This morning I was able to pick a couple of quarts of green beans and a few okra from the garden. I am getting more green beans than I thought I would from a little space the size of a cafeteria table. It is the new garden where the old pine tree uprooted in the tornado. This is the first year for the soil, and usually it takes a while to build up the nutrients, and humus for a good garden. I am pleased with the outcome. It is a raised bed, outlined with bricks. A few years ago, the neighbor from across the street gave us a pile of bricks, if we would come to get them. I made many trips with my wheelbarrow back and forth across the street to collect the bricks. They have been moved around a lot, and have been used for raised beds and outlining garden areas.
Yesterday morning we had some wild storms and we lost the top from our poor little dogwood in the front of the house. This means we have lost even more of our shade. It gets damaged more every time we have any high winds. I have a feeling that we will lose it entirely, but will wait to cut it down, just in case it can make it. It does have some new growth on it near the lower branches.
I was happy for the several inches of rain we received from the storms, it sure has helped everything in the garden look a little bit more happy!
Yesterday I was blessed to be able to attend a class at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens called, Growing Organically -Personally, Publicly, or For Profit. It ran from 9 to 3, but I think it should have been a 2 day class. The last few presenters had too much info to be able to discuss it all.
The class was organized and presented by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System from Alabama A&M and Auburn Universities.
Topics included were: What is organic, Organic Certification and Marketing Opportunities, Soil Building and Cover Crops, Insect Management Strategies, Disease Management Strategies, The importance of Beneficial and Pollinator Insects, Choices for Organically Grown Fruit. This was a wide range of subjects and useful even for my little home garden and good for consumers who are looking for organic produce as well.
All of the presenters emphasized how difficult it is to be an organic grower in Alabama because of our climate, and how time consuming it is to do good pest management and soil building.
As they were speaking of the difficulties, I was thinking that people survived for hundreds of years growing crops here, before the advent of synthetic fertilizers and insecticides. I think that modern growers and consumers want more variety than was previously available and also that consumers want perfect looking fruit and vegetables instead of settling for products that might have some insect damage or might not be as large as the corporate farm products that are bred to look good and hold up during shipping at the expense of healthy nutrients and flavor.
I came home with a lot more to study and learn, as they only had time to give us overviews. We were blessed to be given 2 books; Building Soils for Better Crops, and Managing Cover Crops Profitably.
Thank you Dr. Ayanava Majumdar for the books. We also received many handouts form the extension service .
I was pleased to find out that I already have planted many of the plants that host beneficial insects that keep the damaging insects under control. Some of the host plants are: Yarrow, dill, butterfly weed, fennel, marigold, Queen Anne's Lace, daisy family, goldenrod, tansy, cosmos, spearmint, sedum. Marigold was the one most frequently mentioned, and I think that most gardeners already know to plant them around the garden. For some reason, marigolds have never done well in my garden. Perhaps I should try planting them in pots. If you need to give your garden a boost for the fall, they are a good one to plant even now. They will give good fall color and last until frost. I think I will take their advice and add some this next weekend.
The instructors all emphasized being proactive, monitoring the garden and stopping problems before they got started, and using a multifaceted approach.
Happy gardening,
Susan
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