Raising more than just Mustard Greens

I love supporting local wildlife with flowering plants. I also love seeing some insects on my plants. It lets me know that I the plants are healthy enough for other animals to consume. However, there comes a time when enough is enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That time came for me this last winter when my Mustard plants became the breeding ground for several dozen uninhibited harlequin bugs (not pictured). By the time I was able to get to the plot, the bugs had begun multiplying. In order to deter the adults to set up camp, I came back as soon as I could – at night – and chopped down all of the plants. This left a lot of residue, but given the proliferation of bugs and the potential for the Mustard to spread seed, it was wise for me to remove the plants as quickly as possible.

2023 Backyard Mustard Greens

This last winter I pretty impressed with how tall and lush the mustard greens in my garden grew. Especially considering that my garden has been suffering from the nearby trees and local fungi extracting the nutrients from the soil. Given how much it has been struggling in the summer, it was great to see it do so well over the winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One nice thing about growing in your own backyard is that you can see when the flowers are blooming and cut them down long before their seedheads mature. Just by looking out my back window I could see how the plants were coming along and take care of them while they were still manageable.

My Winter crop at the Raised Bed Gardens

In late 2021 and early 2022 I grew out a cover crop. I grew out some mustard greens in order to clean out my soil at the raised bed garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the end of my time growing out the mustard greens, the plants were flowering and beautiful. I was grateful that they were able to help feed local pollinators, but I made sure to cut them prior to setting too much seed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cover Crops and biofumigation at the chicken garden

After growing out Fava beans in the winter of 2018-2019, I decided that coming into 2020, I should try growing out a different cover crop. I had read a lot of literature concerning the benefits of biofumigation, so I decided to give it a try. My thought was that I would try some deep radish as well as some mustard greens. I planted everything and waited.

The seed (from Territorial Seed Company) germinated quickly and everything grew quite well. After incorporating chopped up mustard greens to the soil I used a piece of black plastic to cover a section of the garden with. This enabled the mustard greens to break down and release biofumigants to eliminate any disease in the soil.

Everything grew quite well and was reasonably easy to mow down. A word to the wise though: for a home gardener it is much easier to chop up plants when they are small and still green, prior to the main stock becoming more hard and woody.

What's going on in my Winter Garden(s) in 2020

For those of you not familiar with a Mediterranean climate, such as near the California coast and throughout parts of Italy, the summers can be dry and hot and the winters can be cool and wet. As cool and wet can be a challenge for vegetable gardening, I often choose to plant crops that require minimal maintenance over the winter. The majority of what I am currently growing in the spaces that I manage are cover crops, or green manure plants.

My garden looking from the south

At home, I am growing fava again. However, this time I have been adding oat grass to the mix. I have heard that oats are able to make the silicon in the soil more soluble. As there have been some studies on the relationship between soluble silicon and powdery mildew resistance, I thought it would be worth trying it out. Even if I do not get my cucumber-melons to resist powdery mildew as long as I want, I can still compost the oat grass.

My garden, looking from the north.

While I have heard that some gardeners utilize their greenhouses over the winter (something I’m sure I would have done back in Tucson) I really have no desire to go through the work of maintaining plants in my greenhouse over the winter. As greenhouses can be a lot of work, it can be a much needed relief if you don’t have to be in them year-round. While my greenhouse doesn’t look as bad as the last photo I took of it (I have since harvested the sweet potatoes) I will probably be cleaning it up quite a bit before my next photo session.

One of the main reasons that I grow cover crops over the winter is because I don’t care much for battling critters for food. This includes squirrels. When I moved into my current location I initially had a major concern about the stray cats using the restroom in my garden. Since most of the cats have since moved on or been relocated by neighbors, the squirrel population has seemingly exploded. With this has come the constant digging up of my potted lettuce. I won’t go into all my emotions about this, but in short I’ll just say I am now growing lettuce on my balcony in 5 gallon buckets whose soil is protected by aluminum foil. Tacky? Yes – but effective too.

Fava and lettuce in 5 gallon buckets on my balcony

This next picture is one of the fertile garden. Notice that nothing is growing in the garden beds. This is because I take the winter season off from managing the fertile garden beds. This is at least how the owner prefers it, so a break in maintenance works for me!

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the chicken garden soil is constantly in need of improvement. Having begun with very rocky dirt, it took a while to begin transforming the ground into more healthy dirt. Additionally, the section with tomatoes from last fall seems to still be having concerns. Though I began growing mustard greens there (for biofumigation purposes) I am considering planting some grass, like oats there for a second cover crop soon. The mustard is not doing as well as I would like. As I have said earlier, tomato plants can be worse than antibiotics for the human gut. Tomato plants suck so much life from and leave so much residual disease pressure on the soil that I try to minimize how many plants I grow.

Finally comes the newer garden. My place of employment has permitted me to utilize one of their raised gardens for my growing purposes. Though I grew a small crop of cucumbers to share with the staff last fall, I have some more substantial plans for this plot in the upcoming year.

Over the last year, I have worked very hard to constantly gather compostable materials to feed to my gardens. It has greatly helped and enabled my gardens to get better and better each season.

While not everyone who grows or manages garden space may be able to grow year round, I hope that those reading this might consider the merits of “feeding the soil” healthy compost and other inputs that will enable the garden to regenerate the soil life and tap the nutrients necessary bountiful vegetable harvests.

Garden Fun with Favas

After reading up on and going through the work of harvesting, shelling, and de-skinning my fava bean crop last year, I decided that the flavor and texture made lima beans much more palatable. Though I know some people love eating fava beans, I have decided that fava beans will always possess another special place in my garden. Below is my garden in September.

 

Despite my best efforts to eat them, I was left with quite a lot of dried seed after growing out the favas last winter and spring.

Pictured here are the tree collards/perennial kale, lemon grass, green onions and a small bush of Marigold. The tomato plant in the background got attacked by squirrels (or cats) enough times that it fared very poorly. By October, I decided it was time to put in the winter crop.

 

After placing out all the fava bean seeds, I used a wooden pole to push the seeds deep enough to sprout well.

 

For some reason, I was unable to get to the photographing the plants until early February. The squirrels dug up and chewed on at least half a dozen seeds, but many managed to sprout.

 

These two pictures are of the favas in late February. Someone gave me some Arugula (Rocket) seed. I’m not much for these, but they cover the ground and outcompete any weeds that might consider springing up.

 
Now that it is March, the favas are beginning to flower. I have been considering cutting them back to keep from having to deal with the beans again this year.

 So – why did I waste my fertile garden space for fava beans? That's simple. For green manure. At the end of the season I’m planning on removing the plant tops at ground level at and cutting up the tops to incorporate with my composting fall leaves. The rocket (arugula) will pretty much share the same fate. The nitrogen-rich roots of the fava bean will be left in the soil to nourish the next summer crop of carosello cucumbers. The reason why I grow a green manure in the winter instead of a food crop is because I don’t get a lot of light in the winter and because of slugs.

It’s a good thing I planted a green manure instead of babysitting lettuce and carrots – especially with the wet winter that has enabled slugs and snails to dominate the landscape. After all, the slugs don’t care too much for fava or alliums like garlic and onions.