Weekly Gardening Thread – 2010 Vol. 14 May 7

Free Republic | 5-7-2010 | Red_Devil 232

[Red_Devil 232]

Good morning gardeners! If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. There are many Freepers from all over the Good Ol’ USA that are willing and eager to help.

I thought a little primer on fertilizers might come in handy this time of year especially to those of you just starting out.   

What do the numbers mean? 

Every bag or container of commercial fertilizer has a three number code that tells you the percentage that that particular fertilizer has of the "Big Three" nutrients used by plants.

The big three nutrients are, in the order listed on the container:

1. Nitrogen - Important for green growth 
2. Phosphorous - For flower and fruit production
3. Potassium - Strong stems roots and other functions.

A bag of fertilizer labeled as 13-13-13 will have equal percentages of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium for a total of 39%; the rest is filler.

Ideally a soil test is needed to determine how much of these nutriments your soil needs. 

Also  the type of vegetables or plants you are growing may require different percentages of these nutriments to grow or produce successfully. Know your plants needs.

And remember small amounts will go a long way. Don't over fertilize. Too much at one time or too often can overwhelm plant systems and cause problems.

 

[fanfan]

I'm sorry RD. I tried egg plant once, at a good Italian restaurant, (from someone else's plate), and I didn't really enjoy it. I can't see giving up valuable crop space for something I might not enjoy, when there are so many other vegetables that I love. But thank you for the recipe. That sounds like a wonderful way to do zucchini!

[fanfan]

Thanks. I'll plant them in that order once it gets warmer, although I suppose I could plant the carrots now.

The temp. is forcasted to be 33f on Monday night...Do I need to cover my lettuce, onions, and radishes that night?

[fanfan]

You’re very welcome. ;-)

You have a nice web site.

How did you find out about FR?

[Alice in Wonderland]

I put some plastic eggs in the hen house once when I was trying to get the hens to lay in a new location. All of a sudden they disappeared.

I thought the neighbor’s kid took them as he sometimes collects eggs for me and he has been know to have sticky fingers. But, lo and behold, they were taken by that opossum I told you about . . . . we found them in the tack room. That’s when we found the tunnel to the hen house too.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Nope. Lettuce, onions, radishes, spinach, leeks, broccoli, etc. can tolerate a frost, so no need to cover them.

I have an entire nursery yard filled to the brim with goodies. Most of the tender/expensive stuff is in the hoop house. Hourly forecast shows it getting down to 33, but not until 7am, and the sun will be right up thereafter, so fingers-crossed that all of my stock at work survives.

Our store up in Randolph got 2.5” of SNOW today. Fun, fun, fun!

Our sales were terrible. It was cold, windy, and it sleeted on us, then rained buckets, then the sun came out...and it repeated that cycle all d@mn day, LOL!

I brought a ton of blooming hydrangea into the store and lined the main aisles with them. It looks STUNNING, but customers were not in the mood to buy today.

Heck, I wasn’t in the mood to be there either today, LOL! Maybe tomorrow will be better. Partly sunny and in the 50’s. This truly was the WORST Mother’s Day Saturday sales day we’ve had in 5 years. Grrrrrrr!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“I’ll remember to send you some meat.”

That would be HEAVEN. The only good ‘gator is a dead ‘gator on my plate, LOL!

[kacres]

Thanks Alice..you have been a big help, so happy to have your advice here on FR and FB.

[Arrowhead1952]

Mainly it was defiance of authority in any shape or form.

We had the same problem at our boot camp. Most did not want to take orders from anyone.

[fanfan]

Well, that’s good news because it snowed last night.

Gee, I hope you have a better day at work today.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

It’s LOVELY this morning. Just girding my loins, strapping on my armor and slapping on my sunscreen and heading out the door. :)

[joesjane]

LOL, that is what my hubby says.....he’s from Thibodaux, LA.

[StopBigGovt]

Wow, what a great deal you got on your crockpot! I agree—the 3 sizes available for that crockpot is hard to beat. Looking forward to hearing how your roast turns out!

Hmmm...using extra wine and some beef stock....sounds good to me!

