Well, the weather is still hot – very hot. Even when I try to work early or late in the day, I’m absolutely soaked within 5 minutes of being out. I guess it’s worth it though. Fresh, organically grown vegetables right from my garden are incomparable and well worth the effort.

​My organic ethic has been a bit challenged this year. I have been inundated by stink bugs and they have ruined almost all of my tomatoes. I did, however, get some and they were really delicious, but I had to pick them the minute I saw the first trace of color. Fortunately, tomatoes ripen well off the vine as long as they have warmth. They don’t even need light, just warmth. So, tomatoes on the kitchen counter ripen quite nicely. That was the only way that I could get ripe tomatoes this year. I did not see many leaf-footed bugs this year after the first rash of juveniles that I managed to kill, but suddenly, I am seeing a bunch of large adults. In fact, yesterday I saw seven adults, six of them mating. Fortunately, when you do the Louisiana Stomp on them that stops their laying eggs. So hopefully, the next generation will be even smaller than this year’s was. I am also seeing more and more assassin bugs. The first year here, with the surrounding cane fields constantly doused with insecticides, I saw only two or three assassin bugs all year. After a year of no insecticide on my property, I saw a few more. Then, the cane farmer sold the field to a developer, so no more insecticide and the number of assassin bugs exploded. It was wonderful to see.

When the stinkbugs became too much, I did resort to using insecticides, but all of them were organic and, of course, I used Integrated Pest Management (IPM). With IPM, you do not just randomly spray every plant with a broad-spectrum pesticide. Instead, you first identify the insect that is causing the problem and then use the method that is the least damaging to the environment and your health to control that insect. This can start with hand picking and dropping them into soapy water (gloved hand or tongs, of course). If that is not possible, for instance because the insects are too numerous, or too small, or because they fly away, you can move to spraying the insect(s) with soapy water or water with a little oil added. This smothers the insect and in the case of flying insects, makes it difficult for them to fly, allowing you to hand pick them. If that is not working sufficiently and there is still too much damage to your crop, you can move to using a product that is very specific to the particular type of insect causing the damage, like Bacillus thurigensis, commonly called ‘Bt’ that is specific for certain insects, but is harmless to fish, birds, and mammals.

Bt is a naturally occurring, soil-borne bacterium commonly found throughout the world. It has been used since the 1950s for natural insect control and all subspecies are approved for organic gardens. It consists of a spore, which when consumed by certain insects, develops in the gut and poisons the insect, causing it to stop feeding. The gut of these insects is alkaline, which is what makes Bt work on them while remaining harmless to birds, fish and mammals, whose guts are acidic negating the effect of the bacteria. Adding to the safety profile, Bt biodegrades quickly in sunlight.

​There are a number of subspecies of B. thurigensis that are toxic to certain insects at certain stages. Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Bt-k) controls tent caterpillars, gypsy moth, cabbage looper, tomato hornworn and other leaf -eating caterpillars. It is most effective when applied during the 1st and 2nd instars. Bt-k is supplied under many trade names, like Monteray Bt.

Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis is highly specific for use against mosquito, black fly and fungus gnat larvae. It can be applied to water sources safely and is 95 - 100% effective on mosquito larvae within 24 hours of ingestion. This application is especially effective because it kills the larvae before they reach the adult, biting stage.

Bacillus thuringiensis var. san diego (Bt-sd) and Bacillus thuringiensis var. tenebrionis (Bt-t) are used against the Colorado potato beetle, which has developed resistance to multiple chemical insecticides. They are also considered the most effective control for leaf-eating beetle species. They can also be used to control elm leaf beetle and are used on potatoes, eggplant, tomato and elm. Again, this biological pesticide is most effective in the early larval stages. In fact, they are completely ineffective on adult beetles.

