NO-TILL GARDENING & COVER CROPPING

No-till corn planted into a cover crop of cowpeas.
 Photo by Dr. Rafig Islam, OSU

Sometimes when you start thinking about something, that "something"   triggers  a  sense of confusion before you realize that the "something" that appeared simple is actually, like most things, quite complicated.

Confusion was my   first reaction when I started to think about how  no-till gardening related to cover cropping. I know that master gardeners preach about them  and farmers regularly use cover cropping to improve aspects of soil fertility and structure; but the two ideas also seemed to be somewhat contradictory top me.  

Mowed cover crop in spring. The  decomposing green  provides a mulch layer

while the roots    improve aeration as well as add  nutrients as they decay.

The idea behind no-till is that soil fertility and structure are improved by allowing the  soil's ecology to develop naturally with little or no soil disturbance.   No-till practices allow the populations of earthworms, bacteria, nematodes and, importantly, mycorrhizal fungi to increase in the soil   establishing a balanced ecology that sustains soil fertility.   Mulch and compost are typically put on top of the soil to augment any needed nutrients and to suppress the sprouting of weed seeds     arriving via the wind or bird droppings.

Traditional plowing [a deep tillage technique], as well as a gardener's   deep spading, destroys many of these healthy soil organisms; and this means, in the case of mycorrhizal fungi,  that plants will actually miss out on obtaining the water and nutrients  these critters  can also  provide to plants.  Dormant weed seeds long buried in the ground may also be moved up to the surface and  be stimulated to sprout when  exposed to daylight.    But, there are also  positive aspects of deep tilling to keep in mind.  It does introduce oxygen into the soil  quickly and that  stimulates bacteria to breakdown available organic matter releasing some nutrients in usuable form, like nitrogen, for a new crop.  It also  expedites the warming  and drying of  soil in the spring enabling earlier planting.  Over time, however, deep tilling can lead gardeners and farmers to   become more dependent on commercial fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides to compensate for   a depleted  soil ecology.

Backyard gardeners using raised beds or containers probably unconsciously incorporate a lot of no-till practices  into their garden chores, and  many of these gardeners also  use of cover crops.    The backyard gardeners, I know, mostly limit their cover crops to winter rye or buckwheat at the end of a growing season as a way to give their soil a nitrogen shot  next season because both of these cover crops  can be lightly tilled into the soil top few inches of  soil or easily mowed/rolled down without disturbing soil ecology.

FWIW:  Legume cover crops, like cowpeas, take nitrogen (N) from the air and convert it to ammonium,  and then this new N source  potentailly becomes  available to  plants in the spring. Non-legume cover crops recycle any leftover N in the soil from a prior harvest. This N  becomes available to new  plants as the roots of the cover crop decompose. But, take note, because soil microbes usually become active before new plants,  the microbes  get first dibs on available N.  If a soil's N content is low in the spring, new plants may encounter a  deficiency of N. This can happen if spring planting gets delayed by weather - the soil is too wet, too cold etc.

So, who wouldn't want to use cover crops?

Plowing  warms  and drys  soil in the spring.
Photo: Oregon SU

Cover cropping sounds like a panacea, but it gets complicated with the need for crop rotation and, of course, by the scale and variety of farming activity.  Vegetable farmers seeking to move to no-till, whether they are following conventional or organic methods, will probably find they  need to switch from row to fixed raised beds. Creating the beds is not hard; but because farming equipment  compacts the soil between the beds from repeated tracks, a grower may need  to plant different cover crops between the beds to impove the soil's ability to resist  compaction than the cover crop needed in  the raised beds. These additonal crops add  costs.

Among the factors farmers have to think about when selecting  cover crops  are:

• What's the goal? Is it  weed suppression, erosion control, nitrogen capture, adding organic matter, breaking hardpan, reducing the risk of soil diseases or pests, etc. [For some help in choosing a cover crop, Cornell offers this  Cover Crop Decision Tool.]

• Is the cover crop a good match for the character of the field's soil? - Alfalfa, e.g., needs fertile and warm temperatures to germinate as does forage raddish that promotes the break up of clay soils, but it will also attract harlequin beetels. Each field may have unique characteristics  requiring differenent cover crops. 

• What is the cash crop? Is it a field crop like many grains or legumes or is it  planted in rows? Can the cover crop be inter-planted with the cash crop, or does it need to follow the cash crop's harvest? 

• What tilling does the cover crop require? Can the cash crop sprout through last season's cover crop residue? Will the cover crop clog a seeder if its residue is left on top of the soil? 

• Will the cover crop's growth cycle be compatible with that of  the cash crop's? Will it be necessary to use a herbicide to clear the field for planting in order to harvest the cash crop in time for market or to prevent the cover crop from reseeding and becoming a weed. 

• How does crop rotation affect cover crop selection from year to year? 

Spiker aerator and tractor for reduced tillage.
A backyard gardener just needs a broad tooth fork.

Many, if not most, American farmers do    use  a mix of lite-tilling strategies, collectively called reduced tillage, usually in order to limit erosion and ideally  to minimize soil disturbance.  A small but increasing number of farmers are  also introducing  or expanding  no-till  practices into their tillage repertoire.

Farmers starting the move to no-till unfortunately frequently have to expect  yields  from these fields, especially for field crops like corn, to  decline until natural soil fertility is restored. This can be  a 7 - 9 year process   unless implementation is carefully managed -- that's a long time with a reduced income from a field until you start to see increased yields and lower costs!  Along with making such a  long term  commitment, no-till strategies need to  be tailored  for each  each field.

