Friday, October 25, 2013
Hot Water Treatment for disease prevention at planting time
I am spending a lot of time in the bathroom these days! Specifically- soaking bags full of garlic
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Warning about straw mulch, manure
Many of you remember that WeeBee Farms has some herbicide contamination of our Spring seedlings due to contaminated worm castings 2 years ago. We lost 1200 potted tomato and pepper seedlings.
Recently a few of my gardening customers have told me they have had confirmed herbicide contamination, and many more are telling me stories that lead me to believe they probably have had herbicide damage. (Garlic not coming up and tomatoes with gnarly, twisted leaves etc.) Usually they say they purchased straw from a local farm for mulch.
I have started advising my customers NOT to mulch your garlic unless you know for sure that it is not contaminated. Many farmers now use the long-lasting herbicides, and herbicides are commonly used on barley crops which are sold for straw. Newer herbicides can last 2-7 years and can remain that long in the manure of the animals that eat the crop that was treated. These herbicides are becoming common in lawn and garden products as well.
It's not too hard to test soil for contamination, but it takes about 3 weeks to find out. I now test my worm castings every Spring using tomato and pepper seeds as they are the most vulnerable to the herbicides used.
Here's an article link on how to test:
http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/how-to-test-compost-for-herbicide-contamination
Testing the actual straw would be trickier and would take more time. You could chop it up and mix it with moist soil and let it compost a bit before testing the soil. If you have some straw now, you can compost a small amount over the winter then test it before using it in the spring.
Recently a few of my gardening customers have told me they have had confirmed herbicide contamination, and many more are telling me stories that lead me to believe they probably have had herbicide damage. (Garlic not coming up and tomatoes with gnarly, twisted leaves etc.) Usually they say they purchased straw from a local farm for mulch.
I have started advising my customers NOT to mulch your garlic unless you know for sure that it is not contaminated. Many farmers now use the long-lasting herbicides, and herbicides are commonly used on barley crops which are sold for straw. Newer herbicides can last 2-7 years and can remain that long in the manure of the animals that eat the crop that was treated. These herbicides are becoming common in lawn and garden products as well.
It's not too hard to test soil for contamination, but it takes about 3 weeks to find out. I now test my worm castings every Spring using tomato and pepper seeds as they are the most vulnerable to the herbicides used.
Here's an article link on how to test:
http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/how-to-test-compost-for-herbicide-contamination
Testing the actual straw would be trickier and would take more time. You could chop it up and mix it with moist soil and let it compost a bit before testing the soil. If you have some straw now, you can compost a small amount over the winter then test it before using it in the spring.
Sold Out for the Season!
Thanks to all my wonderful garlic customers. I will miss you! WeeBee Farms will be back in the Spring with plants for your vegetable gardens. We will have scapes in June and August 1st is usually the first day with garlic bulbs. Now on to planting next years' crop!
Friday, October 11, 2013
Planting time for garlic is mid-October to Thanksgiving
See our posting on How To Plant Garlic from Sept 5th.
Our Last Day selling Garlic!
Hard to believe the season is coming to an end, but alas I am selling out of garlic quickly. Tomorrow Oct 12th will probably be our last day at market. We'll have plenty of Chesnok Red and smaller amounts of Inchelium Red along with a few others and some variety bags with 5 different garlics or 8 different garlics.
We'll have a few sweet peppers to sell too. Mostly sweet green ones and a few sweet red ones. Our stand will open at 8:15 am.
We'll have a few sweet peppers to sell too. Mostly sweet green ones and a few sweet red ones. Our stand will open at 8:15 am.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Lots of Long-storing Inchelium Red Garlic for sale Sat. October 5th.
Tomorrow we'll have lots of Inchelium Red Garlic to sell. This is a sweet and milder garlic that is very versatile. It is delicious raw on crackers, in hummus, guacamole and on salads of every kind. It also is good in all types of cooking and is a classic roasting garlic that tastes smooth and sweet.
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