Mulch- Whats the Big Deal?

I know that we briefly covered mulch in another post, I would like to dive a bit deeper into it. First off, why should we mulch? There are several reasons to mulch, one of the most important and best money savers is to conserve water. If you are one that has to pay for your water and you use it to water the garden, you know that you always see a huge increase in the bill when the gardening season rolls around.

1.Using wood mulch in a garden is not always the best idea as it can deplete the Nitrogen levels in the soil thus making it less productive. It also takes longer to break down.
2. Hay also does not make very good mulch because it contains many weed seeds, we all know that is one thing that we do not want in our gardens is weeds.
3.Although straw has less weeds in it, it breaks down fairly fast so you will have to replenish it more often.
4. Leaves are actually a very good mulch to use although I would highly recommend staying away from using Black Walnut tree leaves. If you have ever tried to plant a garden near a Walnut tree you will understand why. Leaf mulch should be coarsely ground and applied fairly thick.
5. Grass clippings have some great advantages also. Grass clipping hold moisture very well keeping the soil wetter longer.
If your soil is on the sandy side mulching is almost a must, not only to keep the moisture but to add much needed nutrients to the soil. Over time you will change the make up of the soil to make it better for growing. If you live in a hotter climate mulching your garden will also protect the soil from extreme heat in turn protecting the plants roots from the heat leading to better growing.

When it comes to mulching for the first time, it is best to do it right before you know it will rain or you will have to water moderately right after you apply it. More often or not, the new mulch will be on the dryer side and will pull moisture from the soil. Watering or a nice steady prolonged rain on your mulch will keep the moisture in the soil where it belongs.
As always, if you have a question please leave a comment.

Plan for next year?

It is fall and things are winding down as far as the gardening goes. Sure there may be a few things left to harvest, but for the most part here in the Midwest, the leaves are changing and  the nights are getting cooler. The days are getting shorter, soon (for some of us) there will be snow on the ground with the resemblance of the frozen tundra. So, now what do we do? For those of us that spend so much time outside in our gardens whether that be flower or veggie garden, this time of year is bitter sweet for sure. There is always cleaning up the space, getting all of the dead debris, either composted or hauled off to a compost site. Getting your fall fertilizer applied or that fall till done. Aged manure, peat moss are both great for your garden. IF you decide to go with fresh manure make sure to apply it int he fall so it can sit over the winter.
Another thing to think about over the winter months is planning. Why plan you ask? If you take the time to plan your garden to maximize the area you have available can greatly increase your gardens production.
What grew well the past year and what didn't?
Where is the best place in the garden to plant things? The best ways to design your garden is to plant the taller plants on the north side of the garden and the shortest plants on the south side of the garden  so they are less likely to be affected by shade from the taller plants.
What things does you family like to eat? If you generally go though lots of tomato sauces, then maybe more tomatoes would be best. Herbs are another great thing to plant. You can plant dill for making your own dill pickles, or how about garlic?
There are so many possibilities when it comes to planting your garden, and with some planning, who knows what you can do!

Happy Gardening!

Simple Storage/Cold Rooms

Anyone ever heard of the term "root cellar"? Well if not you are in for a treat.
For those of you that garden and have a basement (as most in the midwest do) or as some call them, cellars. We all have a corner that never gets used that is away from heat sources. This is the perfect place, for a little bit of money building a cold room. When I say cold room you may be thinking, how do I get air conditioning in my basement? The answer is you do not have to. As you know basements stay naturally cool and even more so in the winter.What better place to store things such as potatoes, squash, apples, onions. A cold room is also a wonderful place to store all of your home canned veggies and tomato sauces.
Where should you put your cold room? The best place to put your cold room is in a corner of the basement or cellar that does not leak and has the least amount of moisture in it. If at all possible try to keep it out from under a light source. Either a light fixture or a window are not good to have in your cold room. Determine the size of the room you will need, generally an 8x8 is plenty as you can have selves and stack crates of potatoes  on the floor.

The the most important factor in your cold room is insulation, you want to keep the cool air in and the warm air out. Start off by building your walls. The walls do not need to be to housing construction standards as they offer no integrity to the structure on the home. Bear in mind that enough room should be left open for a small door. I would how over recommend using 1/2" plywood and nothing thinner as you will lose the coolness. After you walls are built a simple ceiling should be installed. The ceiling can be made from lighter plywood since as we all know heat rises and it is ok if that escapes. After the walls and ceiling are built, make sure to insulate the walls very well. Either rolled or Styrofoam insulation works well.

Preparing for the next planting.

The leaves are starting to turn ever so slightly here in Eastern Iowa. We all know that with fall comes cooler temps and the garden grinding to a halt with a quick frost. After the first hard frost of the fall, you are left with a bunch of withering plants and vegetables and fruits that will never ripen. What do you do with all of that garden debris? There are several things that can be done.
1. Take all of the debris to a local compost site.
2. Make your own compost site.
3. Use a lawn shredder or chipper and shred all of the debris.

If you choose to take all of your debris to a local compost site, you will lose all of the direct benefits of the decomposing debris. If your compost site allows you to take already composted materials away from the site this is a great way to keep your yard nice and clean.

