Strange Days Indeed!

 Welcome back to another episode of Lost In the Farmers Market, and although this post is just a full week late there is a good reason for that. The fall tour was on Sunday the 18^th and the preparation work for it was pretty serious as were  demands for additional hours by my day job. Additionally, in that same time period I posted my 50^th garden video to Youtube and was working on where to go from, there and how to announce what the channel would be doing in 2021. You can see my garden videos at the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/user/curacaovexxor/videos

Well anyway, I figured out what direction to take the garden videos, and also figured out what needed to go on this blog and am still working like a dog at my day job. The tour went well but the garden wasn’t as ready as I would have liked but they say an artist is never happy with their work or something like that.  So as you all can tell it’s both Autumn and Hurricane season which makes for oddly bizarre weather in the southeast, one day it’s like summer, then it’s raining and humid as hell, then it’s raining and cold and then cold at night only and the randomness just goes on and on. What some of you readers out there might not know is that you can plant your cold-season crops as late as mid-November. Also if you have a large enough pot your crops don’t expressly have to go in the ground so there are alternative options for planting something pretty, for food or a mixture of both. Our first official frost date is December 1^st so we have an entire month to get down with the gardening. Typically the frost date can vary by plus or minus a week but that’s still most of November. In light of this I am planning an expansion of the vegetable patch and that will be covered in the next post. In mirror of the cold-season crops you can plant now, my Youtube channel is covering cold-season crops exclusively so you know what you are getting into. The next six videos will cover Kohlrabi, Red Cabbage, Swiss Chard, Lettuce, Japanese Mustard, and Mustard greens respectively. There will be two episodes posted per week so all of your garden info will be ready to go. But enough of this talk of videos and garden stuffs, how about some garden photographs!

This year I decided that my growing tray winter annuals would be Snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus), these are the pink ones. I also planted red ones and white ones all of the Liberty series, since Pansies and Violas really don’t cover the pinks or the richest of reds these potted annuals will fill the bill. Plus only bumblebees can get at their nectar which encourages them to stick around.

 

Here is a picture of the last of the Giant Mission Marigolds (Tagetes erecta), but unlike prior pictures a close up of the fabulous chrysanthemum flower heads. This right here and the fact they get three feet tall is why I bought the slightly overpriced seed. If the marigolds had a king, this would certainly be it.

 

 

Canna Lilies (Canna generalis) are a common sight in the south, though normally they are of the red-blooming variety. I originally got these specimens from a relative and they persevered in a less than ideal spot until they were moved into the crescent bed where they are recovering and expanding rather nicely. I actually thought they were orange or red, but the Canna which bloomed last year proved me wrong.

 

 

I know I posted this picture in the last post, but I’ve managed to get a fair amount of seed from these morning glories (Ipomoea purpurea). If they breed true the red-yellow combo might be something big and very cool, you can expect more updates on this in the future.

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. Also, as of the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

Fresh Produce:*
Soup Kit: Parsnip: $6.00
Soup Kit: Turnip: $6.00

Food Plants: (3” Peat Pots)
Arugula: $3.00
Cabbage, Ruby Perfection: $3.00
Celery, Tango: $3.00
Collards, Carolina: $3.00
Kale, Lace: $3.00
Kale, Lacinato: $3.00
Kale, Marrow Stem: $3.00
Kale, Red Russian: $3.00
Kale, Scotch Blue Curled: $3.00
Kale, Winterbor: $3.00
Kohlrabi, Cossack: $3.00
Swiss Chard, Mixed: $3.00
Spinach, Avon: $3.00


Herbs: (3” Peat Pots)
Black Fennel: $3.00

 
Coming Soon:
Garlic Bulbs
Ginger
Seasoning Packets

*You can special order a specific vegetable by the pound if you want anything specific that is in the soup kits or any specific herb contained in the seasoning packets. Vegetables are sold by the pound and seasonings are sold by the ounce when sold individually.

We have a new place to share information and work on groovy sustainable stuff!  You can look for Sustainable Neighbors in our own Nextdoor.com group under the name “Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville”. You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join but it is a private group so feel free to request to join us if you are signed up on the Nextdoor.com site.

https://nextdoor.com/g/ybvdm226x/?is=nav_bar

 

Unfortunately, Covid-19 is still mucking up the works in terms of meeting in person. The good news is that Sustainable Neighbors does have a Discord Server. You can request access through our Meetup.com page or you can request access via our Nextdoor.com group. The meetup.com page is below for anyone looking to join us.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to buy anything or maintain any sort of attendance standard, you can come on in and join the meetings. When this Covid-19 mess calms down we may be able to resume normal in-person meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market. This brings to a close the twentieth LITFM post of 2020; stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 30^th of October. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.