Cover cropping is an important component of no-till, but definitely a complicating factor.  [If you are interested in how cover crops can be employed  during  conversion to no-till to speed up the process, take a look at Ohio State University's Factsheet on Using Cover Crops to Convert to No-till.]

OSU  found that  growers can reduce the time to restore the soil's natural fertility, at least for some crops, to as little as only 2 - 3 years - a much more attractive proposition -- by employing a continuous living cover strategy, i.e.    using cover crops to eliminate/reduce the time that fields are devoid of plants. The benefits of  leaving plant material on top of the soil and roots  left undisturbed in ground over the winter months substantially promote restoration of soil health and reduce nutrient loss from erosion and runoff.  

Well, that's enough for now, I know that I have barely tilled the surface regarding  cover crops and no-till.

And remember

"There's no limit on how complicated things can get on account of one thing 

always leads to another." - E. B. White

Crop Rotation and Cover Crops

Crop Rotation in Middle Ages
Source: tenthmedeival.wordpress.com

For millennia farmers have recognized that soil fertility declines as the same fields are used for the same crops year after year.   Over generations and in different cultures, crop rotations based on two, three and four year cycles evolved as a way to keep soils  productive. [If you remember anything from middle school World History, it's probably  that during the Middle Ages the serfs let  one field lie fallow every third season.] Serfs then,  and farmers  now, also   spread animal   manures on fields as  fertilizers. 

Today, backyard  vegetable gardeners with either  just a small, single raised bed or a large fenced garden  try to avoid planting the same vegetables in the same spot year after year.  They know that it is a way to minimize the presence of some insect pests and plant pathogens. Most of these gardeners also  add compost and other fertilizers to sustain soil fertility, but   they may or may not follow  systematic crop rotation and may not use cover crops as part of their garden planning.  So let's try to make a case for  both of these activities...

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Our favorite backyard vegetables, like tomatoes and peppers, and some grains, like corn, have  relatively large appetites for nutrients. Because the root systems of many popular vegetables are relatively shallow, garden soil can become depleted of some  nutrients near the top of its upper  layer (i.e. the soil's A Horizon).  Adding compost  does return some of these nutrients to  garden soil, and the new organic matter  also promotes soil aeration and  helps to retain moisture.  Typically,  dressing a vegetable garden with about 2" of compost annually will do a lot to sustain its fertility.  Mulching also contributes organic matter and should be considered to  be part of the "compost picture." Few of us, speaking from experience, probably add either enough compost or mulch each year to our vegetable beds,  but every little bit   helps...

Source: growers learning.com

 If you don't  have a lot of your own compost, you can buy compost, but probably many gardeners simply yield to the cheaper temptation and supplement soil nutrients for another year by opening  a standard 5-10-5 bag of  synthetic fertilizer. Eventually, use of synthetic fertilizers will lead to a decline of "soil organic content" (SOC). Without new organic matter regularly being added, the diversity of garden  soil's microbial ecology simply declines (fewer types of bacteria and other  lower order critters, i.e. invertebrates  exist there).  It's these creatures that account for the breakdown of  organic matter that releases a fuller range of plant nutrients  into the soil.

Although adding compost is very important for soil fertility, unfortunately, compost alone is not quite enough.  Backyard gardeners also should systematically rotate crops and  use  cover crops in order to sustain and improve  soil fertility and texture.  [It will also get you a long way towards following really recommended  organic practices in your garden.] Together with adding compost, these two other actions will enable you to break  synthetic fertilizer addiction.

Crop Rotation

The above illustration shows a modern four year sequence of vegetable rotation in a garden plot.

NOTE: The four year cycle   evolved in 16th century Belgium  and involved rotating legumes, root   vegetables (e.g. a lot of turnips), grains,  and a fallow season of no planting. The modern  four year pattern for  backyard gardeners became popularized in the U.K. starting in the 1920's and  emphasized the importance of regularly incorporating  organic matter  into  soil to promote its  fertility.

What the modern  plan achieves is that 1) legumes replace depleted nitrogen sources, 2) root veggies  penetrate deep into the soil and move some nutrients upward,   and 3) the cycle provides  four years of usable crops with at least  a three year gap before a plot might be used again for the same crop minimizing the risk of a  crop's   exposure to  particular pathogens or insect infestations. Of course, adding compost to replace organic matter  is implicit for every year. An excellent resource about practical rotations is North Carolina State University's Center for Environmental Farming Systems publication, Crop Rotations on Organic Farms.

HINT -  Rather than pulling up bush beans, tomatoes, peppers etc. at the end of the growing season, cut them off at ground level and let their root systems decompose in the ground.  It will help keep the soil from getting compacted, leave some nutrients in the ground AND may save your back from spading...

Cover Crops

Cover crop in raised beds.
Source: paoniafarmandhome.com

For farmers, cover crops do a lot. They are used to suppress weeds, reduce erosion and compaction, add organic matter, improve soil structure and restore nutrients to name just a few benefits.  For  backyard gardeners, the benefits probably  focus mostly on adding nitrogen sources and extra organic matter.  

