Blog Archives
Plants Do Strange Things
We’ve got a couple interesting plant happenings around the garden this morning.
First, the amusing one. I noticed some kale had popped up in the garden next to the walk, but since there was no kale planted in that bed last year, I was pretty confused. I pulled it up, since it was out of place, and technically a “weed.” This is what I found:
Apparently there was a stalk of old kale that somehow found its way to the garden. (I think I blame Bob…I know he had a lot of kale in his yard last year.) The stalk of kale started rooting on the end (the right end), and then the side buds sprouted upwards. Quite ingenious kale, actually. I had no idea that kale would do something like that!
The other plant mystery of the moment is the tomato seedlings. The germination percentage wasn’t as good as I expected, and the plants are not looking healthy. It’s either a nutrient deficiency or a virus. (Or maybe some really strange thing going on that isn’t even on my radar.) For right now, I’m calling it a nutrient deficiency, because that is something fixable. The only problem is that I’ve fertilized twice in the last week, and the problem is not looking any better.
All of the plants have a rather sickly, yellowish cast to them. Some of them are yellow between the veins (scientifically called “interveinal chlorosis” ), and some of them have yellow veins and green in between the veins. Some have a purplish cast on the undersides (likely a phosphorus deficiency). To top that off, the root systems do not seem to be as well-developed as I would expect of 2 week old tomato plants.
After talking with a couple of the K-State specialists, the potential diagnosis is that they have damaged roots…potentially from overwatering (how could it be possible?!?), and that they will probably outgrow it as they grow new roots, but that they may never recover the vigor they need to be truly productive.
The solution? Start some fresh seedlings and see if they are healthier, while continuing to nurse the others along!
Workshop Handouts & a Giveaway!
Welcome to The Demo Garden Blog to all of you who attended the Get Growing Vegetables workshop this morning! I hope you learned a lot.
If you are looking for the handouts for the presentations this morning, here they are:
Basic Vegetable Gardening GGV (PDF)
Common Pest & Disease Problems (PDF)
Bibliographic Resources about Organics (PDF)
And now for the FUN part! I’m going to be giving away 2 Tomato Plants and 2 Pepper Plants that will be extras from the Demo Garden this year. The winners will get their choice of plants, depending on what is left after everything is planted. (So…you are relying on me to keep more than the bare minimum number of plants alive until May.)
There are 2 ways to enter, and you can enter a maximum of 2 times (one time each way)! You must use a real email address, otherwise I won’t be able to contact you.
1. Post a comment below, telling one thing you are planting in your garden this year.
2. Post a comment below, giving ideas for topics that you would like to see offered at future gardening workshops.
If you want to see what plants you might win, you can check out our seed starting list here.
Entry Deadline is Tuesday, March 30th at 5 pm. Winners will be announced Wednesday morning.
UPDATE: Congratulations to Mart and Audra, the winners of the pepper and tomato plants!
Getting Started in the Family of 4 Garden
Yesterday was our first work day out in the Demo Garden. It was beautiful yesterday, and we had lots to accomplish. I’ll be posting about several of the different things we did throughout the week.
One of our priorities was getting the Family of 4 garden started for the spring.
We started out by cleaning up all the weeds and working in the straw remnants from last year.
Then we worked in compost, followed by a very low rate of fertilizer. Our soil test last year indicated that we didn’t need phosphorus and potassium – just nitrogen. The compost and organic matter will probably provide the necessary nitrogen later on, but right now the soil is so cold that some extra nitrogen and phosphorus is going to help our little seedlings.
Then we had to mark out what was going to be planted where. We discovered that we were maybe a little over-zealous in trying to fit things into the garden this year, so I think the onions may get dropped from our planting plan. (For that reason and the fact that I forgot to go buy any plants.)
We planted Cherriete and Easter Egg Radishes, Tyee Spinach, and Wildfire Lettuce Mix on the south end of the garden. We also planted some more radishes and transplanted some leftover lettuce from the garden show into the area where we will have tomatoes in May. No reason to leave that space empty!
Hot off the Press – the Kansas Garden Guide!
I got a present in the mail today that is pretty exciting!
Isn’t it gorgeous? It has been a long time in the process, but we finally have a brand new, March 2010 Kansas Garden Guide! This is a must-have resource if you are a Kansas vegetable gardener. If you want to have your very own copy, there are two options.
- You can view or download your very own 80 page PDF file here: Kansas Garden Guide
- You can stop by the Sedgwick County Extension Office (or your local office) and purchase your very own, full color, glossy copy for $5.75. (includes sales tax)
The First-Time Gardener: A Round-Up of Posts
No, I don’t mean RoundUp as in the herbicide product that you spray to kill any and every plant. I mean I’m going to provide you a list of some posts from last year that may be a helpful review of information OR if you are a newer reader, they might give you some tidbits to help with your 2010 garden.
The First Time Gardener: Preparing the Site
The First Time Gardener: Preparing the Soil to Grow
The First Time Gardener: Getting Started with Raised Beds
The First Time Gardener: Succession Plantings
The First Time Gardener: How Wet is too Wet?
The First Time Gardener: Understanding Fertilizers
The First Time Gardener: Hardening Off Plants
