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)

Despite some Bad news, The show goes on!

Welcome back to another Episode of Lost in the Farmer’s Market, your weekly guide to sustainable property management techniques and general plant geek mayhem. This weeks episode will unfortunately feature few if any images and I cannot say that the following episodes will be any different, as we open this episode with some bad news. Some time in the late afternoon on Friday of last week the BL2 HQ, often referred to here as ‘The Clark Ranch’ was broken into and ransacked. We lost our camera and a few other things but comparatively we lucked out as far as Burglaries go. Now this means that unfortunately this block may be using existing stock images on fine or no images at all as we cannot take pictures to show off projects or things seen in the field. We will of course to continue with the quality literary works but, sadly the images of garden geek action no can do. With this in mind, we bring you now to this week’s topic and ask that you bear with us while we make due during the current situation.

Today I’d like to talk about the effect of rain and weather on your watering schedule. I think most gardeners have been at that point where they look outside and see it’s raining a bit perhaps from a pop-up thundershower and breathe a sigh of relief that they don’t have to water the crops for at least another day.  But you have to wonder what it is after a brief rain that makes your plants go from wilting drama queens to examples of excellent gardening care in such a short time. The answer is simple enough, no not soil moisture but sheer humidity. You would be surprise how little a plant, even a cutting of one wilts if the humidity is very high. Part of this is because the plant is losing less moisture then its outside surfaces are taking in. This complete state of wetness also reduces the ambient temperature somewhat lessening heat stress for long enough to get past the days apex heat in theory.  So basically what you see is a natural response to the plant not suffering as much from heat and moisture loss.  It’s a win-win for everybody you do less work and your plants look great for a while. The down side is that a brief shower is no real match for a drenching rain or you actually going out and watering so often the effect is temporary and has the nasty side-effect of stirring up the mosquitoes. 

Thunderstorms play a different role in comparison to rain showers because they often deliver a comparatively greater amount of rain over a short period of time. This extra precipitation can be the cause of flash flood warnings and sometimes severe soil erosion. But thunderstorms do just one very important thing, they ionize atmosphere wherever they are, and by doing so draw atmospheric nitrogen, into their precipitation and by way of their rain deliver tiny amounts of nitrogen to the land. If you have ever noticed the day after a thunderstorm everything is super green, it’s because of the nitrogen. Nitrogen is pretty capricious, it dissipates so quickly that the USDA Soil Lab wont even test for it because they know it wont be in the sample by the time it gets to the lab in any useful amount.  I might add it has been noted in some reputable publications that being downwind of a thunderstorm and thus receiving the spike in humidity it causes is sometimes enough to get a weak greening effect. Not bad at all if you consider those may showers we talk of in rhyme and those night time and afternoon summer storms are actually doing you a double-favor. Rain itself is a godsend because it can flush the water-soluble pollutants out of the soil (such as salt) with successive rains as well as aid plants in developing a deep root system and support better yields.

That said watering from water storage devices does trap some of whatever trace elements are in the rain, but not any useful amount of the nitrogen. However in most cases unlike water pulled from a well or a municipal source collected water tends to be closer to pH neutral except in regions with heavy pollution. This makes collected rainwater an important resource for transplanting and deep irrigation while tap, well or municipal water is somewhat better for use during droughts. The chlorine in tap water actually serves a surprising use in the garden as it can be applied to aid in calcium uptake in vegetables or fruits such as those in the nightshade family to avoid blossom end rot. Admittedly it’s a bit of an expensive solution when compared to dolomitic or hydrated lime but it does in the right measure with a set amount of dissolved Epsom salts aid in countering some soil deficiency issues.

The last and perhaps most important aspect of this topic that needs to be addressed is the ‘Deep and Infrequent’ principle of irrigation. Basically it has been proven that watering a little but more frequently benefits your plants less then if you water heavily but infrequently. The reason for this is that shallow watering does not promote deep roots. Basically what happens is your garden plant if watered shallowly will develop most of its roots near the soil surface and thus be more subject to drought and heat related stress. Additionally soil nutrient depletion may occur over time ruining the longevity of a garden plot. Now the deep and infrequent concept holds that you would like to have 1” of water per week total at least. There are little devices you can get to measure the amount of water you are applying in inches at most hardware stores but it’s better to get a actual rain gauge and monitor weekly rainfall amounts to get a feel for your own specific area. Deep and infrequent is important as a watering method because you are ensuring that a larger column of soil is being wet by the applied moisture. The effect is that your plant’s roots radiate out through the soil strata more evenly and thus are better prepared to suck up every drop of moisture that comes their way as well as being better able to get at any near ground water that might be below. This even rooting zone translates to more uniform nutrient uptake and improved drought, pest and disease resistance as the plants are stronger overall. In the end this all translates to a sigh of relief in the drought season for you because you know that those plants out there can handle the brief periods when you cannot add extra water and no rain is forthcoming. In short, you and nature have struck a deal, and it’s mutually beneficial.

Despite the summer heat I am still manning the booth down at the Fayetteville Farmers / City Market in downtown Fayetteville. Keep in mind the venue is open rain or shine with the proviso that obviously violent storms are about the only thing to impact the market being open. The market runs from 9:00 am through 1:00pm and is located at 325 Franklin Street. As always there will be great handouts about soil conservation and wildlife management and of course copies of my book Southward Skies.

5x Burgundy Okra

2x Nankeen Cotton

5x Ghost Pepper (Sweet)

12x Banana Pepper (Sweet)

11x Red Carolina Wonder Pepper (Sweet, Bell)

3x Chinese Ornamental Peppers (very hot)

2x Large Beef Steak Tomato

6x Small Beefsteak Tomato

1x Roma Tomato (Cooking Type)

1x San Marzano Tomato (Cooking type)

1x Sedum (Groundcover)

-plus whatever else fits in the truck!-

Next week

4x Spear Sanseveria (Houseplant)

4x Sangria Pepper (Ornamental)

3x Litchi Tomato

Available Soon

3x Red Peter Pepper (Spicy)

4x Green Carolina Wonder (Sweet, Bell)

1x Peperomia Verticiliata (Houseplant)

15x Egyptian Onion

With all that said thank you for continuing to support our humble endeavor by reading this page, and commenting when you do. Next week’s topic will cover another aspect handling the summer heat as well as a related bonus topic focusing on plain cool plant stuff.