The Cool Nights Mean Only One Thing

Welcome back to another episode of Lost In the Farmers Market, and although this post is just a few days late there’s a bit to cover. Firstly did you know this blog has been in operation since May 11^th 2011? I literally didn’t realize it had been that long but lo and behold I’ve been at it for a while. Keeping a blog alive like this one is an at times difficult endeavor because producing content can be difficult if you are trying not to repeat information. Inevitably you cross your own path even if you do not realize it given time and the nature of the topic of gardening. The test gardens have been the source of material for this blog for all that time as well as interesting events in agriculture in general. Some of you have been with me since the beginning and I am hoping that I will pick up more folks as we move into the next decade. Speaking of the botanical test gardens, the Autumn Botanical Test Garden tour is coming up. I am shooting for the 18^th of October between the hours of 2pm and 5pm. It is hoped that by then we will have seen another reduction in the Covid-19 restrictions and the weather will cooperate. If not, expect to bring masks, and the Rain Date for the event will be the 25^th of October, just before Halloween. By then I can assure you there will be plenty of fall delights for your gardening fancy and you get to see what’s going on in the test gardens. I can tell you this, 2020 despite politics and other crazy things that happened has been an amazing harvest year, so you can expect some impressive information and some ideas that flip the script when it comes to gardening. But let’s move on from the shameless promotions to talk about something big.

 

Now there is another milestone to talk about, this blog has a YouTube channel called LITFM Garden Shorts. I’ve posted some videos on this blog so the two content sites link up but the amazing thing is that as of just a few days ago the Youtube site finally reached its 50^th video. Now I admit videos were produced at a breakneck pace so that a reasonable amount of content could be had before I worked a bit more on quality improvement. Some of you will recall how the early videos were shot using the camera on my smartphone, and the ‘wobble vision’ that resulted. After that I started using a digital camera and a grip to shoot videos and quality improved but there was still an issue with image stability. Soon a tripod was being used and I started shooting the ‘Lab videos’ for smaller plant subjects and quality got better. All of this was to bring you a better garden video where the plants were the focus and you got a fact-based source of garden information that has virtually no comparison. Well, this is just the beginning, for the rest of 2020 the format will not be changed much, but I have some plans for 2021.Starting in 2021, there will be one video per week for a total of fifty-two videos per year. The scripting will be more detailed, and they will be longer videos but you will get more out of them so the reduced production speed will pay off for you. I may have to revisit certain subjects such as perennials that are better established or in a few rare cases where I feel the original video wasn’t as good as it could have been. These plant update videos will be bonuses under the title ‘LITFM Garden Redux –‘. The redone videos won’t count towards the 52 videos but should help you all out there with making decisions on what plants to use in your gardens. It is my hope that I can figure out how to better edit videos and maybe ad an actual intro to my videos but this whole series is as much a learning process for me as it is for you. I hope you all out there will keep reading this blog and watching the videos.

 

Videos and blogs hitting milestones is good and all but, ‘where’s the gardens’ you ask. Well about that, the weather has gotten kind of nice, it’s cool at night and daytime temperatures are bearable in the 70’s. This is like a perfect second spring and it is time to get those cold weather veggies in the ground while you have the chance. You can direct sow the classics like carrots, lettuce, radish, collards and so on or get plants and get them in the ground. It is also a good time to apply a mild fall fertilizer like dried bat guano or chicken manure. My preferred favorite is mushroom compost or composted cow manure depending on how heavy my cool season crops need to feed.  Typically the rule of thumb I operate under is that low to moderate feeders like Mustard, Carrots, Radish, Celery, Arugula, Spinach, Lettuce and Swiss Chard get the mushroom compost. Heavier feeders like Collards, Cabbage, Pak Choi, Kale, Kohlrabi, Cauliflower, Broccoli and Turnips get a trop-dressing of composted cow manure.  I apply regular doses of liquid fertilizer (Alaska fish fertilizer) just to supplement that and ensure soil moisture and the rest is all a matter of sitting back, relaxing and waiting for the harvest to come in. This isn’t rocket surgery, but it does have a certain agri-science to it that follows a set pattern of actions and reactions to produce a desired outcome. I should note as a matter of timing for cold season crops it is normal to start your slowest maturing seeds indoors using bottom heat as early as the second week of August. Normally you progress from your slowest maturing to your fastest as you get into September and then into Early October. The last batch of indoor-germinated seedlings should be out for hardening off or planting by the 15^th of October. Fortunately you can sow certain seeds like Lettuce, Carrots, Radish, Swiss Chard and Arugula directly so if your indoor crop fails you can have a somewhat slower backup plan. This is also the time when you apply mulches to things that need protection against the coming cold weather and a good time to shoe-in those last few desired perennials. Pruning of things is in order as most shrubs are set to go dormant and of course your last mow and trim should be around the second or third week of October as our grasses in NC are all warm-season and won’t grow anymore until next year.