Finally, Bacillus popilliae is used against Japanese beetles in lawns, causing milky spore disease. Milky spore again affects the larval form of the Japan beetle. When mildy spore is applied to the lawn it infects the beetle larvae. When each infected larva dies and decomposes, billions of new spores are released into the soil. This is not a quick solution, but rather requires time for the bacteria and its spores to saturate the soil. Being a natural process though, only one application is required. The bacteria will continue to multiply on their own as long as larvae are present. When there are no more grubs to be found, the bacteria sporulate and go dormant, waiting for the next infestation of Japanese beetle larvae.

​These products come under many trade names like Dipel, Thuricide, Milky Spore, Monteray Bt, Mosquito Dunks and more. The important thing is to look for ‘Bacillus thuringiensis’ in the Active Ingredients. If you absolutely need an insecticide that is broadly effective against many insects, I recommend one containing spinosad. This should not, of course, be your first choice when reaching for an insecticide, but it is an effective, organic choice. Spinosad is relatively new. It is a combination of two compounds produced by the fermentation of certain microbes found in soil. It is considered ‘broad-spectrum’ because it is toxic to a wide variety of insects, but it is relatively non-toxic to mammals and beneficial insects. Part of the reason it is not toxic to beneficials is that the product must be ingested to be toxic, unlike many chemical insecticides that are toxic on contact, even to the dry residue. Most beneficials eat other insects or their eggs rather than leaves or other parts of plants, so they do not take in spinosad. Nonetheless, I prefer to apply an insecticide product containing spinosad late in the day, after the pollinators, like bees, have returned to their nests. I also try to inspect the plant that I am treating to insure that there are no other beneficials, such as mantises, lacewings, ladybugs, assassin bugs, OR THEIR LARVAE, on the plant. Please excuse the shouting, but the larvae of most of these insects are truly the workhorses, eating many more harmful insects than the adults do. You should be able to identify the larval stage of each of these beneficials. Hint, they look nothing like the adult.

It’s also helpful to identify the eggs of the good and the bad bugs. If you can eliminate the eggs of the bad bugs, you will never have to bother buying insecticide. Some products containing spinosad are Fertilome Borer, Bagworm, Tent Caterpillar & Leaf Miner Spray, Captain Jack’s DeadBug Brew Concentrate, Southern Ag Conserve Naturalyte Insect Control, and Bonide Colorado Potato Beetle Concentrate.

It’s still time to plant here in southern Louisiana. Through early September, plant Limas, both bush and pole, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, English peas and cucumbers, as well as bush beans, cabbage, Irish potatoes, pumpkins and tomato plants. Through September you can plant beets, carrots, celery, Swiss chard, Chinese cabbage, collards, kohlrabi, lettuces, mustard, radishes and turnips. 

​I hope everyone had a great summer. Personally, I’ve fought with whooping cough (my 91 year old mother – she keeps telling us she’s in her second childhood, I guess that was her trying to prove it – then me. Believe me, it was no fun.), then no rain, then rain and more rain, then weeds, then stinkbugs. In other words, it’s been a normal South Louisiana summer – except for the whooping cough, of course.

We have had a nice bit of rain lately, that helps a lot, because most of my yard does not have irrigation and I truly hate standing around with a hose. I do have soaker hoses on most of my vegetable garden though, so even if the ornamentals lack water, I can usually manage watering the veggies without too much trouble.

Right now, almost everything is suffering from the heat, except the eggplant, cucumbers, beans, and most herbs; they seem to thrive on heat. The tomatoes and peppers look terrible, my squash are all gone, and the weeds are taller than I am again. I know I’m short, but they’re still too tall. There seems to be a recurring theme here.

Now I’m getting ready to plant the fall garden. From now to the beginning of August you can plant cantaloupe, okra, and watermelon. Missing out on the fall garden is one of the biggest mistakes new gardeners make. They just think that summer is all there is to gardening. Plant Southern peas, bell pepper (transplants, not seeds, it’s too late for seeds), summer squash, and tomatoes (again, transplants) from now until the beginning of August. As a gardener gets more experience, (s)he doesn’t want the season to end. Here, we are so very lucky to have an average growing season that exceeds 300 days. Through mid-August you can plant beets, Swiss chard, kohlrabi, lettuce and Irish potatoes. Feel for those poor people who have 60 day growing seasons. All through the month of August you can plant beans (green and lima, bush and pole), broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, collards, cucumbers, and mustard. And we’re not finished yet. There’s more to come in September.

