Author Archives: Ali

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About Ali

Gardening is a peaceful place for me. I have loved it since I was a very young child. I want to share with you my journey in my small half acre lot in the middle of our city what you can achieve, such as gowing a garden, orcharding, caring for bees, goats and poultry. Going back to the simple life. Using what you have to the best of your ability.
by | August 1, 2012 · 1:22 pm

July’s End

What a busy month! We jumped into July with sailing temperatures at 112 degrees. Pretty typical for July in Southern Utah, just always hard to get used to! Our garden stressed, wilted, but somehow it again survived. The heirloom tomatoes have produced like no other year! I would like to think my new planting mix did the trick. But I can’t dismiss the fact that I was very diligent about spraying kelp tea and liquid bone meal, covering with row cover and treating them like a baby.  We have had beautiful heirlooms of every color shape and size. I have my favorites again this year. Golden King of Siberia, a HUGE yellow heirloom. Although it has only produced a slight bit more than a dozen tomatoes, they have all been over 1-1/2 pound fruit. This one is not acidic, but it is very sweet. Bread & Salt is another huge tomato that produced heavy with several weighing in at just over 2 pounds. One of my most productive tomatoes so far this year was the Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge. The purple smudge, is just that, a fun little smudge on the shoulders. Off of one plant we probably picked over 4 dozen tomatoes, and it’s still going strong. Beautiful, although it’s not my favorite, others who tried, enjoyed the flavor. There is a tomato for everyone! Everyone’s favorite this year is the Kiwi. Resembling its color, not so much the flavor. Mild, but still that great old-fashioned tomato flavor with a twist! You might think it is not ripe, but once convinced green is ripe with this guy, you will be hooked!

Just when we thought we couldn’t take the heat any more we were hit with moisture and lots of it! We did get hail the size of a nickel, but luckily this year there was not much damage. Before the July rains, our rainfall for 2012 was only 3″! We have received over 3.5″ of rain within the last few weeks. Oh, the vegetable garden has greened up, grown like crazy with the lightning storms which has helped the plants grab the nitrogen!

Our dairy goat, Ivy is producing over 3/4 a gallon per milking. This is her first year, so she is doing super.  She does get the best hay, organic grain and plenty of healthy bites from the garden. Both her twins are growing like weeds. If you have never had a baby goat, you are missing out in the amusing show of jumping around the barn yard full of energy (energy I wish I could bottle).  We have made kefir, feta, summer cheese and buttermilk. This is when the chores pay off!

We had chaos in the milking barn when our mother rabbit escaped, and when I opened the door to the barn she bolted in and disappeared behind the hay storage. Yup! She’s a rabbit! 5 new babies. We had little fast hoppers running in an out of the hay until my daughter sat patiently with me till we had them all caught. Even though we have homes for all of them, well…..She’s mama is a AGAIN! You know that old saying…They breed like rabbits. It’s true, she certainly has it figured out!!!

Casper (the perfect cat) wasn’t feeling well, so off to the vet we went.  The poor little guy had to have all but a few teeth removed. The few that are left are for decoration purpose only. It’s only been three weeks he is back to normal. Sleeping on the cash register, roof of the barn, and tomato patch and screaming for food. Not up to being a farm cat, but then again, he never was! Maybe this will slow him down on chewing my nursery stock of herbs! Doubt that!

Bottling tomatoes, drying fruit, preserving currants and roasting peppers have been big on the list of chores with peaches, pears, figs and apples on their way to ripen. The constant fallen fruit pick up is a must so we don’t get brown rot in our fruit in years to follow. Good hygiene in the garden is added work right now, but well worth it in the long run. We have fewer disease, pest and problems when old fruit and veggies are removed and tossed into the compost pile. Tomatoes, or anything else for that matter that has dead leaves, should be removed in case of blight or other disease. This stops or at least slows the problem. Don’t use diseased plant matter as a mulch!  Remove it from the garden.

Believe it or not the greenhouse is back in swing! Several flats of brassica are started and getting sized up for fall planting. Keeping the little seedlings wet is so important! Brassica family, especially cauliflower does not produce well later on if they are allowed to dry out at any time of their life!

This is the time of year where the heat ‘peters’ us out, but if we can preserver, fall is just around the corner and this is sometimes the best of all the harvests. Tomatoes aren’t as watery, peppers don’t get sunscald and flavor seems to improve. Keep weeds in check to save yourself time later. Even if all you can do is cut off the seed heads. Deadhead your perennials for lasting blooms. Start to fertilize again when new blooms develop. Remove diseased plants so as not to spread. Side dress with compost. Compost will help keep the soil moist, cool and add tilth. If you have plants that are struggling, give them a hair cut to revive them and boost them with some kelp tea.

