Farewell to a year

Welcome back to Lost In the Farmer’s Market. This marks the last episode of 2014, and with the start of the New Year we begin the 2014 review.  I think it’s fair to state we had an interesting year and the vital statistics will definitely support this assumption.  As per the new tradition I thought it’d be wise to cap off the year with some unique year-end images and the first of which is a look at what sort of “Tree” we decorated this year. If you looked at this blog last year the plant decorated was a Pencil cactus or Euphorbia tirucali ‘Firesticks’. We picked the plant in question due to its size and the fact that it had developed a cheerful red-orange color by the time it had to be brought in for the winter. Well move over euphorbia for 2015 is the year of the Desert Rose Adenium obesum. The specimen this year was picked because of its exceptional growth, over the year and it’s decidedly much more tree-like form by the end of the warm season.

I did skip putting lights on the plant because let’s face it; the big plant is too good looking in all that bling to need lights.

A close up of the trim placed on our Desert Rose.

For those not in the know, the Desert Rose is a succulent plant classified as a caudiciform or a plant with a swollen trunk or base that serves to store water and nutrients which enables the plant to survive drought or periods of dormancy or bad weather. From a biological perspective a Desert Rose is interesting because as the above images suggest Desert Roses have actual leaves which put them somewhere between broadleaf non-succulent plants and the true succulents indicating a transition between environments in the plant kingdom. They still can get the same maladies as a succulent but when stressed can also suffer non-succulent pest problems so their care is a careful regimen of benign neglect. A bright sunny spot and occasional water is all one of these stoic plants needs to be happy. For those of you out there who are inspired to buy one, don’t be surprised if in your first winter with it the plant drops all leaves and goes dormant. It takes at least a year or more for them to stop doing this as new plants. The trick for handling dormancy when you have a new (less than two years old) Desert Rose is simply to water less often, and allow the soil to dry before watering and then only water enough to moisten the soil slightly.  The specimen plant here at the Test Gardens generally retains its foliage year-round and blooms twice a year. Fertilization during the warm season often produces better growth and heavier bloom set during the holidays. The typical bloom color for this species is pink however red and white and limited bicolor mixes of the aforementioned plants can be found occasionally.  Desert roses grow well in basic potting soil mixes that are not specifically geared to moisture retention and preferably do not have any of those fertilizer gimmicks in them. You may need to repot your Desert Rose every two to three years depending on its health and vigor and this should be during the winter during dormancy after its winter blooming period.  As a final note some publications suggest that Desert Rose is poisonous to dogs, the sap is said to contain glycosides. So it may be wise to surround a desert rose in a limited access area with pricklier companions as a pet defense.

Undoubtedly, you might be asking why 2015 is the year of the Desert Rose.  The Desert rose isn’t for everyone, it’s a plant that has needs and if you are careless it won’t survive but if you allow it to largely live without interference it’ll be just fine. Your reward is a plant that has attractive slightly lemon-scented blooms that it will delight you with at least twice a year for minimal care. In a way the Desert Rose is a little like a parable of interpersonal understanding, if you give it its fair due it will give the same back to you. Even a dormant leafless desert rose has a form and stature that in of itself is attractive and if you’re like me it lends itself to being decorated.  The trunks of these plants with age grow and take on forms and shapes that defy and prediction or logic. As far as a plant for the rigid science of Bonsai this plant excels in its role making do with what it receives. If I had to sum up all that with just a few words, the desert rose epitomizes the ideals of compromise, understanding and patience.

But enough of this end of year talk there is one other thing worth posting here as far as images. The initial cutting of this plant was given to me by Sharon (the cactus-terrarium lady) down at the Fayetteville City Market last year. So I planted the tiny snippets and waited through the summer of 2013, and the plants rooted and began growing. Now honestly I have a lot of members of this plants’ family but this one gave me trouble in identification because it did not match the other plant’s growing habits. I knew then it was a member of the Rhipsalis family but not which one. Late this year I found an identical plant in a nursery, and got ahold of a spare plant tag. Finally this plant had a name! Rhipsalis baccifera ssp. horrida…that’s not an encouraging name, horrida means horrible! The plant was covered with thin white spines that posted little threat so I suppose someone had “cactus-phobia” or something. Well just a few days ago the plant did something amazing really, at the end of my second year of caring for it; it bloomed. The flowers were nothing like any of the other rhipsalis, they resembled queen of the night cactus and other night bloomers but incredibly tiny.  Well take a look below and see for yourself the Christmas Rhipsalis as this one bloomed on Christmas Eve.

I don’t know how I missed the buds, they looked like new growth, but fuzzier.

