Go pro with us, Indie Farmers!

There is a big change afoot here at the original Indie Farm and I'm excited to share it with all of you - I've gone pro!

Like, I took a full-time farming gig earlier this year and it has led to a few changes on the Indie Farm itself and with Indie Farms, the kitchen garden coaching service.

Specifically, I'm not offering 1:1 in-home garden coaching any longer and we're not selling our handmade goodness at local events anymore.

Instead, I'm focusing all of my Indie Farming coaching updates, how-tos and to-dos right here on the blog where you can search for whatever details are bugging you directly via the search box or by category, season, month or technique.

If you'd still like to get your coaching updates in your inbox, you can sign up to get our blog posts delivered via email by adding your email address at the link on the right side there. Then your monthly kitchen garden coaching update will show up in your email just like in the old days. Plus, you'll also get new posts delivered whenever they go live on the blog.

I look forward to sharing more about organic farming and kitchen gardening with all of you as we start up this new year.

And, hey, don't be a stranger - If you have feedback or questions or just want to talk turnips (or basil, tomatoes, peppers, lemons, artichokes...)- leave a comment and we'll chat.

Happy growing out there, y'all..

The summer garden's top 3 OH NOs and their solutions

About this time of year, we start getting frantic OH NO emails from clients whose gardens are doing crazy things and, in some cases, nothing at all.

There's a lot of OH NOing and WHAT THE HELL DO I DOing and general freaking out and that is AOK.

We're on the case.

Here are the top 3 summer garden OH NOs and what you can do to sort them out. Without freaking out. Or...with minimal freaking out.

Seeds don't germinate

This is our woe this summer, again, because sometimes we can't learn from our previous season's mistakes. Specifically, that we can't keep the hot San Jose soil mo-ist enough long enough for forever-taking seeds like carrots to germinate.

Um...carrots? Helloooo?

Some measures you can take to make sure you have good germination rates for direct sown crops (where you put the seed right in your garden soil rather than starting it indoors first) is to know the crop's ideal sowing and germination conditions (in the case of carrots it's 1/4" seed depth, soil temps of 55-80 degrees, even water, consistent moisture, loamy soil with limited soil crusting) and follow them to the letter.

These tiny carrot seeds are the forever-takingest (20 days to germinate) of the direct sown seeds.

You can find this information on your seed packets and it's mightily helpful in getting a good stand (full germination of your crop in the garden) and final product.

If you have poor germination rate or none at all (like our poor carrots), you can adjust your conditions to suit the crop and resow, choose another crop to grow in the conditions that you DO have or, like we'll be doing, just let your nearby crops take over (AKA - Do nothing).

We'll try this again in the fall.

Blossoms fall off

When the temps spike, I start to get a lot of emails and pings from Indie Farmers worried about the blossoms falling off of their tomatoes.

In this case, some set fruit and some dropped off.

I get the same emails and pings when we have a super windy spell or it suddenly gets cold or a black cat crosses under a ladder nearby.

And that's all because of stress. When tomatoes get stressed - by temperatures that move outside of their ideal range (70-85 degrees), wind tossing around their leaves and branches, air pollution, lack of nutrients, pest attack, etc - they go into survival mode, just like all plants do.

And survival mode in plants looks like blossoms dropping, slowing of growth, fruit that doesn't ripen - that kind of thing. Because the plant is conserving energy to survive and the creation of flowers, setting of fruit on those flowers and ripening of fruit are the most energy consuming of the plant's activities.

So, the key to YOU surviving the plant's survival mode is to help the plant along. Look at the conditions the plant is experiencing and help it out.

If it's been really windy, put up a wind break around your plants, stake their branches so they don't break in the wind, or (if it's in a pot) move it to an area that's more protected.

The staking and protected space keeps this wee tomato plant from getting wrecked.

If it's been really hot, give your plant some afternoon shade with shade cloth, make sure you're watering deeply in the cool morning hours and limit the time you spend working the plants to the cooler morning hours.

Once conditions return to those that the plant likes best, it will go back to setting flowers and fruit and ripening that fruit. Healthy plants also fight off pests much more effectively and don't attract pests like sickly plants do.

Everything bolts super fast

When conditions move outside the range that your plants prefer (in the case of summer, it gets HOT), you'll notice your crops like lettuce, basil, cilantro and broccoli will start to send up tall stalks that eventually flower and set seed.

