Food-Gardening Lessons From A Wartime Victory Garden

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Tag: Maureen Gilmer

High Desert Vegetable Gardening

Successful vegetable gardening in the high desert takes effort but is rewarding.

Growing food in the high deserts of the American West is a challenge until you learn how to modify your microclimate. Not only is the high desert incredibly dry, it’s often windy, which can be a larger problem than drought. Hot or cold dry winds draw moisture out of leaves faster than the roots can replace it. If you don’t resolve the wind problem, you’ll find little success.

 

Protect Beds with Straw Bales

 

Potatoes thriving in high-desert soils boosted with lots of organic-rich amendments.

These dry climates allow bales of straw to remain intact for years. That’s why I use them around the perimeter of my high desert vegetable garden to block ground level winds. They are stable and strong enough to remain in place during our worst storm-driving winds and Santa Anas (strong, dry down-slope winds that originate inland and affect coastal southern  and northern California). Bales can also be placed in the growing area to create mini windbreaks for rows or sensitive plants. They can be stacked two or three high into a wall on the windward side of the garden to add even more protection.

While winters are cold in the high desert, there is tremendous UV exposure due to the thin dry air. During the summer this exposure soars to such an extent that some plants just can’t take it. I use wire field fencing rolled into tubes in lieu of tomato towers. They’re perfect for another solution, using shade cloth attached with clothes pins to the west side of each wire tube. This helps plants during July and August when very hot afternoons can be tough on food plants.

 

Amend Your Soil

 

Protective fencing is needed to keep plants safe from animal pests.

High desert soils often lack organic matter, and that’s where Black Gold soil amendments can transform sandy gravel into fertile ground. Among the best choices for amending lean soils is Black Gold Compost Blend and Black Gold Garden Soil. These soils also need  microbes which can be introduced using Black Gold Earthworm Castings that are naturally rich in these organisms so crucial to plant growth and soil health.

Building fertile ground takes time, so be sure to add more organic matter and nutrients every year at planting time. May 1st is the most universal date of the last frost, then the growing season is fast for the first month or two, until it slows down in the depths of summer. During August your plants may rest in the heat, then take off again in September growing rapidly until frost. Be sure to feed your garden at summer’s end with a tomato and vegetable fertilizer to help them flourish in this “second season”.

Feed Your Vegetables

 

Finally, select food plant varieties that are desert adapted. I’ve found many great candidates for this tough climate at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds because they tell you where each variety comes from. That’s where I found ‘Abu Rawan’, a tomato from Iraq that’s adapted to desert conditions. Choose these in lieu of heirlooms developed for ripening in the cool climates of northern Europe. Another great source is Native Seed/SEARCH, a seed vendor dedicated to the preservation of vegetable plants traditionally grown by the Southwest Pueblo Indian tribes.

Gardening in the high desert is easy once you solve the problems of wind, sun and very lean soils. But with a few straw bales and a load of Black Gold soil amendments, you’ll be all set to get started.
(To learn more about gardening in the high desert, read Raised Beds in Dry Country.)

Thyme Lawns

Vita Sackville-West’s twin time lawns are shown in the foreground of the beautiful landscape at Sissinghurst Castle.

In Queen Elizabeth’s day, everyone had to bathe at least once a year, whether they needed it or not. Clothing was not washed more frequently either. This period, with its voluminous skirts and skintight corsets, made communal living quite odiferous after awhile. The only solution was to cover up the stink with the scent of garden herbs. Continue reading “Thyme Lawns”

Late Season Succulents, Inside or Out

pastel gilmer2
Gorgeous purple hued Echeverias and mint green Sempervivums in a shallow wide pot make a perfect table top feature for autumn outdoor dining.

For parents, back to school season is the happiest time of year. Finally things slow enough to spruce up the garden for fall. But what to do when food plants and flowers are going to seed at summer’s end? Try some experiments with colorful late season succulents in pots to give outdoor living spaces a contemporary feel. When cold nights arrive, just bring them indoors to decorate your home all winter long.

Designing Succulent Pots

You’ve seen them everywhere, those fabulous pots stuffed with vibrant succulents. They look great on tables or arranged on a sunny deck, balcony or window. And, growing and overwintering success is easy. Start by selecting a lightweight pot (with large drainage holes) that is easily carried in or out, and fill with porous Black Gold Cactus Mix potting soil, which provides the ideal root zone environment. Then pick out an array of unique succulents from the garden center, and get planting.