I’d been wondering the same thing about why crockpots are called slow cookers. Is it to ‘modernize’ a piece of cookware that has been around for a long time, and make it more ‘attractive’ to all ages? I’m sure it’s due to some marketing study that’s found the term ‘slow cooker’ resonates with more of the population than ‘crockpot.’ What do you think?

[AGreatPer]

Maybe they didn’t like the negative term, “that’s a crock of xxxx”.

[joesjane]

Wonderful hunting up there, my cousin was a big game guide in MT and WY for years. I was lucky, I grew up in OR where we have wonderful Mule deer and Elk...yummy. Happy hunting.

[StopBigGovt]

Thank you; I’m glad you like my blog!

I found out about FR last year, after my mom forwarded me a link to a political thread on here. I had a conservative political blog last year (which is when I created my FR handle), but had to stop writing for it late last year because it was eating up too much of my family time. But don’t worry, I’m putting some of that extra time into volunteering for some conservative candidates in FL. Primaries are going to be here before we know it.

And, I only recently discovered the General Chat areas on FR (not sure why I never noticed them before!), with food and gardening being my favorites in that section. :)

[Red_Devil 232]

You are probably right about the name change. I just reread my post and that should have been 1/2 cup red wine, not 1 cup.

The roast was darn good! I had a hard time removing it in good sized pieces. I also learned that I need to wait to add the potatoes and carrots - they were quite mushy.

To answer a question you have, yes this new slow cooker seemd to cook hotter than what I remember my older one cooking.

[Grammy]

Well, I wish I could tell you how wonderful my garden is.... instead I will tell you about the 13 inches of rain we got in Tennessee last weekend, and how the river crested at 12 feet above flood level and how there are thousands and thousands of people in trouble as a result.

I have spent the last week working with the Red Cross helping with shelters and disaster assessment in the area. I figured the garden could wait.

So, instead of wonderful things, I have weeds and asparagus that has already gone to fronds. I hope I can get in it this week and at least make it look like somebody lives here.

8-)

But, if not, we will get to it eventually.

[tubebender]

First Wife browns her beef roast before putting in the pot on a bed of onions and then thickly sliced fresh mushrooms...

[afraidfortherepublic]

The following is an article that was published in today's local newspaper. I thought it might interest some of you -- a woman making a living on a farm after she was widowed, an asparagus growing operation, a family carrying out a retirement plan, an entrepreneur full of clever, labor saving ideas. All this is taking place in Diana's neck of the woods.

Link - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- May 9, 2010

Asparagus farmer lives the dream she had with late husband

By Karen Herzog of the Journal Sentinel

Cottage Grove - People die, but dreams don't have to.

Allen's Asparagus Acres is proof of that.

Mark Hoffman
Barney Lambert (right) bundles freshly picked asparagus at a rotating table invented by Kathy Allen.

After Dan Allen died unexpectedly last Christmas from an aggressive lung disease, his wife, Kathy, spent the winter agonizing over what to do with their 15-acre field of dreams - an asparagus farm the couple meticulously planned, and finally planted three years ago, to provide for their retirement.

Winter eventually turned to spring. And 90,000 wispy asparagus crowns began sprouting from the ground.

That's when Kathy, 59, saw her future in front of her.

"It was such a fantastic dream," she said. "The closer we got to spring, the more I felt it: This is our dream, and it's still here."

She remembered her mother's advice for her and Dan when they married: " 'You've gotta do what you're good at. And you don't give up, no matter what. You make it happen.' "

The asparagus harvest began a few days ago.

Kathy, a mother of three and grandmother of three, said she still felt Dan beside her on the sunny hillside while a picking contraption resembling a Wright brothers airplane slowly taxied down the field with three pickers aboard, snapping asparagus spears at their tender breaking points.

Cap Runge (left), Matthew Thiefs and Rachel Bronson pick asparagus Wednesday at the asparagus farm. The motorized vehicle gives the pickers an easier way to harvest one of the Midwest's favorite spring treats.

Credit: Mark Hoffman

More photos at link

Link - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- May 9, 2010

A farm devoted entirely to asparagus is a rare vision in Wisconsin. The state produced only about 250 acres of asparagus on 225 farms in 2007, the last count of the U.S. Census of Agriculture.

