is time consuming. It doesn’t take long to gather up a pile. More time is spent checking for those still buried in the dirt. Rather than taking a lot of dirt into the house, I wash them off in the garden. This is the pile of washed chokes from this batch. Once inside the house, they are cleaned using scrubs and an old toothbrush. They are then ready to become mashed, stir fry like water chestnuts, pieces in stews, broken up in salads and more.

Yield

A single established plant yielded two plastic grocery sacks of tubers. This doesn’t count the discards chewed on by millipedes and sowbugs or too small to bother with.

No matter how carefully you are digging Jerusalem artichokes, you never get all of them. The plant will sprout up again in the spring to yield next winter’s crop.

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First Frost

This Ozark fall has been flirting with frost for a few weeks. The frost date isn’t until the end of October. Weather doesn’t read calendars so the first frost hit with twenty-five degrees.

There was warning in the weather forecast. Balmy days seemed to laugh at it.

Feeling Foolish

One by one I stripped and pulled the pepper plants. All tomatoes of any size came off the vines. Pumpkins and squash moved in on my pantry floor.

The weather was warm. Skies were blue. The only thought keeping me going was: Can I afford to be wrong?

If our first frost didn’t come, my summer garden would still be gone. If it did arrive, my last produce would be safely in the house. Frost would ruin this produce. I couldn’t afford to be wrong.

After first frost surprise
Reptiles disappear all winter. This young northern fence lizard hasn’t gotten the message yet. It’s basking on the old blanket I’m presently using to cover the raised bed.

Watch the Wind

All weekend the wind stayed from the southeast. This means warm or relatively warm temperatures.

Tuesday morning the weather vane began to move to the east. The wind picked up. That cold front was moving in.

Afterwards

Two mornings were in the mid twenties. All leftover squash and tomato vines hung limp, frozen.

There are some cold tender plants still growing because I took out the blankets and covered them. I keep a big stash of old blankets in the barn along with old towels and sweatshirts to use in the garden and on the goats.

Chinese celery won’t take a frost. Using old towels and blankets I’ve kept the plants growing slowly up into January.

Each morning I finish milking and go out into the garden to remove the coverings. It’s nice to see the Napa cabbage, bok choi and Chinese celery looking green and fresh.

banishing first frost cold
Nubian doe High Reaches Pamela is basking in the sun just now lighting up the barn lot after a night of freezing temperatures. Her black fur gets hot. Even the brown and gray fur on various goats gets really warm.

Goats and First Frost

I arrived to start milking and found an empty barn. Nubians love warmth. The herd had moved out in front of the barn to bask in the sun. Their warm fur helps warm up cold hands.

Now the forecast calls for some warmer temperatures. The goats, fall garden and I will be glad to enjoy them.

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Planning Ahead

So much is said about living in the now, appreciating what you see, feel, smell around you in the moment. That’s great up to a point. However, if you raise livestock or crops, planning ahead is essential.

goat coats keeping kids warm
If I want March kids, the does get to visit with Augustus in October. Part of planning ahead is to have the kids born when the weather is better. It doesn’t always work well as the goat coats on these kids of my Nubian doe High Reaches Drucilla say this March was a bit cold. Part of planning ahead is having the goat coats clean and ready just in case.

Livestock Planning

For a few years I ran a commercial rabbitry. There were around 120 does in my barn. These were roughly divided into eight sections. Why?

Gestation for a rabbit is four weeks. Weaning of baby rabbits is four weeks. The only income for a commercial rabbitry is from the sale of those baby rabbits, you guessed it, four weeks later.

Every week I bred some does, put nest boxes in for as many others, weaned babies for that many. If I didn’t keep a schedule, my rabbits went hungry.

It’s the same for other livestock. My goats have a gestation of five months. If I don’t breed in October, I have no kids to sell in the spring for money to put hay in the barn.

Planning ahead for Chinese cabbage
Napa cabbage is surprisingly cold hardy. However, cabbage worms love it. I was a bit late, but mine is wrapped with voile. The garden tubs work well for greens like this one, bok choi, peppers, eggplant and green onions among others. These seeds went in during August, so the cabbage will be ready to eat in November.

Raising Crops

Although I am only a homesteader, the same rules apply for farmers. The summer may be winding down and the summer crops with it, but spring will come again. The garden must be ready to plant then.

As a homesteader, I plant spring, summer and fall crops. January is the month to start cabbage and leeks. The end of February is time for peppers and tomatoes. August is time to plant turnips, spinach and greens along with broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.

Without planning ahead for these deadlines, my garden won’t put food on my table and in my freezer. The full freezer is sure comforting in the fall.

a section of my Ozark creek
One of the joys of living out on this property is going walking up on the hills, into the ravines or along the creek. The same walks are never boring as the places change as the weather and seasons change.

Enjoying the Now?

