by blair on November 20, 2009
Photo courtesy of Lorri37 at Flickr.com.
Tomatoes are the single most popular vegetable in America (even though they’re a fruit). If they’re a personal favorite of yours, you can save a little money—and absolutely ensure that your seed is 100% organic—by putting aside a few seeds for next year. This is especially important if you’re growing open-pollinated heirloom varieties that are hard to find or otherwise difficult to acquire because of popularity or limited seed supply. Saving the seeds is a fairly straightforward process, if rather involved; if you’d like to give it a try, take a gander at this step-by-step process on how to save tomato seeds offered by About.com.
Also, don’t miss our whole store section of tomato growing products!
by blair on November 18, 2009
In these days of spiraling energy costs, fireplaces and wood-burning stoves are coming back into vogue as a means for heating. Cord wood can be expensive, though, so many people are opting for salvaged wood: blown-down trees, scraps they find lying around, mill ends, and the like. This is a good idea, but you need to exercise a bit of logic about what you burn indoors.
First of all, know your trees: DO NOT burn any sumac at all, on the off chance you end up with poison sumac. Like its relatives poison oak and ivy, poison sumac contains urushiol, a nasty oil that causes skin rashes. The smoke and gaseous by-products of burning urushiol may end up on your skin and in your lungs if you burn it in an inadequately ventilated stove or fireplace, resulting in severe medical distress. For similar reasons, don’t burn any unidentified vines, or branches with such vines entwined around them; they may be poison oak or ivy.
You should also avoid burning any painted or treated wood, including pressure-treated lumber, and any engineered sheet woods like plywood, particle board, or fiberboard. All include toxic chemical compounds that will be released during the burning process. Even burning driftwood isn’t a good idea, as the salt in seawater is corrosive, and can release toxic fumes when burned.
Check out our electric log splitter! If you decide to order a cord of wood or have fallen trees to clear, log splitters will save you a lot of time.
by blair on November 16, 2009
In recent decades, people have gotten pretty darn creative about finding or developing new soil amendments for the organic garden. Here’s one we especially like: so-called “dinosaur dirt.” This OMRI-certified material is 100% natural, and is an excellent conditioner for tired soils.
Marketed under the name Rich Earth Soil Conditioner, dinosaur dirt is simply fossilized mineral soil dug up from 75-million-year-old deposits in Utah—hence the nickname. (No actual dinosaurs are involved in its manufacture. Sorry.) The active components are humic shale ore and Leonardite. Both are humates: that is, prehistoric soils that are rich in the organic acids that leach out of humus, the semi-decayed organic component of topsoil. In addition to straight humic acid, there’s also a heavy leavening of fulvic acid, which strengthens plants against stress factors like drought, pruning, and insect attack; and ulmic acid, which stimulates root formation and growth. Given the concentrated organic acid content, you’ll get not only a good dose of nitrogen, but also 70+ other trace elements. These nutrients are released very slowly, over the course of at least six months. In addition to all this, dinosaur dirt also aerates the soil, stabilizes soil PH, and improves water retention.
Don’t miss our store section of soil amendments!
by blair on November 13, 2009
Whether you’re growing organic potatoes in soil or straw, you need to make a special effort to ensure that no part of a spud is ever naked to the sun. If it is, it’s likely to turn green—and green potatoes are toxic, because they contain high levels of a chemical called solanine that can cause neurological problems, headaches, and nausea. (Solanine is produced at the same time as chlorophyll, which is what turns the potatoes green in the first place.) Therefore, always cut away green portions of any potato, and if you detect a bitter taste, don’t eat it. Potato poisoning is rare, but it does happen.
by blair on November 11, 2009
Photo courtesy of qmnonic at Flickr.com.
Organic gardeners place a high value on dolomite, both for its capacity to “sweeten” soil by lowering its acidity and for its tendency to act as a secondary fertilizer, especially for tomatoes and related plants. But even many veteran horticulturalists have little idea what dolomite actually is, except in the general sense that it’s a mineral.