It's a fleeting season; asparagus goes to seed the end of June. And you can't plant another vegetable in its place because asparagus is a perennial that will return every spring for 10 to 15 years, as long as you take care of it.

Family farm

Kathy and Dan took over this farm, which had been in Dan's family for 50 years, after his parents died in 1999. It was a hobby farm with a house, a few cows and pigs, and row crops to feed the animals.

The couple wanted something different for their retirement. They thought about planting grapes.

"But there are lots of wineries in Wisconsin," Kathy said.

"Through our research, the light bulb came on. Asparagus was already here. And we understood it."

It grew wild along the fence lines. Dan's mother loved it, and cultivated her own asparagus patch where the farm store now stands.

Kathy even went into labor with daughter Brenda while picking wild asparagus 31 years ago. Brenda Johnsrud, who works in the farm store, jokes that she was born with an affinity for the tender stalks that taste like sweet peas fresh from the field.

They decided asparagus was the perfect retirement crop because once you plant it, it comes back. It produces for two months and can grow up to 6 inches a day to replenish itself. The harvest from 15 acres averages 600 pounds a day.

Asparagus is a money-maker, bringing $3.50 a pound at the family's farm store, with discounts for volume purchases. The dozen supermarkets in the Madison area that sell it set their own prices.

Kathy and Dan did their homework. They traveled to Michigan - a major asparagus producer - and gathered valuable advice from asparagus growers, including how to market it: "Take 20 pounds of free asparagus to a store, ask them to see how it sells, then sit back and wait for the order."

The right mind-set

Resourcefulness came naturally. Dan was a biochemist, and Kathy has degrees in nursing and architectural drafting.

The family doesn't need to attend farmers markets because they sell every stalk through grocery store accounts and their own farm store, Kathy said.

All three kids play a role, as do the grandkids, whether it's keeping the books or picking dandelion bouquets. They employ 15 full-time and part-time local seasonal employees.

Kathy and Dan together designed and built the contraption that employees use to sort the tall asparagus spears from the short ones. Kathy calls it their "Wheel of Fortune" because it's spun to move asparagus from sorting to banding. Sorters stand at stations around the circle, facing each other, which Kathy likes because it allows them to talk. "It's like a family around the table," she says.

A plastic cutting board forms the base for each work station. PVC tubes on top of the cutting board form the cups that hold asparagus spears of different lengths. Uniform sizes then can be banded together.

Spears with tips starting to sprout are discarded. Kathy's brother-in-law comes every few days during the harvest to pick up the rejects to feed to his pigs.

When they first planted the field, Kathy came up with a back-saving tool to help them drop 90,000 asparagus roots in furrows exactly 10 inches apart while walking backward. It's a PVC tube with sticks at the top and bottom - one for a handle and one to quickly measure the distance between plants.

Today, the asparagus stalks stand tall and straight, saluting the sun. Kathy affectionately refers to them as her babies.

Pickers drop off asparagus to be washed, sorted and bundled.

The farm is not certified organic. But once asparagus pops out of the ground, "we don't touch the field with any chemicals," she said.

Tomato and basil plants hug the field's borders because they give off a scent that repels nasty bugs, Kathy said. The family doesn't sell the tomatoes or basil. What Kathy doesn't use for canning, she donates to a local homeless shelter.

Dan is deeply missed. You can see it in Kathy's eyes.

But the couple's dream survives, inspired by words Kathy's 92-year-old mother gave them to get through tough times, when they married 38 years ago.

There's no time for sorrow in springtime on an asparagus farm. Customers await the season's first prized vegetables.

"We both planned to live to be 100," Kathy says matter-of-factly. "But it didn't work out that way. That's a part of life."

***If you go Allen's Asparagus Acres (allensasparagusacres.com), 2337 Schadel Road near Cottage Grove, is about 2 miles south of I-94 and six miles east of Madison.

The farm store will be open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week, until the crop is done around the end of June.

Owner Kathy Allen welcomes families. Picking occurs through the weekend, unless it's stormy. When in doubt, call first: (608) 873-8437.

[afraidfortherepublic]

They probably call them slow cookers because “Crockpot” is tradmarked!