October Garden Calendar in San Diego

Within the Garden - William Templeton

Summer has drawn to a close as cooler temperatures and shorter days takeover. Luckily our mild climate still allows for abundance in the garden and there is no shortage of events to inspire your fall plantings this month. 

October 8th - This Saturday learn how to Design your Garden with Native Plants with Greg Rubin at the SD Botanic Garden from 9 - 12pm at a cost of $25-30.

October 8th - Learn how to Grow Your Own Food for free with VGSD at Olivewood Gardens. Class 1 of 3 is from 8 - 12pm and introduces you to all of the basics.

October 8th - Stop by the booths at The 4th Annual Sustain La Mesa Environmental Festival which is held from 10 - 2pm.

October 10th - The SDHS host highly entertaining author of Wicked Plants Amy Stewart who will present her new book Wicked Bugs. The event starts at 6pm and is $10 for non-members.

October 13th - The Center for Sustainable Energy host arborist Leah Rottke as she speaks about Planting Fall Trees for Spring Vigor from 5:30 - 7:30pm.

October 15th - The SD Farm Bureau host the 2nd Annual Farm Tour from 9:30 - 3:30 pm. This tour features 6 farms and the opportunity to see how mushrooms get their start, visit the Stone Brewing Farm, learn how to best grow avocados and finish with a wine tasting. $20 for adults, $10 children.

October 15 & 16th - The SD Botanic Garden will hold their 29th Annual Fall Plant Sale from 10-4pm that is free with admission.

October 19th - Enjoy pumpkin carving, food, music and the film Nourish at Seeds at City Fall Festival from 11 - 2pm.

October 22nd - Help to sustain the Seeds at City Urban Farm through their Young Farmers Fundraiser starting at 3pm within the Wild Willow Farm.

October 22nd - Learn to build a Hydroponic Fall Garden with AGPals at the SD Botanic Garden from 9 - 12pm. $70 pays for the class and materials.  

October 23rd - Planning and Planting Fall crops will be the topic of this free class taught by Farmer Bill at City Farmers Nursery from 1:30 - 3:00pm.

October 29th - Learn How to Compost for free at the San Diego Zoo from 8 -10am at this event sponsored by the Solana Center.

Did I miss your event? Email me at info@seedsinthecity.com

June Garden Calendar in San Diego

 

Marcela Camarena Lubian

The gardens are in bloom and the calendar is chocked full of fun and inspirational garden happenings this month.

June 2nd - The Best Sustainable Fruit Trees will be discussed from 5:30 - 7:30pm at this free class which will be held at the CA Center for Sustainable Energy.
June 4th - Succulent Reproduction is the focus of this class that teaches how to revive old plants and start new ones for $35.00 from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm.
June 4th - This free Gardening 101 class will cover seed starting, irrigation systems and water harvesting from 9:00 - 12:00 pm at the Solana Center.
June 4th & 5th - SD Cactus Society's Annual Show and Sale will be held at Balboa Park from 10:00 - 4:00 pm.
June 5th - Choosing the Best Irrigation System is covered at Liberty Farms from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm for $35.00 and covers what irrigation will best meet your needs.
June 7th - Learn How to Start & Manage Community Gardens with the Solana Center at this free class from 6:00 - 8:30 pm that is taught every Tuesday of the month.
June 7th & 14th - Aquaponics Workshop will be held over at the Ecolife Foundation for $30.00 which includes lunch.
June 11th - This free class covers Xeriscape: Low Water Use Plants at the Walter Andersen Nursery in San Diego at 9:00 am. On the same day Summer Vegetable Care and Planting will be covered at the Poway store from 9:30-10:30 am.
June 11th - The final, free Gardening 101 class will cover pest, weed management and cooking and sharing from 9:00 - 12:00 pm at the Solana Center.
June 12th - Beehive and Frame Assembly will be the focus of this 11:00 am class taught at Liberty Farms for a fee of $35.00.
June 12th - Free Winemaking Demonstration will be held at Curds & Wine from 1:00 - 3:00pm, RSVP online.
June 18th - SD Master Gardeners Summer Plant Sale will be held from 10:00 - 3:00pm at Balboa Park. Arrive early for the best selection!
June 25th - Planting for Challenging Areas will be covered in this free class at City Farmers Nursery from 1:30 - 3:30pm which includes hills, shade and areas with poor drainage.
June 26th - Poultry Care and Management is the topic of this 10:00 am class taught at Liberty Farms for $35.00 that covers selecting the best breed for you and how to care for your chickens.

Did I miss your event? Email me at info@seedsinthecity.com

WTH?

What the heck?

Before the heat of the summer takes over I tend to do alot of hand watering in the garden. Even though it takes considerably longer, because it really does no good to spray blasts of water in the direction of your plants, it has its benefits. When you hand water you tend to notice slight changes in your plants and even notice new visitors which will be the topic of the next post.