There are actually two seasons for planting cover crops. The first season spans early spring to early summer and  usually involves planting buckwheat, clover or a legume like a field pea. These crops grow fast allowing time for a late season crop to be planted. The second season spans late summer to early fall and frequently  involves sowing oats, field peas, or ryegrass to provide organic matter for the next season. These crops typically have deeper root systems than vegetables and bring nutrients up closer to the surface as well as adding organic matter.

I've only mentioned a few of the available cover crop options that farmers might select to improve soil.  For  backyard gardeners, using cover crops in late summer or early fall probably is the more practical option.   Either ryegrass (not winter rye) and buckwheat are  good choices  because both are annuals and can be  worked into the soil easily before they go to seed. Some gardeners  use winter rye, but it requires more effort to work it into the soil in spring after its sprouts.  For a lot more information on cover crops, consult Cornell University's Cover Crops for Vegetable Growers  website. 

Finally, for gardeners who might be interested in knowing what being an "organic  farmer" entails as well as useful information about organic farming practices, I recommend the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's Guide to Organic Producers. This is set up as a workbook and checklist for  prospective organic farmers, but  backyard gardeners will learn a lot just be looking through it,  too...

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Source: earthwiseradio.org

About Animal Manures 

Applying animal manures to a garden can be  a  very effective way to sustain soil fertility. Organic and conventional farmers  frequently incorporate manures into their  field management strategies,  but for backyard gardeners with limited space and maybe limited access to manure sources it can be more challenging.  For a gardener with a small, e.g. 4' x 8', plot, a commercial bag of manure from a garden center etc. is attractive because the manure already has been  composted, sterilized and rendered safe from pathogens and viable weed seeds.

For a person with a larger vegetable garden, this approach is not especially economical and makes the offer of  getting fresh manure from a neighbor's pet chickens or rabbits  appealing, but it requires more thought than just saying, "Yes, I'll take all you've got."

Animal manure should be composted before being spread on the backyard garden.  If not composted, then its best to dress it either onto a fallow plot or to till it into a  bed at the end of current the   growing season so that it will decompose over the winter. In its fresh state manure can be simply too concentrated for plants to handle. For example, there may be too much nitrogen, it might be too acidic, it could contain lots of weed seeds or a pathogen (e.g. worse case: salmonella)... Or, maybe it'll be just too smelly for your backyard.  For both commercial as well as neighborly sources of  "brown gold," either check the label or ask about how "organic" the manure is.  Unless you are getting manure from an organic, or at  least, a hormone free source,  you could  be inadvertently  adding some extras like animal antibiotics to your garden's soil. 

Finally, the manure's animal source  is important to know because nutrient content varies.  Chicken manure is generally considered desirable because it contains relatively high amounts of nitrogen and potassium compared with other manures; on the other hand,  like cattle manure, the fresh variety also contains a lot of ammonia that potentially can damage plants if over applied.  Cattle manure contains a lot of organic matter and a wider range of nutrients  (as well as weed seeds), but it requires about a year to decompose. Horse manure is similar to cattle manure in content, but can take up to two years to decompose -- making it a slow release  fertilizer.  Simply do not use pet feces - the risks of exposure to parasites and harmful bacteria are too great.  If you plan to use animal manures in your garden, it's a good idea to follow the guidelines of the  National Good Agricultural Practices Program available from Cornell University's website.  It is very, very  important to know when to add manures and how to apply  them safely in your garden. 

And remember  (maybe)...

"Creating your own urban farm is as simple as planting your flowerbeds with edibles." ~Greg Peterson

Gardener's Remorse

Snow can  cover  a lot more than just kale for gardener's
experiencing remorse

Maybe it's the overcast skies of New England in winter, but I'm feeling some gardener's remorse and feel compelled to confess one of my gardening peccadilloes:  I don't always cover crop! 

I suppose there could worse failures such as not rotating crops or secretly using commercial fertilizers or insecticides, but those aren't my sins of commission.  What's worse, perhaps, is not that I don't cover crop, but how effectively I rationalize why I generally don't.  My favorite rationalizations include: 

1) it's extra work - more tilling for an aging back;

2) added expense - buying the seed;

3) Oh, I missed the planting dates;

4) I don't have enough time; and

5) cover crops will take up too much space in my small garden.

Photo: WSU

These excuses have generally worked well for me year after year allowing me to live somewhat comfortably with guilt.  The fundamental question  simply boils down to, "Are you satisfied with your garden's yield?"  Do the the plant's look healthy.  If the answer is, YES, then keep doing what you're doing; or, as in my case, what you're not doing. If the answer is, NO; then you need to start  investigating what might be the cause.  You have time now because it will be months before planting time again!

Now, speaking in further defense of myself, I will say that I regularly add compost to my planting beds at the start and end of growing seasons as well as applying mulches such as straw and grass clippings throughout season.  Combined with rotation, this seems to provide the nitrogen and other nutrients that my plants need as well as keeping many plant ailments under control.  However, I do still feel some slight pangs of guilt when I see photos, like the one to the right, of someone's planting beds brimming with cover crops. But, I guess I'll  go on living comfortably with a little guilt...

FWIW:  If you are interested in finding out a more about the advantages of cover cropping, check out our blog entry about   No-Till Gardening & Cover Cropping.


And remember...

"Guilt: The gift that keeps on giving." - Erma Bombeck

PLANT PHENOLOGY & GROWING DEGREE DAYS   

In previous  posts we've discussed the importance of soil temperature for seed germination and have only briefly mentioned  the importance of air temperature as the furnace fueling plant growth.  Now, we'll spend  a little  time discussing why farmers (and probably only a few gardeners) are  interested, or should be interested,  in  closely tracking  the heating effects of daily air temperatures.