 

One of the other magical things about this time of year is the planting of scores of Pansies and Violas for color that lasts through fall into early summer of next year. Another good candidate are the Snapdragons which are a flower that only bumblebees like and yet they provide nectar and pollen in general for any pollinator that can get into the flowers. Many gardeners in the Southeast forget that snapdragons can take the winter cold of zone 6b, so our 8a cold is not a bother as long as the snapdragons are planted once the night time temperatures remain cool and they  are maintained. Cold season floral color means nectar and pollen for whatever pollinators can fly or move so this is a lifeline to pollinators during the winter that will pay off later. Hanging baskets full of annuals such as Pansies can attract Carolina Wrens (Thryothorus ludovicianus) to nest. These small birds which are kind of bland in plumage have impressive songs and a voracious appetite for insect pests. They are your cool-season allies in reducing pests such as cabbage moths and cabbage moth larvae. It may help to maintain a Suet feeder for the wrens and other wild birds during the cold months to make sure your garden is well patrolled for insect pests and you keep some form of rotating bird population. There will be more on this in the next post due to be posted right before the Fall tour but let’s move on to the lovely garden photos for this post.

 

First off is this incredibly lovely picture of what Pineapple Sage (Salvia elegans) flowers look like. I think had I planted this earlier the Hummingbirds would have went crazy for it but the best of plans can be mislaid.

Here we have a type of solitary bee, specifically a Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa virginica) on the blooms of a Blue African Basil (Ocimum kilimandscharicum × basilicum 'Dark Opal') plant. Carpenter bees can be a problem to exposed woodwork because they burrow in and build tunnels for nesting. Fortunately these bees while decent pollinators are not very bright and simple wooden bottle traps can eliminate them by the bushel.

 

Here we have the burly looking stems of a Pumpkin Crush American Marigold (Tagetes erecta). When I was turning under annuals and summer crops in pots I started in on the potted marigolds as the first frost would certainly turn them all into soup. I did not expect that marigolds would produce adventitious roots that far up the stem or big chunky stems like that.

 

This picture was taken while out and about town at the day job. These are wild morning glories (Ipomoea purpurea) and the red cup flowers with the bright yellow centers were very striking. I plan to hit that site up to see if I can harvest any seed.

 

Now here's something worth talking about! I thought the Pineapple Sage was only frequented by daytime pollinators but I was wrong. As it turns out one night I happened to shine my flashlight at it and found the entire plant was wiggling. At first I thought I was seeing things then I realized, no there were a crap load of moths going to town for nectar! I don’t know what species these little gray moths are but their little eyes lit up in the unnaturally white light of my LED flashlight.

 

Here for your appreciation is a picture of an Okra blossom. If you had any doubts Okra (Abelmoschus esculentum) is in the Hibiscus/Mallow family consider that laid to rest. Ly last three Okra plants have a temporary reprieve from being turned under with all the other warm season crops because they can reliably produce up until frost.

 

This plant is commonly called Mistflower but I know it as Perennial Ageratum (Conoclinium coelestinum) because of its resemblance to the annual bedding plant with a nearly identical flower.  This plant can be invasive as it spreads moderately fast through rhizomes but is vulnerable to herbicides and manual methods of control. I keep a few colonies of this plant to add color to the property in late summer to early/mid-fall. The sky blue flowers and purple stems are striking and its bigger cousin Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed) adds to the palatte with pinks, purples and, reds. For note the Annual cousin is called Bedding Ageratum (A. houstonianum) and has a bunch of common names revolving around similar terms to the perennial pictured.

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.

 With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

Food Plants: (3” Peat Pots)
Arugula: $3.00
Cabbage, Ruby Perfection: $3.00
Celery, Tango: $3.00
Collards, Carolina: $3.00
Kale, Lace: $3.00
Kale, Red Russian: $3.00
Kale, Scotch Blue Curled: $3.00
Kohlrabi, Cossak: $3.00
Lettuce, Black Seeded Simpson: $3.00
Lettuce, Cherokee Fire: $3.00
Lettuce, Parris Island: $3.00
Swiss Chard, Red: $3.00
Swiss Chard, Green: $3.00
Spinach, Avon: $3.00

Herbs: (3” Peat Pots)
Black Fennel: $3.00

Coming Soon:
Collards, Alabama Blue
Kale, Marrow Stem
Kale, Rainbow Lacinato
Kale, Lacinato (More available in Two Weeks)
Mustard, Japanese Red Giant (More Available in Two Weeks)

Due to the current Covid-19 situation and the state’s requirement that all citizens are not to gather in groups of more than ten, the weekly Sustainable neighbors meeting is online. Please check the sustainable neighbors Meetup.com page for more info about how to attend our online meeting.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to sign up for anything or join anything, you can come on in and join the meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market. This brings to a close the nineteenth LITFM post of 2020; stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 16^th of October. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.