Continue reading »]]> Question: What do potatoes look like when they grow?

Answer: The answer is in the pictures here. Whenever you are growing something for the first time, it’s fun learning how each plant grows. This is my first year growing potatoes. I haven’t seen them grow before, so I didn’t know exactly what to expect to emerge from the ground. When the first leaves starting to emerge I wasn’t sure if they were weeds or the potatoes, but after a couple days it became clear that these were the potatoes. It took the potatoes a little over a week to start shooting up leaves.

The pictures you see were taken at 18 days after planting the potatoes. They have been growing pretty fast. Each day I come and look at them, there seems to be more leaves. The Adirondack Blue potatoes that I am growing even have a hint of blue/purple color in their leaves.

Click here to find out where you can purchase purple or blue potatoes.

Continue reading »]]> Gardening can be a great rewarding experience. One of the most rewarding experiences is growing your own peas. Peas fresh picked from the garden have a sweet flavor you will never find in a grocery store. I like to grow shelling, sugar snap, and snow peas. But growing them doesn’t come without it’s challenges and setbacks. Yesterday, I was speaking with a friend and she said that after three weeks of being in the ground her peas still had not sprouted. So upon further examination, she discovered that her peas had simply rotted. Why does something like this happen? Well we have been experiencing a cold, very wet spring. Neither of these things are good for peas. Peas do like to grow in colder weather than other crops, but they do need the soil to be a certain temperature in order to germinate. The soil needs to be at least somewhere around 45 degrees for germination. We have had several days were our temperatures struggle to reach 45 as a high. Since germination has been slow, the amount of rain we have gotten most likely caused my friend’s peas to rot. These conditions are not the norm for our area.

Turning my attention to my own garden. I was concerned that same thing was happening to me. I checked my peas today and even thought it has taken them twice as long as normal to germinate, I found some signs of green life sprouting out of the soil. I planted my seeds about a week or so later than she did.

So what should you do if you find your peas are not sprouting? After about 2 1/2 weeks or so, pick an area where you planted and dig it up carefully. See if your peas are rotted. If that is the case, you still have time to replant, so give it a second try. If you find your peas plant are there, not rotting, but not seeming to grow, then it’s possible you have some bad seeds, try a different source and try again.

Continue reading »]]> Question: When to Plant Broccoli for the Fall?

Answer: RIGHT NOW! If you wish to grow broccoli for a fall crop, you need to be planting those seeds in the ground in the month of August at the latest. I planted my broccoli this month and I live in Michigan. Broccoli grows well in the fall, because it likes to grow in cooler temperature. It’s also easier to do because a lot of your problems with starting it in the spring are gone. In the spring, the soil isn’t warm, so germination takes longer. Also bugs are a greater problem in the spring/summer than the fall. Broccoli can withstand frost to a certain point. I plant to cover my fall broccoli whenever there is going to be a significant frost (under 30 degrees) and see how long I can keep it going.

If you haven’t planted your broccoli yet and live in an area where the first frost is coming in early to mid October, I would look for a variety that you can harvest in the least amount of days. Just check the back of your package of seeds. Also the good thing about buying seeds now, if you can find a place still selling them they should be on clearance.

Click here to read about my experience growing the Packman variety of broccoli this year (I started it in the spring).

Continue reading »]]> Question: What eats bush bean plants?

Answer: I know Japanese beetles like to eat bean leaves. They ate my mom’s pole bean leaves into nothing last year. If they eat the pole bean leaves, I imagine they will do the same with bush beans. Traps do not work on them as it just attracts them to the area. I have heard people have success against insects with using a garlic/cayenne pepper mixture sprayed onto the leaves. There may also be certain plants you can plant that will help control insect problems. There is a great book called “Great Garden Companions
“, that can help you know what to plant to attract beneficial insects as well as keep away pests.

As for animals, I had some deer munch on the tops of my bush bean plants. Luckily they didn’t do much damage and the plants went on producing. The rabbits were much worse. They ate the leaves of every plant as it came up. The only good solution to this problem is building a fence. Or you could also try planting garlic completely surrounding your bean plants, some people swear by this.

Click here to read all things bush bean related on the website.

Continue reading »]]> Question: Are blue lake green beans good for freezing?

Answer: Absolutely! I have heard they are one of the best beans for freezing. I haven’t done it myself before, because I never grown enough beans where I couldn’t eat them all fresh (hopefully this year will change that!). I would recommend blanching them before freezing. Just bring a pot of water to a boil, drop the beans in and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then quickly put the beans into a bowl of ice water to shock them and stop the cooking. This will preserve a bright green color. Then for freezing, I recommend placing each bean individually, without touching another on a cookie sheet or sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Then place into the freezer making sure the cookie sheet is flat. Once the beans freeze, then place them into a zip top bag. I like doing this because it’s less likely your beans are going to all stick together, so it’s easier to pull some of the beans out of the bag if you aren’t going to use them all at once.

For more on blue lake bush beans, click here to read all my posts on them.

Continue reading »]]> Question: What is a good recipe for wando peas?

Answer: Wando peas are a variety of shelling peas (peas that you must remove from the shell before eating). You can use them as you would in any recipe calling for peas. I think to enjoy their fresh flavor it’s best to just keep it simple. I use them one of two ways. 1) Eat them raw right out of the shell. 2) I melt some butter in a pot over medium-high heat and pour the peas in when the butter in melted. I cook these for about 2-3 minutes, stirring often. Fresh peas are tender so they don’t need to be cooked long.

Click here to see all my posts and pictures of wando peas.

Continue reading »]]> Question: How do I stop broccoli from bolting?

Answer: It is not the warm air temperature that causes broccoli to bolt (or flower). It is the warm soil. Add mulch and keep your broccoli well watered (check an inch down into the soil for moisture level), can help keep your plant going longer. I also careful watch my plant when it is producing a head. You want to make sure the plant does not flower, so cut the head before it has a chance to. Most varieties produce side shoots, so you will still be in the game.

To learn more about growing broccoli, check out my experience with growing the packman variety this season.

Continue reading »]]> Question: How do I know that my broccoli has bolted?

Answer: Growing broccoli in the warm weather is not easy. If your broccoli begins to produce yellow flowers you may be in trouble, but not all hope is lost. If your broccoli variety produces side shoots and most do, then you can just cut off the flowering center head and hope for some side shoots.

Now this only works if you still have healthy leaves. If all your leaves are dying off (click here for a picture), then your best chance is to try again next season or plant fall broccoli. Broccoli does better in the fall because it likes to grow in the colder air temperatures. I live in zone 5, so I am planting my broccoli now from seed and expect to harvest it 3 months from now, which will put me in early October.

To learn how to prevent broccoli from bolting, click here.

To learn more about growing broccoli, check out my experience with growing the packman variety this season.