Drown, Drought, Drenched...what the heck?!

Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers market or LITFM for short. As you might notice today’s episode is being posted a bit late by posting standards as it is Friday. I made the decision to let our rainy weather yesterday delay the post so I could get an accurate precipitation reading as we had not had any rain since the uberstorm pretty much. So the results of the rain were as follows; by three in the afternoon we had a average of 2.5” and then by the rains end (early Friday) an additional 1.9” totaling at 4.4”.  Fortunately there was no flooding, and those French drains I installed took the water away safely and efficiently which tells me they were still quite worth it.

            With the precipitation covered this week I will start off the actual blog post with some thoughts on sustainability and then a set of the week’s photographs from the test gardens. At the booth I get a lot of questions about what sustainability means, and for each person asked that I am sure the answer will vary. My definition at its heart is a simple one. 

“Sustainability is the practice and policy of systemic and cultural consideration for resources productivity and health with a special concern for the environment at large.”

It probably sounds a bit heady, but it is a good way to define a life style that has such far-reaching effects. To put it in a more physical view point I would imagine an ideal sustainable community to have a residential population density of perhaps one home per acre. Furthermore I’d imagine it would have no supermarkets instead having smaller markets at regular intervals to provide the food and basic goods the population might need. Commercial sites such as strip malls and such would be equidistant to all parts of the community so no one area would gain an undue economic advantage. Urban agriculture might be done on some scale in almost every yard, and full out agriculture might surround the community creating a green band before one might encounter a another residential area. In a way what I am proposing isn’t far off the old Arcology concept of a self-contained and self-sufficient community in a carefully engineered living space.

I know that what I’ve suggested is social design from the ground up but at the least we could begin by getting rid of super markets for smaller markets spread more equally across a given community. We know that due to size and zoning constraints it is not possible to place super markets with the regularity needed to prevent the existence of a food desert. So, it then becomes logical to promote the existence of farmer’s markets, farm whole sale operations (ie T&T Farmer’s market and Paul’s produce.) to fill in the gaps. It would not be hard for a major supermarket chain to make smaller community markets and in doing so they exist as a source of employment that in turn boosts the local economy if the workers are provided a respectable wage. These smaller markets could appear every two to three miles or so which puts them in walking distance. Their existence might spur the need for improved public transportation which then, more social mobility, more tax revenue and more jobs. But overall for those of us who own a vehicle…we would need to burn less fuel because the markets would be closer and thus we would be able to walk. As much as I don’t like the term, the Trickle-down effect of this change to community would greatly alter the status of the people in it and the ecological and social stability of such a community.  Walmart would have hell busting in because they’d have to brawl real supermarket chains and would probably loose pretty badly, communities would have no room for a wal-mart and thus some corms of corporate exploitation would be very difficult.

But anyway, that was my buck-fifty on the subject matter because let’s face it, two-cents was not enough. With it said I bring you on to a discussion of this week’s photographs. Feel free to leave a comment about the subject or to pitch some of those sustainable thoughts at the market.

Symphytum x uplandicum ‘Bocking 14’ – Bocking 14 Comfrey

I do often talk on this block of how important comfrey is as a garden herb and a natural source of compost and fertilizer but up until this year mine never bloomed. The blooms are as you can see are quite marvelous though I don’t know if the light sky blue tint really shows in this photograph. I snapped this picture on Thursday between the gaps in the thunder showers.

Salvia officinalis ‘Berggarten’ – Berggarten Sage

One of the two culinary sages I keep in the gardens, this patch of berggarten is actually two or three plants. Their old spot was in the herb garden by the sheds but they seemed to be miserable there so they were transplanted as part of the herbal end cap in the reinforced mound bed. They continued to look pretty bad up until this spring, where they are displaying more positive growth then they had in their old location for the last two years.

Bunias orientalis – Turkish Rocket/ Warty Cabbage

I sold these plants as edible perennials in 2014 alongside three forms of chicory and French dandelions and this is a second year plant that is about to bloom. The real test is to see if it lives after it blooms. All sources indicate that this cabbage is a true perennial and not a biennial like most members of the brassica family but we’ll know for sure after it blooms. At the least if it dies after blooming we will have tons of seeds to start new ones with.

