The Choice to Garden Organic

I decided several years ago that I didn't want to mess with chemicals in my garden.  It was an easy choice for me.  We had kids and I didn't want to risk their exposure to dangerous substances.  I didn't want to eat food covered in chemicals at the dinner table.  A tomato with a side of pesticide just wasn't a recipe option here.  While my choice was mostly for family reasons there exist a number of other reasons just as important to avoid the chemicals in the garden.

Maybe I should be more specific though, rather than just chemicals lets say synthetic chemicals.  Organic materials can be chemicals as well but they come from more natural sources.  Organic chemical derived from natural sources are going to break down better in our environment.

One major concern I have with chemicals is the impact on beneficial insects.  These insects do a lot of work without much recognition.  They pollinate flowers and vegetables, they patrol our gardens for pest insects, they break down materials into plant usable forms like compost.  It's about the birds and the bees and other wildlife too.  Insects are food source for birds and animals.  Bees pollinate our crops.  Many vegetables require pollination to create fruit.  Curcurbits (we're talking squash, melons, and cucumbers) have male and female flowers and need a mechanism to transport pollen from one to the other.  You really don't want to have to hand pollinate your whole garden!  If you use a pesticide on your plants you'll not only get the bad bugs but the good ones as well.  Losing a plant or two every now and then is a small price to pay to keep our system going.

Instead of harsh chemicals I use plants that attract other insects (cosmos is a great one).  I water with herbal water made from pest repellent plants to help keep bugs away.  It's easy to make just put a few appropriate herbs (some I use are catnip, mints, and oregano) in a bucket of water and let it steep for a day or so.  I'll even throw in some 2 inch pieces of willow branches in the water to encourage auxins to stimulate good growth in my plants.

Healthy soil is the key to a healthy garden.  If you're plants have great soil then they can withstand some damage by the insects you don't like.  You can't use synthetic chemicals (fertilizers) to achieve better soil.  They just feed the plant who becomes a "drug" addict who constantly needs another dose to function.  Healthy soil, brought about by adding compost and organic matter, will continually nourish the plants and the microbes in the soil that do all the important work of breaking down those materials.

Going organic has so many positive aspects to it and so few negatives that I have trouble understanding sometimes why people resist it.  This year while you're gardening try to distance yourself from those chemicals.  Look for alternatives for what you might normally use if you've used chemical treatments in your garden.  The transition may take some research on your part but your garden will be better for it!

Garden Photo Updates from the Weekend

Here's a quick look at my garden from the weekend!

The 'Diablo' ninebark is in bloom.  It has beautiful purple-copper hued leaves and flowers with these clusters of white flowers each spring.

In the vegetable garden the lettuce is coming along - finally.  It's taken a while this year to get some good germination.  I think the weather fluctuations have influenced things significantly.

The strawberries are eaten more often outdoors than indoors...what a great snack to have available while weeding!

I have 13 pepper plants planted now ranging from spicy to sweet.  Yep I planted the Ghost pepper.  Will I eat it?  Um...highly doubtful!

I mentioned on Facebook the other evening that I treated some Bermuda grass with vinegar.  Here is the result after 24 hours.  Some damage is obvious but it will need repeat treatments.  I'll spray again tomorrow and measure the effect.  I'm using simple non-horticultural grade white vinegar with nothing mixed in.  Some people have had success with salt in the mix but I'm afraid of possible salt build up in the soil if that is done too much.

What gardening did you get done over the weekend?

Propagating Stevia from Cuttings

There are some plants that are tricky to propagate but stevia isn't one of them! Stevia rebaudiana is an herb used as a substitute sweetener for sugar.  It isn't reliably hardy here in Tennessee even though I did have a plant come back one year.  Since then I've kept a plant in a pot to bring indoors for the winter.  I've tried to grow stevia from seed but had a lot of difficulty in getting good germination which is why I turn to cuttings.  Taking a cutting of stevia is as simple as it can be.  I trim a stem or branch just above a set of leaves, leave two leaves on the top of the cutting and stick the bottom end of the cutting in moist sand. Rooting hormone is not necessary.

I kept the cuttings moist for about 3-4 weeks and found the root system to be very well developed at that point.  It's covered in sand in the picture which I don't ever worry about removing.  I potted this cutting and a second one in 4" pots to grow a little larger.

I kept my cuttings under a fluorescent light, nothing fancy just your typical shop light, and a heat mat.  The heat mat helps keep the temperatures consistent in the spring. It's set at around 70 degrees.

We don't use stevia a lot around here but some people like use it as a substitute for sugar. On occasion we'll mix it with fresh mint and use it in tea.  It is sweet to the taste but does tend to have a slight bitter flavor to it.  I'm propagating these for the local farmer's market.

Here are some more plant propagation posts.

Selling Plants at a Farmers Market

It's been a couple weeks since I updated the series on starting a nursery business and since yesterday was my first sales date at a farmer's market I thought today would be a good opportunity to talk about that experience.  Going to the market is pretty much an all day affair.  It takes time to pick the best looking plants to bring, load them, and if you haven't already done so labeling them.