Look familiar? Oh, cilantro.

This is, again, your crop's way of surviving by producing the next generation (AKA - seed) and the heat is also a signal to cool season crops that it's time to procreate and survive.

Some crops like basil can be pinched to prevent bolting, but other crops like lettuce and cilantro will become bitter and tough even if you do prune off their flowering stalks.

Pinch me! Pinch me! Naughty.

For the cooler crops that you do want to grow during the hot summer months, try moving them to an area that gets afternoon shade or GIVE them afternoon shade where they're growing already, sow seed on a tighter schedule (every week rather than every other week) and harvest regularly to keep them in production mode.

Lettuce might like to grow in the shade of your bean tipi. Just sayin'.

Lawn > Water-wise meadow

The drought's no secret, folks. 

I'm not going to sit here and impress upon you all of the details, because I know you've heard them before (and if not, go here), instead I'm going to show you one way to save water while getting some money back for your efforts.

The only catch is that it does not involve vegetables. Read about saving water in the vegetable garden here.

It does, however, involve trading in your water-sucking lawn for a beautiful, serene and xeric meadow AFTER doing a few things with the county so that you can cash in on the rebates.

1. Check eligibility
Make sure that you're eligible for the rebates through Santa Clara County by looking through the details here. 

2. Call the county
Call Santa Clara County's Water Conservation Hotline (408-630-2554) and tell them that you want to participate in the Landscape Conversion Rebate Program.

3.  Get started with your design! 
The county has a list of approved plants so that you can find ones that work with your design. 

4. Gather your goods
Fall is the best time to do the planting so that fall rains (fingers crossed) can establish your new meadow, but you can do the lawn destruction this summer and get all of your materials chosen and on order or stockpiled between now and then.  

The installation process takes about four separate days (preferably spaced out across weekends with breaks in between to heal sore muscles - there's lots of hands on work here) and the following materials:

Sod cutter or flat blade shovel for removing sod
Weed blocking or tougher landscaping fabric
Fabric staples
Gorilla hair mulch
Rake
Grass plugs
Root dip
Bucket
Bulb tool
Wildflower seeds
Trowel
Carpet knife 

5. Use your lawn for mulch

 
For the first step, either rent a sod cutter or use a flat blade shovel to scrape your lawn into strips. Water the area well 12 hours before you start so it's soft enough for your shovel or sod cutter to cut easily. If you're using a sod cutter, be sure you're strong enough to handle the monster.

Once you've cut your grass away from the soil in strips, flip it over and lay grass side down on the soil to be used as planting material for the plugs.

6. Put down weed blocking fabric

 
For this step, you'll need enough rolls of weed blocking or landscaping fabric to cover your space and fabric staples to hold it down. To be eligible for the rebates, this material must be air and water permeable, so no solid plastic mulch or anything like that.

Roll out fabric over your overturned lawn or newly bare soil, cut to cover and staple down as you go. Don't be stingy with the staples, either, you want this fabric to stay down.

7. Lay mulch

 
For this step, you'll need bark mulch (gorilla hair is good) in an amount equal to the cubic yardage of your space and allowing for at least a 2 inch depth.

Flip your rake over so that it's flat side down (no, really) and rake the mulch to an even layer over your weed blocking fabric. This will keep you from snagging holes in the fabric. Landscaping fabric is a bit tougher than weed blocking fabric, so this is a good choice if you're not usually gentle with the rake.

8. Plant grass plugs

 
For this step, you'll need enough grass plugs to cover your space based on 70 plugs for every 18 feet, root dip for the plugs, bulb tool or a trowel and a carpet knife or box cutter.

About 30 minutes before you begin planting, dissolve root dip in a bucket of water until it's the consistency of soupy oatmeal.

While the dip dissolves, lay the grass plugs evenly over the space to be planted, avoiding straight lines for a natural effect and scoring the plugs' root balls with your box cutter as you go, which will allow their roots to establish faster.

Once the dip dissolves, start at one corner of your space, move the grass plug aside, dig a small hole through the mulch and fabric to the depth of the plug, dip the plug in the solution coating it completely (this will help it retain water until it's established) and plant in the hole, compacting the surrounding soil lightly.

