Modern Daisy Hippee

I’m such a sucker for the “As Seen on TV” stuff. I just don’t seem to be able to help myself. Some of those things seem like such great ideas. Actually, some of them ARE great ideas. Quite often though, the execution of the idea is sub-par and the materials used for mass production of a great idea make the end product not so great.

Enough on my side-note, I’ll just get to the point. I thought the Aerogarden was one of those great ideas. You see, I love to grow herbs. I do seem to have difficulty keeping them alive though. I also love the idea of fresh tomatoes, since the ones in the grocery never seem to have much taste. Fresh lettuce for salads seemed to be a great idea too. So, I was so sold on this idea that I bought two Aerogardens; one for herbs and one for salad greens. I ended up returning one of them because I realized it was a bit over-rated. The salad greens didn’t work out too well. It seemed it was going to take a very long time before I would have enough greens for a salad. It did work out ok for the herbs, especially basil. That actually started to grow a woody stalk and I kept having to cut it back to keep it from burning on the light. Smaller, more delicate herbs still didn’t do great. This was especially true when I forgot to add water, of course.

I decided I like herbs in pots, with dirt, sitting on my window sill. I also found another “as seen on tv” item that actually does work great for me… Aquaglobes! You still have to remember to fill them though. I also water the plants whenever I think of it. They give me the leeway I need to keep my plants alive. I also decided I wanted to have a real veggie garden outside. I have thought about doing it for years and have just been afraid to give it a shot. I have a large yard, so there’s no excuse! (Except maybe that it is very dry here and way over 100 degrees in the summer.)

It turns out the Aerogarden can be fitted with a tray that allows you to start seeds for planting into pots or a garden. I thought that was a better use of it and would give me a greater variety of plants. I started a bunch of herbs, tomato plants, pepper plants and some other veggies for the garden.

In the future, I will not bother starting root veggies, zucchini, beans or lettuces in the Aerogarden. They did not flourish after transplanting. In fact, most of them just died. I planted seeds straight into the garden and most did just fine. The Aerogarden was good for starting herbs, tomatoes and peppers. It does seem to be important to transplant them fairly promptly when they are ready. It’s not the best when the plants get too big in the Aerogarden and the roots start wrapping around each other.

For the outdoor garden, I figured my best bet in this climate and with our not-so-good-for-growing soil was to build raised beds with specially mixed garden soil of some sort. I had also always thought plants could grow closer together than typical gardening dictates. I used to garden with my grandmother when I was VERY young. Even then, I really didn’t understand why all the plants had to be spaced so far apart. Ha! Turns out I was right!

I did some internet research and came across something called Square Foot Gardening. The concept is to grow a garden in raised beds, no wider than 4 feet across and any length you like. Divide the bed into square feet and plant. The 4 foot width allows you to reach the middle without stepping into the garden. That’s kind of a no-brainer there because there won’t be room for you if the bed is packed full of plants. I didn’t use the exact Square Foot Gardening rules. I just read through it to kind of verify what I was planning to do and fill in the blanks on some things I wasn’t sure about. Why reinvent the wheel, right?

This outdoor gardening experience has certainly become a learning experience. It’s almost the end of July and I haven’t harvested much from the garden. I will know better what to do and what not to do next season. At least, I hope so! It is a bit frustrating that I put so much work into this and have reaped very little benefit.

I learned two important lessons about gardening. First, the plants must have enough room to grow and be fruitful. Second, it is important to plant enough of each type of plant to produce what you want to eat. Both of these lessons boil down to one bottom line. Planning is critical. It doesn’t have to be a super detailed plan. It’s just important to make sure you have enough space for everything you want to grow and harvest. My biggest issue with this was that I wasn’t sure how much food each type of plant would end up producing. I didn’t want to end up with way too much food and with creating more work for myself than I could handle. Ultimately, I think that a bigger garden would be about the same amount of work with greater yields.

When I first planted everything, I was watering by hand every day. It seemed the direct sun was too much and that everything was wilting or drying up. I thought the garden needed some shade, so I put my patio umbrella over it to give it some partial relief. It seemed like it was doing better after that. I don’t know if it’s true or coincidence. I decided to add a shade over the entire garden because I had to go out a couple times a day to move the umbrella. I made a temporary cover with 2×4’s and a vinyl tarp. It seemed to help. Now that many plants have grown up, I’m not as concerned with the direct sun. The wind blew one of the 2x4s off the other night, so I just took the tarp down. It seems to be fine after about a week.

Zucchini & Crookneck Squash

These plants were growing like crazy. I over planted by putting 4 seeds into 1 square foot section. When the plants started growing, it was quite obvious that was not going to work! I pulled out all but 2 plants for each square foot. Then I realized that was still not enough room, so I just left 1 plant in each section. Honestly, that’s still pushing it.

In fact, while the plants are growing, I have yet to harvest any squashes. I’ve seen lots of flowers and some very small squashes starting to grow. Some of the flowers open up in the mornings and eventually fall off. I’ve read that you can eat them. They just don’t sound good except battered and fried. That’s not very healthy! The very small squashes wind up shriveling up and dying within a day or two.