Solanum quitoense – Naranjilla / Bed of Nails

I got one! That’s right folks this here is an authentic bed of nails plant, a member of the nightshade family famed for its wicked foliage and edible fruit that is said to have a citrusy flavor compared to a mix of rhubarb and lime. I must confess I didn’t grow this from seed I actually got it from big bloomers in late winter for about $10.00. They grow them up there yearly and well the choice was to get some seedlings or to get a large mature overwintered plant and I think you can guess what option won. At the least it’s an awesome ornamental with scary spines and at best I get a new fruit to try in brewing.

I’ve talked about this area before; this is a pile of excavated soil left from the installation of the French drain project. I dumped compost on top expecting to cover crop it with red clover. The squash or melon seeds in the compost however; had other plans and are taking over very rapidly threatening to choke out the weeds and the clover. When I looked close these plants already had flower buds. Until these squash or melon vines produce fruit I won’t know what type they are but I’m still glad to have it none the less.

On the next episode of Life Styles of the Green and Succulent a tomato moves into the gated succulent community…tensions flare!

This is where some of my plants go for the summer; in this little nook between the cold frame and the patio. Arrayed out there are several Christmas cacti, nine types of aloe a kalanchoe and at least one peperomia. To the left is the Mexico Midget Tomato specimen that has outgrown all other tomatoes in pots thus far and needed more space it’s even got fruits on it surprisingly.

Capsicum anuum ‘Leutschauer’ – Leutschauer Paprika Pepper

And here we have the first pepper of the season, a paprika pepper. This plant was one of three sold to me by Laura Bradley (the pepper lady) at the Fayetteville Farmer’s market. The two others started to decline after being brought in and never made it through the winter. I might add this was the pepper that produced a fruit in the middle of winter with no known pollinator present eve after the Rainforest and Yellow Devils Tongue peppers had went semi-dormant. Leutschauer however soldiered on and made an utter recovery once placed outside. Overall I would say the aforementioned facts have cemented the Leutschauer pepper’s place as the best of 2013 and stands to reason it’s a front runner for best of 2014 also but let’s see how things develop.

But then speaking of sustainability and permanence, it is the weekend and thus it is time to talk about the Fayetteville Farmer’s Market. As you may know the weather is set to be absolutely gorgeous and well you could not ask for more out of a market. For those who haven’t been tot eh Fayetteville Farmer’s Market, it is located at 325 Franklin Street in downtown Fayetteville, and runs from 9:00 am through 1:00 pm though depending on how many folks are passing through the market we sometimes overrun that 1:00pm end time. Also there is a Wednesday market from 2:00pm to 6:00pm in the same location. So you can come down, get the freshest foods possible and chat up the folks responsible for producing it. As always below is the weekly list of what will be at the market on Saturday, and while it is not a precise list as sometimes I throw extras on the truck it’s darn close.

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening

This is the second edition of my book, which was published using data compiled from several years of test garden operations. It’s written to aid gardeners of all skill levels in successful garden methods that are targeted for the south east but had proven to be a valued resource for gardens across the eastern coast. It’s certainly a good gift for that gardener you know or for yourself if you’d like to have a reliable field guide. The book costs $25.00 and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed.

Vegetables

2x Eggplant, Casper , 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Pepper, Sweet Banana , 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Pepper, Habenero, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Pepper, Pimento, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Pepper, Carolina Wonder, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Amana Orange, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Brown Berry, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Cherokee Purple, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Martino’s Roma, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Mexico Midget, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Rainbow Cherry Mix, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Red & Yellow Currant, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Reisotomate, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, San Marzano, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Underground Rail Road, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Fruits

4x Strawberry- Ozark Beauty, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Herbs

4x Basil, Sweet, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Basil, Thai, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Basil, Cinnamon, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Basil, Red Rubin, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Bee Balm, Lambada, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Chives, Common, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Fennel, Black, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Mint, Chocolate, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Lamb’s Ear, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Lavender-Cotton-Green, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Marjoram, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Oregano, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Parsley, Italian, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Sage, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tansy, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Borage, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Coming Soon:

Genovese Basil

Black Hungarian Pepper

Green Zebra Tomato

Hillbilly Potato Leaf Tomato

Lemon Drop Peppers

Japanese Black Trifele Tomato

Striped Togo Eggplant

Louisiana Long Green Eggplant

Triple Crop Tomato

Thyme, Common

Artemisia

Ornamental, Passion Vine

Cucumber, Armenian

Cucumber, Poona Kheera

Melon, Vine Peaches

Melon, Kiwano

Ornamental, Angel’s Trumpet

Well now it's back to spring temperatures and life is good, but also we have come to the end of this episode. Stay tuned for more garden mayhem next week when we show some mutated calendulas and whatever the heck else has caught LITFM's eye before next Thursday.  As Alwas folks keep 'em growing!