Enjoy the rest of the summer. Sit down in the evening with a glass of lemonade in your garden and watch the sunset.

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by | July 24, 2012 · 1:08 pm

Lovin’ Lovage

Young Lovage Plant just started in the greenhouse

Yes Lovage is a plant.  Grown for centuries, but not very well-known that long!  Lovage has always reminded me of celery.  The smell, taste,  even they way it looks.    When used infused in soups it will give them a creamy taste, adding a nice rich flavor.   My favorite is to add it to our morning carrot juice or even tomato-based drinks.  The Leaves, stems and all.  Using the small inner leaves for salads will get you hooked!  Lovage seeds can be used to garnish food.  The seeds are great as a bread/roll topper instead of poppy-seed or caraway.

I grow lovage in my greenhouse so I can have something fresh all winter.  I have grown it outside, but our winters a cold enough to stop the growth or even cause die back, but it is hardy so it will generally return come warmer days.  A cold frame works well to grow lovage in during the cold months.  Lovage is a perennial that enjoys relief from the afternoon sun so it won’t get sunscald. One clump can spread 3 feet and launch towers of flower stalks, so give it some space.  When planting lovage will appreciate a little prep to the soil.  Add a shovel full of compost and a handful of kelp meal to the planting hole and mix with the existing earth.

When starting lovage from seed, use fresh seed.  Seed that is less than two years old.  Use a soil-less soil mix.  Fill the pots with the moist potting mix up to 1″ from the top of the pot.  Place two or three seeds into each pot and cover with 1/4-inch of soil.  If you’re not growing in a greenhouse you can cover the pot with plastic wrap and give it some bottom heat.  Once the seeds germinate in about 12 days, (it can take up to three weeks) remove the plastic and give the little plants sunlight for at least 8 hours a day or supplement with a grow light.  Once it is about 4-5 inches tall it can be transplanted to its permanent spot.

Most insects steer clear of lovage, but leaf miners can be a problem at times.  They tunnel through the leaves and that makes it hard to spray.  If the problem gets to bad, you can just simply cut back away the leaves and they will grow again.

Heat Matt , Kelp Meal

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by | June 2, 2012 · 12:29 pm

Tomatoes: Curly Top Virus

Summer is upon us once again and now I start to worry about Curly Top Virus.  Curly Top can devastate  several plants or even your entire crop.    It is transmitted by the sugar beet leafhopper.    They are very small and hard to detect in the garden.  Only one-tenth of inch long, pale green, gray, or brown in color.  They are winged and wedge-shaped.

Beet Leaf Hopper

The interesting thing about the  nasty little bugger is that tomatoes are not their favorite crops.  It just comes in looking for what it wants, hops around, infects the plant and moves on.  Tomatoes aren’t the only thing that can be affected by Curly Top.  Peppers and bean plants can also be infected.

Curly Top is just what the name implies.  Curling leaves.  It kinda looks like your tomato plant is wilting.  To be sure that wilting is not what the problem , water and wait to see if the wilted look goes away in an hour or so.   Leaflets roll and develop a purplish color, especially along the veins.  Leaves and stems become stiff; fruit ripens prematurely.   Leaves may remain green or turn yellow.  Yellowing will generally begin  at the bottom of the plant first.  The virus spreads in a random fashion.  You can have a healthy plant right next to an infected plant.

Curly Top

There is no cure for curly top, but there are prevention steps you can take.  The beet leaf hopper prefers to feed in sunny spots.  Providing some shade for tomatoes and peppers will discourage leafhopper feeding.  Row cover can be used to offer shade.  Not only will it discourage the beet leaf hopper, it will also help tomato and pepper plants grow better and produce more fruit during the hottest summer months giving them some relief.  The beet leaf hopper also likes dry conditions.  Keeping the soil evenly moist will raise the humidity level around the plants.  Apply a good layer of organic matter to reduce evaporation.  Areas that the humidity level is 50% or higher there will be little or no beet leaf hoppers.  Areas of 30% humidity there is a large increase of hoppers.  Of course our area that is often time 10% or lower during the summer months we seem to be affected heavily.  Another option to help keep these hoppers at bay is spraying with neem. Neem is an organic spray from the neem tree.  Spraying should be done weekly and ONLY in the evening times.  If you spray during the heat of the day you will cause burning!  NEVER use more than the label tells you when using concentrate.  This can also cause burn.  More is not always better.  I also try not to spray  the blossoms.   If your plant shows all the tell tell signs of curly top,

Purple coloring in plant veins usually means stress.

stunting, curly leaves, ect. it should be removed.  Leaving the disease plant in place will provide a  source of virus for feeding leafhoppers to pick up and carry to healthy plants.  Put the disease plant in a garbage bag, seal and toss or burn.  DO NOT COMPOST the diseased plant either.