For most backyard gardeners just checking the planting directions on the back of a seed packet and noting that their favorite veggie matures in 67, 75 or 104 days probably fills the bill. Seed packet information usually summarizes how long a plant will take to develop within a region's growing season assuming average temperatures and moisture levels.  But plants do not, of course, develop at  constant rates after their emergence from the soil.

Source: intechopen.com

Their growth, photosynthesis, transpiration and enzymic activities - all occur at different rates given daily temperatures and lighting conditions,  but the growth of a plant's shoots, stems and leaves is mainly what we notice.  The chart to the right shows these differences in a plant's activities with respect to temperature. Although the temperature scale is not noted on the x-axis, the scale on the left side most likely starts at 50°F (below which most vegetables do nothing) and goes up to the high 90s°F on the far right side (when their activities mostly cease).

A plant's growth is  obviously sequential: a seed germinates, then the first  cotyledons appear, followed by the first true leaves,  then more leaves, budding, flowering etc.  Each of these stages only develops after a certain amount of heat has been received by the plant.  By tracking how much daily warmth has accumulated after planting a crop and monitoring weather forecasts, a farmer can  fairly accurately predict how quickly  a crop is developing.  This is important not just for predicting when to reap the harvest, but also for  knowing when to fertilize or when not to apply an insecticide etc. In fact, for farmers, the monitoring of Growing Degree Days (DDs) to anticipate when pests are going to show up is probably more important than knowing when their crop is going to develop its 3rd set of real  leaves.

Wonkish Break #1:  The identification and study of the stages of  plant life are part of phenology, the study of cyclical plant and animal activity in response to  weather and climate.  Other examples include bird migrations, insect hatching and the appearance of certain diseases.  The phenological stages of many agricultural field crops (including cut flowers) are frequently identified using the BBCH-scale (Biologische Bundesansalt, Bundessotmenamt und CHemische Industrie). This scale was developed about 70 years ago by four Germain chemical companies to provide farmers with better guidance relating to the application of fertilizers and pesticides. It's not the only developmental  classification system, but it is evolving into the most widely used. The BBCH-scale  provides  a common way to refer to plant development for both research and crop management. 

 Sweet Corn.  Source: publicdomainimage.net

In addition to phenological scales for crops, many scales have also been developed for both   beneficial and pest insects,  the emergence of unwanted plants, i.e. weeds, and even plant diseases.  These data  can be quite detailed  as  a chart for a tomato available from Wikipedia shows, but farmers don't need to track  every stage. They  just need to determine the key developmental stages for their  crops or to know when their favorite pest will appear.

And regarding pests, Cornell's website, Network for Environment and Weather Applications,  offers data on pest forecasts, DDs in general, and crop management along with detailed  pest forecast models specifically  for   sweet corn, tomatoes, apples and grapes.  Another resource from the same website, and a favorite of mine, is the Soil Temperature Map which provides temperatures at a depth of 2" across New England and the Atlantic Region states.  This is useful if you want to gamble on getting a head start on the season and are looking for validation of your soil temperature readings.

Sweet Corn. Source: Ohio State U. Small Farms

The  chart to the right  from Oregon State University's Small Farms website  for  sweet corn  clearly shows how the the crop's development varied in  different growing seasons because  the DDs needed for each stage accrued at different rates.

The Oregon SU chart provides any farmer with information about when sweet corn will be at a given stage by tracking DDs, but farmers need to track Growing Degree Days for their current year in order to manage their crops effectively. They can do this either by tracking daily temperatures themselves or by obtaining data from other sources.  The challenge  is to get current local data because temperatures vary within a region or even from field to field. Some Cooperative Extensions, including Cornell,  attempt to do this by offering data from a network of  weather stations and letting growers choose which station's data to use.

Wonkish Break #2:   What is a Growing Degree Day (DD)? It's just a practical way to count the amount of daily solar heating without dealing with any actual physics.  There are at least six  formulas for calculating DDs. Each one attempts to accommodate temperature fluctuations within a given day. The most popular one, shown on the left,  is referred to as either  the "simple average" or "single sine" formula. The Max  and Min Temps for a day are added together, divided  by 2 and then the Base Temp (the minimum temperature needed for  plant growth) is subtracted.  The result is a number that represents  a day's heating factor.  By adding these daily heating factors together  and comparing it with the plant's  phenological profile  matched with DD data, growers can predict within a couple of days when a crop will reach its next stage.  

Cornell University's Climate Smart Farming website provides  New York farmers with local DD data. Among the online tools available from the website is a  Growing Degree Day Calculator. By locating your property on its "Change Location" map  and entering a crop's planting date, the calculator will show you how DDs have accrued since your planting date as well as with  a 6 day forecast.   Two other useful tools available from this website include a Water Deficit Calculator and a Cover Crop Tool for Vegetable Growers. Of a more speculative bent, you can also get a projection for the outlook of the  entire current growing season.

