Lebanon Gardening and Permaculture Club

Lebanon  Gardening and Permaculture Club

Anyone & Everyone,

You are invited to our first gardening and permaculture meeting that will take place on Monday 3-17-2014 at 7:00 p.m.

The meeting will be held at the North Annville Bible Church at 4590 Hill Church Road. Annville, PA 17003

We will discuss good garden placement, trade seeds if you have any, and watch a bit of Geoff Lawton’s Introduction to Permaculture Design. Also, there will be time for anyone who wants to share or question.

The club will meet monthly, with a different seasonal theme. Attendance is free, and don’t forget to bring your seeds if you have any to trade or give. No worries if you don’t have seed.

We hope to see as many people as possible, feel free to bring along friends and family.

Cordially,

Mark Hoffman &

Phil Williams

The great challenge for the garden designer is not to make the garden look natural, but to make the garden so the people in it will feel natural. -Lawrence Halprin 

Hugelkulture Bed

Hugel what?? Hugelkulture is a German word for high bed. A Hugelculture bed is simply a high mound of soil over top woody materials. I suppose it could be considered a way for decomposing wood. A true hugel bed is usually 5 to 6 feet high, with very steep sides. The reason for the wood core is for several reasons.

1. Water retention
As the wood starts to decompose, it will hold water like a sponge, therefore giving any plants on the bed access to water. Ive also heard that if there is wood exposed through the soil, it will wick up moisture and dry out the soil around it. Not sure how true this is though.
2. Fertilizer
The wood as it decomposes will release nutrients. If you are using "green" wood into a hugel bed, it will initially take in nitrogen, and then will slowly release it back into the soil as it breaks down.
3. Light tilling
As the wood brakes down, it will create small air pockets in the soil giving roots easy passage to water and nutrients. So it acts as a light tilling, without the destruction of soil life that a tilling machine would create.
4. Fungi
Wood is broken down by fungi in the soil. This fungi helps soil retain water, and has many symbiotic relationships with other plants. This would be things like nutrient exchange, among many other things we probably will never understand.

So what are some benefits of having a hugel bed. Well, if you have a bunch of wood laying around, its a good way to get rid of it and grow some food at the same time. Ive even seen people just dig a garden bed and put woody materials in the hole and cover it with the soil. Its not really hugelkulture, but still has most of the same benefits. Having the steep sides of a hugel bed will make harvesting a little less hard on the back. Hugel beds also create many little micro climates. The top will be dryer than the bottom, and the south facing will be hotter than the north facing. Hugel beds can be put anywhere, but will probably be better on contour with the land. They can be a great addition to a swale if placed just down slope of a level spillway off the swale. This will act as another way to slow down water on the land.

As much as I love hugel beds, I found out this year some downfalls as well. During its first year, it will probably be a bit dry until the wood core really starts to break down. Ive heard that the beds get better with age. I found this to be true. My bed in its first year was very dry, and made it difficult to get seeds to sprout. I planted 5lbs of seed potatoes of 3 different varieties, making a total of 15lbs. Ive read that potatoes do well in hugel beds. Well, mine did terrible, and I'm guessing its because of how dry it was. Next year it will be interesting to see if there is a change. All the potatoes sprouted and were looking good until the heat really hit. Even with periodic watering with the garden hose, all the plants suffered and produced very small taters, or none at all.
I did get some dill, calendula, carrots and parsnips to grow on the bed. And I had lots of lambs quarters show up all on their own. They ended up taking over the bed, which was fine because my spinach did horrible this year too. (lambs quarters grow wild here in central PA and have edible leaves that taste like spinach)
Another thing I wasn't that impressed with was its all but impossible to harvest anything off the top of the bed. And there can be erosion issues if no precautions are taken. To prevent erosion, put long straight branches on the sides of the bed and hold them in place with small stakes under them. They act like a shelf and keep the soil from falling down the sides.
So with all the downfalls of a hugel bed, Im starting to wonder if its not better suited for a perennial system, instead of trying to grow annuals. Im thinking of doing more of a perennial  herb and low bush type planting for my hugel bed next year. I may still experiment with some veggies in there as well as the bed matures.