Neem

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by | May 24, 2012 · 12:40 pm

Life is Abundant this Week!

We know summer is well on its way when our temperatures are in the 100’s. The spring garden is just passing its peak and I will start to remove lettuces, spinach and cool season crops that are going to seed and start to pop in sweet potato plants, more peppers plants and squash seed in the vacant spots. Our little farm is lively with the arrival of twin Nubians does, baby bunnies,baby quail and the rest of our farm critters that keeps us on our toes. This is when true dedication comes in….or in other words, the work! Weeds are a plenty, watering chores have elevated, milking, feeding, thinning the fruit trees, harvesting and preserving.

This week we harvested over two gallons of Camarosa Strawberries.  They are one of my favorite strawberries.  Although they are not everbearing, they are big,  extremely flavorful and the harvest is very plentiful and they will produce a second crop in the fall, although not as big.  After cleaning them and slightly drying them, I place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet and freeze.  Once frozen they get put into quart bags for winter smoothies.

2 years ago I planted 3 pear trees, one a seckel, one a bosc and the other is a red pear.  I really didn’t have anymore space on the property so I crammed them closely on the south side of the shed to be espaliered.  Beneath them is another bed of strawberries.  So far the are looking great and maintenance has been very minimal.  Besides they are a great addition to farmyard.

This week we have new baby bunnies.  You know the saying “breed like rabbits”, well new bunnies are pretty common here, but none the less, I just love the little guys!

Our chickens are laying in full production.  They are getting all the scrapes from the garden, like lettuce, spinach and other greens that have become bitter or have gone to seed.  Their production always gets a boost when they get a large amount of fresh garden scrapes.  If you haven’t raised chickens, you might want to try.  I love watching them rummage through their treats from the garden, plus the eggs become so rich and bright!

This week the artichokes are abundant.  Artichoke dip, artichoke hearts, and whatever else I can muster up.  Saturday we harvested over 25 artichokes off of three plants and we will probably harvest that again this week.  As they ripen through the month the size of the globe gets smaller and smaller.  After the harvest is over, the plants start to look scraggly so I will cut out old stocks and leaves then toss them into the compost.  My once beautiful, very large plants will become rather ugly and tired looking.  They need a rest from their labor!

I have really become a fan of ‘purple of sicily’ cauliflower.  It’s taste is almost nutty when steamed.  It seems to do very well in our conditions and what’s not to like?  It has color, it’s an heirloom, and it tastes good!

Our tomatoes get covered ever year to prevent the beet leaf hopper from infecting the curly top virus.  This year we have warmed up early and we are very dry.  These conditions are prefect for this awful virus.  Once the tomatoes get it there is nothing you can do, so prevention is essential.  Eight years ago here in Southern Utah it was almost unheard of and now the virus is ramped and can wipe out your entire crop.  Now that’s devastating whether you have hundreds of tomatoes or maybe just a few heirlooms.

If you have the space, I would suggest planting a Bagel Peach.  Oh my goodness!  The flavor can’t be beat (although our white peach is a very close runner-up).  Although the peach is small, it’s not small in flavor.  The bagel peach is not for preserving, but I think you will find a small family can consume them rather quickly before even thinking about preserving.  Caution:  They can be very addicting!  You may also find them with the name of Flat Peach or Saturn.

Our Nubian doe Ivy, had twins does two weeks ago.  Once again I am milking and looking forward to making cheese, yogurt and kefir.   the babies are so much fun at this age, so full of life and playful.  The first doe born has a name of Sassafras, Sassy for short.  The poor little second baby is still nameless….  Perhaps nothing has come to fit her personality yet.

Our lavender looks great this year.  It’s loaded with blooms that we will harvest within the next few weeks.  Did you know the blossoms are great in a balsamic vinegar dressing?  There isn’t too much that will bother lavender and once established, it is a breeze to grow.  Once I have harvested all of the lavender flower stalks I will trim back the bush to a nice mound to keep it uniform and healthy for next years show.

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