2019 Autumn Garden Tour

 Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market. Today's episode has been delayed purposefully because of the need to get good photography for the virtual version of the Autumn Garden tour which occurred on Sunday the 20th. As some of you may know the Botanical test gardens are open to the public twice a year for an Autumn and a Spring tour. The idea of these two tours is to demonstrate the differences and developments that have occurred over the course of a single year. The spring tour which is usually after Mother’s Day allows for a demonstration of growing methods and plant varieties for warm-season crops. The Autumn tour, demonstrates means and methods for producing ample cold-season crops. Both tours show some ingenuitive mechanical processes that allow for success without the back-breaking labor. Ideally visitors should go on both tours to really see the gambit of methods, materials and changes to get a full feel for gardening in our region and our specific climate. There is one other net advantage to visiting the Botanical Test Gardens; the gardens were established in February of 2009, and since then I have personally tried all kinds of gardening theories and some were proven while others were debunked. You gain access to all of that when you visit and no reasonable question is off-limits during the tour. In case you are wondering, the gardens do occasionally receive plant donations, but it does not have a sponsorship or any such thing so we aren’t beholden to a business interest. The testing done at the gardens are of a free and independent nature on a shoestring budget, and this of course benefits all you readers out there.

With all of that said, the Tour this year almost did not happen as the forecast claimed heavy rain, but the prognostication changed the closer to the 20^th we got. It was somewhat cloudy but the rain held off for long enough to have a wonderful conversation, and a recap of the Spring tour for those whom could not make the earlier event. I thank you all for coming out and I hope all your questions got answered. Next up is the virtual tour, keep in mind the photos below are larger than normal and of higher resolution. Viewers with slower internet connections or older computers should be patient and allow the images to load. 

The Spring 2019 virtual tour can be found here: 

http://bl2-litfm.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-spring-2019-photo-tour.html

Garden Tour Highlights

Here we have North Carolina's tallest okra plant. The scientific name for this plant is Abelmoschus Manihot ‘Chief Kubo’s Prize’ and it is actually a tropical cousin of your traditional okra plant climate it is called a South Sea Salad tree. All parts of this plant are edible except the trunk which more likely than not can be dried and used as a walking stick if allowed to age.

Crescent Bed: From the left side.

 

Crescent Bed: As seen from the front to the left.

 

Crescent Bed: In front, dead-center.

Crescent Bed: From the front towards the right.

 

Crescent Bed: From the right side.

Here we have a panoramic set of pictures of the Crescent bed. This location has come a long way from its clear-cutting and reset in the spring. It was heavily overgrown by numerous weeds Vines and other noxious plants it was also full of small saplings. Perhaps ironically progress on this location has gone further than it did when this bed was established in 2014. In an upcoming post (before the year is over) I will share the photographs collected of it's development over the course of the last five years.

 

The Triangle Bed: nope still not a triangle!

 The triangle bed is a definite story of  resurrection as this bed too was at times overgrown with Jerusalem artichokes, and then clogged with asparagus (it didn't produce) and then the residual problems with passion vines and other weeds were a problem also. Once this bed was cleared and a new layer of Black kow composted manure was added it started to thrive again. Plants rescued from the reclaiming of  the crescent bed were moved here and they did very well this year. The best part is if you look very closely in the lower left side of the bed, those big-leaf seedlings are where the Money plants (Lunaria annua ) have begun to naturalize. Next year is going to be great!

 

Reinforced Mound Bed: It needs some help.

 The RFMB needs some help, parts of it are doing great, and other parts well, not so good. But this is really how the process goes, the objective of the test gardens is to see what works and what does not. I suspect the soil in this bed is starting to get depleted, and certain areas may need a compost and/or composted cow manure bombing as well replacement of certain perennials that show no signs of vigor.

The New Bed: As seen during the tour.

This bed was established using a combination of grass clippings, spent potting soil and soft plant debris.  Because I knew that the bed sat upon plant materials that had not fully decomposed you can see that I planted (it's bright green and in the middle) a previously pot-bound Comfrey (Symphytum officinale 'Bocking 14') in there to accelerate the process.

The New Bed: Being expanded right after the tour.

 Right after the tour a number of  warm-season plants that were not productive were turned under and their potting soil was recycled to effectively double the size of the new bed.

 

The New Bed: now with 50% more vegetable action!

 I do have plans to add more to this bed soon, but at the moment it is 6.5 feet wide by 13 feet long. this bed is likely to produce heavily over the cold months and next year's crops will be off the charts.

Potted Crops: Left to right, Celery (2), Snow Peas (2), Swiss Chard (2).

Potted Crops: Four differing varieties of Carrots, lunar white, Amarillo, Cosmic Red, Black Nebula.

Minty Turret: Pineapple mint.

 Since the raised beds featuring the chocolate mint, Kentucky Colonel Spearmint and Mountain mint did so well I figured I should just go ahead and plant the Pineapple Mint. It's planted over a layer of spent potting soil with a ring of black kow around it.

F3 Bed: Left to right, Toad lily (trycyrtis formosa), Oregano (Origanum vulgare), Heart Throb Violet (Viola odorata).

 F3 for note stands for Flowers, Food, Foliage, and this bed does espouse the idea in a unique way.

The mega pepper, simply the largest pepper plant I have ever grown in one single season.

A single cotton plant, with a ton of white icicle radish seedlings coming up below it.

The Magnolia Fig, after being pruned for shape.

 

Lamb's Ear - Stachys byzantina

In our climate lambs ear plants are fairly delicate as they dont like our dry spells and definitely dont much appreciate sandy soil.  If you treat them a bit more like a basil they will do better.

Unknown species of frog or toad I accidentally disturbed while digging.

Collards 'Alabama Blue' The most beautiful species of collards known.

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.

Plants & Stuff Available Now:

All The Stuff:

Soup Kits: $6.00

Seasoning Packets: $2.00

Vegetables:

Collards, Green Glaze: 3” - $3.00

Mustard, Japanese Red Giant: 3” - $3.00

Kale, Scotch Blue Curled: 3” - $3.00

Kale, Dinosaur: 3” - $3.00

Kale, Russian: 3” - $3.00

Swiss Chard: 3” - $3.00

Herbs:

Rue, Marbled: 3” - $3.00

Sage, Common: 3” - $3.00

Flowers:

Coral Bells, ‘Marvelous Marble’: 4.5” - $4.00

Houseplants & Annuals:

Polka-Dot Plants: 6” - $4.00

Coming Soon:

Whole Garlic

Ginger roots

More House Plants

These days I am generally at Leclair’s General Store once a week, for the weekly Sustainable Neighbors meeting at 5:30pm through 7:00 pm. If you have questions then I will be there to answer your questions. 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 ask for us and join the meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market or pay attention to what Sustainable Neighbors is doing at the link below.

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

            This brings to a close the twenty-first LITFM post of the new year, stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 1^st of November. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.