Now, about those tomato and pepper transplants. You can grow (or buy) new transplants, or you can cut back the ones you already have, give them a feeding of compost, fish emulsion, worm tea, or your favorite pick me up, and by the end of August these welldeveloped root systems will have produced strong new tops and as soon as the weather cools, you’ll have a beautiful crop of tomatoes and/or peppers. Treat the plants just like you would roses. Prune them to 18” to 24”. To prevent the spread of disease, I like to remove the old mulch, put on a layer of worm castings, and spread fresh mulch, and, of course, keep the moisture even. This should get those plants off to a great new start.

​I must say, the insect population was a lot less this year than last. I hope that is because the reduced use of pesticides on the property has allowed a more natural balance to develop. That doesn’t mean that I’m happy with the stink bug damage, especially to the tomatoes. I had to pick my large tomatoes long before they were ripe. Fortunately, tomatoes ripen easily indoors, but there is just something so wonderful to see those beautiful, red tomatoes on the vine. Picking a ripe tomato and biting into it, letting the juice drip down your chin, there’s very little that can beat the experience. Picking them early and letting them ripen on the counter lessens that experience significantly, but at least I get ripe tomatoes. When too many tomatoes show stink bug damage, I do reach for the insecticide. First, soapy water, maybe with some oil in it. Then, Neem oil, and lastly, something with spinosad in it. I reach for the spinosad last because it is a broad-spectrum insecticide and kills the good bugs along with the bad. This sets back the good bugs more than the bad because when the bad bugs are pressured, they respond by increasing their rate of reproduction. Good bugs don’t respond the same way. They continue to reproduce at the same old rate, allowing the bad bugs to outpace them. So try not to use broad-spectrum pesticides as your first line of defense. Soapy water drowns insects readily, water with a little soap and oil in it slows the insects down enough so that they can be caught and either squashed or drowned. Insecticides like Bacillus thurigensis (commonly called Bt) are very specific for caterpillars and do not affect any other insects, good or bad. It also doesn’t affect birds, fish, pets or people. It has to be ingested by the target insect. It infects that insect and stops it from feeding. You will still see caterpillars, but they will no longer be chewing your plants.

Until next time, good gardening,
MaryAnn

Happy Spring.

It was nice having spring for a change, but when it got hot, it got hot. Now it looks like it will stay hot for a while. When the nighttime temperatures get above 75⁰, tomato flowers no longer pollinate properly, and the plants fail to set fruit until those nighttime temperatures drop again. Just keep your tomatoes watered, and when the temperatures drop, give them a dose of fish emulsion or compost tea and they’ll be off to the races again. If you feel that your plants are too big and unruly, you can wait until all the tomatoes on the plant have ripened and trim them down to 18 to 24 inches. Then when the temperature drops again, those plants, with their big, well-established root systems will take off and supply you with tomatoes until frost. This saves having to buy, re-plant and baby new transplants, which is especially difficult in summer heat.

Of course, you can also plant heat-set, or heat tolerant tomatoes for the summer months. These plants are different. In heat tolerant tomatoes the increased nighttime temperatures does not cause changes that prevent fertilization. No fertilization, no fruit, of course. Some varieties recommended by the Ag Center are Florida 91, Heatwave II, Phoenix, Solar Set, Sun Leaper, Sun Master, Solar Fire, and Talladega. Do not be in a rush to plant these tomatoes. They are not happy in the cool of early spring. Late April or early May is plenty of time to plant these varieties that are designed to tolerate summer heat.

