My Number One Gardening Tip!

Yellow Squash Flower, Green Leaves, Iridecent Beetle

I don't have much of a green thumb. In fact, I can't seem to keep a house plant alive to save my life. So every gardening tip I give is golden since they are so rare. This year I heavily mulched my garden, as some of you might have seen last month. Just after mulching, I watered it heavily once or twice, and then left it to fend for itself. A week turned into a month and rain refused to fall. I stayed in town and didn not even touch the garden at Owls' Knob. I admit that I had a neighbor water it occasionally, but the heat and sunshine has been intense. When I went out to see the garden this past week I expected the worst. I was pleasantly surprised.

A heavily mulched garden is a happy one.

The greens, mostly varieties of kale, are thriving. But kale is one of the easiest plants to grow. They love the sun but don't mind shade too, they withstand drought well, and nothing really likes to eat it. I guess that includes most people too. I have been asked what the heck to do with kale and I will try to post some kale recipes soon. It is a great survival food for the gardener without a green thumb!

Zucchini Squash Plant

These squash plants were planted under poles for climbing beans because squash likes shade,
however the bean sprouts were mostly eaten by deer this year.

The squash is also rocking. Again, squash grows well here in the Ozarks. However, getting fruit off of it is another story. The squash bugs usually show up about the time the flowers fall off. These little grey bugs are easy to squish but they arrive in such numbers that it seems impossible to execute them before they execute the plant.

Cherry Tomatoes ripe for the picking

Cherry tomatoes always ripen before larger tomatoes. Often tomatoes seem to rot on the vine in this humidity before they are ever red. I have learned to pick them when they are yellow, like shown in the picture above, and then let them finish ripening on the kitchen windowsill.

Sprouting Okra

The mulch not only protected all of these plants and kept the ground moist, but it even allowed these okra seeds to sprout. It takes an extra amount of moisture to get seeds to sprout but lightly mulching with hay over freshly planted and watered soil seemed to work.

Marigolds standing guard at the mouth of the garden

Marigolds are lovely yellow and orange flowers, seen in the bottom of the photograph above, that repel insects. I had heard about their repelling qualities but never had much faith in them until now. This garden bed has many marigolds around it and the plants seems less burdened than other beds.

Sunflowers devastated by deer and Japanese beetles

Japanese beetles on young sunflower plants

However, the sunflowers didn't make it. Their leaves are loved by deer and the Japaneses beetles finished them off. The best deer deterrent I've found is a guard dog. As for beetles, farm stores sell pheromone bags for these pest. They work too well. My neighbors used them last year and my Japanese beetles flew almost a mile over the hill to get caught in their bags.

Zane's Fig Tree

The figs trees are doing better than all the other plants. I am particularly excited that the figs have survived and are thriving. Not only do I love figs, but this tree was planted as a sapling above my son's placenta on his birthday. Therefore, this is Zane's fig tree.

A cucumber plant that is not doing great but is not dead yet

So above all, mulch, mulch mulch! Though there are many other gardening tips thoughout this post, I believe the main reason I still have a garden at all is because I heavily mulched this year. Hay mulch works well but wood chips, leave mulch, or lawn chipings might also do the trick.

Now it is your turn, what tips do you have? It does not take an expert gardener to share gardening tips. Anyone who likes to get their hands dirty has a few up their sleeve. Please share your comments!

Mulch

     For the past month now I have been spending much of my time in the city of Fayetteville or at the Ozark Natural Science Center where I work. The situation makes me love my job. Last weekend I managed to break away from city life and retreat to Owls' Knob. I devoted my time to the garden.
     In previous years I have dug in the garden with a shovel. But this year John bought a new engine for our old broken tiller. This simple machine turns dirt like a blender beats a banana. With rich, soft soil, planting was easy. Rain, which is usually a garden's best friend, was its worst enemy this year. We received too much rain in too short a period of time. Luckily, the clouds parted for two days and I was able to plant.

     However, the soil I planted in between the rainstorms of late April and early May, was compacted by more rain and dried by the June sun. But I had a solution: mulch. In the past I have tried using leaves found on the forest floor and grass clippings from the yard to mulch around the base of my most beloved plants. I do not recommend skimping on mulch in this way. This year my uncle, who raises sheep, chickens, and cows, gave me four square bails of old moldy hay. I left the hay out in the rain so that it was partially rotten by the time I laid it down. I tucked the hay not only around the base of the plants but I also sprinkled it throughout the garden bed and even garnished trails with it.

In just one day's time I could see a difference. Wilted leaves were regaining their crispness. The soil just under the mulch retained its moisture after the hot summer day's sun sunk behind the hickory trees. Even the early pepper plant began to resume it's posture.

 Rows of cucumber, kale, and collards seemed to grow before my very eyes. Sometimes these young sprouts can be stunted by hard soil. Many of my early greens, which I set in the cool ground of March, never sprouted more than two tiny leaves from the clay.

The green beans were devastated by deer in my absence. But by the time I left, they had regrown many leaves and had begun stretch for my bean pole tee pee. This tee pee is built over a bed of zucchini squash which will appreciate the shade pole beans provide.

    

      Fences of hog wire were set for snap peas that never emerged from the beaten soil, Perhaps the rain washed them away. Simple cages are also ready for growing tomato plants.

     Though I am not at Owls' Knob every day, it is still my home and the garden there is important to me. I have high hopes that, ironically, this year will yield better results. I have learned from a few of my many mistakes.