It’s a Beautiful Day, or two, or three
We’ve been having the perfect weather here recently. After a weeks in the high 90’s and even peaking into the triple digits a few days last week, the 80’s are feeling GREAT! As a result I’ve been madly spending every waking hour I’m not working trying to get all my garden chores finished up. I think I could build a cat thermometer that measured the length of Dexter in order to tell the temperature outside. This day it was 98.
The onions need harvesting, the garlic is dry and needs trimmed and moved into the basement. Kale and sage seeds need harvested, beans and cucumbers need planted and everything needs a good weeding. While I’ve been out trying to get all my garden chores finished up, Dexter is not far behind doing his own work, mainly sleeping and being cute.
Now if we can only get some rain I’ll be one happy gardener!
How’s the weather/rain situation in your garden?
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The Benefits of Mustard in the Garden
“The advantage of sowing mustard are that it disinfects and regenerates the soil, it stimulates the life of the soil and curbs nematodes, especially potato root eelworm, which is why it is so useful to sow the seed. It gives the feared nematodes very little chance in the garden. Its effect on all plant life, including the crucifers, is not negative but positive.”
Gertrud Franck (Companion Planting: Successful Gardening the Organic Way)
‘Idagold’ mustard is what is used here at Chiot’s Run. A large bag was purchased from Johnny’s Seeds last spring and now it’s sown whenever I have bare soil that won’t be planted for a month.
Mustard is said to help suppress weed growth and providing a living mulch. That’s one reason I use it, I have had pretty good luck using it this spring/summer so far. I like to let mine grow to about six inches tall then I pull it and use as a mulch around the larger main crops like zucchini and potatoes.
I also overseed the areas where I plant potatoes. The book Managing Cover Crops Profitably, extols the benefits of mustard for mitigating lots of potato problems including blight. I let the mustard grow to about 6 inches then it’s pulled, laid around the potato plants and covered with straw.
Another benefit of mustard is that it’s easy to pull and doesn’t really self-sow much or become invasive (at least not the yellow variety I grow). Mustard will also winter kill in areas with cold winters, making it a perfect fall cover crop for a nicely prepared and mulched spring planting area.
I’d highly recommend looking into a few cover crops for your small garden. Not only will you increase the health of the soil, you’ll save money by growing your own mulches. You can find a cover crop that will suit just about any need you have, from weed suppression and soil building to disease mitigation. I’d highly recommend starting with mustard, it’s a great initiation in to the cover crop world.
Do you use companion planting methods in your garden?
For more reading on cover crops in the garden, I’d highly recommend these books:
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My Grandma’s Favorite
My dad’s mom always said that Queen Anne’s Lace was her favorite flower. I don’t know if it’s true, or if she just said that because we’d pick bouquets of it for her.
I happen to love it and always let it grow and bloom, though I cut the seed heads to keep it from spreading to liberally. Now that I’ve been cultivating it I have a few really nice patches of it.
If you look closely, Queen Anne’s Lace is actually one big flower made up of thousands of tiny flowers.
I’m not the only one that loves it, it’s constantly abuzz with little pollinators. Some folks may consider it a weed, but I’ll always have some growing in my gardens and I’ll often think of my Grandma Meade when I see the first white lacy bloom.
What’s your favorite wildflower?
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Windowbox Sweet Peas
This spring I ordered a packet of Windowbox Heirloom Cupid Sweet Peas from Renee’s Garden. I’ve never had much luck getting sweet peas to bloom here in the garden, so I decided windowbox sweet peas in a container would be my best option.
I planted the little seeds way back in March and waited, and waited, and waited. Just about the time I was wondering if they’d ever bloom, I spotted little buds.
They’re quite lovely, well worth the wait. I’m happy to finally have some sweet peas blooming in the garden. Next year I’ll have to grow some of my grandma’s heirloom sweet peas in a container with a trellis. I might also try some of the other colors of sweet peas that Renee’s carries!
Do you grow sweet peas in the garden? What’s your favorite color?
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Another Reason for Alliums
As if you need another reason to grow a wide variety of alliums in the garden beside the deliciousness that they bring to your plate. I plant extra leeks and onions so I can leave some in place to produce blooms. Leeks are the best for this because they’re overwintered. I never harvest all of my leeks because otherwise I’d miss these beautiful flowers and so would the bees.
Onions are biennial so they will bloom the second year. These are leeks that I planted last summer, harvested in fall/winter/spring and left a few for the honeybees.
They’re not quite as showy, as big, or as colorful as globe alliums that you buy as flowering bulbs, but they do offer food for our tables and beauty for our gardens. I certainly appreciate plants that do double duty like this!
Do you ever leave any of your leeks or onions to bloom for beauty and for the bees?
