Upcoming Events

March 16, 2014  Lynchburg College, Lynchburg VA. Feeding Ourselves Sustainably Year Round. Cindy will be joining Ira Wallace, author of Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast, and Pam Dawling, author of Sustainable Market Farming, for a program from 10am-3pm in Hopwood Auditorium. Free admission. Seating is limited. Email yos@lynchburg.edu to reserve your seat. Books and DVDs available for sale.

April 9, 2014 Summers County Public Library, Hinton, WV. Cindy will be giving the presentation Grow a Sustainable Diet and signing her new book. 3pm. www.summers.lib.wv.us.

April 10, 2014  Washington County Public Library, Abingdon, VA. Cindy will be giving the presentation Grow a Sustainable Diet and signing her new book. 6pm. www.wcpl.net.

April 12-13, 2014  Mother Earth News Fair, Asheville, NC. Look for Cindy on the speaker schedule. www.motherearthnewsfair.com.

May 31-June 1, 2014  Mother Earth News Fair, Puyallup, WA. Look for Cindy on the speaker schedule. www.motherearthnewsfair.com

 

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Phenology and Soil Temperature

Williams Pride apple blossoms

What you see in the photo is blossoms on a Williams Pride apple tree. The data stored automatically from my digital camera says that photo was taken on April 16, 2013. What a handy thing that is for the camera to record that information! I surely didn’t at the time. What difference does it make that I know when that happened? Knowing when the bushes and trees in your yard bloom, drop petals, and whatever else they do, helps you to know when the time is right for planting your vegetable crops without looking at the calendar. The study of recurring plant and animal life cycles and their relationship to weather is called phenology. By studying these things, we can learn how our climate is changing from year to year and, more specifically, we can know how things are doing this year. Are things blooming later than usual? In that case you wouldn’t want to be too anxious and plant your vegetable crops earlier than normal. My friends, Pam Dawling and Ira Wallace, keep phenology records of what is happening at their farms in Louisa County, Virginia. In her book, Sustainable Market Farming, Pam says that falling apple blossoms are said to be a phenological sign that conditions are good for transplanting celery and celeriac. She goes on to say that the time to plant is after the last frost and the weather has settled. For planning purposes, I use April 26 as the date for my last expected frost. I imagine those petals would have been dropping by then. You can read more about what Pam has to say about phenology and even see the chart she keeps for the gardens at Twin Oaks Community at http://sustainablemarketfarming.com/tag/phenology/. Ira mentions phenological signs in her book Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast. In this era of climate change, the date on the calendar of when to plant things will gradually shift, but nature will already be on top of it.

The temperature of the soil is also an indicator of when to plant. In fact, soil temperature has a lot to do with the phenological signs I just mentioned. Just because the air temperature has warmed up, doesn’t mean the soil is ready for seeds and plants. Over the years I’ve noticed that we have a warm week in the first half of April. The temperature might even soar into the 80’s. I’ve also noticed that in the next couple weeks after that, April will deliver cold temperatures before the weather settles. I taught at a community college and no matter how much I talked about expected last frost dates (and that it wasn’t until late in April in our area), some of my students would plant warm weather crops during those early warm days. A new farmer once asked me when I planted summer squash and snap beans. When I replied after April 26, he said he got that same answer from a neighbor. It was that warm spell in early April and he had just planted his warm weather crops. He thought I was being too cautious. I advised him to only plant early what he was prepared to lose and to plant his main crop when the soil was warmer.  Of course, many farmers have high tunnels and use row covers now to get a head start on planting. They are warming the soil to prepare the right conditions for the seeds and transplants.

compost thermometer in kale bed

You can check the soil temperature by putting the probe of a thermometer a few inches into the soil. I use a compost thermometer for that. It has a long stem that serves two purposes. I can read it without bending down so far and I can find it when I need it. I often leave it in a garden bed or a coldframe so I know where it is. I can readily know the temperature in that spot and pick it up to move it to a new location. I have a thermometer I keep in my kitchen that I bought from a cheesemaking supplier. I use it when I make yogurt, but it would do to check my soil. You can buy an inexpensive (about $7) thermometer at the grocery store. Those thermometers even come with a plastic sleeve to protect the stem. That would do fine to check your soil temperature. As long as you are keeping records of phenological signs, you might record the soil temperature at the same time. Keep in mind that it will vary if you are checking it at different times of the day or in different locations, so be consistent. Nancy Bubel’s book The New Seed Starters Handbook contains helpful charts on Soil Temperature Conditions for Vegetable Seed Germination, the Number of Days for Vegetable Seeds to Emerge at Different Temperatures, and the Percentage of Normal Vegetable Seedlings Produced at Different Temperatures.

ladybug on cowpea plant

Knowing what the insects and birds are doing should be part of your phenological records. If you haven’t gotten your record keeping set up before things start blooming and insects and birds start appearing, take photos and let your camera record the date for you, if your camera does that. If insects are on a plant, by taking the photo, you will have a visual record of the insect and of plants they like, whether they are beneficial insects or harmful ones. This photo shows a ladybug on a cowpea plant. I’ve found other beneficials attracted to the cowpeas. As I write this, we are in the grip of weather colder than normal, even for winter here. Before it hit, someone told me she knew a weather event was coming because she saw bluebirds at her bird feeder. Since bluebirds eat insects, they were usually not visitors to her feeder.

