UberlootsGardening with a Gaming Perspective

Quest completed! You have attained gardening level 3! Woot! Is what I have to say to all that. I have been quite nervous about making the sweet potato bed. I have never grown sweet potatoes before, especially since back home in Missouri it was a tad cold for growing sweet potatoes, of course over the last decade or so they have come out with newer more cold hardy varieties.

Left half is beauregard and right half is O'henry

Also, sweet potatoes are very healthy for you and they like to grow in the heat which makes them ideal for the Houston, Texas area. With sweet potatoes there are no seeds to plant, instead you plant rooted cuttings. These are very easy to make too, all you need to do is get a good looking sweet potato and put it in a flat or shallow pan half filled with damp sand, keep the sand damp, do not let it dry out. Or if need be you can just keep the flat half filled with water, however you may not get as many shoots this way. The important thing is to keep them warm, perhaps on top of the refrigerator. Once the shoots are 2-3 inches tall break them off at their base away from the potato and place them in a vase where the base is in the water and the leaves are above water. In a few days they should start to root.

After your cuttings have rooted it is time to plant them in the garden, the best method is to plant them into a generously deep raised bed, with organic time released fertilizer mixed in. Plant 9-10 inches apart and provide something for the vines to grow up if you can. The vines will root if they get a chance left against the soil. Now that I have started mine and they are planted let’s see how they do. I will be sure to update on them this fall. I am only doing 16 square feet of them. To start with I built a 4ft X 4ft bed of untreated lumber and covered the roughed up sod with newspaper. Then I dumped a 55 gallon drum of homemade compost into the bottom and covered it with peat moss and top soil mixed up and applied MicroLife fertilizer mounding the dirt up in the middle to give the plants even more room to grow. Once established plants are drought hardy, these are plants you do not want to over water. Sweet potatoes will continue to grow until overnight temperatures reach about the fifties. I will be mulching and installing some trellising for the vines tomorrow.

If I find any more pertinent information for other first time growers out there I will update that as well as my personal experience with the plant. I am still nervous even after having researched these fellows extensively just because it is a plant that I have never grown before and unlike most fruiting vegetables you cannot see the products of your labor you just have to sort of trust that they are under there. Just like my beloved Irish potatoes, you just have to trust that the beautiful plant that is growing has equally yummy tubers forming down there under the dirt. So for me getting the bed built and filled and planted was overcoming a huge hurdle of my own doubt. I could almost swear I heard the level up ding playing! =D I think that is a feeling a lot of us are coming up against, for the first time gardening isn’t just a hobby for us, but our families may depend on our productivity for sustenance. The booming of the recession garden is all over in the news as well as talks of victory gardens and for so many of us the pressure is on to make a lot out of very little. Have faith though, we can do it. We may stumble and have much learning to do but we will find our way in the end. I will have more on producing a lot of vegetables (loot) for very little cost soon.

Now is still an okay time for transplanting houseplants. Though technically you can transplant at any time the general belief is that it is very best to do so before a growth period. Here in the last week I transplanted two house plants and I will be transplanting the African violet tomorrow night. A bit later than I wanted to but other things just took priority. Two of the plants I have not yet identified, they came with the house as housewarming presents.

Unidentified vining plant

To start with you will want to cover your work area with newspaper if it is available, this makes clean-up much easier. Also you definitely want to do this somewhere that there is not carpet, it is much easier to sweep up any spilt soil than trying to vacuum it up. You may want to gather a couple of tools together at this point: the pot into which you plan to place your plant(this should have a drainage hole and something like a saucer to catch excess water), the plant being transplanted, decent quality potting soil, gloves, and a water source.
Now that you have everything gathered together let’s put on our gloves and get to work. First lay down a layer of soil into the pot, some people like to put a layer of rocks or marbles to prevent soil from escaping out of the drainage holes, recently though I read that this does more harm than good, which way is better I do not know. Then over the pot you are transplanting into tip the contained plant upside down supporting the stem with your hand spread out and inspect the root ball. If it looks very tightly bound now is a good time to gently work the roots outward with your fingers being careful not to tear any of the roots. Now set your plant level into your new pot. Make sure the pot is not too big or small for its new occupant, one assuring the proper size and that it is level by adjusting the soil below the plant to make it so, fill in around the sides with your potting soil gently, if you want you can add in a small amount of granulated slow-release organic fertilizer such as MicroLife. When the soil is about an inch or less from the top of the pot, gently firm the soil down around the plant making sure not to place any pressure on the stem. If there seems to be too much room around the top add some more soil or you can add a layer of decorative stones over the dirt, this can help deter house pets from digging in the soil. Now water your plant deeply and do not water again until the soil feel dry even when you stick your finger an inch deep into the soil.
There you go, that’s all there is to it. I am sure your houseplant will be quite happy in its new home. Don’t forget to rotate your pot about a quarter inch weekly to keep light distribution even and dust the leaves on occasion with a damp paper towel to remove any dust or mite build-up. Also it is good to remember that it is better to water plants less often and deeply to help prevent salt build-up. In general house plants do not require a great amount of care and they are beautiful as well as purify the air in our houses which often times contains even more pollutants than the air outside.