Soooo Spring, you mad?

Welcome back to Lost in the Farmer’s Market where we apparently longed for more stable spring temperatures and Mother Nature took offense and instead gave us stable summer temperatures.  Seriously, it went from torrential thunderstorm downpours with hail and flooding and sideways rain to 90 degree weather and humidity so heavy that you thought the air was composed of a thick soup broth. But despite these difficulties the noble and tireless gardeners of the world must continue on maintaining those dreams of having positively incredible gardens and bountiful harvests. For today’s topic we continue the photographic extravaganza because we can and that’s the excuse we are sticking with dangnabbit!

So first we have the redo pictures of stuff that wasn’t being cooperative for whatever reason the last time I snapped the pictures. Some of you will remember that at the end of April One of my black petunia pictures didn’t quite turn out. Here is the replacement image.

You can see the real purple of the flowers near the centers.

Next we had those yellow irises that also refused to be photographed.

Is that a yellow Iris in bloom or are you just….oh…it’s an iris…

Petunia spp. And Tagetes erecta – Common Petunia and African Marigold

But what is this? Not redo at all but an update, for those of you who have been to the ranch lately you’ve seen this old barbeque grill thing lying about not in use. I salvaged it last summer while at a jobsite with the intentions of making it the fire pit but then actually got a real fire pit and discarded the original idea. So finally as the failed plant count piled up I piled the dead plant bits and the associated soil into this thing and capped it with some fresh soil then planted annuals in it. Blue Petunias and yellow African marigolds. For note the white PVC pipe goes all the way to the bottom of the ‘planter’ and is used to deep water that entire section of the garden. For note, in the 80’s and 90’s this form of marigold was called African marigolds, somehow ad of late they are now called American Marigolds, I still don’t get why the new name came about but they are surely some underused plants in the garden. In this case the marigolds should get rather tall and the petunias should trail down the sides of the planter. Opposing colors against the black planter should make for one hell of a display.

Asclepias tuberosum – Milkweed, Pleurisy Root

This is my perennial stand of Milkweed which was started form seed some five years ago and despite changes to the garden has remained right where it is ever since. As some of you might know, Milkweed due to its very long taproot tends to respond terribly to transplanting. So, the original bed included this plant, then when the bed was reduced and changed from a triangle shape to a rectangle shape this plant was dormant and forgotten and well it seems to do better right where it is anyway. I’ll have pictures of the blooms when it happens.

Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Barlow Double’ – Barlow Double Columbine

Looking good! That’s right the next time someone says you can’t grow columbines in the south…print out the above picture and tape it to their face! I grew this little one from seed purchased at w whim from the burpee rack at bLowes in year two. Much like the milkweed it took some time to establish but now this perennial has adapted and blooms like this yearly. The trick is really good soil and filtered shade with preference for little direct sun.

Tradescantia virginiana – Widow’s Tears

Tradescantia virginiana – Widow’s Tears

You probably see these guys all over the place and never bothered to worry for what they were. They’re more common than dandelions a true perennial and are quite prolific while forming dense colonies that can be quite attractive. They are somewhat persistent and thus hard to eradicate but then they aren’t all that poorly behaved as far as wild perennials go. The most common wild flower color is that impressive blue you see above but every now and again you see the occasional bicolor mutation as shown in the second picture.

Santolina virens – Green Santolina or, Green Lavender Cotton

These three plants were planted about two months ago and have put on all this growth you see in that time. Each were no bigger than the santolina plants I sell and they have already doubled in size at least and show no signs of slowing down. As I say at the market Santolina loves hot dry locations. Hopefully by the end of the summer these little perennial dynamos will have filled this edge of the garden making for an incredible scented border.