Insect activity is in full swing so you will no doubt have similar calling cards left in your yard.

Winter Squash

I noticed the lower leaves of this squash were starting to resemble freshly skated ice with strange looping trails going in every direction. Up close I could see that the leaf was literally mined as the insect moved over the surface. Which brought me to one conclusion;

Vegetable Leafminer Larvae

The pale green larvae of the vegetable leafminers adult form is a tiny fly that will lay its eggs on the underside of leaves. These tiny larvae can be spotted inside the tunnels they make which gives you an idea of how small they are. Not to worry though because the leafminer will rarely do enough damage to harm production. If the damage seems to be limited to a few leaves you can remove them which will limit spreading but if the damage is widespread the plant will still able to photosynthesize. The leafminer is also dinner for ladybugs and lacewings. 

Eggplant

I noticed while watering this eggplant seedling that it had lost the upper edge of it's leaf. I looked for a nearby insect or slime trails and found nothing so I inspected the bite marks. The insect here only ate from the outer edge which meant caterpillar or grasshopper. On further inspection you can see that the entire leaf was a meal, veins and all. This meant we were looking at something with strong jaws.

Grasshopper

We were dealing with a grasshopper which everyone will inevitably find in the yard and they are unfortunately hard to catch. The more time you spend in the garden the more likely you are to inadvertently stumble into one as I have many times. Luckily the chickens prize this gourmet treat and make a fast disposal system. 

Potato

The damage on this young yellow fin potato literally showed up overnight. In order to determine the culprit I looked for clues at the scene of the crime. The most telling are slime trails or a pest that is still enjoying it's meal. I had neither here so instead I had to rely on the holes in the leaves. They were closer to the center than the edge and small to medium which either pointed to an earwig or caterpillar. On closer inspection you can see that the bite marks are irregular in shape meaning one thing:

Cabbage Looper

 The Cabbage Looper caterpillar is thankfully very easy to spot and can normally be found on the underside of the leaves on the plant showing signs of damage. You can just pick them off and in our case feed them to the chickens who love these tasty treats (another great reason to keep chickens). You will want to provide a happy home for lacewings, ladybugs, solider bugs and wasps who dine on this insect. Also cabbage lopper is deterred by compact thyme which makes a great addition to the garden.

 

Tomato

This tomato has not been attacked by a virus or bacteria, instead it been discovered by skeletonizers. Skeletonizer damage can be distinguished by sunken in, chewed away areas of a leaf where the veins are still intact. There are many variations of this species whose moth form is also spotted in the garden. I easily controlled it by handpicking them off the leaves and the tomato has grown exponentially with no new damage.

Here is the culprit


Keep in mind for most pest there is a predator and in order to lure and keep these beneficial insects we should not eliminate all of their food supply. Also if you take away one thing from this let it be that the only spray I utilized was a hard blast of water and most damage on plants, up to 20% of the plant above ground, will not harm production. 


Any mysterious damage has you stumped? Email us at info@seedsinthecity.com and we will get on the case.

What's Wrong With My Plant?

The What's Wrong with my Plant team of David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth are in town to help us all answer the seemingly year round, life long question, what the heck is wrong with my plant? Their widely successful book of the same name has been a godsend in identifying everything from random black spots to yellowing leaves. Not only do they help you identify the problem but they help you find a solution the organic way. I'm very excited to get to meet these two in person! Hurry and sign up online, the class is this Saturday the 29th from 10:00am-12:00pm at the San Diego Botanical Garden.

The Urban Gopher

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, now back to work! Our first post of the New Year focuses on some very late/early spring cleaning we have had on our list since our very first post where we lost our beloved artichoke.

Finding it unfathomable that a gopher could exist in a concrete jungle we searched for possible reasons as to why our plants roots were disappearing overnight. We settled on some sort of soil borne disease that fed on our plants because we had never seen any signs of a gopher. I grew up in a yard of gophers and could see their mounds and tunnels from a mile away. Well it turns out that our gopher is very sensible of this fact and has managed to keep a very low profile, until recently.

Two dead Borage plants later I finally spied a tunnel and then a mound of dirt. Now, I'm the last person who would kill anything, I save daddy long legs for gosh sakes but this guy has taken it too far. I called in our resident gopher expert for some sage advice on ending this little guys reign of terror.

Her first advice was get the right trap. Essentially the metal style is the best, the one featured on the video has been passed down through generations of gardeners but a similar style can be found at Home Depot. Secondly we looked for the most active hole and we opened it wide up to fresh air and plenty of sunlight. Now it's time to set the trap.

After the trap was placed in the hole we placed a board across the hole and fenced it off so our dogs could not be harmed by it. Now we wait...tomorrow morning I will go down and see if we were successful. If not we will explore our next options together. Stay tuned

**Update**

1/7/11 The only thing the trap caught was a bunch of well packed dirt, to be continued....