My hugel bed came to be thanks to the two ginkgo trees I cut down to open up some prime real-estate for my tiny food forest. They were large mature trees and produced quite a mess when they were cut down. Some of the wood I gave to my neighbor for his own hugel beds, and the rest I used for mine. It was a great way to get rid of the mess, and put the material back into the land. Here is the wood stacked at the future bed site. We threw all the leaf and twig debris in the middle as well.

The next photo was after the dirt was delivered. I used a screened top soil, mixed with 20% compost. This points out another problem, you need to have dirt to cover the wood, or your gonna pay for it and have some delivered. Thats why most people dig a hole to put the wood in. Then it becomes more like a woody bed, not hugelkulture.

Thanks to Phil, my neighbor and good friend, the soil was put into place with his tractor.

Next went on a layer of compost I had left over from the garden.

As you can see in the photo, the north side (shovel side) was steeper then the south side. That is because there's a slight slope to the south. The north side was good for harvesting while the south was harder because of the more gradual slope. Thats one other reason I may do perennials next year. 

In this next photo you can see the hugel bed just south of my swales completely covered in lambs quarters, dill, calendula, potatoes, parsnips, sage, carrots, comfrey, and on the left of it is a honey berry bush. I also planted some tomatoes and winter squash at the base.

So even with some disappointments, Im excited to see what I can do with it in the next couple years.

Two bugs I hope to never see again

This past growing season I battled a few insects in my garden. Though there were many there to reek havoc on my plants, there are two specific pests that did a lot of damage. The first one is the dreaded squash bug.
This is what an adult squash bug looks like.

They can be darker in color or more on the brown side as well. To me, they kind of resemble an elongated stink bug. These little brown monsters like to suck out the juices of squash plant leaves, zucchini leaves, even melons and cucumbers as well. This year they got my pumpkins, squash and zucchini plants. 

When I noticed the first adult climbing around a pumpkin leaf one day, I knew I was in for some trouble. I also knew if there was one, there was a bunch more. And the hunt was on. I was totally obsessed with finding them and destroying them. But, the more I looked, the more I found. So I figured, Ive got some adults, but maybe I can find all the eggs and destroy them before they hatch. The problem was, I had a ton of plants to pick through. Between all the pumpkins, squash and zucchini, there was over 50 plants to check. And if you've ever grown a winter squash plant, you know how big they can get. 

Squash bugs lay their eggs in small clusters on the under side of the leaves, usually in between the veins. But Ive also seen eggs on the top side of the leaves as well, but not very often. The eggs are usually a copper color and are the shape of a football.

So when I would find the eggs, I would simply pinch out that part of the leaf and put it in a plastic bag until it was full and throw it in the trash. The task was overwhelming, but I continued on. I performed this job for several days after I got home from work. I felt a sense of satisfaction for a week or two, until….

Can you guess what this is? Yep, its a squash bug nymph. I had so many plants, there was no way I could ever find all the eggs. The nymph numbers were great and I was quickly loosing this battle. Fortunately most of the plants had already produced a good number of squash, so not all was lost. 

I continued my hunt, killing as many nymphs and eggs as possible, but eventually gave up. Ive gotten some production out of the plants, and it was time to let nature take over. 

So, what to do if the bug attacks your plants? Well, hand picking I think is a good option if you only have a few plants. For me, it just wasn't practical. One thing you could try is companion planting the squash with things like catnip, nasturtiums, tansy, radishes, and marigolds. Although its not proven, its thought these plants will help keep squash bugs away to some degree. I will be trying this next year to see what happens. 

Next, its a really good idea to continually rotate your plants. Mainly because the adult squash bugs over winter and will be right there when spring returns to attack.

