Strawberry Towers Produce!

I went out on a limb with vertical gardening, using 4" PVC to create vertical towers, to grow strawberries.  Then again, I tend to take chances on most of the gardening I do.  I must say that I am pleasantly pleased with the results so far.  The Ozark Beauty strawberries are producing, producing, and producing.  Two of the towers are spaced 8" apart and the remaining 3 are spaced only 4" apart.  I usually space too closely in the greenhouse trying to squeeze out the best use of space, but this time, I really believe 4" works great.  I have dangling fruit all up and down the towers!  I've made this 1st harvest video showing what it all looks like.

Oh, forgot to tell you.  You gotta know that Gina made me some awesome strawberry shortcake with this batch of berries!

Yes, A Homeowner Can Graft Trees!

Last year, I grafted 4 fruiting pears onto a flowering callery pear called Cleveland Select.  Now, why would I do that?  Well, it's simple.  I want some stinking pears and my research showed that grafting would produce much faster than growing from immature trees.  Also, the callery pears are in the front yard where deer and other critters are reluctant to go compared to the back yard where the woods are close by.  Well, it was a success for the most part until high winds a couple months later ripped half of the grafts right out.  This year, I decided to re-make it a 4-pear tree so I once again graft onto the tree.  This video shows what I did and updates how last year's remaining grafts look.

Tomato Pruning

Tomato pruning is a controversial subject!  It really is.  Tomatoes are the #1 vegetable grown in gardens by far.  There are thousands of varieties out there; a testament to our passion for this fruit...what?  Yep, tomatoes are technically a fruit botanically.  But then again, so are squash, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, peas, and beans.  Basically, any flower that produces a "fruit".  Not to worry, the Supreme Court--yes, you heard right--ruled that it is a vegetable for all intents and purposes.  Why?  Because it's eaten with the meal whereas fruits are eaten as a dessert.  Hey, it was in the 1880's.  Still holds true, though, that most consider the tomato a vegetable.  Well, except for the uppity folks.  I digress, but a little information never hurts anyone.

So, to prune or not to prune.  That is the question.  The answer is simple:  Whatever makes you feel good.  There's no really true answer to this, or lots of things when gardening.  Typically, though, if you follow major farmers who do things for production and livelihood, you can get a glimpse at good practices.  For me, I'll break it down to a very simple OPINION.  Outside, cage them, space them, and let 'em go.  In a greenhouse, prune 'em to 1 or 2 stems.  That's my take, and yes, your will be different.  But, isn't that a good thing?  So, I created a video on how I prune in the greenhouse.  Tell me what you think.

I'm Going to Grow Sweet Potatoes in Conatiners....Vertically!

Gina and I really enjoy a beautifully cooked sweet potato.  It's not a hard thing to do and there's nothing like the taste of a sweet potato.  A little butter and a little cinnamon.  Mmmmmmm.  Some like some marshmallows melted on them too.  Gina does, but me, not so much.  There are tons of ways to prepare them too other than just baked.  So, I've never grown them, but I've seen the YouTube videos of folks putting store-bought taters into a cup supported by toothpicks with the bottom half in water.  After a period, they root and grow what are called slips.  Slips are the vegetative growth or vine with leaves.  Once the slips emerge, they get big fairly quickly.  Then all you gotta do is rip the slip off the potato right at the base and pluck into some soil (watered of course).  Or, you could put the slip itself into a cup of water and it'll root.  The slips are hearty and will root easy enough.  Thing is, don't toss out the tater after you pull them off.  The sweet potato-in-a-cup will continue to grow slips that you can use over and over again.  Essentially, one sweet potato can make a HUGE amount of potatoes this way.  So, intrigued, and motivated by the potatoes growing vertically, I decided to give it a shot!  Here is the video of me doing it:

Critter Deterrent for the Garden

People try lots of things to keep critters (animals & insects) from getting the goods of their hard work in the garden.  It is quite frustrating to put so much love and care into your garden only to have it swept off or destroyed right before you're ready to grab it.  Yeah, we expect critters to get some of it.  Well, I do.  And, each person's tolerance for what is acceptable differs.  This is where this tip comes in.  It is simply a suggestion to add to your war-chest of ideas to help ensure you can get that juicy bite of tomato in your next BLT!  I just want to warn, it is not an end-all, beat-all solution.  Keep growing!

Brent

My Blog, Better Videos on YouTube, and Facebook

I'm reviving the blog and becoming more active in it because this is where I'm comfortable sharing more intimate thoughts behind all I do in life.  So, here  you go.

I guess I've been putting myself out there on YouTube these days.  I got to watching some of the videos as topics come up.  I need to work on them some.  Got a little snoozy watching myself and I'm thinking, "Who wants to watch that?"  Even though I'm simply sharing thoughts and things I do, which was my original intent, maybe I could take a tad more time and improve.  Maybe some more energy?  Maybe some more of my personality instead of talking AT folks.  I'm not the most handsome guy for sure, but I should get on camera more too I suspect.  So, I'll work on these things and we'll see how it goes.

I'm also on Facebook.  I'll put a link here to that page for folks in case you prefer chatting that way.  Folks, there will be duplication of thoughts there--similar if not the same posts.  Two different audiences.  Here it is:  Facebook

Chat soon.
Brent

Gardening in (on) Black Plastic

Here's the thing.  I'm thinking that for 2016, I don't want to weed the garden.  I don't want to till the garden.  I don't want to go to the trouble of amending the garden either.  Mostly, it's because I want to simplify things now that I'm getting older and focus more on the joy of growing instead of the work of gardening.  It's never really been about production for me, but as I go forward and learn, production is increasing none-the-less.  Growing in containers let's me focus effort.  It allows me to control the media used that plants grow in.  Timed watering using PVC watering consistently keeps plants hydrated.  In addition to consistent watering, I want to provide proper nutrition for optimum growing.  These are my thoughts.  I have gardened IN black plastic and I have gardened in containers, but have yet to combine the two.  So, listen, here's my first video two videos on gardening in containers on top of black plastic.  Let's see how it works out!