Managers of commercial greenhouses, where  growing environments are carefully regulated, actually can  target particular dates for budding, flowering, fruiting etc.  Farmers in the real world outside of the greenhouse, of course,   control  fewer  environmental factors; but it enables those growing large field crops, grapes or  tree fruits and nuts to keep track of crop development in the farthest back-forty. Until recently phenological charts for vegetables and accompanying  DD data have been hard to obtain. This is starting to change as the Oregon and Ohio Cooperative Extensions' websites indicate,  but persistent Internet digging  is required to find DD data for many vegetables.  Vegetable growers, it seems, need to be ready to develop their own phenological charts and match it to DDs in order to make more extensive use of this technique. [This can be fun for those of us with obsessions about vegetables.] A good place to locate at least BBCH-scales for some vegetables is  Oregon State's  Croptime - Growth Stage Guide.  Charts combining developmental stages and DDs focussed on pest emergence and diseases are  readily available.  

And remember...

"Curiosity is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein

Garden Preparation: August

Source: CCE Nassau County

Tomato season is a-coming to add to your bounty while you are still  busy harvesting bush beans, beets, corn, cucumbers,  blueberries, raspberries, carrots, melons and all those sweet herbs that you thought you needed.  

BUT, resist picking those first tomatoes; let them ripen on the vine for a couple of extra days. It will only improve their taste, and it will allow you time to tend to some of the following chores:

• Clearing the now brown  peas vines and preparing the site for a follow on fall crop or perhaps planting a cover crop like winter rye;

• Trying to give away your  zucchini to strangers;

• Blanching the cauliflower for a couple of weeks;

• Checking for pests such as Mexican bean beetles, red spider mites, leaf miners, slugs and more slugs - to name just a few of the common  culprits;

• Digging your garlic and shallots and remember to  dry them for several days in a sunny place;

• Turning over that compost pile. - This is a great year for compost. Keep those pulled weeds and lawn clippings decomposing.

Capital District Regional Market

Wishing you could buy a sack of corn (50 ears) or a 1/2 bushel of tomatoes or apples? Well, you can.  Just get up early and go to  the Capital District Regional Market located in Menands at 381 Broadway just south of the Troy - Menands Bridge.

The action starts at 5:30 AM,  on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and is usually over well before closing time at 7:30 AM. Sales are expected to be on a cash and carry basis. As a wholesale market, prices  fluctuate daily in response to supply and demand. 

For late sleepers  there is a  retail edition on Saturday mornings starting at 9:00 AM,  but not all farmers participate, and you may not get wholesale prices.

If you have questions about the market, you can call  518-465-1023. 

Veggie History: Parsley

Curly leaf parsley

Does not every gardener grow parsley (Petroselinum crispum)? - Answer: Probably, either the curly leaf or the flat leaf kinds.  Both types are used extensively as garnishes, but there is also a third type, a root parsley, that remains common to eastern, central and southern European cuisines but remained  less popular in Western Europe.  All three parsleys derive from a wild variety commonly found around the Mediterranean region.

Parsley has been cultivated for centuries and the wild versions probably eaten for millenia.   An approximate translation of the botanical name is "rock celery." The wild variety resembles our familiar flat leaf types.  Although the  Puritans most likely brought parsley seeds with them,  according to Judith Sumner in American Household Botany, the first written mention of parsley only dates to 1804, but  has remained in seed catalogs ever since.

Arat or Root parsley

Root parsley  resembles parsnips, and goes by many names: Arat parsley, Hamburg or Dutch parsley, Rooted parsley.  Its carrot shape clearly reminds us that parsley is a member of that plant family.  Its tops are stronger tasting than the leaf varieties but  can also be used for garnishes. The roots, I understand, are milder  and taste more like celery. They are usually added to soups and stews.

Arat parsley requires a long growing season, but the seeds can be started indoors and transplanted outside when they are three inches tall.  Root parsley  is a winter crop.   Dig it up at the end of the growing season and store it in sand like carrots. 

Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners (VVfG)

Big Yields in Small Spaces

VVfG is a citizen science project developed by Cornell University's Cooperative Extension to collect and share data about growing vegetables in New York State. Last year, Rensselaer County Master Gardeners were invited to join the project. 

With a few adjustments to our Demonstration Garden Vegetable plot located at the Robert C. Parker School on Route 43 in Wynantskill, NY, we dug in. We created 10 raised bed areas, with most being about 4 ft by 4ft. Nine were planted using Cornell’s recommendations, the remaining bed contained garlic from the previous year. 

Cornell provided the plants and seeds. All beds had both a Spring and Summer planting, And two beds had Late Fall cover crop plantings and one bed had garlic. Employing the “square foot “method we grew around 40 different varieties, including edible flowers and pollinator beds. After tasting and rating the vegetables, produce was donated to local food pantries and data was added to the Cornell database.

Demonstration Garden

So this year, our group has decided to plant four of the beds using Cornell’s recommendations. The other beds will be planted using other varieties. We hope to gather and share as much data as possible to inform our Rensselaer County friends, as well as anyone else out there about our experiments.

After all, that’s what gardening is all about: trying something new and seeing what works. More details to follow.

Submitted by Nancy Scott, Rensselaer County Master Gardener

GARDEN PREPARATION: APRIL

Garlic getting a head start.

SPRING - To see daffodils blooming, garlic sprouting, weeds awakening and woodchucks  roaming  does remind me that some things still seem to be mostly predictable in this world... 

I had almost become reconciled with the idea that I would not be be able to start  tomatoes and peppers under my cellar's grow lights  when three weeks ago my spouse and I decided to cancel our spring travel plans.  With our trip canceled thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, I now find myself anxiously waiting for a shipment of last minute ordered seeds to arrive so that I can get back to a familiar task.