You could also use floating row covers over the plants and make sure to keep the plants well watered and composted with organic fertilizers.

The squash bug does have some natural enemies as well. Spiders, ground beetles, and even tachinid flies and other parasitic wasps that will lay their eggs inside them. So keeping a well diverse garden that will bring these killers in will also be a benefit.

The next pest that got me this year was one I was not familiar with. They showed up shortly after the squash bugs did. It was closer to the beginning of summer when the hotter weather really comes in. These little black and orange beetles were all over my broccoli, cauliflower and the radishes. They seemed to be eating the plants away. I had to look them up on the web to give them a name. I really don't know much about them, besides that they are related to the stink bug family and enjoy eating all my plants in the brassica family. So here they are, they are called the Harlequin bug.

To be honest, Im not sure what I will do if they show up in numbers again next year. I will rotate my crops and companion plant as usual, and keep building better soil through mulching and composting.

My thinking is, the more diversity in my garden, the more stable it will become. If I'm growing all my broccoli in one spot, it probably deserves to be taken out by pests. Nature will say, hey, you f****d up and I need to take these plants out. Its like planting a buffet line for the harlequin bug to fill up on! But if I plant one broccoli plant surrounded by a number of other plants of different families, it will be harder for a pest to find any specific plant. I think thats how nature would do it.

Ive had a few disappointments this year, but every time I do, I learn something new. And even though I lost all my broccoli and cauliflower to the harlequin bug, I now know what this black and orange bug is. I don't feel like it was a loss.

Pesto!!!

Here is a very easy, but extremely delicious recipe for garlic pesto. I know its a bit late in the season to make this with your home grown basil, but I wanted to share it anyway.  You can not imagine how wonderful your kitchen will smell when you make this one! Just thinking about the smell is making me a little sad right now because there's a few inches of snow on the ground. One of my favorite things out of my garden are tomatoes, thyme and basil. So its only fitting we love fresh pesto so much. Its great on pasta, or spaghetti squash for the healthier conscious, pasta salads, or just spread over a piece of sprouted grain toast with a sprinkle of cheese. There are a ton of recipes out there to use with your home made pesto.
This is a kind of throw it together recipe, you add ingredients as you go to your own taste. So I don't have exact measurements for you. It's more of a "ballpark" method here, thats how I roll.

Things you will need
2 medium basil plants
olive oil
garlic
5oz shredded parmesan cheese (use the real stuff people, not that powder crap)
Food processor

First thing to do, go cut the basil plants from your garden.  Now its time to pull all the leaves from the plant. If you have plants that have already started to flower, they are still ok to use. We have used them before and haven't noticed any difference in flavor. Once all the leaves are freed from the stalks, you can rinse them if you prefer.

Grab your garlic and peel them. You will use about  half a bulb to start. As you start to process though, add garlic to your own taste. We love garlic, so we use a lot. Coarsely chop the garlic and throw it in the food processor with half the basil leaves.  If you add all the basil leaves at once, its harder to process.  Add a bit of olive oil, maybe 1/4 cup to start. As you process, add more basil leaves and oil until you get a consistency that you like. Pesto should be thick, not runny.

Now that you have achieved the consistency you like, transfer your creation to a mixing bowl. Start adding the parmesan cheese to your taste. Stir it well.  And then…your done.

Just looking at these pictures brings back all the wonderful smells of the summer garden. How I miss it so.. 

Killer bugs

 It seems every year I'm discovering a new bug in my garden. I've taken pictures, searched the web, and  asked friends about all the new critters I've found.
Over the last couple years, I've come to know a few of the "good guys" and the "bad guys". Today I will focus on the good ones. There are many beneficial insects for the garden, and I will split them into a couple different categories.