Well, if you remember my discomfort with all the space around my squash plants and my plan to do the Three Sisters backwards, I found out that there is a reason they are planted in the order corn, then beans, and finally squash. I planted my corn among the developing squash plants when the leaves were about eight inches across, but by the time the corn came up, the squash had filled out, taking over the bed space with twice as many 14-inch leaves. Only a few corn plants made it, and there is no way now that the beans will ever be able to germinate with all the shade from the huge squash leaves. These are some of the most enthusiastic squash I have ever seen. I planted Emerald Zucchini and Patty Pan, and I tell you, five plants absolutely FILL 22 feet of four-foot wide bed. The other three feet contain bush beans that are setting beautiful little one-inch beans. I’ll be eating them by next week. The zucchini are producing like mad. I checked them on Sunday and they were not quite large enough to pick, they would have been edible ‘baby’ zucchini, but I like them six to eight inches, so I left them on the plant. I could not get to them on Monday and on Tuesday, they were giants – a foot long and three inches in diameter. I was afraid that they would be pithy and full of seeds, but they were great. I didn’t even have to peel them. This is a great variety for the home garden.

​The photo shows the squash that I picked on Tuesday, with the largest squash cut open. You can clearly see that the seeds are undeveloped. I blanched these and froze them for the time being, but will probably dehydrate them for long-term storage. Actually, freezing makes the dehydration process go more quickly because it disrupts the cells, allowing the water to evaporate more easily. In fact, to dry whole dewberries it’s best to freeze them first. Otherwise, they would take twice as long to dry.

​I picked beets last week. They didn’t get to the freezer or the dehydrator, we just ate them and they were delicious. The first planting of peas is about finished, and the second planting is peaking. Something unusual did happen though. I planted all sugar snap peas, based on the names and descriptions: the first planting was Oregon Sugar Pod, that one was a good sugar snap pea. At the same time, I also planted Cascadia, but only a few plants came up, so a week later I over-planted the area with Mammoth Melting Sugar, but the peas that grew were not snap peas, but standard shell peas. The pods are inedible, but the peas are good – just more work than I really wanted. It must have been a mislabeled batch, but I don’t remember which company I bought the seed from, so there’s no recourse. I guess in the future I should make note of where I get my seed as well as the name of the seed and the date planted. Maybe I need larger markers.

I finally decided to take out my two young citrus trees. The blood orange died. There is no trace of growth. The Improved Meyer did send up growth, but it was all from below the graft, so I pulled it up. The new citrus are all doing well. I put in an Owari Satsuma, a Ruby Rio grapefruit, a Hamlin Sweet orange, and a Lisbon lemon. I hope that they will become well established before we have another winter like the last one. My apple tree is loaded with fruit and the nectarines are bearing well for young trees. The fruits are not huge, but they are tasty. The two trees bear at different times giving me a longer harvest period and not so much of a load to deal with at one time.

The dewberries are about finished and the blackberries are filling out nicely. By next week, they should be ripening up and ready to eat. I dehydrated most of the dewberries, the ones I didn’t eat fresh, and I plan to do the same to the blackberries. Dehydration is a nice storage method that requires less space and no energy to maintain.

You can continue to plant pole limas and eggplant from seed until the end of May, peanuts until mid-June, and eggplant plants and sweet potatoes until early July. All types of melons can be planted until the beginning of August. Summer squash and Southern peas can be planted until mid-August, and cucumbers and pumpkins can be planted all summer long.

After the summer break, you can plant late tomatoes from seed in June and set out transplants in July. Begin planting shallots in July and bell peppers from seed mid-June to mid-July. Start setting out pepper transplants mid-July, and even though it seems very hot, you can plant seeds of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage July 1 and Chinese cabbage July 15.

Insect Report: Today I saw a batch of leaf-footed bug and squash bug juveniles on the squash. I used the Louisiana Stomp method on some of them and dumped the rest into soapy water. I saw black aphids on the stems of the pole beans, but none on the bush beans. I mashed some of them, but did not want to eliminate them all because the predators need food. It’s been four years now since any chemical pesticides or herbicides have been used on the property and the ecosystem is coming into balance nicely. There are ladybugs everywhere, I even saw ladybug larvae, and I saw a number of assassin bugs, all good signs of a well-balanced ecosystem.

