California Green Pepper Log 04.12

Its been a little less than a week since my last post regarding peppers... They are looking pretty good right now. Other than I have something munching on them! Seriously, the common Pepper Pests are Aphids, flea beetles, cutworms, thrips, and the whitefly. However when I do my research none of these pests cause the damage that I have displayed here. Feel Free to click on the pic for enlargement.

I am at a loss... they were looking so good a few days ago. I do know that we have a wide variety of lizards in our area. Do lizards eat leaves?

I am off to do more research regarding this irritating problem that I have discovered.

Until the next log.

Tomatoes Lower Your Blood Pressure

What? Did you read that correctly? Yes indeedy you did... In a recent study, people whom experienced hypertension that consumed tomato extract daily for 8 weeks experienced a 10-point drop in systolic blood pressure and a 4-point drop in diastolic pressure.

Tomatoes have lycopene which lowers blood pressure. Lycopene is also known to be an anticancer and has heart-protective effects.

Tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamins A, C and K, and are also low calorie and low fat.

Hurray for the Tomato!

I would like to thank my Mother who sent me the article. Thanks Mom!

Check out the full the article on RealAge

Till the next Log!

Raised Bed Gardening

While my husband and I were building our new flower garden, my in-laws (Jack and Kay Conlon) were in town from South Dakota. They have just purchased a house out here in sunny Arizona at a wonderful place in Sun City called Corte Bella. They were constantly back and forth from our house to theirs, cleaning, finding furniture, working with the landscapers etc. Before they even realized it we had finished up our garden structure and was nearly ready to plant.

They went back home to SD and they had found an article in USA Weekend about raised bed gardening. "Four great reasons to give a raised-bed gardening a try" By Fran Sorin. My in-laws clipped out the article and sent it to us and said, "Looks like you two have the right idea".

Here were the 4 great reasons to give a raised-bed gardening a try:

1. The soil isn’t walked on or compacted, so it stays loose, allowing air and water to circulate through it easily. Having compacted soil can reduce a crop's yield by 50%. (WOW) Reason is that the water, air and roots have difficulty moving throughout the soil when compressed. (Makes sense to me.)
2. Raised beds can extend the gardening season because the higher soil heats up more quickly in the spring allowing you to plant earlier in the season.
3. Drip systems and other watering systems are easy to use and install.
4. And pest control is much more manageable.

Check out the full article on raised-bed gardening at http://www.FranSorin.com .

Until the next Log!

California Green Pepper Log 04.06

The peppers have been planted and are looking really good. So far...

Interestingly when it comes to planting them it is totally different than the tomato. The tomato plant requires you to bury the stem in the ground where as the Peppers you do not. Nor do you need to pinch off any leaves. You just plant them. They do suggest not growing peppers in the same spot two years in a row.

Same rules do apply in terms of spacing; roughly 12-16 inches apart. It is recommended to use some compost or aged manure into the pepper bed before planting. This will give the peppers plenty of nutrients. Use aged (not fresh) manure to prevent nitrogen overdose, which can cause low yields. One of the articles I had read about peppers had cases of six-foot tall jalapeno plants with plenty of foliage but no pods on them, because the grower fed them too much nitrogen too fast. Thankfully we let the soil in the garden sit for two weeks before we did our initial planting. (We used Miracle Gro garden soil. I hear conflicting results when using Miracle Gro vs just plain Manure or compost material. So we will just have to see how it turns out.)

Again, since I used the Jiffy Professional Greenhouse peat pods in a package of twelve and I only used five, I kept the remaining pepper peat pods around for a while. Since the stems are above ground, I have had a few of them snap in half due to wind, critters, etc. and needed to replace them... make sure to keep your peat pods moist and not let them dry out.

And keep that garden weed free. Weeds can attract pests like leafhoppers, which can spread the Curly Top Virus. This had happened in New Mexico in 1995 where many a crops had been lost.


Until the next Log... Cheers!

Tomato Log 04.04

Well I have planted my little tomatoes. Red Cherry, Large Fruited Tomatoes. Six all together, I know, I know, its alot but this is the amateur gardeners blog and I wanted to make sure that I at least have one that will survive out of the entire lot. =)

So, they recommend planting them about 2ft apart, pinch off the two lowest leaves and then dig deep enough to where the remaining leaves are just above the soil. On thing to note, you should water them straight away ( I used a miracle grow mixture), once planted in the ground... the surrounding soil sucks the life out of the peat pod and your little plant will wither right quick.

Since I used the Jiffy Professional Greenhouse peat pods in a package of twelve and I only used six, it is recommended to keep the remaining around for awhile until the ones that you already have planted get established. I have had to replant about three of my tomatoes plants since my initial plant date. I still have a few left just in case... make sure to keep your peat pods moist and not let them dry out.

I purchased two tomato cages, "The Ultomato Tomato cage" Three 5 ft stakes, and Nine 10in adjustable connectors that support the branches. Yes I plan on getting the rest of them, however these little units are 6 bucks a piece. Since the plants are still young yet I plan on picking up the rest, a few at a time.

Ironically, as I am in the midst of planting, gathering information about how to plant, a new catalog came in my mailbox... Gardeners Supply Company. Which has some pretty interesting items, along with some tips and tricks on planting. And on the cover of the Magazine was an article all about... yes "Tomato's".

One of the little articles talks about using Red in your tomato garden, they sell stuff like Red Mulch. They say that surrounding your tomato plants with the color red can boost production by as much as 20%. The red light stimulates the plant hormones that are responsible for fruit production and ripening. Who would have thought? They have several items for your tomato plants, I suggest checking it out. Also, they have a great selection of tomato cages.

In the photo above you probably see another row of items... those are California Green Peppers. Check out my Pepper Log.

Until the next Log... Cheers!