In fact, dolomite starts out as a deposit that builds up on the bottom of saline bodies of water as they evaporate. Later, it may become compressed into stone by overlying sediments. While dolomite rarely develops in modern environments, vast deposits can be found all over the world in old layers of rock.
Chemically, dolomite is a form of calcium magnesium carbonate. The magnesium, which makes up about 40 percent of the mineral, is slowly released from the crystals as it breaks down; therefore, it’s an excellent source of a trace mineral all plants require. This is why the mineral form is so often used in fertilizers. In addition, the carbonates in dolomite increase the pH of any soil it’s added to, thus decreasing the acidity.
Given its high magnesium content, dolomite stone is also a significant magnesium ore. In addition, it’s a common source of concrete aggregate, along with the closely-related dolomitic limestone.
by blair on November 9, 2009
As an organic gardener, you’ve probably seen a substance called pyrethrum mentioned as an organic pesticide ingredient. You may even have used it yourself. Pyrethrum (sometimes called “py” for short) is a low-toxicity insecticide, often applied as a powder, which traces its organic pedigree to the fact that it’s derived from the dried flower heads of two species of chrysanthemum. These are the Dalmatian and Persian chrysanthemums, C. cinerariflorum and C. coccineum, respectively. “Pyrethrum” was originally a collective name applied to these two chrysanthemums, as well as several other varieties.
Pyrethrum has been in use for more than 200 years for both agricultural and hygienic reasons. The active ingredients of pyrethrum are the compounds known as pyrethrins, which are extracted from the seed cases as an oleoresin. The compounds act as a deadly nerve toxin to many insects, including thrips, scale, aphids, and spider mites, and will inhibit the biting reflex in female mosquitoes. Even when not present in quantities toxic to insects, pyrethrum still serves as an effective repellent. You’ll need to be very careful when using pyrethrum if you maintain ornamental fish ponds or if your property is located immediately adjacent to a stream or body of water, as it’s also quite toxic to fish.
Photo courtesy of ConspiracyofHappiness at Flickr.com.
Pyrethrum can be toxic to birds and mammals, but it’s much less so than synthetic insecticides currently in use. Even better, it’s non-persistent; unlike most insecticides, it biodegrades when exposed to light, converting to organically-safe components in as little as 12 hours. This instability makes it one of the safest pesticides for use when growing produce; ironically, however, it’s the same reason why pyrethrum is very rarely used in commercial agriculture. It doesn’t last long enough to suit large-scale farmers.
Pyrethrum should not be confused with either permethrin or pyrethroids, which are must nastier and more persistent synthetic derivatives of pyrethrum.
by blair on November 6, 2009
Photo courtesy of Tobyotter at Flickr.com.
Okay, so tree onions aren’t exactly new under the sun, but they just might be new to you, and they’re certainly one of the most unusual veggies we’ve ever met. In most ways, tree onions are like other onions, and in fact are usually considered a variety of the standard garden onion, Allium cepa—though some botanists argue that they’re a separate species, A. proliferum, while others prefer to think of them as a hybrid between A. cepa and A. fistulosum, the Welsh onion. Whatever they are, they grow well under organic care, and produce 6-10 mild, juicy bulbs per plant.
But unlike most onions, tree onions also produce a cluster of “bulbils,” tiny bulbs, at the top of the plant: hence one of it nicknames, the top or topset onion. When allowed to fully mature, the bulbils will weigh down the onion leaves enough that they lower to the ground, whereupon the bulbils root themselves and propagate. It may be a slow process taking many years, but the fact is that these “walking onions” (another nickname) will in fact “walk” slowly across the landscape if you let them. That’s one way to take over the world.
Tree onions are an excellent choice if you live in a cold climate, because they’re the most cold-hardy of all onions. The base bulbs are excellent for salads, though the bulbils aren’t good for much except pickling and propagation. Incidentally, you may know this onion as the Egyptian onion, though it didn’t originate in Egypt.