Until next time, Good Gardening

May 2014 AHHH, SPRING – FINALLY! Dare I really say it this time? I couldn’t believe we had freezes in mid-April; although, my great-grandmother said that she remembered snow in May. This time I really am moving ahead as though we are finished with cold. I can actually use the same words that I did last month, “The past few days have been absolutely glorious. I have been unable to stay indoors.” In fact, I want to be outdoors right now, but I have to write instead. Oh, well, there’s always tomorrow.

I have finished adding all the compost goodies to the beds. I planted a variety of squashes down the center of one 4 x 25 foot bed and waited. The more I looked at that bed, the more the empty space annoyed me, so I planted parsley along the edges of the bed at the mid-point between the squash plants. There was still too much bare ground, so I put radishes in an arc around the squash plants, figuring that the radishes would be up and harvested before the squash plants filled out enough to need that space. This is inter-cropping (or companion planting, if you prefer) in time. Time, because two crops will utilize the same space, but one will be mature and harvested before the other needs the space. There was still too much bare space to suit me, so I thought of the ‘Three Sisters’ and decided to use that concept. I planted corn in the bare spaces. As soon as the corn is up, I will plant pole beans around the corn stalks.

You probably have heard of the ‘Three Sisters’ used by Native Americans, but most people don’t think of all the different features provided by and taken from each type of plant. For example, people usually think that the corn gives the beans a place to climb, and the beans fix nitrogen for the corn and squash, but there is a lot more to it than that. Corn and squash have fibrous root systems, which mean that their roots are shallow and stay near the surface. This makes them easily prone to drying out, and they are unable to mine deeply into the soil for nutrients. The bean roots not only fix nitrogen, making it available to itself and the other plants, but they also mine for nutrients all the way down into the fourth foot of soil. The bean plants use these nutrients to form roots, leaves, stems, flowers, and fruit. When these plant parts die, (some rootlets only live a matter of hours), those nutrients become available to the corn and squash. The beans also stabilize the corn plants against wind damage.

​The third part of the trilogy features the squash, the big leaves of those squash plants help keep the ground cooler and conserve water, protecting all three plants from drought. The shade provided by the squash leaves holds down weeds, and the spines on the squash deter certain pests. The cooperative nature of this plant combination continues on to the table. The combination of corn and beans yields complete protein for humans, and the squash adds vitamins and carbohydrates. When the plants die at the end of the season, that large amount of green mass turned into the soil improves the tilth and nutrient availability for the next crop. So, you can begin to see how these plants help each other when planted together. This combination of cooperative plants placed in close proximity is called a ‘guild’ in permaculture, and there are many other combinations in addition to the ‘Three Sisters’.

​Deep-rooted plants like daikon radish are called ‘dynamic accumulators’ or ‘miners’ because their roots go down into the soil and bring up nutrients that are then released to other plants when the radish dies. Plants like comfrey are great for mulching in place. They are perennials that grow quickly and have large fleshy leaves. These leaves can be cut off and dropped to create a mulch that breaks down relatively quickly to provide nutrients to the other plants in the guild. Every guild also should have a ground cover to hold down weeds and keep moisture in the soil. Plants that have strong smells, like onions, chives, and strong-smelling flowers, can help to repel insect pests. Having climbers in the guild helps to make maximum use of the available space by using space in all dimensions. Guilds are just a way to replicate nature.

So, what’s happening in the garden now? The broccoli is about done. I cut back all the flower stalks, added compost and watered well. If they start producing side shoots again, great. If not, up they come. The peach trees are now covered with peaches just a little smaller than a golf ball. I really need to thin them to make it easier on the tree and to get large, flavorful fruit instead of a lot of small, insipid fruit. One of the small citrus, the Improved Meyer Lemon, seems to be coming back, but the growth is all from the base, and I’m not sure if it’s coming from the root stock or the graft. I’ll wait a little while to see before I decide whether to pull it out or not. The blood orange seems to be gone though.

I’ve recently bought more citrus to replace those two and added two more. I created a guild around each one with comfrey, narcissus bulbs, garlic chives, multiplying leeks, pole beans, and daikon radish.