And, between a few early spring showers I have also been able to spend some of my hunker down time in the garden.  I have been able to move mulch around on planting beds to expedite the soil's warming, relocate trellises and frames for cucumbers and peas and to finish spreading compost.  Each of these activities make me realize how fortunate I am to have a vegetable garden to work in; but in case  you have a slightly neglected vegetable patch, here are a few things you can do that might make you feel slightly less squirrelly:

• Get outside! Finish spreading your compost or spading  the remains of last fall's cover crop into your planting beds.

• Check your soil's temperature and moisture level. Your soil might feel warm enough to the touch, but it's better to stick a thermometer into the ground to check it. Remember, also, that soil tends to be  quite wet in early spring. Pick up a handful; and if it slowly crumbles like a strudel topping on muffins when you open your hand, then it's okay for your precious seeds.

• Finally,  give in to that urge to plant something. Although early April is still pushing it for most spring vegetables in the Capital District, you can sow peas and spinach.  Just hold off on the radishes, lettuce and beets until at least mid April. But, gardeners beware - because although  it is true that the last frost of spring has been moving to earlier dates in May, the average date of the last frost for our area remains May 15.  Keep your row covers handy!

WANT TO BECOME A MASTER GARDENER?

A Master Gardener gives planting tips at a Demonstration Garden

Nationally, there are nearly 100,000 active Master Gardener volunteers  contributing over 5 million service hours annually throughout all 50 of the United States. If you would like to join the ranks of these happy folks, here's your chance.

The first step in becoming a Master Gardener involves your contacting the Master Gardener Coordinator for your county to schedule an interview.

The second step is completing  60 hours of classroom instruction on gardening and related subjects taught by Extension Educators and other experts.

The final step upon class graduation involves your volunteering in various ways in your communities. This  may include such activities as leading or participating in local gardening projects such as Demonstration Gardens, answering gardening questions at Extension Hotlines or making presentations to various community groups such as local garden clubs. 

Don't wait.  The  next training class will be held between September and December, 2020.  The deadline to apply for an interview is in early summer.




For more information, contact the Master Gardener Coordinator listed below for your county.

        RENSSELAER:  David Chinery, (518) 272-4210 or dhc3@cornell.edu

       ALBANY:  Carole Henry, (518) 765-3500 or ch878@cornell.edu

       SCHENECTADY: Angela Tompkins, (518 372-1622 or amj22@cornell.edu

       COLUMBIA-GREENE: Donna Peterson, (518) 828-3346 or dmp234@cornell.edu



And remember...

"Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes." - unknown

Book Recommendation -  KNOTT'S HANDBOOK FOR VEGETABLE GROWERS

This is not really a new book, but it might be a new book to most backyard vegetable gardeners.  If nothing else, just a brief scanning  of it easily  dissipates any notion that farming is a simple activity...

1957 edition.

Since it was published in 1957 by James Edward Knott, a Professor of Agriculture at the University of California, this little green, spiral bound volume has been a mainstay reference manual for commercial growers. Prof. Knott has passed on, but his  handbook has continued to find new editors.  The current edition, although dating to 1997 and still in print from Wiley-Interscience, is now edited by Donald N. Maynard and George J. Hochmuth.

Cover from latest edition (1997)

Knott's volume provides farmers with  practical  information  such as how many seeds are needed by weight or number for different spacings per acre  for specific crops. It includes comprehensive listings of pests and diseases affecting for most vegetables and the  effectiveness of  remedies (albeit usually herbicides or pesticides).  There are also tables and advise about calculating how much fertilizer or soil amendments that might be needed per acre for particular vegetables as well as data on the composition of typical manures and other organic materials, i.e. fish meal, vetch hay and buckwheat straw, that might be added to soils.

Growers can also  look up  how many  feet per minute that a tractor travels at varying low speeds starting at 1 mile per hour, or they can review charts showing how much water is needed to penetrate to difference depths in an acre based on soil type.  The handbook also covers average crop yields, what parts of a vegetable are marketable and the necessary associated storage conditions for it. There is even a section that shows the   nutrient value provided by different vegetables. For us backyard gardeners, it is an education into the complexity of the factors that farmers must take into account before, during and even after when the seeds and plants are in the ground.

In researching background information for this post, I came across a surprisingly wide variety of options about how you can get a copy of Knott's Handbook. You can buy the current edition from Wiley-Interscience for about $100 or get an Amazon Kindle edition is a little less.  Used book copies range typically from $5.00 to $20.00, but I saw one seller on eBay asking $200+ for a first edition.  I also came upon alternatives to these options that might interest the local farming community or other frugally minded types.  There are public electronic versions of the current 1997 edition available from Internet Archive as well as this PDF version available from the website of the University of Missouri's Extension Service.

FWIW:  The Internet Archive (www.archive.org) is a marvelous resource of the Internet providing open public access to millions of digital resources including folk music, videos, books etc. To get you hooked, a few of the specific resources are the Grateful Dead, Old Time Radio Shows, and TV News.  CHECK IT OUT...

And remember:

"Farming is a profession of hope." - Brian Brett, Canadian Author

Crabgrass: in case you get hungry...

A few days ago I noticed a lot of fluttering in my garden's paths and realized that I was witnessing a crop of sparrow fledglings in a feeding frenzy.  My paths are generally not well maintained walkways. They tend to be havens for escaped marjoram, oregano, dill and, of course, unwanted crabgrasses. In this case, I could see that the sparrows were focussing their attentions on the crabgrass areas and appeared to be devouring the surfeit of  seeds now available from the exhausted and dying grasses.

