catharsis

The garden is so beautiful as the gladiolas and cosmos continue to bloom and the gorgeous sunflowers come into their full glory. Many of the squash plants succumbed to powdery mildew but even in their decay they look pretty in contrast with the green hues of their neighbors. I didn't do anything to combat the powdery mildew because it is usually not a serious problem. I have heard, though, that milk can help to curb the spread of powdery mildew. Baking soda is also commonly recommended for powdery mildew control. Despite the proximity of the infected squash vines to the ageratum plants I am growing for varietal research for the University of Minnesota (they are the purple flowers on the right center of the second picture), the ageratum has not been infected at all. This is good news for the proprietors of Aloha Blue, Blue Mink, Pink Mink, Blue Planet, and Fields Blue ageratum.

Six watermelons live in the garden, and three are as large as basketballs! Those three are a heritage variety called Moon and Stars. I am so impressed with the beauty and size of these watermelons that I would like to continue growing them indefinitely. That is, as long as they taste good! I haven't tasted them yet because I want to pick them at the perfect time. There are three indicators of watermelon ripeness that I know of. One is that the blossom end (the end furthest from the stem) blushes yellow. Another is that the curly tendril on the vine near the stem will turn brown. Also, when tapped, the watermelon makes a hollow sound like a drum. So far the Moon and Stars watermelons meet only one of these criteria (the hollow sound). The top photo was taken about a month ago and this watermelon has grown even bigger since then (I'm not exaggerating when I say it's as big as a basketball).

I put my rain barrel in a rather inconvenient place, next to a clump of stinging nettles. I was trying to move it when I noticed a couple of insects hanging out on the nettles. If you are not familiar with stinging nettles (Urtica dioica), it is a plant in the mint family that will make your skin burn anywhere it touches you. Stinging nettles are one of the biodynamic compost preparations. They are high in iron and will increase the iron content of your compost if you add them to the pile (wear thick gloves!). The biodynamic preparation is made by burying nettles in the ground for several months. As I tried to move the full rain barrel to move the spigot away from the nettles I noticed a tough, spiky, goth-looking caterpillar chomping away on the leaves. I was impressed with what a bad ass this guy was, and then I saw a grasshopper chomping away on a neighboring stinging nettle plant. I reluctantly conceded that my sworn adversary is also quite the bad ass. This grasshopper and I "had a moment together" and I decided to stop killing its kind. Humans can eat stinging nettles too, but we need to cook them first. This apparently takes away the sting.

I have heard from some of the elders on the reservation that our yard was once occupied by a car mechanic. He made a really nice garage with an oil change pit basement and a drive-through stall, but he also used to store cars in the back yard on their sides. One elder used to have tomato fights with a friend as a boy, using tomatoes from a neighbor's yard and shielding himself behind the upturned cars. I wouldn't be surprised if some of those cars are now buried under the garden. Every time it rains, I find more glass in the soil. I also find random pieces of rusty metal from time to time. I'm not especially worried about this since I am using biodynamics to help heal the soil, and I know that the soil will always have enough iron in it!

I started making lip balm this week using some of the herbs from the garden. There are a few upcoming events where I will have an opportunity to sell my wares. I have been wanting to make a cold sore-fighting lip balm for years now and I finally learned how to make lip balm a couple of months ago. It's actually pretty easy. I used olive oil and beeswax as a base and added antiviral superstars ginger, licorice, goldenseal, and lemon balm. Fortunately I don't need to test its efficacy, but now I have a new line of defense and I'm excited for that. I'm also excited to share it with others who may find it helpful. Other products I will have for sale include catmint cat toys, reusable cloth maxipads, herb bunches, several varieties of winter squash, flower bouquets, and chocolate mint lip balm. I would like to find a product that works and sells well, and narrow my focus a bit to increase the quality and quantity of what I produce. Currently I'm in the trial and error stage, but fortunately I still have a job outside the home.