Plans notwithstanding, my first planting of cucumbers did not do well at all. So, I’m starting again. I’m putting them on teepees this year because the trellis area was used for cucumbers last year, and I didn’t want to plant them in the same area again. So over the winter I let some trash trees grow around the edge of the property instead of taking them down when they were small. One day, after I’d pulled up all the weeds in the beds and paths, I spend a couple of hours cutting these trees down. They were 7 to 9 feet long, nice and straight, and perfect for making the teepees I wanted for the beans and cucumbers. And they were free.

Insect Bulletin. What I’ve seen so far is aphids, mostly on a few young pea pods and the flower stalks of a few weeds (good trap crop maybe?). As I was cleaning up the massive weeds in March, I saw a few very large leaf-footed bugs. I assume they had overwintered in the weeds, but they truly were huge. Fortunately, they were also very slow, so I treated them to my variation on the ‘two-bricks’ method of insect control, the ‘Louisiana Stomp’. I continue to see the occasional assassin bug, and I see ladybugs everywhere.

The first planting of peas are producing really well. I’ve served them, frozen them, and dehydrated them, I still have a lot coming on the plants, and the second planting is just starting to produce. I should be well set with peas for the season. The dewberries are covered with berries. I picked about a gallon and didn’t even get to all the bushes. The blackberries are in flower and just setting fruit. Having both dewberries and blackberries doubles the length of the harvest because the dewberries flower and set fruit before the blackberries do. Just about the time that the dewberries are fading, the blackberries are starting to produce. The only bad thing about the dewberries is the thorns. I love the fact that the blackberries are thornless. The strawberries are producing well, and the blueberry bushes are loaded with tiny berries and flowers.

I hope you are all enjoying this great weather as much as I am. I hope it continues all summer – I know that won’t happen, but I can hope can’t I?

Until next time, Good gardening. 

AHHH, SPRING – FINALLY, (I certainly hope, but am almost afraid to write it :) ) Anyway, I’m moving ahead as though we are actually finished with cold. The past few days have been absolutely glorious. I have been unable to stay indoors. I spruced up the beds by adding compost, composted manure from dove bedding, and broken down pine straw to the beds to refresh them. The compost was a mixture of finished and partially finished materials. I just put the partially finished stuff under the others and wet it thoroughly. It will finish breaking down there, the earthworms and other break-down specialists will be drawn to the bedding and within a very short time, they will have everything broken down and mixed.

So, what’s happening now? The broccoli is still producing nicely, lots of side shoots totaling about three cups each week. I accidentally left some of it on the plants too long and the yellow flowers started to show, so I brought the stems in and put them in a vase. They make a nice bouquet. I am beginning to see some aphids on the lower stalks of some of the broccoli. I started spraying them with a strong stream of water, and I’ll wait to see how the predators handle the infestation.

​The veggies are doing great, and the peach trees are covered with blossoms. They survived the cold very well. The two small citrus are still iffy, but I’ll wait and see. I tried a few new squashes this year, an open-pollinated summer squash called ‘Saffron,’ and one called ‘Sibley.’ Sibley is an heirloom introduced in 1887. It is a banana squash with “thick sweet flesh,” and it’s supposed to be an excellent keeper. We’ll see how long it keeps in our coastal Louisiana climate - but maybe if I dehydrate it.

I love melons. One of my favorites is ‘Heart of Gold’; it is fragrant, juicy, and very sweet—everything you want in a cantaloupe. I’m also trying a couple of new ones this year: ‘Noir des Carmes’ is a true French cantaloupe with a “complex and deeply satisfying flavor.” I’m looking forward to that one. Te other is ‘Petit Gris de Rennes’ - supposed to be la crème de la crème of French cantaloupes. It was first documented almost 400 years ago. I also like ‘Hale’s Best Jumbo,’ another sweet, fragrant melon. This one has a small seed cavity. Last but not least, no melon garden is complete without watermelon. I’m trying ‘Sugar Baby’ and ‘Moon and Stars.’ It’s been around a long time, so I hope it lives up to its reputation.