Repeat this until you've planted all the plugs and then water in all of your new plugs. Make sure to give them a good soak by watering thoroughly three times in the first day.

9. Plant wildflower seeds or other drought-tolerant plants

 
For this step, you'll need wildflower seeds in adequate amounts to cover your space, depending on how dense you want the flower coverage to be.

For a natural meadow effect, evenly spread wildflower seeds by the handful and water the entire space.

10. Water until it rains
Make sure to keep the soil from drying out by watering about once a week until the winter rains begin.

Come springtime, your plugs will put on new growth, early spring wildflowers will bloom and by summer you'll have a meadow where your lawn used to be. Water it if there's a hot spell, but otherwise it's fine without. You can give it a high mow before winter.

 
Maintenance
Even a meadow needs some maintenance, but it's far less than the weekly mowing and trimming you're used to with a lawn. In late spring, pull out spent wildflowers. In the fall, prune back overgrown meadow grasses or give them a high mow before winter. Prune and care for your non-meadow grass plants according to their needs.

SAVE SOME WATER, NOW. FOR REALS.

 

Remember when we were all, "Save some water, already"?

 

Yeah - well, now we're more like, "SAVE SOME WATER, NOW. FOR REALS."

 

You know about the drought. It's no secret. But what about your summer garden? Can you still grow food while conserving water? 

 

But, of course.

 

Here's our shortlist of water saving techniques for the vegetable garden. If you, say, also get rid of a water sucking lawn in the process, though, that wouldn't hurt.

 

*Excerpt from our coaching update*

#0 MULCH

Yeah, so there's not usually a #0, but what we're trying to say here is that

if you only do one thing to save water this summer, this is the thing - MULCH.

 

A 2" layer of bark or straw, black or green plastic, a single layer of cardboard, a few layers of newspaper, dense shade from low growing companion plants (nasturtium are totally pros at this) or densely spaced main crops (see #3 below) are the way to go. 

 

I'm naming the next farm dog, Mulch.

 

No sun on bare soil! For reals, now.

#1 Water smart

Install drip irrigation
This is one of the most effective ways to conserve water AND the best way to water your vegetable plants. Here's an all-in-one kit that will drip irrigate a 75 square foot garden area. Get nuts.

Check all of your irrigation and fix the broken bits
Test your system for leaks, clogged drip emitters, calcium encrusted manifolds (the big main head that all of your drip lines connect to) and missing bits and pieces that the naughty squirrels made off with during the winter. Then fix it and get to growing while saving water, already.

 

Plant in raised beds

Whether you construct raised garden beds from boards (just not treated railroad ties, please), concrete blocks, scrap metal or hay bales or just mound up soil a foot or two deep, raised beds help promote drainage, warm the soil faster, avoid compaction (you won't be as likely to walk on the raised part of the bed) and focus water at your plants' roots rather than indiscriminately *around* the plants. 

 

 

#2 Water like you mean it

Know your plants' water needs and then don't overdo it

Know what kind of watering condition your different vegetables like and go with that instead of blanket watering everything. Seriously. For instance, tomatoes like infrequent deep watering (think 3 days a week for 10-15 minutes) and lettuce likes consistent shallow watering (think daily or every other day for 5-10 minutes). 

If you can't provide specific watering conditions for each type of vegetable (I get it - we have automatic drip irrigation, too, and lots of different stuff planted together in the Test Garden), follow these four rules that will, generally, appeal to most of your warm weather crops:

1. Water deeply - This encourages deep root development.
2. Water infrequently -This keeps the soil from leaching nutrients below the plants' roots.
3. Water in the morning - This gives the plants a fighting chance of being able to take up the water before it evaporates in the hot sun and gives them the turgidity (upright strength) to power through the hottest parts of the day without flagging (falling the hell over).
4. Water at the roots and not on the leaves -This discourages disease and gets water to where the plant can use it. 

 

#3 Plant wisely

More IS better...in this case anyway

Sure, there are spacing requirements listed on your seed packets and seedling starts and such, and these are good guidelines for most situations, but when we're in a bind for water, resources and space, these requirements can be overly conservative. Instead, look for the "spread" or "width" size for the plants you're growing and plant to the edges of that area rather than including extra space. 