Lycopersicon esculentum ‘Mexico Midget’ – Mexico Midget Cherry Tomato

This is what a mature Mexico midget tomato actually looks like. Ton one side is a Black Krim and to the other is a Cherokee Purple. The Mexico Midget was grown from a volunteer seedling that emerged in the mother plant’s pot at the end of last year and was overwintered in front of the kitchen window then planted out on April 11^th. What you see is just the beginning, as I’ve said before the Mexico midget is indeterminate, will produce an insane number of vines and then produce copious amounts of cherry tomatoes. It was the winner for productivity in last year’s trials and so it’s already making some records for insane growth. It is possible that the resulting fruit may be quite unique this year as this plant may be a biological cross between Mexico Midget, Underground Railroad and Paul Robeson which may explain the crazy-vigor. I will not know for sure until the first ripe fruit are off the vine. As a closing note to the garden topics the rain barrel challenge is still on and my planter sacks survived the super rain we had so now it’s a matter of watching the plants grow.

            As some of you may already know the Fayetteville Farmer’s Market is going on this weekend as it does every Saturday 365 days a year. The weather is supposed to be near 90 degrees with about 70% humidity but otherwise sunny but because of the roughly 30% chance risk of rain we may find some respite from the heat due to cloud cover even if it does not actually rain. I might add there has been no measurable precipitation since the turbo-downpour last week so there will be no precipitation info this week.  The market is located at 325 Franklin Street in downtown Fayetteville and there’s no shortage of parking in the area. But of course here is this week’s plant and materials list for Saturday the 10^th.

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening

This is the second edition of my book, which was published using data compiled from several years of test garden operations. It’s written to aid gardeners of all skill levels in successful garden methods that are targeted for the south east but had proven to be a valued resource for gardens across the eastern coast. It’s certainly a good gift for that gardener you know or for yourself if you’d like to have a reliable field guide. The book costs $25.00 and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed.

Vegetables

2x Asparagus, Gallon pot ($6.00)

2x Bloody Dock, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Borage, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Eggplant, Casper , 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Pepper, Sweet Banana , 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Pepper, Pimento, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Pepper, Carolina Wonder, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Tomato, Amana Orange, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Brown Berry, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

1x Tomato, Cherokee Purple, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

1x Tomato, Tlacolula, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Tomato, Black Krim, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

1x Tomato, Martino’s Roma, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Mexico Midget, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Tomato, Paul Robeson, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Rainbow Cherry Mix, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Red & Yellow Currant, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Reisotomate, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, San Marzano, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Underground Rail Road, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Fruits

6x Strawberry- Ozark Beauty, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Herbs

4x Basil, Sweet, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Basil, Thai, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Basil, Cinnamon, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Basil, Red Rubin

2x Bee Balm, Lambada, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Chives, Common, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Fennel, Black, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Mint, Chocolate, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Lamb’s Ear, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Lavender-Cotton-Green, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Marjoram, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Oregano, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Parsley, Italian, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Sage, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tansy, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Coming Soon:

Genovese Basil

Black Hungarian Pepper

Striped Togo Eggplant

Louisiana Long Green Eggplant

Early Black Egg Eggplant

Triple Crop Tomato

With the posting of the plant list this brings to a close another episode of lost in the Farmer’s Market. I hope to see some of you on Saturday as the tomato mayhem moves intoa n interesting new phase consisting of the really wild and crazy varieties.

I knew it was bad when I saw the dandelions making an ark.

Welcome back to the first May edition of Lost in the farmer’s Market, and you’ve heard me repeat that old rhyme ‘April showers bring may flowers’ but what’s been going on this week is well completely ridiculous. Fortunately despite being bunkered by an obscene amount of rain, thunderstorm activity and two separate hailstorm events I managed to catch the super storms on camera and collected the precipitation report.  Now I hope all you gardening-maniacs out there are sitting down because we received an average rainfall of 5.3” between Monday and Wednesday alone, and an additional 0.2” last week so that’s a total of 5.5” which is literally some crazy weather. On Tuesday we received about three inches which included high winds, violent electrical activity and Hailstones that looked like this guy below.

Yes that’s for reals, they were irregular hailstones no real size but roughly about the diameter of a dime.

