Waiting for the Heat

Over the course of the winter I have been building up my compost around my orange tree and I have been feeding a family of bluebirds from my food waste compost bin. The compost is filled with worms and other critters that are quickly breaking down the leaves and other refuse into dark nutrient-rich soil. The extended cool season has been very good for my onions, garlic and fava beans. Additionally, the tomato plants don’t seem to mind the cooler weather too much.

Leaves and other plant material turning into healthy soil

Fava Beans affected by the wind.

Fava bean pods

 
Although I moved to Northern California to escape the heat, I am really missing how well my carosello do with the heat of Southern Arizona. Being used to starting my first crop at the beginning of March, it is difficult to hear that I will probably have to wait to start in May until I can figure out how to raise the temperature of my garden. I thought I had already learned patience when waiting all winter to put my plants into the ground!

An earlier attempt to start my carosello plants

My most recent attempt to start my carosello plants

I have had a lot of difficulty with my summer crops so far – except for the tomatoes. The only place where my carosello are doing well now is the one place that I don’t have a good watering system – in my greenhouse. I am considering my options for watering my greenhouse plants – though I would prefer to do something that did not involve having the greenhouse plants watered by the same soaker hoses as the outdoor plants.

 

In the greenhouse the carosello are doing quite well.

The Carosello in my greenhouse

 

Another carosello in the greenhouse

Tomatoes don’t belong in my Garden

Given the fact that tomatoes are incredibly easy to grow in Fairfield, when compared with many other places in the world, one would probably think that I would be crazy to say this, but I’m not growing tomatoes in my garden anymore. Don’t get me wrong – I love tomatoes. As anyone in my family would tell you, I can hardly get by a day without them. However, after having experienced a host of tomato diseases in the past and experiencing the depredation of the garden soil that was caused by growing tomatoes last summer, I finally decided not to grow tomatoes in my garden anymore.

 

Finally - Celebrity Tomato Starts! (=

The compost that I made was good - but filled with plant-devouring woodlice.

After solarizing the compost, I planted some tomatoes and carrots.

This does not mean that I will stop growing tomatoes this year though. I am planning on growing out some vigorous determinate Celebrity and Rosella Purple Dwarf in a small plot I recently dug and in a wine barrel. Hopefully, the plantings will do well. This way, I can keep the soil in these plots contained and grow out some winter green manure crops between tomato plantings.

Measuring out the hole for the new tomato plot.

Now all I need are some soaker hoses and tomato cages.

 

Why I Love False Starts

In the Spring and Winter the gardener often experiences something that is referred to as a “false start”. A false start is a period of time (usually three or more days) in which it seems that the temperature has changed from freezing/cool temperatures to warm/hot temperatures prior to the summer or from warm/hot temperatures to freezing/cool temperatures prior to the winter. What makes the temperature change a false start is that it is only temporary, and quickly changes back to the prior cycle soon after the false start.

March 2018 Temperatures for Fairfield, CA

April 2018 Temperatures for Fairfield, CA

In the example pictured above, the temperature in March and April in Fairfield California is listed in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. The red line represents the high and low temperatures.The main thing that summer gardeners are concerned about is the freezing point. From March 28th to April 4th, it looked as if winter temperatures were over. Then, on April 5th, the daytime temperatures began to dip  to 50 degrees F and will most likely not get back up the the near 80 degree mark for some time. A combination of low day and night temperatures after a warm spell in the spring is something that would cause grief for the farmer and gardener alike. However, if the false start is noted, it can often work towards a gardener’s advantage. 

False starts are great, because they allow the gardener to get a “practice run” in before the season really begins. If minor mistakes are made and observed, it can often be more helpful when the gardener has time to make adjustments beforehand. With the few weeks of added time, the gardener is able to better plan for the next season’s needs. I additionally use the first false start as a motivator. “Gee whiz – it is getting hot. I guess I really need to get my last season’s crop out and get everything ready.”

This chard (silverbeet) is beginning to bolt from the premature high temperatures

With modern day conveniences, it can often be difficult to take a step back. But that is what a garden teaches me to do. Yes, a gardener may think that initial warm spell means summer - only to be caught off-guard by overnight freezing temperatures. Though initially frustrating, as I have allowed nature to tutor me, occasional delays such as false starts have become my friend.

Succulent and other plant Trade Event

Here in Fairfield, the main entity for gardening events is the University of California, Davis chapter of Master Gardeners. The venue is quite different from the Tucson Organic Gardeners, but it is still pretty good.

Gardeners looking over succulent exchange

The front desk at Fairfield's UC Master Gardener's Extension office

Another counter at the UC Master Gardener's Extension office

My son and I went over to take a couple Taxi tomato starts and a pot with perennial kale and lemongrass to the event. We came back with a little spearmint plant. Altogether the event was alright, but I really wish that the Solano County Library had a seed exchange like they do in Tucson.

My son with his peppermint plant

Winter Doldrums

Winter can be a very difficult time for someone who gets a lot out of the health of their garden. Everything slows as the amount of light decreases and more things begin happening to the garden than things happening in the garden. Wind and cats have taken their toll. High winds knocked over a lot of plants, which only began to recover as kitties began to utilize my garden more as a litter box than as a place to avoid. Every spare inch of vacant soil is toilet fodder for my neighbor’s cats.

Meanwhile, back in the greenhouse the fabulous idea I had for using diatomaceous earth on the pill bugs did not work as well as I had supposed. The little crustaceans were relatively immune to the powder and finished off my cucumber plants pretty quickly. I was under the false assumption that they would begin to die off without much food, but they continue to reproduce. I should probably take a layer of soil off the top of the planter and put it into a black plastic bag to bake them. Eventually I got the good idea to replant the stock tank with Fava beans. The Fava beans have done relatively well so far. Still - I’ll have to keep up my night-time visits to the greenhouse to make sure.

After the pill bugs, comes the fava beans

Even in the greenhouse I am using sideways tomato cages to deter kitties.

My tree collards have done well. I have experienced difficulty with reproducing them due to the prevalence of little green caterpillars (some sort of moth larvae) that continually devour the small leaves of the transplants. The lemongrass has done well in broths to help me to stave off the effects of any cold virus. The red leaf lettuce has been slowly growing. It has taken a beating from caterpillars, slugs, aphids and some sections the lettuce bed have been excavated by kitties.

Red leaf lettuce and onions

I split apart and re-potted most of the lemongrass (to share with friends)

In order to stop the incessant assault from my feline foes I have turned some tomato cages on their sides. It does not look pretty in my garden, but I have gone past the point of caring. The need to have my plants live is a little more important than my garden looking like a lunar moonscape (complete with kitty-created craters).

Working to make my garden a little more kitty resistant (and ugly!)

The few carrots that I have grown are doing alright, though it looks as if I could have done a few more plantings. I believe most of them perished from poor watering. The peas seem to be doing well and a few chickpeas have managed to survive. Meanwhile, garlic and onions are sprouting up everywhere.

Messy onions, garlic and peas.

The biggest winners this winter are the tree collards, the lemongrass and the fava beans. The fava beans are from some plants grown by a local elementary school. They were willing to share, so I planted some. I quickly learned that favas do not take well to excess nitrogen (probably because they produce much of their own), but they do love the cool weather of this winter and have thrived as a result. I am really impressed.

My fava beans