I’ve been wanting to read this book for a while, and I finally got around to it. I found it absolutely delightful. It’s not a how-to-garden kind of book, but rather a memoir about the author’s experience with his kitchen garden. Any garden advice you do glean from it isn’t bad–he’s done his research–and in some ways I find it more useful to see what someone has done, rather than have someone tell me how to do things.

Does the tomato really cost $64? So, he itemizes his garden expenses, subtracts the value of the other produce based on produce stand prices, and assigns the reaming value to his brandywine tomatoes. If you didn’t need an electric fence for deer, the value would go down tremendously.

Weeding

March 31, 20102 Comments

I think weeding is one of the most hated garden tasks, but it doesn’t have to be that hard. One of my professors taught me to love weed science. (And yes there is a science behind. You can get doctorates studying weeds. So don’t feel dumb if you have a bad weed problem.) Give me a field full of weeds and I will conqueror. Or at least fight pretty hard.

So, your weeds have gotten away from you, where do you start? For starters, I usually consider starting over. A good weedwhacker can make the first dent, then come back with a tiller or herbicide. Spray it all down, till it under and do something else. If what I had before was weedy, it can easily become weedy again. If I did want to keep some plants the weeds are chocking, just get rid of what you can see. Don’t worry about roots. If I started to worry about roots I might never get past the first couple of weeds. When the weeds start to come back, they are usually more manageable.

Here are also some good questions to ask:

Why is the weed there?
What conditions encourage growth of the weed?
What will be there if we kill the weed?

I think you can choke out the weeds or let the weeds choke out your plants. Here are some tips to make weeding a little easier:

Weed early and hard.
Use mulch. Any type of mulch helps. (Except low quality weed fabric. Hate that stuff.)
Herbicides are useful. I’m all for using less chemicals, but herbicides can save hours in a week and they’re not as toxic as other pesticides.
Use good tools.
Plant something to take the place of the weed.

And if the battle seems lost, there’s usually two option. One, accept the weeds. Bindweed will hardly every be eradicated. (50 yr seed life, and 10 feet deep roots, it’s not going anywhere). Tall fescue in kentucky bluegrass really doesn’t look that bad, provided your not a golf course superintendent. I wouldn’t leave five foot tall prickly lettuce, but weeds are always going to be there.

The second option: spray everything with glyphosate (round-up), and hope your weeds aren’t resistant. If they are, spray something else. Sure, it really isn’t the eco-friendly way to go. But I don’t think a large infestation of noxious weeds is either.

Moved

March 26, 20102 Comments

I am now living in Springville. Joe is working for a security system company doing tech support. Peter has cut his first tooth, and is wearing 12 month clothes. It’s been quite busy recently.

Funny thing about living in Springville. I went to church, expecting not to know anyone, and I ended up in the same ward as my high school science teacher. She is one of the best teachers I have ever had: I took multiple classes from her, worked as her TA, and she was the advisor for science club of which I was president. (I’m a science geek if you didn’t know that about me). She is also one of the reasons I choose to go into horticulture, which is why I went to USU and why I met my husband. It’s fun how life works out like that.

Garden Questions

March 17, 2010

I’ve worked at my local extension office for the past several years as a part-time intern/educator. I just finished up teaching a free community education class, and a large part of that class is answering people’s questions.

First, I would like to say that one of the reason’s I like Extension, is the opportunity it allows to answer questions. I feel I am helpful to others, it helps me be a lot smarter and learn more about gardening, and I get to apply all the knowledge I have to real life situations.

With all that said, I know I often give less than great answers. Over the years, I’ve started to learn how to say “I don’t know” when I really don’t know. Other times I do know but my knowledge improves or changes. I’ve also found that I can give a pretty good guess at some things, without any real knowledge of it. So, how do you get the best answer, the one based on evidence, experience and actual knowledge?

I think the best way to get a good answer is to allow the person answering the question time to research it. I know my best answers tend to be messages that I respond to or ones that I tell the person I’ll get back with them. I don’t think anyone can answer every question of the top of their heads. At my gardening class I need to give spur of the moment answers. I’m a little nervous and not as sharp as I might be otherwise. (I think anyone in front of a group as experienced the situation of being unable to access the knowledge that you know is inside of you somewhere). But give me five minutes with my books and a computer, and you’ll get the answer you are after.