In this composition you can readily see the upright plants, strong rosette forms and cascading edge plants.
In this composition you can readily see the upright plants, strong rosette forms and cascading edge plants.
To achieve the trendy looks of decorator showrooms, select succulents that represent three different forms. First are upright branching types like Euphorbia ‘Firesticks’ or Portulacaria jade trees. Second are the rosette forms of cold hardy Sempervivum and Echeveria varieties. Third are crawlers, such as Senecio string-of-pearls and cascading groundcover sedums that hang off pot edges.

A pot with a balanced design will have one or more of these three forms, but the actual plants you select will define your personal creation. Shop by foliage color for vivid hues that give your composition punch without flowers. For more subtle effects, select pastel shades for a perfect match to your interior color palette.

Planting Succulent Pots

The best succulent pots are created by packing young plants tightly into the container. Generally speaking, succulents plants don’t resent crowded conditions, so purchase good sized individuals that are in scale with the size of your pots for eye popping effects on day one. Fill tiny gaps between root balls with Black Gold Cactus Mix. It’s best to wait a few days to water them in so that any broken stems or roots can heal over with a waterproof callus. This ensures that exposed tissues are not exposed to waterborne diseases that cause rot. (This is a succulent gardening basic; to protect fresh cuts/breaks during the planting process.) And don’t worry about not watering, succulents won’t wilt if not promptly watered.

This composition at the Proven Winners trials shows how perfectly succulent hues blend into fall and water color palettes.
This composition at the Proven Winners® trials shows how perfectly succulent hues blend into fall and water color palettes.

Finished pots should be given plenty of light, a cool winter environment and light water. As days grow shorter and cooler, be aware that succulents don’t need much additional moisture because there’s less loss to evaporation. The cooled, drier conditions of fall will demonstrate just how long moisture can remain in the soil. Succulents will truly thrive through winter with little to no supplemental water while excess water can kill them.

If you’ve been dying to jump into succulents for the first time, late summer is a good time and slower season to start. It’s also more affordable because not only will they make your fall garden sizzle, you’ll enjoy them all winter too. This is economy we can all live with, and if well cared for, they’ll be ready to go back outdoors when it warms up again next year.

Maintaining the ‘Statice’ Quo

This perennial statice, Limonium perezii is frost tender but tough as nails in salt air and coastal conditions.
This perennial statice, Limonium perezii is frost tender but tough as nails in salt air and coastal conditions.

“Where did you get those flowers?” my mother asked suspiciously when I presented her with a bouquet of papery dry blossoms. They were as deep blue as Egyptian lapis stone. The stems still held their heads high after the long walk home that hot summer day.

The moment she learned they had come from the neighbor’s garden Mom was on the phone. I heard mea culpas flooding the kitchen. Then she hung up to announce we would be taking them back because they were “everlastings”, and the neighbor wanted to dry them for her arrangements.
Continue reading “Maintaining the ‘Statice’ Quo”

Growing Limes for Perfect Tequila Tasting

Limes
Nothing tastes quite like fresh limes straight from the tree, and they’re easy to grow!

The Cuervo Gold tequila we all swore off of so many times in high school has some big competition these days. There are now over 600 tequila brands on the market and high quality imports elevate this drink from spring break slammers to uptown tasting parties. With tequila coming up in the world at well over $50 a bottle, you’ll want to know a bit more about growing the bartender’s lime to match. Growing limes is easy!

Mexican Lime

Centuries ago, Arab traders brought limes from Asia to the Middle East where Crusaders carried them home to Spain, and later into Mexico. The species Citrus aurantifolia has since split into varietal groups to include larger Key limes and the smaller Mexican “bartender’s” lime. The latter produces the best lime for tequila aficionados.Mexican limes have the thinnest rind of all citrus. This allows the fruit to dehydrate so quickly its cold storage life is severely limited. Store bought limes rarely retain that fresh-picked in flavor, but if you grow your own Mexican limes in a large pot, you’ll enjoy the freshest fruit possible with every tequila tasting.

Beautifully contained lime trees in England.
Beautifully contained lime trees in England.