1/10/11 Well R.I.P Mr. Gopher, you will not be missed. After the third try and much WD-40 we were successful in our efforts. The scene this morning reminded me of instances where I have come upon a car collision and cannot quite fathom how it was possible for the cars to get themselves in there respective locations. The gophers main hole where the trap was placed was filled with dirt and nasturtium remnants and he was outside the hole. Go figure.

Spinosad

Our dislike for the effects of sow bugs, cutworms and caterpillars on our garden is being severely tested against my love for bees and their pollinating abilities. We have been recommended Spinosad left, right and center to tackle our common pest problems and when I see a list of all the pests it eradicates I must admit I get very excited. Unfortunately the product container fails to mention it's disastrous effect on bees. We have been told probably like everyone else to avoid the flowers, standing water and use the pellet formulation and the bees will be fine.

If anyone has read Silent Spring by Rachel Carson then you probably know that it's very rare that any form of pesticide doesn't have far reaching effects. We cannot, attempting to be truly organic gardeners, fool ourselves into believing that Spinosad absorbed into the soil, through the roots and into the plant is not going to negatively effect the bees. For now we will have to put all our faith into the toilet paper roll jackets that are surrounding each seedling.  

From the soil to the sky

I realized today that we really had a problem when it dawned on me that I was so familiar with these pest that I no longer had issues with picking them up with my bare hands. These beetle larvae better known to us as White Grubs can be found in every one of our raised beds. I have attempted to thwart them with the equally as gross Predatory Nematodes, however I'm now ready to relinquish my false sense of having the upper hand.

Although research is still being done to determine levels of effectiveness, Pat Welsh recommended Milky Spore Disease at yesterdays seminar. I did a little bit of research and came across an article where Dr. Klein, Adjunct Professor of Entomology enlightened me about "Milky Disease" a natural occurring organism found in soil. For Milky Disease to be effective in getting rid of the White Grubs your soil needs to be above 65 degrees and the grub has to be actively feeding in order to ingest it. Which is why Dr. Klein recommends that you apply it in the summer or early fall. Also Milky Disease only needs to be applied once and don't worry it only effects the White Grubs. For those of you eager to get rid of the Spring grubs you're supporting keep in mind that they are entering the last stages of metamorphosis and will be taking flight soon in order to initiate airborne attacks.

Open Bar

For the first time I have spotted slugs in the raised beds. I'm eager to get rid of them before they manage to reproduce thousands of organic veggie lovers. Experts advise that you bury a yogurt container with holes poked into the sides, then fill it up with beer right up to the holes. Considering no one can resist an open bar I'm hoping these slugs can think of nothing they would rather do on a Thursday night then take an ice cold Pacifico bath.

Invasion of the body snatchers

I'm getting serious now.



The nematodes arrived and have been hanging out next to the orange juice in the fridge. Tonight I decided to woman up and release them into the boxes. These microscopic predators attack and kill most insects in your soil (except my booming earthworm population) but leave the plants alone. The million come on a little blue sponge that you squeeze out into a gallon of water. They say you can spray them but at their price I decide I will pour. It's slightly creepy to deal with microscopic predators that invade the bodies of insects but I'm confident they will focus on the task at hand and not my flesh. I carried the milky pitcher of water out to the garden, still not convinced there was actually anything in the water and poured it into the boxes. Now I can fall asleep to dreams of my cutworm and white grub population losing the war. Or just having milky water poured on them.

So the battle begins

The battle royale of farmer vs. pest has officially begun and we are determined to keep things organic. This year we started early by laying out the worm castings in February (they take about a month to kick in) to help with the ant population among others. They also help with the health of the soil, this brand had ash and kelp added in. I put the stuff directly into the soil but also around the edge of the hibiscus which was a white fly hotel last year. Also we released ladybugs at night to take care of our leaf dwellers and enlisted the help of the chickens before planting, their favorite treat is the white grub, and this method brings us the most satisfaction. The chickens get their protein and we get rid of our pests.



I'm also going to try and enlist the help of some of our fellow urbanites, the city birds. Although I have yet to see one in the yard, I'm confident my homemade bird feeder of black oil sunflower seeds will attract these grasshopper hunters. Just hours ago a sparrow landed on the boundary fence near the seeds so I know it's only a matter of time!

What the heck happened to our Artichoke???

We have been growing this artichoke for almost a year and it has grown tremendously in that time. Recently in the last two days the plant looked like it was in need of some serious water during the heat of the day. We didn't think much of it because it would always perk right up in the evening. Well two days ago it never perked back up. I did a little research and learned about all different kinds of rots and diseases. I went down to check under the leaves and this is what happened. The roots were non-existent, all that was left in its place was a dark hole! You can see all the critters on the stalks; pill bugs and slugs! (the first I have ever seen here.) Any advice on possible perpetrators of this act are welcome!