I’ve started a succession of cucumbers, starting with ‘Parisian Pickling,’ another French heirloom used in the late 1800’s to make cornichons, those tiny, tart and delicious pickles that I love. I made some of them last year, and they came out great. I definitely want more. I also planted ‘Homemade Pickles’ and ‘Yard long Armenian.’ I will keep planting cukes every two weeks throughout the summer until about six weeks before the first frost. That way I keep using young vines and when they start to flag, I pull them up. Trellises and lots of space increase the air circulation, reducing the incident of disease and making them easier to pick them, too.

As for insect pests, I’ve seen aphids on a couple of plants, but not many. I have seen a couple of assassin bugs on the citrus though, so I expect the good guys will take care of the bad ones and keep everything in balance.

Over the past five days, I have weeded four 100-square-foot beds. Some of the weeds were as tall as I am – granted, I’m not that tall, but still it was a lot of work. When I planted some seedlings that I started early in the year, and then looked over those beds, you know, it was the most satisfying work I have done in months. I think I’ll keep doing it. 

​Until next time, Happy Gardening!

Oh, this weather! Will winter never end? I really had thought that the bad cold would have been over by now, but no such luck. It looks like we’ll have one more dip into the mid 30’s this week. After that dip, the extended forecast indicates repeated dips into the 40’s through March 21, but the real cold should be over because the last average frost date for the Lafayette area is around mid-March as you can see by the map:

It has been difficult watching my poor plants covered in ice, drooping and browned by the cold. I was afraid that two citrus that I had planted within the year were lost, but I checked them last week, and I believe (hope) that they may have survived. They probably have lost a few limbs, but the trees will probably be OK. I am not doing any pruning now, even if I would love to make the ugly brown leaves and branches go away. Those ugly browns actually protect the remaining parts of the plant from the cold. So follow the AgCenter recommendations and wait until the plant puts out new green before pruning off winter-killed branches. You will be protecting your plant and, most likely, losing less of the plant than if you trimmed it up right away.

​The cole crops are doing very well with the cold. They love it. My broccoli in particular is producing beautifully. I am picking, and eating, and freezing it regularly. I will have broccoli throughout the summer. I did not plant cabbage or cauliflower, but if I had, I would expect an equally good crop from them.

After this last spattering of cold nights, you will be able to plant some of the warm weather crops, like beans, but, please do yourself and your plants a favor and wait until the soil has warmed to about 60⁰ before planting tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers; that should happen about midMarch. The air temperature may be quite warm, but the soil temperature may still be well below 60⁰. Yes, you can try to get a jump on the season by planting one or two seedlings early, but if we get any serious cold, the plants could languish and never really develop well. Waiting will insure sturdy, well-developed plants. Yes, I always try for an early tomato or pepper, but never with all of my seedlings. Sometimes it gets me that extra -early tomato, but about half the time, I lose. Risking a few is a reasonable gamble though.

Speaking of seedlings, most of mine are coming up well. I planted fourteen varieties of tomato, ranging from the reliable, I WILL get a crop, Ace, to the heirlooms and foreign seeds, like Mortgage Lifter and Japanese Trifele Black (actually from Russia), to the more modern creations, like the open-pollinated Chocolate Cherry. With this range, I should have tomatoes all season long. I follow the same idea with peppers, cucumbers and eggplant. I use a few seeds of each type to have one or two plants of many different varieties. This gives me early, mid-season and late varieties, as well as insurance in case one variety does not do well that season.

​You can put out summer squash, cantaloupe, okra, limas, cukes and corn starting in early March. Beginning the middle of March you can set out watermelon, pumpkin and collards, as well as tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, but remember that the soil temperature has to be at least 60⁰. If you stagger setting the plants out, putting a few plants out each week or 10 days, you can lengthen the harvest. My peas are doing well. Last week I went to look at them and found that the Oregon Sugar Pod II was up nicely, but the Cascadia had not sprouted at all. Since I didn’t have any more Cascadia seed, I overplanted the area with Mammoth Melting Sugar. I checked them today and all are up and doing well. This cold, warm, cold, warm weather that we have been having has the fruit trees a little confused. My apples and peaches are both blooming. If we have a good cold snap, I could lose all of the production this year. I don’t believe that the predicted cold will be low enough to be problematic though – or maybe I should say, ‘so I hope’.

