Today's Fresh Food From the Garden

   Well... as the year ends, it's time to look ahead at the new garden. Have you planned out what you're going to plant? Leave it in the comments. But as for my garden, I'm still waiting on your vote for what color tomato I should grow. Cast your vote on the left side. But the oranges know what color they are:

   They're pretty and full of Vitiman-C. But there are other crops in the garden. Some don't know what color they want to be:

This is a gorgeous green and red bell pepper picked within minutes of this post.

So in 2012, I'm looking forward to a better for productive garden and of course...

I Hope We All Have Happy New Year!

Today's Fresh Food From the Garden

   So it's been very cold here in our garden lately... but that hasn't stopped my garden:

Five Gorgeous Naval Oranges!

Today's Fresh Food From the Garden

   In winter, they say to let the ground stay fallow for the next year. That's not how I do it here in my garden. I have things growing year round. Everything from Onions, Garlic, Oranges, Sweet Potatoes and Potatoes in the winter. To Corn, Tomatoes, Watermelons and Pomegranates in summer. And in fact, here is my latest pick of Oranges:

And I'll wage that these are the sweetest, juiciest, and tastiest oranges on earth. At least that's what my friends say. ;-)

P.S: There's still time to vote for what kind of tomato I should grow next year. So if you haven't voted, vote now.

Today's Fresh Food From The Garden

Remember the oranges that I posted about earlier? Well they're ready:

 And they're delicious as you can see in the next few photos:

Mmmmmmm... tasty.

Today's (soon to be) Fresh Food From the Garden

   Well it's been quiet here in my garden since the pomegranates ripened... but I went out today, I saw the biggest, juiciest, and orange-est orange ever:

Soon to be ready here in my garden.

Today's Fresh Food From the Garden

We've really been picking up here in my garden:

Five Pomegranates and one Bell Pepper!

Today's Fresh Food From the Garden

   Things have been picking up here in my garden and one of the pomegranates have ripened and is ready to eat:

Healthy, beautiful, and sweet!

Today's Fresh Food From the Garden

   So it's been a while since the garden has produced anything, but to make up here is a giant bell pepper fresh from the garden:

Sort of red, sort of green, but all delicious!

Today's Fresh Food From the Garden

   Lately there has been a little bit more activity in the garden. Like from our grapes:

These aren't big, there isn't a lot, but man are they sweet!

Today's Fresh Food From the Garden

   So It's been a while since I got some produce from the garden... But even in winter I can produce:

A tasty bell pepper full of Vitamin C. 

Below the Surface Day 14: End of Experiment

   So When I was looking at the corn I saw there was mold. I think it's time I stop the experiment before the mold grows out of hand:

   It smells even worse than it looks. But I think I know why this happened. The paver sand wasn't recommended for root growth, maybe for this reason.

Today's (soon to be) Fresh Food From the Garden

   So I started A winter garden with potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, beets, and radishes. The sweet potatoes sprouted first, and the garlic comes in second place:

And here's an update on the sweet potatoes:

Below the Surface Day 9

Here's day Nine Image:

I think there's a fungus growing in it...

Whether You think so or not, the Weather here is nuts

   So yesterday it was POURING rain. And today the weather is very sunny and mild. I wonder why the weather changes this fast. Maybe it's because we're going from Summer to Fall. But in this crazy weather event I found out that the more you water tomatoes, the more flowers they get. So with every event there is good and bad.

Today's Fresh Food From the Garden

   When summer began I had over twenty tomatoes in one day of harvest, but now I'm down to one a week:

   This isn't the last one... but it is the last of the big ones. The extinction of the giants are eminent!

Below The Surface Day 3 & 5

Sorry for not uploading the image on the day... But here they are:

Day 3

Day 5

Below the Surface Day 2

Here is Day 2 Image:

Nothing yet... But soon the seed will sprout... I hope...

Below the Surface Day 1

   So most people I know thinks if the top of the plant is healthy the rest is... But that couldn't be farther from the truth. Sure if the top looks green and isn't wilting it might seem fine. But the roots keep it standing up, drink water, absorb nutrients, and even deter pests. That is why I made little garden environment inside a test tube:

   Inside is a Wapsi Valley corn seed that is buried about half an inch below the surface and is in the "subsoil" part of the jar. Sub soil is less nutritious than top soil and most people don't till that deep, but you don't need to. If your like me, you dig a hole 3 feet below the surface and throw all of your plant food scraps in the bottom. This makes the plants dig three feet for the nutrients and thus increase the root mass and makes the plant much more sturdy in the ground. That's what I did with my glass: The dark areas are very fertile (simulating the areas I put nutrients), and the lighter areas are some leftover paver sand from the terra cotta fridge experiment (that simulates the less nutritious layer):

I will be monitoring it's root growth over the course of three months. Then it goes outside where it will mature and produce an ear of corn.