Standing in the barn door as my goats eat their grain, I look out over the pasture to the far hill. A breeze ruffles my hair. Birds flit by or stop on a branch to scold the cat.

Even though I spend a lot of time planning ahead, enjoying the now is important. It’s what makes homesteading special.

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Eating Jerusalem Artichokes

The yellow orange flowers of Jerusalem artichokes are along the roads now. My garden patch is just beginning to bloom. This winter’s menu plan includes eating Jerusalem artichokes.

Wild and garden chokes are not the same even though they are the same species. There are several big differences.

Jerusalem artichoke flowers
Like all the flowers in the Aster family, these flowers are really a ring of ray flowers forming the petals and small disk flowers producing the seeds. These are wild Jerusalem artichoke flowers as I can’t get up high enough for the garden ones, although they are the same as I’ve seen other years.

Wild Plants

All the plants along my road are five or six feet tall. They have an array of flowers at the tips of their stalks. The leaves look like spear heads as the petioles have wings and the leaves are triangular with a long taper.

According to Samuel Thayer’s book “Nature’s Harvest” the wild tubers are long, fat tubers. I’ve never dug any up, so I don’t know.

blooms precede eating Jerusalem artichokes
The top of the cattle panel is just below this picture. One of the twines broke and I had to replace it pushing the Jerusalem artichoke stalks up as I went. They are heavy! About frost I will cut the stalks off half way as the goats love the leaves. They don’t take killing frost, only light ones. Over the winter each plant can be dug for the sackful of tubers extending several inches below the surface. It’s impossible to find all of them so next year’s crop will grow here.

Garden Plants

Growing Jerusalem artichokes in the garden is challenging because of is their height. Thick two inch diameter stalks tower over my head. I haven’t measured them, but they are close to ten feet tall. Their roots aren’t deep enough to support this height.

My patch is lined on each side by cattle panels. A rope surrounds the patch with twine running between the panels to help support these huge plants. It’s a nuisance to have them fall over.

These plants bloom about two weeks later than their wild cousins. Each has fewer flowers on the ends of their stalks.

Eating Jerusalem artichokes from the garden is challenging too. These tubers are knobby with tight creases. Dirt clings to them and fills every crevice.

When I dig the tubers after frost, I have a bucket of water with me. First I shake and rub off all the dirt I can. Then I dunk them in the water and shake off more mud. Once in the kitchen I resort to an old toothbrush and often snap the knobs off the main tuber.

Eating Jerusalem Artichokes

Maybe someday I will sample the wild tubers. The description of them makes them sound a lot like the garden ones I grow, but smaller.

I find my tubers can be used like water chestnuts in stir fry or added to stews. Cooked they turn soft and taste a bit sweet. One plant produces lots of tubers, so my garden has a big supply.

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October Is Pumpkin Month

Yes, this is September. However, now is the time to get ready for Pumpkin Month. One way to do that is to check out “The Pumpkin Project”.

It is too late to grow pumpkins as frost kills the vines. Fall is when pumpkins arrive in the stores and get ripe in the garden.

pumpkin month honoree
Sugar pie pumpkins are the best eating pumpkins. Larger pumpkins can be eaten, but are coarser and not as sweet. Giant pumpkins are not eaten.

Pumpkins Aren’t Just Decorations

Pumpkin displays start appearing at houses around town in late September. I like to keep track of these as most people putting these up throw the pumpkins away after Halloween. Unless the weather has been very cold, I like to take these pumpkins home.

At my house the smaller pie pumpkins become pumpkin puree for cookies or soups. Some are chunks in stews.

Bigger pumpkins are treats for my goats. I cut them into bite sized pieces and take them out each evening. A few pieces go on each plate of grain.

Different goats eat the pieces differently. Agate pushes hers around as she eats all the grain. Then she eats the pumpkin pieces. Drucilla and Spring attack the dish before it is even set down in front of them as they grab the pieces, then eat their grain.

cover of "The Pumpkin Project" by Karen GoatKeeper
The focus of this book may be pumpkins, but it explores many aspects of botany and plants.

“The Pumpkin Project”

This science activity book has lots of pumpkin puzzles and investigations in it. Many of them start with the seeds and growing pumpkin vines.

There are stories about pumpkin history and growing giant pumpkins by people in the U.S., Sweden and Australia who grew award winning giant pumpkins. These are weighed at special fairs called Weigh Offs.

For Pumpkin Month there are more things to do with pumpkins. Of course, you can carve a pumpkin, but then it’s not good for anything but display. Painting one lets you cook up the pumpkin later.

What Can You Cook Up?

There are recipes for making pumpkin puree. Then you can make not only cookies, but pumpkin bread, Caribbean pumpkin bread, cheesecake, soups, pie and more. You can even roast the seeds for snacking.

In honor of Pumpkin Month, you can get a free pdf of “The Pumpkin Project” by emailing me and asking. The book is only available in print or as a large pdf.