For anyone who is interested, the Acadiana Permaculture Guild meeting this quarter will be held at my home on Saturday, March 1 st at 1:00 pm. Details can be found on the Guild’s FaceBook page. We will be designing a fruit tree guild and pruning fruit trees. I hope you all have luck with handling the cold this month, and next month we will have SPRING and we can go back to enjoying our gardens before the summer heat keeps us in again. Until next month, Happy Gardening! 

The weather is certainly not cooperating with my plans for the garden right now. On December 30th the overnight temperature is forecast to be 29⁰ F. That is a hard freeze for us here in south Louisiana this early in the season. Right now, the Christmas tree and poinsettias in my living room are sharing space with about two dozen tender perennials in pots. It’s truly a lovely display. I’m waiting for the Architectural Digest photographers any day now.

Believe it or not, now is the time to start seeds indoors so that you will have plants to set out in early spring. So why would you want to start seeds yourself when you can buy transplants in any big box store or nursery come spring? Well, cost is one reason. You can buy an entire pack of seeds for the cost of a single transplant. Choice is another, wonderful reason to choose seed. Transplants are available in a very limited variety. Take tomatoes for example, there might be a dozen varieties in a big box store; in a good nursery, you might find two dozen varieties. In the Seed Savers Exchange catalog, you will find seventy-two varieties; in the Territorial Seed catalog, you will find 110 varieties. Among these, you will find ultra-early, early, main season, and storage tomatoes, as well as sauce/paste tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, currant tomatoes, greenhouse tomatoes, and heirloom tomatoes. You will find red, pink, orange, yellow, white, purple, brown, and striped tomatoes in seed packets that you will never find in transplants. And peppers? Seed Savers offers sixty-three, Totally Tomatoes over one hundred, but I think you are beginning to get the idea - seeds, especially those offered via catalogs or online, offer myriads of varieties that you will never see if you only rely on what the local nurseries offer as transplants. Now granted, not all of these varieties are good for our particular climate, so it is always a good idea to plant one or two varieties from the LSU Ag Center recommendations to improve your chances for a reliable harvest, but for the cost of a packet of seeds, you can afford to experiment. Who knows, you may be planting your new favorite.

Now that I’ve covered the dreaming part, let’s get down to details. Start the new year off by planting seeds indoors to produce transplants for setting outdoors later. Beginning now, you can plant tomatoes, broccoli, and kohlrabi seeds, then about mid-January, plant peppers, cauliflower, and eggplant seeds. These will all be ready to set out between six and eight weeks later. Plant sequentially to extend the harvest. For example, plant some tomato seeds this week, then plant a few more every two weeks until March 15th .

Transplant each group into the garden starting mid-February. Do not try to plant all the seed at the same time, and then hold some of them. Keeping the seedlings in small pots can stress the plant and can produce a number of problems, so make sure you plant your new seedlings at the right time. Make certain to maintain a consistent, recommended moisture level for these seeds, and the seedlings they will produce, until time to set them out in the garden. Allowing them to dry out may cause some of them to bolt (go to seed), and it can cause others, like broccoli and cauliflower, to produce tiny little heads, called button heads – edible, but far from the production that you were expecting.

In our wonderful climate, you aren’t restricted to only planting indoors in January, you can start planting outdoors in mid-January. Plant carrots, cabbage, radish, leek sets, beets, lettuces, English peas, and chard in nice sunny spots in the garden. Starting about January 20th you can plant Irish potatoes, too. So, if it’s just too cold to go out, or raining, plant seeds indoors, it will give you that gardening ‘fix’ you need. If it’s not raining, put on your sweater, gloves and a warm hat and get outside. The weather may be cold, but now is the best time to start your spring garden – from seed. Until next month—Good Gardening.