The Mexican lime variety available from premier citrus growers is Citrus aurantifolia ‘Mexican Thornless.’ This lime tree blooms over spring and summer with small white blossoms that release a heady citrus fragrance. It is very frost tender and best grown in a large pot you can move under cover or indoors for the winter. The container should have not just one, but numerous drain holes in the bottom to ensure there is no over-saturation occurring deeper down.

Growing Mexican Lime

Because all citrus are picky about drainage, use Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Soil where summers are humid. In the depths of the Southwest, where summers can be very hot and dry, Black Gold Cocoblend Potting Soil will help retain more moisture in the dry heat. For established container-grown limes or other citrus, use Black Gold Citrus, Avocado & Vine fertilizer each year to ensure a plentiful harvest.

Mexican limes are frost-damaged by temperatures below 30 degrees F. Key limes may be slightly more hardy. Either way, plant them in a protected spot or use a large planter with wheels to ensure you can move yours to protection on cold nights or for the entire winter. For those willing to do so, draping a protective blanket or bed sheet over a smaller tree on cold nights is a temporary, yet effective, strategy for overcoming periodic frost.

The biggest challenge is protecting tender citrus tree bark, which is highly vulnerable to sunburn. This is why they are painted white in the orchard; the paint provides the same benefits that zinc oxide provides human sunscreens. You can do the same with watered-down white interior latex on your homegrown citrus too. If not painted, sunburn can result and cause blistering or long cracks in the bark, which cause moisture loss and increase pest and disease vulnerability.

To keep a potted tree to a limited size, thin out interior branches at any time. Time your pruning well by waiting until after fruit harvest to avoid interfering with the flowering process. If you’re growing ‘Mexican Thornless’, any suckers from below the graft union should be promptly removed as they bear large painful barbs.

If memories of tequila shots on the Mexican Riviera seem far more flavorful than those of tequila parties further north, it’s not your imagination. Freshness is everything when you bite into a lime wedge. Why not bring a little bit of Mexico to your own backyard, so whenever life gives you too many lemons, you can always break out the tequila and limes.

Growing Western Wildflowers

Are you a failed wildflower grower? Growing California poppies (Eschscholzia californica), lupines, Coreopsis, and five-spot (Nemophila maculata) in the arid West is downright tricky. We sow them, and they refuse to sprout. It’s rare they return for a second season. So, what’s the problem?

First off, these western species are ephemeral annuals, meaning they live for just one season then go to seed before summer. Most of them need the full extent of our brief winter rains to get a head start on completing their life cycle prior to the long drought to come. Therefore they should be sown by Christmas to receive the rain that is essential for early spring bloom. Yet all too often they are sown during the planting frenzy of spring, which is far too late in much of the West. This leaves too short a season for them to become established and finish their life cycle.

Continue reading “Growing Western Wildflowers”

Create a Natural Prairie Garden By Repurposing Old Lawn Soils

The first settlers of the American prairie could not farm the land. First they had to strip away thick sod layer to expose this extraordinarily fertile soil. Sod was so dense, the slabs were stacked into earthen houses known as “soddies” on the open range. But the sod held more than grass, it was its own natural prairie garden that included a wide range of large prairie perennials.

Wild Meadow - Photo by Maureen Gilmer

This is the origin of our easiest and most magnificent perennials. Among them are purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan, blazing star and Joe Pye weed. All of these evolved to live in concert with our native bunch grasses to create prairies that range from very dry (mesic) in the south and the verdant tallgrass prairie in the north. There is no better model for switching out your lawn to a beautiful, natural prairie garden that lures wildlife and provides vital backyard habitat.

The problem is that turf grass lawns are a heavy feeding monoculture that depends on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer to maintain its beauty. Strip away this turf and what’s left beneath is ground worn out by chemical fertilizers much like the cotton fields of the South that were so lean newly freed African Americans could barely eek out a living. These worn out soils starve the microbes to death due to lack of organic matter. That’s why it’s so important to beef up that former turf grass ground to make it more fertile and supportive of a natural prairie garden.

Whether you’re planning a prairie, food garden or a new landscape, that soil must be very well amended if it is to grow a variety of plants again. You’ll want to provide amendments that do three things: boost nitrogen, introduce new microbes and provide plentiful organic matter to feed the microbes.

Echinacea and Bee - Photo by Maureen Gilmer

Because turf grass acts as a barrier, this heavily compacted ground has not experienced new organic matter for many years. Your first step is to turn every inch or rototill to aerate the ground. Then add Black Gold Garden Compost Blend, which are rich in humus. Be generous with these rich materials and work them in as deeply and thoroughly as you can. Remember, this is food to grow your microbe populations.

