Slugs, for serious

slugs are a nuisance and last year I managed not to have any major damage from them. I lucked out last year and they really didn't attack anything in my yard until pretty late in the summer. Even then, the slugs really only went after some of the tomatoes. This spring they have shown up in the planter box from last year pretty frequently. The puzzling thing is that other than starting off by eating down one of the lettuces, they've really ignored their usual food sources. For some reason I still don't understand, they are eating my baby squash plants.

my poor suffering Butternut

 Squash leaves are rough and bristly exactly the kind of leaf slugs don't like. The extra confounding part, there is a lettuce 6" away from the butternut squash. The slugs have barely touched it.

The lettuce is right there, why do they keep eating the squash? Why?!

 I've decided on a multifaceted attack on the slugs.
Beer- I have a collection of beers that I don't like very much. Beer is the age old go to for slug killing, put some in a shallow dish, bury a can of beer, or just leave a half filled bottle tucked next to the plants. The slugs crawl in, get drunk, and drown. This way they die happy and I have a use for all the beer that I don't really like.
Diatomaceous earth- This is fossilized plankton for lack of a better description. It is a very fine powder that can be sprinkled around plants. The fossils have a high silica content which makes them very sharp on a microscopic level. It is very uncomfortable for slugs to go across and had the advantage of discouraging other pests too. It does need to be reapplied every few weeks be careful about  breathing it in. Here is a full article on it's uses in the garden http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/pesticides/diatomaceous-earth-insect-control.htm
Picking them off- If I get outside early enough in the morning, I have been pulling the little buggers off my plants and depositing them in the beer. I do throw some out in the street in the hopes they are run over or they go away. I'm sure they just head back toward those sweet sweet squash plants they seem to like so much.

I'm hoping that in a couple of weeks the squash plants will be big enough and bristly enough the slugs will no longer be interested in them. Of course by then the beans will be out of the ground so the slugs might turn their attention that way. This should be interesting.

2016 veggie round up

Mother's Day has come, and slightly gone and for most of the northern US. this means vegetable planting time. Last year I had one raised bed for veggies and this year I added a second planter. I am not however, doubling the amount of plants. I overcrowded the one planter last year which made harvesting things like green beans very difficult. I also had some problems with powdery mildew that I want to avoid this year. I basically took the things I planted in the one planter last year and spread it out amongst the two planters.

Things from last year that I am not replanting

Lemon cucumber- epicenter of my powdery mildew issues. Also as it turns out, my S.O. doesn't really like them so growing the Lemon cucumbers is a waste of time. If I did retry them, I would put the cucs further from the tomato to help prevent the powdery mildew.
San Marzano tomato- They are huge tomatoes but took forever to ripen and had blossom rot issues all summer long. This is partly on me, my watering early season was a little sporadic.
Poblano/Ancho chile pepper- These are never as big as what I can get in stores or from farmer's markets. I have tried these several different times and they never work out the way I want.
Kale- grew well but I also had collard greens and the collard greens were eaten more often. I may wait a year and grow these again, once I work up a good go to kale recipe.

Things I am growing again this year

Juliet tomato- this was a champ last year, a champ. It produced lots of fruits, somewhere between large cherry tomatoes or small plum style tomatoes. I slow roasted a lot of them using this recipe http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/side-dish-recipes/roasted-tomatoes and froze them for winter use. They were also great in salads.

"Juliet" tomato- my favorite from last year

Habanero pepper- I got them to ripen and that is all the encouragement I need to grow them again this year. Plus, we do eat a lot of spicy food and these do get used.
Satan's Kiss pepper- the name is awesome and the peppers are tasty, double win.
Rosa Bianca eggplant- I adore the purple and white Italian eggplants, they are never bitter and also never grow to manageable sizes. This was a great one for me last year, and in years past I have also liked the Listada de Gandia, though I have not been able to find starts of that one.
Collard greens- Prolific and a great easy saute side dish, they lived all winter but were getting tough towards February. The only real difference from last year is that these were planted on the north side of the house. The north side of my house still gets a good amount of sun.
Zucchini/Acorn squash- other than dealing with the spread of the powdery mildew both of these squashes did well, we ate bunches of flowers and got a decent amount of fruit off each plant.
lettuces- I don't really remember what I bought last year, I think romaine and something else. Anyway, I figured out that I can plant lettuces really close to the tomatoes and squashes and when the lettuces bolt and are done for the season, it times up pretty well with when the squashes and tomatoes explode in growth. Pull the lettuces and then there is more room for the other plants.
Silver Rose garlic- this year I planted the garlic around the edges so I can actually find them. last year, the garlic was an afterthought and was tucked under and around other veggies. When harvest time for the garlic rolled around, I couldn't find most of it. In fact, most of the garlic for this year is last years crop divided.

