Archive for the ‘Gardening’ Category

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Fall Planting of Veggies

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

by Catherine Haug

I recently posted an article on planting garlic in the fall, for harvest the following summer (see Harvesting and Growing Garlic). But there are several other crops that you can plant in the early fall, either for harvest later in the fall, or in the following spring. And the use of a hoop-house can extend your fall growing season a month or more!

For more information, check out this article from Johnny’s Selected Seeds:  Fall Planting.  Here’s a teaser:

“Many vegetables can be sown now to mature during the next two months, when the cooler weather of autumn will improve their flavor and quality. These include beets, carrots, escarole, endive, greens, kale and collards, kohlrabi, lettuce, bunching onions, peas, radishes, spinach, Swiss chard, and turnips.”

Last fall I planted lettuce and spinach in addition to garlic, and all came up in the spring.  Plus, this lettuce and spinach was hardier and more tasty than that planted in the spring, and I allowed some to go to seed so I’ll have more seeds to plant this fall.

Posted in Food-Nutrition-Health, Gardening | Comments Closed

Deer Resistant Plants

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

by Catherine Haug

As we are gardening, with the intent of preserving at least some of our harvest for the long winter; or we are improving our landscaping to be more sustainable, we want to ensure that we actually have a harvest and landscape. And that means doing what we can to prevent deer (and other critters) from decimating our plantings. Ways to discourage deer:

Remember that having flowers in your garden attracts pollinators; why not choose those that are deer resistant? Or if landscaping with evergreen and deciduous trees to help cool your home in summer, and warm it in winter (a sustainability goal), why not choose deer-resistant species?

I found a list of deer-resistant flowers and landscaping plants at Swan River Gardens the other day.  It’s not available on their website, so I typed it up into a pdf file for your reference.  To that list I added deer-resistant fruits, veggies and herbs that I got from other sources, and annotated those that are Montana natives, since growing natives is more sustainable than growing non-natives.

To see the entire list of deer-resistant plants, check out the pdf file: Deer Resistant Plants. The list below includes only deer resistant native plants. (more…)

Posted in Gardening, Landscaping, Shop Local | Comments Closed

Harvesting & Growing Garlic, Updated: July 30, 2013

Friday, August 14th, 2009

by Catherine Haug, August 14, 2009

July 30, 2013 update: Added paragraph in “When to Lift the Bulbs” under the subheading “Watch the leaves or scapes” on my experience with determining when it is time to dig the bulbs.

September 18, 2011 Update: Added paragraph in “Sow Cloves for Next Year” section on why I don’t recommend using grocery store garlic for the garden.

August 15, 2009 Update:  Added new section on recommended Varieties for the Flathead (at the end of the article), at the request of Barbara  .

I planted hardneck (or stiffneck) garlic cloves last fall (from my CSA bounty), on September 28, at the suggestion of Zena P. I think the variety is ‘Spanish Roja.’ Garlic is such a tasty and important crop from a health standpoint. A crop many of us would find it difficult to do without, when foods can no longer be trucked into our valley from distant farms. And it’s so easy to grow!

All 16 of my cloves came up in early spring and started growing green shoots and leaves.  Toward the end of June, I harvested most of the scapes (the loopy things with a bulbous growth, called the bulbil, near the tip), but left 2 scapes to grow, so I could observe what happens with the blossom and bulbils that form later in the summer. I read in the literature that only the hardneck varieties form a scape.

The scapes are delicious! Slice them up into short or long lengths and add to a stir-fry for a light garlic flavor, or steam as you would asparagus.

The next harvest is to lift the mature bulbs from underground. Save some of the cloves to plant for next year’s crop.

Here are some tips I’ve culled from the web. If you have additional tips, send them to me (cat(at)essentialstuff.org; email disguised) and I’ll add to this post. (more…)

Posted in Gardening | Comments Closed

Using Diatomaceous Earth

Friday, August 14th, 2009

by Catherine Haug

I have a problem with slugs in my garden.  I tried the cans of beer, but they attracted bees (including a mason bee) and flying ants, but no slugs. So I decided to try diatomaceous earth (DE).  This all-natural flour-textured substance has many uses around the home including:

  • causing slug, maggot, and insect death in the garden and landscape
  • solving an ant or bedbug problem in your home
  • getting rid of fleas on pets and livestock
  • worming of pets and livestock (and humans)

Diatomaceous earth is made from the silica-rich shells of diatoms. Most diatoms are found in the ocean, but food grade DE is made from freshwater diatoms, mistakenly called ‘algae.’  This is the same brown or golden algae that grows in fish tanks.

I learned from a piece on the local news recently that diatom algae grows on rocks at the bottom of the Clark Fork River in Missoula.  And I suspect it also grows on rocks at the bottom of the Swan and/or Flathead River, which means we would have a local source when we can no longer import it from a distant source.  All we’d have to do is figure out how to harvest and clean it. Does anyone have any ideas on this? (more…)

Posted in Gardening, Health, Uncategorized | Comments Closed

Saving & Storing Seeds; Seed Bank

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

by Catherine Haug

Cat's Garden: Lettuce, Spinach, Garlic and Onion

As many of you know, I’m a first time gardener, and I seek out tips and advice from all the experienced gardeners I know. If you have tips that I can add to this post, please email them to me! so that others can benefit from your experience. (my email is cat(at)essentialstuff.org — note the email is disguised).

For my first planting I used heirloom, organic seeds from Irish Eyes and Johnny’s Selected Seeds. And I must admit, it’s tantalizing to peruse the seed catalogues. But what if we can no longer order many of our seeds from a distant seed company?  What will we do then?

The answer is to start with non-hybrid, heirloom seeds. Then get in the habit of allowing at least one plant of each type to go to seed, to collect and save the seeds for next year. Actually, if stored properly, most seed varieties will keep at least 3 years, in case you have a bad year now and then. Plus you can trade seeds with friends and neighbors; what a great way to build community! We might even consider starting a local seed bank. (more…)

Posted in Community, Gardening | Comments Closed

Tips: Natural Pest Control in the Garden

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

by Catherine Haug, July 2009

I’m researching natural ways to protect my garden from pests, and thought I’d share this information with our ESP community, as I come across them. I moved tips from other posts to this one, to consolidate them in one place (hopefully I found them all…).

This post addresses practical applications in your garden.  See also my article  Natural Pest & Weed Control for good gardening practices to help your plants fed off insects and diseases.

If you have any great tips, pass them on to me via in an email and I’ll add the tip. (NOTE: comments to this post by others have been disabled due to abundance of spam. But if you send me your ideas, tips, I can add the comment for you).

(more…)

Posted in Ecology, Gardening, Home & Ranch, Landscaping | 1 Comment »

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