The flowers pretty much comprise of all white or semi-translucent white parts so they aren't easy to photograph.

It was just after with the plant in one hand that I searched for the common name for this succulent, and there after matching up flowers by size and color a common name for this plant finally was located for sure.  Mouse-Tail Cactus, honestly I was a little underwhelmed, that isn’t a flattering name but then, I think I’ll stick to Christmas Rhsipsalis. As a side note a lot of plants in the trade have botanical Latin synonym names the Christmas Rhipsalis is also known under the Latin name of Rhipsalis quellebambensis.

But of course the overdue part of this post, I will be at the Fayetteville City Market this Saturday (tomorrow) as the last market event of 2014, obviously there is no market on the 31^st so the next time I’ll be out there is January 3^rd 2015. If or if not I continue to do Wednesday markets for January and February 2015 is in debate, the weather and supply status are all in question for those months so for now feel free to ask on Saturdays to find out. In the meanwhile I’m on much needed vacation so Happy New Years, and here is the final product listing of 2014.

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening

Southward Skies is a pocket-sized guide to gardening in the Carolina region. It will guide you through the process of having a productive garden in our region using a year-round format that matches the timing of what you should do and what time of the year you should do it. Unlike a lot of garden guides Southward is written in a way that can help even the most discouraged gardener to find success. Southward Skies has been tested by gardeners in other states ranging from as far south as Naples, Florida, as far north as Dorset, Vermont and as far west as Reno, Nevada. As a general guide you can’t lay hands on a better collection of tips, tricks and methods. The book is available on amazon.com as a digital book for the kindle and makes a good gift in print or digital format. The book costs $25.00 and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed. During the month of December we will wrap copies of the book at your request if you intend them as a gift.

Cold Season Crops

6x Mustard Greens, India - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Mustard Greens, Japanese Red Giant - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Cabbage, Copenhagen Market  - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Collards, Georgia Southern Creole - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Fresh Foods

2x Bordeaux Blend Soup Kit – ($5.00)

After quite a few discussions with visitors to the booth and other Sustainable Neighbors the lack of a locally available soup-making package seems to be an unaddressed need at our local markets. The Bordeaux blend soup mix contains carrots, purple top turnips, red potatoes, celery, parsnips, red onions. In short, it’s the last word in soup kits because all you need to add is bullion and meat or beans. The best part is that all items in the kit are organic and as much of it is home grown as is possible. Any item that is not homegrown is sourced within the state.

Herbal Bundles

3x Rosemary, Bagged – ($2.00)

3x Eucalyptus Bundles – ($2.00)

1x Mixed Sweet Potatoes – ($3.00)

Holiday Splendor

2x 6.75” Checkerboard Aloe – ($8.00) –SALE

1x 6” Gator Aloe – ($7.00) - SALE

2x 4.5” Silver Ridge Aloe – ($6.00)  - SALE

1x 4.5” Gator Aloe – ($6.00) - SALE

3x Bucket Teardrop Peperomia – ($7.00) - SALE

 

Really November?! Real nice one you are!

Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmer’s Market and we start off with some ‘splainin to do. While it is the holiday season sometimes bad things happen and apparently it was our turn. On Friday the 28^th of November someone decided to break into the Headquarters. Whoever it was they decided to try and kick in the front door, and succeeded in effectively destroying the lower third of the door. Fortunately nothing was stolen but they did ransack one room in the headquarters and left. I discovered this had occurred when I arrived home that night and the rest is pretty self-explanatory. So take a peek at the first two pictures of the damage and consider yourself lucky this didn’t happen to you.

Interior shot taken while the police prepared to take finger prints from the outside of the door.

Interior shot showing how the door looks in general.

Front door as seen from outside.

Normally after a break-in of this sort most might put a peice of furniture in front of the door or use plywood. I barricated the door by using deck screws to lock the door frame in place then I stacked 600 pounds of parking divider, steel case and cinder block in the way preventing any form of front door access.

Long story short this could have been far worse, if it had I might not have anything to write this post with. Although it’s awful what happened it’s the cleanup detail after that’s dreadful. The cost of replacing a door is rather significant and the new steel door I had installed ran in the 500.00 range with labor which was well, not an expense I predicted or wanted at this time of the year. Unlike the last time the HQ was broken into (June 2013) I decided that the show must go on and so aside from a little fortification things went on as normal with brief gaps for allowing the workmen to fix the door and other security related measures. All in all, as some of you saw, I still made it to the market and the Hanukkah Bazaar so life goes on.