So, for example, tomato spacing is usually recommended at 30 inches (2 1/2 feet) between plants, but if your tomato plant's spread is 3 1/2 feet (or 1 3/4 feet on center), you can plant your tomato plants at 1 3/4' apart so that when the plants reach maturity, their leaves and branches will touch/overlap a bit and there'll hardly be a flicker of sunshine that hits that soil to dry up any moisture that exists.  

Cover seeds

Loosely cover germinating seeds with a floating row cover to keep the soil mo-ist enough for the seeds to germinate without risking them drying out.  Plus, it'll keep marauding birds from eating all your seed. Bonus!

No sun on bare soil! For reals, now.

The deal with soil building

It has come to my attention, through various expressions of eye-rolling, sideways glances and similar distraction techniques during coaching sessions, that soil testing, soil building and soil amending are not folks' favorite gardening subjects.

I know.

It sounds like work. It sounds dirty. It sounds time consuming. It sounds like less fun than madly planting all of the green growies that you just snatched up at the nursery.

But what if I told you that soil building was what turned my mundane, ho-hum, sort of not working garden of yesteryear into the crisper-busting, pantry-bursting, belly-filling beast of today?

Because it was.

Learn from my mistakes, friends, and then get to building that soil in three worthwhile steps.

I'm not going to say it's fast, easy and clean, but I will say that your efforts will be worth it and you'll finally start to see the results from that vegetable garden that you are fantasizing about when you pick out those vegetable seedlings in the spring.

Step #1: Prep
Time commitment: 10 minutes per raised bed
Materials and tools: One 2 cubic foot bag of organic soil amendment per 24 sq. ft. bed, digging fork

Firstly, add a good dose of organic soil amendment to each of your growing areas.

We add one bag of Gardner & Bloome's Harvest Supreme (but feel free to use the organic soil amendment of your choice) to each of our 24 sq. ft. beds, so you can adjust the amount you add based on the size of your space.  Are you amending a bed half the size? Use half the bag.  You get it.

Step #2: Test your soil
Time commitment: 20 minutes per raised bed
Materials and tools: One soil test kit, a clear container that will hold about 6 cups of liquid and soil, trowel, notebook, pencil

You can certainly send soil tests off to a lab to be professionally analyzed - it's a great way to get very specific and accurate reads on all kinds of soil elements, texture, pH and they can also make recommendations for how to amend your soil for the crops you're aiming to grow.

If you're more of a DIYer, I still use home soil tests that you can buy online or at the hardware store. I have heard, and you likely will, too, that these aren't accurate or don't provide enough information or just plain don't work.

Well, this is what I used when I first started testing my soil and it provided good enough results for me to use as a guide for amending my soil. Plus, it gives me the flexibility to test multiple sites without having to send out half a dozen soil samples to be tested.

One test kit has enough material to do multiple tests and includes amending information that you can use to calculate the amounts of amendments you'll need to build your soil for the specific crops you're going to grow. 

Here's my full How-To for testing your soil with these kits.

I estimate that it takes about an hour for me to test, do the calculations (just the tiniest bit of math) and amend my five 24 sq. ft beds.

Step #3: Amend your soil
Time commitment: 10 minutes per raised bed
Materials and tools: Organic dried blood, bone meal, greensand or kelp meal, pH preference and amendment list from your soil test kit, a measuring cup with ounce measurements, your notebook with test results

Once you know what your soil needs and their amounts, just add the amendments (the amounts are smaller than you'd expect), mix them into your soil, water and you're done.

I use only organic amendments like dried blood for nitrogen, bone meal for phosphorus and greensand or kelp meal for potassium. I also add in a handful of worm castings to each bed and that bag of Harvest Supreme I was talking about earlier, so by the time the soil's been amended and watered, it's like a buffet for the plants you're putting in.

Soil microorganisms (think beneficial bacteria) and macro organisms (think worms) are partying in there and the plants will settle in and take off without delay.

And when you get to the end of the warm weather growing season, it'll be time to rotate your crops and plant cover crops anywhere that's not getting a food crop.

This is Bonus Step #4 of soil building, but you can set it aside until fall. You know, when you'll be stuffed full of summer garden goodness and starting to wonder whether you can grow a winter garden because OH THAT SUMMER GARDEN WAS SO AWESOME.

Hint: You can.