Again, I did some internet research on this problem and found that it was most likely because the plants are not getting pollinated. I read that it can be done manually with a paint brush. I used a small paint brush to remove pollen from the male flowers and put it onto the buds forming at the ends of the very small squashes. The male flowers are on a long stem. These are the flowers that are usually opening in the morning. The female flowers that are on the ends of the squashes are not blooming yet so I just brushed the pollen on the bud. It stands to reason that since they aren’t open, they don’t need to be pollinated yet, however none of them have been lasting long enough to bloom so I brushed it on anyway. At this point, I don’t know what else to do. So, we’ll have to see if it works. I sure as heck hope so.

I did notice there are more tiny squashes than before, so if it seems to work, it could also just be a coincidence. Maybe I just wasn’t being patient enough.

I also had been pruning the plants because there were just too many leaves everywhere. The plants were very unruly & difficult to manage. So, now there is a lot of bare vine at the bottom where I had pruned. Nothing is growing back in those areas. I have the zucchini and squash plants trellised. Some people say you “can’t” do that. Others have done it and I’m doing it too. It’s much cleaner as far as I’m concerned. I don’t like bugs! This helps control them. My garden is organic so any natural method of controlling the bugs is good for me.

Beans

I planted two types of bush beans. One was a royal burgundy that is a purple color. They supposedly turn green when they are cooked. I never harvested enough to bother cooking them. I have three plants that survived, however they are not doing too well now. They are on the North side of the garden, so are a bit shaded. They are also quite close together and I’m sure that’s not ideal. Finally, they are near the soaker hose I have installed. I’m not sure if that is an issue or not.

The green beans died upon transplanting. I planted more seeds directly into the soil. They germinated and started growing, then also died.

Obviously, I need to do more research to have success with beans.

Tomatoes

I started at least two plants each of six different types of tomatoes. I wound up with five or six plants in 5 gallon buckets. Only two survived. One was looking very good, and then started losing all its leaves. The second one is still very small, although it is starting to grow finally.

I don’t think the 5 gallon buckets are working out. It’s just too dry here. I used the concept of the Aquaglobes on a larger scale, by filling an empty bottle with water and sticking it into the dirt. It helped a little. They still dried out too much. I recently transplanted the two surviving plants into the raised beds.

The tomatillo plant took a long time to start. However, once I planted it into the garden it took off. It’s probably the biggest plant I have now. It’s South facing, so getting lots of sun.

Peppers

The pepper plants that are South facing are also doing well even though I’ve only seen two peppers on six plants so far. The North facing pepper plants are not doing so well. They are very small. Apparently they need a good deal of sun.

I may need to do some more research on why they are not producing yet. Or perhaps I just need to be more patient. I did plant a bit late in the season.

Radishes, Carrots & Scallions

Apparently it’s important to not plant the seeds too deep. They also probably need lots of water. These didn’t all sprout up when I planted them straight in the ground. The didn’t work out too well starting them in the Aerogarden though either. The grow pods kind of trapped the veggie and they didn’t really grow well. Anyway, I didn’t focus on these too much.

Spinach

This would start to grow, then wilt and die. It may have been lack of sun. They were on the North side of the garden, under one of the giant leaved zucchini plants. They were pretty shaded. I didn’t plant any more. Maybe I’ll put some on the other side of the garden just to see what happens.

Lettuces

The arugula seemed touchy when it was first coming up. I think it got too hot for them. I tried a second batch in a different plot and they did fine. Part of the square wasn’t getting a lot of water, so that part wasn’t doing as well.

The romaine and Tom Thumb lettuces I planted sprouted up on tall stalks when I didn’t cut them soon enough. The stalks still grow leaves on them. It’s a little intrusive though. I only have 1 square foot of each and not too many plants. It’s not really enough, especially since it’s not producing very well.

Chard

I grew this cool Rainbow Chard because it was colorful. I had no idea how to cook it, so once again I turned to the ever helpful internet. Oh my gosh! I love this stuff. I used a super simple recipe of garlic and crushed red peppers in a bit of olive oil, sautéed the greens and added a very small amount of butter at the end. Yummy! The chard is growing quite well now, although it seemed to take quite a while to get going. It gets pretty big, so I only have two plants in one square foot. I could probably fit three or four if I wanted to. I probably will give that a shot next time because I want to have more. Maybe I’ll stagger the planting a little, so they mature at different times.

Cucumbers

I don’t know how long these are supposed to take. I’m finally getting one of two plants to climb a 4 foot bamboo stake. It’s taller than that now. The second plant is still only a few inches tall. I don’t know how big the vine gets, so maybe it is going to need the whole square foot.

Okra

I have two okra plants in 1 square foot. One plant has a fairly big stem. The other is smaller. That one is more shaded by the zucchini. They are on the South side of the garden. I’m guessing they need the direct sun. I could put 2 more plants in the space. I’ve gotten a few okra off the plants. Most of them were too big though and tough. I need to be sure to pick them much more quickly.

Overall, everything is taking much longer than the packages said they would. Lots of stuff died. Other things are just not doing as well as I expected.

I’ll be out of town for a week next month. I sure hope that’s not when everything is ready. I’ll have to see if my mom will come pick everything!

I’d like to plant grapes so I was thinking of building a pergola type cover for permanent shade and for the grapes to climb. I also want to add one or two more beds. I have been debating whether to make all the beds only one foot high or keep the two foot height I have in the existing bed. Either way, I may take out the existing bed and start over to level it out better. I’m sure I’ll regret putting myself through all of that if I decide to go that route.