If you have enough room, making your own compost site is a perfect way to make your own soil/compost additive for your garden and flowers. you will know exactly what if any chemicals are in the compost. If you decide to compost yourself you will need to make a space to house your compost, or in an area that is out of site.
By using a lawn chipper/shredder, I have found that it makes it easier to combine different composting materials into a nice pile. Things such as garden debris, lawn clippings and straw make excellent composting material.

Cherry Tomatoes

Do you replant your cherry tomatoes every year, if so why? Let me share a great tip that I have used for the last 5 years now. When I first planted eight cherry tomato plants over 5 years ago, I thought that, I would have to replant the next year like "usual"

The fall started like it did every other year. The first frost caught me off guard, it wasn't just a light frost it was an unusually hard freeze. So, there I was my cherry tomatoes were done for the year. I pulled all the plants and headed them for the compost pile.I dropped a few of the little green and some red cherry tomatoes on the ground when I did so. After I had pulled the plants and other debris, I went for the tiller.
Fast forward to the spring, since I have had my garden in the same spot for the last couple of years there weren't many weeds so I did not till it again. As I was working in the garden planting my usual, radishes and onions, I noticed where the cherry tomatoes had been there was a cluster of little plants that looked a lot like tomato plant seedlings about 2-3 inches tall. I thought to myself, well I will wait and see what they are for sure. A week or so went by, i was out to check the onions and radishes. I looked over and noticed that my little "plants" had taken on the distinct characteristics of a tomato plant. As the spring went to summer, I knew that these tomato plants were left overs from the year before and had to been from the little ones that had fallen on the ground when I pulled the plants.
So, from then on, I have not planted cherry tomatoes again, I just make sure to leave a few behind. Five years later, my cherry tomato patch has grown nearly double. All off of 8 plants 5 plus years ago.

As always have a great day!

Why garden in the first place?

 Ask yourself this question. Do we garden for fun or do we garden for a specific reason. I think back to my younger days, WATCH IT...I turned 39 yesterday. Growing up in rural Iowa almost everyone gardened because they had to. Most people had mid to bigger sized families to feed. If you grew up on a farm gardening was a family affair to say the least. trying to grow enough extra food to get though the winter because you could not always make it to town, the roads were closed due to too much snow. Back in those days there were so many reasons as to why people planted big gardens. The question is, why do MOST people plant them today? Sure there are those that plant them because they want organic foods and still some plant for the kids. my question is: are we headed for the days again that we need to plant because we have to? Look at everything going on in the world today, high fuel and gas prices, every time we turn around someone is raising out utility bills. Walk into a grocery store, have you noticed the prices on everything let alone the fruits and vegetables. It wasn't that long ago you could go in and buy a 10 lb bag of potatoes for 2.99 now you lucky to get under 6 bucks. Lets not even mention strawberries, tomatoes and most other produce. The cost effectiveness of gardening far out weighs going and buying everything in the store. For most families, even growing a few things can add up to big savings. While I understand that there are places in the big cities that you just can not grow things, unless you have a balcony on an upper floor (see gardening in small spaces). Another reason to garden is "for the kids" it gives them something to do. I can somewhat agree with the reasoning but, lets look at this a bit more. not only does it give kids a sense of accomplishment. It also instills in them a work ethic and something other to do than just video games.

Until next time, Happy Gardening.

Making Dill Pickles

Most people love dill pickles, from topping burgers, to spears, to on almost anything. Heck some people just love pickles. Pickling is the process of brining for the purpose of preserving food for later consumption. While there is debate as to the way it should be done. I will give you MY take and how I do it and you may judge for yourself. If you are familiar with the cold pack method, this is how I make my dill pickles.
What you will need:
Wide-mouth Jars(depending on the amount of cucumbers you have)
Garlic
Dill (prefer fresh)
1/4 cup Pickling Salt
2 Cups ofWhite Vinegar
3 Cups of Water
2 Large pots
Widemouthed Short Funnel
Room temperature cucumbers
Minced or whole garlic cloves
First and foremost, you MUST sterilize the jars and lids. I keep my jars in the boiling water for 2-3 minutes making sure to roll the jars around sterilizing all sides.I do keep my lids in the hot water until I am ready to place them on the jars. If you have a magnet, they work great for removing the lids from the hot water. I find it best to let the jars cool a bit before use for easier handling.  While you are doing that, put in another pot the water, vinegar and pickling salt bring that to a boil. Once it is boiling reduce the heat a bit to keep it at a simmer.
While the brine is simmering and the jars are cooling quarter any cucumber that you think are too big to fit in the jars or to maximize the space in the jars.
Pack the jars good and tight with the raw cucumbers, placing 1-2 cloves of garlic and a nice amount of dill in the jars. (garlic and dill can be adjusted for individual tastes)

After all the jars are filled with the raw cucumbers, use your funnel and fill the jars with the bring leaving yourself 1/2 inch of head room (space between the top and the liquid). Once all jars are filled with brine, dip a corner of a clean towel in the plain water and wipe off the mouth of the jar to ensure it is clean to get a good seal.

Place the lids and rings on the jars, tighten until they are pretty snug, place the jars in your hot water bath while on simmer for around 15 minutes. Take them out of the water bath and sit them on your table, counter etc. for 24 hours. after some time as the contents cool, you will begin to hear the jars sealing. If after 24 hours a jar hasn't sealed place it in your refrigerator till it is ready to be eaten. I do recommend storing your pickles in a cool dry place for at least 6 weeks to alow all of the great flavors to meld together.

Happy Pickling.