It seems as of late we get a hailstorm yearly now and that’s probably a validating point for climate change. But anyway, here’s some pictures from the front porch of the ranch of the deluge in action.

See those weird ‘spheres’ in the picture? They aren’t lens flare or moisture on the lens that’s light reflecting off the hail as they ricochet off the roof.

For comparison, I bring you the rare and elusive Roof-Waterfall, right up there next to seeing a double rainbow and in mystified fashion pondering what it means.

Yeah so the weather was kind of a big deal, the amount of rain overwhelmed the new drain system briefly and flooded the rear deck. Fortunately as part of flood preparedness I had already elevated all electrical devices several inches above the deck and water proofed everything else as well so no damage to be had.  Or so I thought, I went to get the mail on Wednesday afternoon.

At the time this pooling seemed harmless, I mean the front sidewalk was under an inch of water the lawn was clearly saturated and then…

I had not realized at the time the front lawn is on a slope, in fact the entire property was on a slope. None of the pictures show it but all that water rushing from back to front exerted enough force to suck six bricks out of the front bed by the curb and wash them down the street almost to Ireland Drive. When I discovered this while maintaining the front bed initially I thought the mailman had hit the beds again and perhaps busted a few bricks and discarded them. A neighbor told me he’d seen the bricks up the road a bit and well sure enough… But that leads to the discovery of something else of note. During all that the antique rose on premises decided to bloom and I think it is the most spectacular rose bloom I’ve ever seen. Older photographs indicate it’s never produced a triple-bloom before like this but judge for yourselves.

I left the garden scissors in this image to show how giant this flower is.

So in the aftermath of the ‘Uber Storm of  Spring 2014 the following pictures were taken of the garden. As you can figure, if the rose bloomed despite the conditions then other things did also and so the glory of spring really came into its own after the fact. So lets make with the garden floral show.

Check it out; the Rhubarb has finally after five years matured enough to bloom! The flowers aren’t open yet but now you know what to look for.

There are many Irises on the property, and originally they used to bloom blue but they have become dominated by white and yellow varieties, expect a picture of the yellow ones soon.

The ornamental sage plants in the curbside bed were undamaged and responded to the deluge by blooming more.

The Arapaho Blackberries are in full bloom this year and looking good.

While not in bloom, the foliage of this rescued Heuchera is worth a look. Its unique coloration is visible from a distance and its eventual bloom is no slouch either. Every year this garden perennial gets better and is solid proof of what you get when you place a plant perfectly. Some of the readers might remember I salvaged this plant off the roadside after some landscaper dumped it in the Haymont section.

Also while avoiding a sudden downpour on Wednesday I snapped this picture of one of the rabbits that passes through the property while taking shelter in the shed.

I never knew rabbits ate wisteria, looks like they've become double useful!

But photographs aside I bring to all of you the first Skye Project Test Garden Challenge. That’s right, this one all started with a comment made by a visitor to the Farmer’s Market booth a few months back when it was too cold to really plant anything. As I recall the conversation went something like the following.

Me: “Have you tried installing rain barrels to bring your water bill down?”

Customer: “No I haven’t.”

Me: “Well you know they come in a variety of shapes colors and sizes or at the least there are the big fifty-five gallon ones the county sells for thirty-five dollars…”

Customer: “I don’t think I like them.”

Me: “Why not, you said you had a high bill for watering…short of a soaker hose or irrigation system that can really cut a garden increased water bill.”

Customer: “It’s just that they’re so ugly!”

Me: “I’m sorry what?!”

From there you can guess how the conversation went but still yes I realize rain barrels are not exactly pretty. I know the county ones are basically large black pickle barrels and thus are definitely not pretty but it got me thinking. If appearance is a problem how can we as gardeners fix that? We’re incredibly inventive folk right? So that brings us to the 2014 Garden Challenge, how would you make your Rain barrels more attractive?

What I did at the test gardens was to buy several of those hanging planting pouches, and plant them out with  red, purple, and red and white petunias as well as some moss rose in pink and pink & white varieties. Then to hold the plating backs up I secured a length of chain around the neck of the barrel and held it in place using a joining link, and installed six heavy S-hooks to hold the sacks up. The results are pictured below but keep in mind the sacks got a little beat up by the rain so I’ll take a later shot after the plants get going.