Other ways to get the best answer include asking for additional information or sources. That way you know the person isn’t just making up something weird, but it’s based on real research or otherwise good sources. I would be much happier to give you a factsheet on codling moths than try to explain all control methods myself.

Finally, feel free to ask multiple people in different positions. The Extension service is a great tool, but often they don’t have the experience that someone who has done landscaping for 30 years might have. Garden centers tend to have better knowledge of availability because they are selling the products, but sometimes offer wife’s tells instead of good advice. Everyone has strengths and weakness, so ask around and compare answers.

Moving

March 10, 20102 Comments

So Joe is going to Rocky Mountain University. We should be moving to that area in the next few weeks. It’s nice to finally know what we are doing. I’ll miss Logan I think, but I’m also excited to move on with life.

We’ve been having a lot of fun together. Joe has been hired by my parents to finish their basement. My mom is very excited to get it done after 15 years, and Joe likes the work. Peter seems to have slowed down his rapid growing a bit. I’m happy about that–he’s already 20 lbs. I’ve been giving him some rice cereal –he has a huge appetite and it helps me keep up with him. He likes it a lot too.

I was just thinking of all the things I will miss about Logan:

Numerous hiking trails–still so many I have yet to try! But I did make it to the top of Logan Peak
Family–it’s fun having brothers/sisters and in-laws close
Extremely close temple–a two minute drive is great

That’s about it. I didn’t make that many attachments. Too cold in the winter, traffic is horrible, and way too many red air days.

Gardening Class

February 22, 2010Leave a comment

Its time for the annual Cache County Extension four part free gardening class. This year, due to the popular demand of my old boss, I will again be the magnificent presenter.

Here’s the link for more info: 🙂 The dates and times are right, Tuesday in March at 6:00. But it won’t last until 9:00 (who wants to sit around for 3 hours? and I have a baby that still needs to eat Mommy’s milk and go to bed at a decent hour.) I’m also switching the second and third weeks.

So feel free to come if you are around. I hope it will be good because if not, its is all my fault.

Pick Three Favorites

February 22, 20101 Comment

I was recently taking to one of my brothers, and asked him, “If he could do anything all day, what would it be?” His top three choices were: basketball, play music, fishing. For those that know my brothers, you probably know which one it is. I then became curious what my husbands choices were. There were: reading, hiking, building something. Mine are: reading, hiking, gardening. (We are a good match).

So what are yours? And just a bit of criteria: not something you do everyday like eating, sleeping, etc. And it has to be for fun, not work. If you so desire put up your three favorites, and the favorites of all those in your household on your blog, or just leave a comment.

Table

February 10, 20101 Comment

Here is the table I grew up with. I received it from my Mom when we moved into our current apartment. It was old and ugly. You can kinda tell on the before picture. I forgot to take a decent before picture. Thought I had one, but this was all I had. Anyway, I bought a new table cloth because I ruined the old one doing crafts with exact-o knives. Joe ruined the new one with an iron. It went without a tablecloth for a few days, and then one evening we had nothing to do. We headed to Home Depot and looked at paint swaps. Brought home a huge pile, and after I aggravated over it for a while, I picked this dark red. I then bough the most expensive gallon of paint in the store, and Joe and I painted it. It was lots of fun. Just so you know, my spot growing up was on the north west side, next to Heather, who sat on then end.

: After

: Before

More Snowshoeing

February 10, 20102 Comments

I still love to go snowshoeing, even with Peter. One time Joe and I went without him–which was nice. Yesterday, we took him with us, which also worked out. He does keep it a little less crazy–no romping up steep hills, and leaping down them again at high speeds. That usually involves a lot of falling. I don’t think Peter would appreciate me falling. So we keep it short and simple. That’s okay–I usually get cold anyway.

Pictures of Peter

February 10, 20101 Comment

Peter is growing up very quickly! He’s four months old now. I like him more the older he gets–he has a lot more personality, plays more, and smiles more. He also really likes his Mommy. The first pictures are from my sister while she was babysitting. The last one I took down at my Mom’s house. It felt like spring that day with the sun shining and warm weather. It was much easier to take pictures. Returning to Logan, with its cold and snow, was not a lot of fun. I wish I could take Peter outside more. But spring will come!