Gardener Failure?

This is NOT my garden!
In May things looked very good
but now the middle of June
it is a different story.




RAIN.   We have had so much rain that my tomatoes are getting tired hanging on to the vines for dear life.  They are numerous but greener than grass. How discouraging for the Kitchen Gardener.

What a varied weather and growing pattern in our area of the world.

West of us, along the Pacific coast, May was early and the daffodils matured almost 3 weeks too soon. So those growers lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because the plants were past bloom before Easter.

Now the Kitchen Gardener industry is discouraged because we have not had enough sun shine to warm the soil and get those seeds to sprout and grow normally.

It has been good for the hothouses  but not for open planting. I was out driving in the cherrie tree area on Sunday, looking for good cherries.  Normally there would be lots of ripe fruit but not this year. And the rain will soon split them now.

Did you know that old newspapers can be used in the Kitchen Gardener's plans?
Take a look here ...... newspapers   Just leave your email address, put newspapers in the subject line,  and I will send this and some other tips to you!  Just  my way of getting to know you. 

Barrymor      My web page here  and another here   Toll Free North America

Worm Castings | Your Kitchen Gardener

 Strumelia's blog

Worm composting....it's vegetable Reincarnation!

Written by Strumelia

Sun, 05/16/2010 - 8:20pm

I keep a bin of red wriggler (Eisenia fetida) composting worms in my basement.  All the very choicest discarded tidbits from the kitchen such as fruit and vegetable peelings and scraps, egg shells, tea bags, banana peels, and used coffee grounds with filters, and shredded brown paper, all go to the worms, and the rest of the kitchen and garden scraps just go into our regular outdoor compost bins. In return, every few months I get a nice big 10 or 15 pound tray full of pure black earthworm castings for my garden.  For free.
I hadn't harvested from my worm bin since the Fall, and today I refreshed their bedding and rotated out about 25 lbs. of wonderful rich castings.
I purposely harvested today because today I prepared the tomato patch.  After deep digging the whole bed, I pounded in the stakes.  Into the ground around each tomato stake, I hoed in about 12 cups of earthworm castings.  Tomorrow I am going to buy the 16 tomato plants at my favorite local growers' stand.  Tomatos are the one vegetable I buy already potted as plants....everthing else I direct seed into the ground in my veggie garden.  I just don't want to get involved with starting seed indoors under lights, and our short growing season doesn't really give enough time to start tomatos from seed outdoors. I've already put in the stakes and planted my cucumber seeds. So now the tomato bed is ready as well.
I like to think about how so much of what we used to throw into the garbage to eventually wind up in landfills now instead gets re-cycled back through our two simple home composting systems and helps us grow our vegetables. And how amazing to think that some of the scraps from those vegetables will yet again go back to the worms to travel another cycle.  It's vegetable reincarnation!

Lady Bugs Yeeaaaa! (says Kitchen Gardener)

Insects can be the bane of many a gardener’s existence. Gardeners are constantly finding themselves trying to combat ordinary pests with products bought at the store or a wide variety of homemade insecticides. However, many of these insects can be quite beneficial for gardeners to have around.

Beneficial insects can be divided into roughly three categories: predators, pollinators, and parasites. Pollinators aid in the pollination of flowers in the garden; an essential task in the production of fruits and vegetables. Predators eat other insects, and parasites live on the bodies of or inside other insects or pests, eventually causing death.

The most commonly found insect, and one which some gardeners claim to be the most beneficial, is the ladybug. Ladybugs have a voracious appetite for aphids and some even go for mites and other scaled insects. Ladybugs, if not overly abundant in your garden, can be purchased, sometimes at garden supply stores or over the Internet.

Also commonly found in the garden is the praying mantis. These gardener-friendly insects lie in wait for other unsuspecting insects and grab them with their front legs. Ground beetles also prove to be very beneficial in the garden as they prey on a variety of insects, while robber flies are deadly foes to grasshoppers and wasps.

Flies, such as the tachinid fly, are parasites to other insects. They lay their eggs on the bodies of other insects. When the eggs hatch the larvae burrow inside the bodies of the insects and devour the internal organs.

Lacewings are also a predatory insect. Many gardeners use lacewings to control a variety of pestilential insects. Caterpillars, mealy bugs, aphids, spider mites, and some moths are all a very tasty treat for lacewings.

Many of these predatory insects can also help with mosquito control. These insects not only feed on the insects themselves, but the larvae as well.

Pollinators, such as bees and wasps, fly around the garden and distribute pollen. In order for fruit and vegetable as well as flower production to occur, your garden must contain some pollinators.

If planning to use some form of insect control (a chemical pesticide or home-brewed product) remember that these do not differentiate between harmful and beneficial insects.

If you wish to purchase beneficial insects for your garden, www.arbico-organics.com allows you to choose the insect you wish to control, and gives you options of insects to purchase which will help you control the unwelcome invaders. 4,500 ladybugs start at around $30.00 and can cover up to an acre, making them very cost effective.

When purchasing these insects to release into your garden there are some key points to remember. You should wait about three weeks after you have used any chemical form of insect control in your garden before releasing the insects. It is also a good idea to release the insects at night as they are more sedentary in the evening. Before you release the insects, water your plants. The insects are more likely to stick around your garden if they have something to drink. Why have them fly away and help out someone else’s garden?

http://howtokitchengardener.com     Thanks  Laura Fox