honeyberry fish head glads

In addition to the (mostly native) edible fruits I have added to the Magic Summer Minifarm homestead, I have also decided to add a few more perennials and shrubs that will support native pollinators. I have added lilacs, mock oranges, witch hazel, mallow, sunchokes, forsythia, Russian sage, perennial sunflower, and a buckeye tree. Ultimately there should be at least three plants that bloom early, three that bloom mid-season, and three that bloom late in the growing season.  I don't think I have quite worked that part out, but I am working toward making my homestead a sanctuary for bees and other pollinators. I have decided not to keep European honeybees this year because I didn't feel completely prepared and I need to do a little more research on honeybee varieties and requirements for keeping them alive through the winter. I am also not completely sure that I want them now after learning more about native bees and how European honeybees can compete with them for nectar and the native bees are often better at pollinating native crops.  I have been learning a lot about native bees lately and how to support and protect them. They are experiencing similar declines to those of the honeybees due to overuse of pesticides and loss of habitat. You can support them by planting more native perennials on your property, allowing your hedgerows to get weedy, keeping brush piles, practicing no-till gardening/farming, leaving a patch of bare ground on your property, and by making mason bee nests (there are many designs-here is just one: http://www.instructables.com/id/Happy-Home-for-our-friends-the-Mason-Bees/). Below are some photos of the ground nesting bee nests in the garden. They look a little like ant hills with slightly larger openings, and the ones I have seen don't typically have piles of sand or dirt outside of the hole.

Yesterday I completed a blueberry patch. I removed the topsoil and vegetation from a circular area, mixed in some peat to bring the acidity up, planted 11 blueberry plants, and mulched the circle with leaf mold and pine needles. A biologist I work with told me that pine needles actually won't increase the acidity of soil, but I'm not entirely convinced that's true. Even if it is, the pine needles and leaves will at least help retain moisture in the soil.

Recently we experienced a serious flood on the reservation, but we were very fortunate not to have been affected by the damaging rains. The worst thing that happened was that some of the manure from my squash hill was washed out and a small puddle formed near the mounded row of cauliflower plants. The mounded rows definitely helped a great deal. This is an agricultural technique employed by the Ojibwe people for hundreds or perhaps thousands of years. It allowed the farmers of yore to grow crops in wetlands and to grow corn as far north as Saskatchewan! Mounded rows heat up faster than flat vegetable beds, and they allow plants to put down deep roots into fluffy soil. They are definitely a great choice for wet areas!

Here are some recent garden pics:

 Here are some gladiolas interplanted with peas. The glads will support the peas as they grow larger.

 In the foreground you can see sunflowers and snapdragons. In the back left you can see the gladiolas again, plus a mounded row of fingerling potatoes and peas and the eastern leg of the arbor below. In the top center is this year's compost pile, most recently topped with scythed grass from the front yard. The white plastic gate serves to mark the place where several ground nesting bee holes exist.

 Here is an arbor that I had intended to support some Concord grapes that have yet to emerge from dormancy. To hedge my bets, I also planted 4 hardy kiwi females and one male (you need at least one female and one male to get fruit, which I have never tasted but I've been told they taste like grapes. Perhaps I'll get to try one this year or next.)

Honeyberry, fish head, and two glads. Honeyberries are a native fruit that are closely related to honeysuckle. They resemble elongated blueberries and are some of the first fruits to emerge in Minnesota. I have planted 5 of them in the garden. The fish head was dug out of the squash hill by some unknown animal. It is a remnant of spearing and netting season--some of my coworkers gave me the offal from their catches and now I have a bunch of dead fish in the backyard. The animals had stopped messing with the fish so I thought it would be safe to put it in the squash hill when I rebuilt it after the accidental tilling. I was wrong. They dug it out within a couple of days, leaving the scraps scattered around the garden. I have quite a few gladiolas this year, and I decided to fill in the garden space with them in the area not (yet) occupied by the young honeyberries.

 Here are the mounded rows that helped to save the garden from the flood. In the foreground are lumina white pumpkins in the squash row. Behind them are jalapeno and Anaheim chile peppers, and behind the peppers are Sungold and Roma tomatoes. Behind that you can see the yard is uncut and full of yarrow. There is also a young apple tree barely visible against the decrepit back portion of the garage.

Here are a few of the ageratum plants I am growing for a seed trial organized by the University of Minnesota. This is part of my volunteer service required to become a master gardener. The grass is starting to become a nuisance. I'll try to get to it soon while it is still an afternoon project...

 Here is another arbor near the entrance (from the house) of the garden. It has three legs, and each is planted with Cascade hops, Willamette hops, and chocolate vine (Akebia quinata). The fuschia is there for any hummingbirds who may be hanging around.

Here is another view of the garden. It doesn't look like much but soon it will be bursting with life and crops!