Garlic in an easy to find location

New plants to try this year

Seattle's Best Tomato- if the variety has a region specific name, I consider this a good sign. It is a slicer tomato and is indeterminate so it will keep growing and producing. I am intrigued.
Viva Italia Tomato- determinate paste tomato, I am hoping to get a good batch of tomato sauce from this guy, fingers crossed.
Purple Cayenne pepper- I am such a sucker for a purple vegetable, plus the whole plant has a purple tint to it, I am very excited
Hungarian orange carrot pepper- slightly spicy and apparently good for pickling.
Topcrop bush beans- not one I've seen before, thought it would be worth a whirl.
Danver carrots- I have had some iffy luck with carrots, they rarely grow for me. I know to most people that is crazy, carrots are supposed to be really reliable. These seem somewhat foolproof, we'll see.

Crossing my fingers for these

Butternut squash- I eat a lot of squash and buy enough butternut to justify growing my own. I wish I found a bush/semibush type, but instead I think I will train this up a trellis of some kind.

Let the season begin, I'm ready, at least I think so.

Touch

A truly great garden encompasses all the senses. At least that's something that is written over and over again in garden design books. It's easy to make a garden nice to look, and having an emphasis on fragrance is pretty simple too. There are whole books devoted to edible gardening as that has become trendy again in the last few years. The sense of touch however rarely gets much of a shout out in garden design other than in the context of texture. This is kind of a shame because there are a lot of plants that are fun to reach out and pet. I am a very tactile person in general and I have a habit of trying to touch everything when shopping. I am only slightly more restrained when I am at garden centers, just on the off chance what I am reaching out to pet is really delicate or a skin irritant. So far, so good, I haven't broken any plants nor have I discovered anything unpleasantly irritating. I would like to share a few of my favorites, plants to think about including in your own space to make sure you really hit all the senses

Rhododendron yakushimanum- The underside of the leaves for this rhody are soft and velvety which makes it an irresistible plant for me. There are many hybrids of this plant so keep an eye and hand out for the ones that are pink flowered, those are the softest. I have introduced many people to the underside of the leaf and little kids always get a kick out of how fuzzy it is. As an added bonus the indumentum (the fuzz) on the underside of the leaf makes it more resistant to bugs.

Deciduous Larch- the new needles for deciduous Larches are silky and smooth and soft.  I used to stalk one particularly lovely larch every spring, running my hands through the branchlets outside some ones house on my way to work.If it was a long day at work, I would walk by the tree on my way home too. There are a lot of forms of Larch, from 35 foot tall, to small pendulous forms. that means there is one for every yard size.

Mexican feather grass-The name shays it all, this grass is irresistibly feathery. When I worked at a nursery I ran my hands over and through the gallon sized pots all the time. Buyer be forewarned though, this grass is best kept contained in a pot. It is an aggressive runner and can take over a garden. However a nice planter filled with it next to a hammock or lounge chair is an excellent choice. Close enough to reach over and touch but not allowed to run rampant.

Trumpet vine - This is not much of a texture plant but like I love popping open the flowers. They are like bubble wrap. There is a popping sound and it doesn't harm the plants any just opens the flower up. 

Yarrow- I hate the smell of yarrow. That said, it is a fun plant to touch. The foliage is really soft and feathery and the flowers make a bumpy cluster. I just keep my nose away from the plant.

Allium "Globemaster"- Try not to tap this flower, I dare you. There are several different Alliums that are equally satisfying to gently hit but this is the biggest and best known one.

These area few of my favorite plants for touching in the garden, here is another article with a longer list. http://www.finegardening.com/fuzzy-prickly-and-tickly-touch  I know there are more fun to touch plants out there so keep your eyes and hands out for them