To set up it takes about 30 minutes once I make it to the market.  I have a 10'x10' tent that I set up but there are so many trees where we are that additional shade is not necessary. I think having the tent up gives my business a more established and professional look.  I usually bring one folding table but I may have to bring a second one next week.  Plants that are off the ground are closer to and easier for the customer to examine.  I also bring as much as I can knowing that most of it won't sell.  Having a full display is important because of the impression it makes with the customers.  It looks more established and they can choose from a variety of plants.

The most important thing with a farmer's market business is to know your product.  Most of what I sell I have grown and can explain exactly how they taste and how to grow them.  When I have a plant that is new to me as is the case with some varieties tomato plants I'm upfront and tell the customers that this one is new to me as well.  Honesty is extremely important.  You're not just making a sale you are making a relationship. The respect you show your customers will be returned to you many times over.

The first two hours of the market I had a constant flow of people at my booth to talk to which was fantastic! The time flew by quickly as I talked to customers about the plants, how to plant them, and what the varieties were.  If I didn't have what they were looking for I inquired about it so that I could add that to my list of plants to bring or grow.

What were the results?  I had my best market day ever.  It went extremely well for my small business but the plant sales will only be a seasonal thing.  Once the weather gets hot this summer people will be want vegetables and not vegetable plants.  Ornamentals do not sell as well as edible plants at a farmer's market.  All of the plants I sold yesterday were herbs or heirloom vegetable plants.  I brought Japanese maples, hostas, heuchera, redbud, daylilies, and several other plants but none of them sold.  However the ornamental plants did bring people to my space.  They came and looked at the Japanese maples and hostas which filled out my booth area and brought them to the heirloom vegetables and herbs.

I hope that this post is helpful to you if you are thinking about a farmer's market business of any kind.  Have a good display, talk to your customers, and build a relationship with them and your business will be successful!

More from the Starting a Nursery Business Series from Growing The Home Garden

• Intro
• Selecting a Niche
• Where to Sell Your Plants
• Producing Plants for Your Nursery Business
• Finding a Plant Supply
• Cost Analysis
• Other Expenses
• Consider the Workload
• Selling Plants at a Farmer's Market

 

Tennessee Blooming in May

Today is the 15th of the month which means that it is also Garden Bloggers Bloom Day hosted by Carol of May Dreams Gardens.  Stop by to see a bounty of blooms from across the blogosphere.  Today here are a few things that are blooming in my Tennessee Garden.

The irises are taking the stage.

'Loop the Loop'

Unkown variety - smells like grapes!

'Caesar's Brother'

'Solar Fire' Iris

Our snowball viburnum is in full bloom.  This plant gets huge clusters of blooms every year.

 Another unknown iris.  I like the burgundy and yellow combination of colors.

Our new peonies are blooming.  'Wladyslawa'

Salvias, catmint and many others are also blooming strong!

What is blooming in your garden?

Propagating Birch Trees from Softwood Cuttings

Spring means it's time to take some cuttings!  Today I took a few cuttings of a birch tree I'm eventually going to have to remove.  I planted it way too close to our house and it has gotten too large.  I didn't want to lose the tree so I thought I would get a few to root and maybe plant plant one in a better location.

For these birch tree cuttings I wanted the green stem tip growth.  I was looking for cuttings that were between 2-4 inches in length and green.  Here are a few pieces I trimmed off initially.  they still have some of the older wood material from the birch tree.

I trimmed the greenwood off of the old wood and stripped the leaves off to make cuttings with single leaves.    Then I put the cuttings in a jar of water to stay hydrated while I gathered a few other things together.

Next I dipped the birch cuttings in rooting hormone and stuck them in a cup of wet sand.

I covered with a second cup to maintain the humidity and taped them together.  I've found that this is an extremely easy way to maintain humidity around the cuttings. I put the container under a set of lights and now I just have to wait for roots to appear.  I'll keep them closed up until I see roots begin to form.  One advantage of using the clear cups is the ability to see the roots when they appear.

After roots have appeared I'll take the top cup off and moisten the sand to make it extremely loose.  Then I'll gently pull the cuttings out and pot them up into pots to grow to a larger size before eventually putting them in the ground.

A Few Garden Photos from the Week

It's been a very busy week for me and I haven't had much time to write but I did want to post a few photos of what is growing in the garden. Today is a rainy soggy mess in the garden and not very well suited for gardening so looking back at the garden photos from the week is the perfect activity!

Ornamental Allium

 I'm a big fan of heucheras.  This beauty is 'Caramel'.

Not 'Caramel' but with a similar color.  

A couple more irises with burgundy falls and yellow standards.

A flat of pak choi seedlings.  The weather has been cool and wet this year which is giving me an opportunity to germinate a few things for sequential planting.

Our first peony flowers are in bloom.

The snowball viburnum is in full bloom.  Those branches get very heavy!

Irises at the shed.

Cilantro seedlings are coming along.

African daisies are great annuals for the garden!

Comfrey

Another heuchera I added to the garden.  'Fire Chief' has beautiful red tinted leaves.

Our 'Solar Fire' Iris is in bloom.  One of my favorites!

Pink phlox is in bloom too.

Of course we're also excited to see blueberries on the bushes.  

Those are a few photos from our week in the garden.  How's your garden growing?

How Easy Are Japanese Maple Seeds to Grow?

Have you ever wondered about growing Japanese maple seedling in your garden?  It's not hard to do at all!  Watch this video and see how easy it really is!

Here is a little more info on growing Japanese maples from seed.