Switching the topic to a better one all of you gardeners know how much of a drag the winter months can be.  Honestly Christmas can be a point of dread to because if your like me, you sit there cringing when it’s time to bust open some presents and look about the room as those you care about and think to yourself in a Samuel L. Jackson voice “Ok which one of you *expletive*s got me another d*** Chia Pet?” Seriously I’ve received five of those, and well I’m sure you garden aficionados that read this blog have gotten similar or worse. You try and remember that they meant well as you struggle to say thank you and act surprised and that it’s what you wanted while that Samuel L. Jackson voice in the back of your mind is going ballistic. It’s just how the holidays are…well no, it doesn’t actually have to be that way. At the booth, as long as the temperatures allow we are offering Holiday potted plants that are plenty festive but non-secular so they work for any gardener regardless of what December holiday you celebrate.

I mean think about it, what’s the best thing for that gardener you know other than something they definitely don’t already have? More so they can then brag about it to their garden-friends. You on the other hand will be the hero of the day for finding something strange, rare and unique that starts so many conversations. There is also that other gardening itch being scratched here, sometimes houseplants are more than just air purifiers. As some of you who visited the booth during august found out, Aloes, Gasteria and Haworthia all have medicinal properties found in the gel within the leaves. In the case of a house plant that I’ll be offering later on, Cuban Oregano, a relative of Swedish Ivy, doubles both as a trailing house plant and its leaves are used as a substitute for oregano/basil in cooking. Not bad really, but other house plants have interesting uses as well and that makes for the fun of finding a living gift for that special gardener on your shopping list. In short it’s always good to consider getting something outside of the normal conventions of gift giving when you’re getting something for a gardener. When in doubt there is the option of a gift card especially if you know say what seed catalog they prefer. But anyway switching to some nice pictures so you know what I’ve been rambling about.

Friendship Plant - A member of the Pilea family this cheery little plant has purple leaves streaked with silver bands and grows at a medium speed. It is very easy to grow.

Checkerboard Aloe - In a 6.75" painted clay pot this aloe is mostly considered for decoration but bears limited amounts of medicinal gel.

Silver Ridge Aloe - This aloe is almost completely care free, it lives on limited amounts of water, and blooms every simmer if put out for the warm season. During periods where it receives the right amount of moisture it produces a decent amount of medical gel.

Blizzard Aloe - I offered these in August as part of Sparklitis month and they are back for the holidays in nicer pots and larger sizes. Blizzard aloes have white-green leaves that really stand out. The leaves yeild a moderate amount of medical gel.

Gator Aloe - Gator aloe is one of those odd structural aloes that finds general use as a accent, and limited medicinal use as an herb. The curling leaves of this aloe make it resemble some strange sea creature at times making for a fine conversation piece with it's 4" festively painted clay pot.

Black Dragon Haworthia - Don't let the small size fool you these little plants can gain size pretty quick over a summer especially if fertilized regularly from may through august.The short leaves resemble scales and the plant's winding growth can make it resemble a reptilian critter with age.

Teardrop Peperomia - These semi-succulent plants are perfect as a  gift for a special gardener you know. They come in 5" ornamental buckets that bear a 1/2" layer of gravel at the bottom and are pre-drilled to allow drainage.

Gator Aloe - We only have a few gators left and this one comes in a 6" plastic pot in a terracotta color with a dressing of black river stones. The pot comes with an attached drainage tray.

Blizzard Aloe - To show off this specimen we put it in a black plastic pot that has an integrated drainage tray. Blizzard aloe in this use really stands out and makes for an excellent accent plant.

White Arrowhead Vine - This house plant is a incredibly easy to grow plant that is pretty tough as far as house plants go. While not as a durable as the philodendrons it is pretty close and the bright foliage is quite nice.

Holiday Cactus - For those of you who missed the bazaar, there will be a hand full of these for sale shortly from cutting stock, so stay tuned and you could get your reds early and at some discount.

As some of you might already know the Fayetteville Farmer’s Market is a year-round affair on Saturdays. The market runs from 9:00 am to 1:00pm on Saturdays and unofficially runs on Wednesdays between 1:00pm to 5:00 pm. The farmer’s market is located at 325 Franklin Street in downtown Fayetteville. Personally I may or may not be doing the Wednesday events

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening

Southward Skies is a pocket-sized guide to gardening in the Carolina region. It will guide you through the process of having a productive garden in our region using a year-round format that matches the timing of what you should do and what time of the year you should do it. Unlike a lot of garden guides Southward is written in a way that can help even the most discouraged gardener to find success. Southward Skies has been tested by gardeners in other states ranging from as far south as Naples, Florida, as far north as Dorset, Vermont and as far west as Reno, Nevada. As a general guide you can’t lay hands on a better collection of tips, tricks and methods. The book is available on amazon.com as a digital book for the kindle and makes a good gift in print or digital format. The book costs $25.00 and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed.