Terra Cotta Fridge-a Part 3

   So after those two posts about the fridge I kind of abandoned the idea... until some water got into it and I stuck a thermometer in it. Here is an image:

   If you can see the number on the thermometer, it says the water is 58.F... On an 85.F day! This is a great thing because this means I can cool things very efficiently, cheaply, and using NO electricity at all! Just using the power of the sun!

Bees

   Believe it or not, most people I know don't have a clue on what bees do for the garden. They pollinate every kind of flowering plant you can think of: Grass, Corn, Oranges, Grapes, Apples, Olives everything! And here is our latest visitor to the garden:

   Bees are vital to our survival. But they have been dying off in something called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Most people think it's a virus. But others think that it's just because of stress. Beekeepers are always traveling the country pollinating the local crops. This gives bees less time to rest, leaving us with dead bees. But we can change this. By planting flowers (See the flower tab above for a list of the flowers that would work), and by not using chemicals like neonicotinoids (neo-nik-ko-tan-oids) found in Poncho, Belay, or Clutch. We can improve the honey bee health status.

Today's Fresh Food From the Garden

Here are what's left of the fruits after the squirrels got some:

   Great... but a shadow of the harvest I previously had (Click Here). Which leaves me with a question. What color tomato should I grow next season? I'm putting a tally vote on the left side of this blog and am asking readers to please answer that question.

Today's (soon to be) Fresh Food From the Garden

   The Fall harvest is coming soon and soon with it the time to reap the rewards of a hard gardening year. But what if you want to keep growing things this year? Well... plant a winter garden. Here's my Sweet Potato plant I planted two weeks ago:

And here's a Russet potato I'm going to plant once it has roots:

And if your wondering how to start sweets potatoes and regular potatoes:
   Sweet Potatoes: When there are green stalks popping out of the potato and they are about six inches long. You burry the whole potato until only about three inches of the stalk are showing.


   Russet potatoes: You first see if it has a growth shooting out (or an eye as it's called). Then you cut the potato in half and soak the cut half in water as seen above. And it's ready to plant when you see roots coming out of it. Or look like this.

Today's Fresh Food From the Garden

 Okay, so you've been wonder what my Painted Mountain corn is looking like...Take a look:

Pick a Color, Any Color!

   This was my first year growing this variety before you comment. I grew corn last year and the year before, but it was Silver Queen... Not Painted Mountain. And I grew this variety in between other (much larger) corn plants. So these guys were out competed my the large plants with bigger root systems to hog all of the nutrients. But I'm not eating this, I'm storing it as seed for next year.

Terra Cotta Fridge-a Part 2

Well, Due to inconveniences in the weather... the pot didn't get to the temperature I expected it to get to. Here are the numbers:

	Temperature Of The Pot	Temperature Out Of The Pot	Air Temperature In The Pot
Sep 23, 2011 8:00 AM	65.F	66.F	65.F
Sep 23, 2011 9:00 AM	65.F	73.F	65.F
Sep 23, 2011 10:00 AM	60.F	75.F	70.F
Sep 23, 2011 11:00 AM	60.F	79.F	72.F
Sep 23, 2011 12:00 PM	60.F	84.F	77.F
Sep 23, 2011 1:00 PM	60.F	88.F	80.F
Sep 23, 2011 2:00 PM	60.F	89.F	84.F

 But it did cool a pint of water (0.5 l) from 75.F (24.C) to 66.F (19.C) in an hour. And you might be thinking to yourself right now... Why would a fridge be on a gardening website? Well, this is a fun project you can try to make with some leftover pots. And if it's very hot and the produce you just picked needs to get really cold really fast... this is the device you need to use.

Terra Cotta Fridge-a Part 1

Now this device that I'm going to show you only works when sunny and..:

I got to get started... What we are going to build is called a Zeer Pot. A fridge that runs on the sun, you'll need:
  2 terra cotta pots (one larget than the other)
  5' of thin plastic tubing
  Waterproof Silicone
  0.5 cubic feet of paver sand
  Duct tape
  Scissors
  A large towel (Not shown here)
  A gallon of water

 Step 1: Cover the bottoms of the pots with some duct tape

Step 2: Plug the holes on the other side with the silicone and let it dry for four hours

Step 3: Fill the bottom of the pot with enough sand so when you place the smaller pot in it, the rims level out

 Step 4: Get the tube, and plug one side with the silicone and let it dry for an hour

 Step 5: Wrap the hose around the smaller pot and tape it there

 Step 6: Cut some holes in the hose and test if water will run through it

 Step7: Place the small pot in the large pot

 Step 8: Fill the gap between the two pots with sand and put some sand on the bottom of the small pot

 Step 9: Wet the sand, but don't put a lot of water or else the small pot will float and create a big mess

 Step 10: Get your towel and soak it in water

 Step 11: Fill the pot with a little bit more water

 Step 12: Let it sit and wait for it to cool down. I stuck a thermometer in and out of the pots to compare the temperature

This works on the principle of water evaporation. When the water evaporates away, the heat is carried with it, and the inner chamber cools down. And this only works when the sun is beating down directly on the pot, and both the pot and towel have to be wet.

And how cold will it get...? See the next post for the chart.