Digitaria sanguinalis (large crabgrass)

Considering that a single crabgrass plant can easily produce well over 125,000+ seeds during its growing season, it's unlikely that my fluttering friends  will get all those seeds, but watching them feast did make me feel a little better about letting the crabgrasses get ahead of me. It also spurred me to find our a little more about crabgrass.

There are two common crabgrass species that gardeners probably step on everyday: Digitaria sanguinalis (large crabgrass) and Digitaria ischaemim (small crabgrass). The botanical Genus name, Digitaria, alludes to the finger-like inflorescences that branch off from the long stems and that become multiple flowering segments. Crabgrass belongs to the small-grained grass family, Poaceae, that also includes other important small-grained grasses like the millets that grouped into of another  related family, Panicoldeae. Like all grasses, crabgrass features a hollow stem with narrow leaves in ranks along the stems except where the bottom-most leaves attach at the node, the stem's base, surrounding it. 

Digitaria and Panicodeae have been been eaten by hungry human for thousands of years. Although you would need patience to gather the seeds, just remember that crabgrass's small seeds are editable if you  ever happen to be staving - you might even develop a taste for it.

Like many of our familiar weeds, crabgrasses were introduced, probably in these cases, intentionally to North American by early European settlers because the plants sprout relatively early in the spring and grow fast providing a good nuitrional fodder for animals.  Crabgrasses also can thrive in poorer soils, and endure heat, cold and drought, important considerations if you have animals to pasture at the end of winter.  Today, these common crabgrasses literally cover the world and contrnue to serve as a grain  for hungry people as well as animal fodder in some places.

FWIW:  If you still feel compelled to eliminate crabgrass in your lawn because it's suffocating the Kentucky blue grass but want to go about it in a "green" manor,  try overseeding. To find out more about the method, read this short article about the technique.

Small and Sweet: Mini Tomatoes at the Fair

Text and pictures by David Chinery, the Senior Horticulture Educator 
                 for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rensselaer County. Reach him at dhc3@cornell.edu

Tomatoes for tasting at the  Schaghticoke Fair

They are one of the easiest things you can grow in your vegetable garden. They’re small and cute, come in a variety of colors and shapes, and one plant produces them by the boatload. They’re both good for you and pack a punch of flavor. Cherry tomatoes are simply awesome, the best, the bomb! 

That’s what I think after growing three types of cherry tomatoes this summer at home and hosting a tomato taste-off at the Schaghticoke Fair. Here is a  quick look at some of the contenders displayed on the tasting table.  In my backyard, I grew ‘Sweet 100,’ a good-looking, standard sort of red cherry tomato, along with ‘Sunsugar,’ notable for its golden orbs. Both were about the size of true cherries, and the plants came from a local garden center. 'Sunsugar’ is touted as being similar to the famous ‘Sungold’ cherry, but less prone to fruit cracking. From seed, I grew plants of ‘Chocolate Cherry,’ which produces slightly larger tomatoes of a dark mahogany red/green/brown color. 

'Sunsugar,' a new variety from Cornell's Gallaxy collection.

'Starlight,' another mini from Cornell's Galaxy collection.

Along with almost everyone else, the Galaxy tomatoes were new to me, so I was eager to learn more. According to Dr. Phillips, who was interviewed by Sarah Thompson of the Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, “These varieties are ideal for organic and conventional growers, or hobby gardeners, and will make a great contribution to the diversity and quality available for small-fruited tomato medleys. They provide high flavor options with good shelf life and aesthetics in high yielding plants for growers.” Galaxies are also described as “organic grape tomato varieties that are pretty, profitable and pack a culinary punch.” They’ve been found to perform well outdoors or in high tunnels, the greenhouses many New York growers use to extend the short upstate growing season. While we didn’t conduct an official taste test, I can give you a little of the feedback we received from the Fairgoers. 

Overall, everyone liked all the varieties, but each type especially charmed a few people, with ‘Sunsugar’ getting the most raves for its high degree of sweetness. A few people (myself and some kids) were disappointed that ‘Chocolate Cherry’ didn’t taste like something from Ghirardelli. ‘Starlight’ was the most polarizing, with some lovers and some dismissers. They might even be nice on an ice cream sundae.

A Squash  For Smaller Spaces

Test and photos by Richard Demick, Rensselaer County Master Gardener

Planting butternut squash in a small raised bed garden layout is a problem. Butternut squash vines grow long and large easily taking over space needed by other vegetables. 

Butterscotch PMR

I tried a new variety this season from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. It is Butterscotch PMR F1. I planted it in a separate 4’ x 4’ raised bed in an open space far from the vegetable garden.

The plants have not strayed far from the borders of the bed. The squash produced look like the usual butternut only smaller. At this time, it appears this variety would be suitable for planting in the permanent raised bed garden along with other vegetables in their separate beds.

The following description is from Johnny's seed catalog:

“Our proudest butternut breeding achievement to date. Bred for sweetness, richness, and complex flavor, surpassing all others in its class. The perfect size for dinner (no leftovers), it is ideal for growers selling at farmers' markets and filling CSA boxes. Matures early at 1–2 lb., with no curing needed before it can be enjoyed. Stores up to 3 months after harvest. Short vines. Intermediate resistance to powdery mildew. NOTE: If growing for the 1-lb size, we recommend giving each plant only 6 sq.ft. of space. Avg. yield: 3–4 fruits/plant. AAS Winner.”