Right side: (from right) Bravo Red Petunia, Samba Fuscia & Peppermint Moss Rose.

Center: (from right) Bravo Purple Petunia, Picotee Red Petunia.

Left Side: (from right) Bravo Red Petunia, Samba Fuscia & Peppermint Moss Rose.

For note what you can’t see is on the end of that dangling chain in the left side picture is a hanging basket filled with Bravo Red Petunias. So, why did I pick the layout and colors? Well red flowers tend to attract Humming birds as some of you may have seen this is what the entire back deck looks like. All the hanging baskets are filled with petunias, which left the rain barrel lacking. By the middle of summer I expect this to look incredi-epic. Seriously as you can see below that’s a lot of tomatoes growing up and a lot of petunias growing down, my back deck may disappear for a few months because of this.

I told you all at the market I went a bit overboard, and some of you thought I was joking too!

But that’s just a fraction of the challenge I want to see what all the readers do.  Will you take up the challenge and try something for 2014?  Make sure to take pictures at the start and as your project grows.

With all that said, the market is on this weekend and it looks like the weather has broken. Saturday is supposed to be rather nice with a high of 77 degrees a slight wind and no noted chance of rain. In short, this is perfect weather for the Farmer’s Market. Now the market is located at 325 Franklin Street in the parking lots of the Fayetteville Transportation Museum. The Museum is located in downtown Fayetteville and the Market runs from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm though given the time of the year it may run a bit over if there are enough folks at the market.  Also for note we will have a presence at the Wednesday Farmer’s market at the same location which runs between 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm on Wednesdays weather permitting. But enough of this market stuff here is a list of what we will be carrying this week at the market.

Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern Gardening

This is the second edition of my book, which was published using data compiled from several years of test garden operations. It’s written to aid gardeners of all skill levels in successful garden methods that are targeted for the south east but had proven to be a valued resource for gardens across the eastern coast. It’s certainly a good gift for that gardener you know or for yourself if you’d like to have a reliable field guide. The book costs $25.00 and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed.

Black Magic Fertilizer

That’s right you’ve heard about it in trials all summer. This specially formulated liquid fertilizer was made and tested at the test gardens using natural ingredients and no chemicals. The result explosive growth, great harvests and of course no environmental side effects! We’re making batches of this stuff to order, at $6.00 per gallon of fertilizer.

Vegetables

2x Asparagus, Gallon pot ($6.00)

3x Bloody Dock, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Borage, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Eggplant, Casper , 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Pepper, Sweet Banana , 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Pepper, Pimento, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Tomato, Amana Orange, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Brown Berry, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

1x Tomato, Cherokee Purple, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Tlacolula, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Black Krim, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Tomato, Paul Robeson, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Fruits

10x Strawberry- Ozark Beauty, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Strawberry- Ozark Beauty, 5” pot ($4.00)

Herbs

3x Basil-Sweet, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Basil-Thai, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Basil-Cinnamon, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Borage, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

1x Horehound, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

2x Lamb’s Ear, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

1x Lavender-Cotton-Green, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Marjoram, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

4x Oregano, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Sage, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

3x Tansy, 3.5” pot ($3.00)

Coming Soon:

Chocolate Mint

Bee Balm

Red Rubin Basil

Genovese Basil

Black Hungarian Pepper

Striped Togo Eggplant

Louisiana Long Green Eggplant

Early Black Egg Eggplant

Rainbow Cherry Tomato Mix

Red & Yellow Currant Tomatoes

Mexico Midget Tomato

Triple Crop Tomato

…and the above is just the beginning!

This draws to a close the first rain soaked episode of LITFM in the month of May. It may be a cruel irony that after our weather everything outside is literally super-green. It also stands as a good reason to have a rain barrel when you consider how much of that water could have been stored and used. But anyway, just remember one thing, after a rain like this always check on your potted plants that have saucers as they may not drain fully. Standing water in that case may promote root rot or encourage mosquitoes to breed in the water. For pots outside without a means of drainage you can carefully set them on their side to let the water runoff, though this may take upwards of an hour for larger pots.  So with that said, Keep ‘em growing!

P.S.  I missed the exact date but LITFM has now had 10,651 page views!  Keep them garden visits coming folks and thank you for reading.