At the very least, even if you never record any of these things, start to notice them. Keep your eyes and ears open and you will become more in tune to where you are and what is going on around you. There is a whole other world available to you, right in your garden. All you have to do is take the time to notice

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Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast

Wherever you garden, the climate determines how you go about it and what crops and which varieties you plant. Timber Press has set out to help you with the details by publishing guides specific to different areas of the country. Ira Wallace has written their Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast. Ira is the ideal person to write this book. Not only does she live in Virginia and is part of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, but she has lived other places, including growing up in Florida. Southern Exposure is a seed company cooperatively owned by the members of Acorn Community. It serves customers across the U.S. and Canada, however it emphasizes varieties that perform well in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

To be more specific about what is included in the Southeast region of the U.S., Ira distinguishes between the Upper South and the Lower South. There is a map in the book showing which states are included in each designation. The Upper South has long hot summers where the temperature might reach 100˚, but not for long, with the nights being relatively cooler. The lows could reach to 0˚, but usually not below. The Lower South has long hot humid summers and shorter winters. Although in much of the U.S., gardeners welcome the summer heat, in the Lower South it can be a bit much and gardeners look to avoid the heat in August. The southernmost part of Florida where the temperature never goes below freezing is not included in this book.

author Ira Wallace

I’ve found that even though I’ve been gardening for many years, there is always something new to learn.  Ira’s book is good for someone starting out new in vegetable gardening and for someone new to gardening in the southeast. It is also a good read for those of us who have been gardening in this region for a long time. She brought heat zones to my attention. I didn’t know that the American Horticultural Society publishes a Plant Heat Zone Map which divides the country into twelve zones indicating the average number of “Heat Days”.  A Heat Day is one which reaches a temperature over 86˚. The amount of heat you are getting is important to consider in the southeast, particularly when, as Ira points out, pollen for tomatoes, bell peppers, lima beans, and snap beans is killed at temperatures above 95˚ and the stigma dries up. The plants recover when cool weather returns. I experienced that when I grew peppers in a small greenhouse, thinking that it would be a good thing. In the height of the summer they were not productive at all, however, once it cooled down they flourished.

Phenology was another thing Ira covered that I’m not as well versed on as I’d like.  Phenology is the study of recurring plant and animal life cycles and their relationship to weather. She has a list of some natural gardening signals taken from the records kept at Acorn and Twin Oaks Communities. Pam Dawling, author of Sustainable Market Farming, heads up the garden at Twin Oaks and has mentioned phenology in her book and in her blog. Long ago I had heard that the time to plant warm weather crops was when the lilacs were blooming (one of the signs on Ira’s list). We had lilacs so I thought I would pay attention that year. I started tomatoes in the window, as usual, but realized that I had another sign altogether that I could use. When the leaves became so big on the maple trees in the backyard that they shaded the window, it just happened to be the right time to plant out the tomatoes! From Ira’s book I discovered there is a National Phenological Network. Heat Days and phenology seem like good topics for future blogs, so stay tuned (but don’t hold your breath).

Water is a recurring topic throughout the book and she suggests ways to increase water efficiency. There is an easy to understand description of why you would want to garden organically and suggested organic amendments. Ira strongly suggests you get your soil tested because if your pH is off, the nutrients won’t be available to your plants. I recently heard Clif Slade from Virginia State University say the same thing in a talk about his 43,560 Project.

This book is about growing to eat out of your garden all year. After the Get Started section, there is a section devoted to each of the twelve months of the year, each with a to-do list. The third section is Edibles A to Z showcasing vegetables you might be growing in the southeast, complete with separate planting and harvesting charts for the Upper South and the Lower South. Those are general charts, however, and Ira encourages her readers to look to their local cooperative extension service and experienced gardeners in their areas for more specific dates. When to use floating row covers is mentioned in the crop descriptions. They are used for protection from both insects and frost.

Ira Wallace demonstrating saving flower seeds at Acorn Community

With so many varieties of each crop offered in seed catalogs, the suggestions in the book for varieties for this hot, humid region are helpful. Last year I welcomed Ira’s help to review varieties of staple crops that I listed on a regional chart for my Mother Earth News article Best Staple Crops for Building Food Self-Sufficiency. Of course, there are seed saving tips in this book. Seed saving is an important skill for gardeners to learn.

If there is a gardener on your Christmas list, Ira’s book might be just the gift you need. The scheduled release date for Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast is December 11, however it is already available in Southern Exposure’s online catalog here. If you want to buy it directly from Ira, this is the place to do it, unless you find her at an event somewhere. She does get around. If you live somewhere outside the southeast, keep your eyes open for Timber Press guides for the other regions. The guide for the Pacific Northwest is already out and the ones for the Mountain States and the Northeast are due out in January. All are written by people knowledgeable about their region and all have the same format as Ira’s, with sections for Get Started, Month-to-Month, and Edibles A to Z. Embrace your regional climate with information just for you.