Predatory Beetles

These include the Lady beetle, also known as the ladybug or ladybird, and the iridescent green or blue winged beetles known as ground beetles.
The ladybugs mainly feed on aphids but also eat mites, other soft body insects, and insect eggs. The larvae of the ladybug are scary looking, they kind of look like a black alligator. These little larvae have a crazy appetite. They can consume up to 500 aphids each day. (I've seen conflicting numbers on the web ranging from 50 to 1000) If the adults run out of aphids, they can also survive on nectar and pollen from shallow flower clusters like yarrow and sunflowers. The adult ladybug will over winter under leaf litter, mulches, rocks and lots of other protected places.
Ground beetles feed on all types of insect eggs, including the dreaded potato beetle. Rove beetles eat cabbage maggots, onion maggots and other root maggots.

Lacewings

The larvae of the lacewings attack aphids, mealybugs, thripes, caterpillars and their eggs, mites, and scales, The young can suck out the body fluids of its prey through hollow mandibles. Adults will eat aphids and mealybugs, but will also eat pollen and nectar. An interesting fact about lacewings, if they have no food source, they will become cannibals. 

Predatory wasps

These would include yellow jackets and paper wasps, among others. Yellow jackets will eat caterpillars and will also feed them to their larvae. I've actually seen a yellow jacket eating a cabbage worm on one of my broccoli plants this past year. 

One of my favorite wasps is called the braconid wasp. They are tiny and brightly colored. The cool thing about these wasps is where they lay their eggs. They will lay their eggs in or on cabbage worms, tomato horn worms and other caterpillars. Two years ago, I found a tomato horn worm in my garden with a bunch of white eggs all over its back. This was most likely the work of braconid. I wish I had taken a picture of it. So when these eggs hatch, they start to consume their host while it is still alive.

There are a lot more beneficial insects I could write about, but I will just list a few quickly. They include, hover flies, robber flies, tachinid flies, and minute pirate bugs just to name a few. Oh, and don't forget the awesome praying mantis!

The way some of these bugs and their larvae attack and eat their prey, is like something out of a crazy sci-fi movie. Imagine an alien laying eggs inside your body to consume you, while your still alive! Or maybe it'll prefer to stick you with some kind of needle like appendage and suck out your innards. Maybe it will just attack and start eating you alive!

Nature is a scary but beautiful place. 

The miniature pumpkins

While I was planning the garden for this past year, I decide to grow some squash by my neighbors deer fence. The plan was to trellis some of the acorn and butternut squash up the 8ft high fence. After getting permission from my neighbor,  I grabbed my small flat shovel with the sharpened edge to remove grass in a 2ft wide by about 20yd long strip along the fence. I ended up digging down about 5 inches into the ground. I then grabbed a bunch of twigs, brush and leaves I had laying around, threw it into the trench, and piled about 2 feet of compost over top the brush.
The compost I used was leftover from when I opened a larger garden area. The compost was bought from a local supplier.
Now the new bed was ready, so in went some squash seeds along with some dill, nasturtiums and a black krim tomato plant. The squash came up quickly as usual. I then noticed a squash type plant growing at the base of the mounded bed everything else was growing in. I assumed it was a seed I dropped when planting, so I decided to let it be.
Soon the female flowers started showing their beautiful faces. The female flowers on the out of place plant looked different from the others. It looked like a tiny round pumpkin, but how was that possible? I didn't plant any pumpkins down here. I decided to hand pollinated a few female flowers to make sure I got some production out of the mystery plant. I soon discovered the identity of the mysterious squash. It was a miniature pumpkin, also known as the Jack Be Little pumpkin.
The seed must have been in the compost I bought. Cool, now what do I do with these mini pumpkins, besides using them for decorations?  After a quick search on the web, I found a cool recipe for them. Never knew you could eat these decorative pumpkins.
So here is the recipe.
1 mini pumpkin
A large pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg, or allspice. Another interesting spice to try is garam masala
A pinch salt and pepper
1 tsp butter
1 tbsp  apple juice or your choice of fruit juice
And 1 tsp maple syrup or honey
Pre-heat oven to 375, cut a circle (or 5-6 sided) cap around the stem. Remove the cap, and with a small spoon, remove all the seeds. Put in the spices, and all the other ingredients into the pumpkin. Gently put the cap back on and bake for 30 minutes, (larger ones can take up to 45min) or until the inside becomes a little creamy.
I like to scrape all the flesh off the inside of the skin and mix everything up inside the pumpkin. Enjoy!