Cold Season Crops

6x Mustard Greens, India - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Mustard Greens, Japanese Red Giant - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Cabbage, Copenhagen Market  - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Cabbage, Savoy – Perfection Drumhead  - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Collards, Georgia Southern Creole - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Fresh Foods

5x Bordeaux Blend Soup Kit – ($6.00)

After quite a few discussions with visitors to the booth and other Sustainable Neighbors the lack of a locally available soup-making package seems to be an unaddressed need at our local markets. The Bordeaux blend soup mix contains carrots, purple top turnips, red potatoes, celery, parsnips, red onions, and an included seasoning pack which contains a seasoning pepper, oregano, rosemary, rue or basil and tarragon. In short, it’s the last word in soup kits because all you need to add is bullion and meat or beans. The best part is that all items in the kit are organic and as much of it is home grown as is possible. Any item that is not homegrown is sourced within the state.

1x Lavender - ($3.00)

3x Pesto Basil - ($2.00)

4x Rosemary - ($2.00)

3x Santolina – ($2.00)

2x Eucalyptus – ($ 2.00)

3x Eucalyptus Bundles – ($2.00)

6x Mixed Sweet Potatoes – ($3.00)

Holiday Splendor

2x 6.75” Checkerboard Aloe – ($10.00) –SALE

1x 6.75” Friendship Plant – ($10.00) – SALE

1x 6” Arrowhead Vine – ($8.00) - SALE

1x 6” Gator Aloe – ($8.00) - SALE

1x 6” Blizzard Aloe – ($8.00) - SALE

2x 4.5” Silver Ridge Aloe – ($6.00)  - SALE

2x 4.5” Gator Aloe – ($6.00) - SALE

3x Bucket Teardrop Peperomia – ($8.00)

1x 4.5” Silver Star Aloe – ($6.00) - SALE

2x 2.5” Black Dragon Haworthia – ($3.00)

The end of November

Welcome back to another episode of Lost In The Farmer’s Market. As all of you who read this web log have noticed we are in the midst of a holiday week and for those of us still in college we are in the grips of finals. Last week’s episode did not occur because of a lack of time to devote to a proper episode and so last week’s and this week’s episodes will be combined into an uber holiday episode.

The garden topic for this post is the holy grail of composting; leaf mold. Leaf mold is a byproduct of the composting process that occurs when a layer of leaves from hardwood trees or broadleaf conifers is compressed at the bottom of a compost pile into a compact golden-brown material similar to peat moss. There are many ways to create leaf mold but there are few ways to get the nutrients in the material just right. Typically what would happen is that a gardener might have a three-bin compost pile and during the fall they would collect and place Maple and Oak leaves in the two empty bins then use the contents of the full bin to make a soil cap over the leaves. The later addition of other leaves, soil and grass clippings in the spring would normally create the perfect atmosphere for the creation of leaf mold at the bottom of the bins. Typically it takes 10-12 months to create good batch of leaf mold.

The Sand Hills region unfortunately is somewhat erratic on plentiful sources of good hardwood tree leaves. For instance the area of the test gardens has no access to Oak, Maple or any serious supply of Ginko leaves. As proven in earlier posts pine straw will compost and from a leaf-mold layer but it’s more acidic than peat moss which is something I am trying to avoid for the obvious reasons. For today’s post I’m going to show you how to use a local substitute and how leaf mold is made in a container no less. In the case of this leaf mold project I used Fig Leaves, Compost, spent Potting Soil, this week’s fallen leaves from the lab and, the residual liquids and solids from cleaning out the French press. But below is a step by step guide to the process for your consideration.

The fig leaves are down due to our cold weather making for a useful resource.

Why Fig Leaves? Well, firstly I have an abundance of them also in prior years it was found they break down nicely in the pre-composter. I realize that figs are not a hardwood plant but neither is Ginko and from what I understand Fig leaves impart a bit of alkalinity to the soil where they decay so they may help the process of producing balanced leaf mold.

The act of crushing up leaves for composting can be done by a lawn mower with a bag attachment on or you can just run over piles of leaves with the mower set at its highest cutting height.

Crushing up the Fig leaves in this case is optional; I did it to mimic the process of crushing and or moving the leaves to the bin. I started with a cubic foot or so of fig leaves and crushes them up by hand to less than a quarter the volume and lined the bottom of the container with them. This is where the leaf mold should form in a few months.

Scraps from the lab and eggshells from the kitchen.