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Southeast Seed Savers Meet

Grant Olson, education coordinator of Seed Savers Exchange

Sunday (September 8, 2013) I attended the first ever gathering of Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) members in the southeast region of the U.S. It made for a busy weekend, since some of us had been involved in the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello the previous day or two. In fact, that is why this SSE event was scheduled for this particular day, thinking that it would be convenient for folks who had traveled to the Heritage Harvest Festival. It turned out that the majority of the more than 85 people present showed up just for this. I don’t have any specifics, but I know that some came from afar. I should have paid more attention to the out-of-state license plates that I saw in the parking area, but I do know that some of the other states represented besides Virginia were Ohio, Maryland, and North Carolina. I’m sure there were more. This meeting was the brainchild of Ira Wallace of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. Ira’s passion is connecting folks with seed saving and everything it involves.

Grant Olson, education coordinator at SSE, gave a presentation about stories behind the seeds. There is a lot of talk about saving seeds and how to do that, but it is also important to save the stories that go with the seeds. That is part of our heritage. Preserving the stories is preserving our cultural history, besides the genetics of the seeds. Preserving the stories is a big part of what Seed Savers Exchange is all about. In addition, when you save a particular variety, you also preserve the cuisine that has developed around it. Seed Savers Exchange publishes a seed catalog that offers only a fraction of the seed varieties that they preserve. Many more varieties can be found in the yearbook that they publish each year. The yearbook lists varieties that are offered by members. Anyone can order seeds from the catalog, but the print copy of the yearbook is only offered to SSE members. However, a peek into the yearbook online is now available to everyone and can be accessed at https://exchange.seedsavers.org. If you are not a member you can see what’s there, but you can’t see who is offering it. A notice on this website indicates there will be a webinar on how to use the new online exchange on September 18, 2013. This new database is searchable by geographical area, variety, and other specifics. The webinar at http://www.seedsavers.org/Education/Webinar-Archive/#yearbook shows how to use the print yearbook. Membership in SSE helps them continue their work. If you are not a member, a peek at the yearbook just might entice you to join. Members receive the quarterly publication The Heritage Farm Companion.

Edmund speaking to seed savers at Twin Oaks.

Member Craig LeHoullier spoke after Grant. He also mentioned reuniting people with their heritage through what we grow and eat. A big concern of Craig’s (and mine) is how to keep the momentum going in seed saving. There are too many accounts of long-time seed savers who are getting on in years, or their life has changed, and they need to turn over the responsibility of their seed collections to someone else. Seed Savers Exchange can’t do it all. Connecting more seed savers, such as with this meeting, and developing regional hubs would be a start for not letting these collections disappear. I have begun to do some research on seed libraries and believe they may be an ideal place to help fill this need. Of course, these efforts involve the work of many gardeners, such as you, to take care to follow the necessary guidelines to carry on the traits needed for each variety.

Irena explaining techniques to seed savers.

The afternoon was spent touring farms in Louisa County, VA. This part of the day was sponsored by the Virginia Association of Biological Farming. There were five farms on the list, but my daughter and I only made it to three. These were all farms that grow seed on a commercial scale for seed catalogs. First up was Twin Oaks Community. Edmund Frost showed us around the seed fields and cut open a watermelon that we ate on the spot. Our visit with Edmund was about seed saving, but if you would like to know more about how they grow enough food to feed the 100 residents of Twin Oaks, check out Pam Dawling’s book Sustainable Market Gardening. Pam heads up the food garden at Twin Oaks.

Ira in the flower garden at Acorn.

The next stop was Acorn Community, home of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. Irena Hallowell was our tour guide, explaining seed saving techniques and encouraging us to sample things as we went along. Ira Wallace led us to the flower gardens and demonstrated saving flower seeds using seed screens. An added treat was seeing the progress on the new building being constructed at Acorn.

Alexis explaining the drying cabinet.

The last stop we had time for was Living Energy Farm, a farm being developed with the goal of being free of fossil fuel. It was a really busy day for them, managing tour visitors in the midst of laying cement block for the foundation of their first house on the property. Nevertheless, Alexis Zeigler , author of Integrated Activism, showed us the seed fields and their drying shed. The fan for the drying cabinet you see in the picture is powered by the sun. The farms we had to miss are All Farm Organics (no website) and Forrest Green Farm. At All Farm Organics William Hale grows grain, including rye and popcorn, for seed companies and makes compost on a commercial scale for his use and to sell. The diversity at Forrest Green Farm includes an educational component. If we had had time to get there, I believe we would have seen a demonstration on saving seeds from herbs.

It was a good day. We hung out with old friends and met some new ones. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of a southeast regional gathering of seed savers. We need gatherings like this in every region. Most of us have a vision of how we would like the earth to be. Every bite we take and every action we make determines how the earth is used to produce our food. We are the creators of our future—a future that needs to include seed saving.

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