To compensate for nutrient deficiencies, particularly nitrogen, use potent organic fertilizers. To really boost the nitrogen levels in year one, use fast acting alfalfa meal. Then add a good all-purpose fertilizer to increase your phosphorus and potassium levels. Finally, distribute Black Gold Earthworm Castings for its heavy load of microbes ready to feed on all that new organic matter.

Bluestem - Photo by Maureen Gilmer

The sooner you apply this prescription the better your new, natural prairie garden will perform. With each month that passes it will grow progressively more fertile. You can plant the beautiful perennials and grasses right into the newly amended soil, or start a new food garden right in your own ground.

This preliminary soil work is vital for anything you plan to grow in lieu of lawn. Such a formula turns secondary earth into first class agricultural soil much like that ground that grew the first incredible bumper crops of corn and wheat. So whether you wish to look out on a flowering prairie or a garden filled with organically grown vegetables, all that’s required is to rehabilitate the soil and Mother Nature does the rest.

Celebrating with Spiral Topiaries

Double Spiral Topiaries - Maureen Gilmer
Double spirals are rare but obtainable from any garden center that carries Monrovia plants.

Nothing gives an entry more pizzaz than a pair of spiral topiaries flanking the front door. Plant them in a beautiful large pot and you’ve got the start of a truly elegant winter display.

Spirals are truly unique in the world of topiary because they don’t resemble the Asian bonsai styles or those poodled into balls. They’re tall and narrow, fitting nicely into corners and small spaces. Spirals are distinctly European in character and therefore they are an easy fit for virtually any traditional home style.

Potted Spiral Topiaries - Maureen Gilmer
After the holidays, move your potted spiral topiaries into the garden where they receive plenty of light on all sides to maintain their symmetry.

When the holidays roll around, spirals are the queens of decor because their corkscrew shape lends itself to strand twinkle lights. This shape also provides flattish spots where you can attach fruit or ornaments that completely transform them. When you have a pair, decorating yields even more glitz, and for a holiday party few other plants create such instant upgrade.

This year may be the perfect time to invest in a spiral at your house in lieu of the traditional holiday cut tree. This is a great investment that can be moved outdoors as a winter focal point after the new year if the climate is warm enough. There is nothing more lovely than topiary under snow.

Choose a spiral clipped from junipers since these are very drought and disease resistant, adapting to nearly all climate zones. These are sold in five gallon pots, or consider much larger pricier specimens that make great Christmas trees.

To create a pair to use outdoors, find large durable decorative containers that suit your home style. The interior and mouth of the pot must be large enough to hold the root ball with plenty of room to spare on top and sides. When the spiral sits in the pot with plenty of edge (freeboard) left at the top, you can fill it to the brim with water and move on, saving a great deal of watering time. In between tuck moss into the space to make it appear full.

Single Spiral Topiaries - Maureen Gilmer
Behind this huge single spiral is a field of Monrovia evergreens waiting to be clipped into spirals.

Since spirals are long-lived, woody trees, make sure you use Black Gold Moisture Supreme Container Mix with controlled release fertilizer (CRF). This slow release nutrition helps get your spirals off to a vigorous start. With topiaries, the strength and color of growth is essential because you must clip more often for a dense, and precise form.

Water generously after planting to coax roots out of the old pot shape into this new, organic soil. There is no better way to obtain rich, luxurious green color in your spirals.

These are sun loving plants, so life underneath the porch is ok in the dead of winter, but it won’t suit them in the growing season. The side that doesn’t receive enough light won’t grow, it may even shed foliage or turn yellowish over time. This is a disaster with topiaries like this which must remain perfectly symmetrical to maintain their beautiful form. Relocating with the seasons is easy if you have a dolly or set the pots on casters.

Whether you buy one, a pair or a whole row of them, spiral topiaries are the most versatile of all evergreens. They can transform a space overnight with their pronounced graphic forms. They’re as suited to Mediterranean architecture as they are American colonial, and even find a home in Spartan modern landscapes too. Just remember they aren’t furniture, but real live living plants, so make sure you give them quality soil and plenty of water. Then get yourself a sharp pair of clippers to enjoy the age old tradition of shaping evergreens all year around.