The photo to the right shows a Waltham type butternut squash plants that self-seeded in the compost bin with the extensive vines that run six to 10 feet out into the lawn. The bush and short vine varieties work best in small garden plots. The traditional butternuts from the compost bin are producing well along with the new bush variety creating the opportunity to compare taste and storage qualities. 

And remember...

"Crabgrass can grow on bowling balls in airless rooms, and there is no known way to kill it 

that does not involve nuclear weapons." - Dave Barry

Garden Preparation - June

June! - Time to plant everything now because this is  the month to plant everything... Well, yes, but check that long range weather forecast just one more time.  It is possible for early June to be cool and wet with a few hot days sprinkled in. That combination happened in early May and  activated the  spores  of  Early Blight and  Downy Mildew in many gardens.  

Early blight on tomatoes leave.
Source: Ohio State University

Early Blight (Alternaria solani) is a fungal infection that affects tomatoes and potatoes as well as  related plants such as eggplants and peppers.  It usually shows up as dark spots on the the lower leaves of plants and progresses upward. The dark spots will enlarge, converge and the leaves will eventually turn yellow and drop.

The fungi's spores live in the soil and can be spattered up on plants during overhead watering or heavy rains as well as  by wind. To control, or minimize, future infestations, infected plants should be removed and burned or buried. Although fungicides are available, they are expensive and need to be applied to the soil well before plants are growing in the garden, and they do not necessarily eliminate the disease.  Some tomato varieties are resistant to Early Blight. These include  a few like Defiant, Juliet, Legend, Old Brooks, Mountain Supreme, or Verona.




Downy Mildew identifies a group of fungal-like microbes that are triggered by cool wet spring conditions and affect even a wider range of plants   Upper leaf surfaces initially appear pale green or yellowish while the undersides start to appear white, light grey or brown. Eventually, these leaves whither, turn brown and die.

Downy mildew on cucumber.
Source: Cornell University

The spores of downy mildew can activate in soil as cool as 45° F.  The spores can live in soil debris for up to 15 years; and common weeds such as  sheperd's purse, wild mustand and pepper grass can serve as alternate hosts.  For both diseases the practices of  crop rotation, removing plant debris from garden beds and not adding infected plants to compost piles are important management techniques. 

However, in small backyard gardens implementing effective control measures are very challenging. Staking, pruning, mulching and watering at the base of plants or by soaker hoses will  reduce risk further; but given continuing periods of cool, wet weather, gardeners are bound to find these problems showing up.

Despite these depressing notes, here are a few other things you can do in June besides weeding and looking for the first seasonal garden pests:

• Most vegetables can now be mulched with either compost or straw;

• Add a side dressing of fertilizer - preferable an organic, slow release type;

• Time to start second plantings of lettuce, radishes and other cool weather crops;

• Plant beans, beets, carrots and squash; and

• If you've planted tomatoes, put your stakes or cages in now while it's easy to avoid damaging the plants.

Gardening & Plastic

Source: phys.org

A few nights ago I attended a gardening program, and one of the discussions covered weed suppression and how to warm the soil in spring. Although a few gardeners mentioned using newspapers and cardboard for  weed control, most of us, including me, talked about putting down black plastic.  Later that evening, I started wondering about just how reliant gardeners are on using plastics and if I should  start feeling guilty about a possible plastic addiction.   

After a little investigation I started to feel a little better about my own use of plastics in gardening, but I did continue to be dismayed about the ongoing level of plastic litter being introduced into the environment by my species stemming from its collective greed and ignorance.

I recognize that many plastics are  well suited for their applications; and if societies reduced their fossil fuel energy needs and incorporated recycling   regimens into product life cycles, the continuing manufacture and use of plastics would not be  worsening existing environmental problems.  But now  to return to our gardens...

Gardeners are most likely to deal with three kinds of plastics: low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP). All three types, although   essentially not bio-degradable in the sense that they transform into organic compost, they are all re-cyclable materials.  

• LDPE (Recyle Code #4) is  relatively soft, pliable, tough and chemically resistant to varying degrees to many types of chemicals.   LDPE gradually breaks down  over time when exposed to solar radiation  and releases small amounts of a few compounds such as methane and ethylene.   Gardeners using plastic sheeting to cover their plots are using LDPEs.

• HDPE (Recycle Code #2) is both very durable and highly resistant to many chemicals. It is commonly used for storage tanks, furniture, piping etc. Gardeners may encounter HDPE in the form of  large planters & garden bed materials, hoses, and storage tanks (e.g. rain barrels). 

• PP's (Recycle Code #5) characteristics are similar to the polyethylenes, but it is harder, almost as heat resistant, but more economical to produce. Probably the plastic trays and pots that most gardeners use or get when they buy plants are made from PP. 

In short, if conscientious gardeners simply  re-use and recycle their plastics, they may be able to feel less guilty about living in the age of plastics... but I must admit that the chore of cleaning  last year's shredded plastic sheeting from my garden before stuffing it in the recycle bin does  not especially inbue me with a lot of motivational energy. I will now try to remember not to yield to the temptation of simply hiding these plastics in the trash...


And remember:

"If it can't be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, 

resold, recycled or composted, then it should restricted, redesigned 

or removed from production." - Pete Seeger