How to stack fire wood

You may have noticed that there is no rhyme or reason to my blogs. That's because I'd rather blog about stuff thats on my mind at the time, rather than force a blog I don't feel like writing. So the topics will definitely bounce around a bit. I think it will make it more interesting anyway. So with that said…

How to stack firewood

Why stack firewood?

 Well, there are a few reasons. The main advantage to stacking is for the purpose of drying out wood that is not yet seasoned. If you have green wood that was recently cut, it must be dried out to get the most out of it. And it needs to be stacked outdoors and in the sun if possible. You should never store "green" wood indoors like a basement. You will most likely get mold on your basement ceiling due to all the moisture coming out of the wood.  Another benefit to stacking is getting the wood off the ground so it can dry out faster. It's important to get good air circulation underneath and around your stack. Another great benefit to stacking, it looks nice and orderly compared to a big heap, and is easier to deal with when taking wood away to your wood stove or boiler.

Where to stack your firewood

You will want to choose a spot that is not too far away from where it will be going to burn. Lugging firewood a long distance is no fun, and a lot of hard work. I chose a spot beside my garage that's not too far from my basement doors. If at all possible, its best to keep it covered in some way. Whether its under some type of roof or under a tarp or heavy plastic. If using some type of covering make sure to keep the sides exposed and only cover the top of the stack. This will allow the best air flow around the firewood. If you are stacking by your house or another building, you may want to consider checking with local building and fire codes. In some areas it is recommended or required to be a certain distance away from buildings.

How to stack

When stacking, you want to keep it off the ground. Wood that is in contact with the earth, will soak up moisture and start rotting. Stacking on a hard surface like concrete is ok, but you could put down 2x4's that run parallel. This will improve the air flow underneath. If stacking on the ground, definitely keep it off the ground. I used pallets that I got for free from a neighbor. These work great if you are stacking a couple cords. I laid 2 pallets end to end, and 5 pallets long giving me a stacking area of around 8' by 17'. This size of an area can hold about 4 cords stacked at 4' high. So to get started, I make what I like to call the end towers. When building the end towers, you need to use split pieces that are straight and smooth. Start with 2 split logs running parallel with each other that sit as flat as possible. You don't want logs that wobble back and forth, which will make your tower uneasy. Next put 2 more split pieces running parallel, opposite to the first 2 on the bottom. You continue this pattern taking care that each piece sits well on the other without too much wobble. This is the most time consuming part, and my least favorite part of stacking. But it is the most important part, because these towers will be holding some of the weight of the stack. You should not go higher than 4' with your stack, because it could become too unstable.

 As you can see in this photo, you can add smaller pieces in between the main support logs. I don't like having wasted spaces. So once the towers are built on either side, its time to start filling it in. Take your time and make a nice stack by trying to fit each piece together nicely. Its kind of like putting a puzzle together. The better job you do, the more you can fit into a space. If doing multiple stacks, leave a few inches between the rows for good air flow.

I went with a tarp cover for this year. But in the Spring I plan to build a roof connected to my garage. The tarp is ok, but I don't see it lasting much more than a year, and a roof will look much better.  Again, if you do use a tarp, never cover the entire stack. Always leave all the sides exposed so the wood can properly dry out. As a side note, if you don't have nice straight pieces to make the end towers, you can drive 2 posts into the ground and stack between them. I've even seen wood stacked between two trees, but keep in mind trees sway with heavy winds and could end up toppling your pile over. You could even stack your firewood without the end supports at all, just don't make the ends of the stack too vertical, or could end up with a firewood avalanche.