Inevitably all gardeners have a compost bucket, and the one that’s used in the lab is on the left in the picture above. The materials in the bucket are already growing mold and are in a state of decay which acts as an inoculant for the leaves. The contents of the bucket go on top of the leaves so that these decomposing molds are introduced to the pile of “food” in the bucket. The eggshells are introduced in the next step.

A steel pestle and Mortar can render eggshells to dust rapidly especially if they are dried thoroughly first.

I add pulverized eggshells as a source of calcium and as a soil enriching agent in the process. Adding them whole only takes up space and does not allow for a distribution of their benefits across the whole batch of leaf mold.

Spent potting soil and other disposable organic matter goes in next.

In this picture I’m shaking the soil off the roots of a dead Okra plant. You can see a rotting sweet potato in the trash can and now the active layer is beginning to take some shape. The potting soil is added as sort of ‘bedding’ layer for the decomposers such as the worms, millipedes and, pill bugs that inevitably came in with the leaves. It also acts as a moisture sponge for the entire mix.

A substantial layer of actual compost is the next part of the formula.

Someone might ask at this point why I am ‘wasting/using’ perfectly good compost at this point in the process. The answer is simple; compost is packed with microorganisms and decomposer critters. The use of an active agent in the mix ensures that the compost will continue to break down over time and will remain on track to completion.

More spent potting soil.

These two plants obviously died of exposure but their soil is likely to be full of critters that can help decomposition in the leaf mold. So another layer of inoculant is added. As most gardeners know you are supposed to layer your compost as is and this formula may seem a bit heavy on the browns but ultimately it’s supposed to mimic the act of composting during the winter when no greens are available.

 

The remnants of cleaning out the French Press a few times.

Even if you do not realize, the water and grounds left from cleaning out a French Press coffee maker are an idea and ultra-cheap fertilizer. The coffee-water itself will help feed plants but when you wash out a French press with dish soap you’ve added trace amounts of alkaline compounds which plants react to as though it was fertilizer. Believe it or not dethatching formulas are often recommended for accelerating decomposition in compost piles with excessive amounts of green matter. Using this coffee-water is almost the opposite we’re trying to decompose the brown materials so we’re using a differing material. After this point the can‘s lid is placed on securely and the can is placed in a sunny location in the lab.

In a few months I’ll have a nutrient rich material that can be used to transform a few square feet of the garden.  All of this is done at virtually no cost to me save for the price of patience and a place to site the compost container. When I crack this container in spring you can expect a write up about it here.

This holiday week is a pretty big week because on Thanksgiving is on Thursday, but also I have three public events this week and they are as follows and all are located at the Fayetteville Transportation Museum on 325 Franklin Street in Downtown Fayetteville.

City Market:     Wed, 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm

(Possible rain in AM only)

Dickens Holiday: Fri,  1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

(At transportation Museum)

City Market:     Sat,  9:00 am – 1:00 pm

(Sunny Weather)

So yes basically a busy holiday week, you can expect that I will have surprises at the booth on all three days and the list below will not completely reflect what may show up on any given day with exception to the cold-season plants and the sweet potatoes.

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening

Southward Skies is a pocket-sized guide to gardening in the Carolina region. It will guide you through the process of having a productive garden in our region using a year-round format that matches the timing of what you should do and what time of the year you should do it. Unlike a lot of garden guides Southward is written in a way that can help even the most discouraged gardener to find success. Southward Skies has been tested by gardeners in other states ranging from as far south as Naples, Florida, as far north as Dorset, Vermont and as far west as Reno, Nevada. As a general guide you can’t lay hands on a better collection of tips, tricks and methods. The book is available on amazon.com as a digital book for the kindle and makes a good gift in print or digital format. The book costs $25.00 and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed. During the month of December we will wrap copies of the book at your request if you intend them as a gift.

Cold Season Crops

6x Mustard Greens, India - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Mustard Greens, Japanese Red Giant - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Cabbage, Copenhagen Market  - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

6x Cabbage, Savoy – Perfection Drumhead  - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Collards, Georgia Southern Creole - 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Fresh Foods

Our ‘wilderness’ sweet potatoes are packaged in 2lb lots for $2.00 each in brown paper bags for your convenience. Novelty sized potatoes cost a little more but the bragging rights are totally worth it.

3x Novelty-Size, Sweet Potato (For pure bragging rights and silliness) – ($3.00)

2x Huge-Size, Sweet Potato (Good for use in pies)

3x Large-Size, Sweet Potato (Good for baking)

3x Medium-Size, Sweet Potato (General use)

2x Small-Size, Sweet Potato (For Recipes)

2x Tiny-Size, Sweet Potato (For recipes)

Holiday Splendor

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