Bonus fact: Speaking of Egyptian onions, did you know that the ancient Egyptians were fascinated with this venerable vegetable? To them, the onion’s concentric rings represented eternal life. When archaeologists recovered the mummy of Pharaoh Ramses IV, who died in 1160 BC, they found small onions in his eye sockets.
by blair on November 4, 2009
Photo courtesy of photofarmer at Flickr.com.
Human ingenuity never fails to impress us; it’s no surprise we humans have managed to spread all over the world (and beyond) using nothing but our brains and hands. One small example: seed tape. As the name implies, this is a long piece of biodegradable paper tape studded with seeds at regular intervals. Instead of having to worry about handling teeny tiny seeds (turnip and carrots seeds are especially bad), or for that matter about spacing and thinning seeds as they come up, all you have to do is dig a narrow trench, unroll the seed tape in it, cover it up, and water.
Now, that’s amazingly handy, but you do have to pay for the convenience with a high price. Enough seed tape to plant a mid-sized garden can run into the hundreds of dollars—and you can’t always find seed tapes for everything you care to plant. Well, if you’re willing to put your own handiness to work, you can solve both those problems by making your own seed tapes that work just as well as the store-bought kind. If nothing else, it’ll give you and the kids something to do in the winter.
All you really need is seeds, water, flour, and either paper towels or newspaper. First, cut the paper into narrow strips. Next, mix water with your flour in the standard kiddie formula for homemade glue, and use a small paintbrush to brush it onto the paper strips. Then put your seeds on the gluey paper strips according to the spacing on the seed packets, and leave everything to dry overnight. By the way, if you have cats, we recommend you leave the seed tapes somewhere they can’t reach, or they may be in for a sticky surprise.
The next day, you can either carefully roll the seed tapes up and put them away in anticipation of spring, or, if it’s warm enough, go ahead and plant them in the standard-seed tape manner. Just be sure that you plant them seed-side up and water them well, so the seeds have an easier time reaching for the sky. One other pointer: don’t make the seed tapes too far in advance, because over time, the glue may become too dry, and the seeds will fall off. Even the seeds that do stay on will become less likely to germinate if you wait too long.
If you don’t have any kids to stick on this project or don’t have the time, check out our vegetable garden seed mat!
by blair on November 2, 2009
If you’ve ever seen nasty lumps on your plants, especially near the soil line, you’ve probably encountered the widespread plant disease known as crown gall. This disease is the result of opportunistic bacteria that enter open wounds, causing abnormal growth. Even a tiny nick can give them access, so be very careful when pruning or harvesting.
Photo courtesy of timparkinson at Flickr.com.
Large crown galls up to several inches across are often seen on trees, especially fruit trees. Stone fruit and pome fruit trees (that is, apples, pears, and their relatives) are hardest hit. However, galls can occur in just about any tree, woody or otherwise, especially during warm weather. In the home garden, they tend to occur most often in roses and grapes.
To treat crown gall organically, prune away the bad parts, and be very careful to sterilize your tools with bleach after each cut. Completely remove seriously infected plants, and don’t put any new plants in the area for several years. DO NOT compost the diseased material; burn it if possible, or bury it at least a foot deep. If you’re pruning a woody plant for crown gall, spray wound paint over the cut section to keep the bacteria out.
by blair on October 30, 2009
Photo courtesy of David Blaine at Flickr.com.
Wide-scale planting, as for groundcover or a garden, often results in temporarily bare topsoil that, depending on texture and slope, may be easily washed away by rain or blown away by wind. To avoid this, you can take several simple measures. The simplest for a flat cultivated area is to lay down a mulch, whether natural or plastic, that will hold the soil in place until the new root systems become established. If you’re planting individual plants on a slope with an existing cover, place a large rock on the downslope side of each plant. This will keep the loose soil from eroding away before the plant can fix it in place.