This baby is about 4.5 feet tall

It is by no means a new idea to use toilet paper rolls to start seedlings in, but it is definitely an idea worth sharing. The toilet paper rolls are a byproduct of household life and if folded flat store quite neatly in a quart sized storage baggie pinned up inside the bathroom cabinet. Then when you are ready to plant your seedlings you get those toilet paper rolls out and follow the simple steps below. This first picture follows steps one through four, left to right.

Steps 1-4 starting at the left

1. Start with a empty toilet paper roll, having a few bits of toilet paper clinging to the roll won’t hurt it in the slightest, the only reason to remove those bits is if they annoy you.
2. Fold the toilet paper roll flat; just squash it with your hand onto the counter. Then center the newly made crease and fold it flat again. Doing this will make the roll into a square form.
3. Now open your roll up, it should be nice and square at this point. At the bottom of one side cut a half inch slit at each corner. Then fold those slits outward and crease them.
4. Now starting with whichever flap you chose fold each flap in going clockwise, when you get to the last flap tuck the end under the first flap. Just like when you close up a cardboard box.
5. Now, I find it is easier to put them all into a tray packed tightly and fill them with dirt all at once. Now that they are filled with dirt and ready to go just plant your seeds in and water like normal.
6. When it is time to transfer to a bigger pot or outside into the ground your pot can be planted with the plant. I would just advise opening the bottom up with a gentle tug an inch or so above the plants new resting place so roots can get through even easier. (Though some roots may have already grown through the sides of the pot by now) Also make sure that the top of the cardboard is completely covered with dirt. Just to make sure the cardboard cannot wick away any moisture.

Filled and ready to go

The cardboard will finish degrading in the soil. Well done on recycling! Every little bit done by each of us to reuse and recycle helps. Don’t let anyone tell you one person’s contribution or lack thereof makes no difference because it does make a difference. I also wanted to note that the idea to cut the bottoms and make flaps to fold in for a solid base came from a member: Joeysplanting of Myfolia. These can be made without this step and shoving them together tightly into a tray certainly helps with this but I have made mine with the bottoms ever since I saw the idea and I just love it so my thanks go out to them.

Another tip, to keep track of what is planted in each pot use non-toxic markers to mark right on the rolls what you planted in them. I also like to add the date to keep track of also.

This evening I was out in my garden, after a long day at work, forcing myself to get the herbs transplanted that I had wanted to get moved this last weekend and had not. When I saw what at first I thought must be a tiny tomato starting out of the corner of my eye with a bright green quarter inch globe mostly hidden through the thick foliage of my brandywine tomato. I couldn’t help myself I reached out as I have a habit of doing and touched it.

This momentous error on my part was followed by an extremely embarrassing high pitched squeak of terror when I realized that it was no tomato at all but a living critter. After I had a second to recover from the realization that I was touching bare handed a massive, scary looking caterpillar with a fierce looking orange horn. As I watched it undulated itself slowly to another branch, it kept going and going it was a good 3-4 inches long. I had never seen a caterpillar this big and he looked ferocious, that’s for sure! At first I assumed my uninvited guest was the dread tomato hornworm caterpillar I had read about, but he is actually the tobacco hornworm caterpillar Manduca sexta.
The two are very similar in appearance. The easiest way to tell them apart is by the horn color. On the tomato hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata) the horn will be a dark black/blue and on the tobacco caterpillar it is a bright orange/red. Also the tomato caterpillar has white V shaped markings down its sides and the tobacco worm has white slashes.

So now that we have learned the identity of our culprit (of which I found three though I have pictures of only two) a little about their eating habits and life cycle ensues. They will consume any plant in the nightshade family. Some of the plants in that family are weeds, like the nightshade, however most of them are foodstuff crops for us humans like potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. They will feast on the inner, shaded foliage during the heat of the day working their way out ward when the temperature is cooler. Detection is possible before we find our plants over run by voracious vermin though. From late April and all the way through late July (as best as I can tell for the Houston Area) we can check the undersides on the leaves of these plants for small pearl shaped and tinted eggs, the eggs can also be a pale green. Rub them off with a q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol if you find them. If you do find them as worms hand picking seems to be our best option. Especially since they are so large, just make sure you check from all angles. After they feast on our plants for 3-4 weeks and reach 3-4 inches they will leave the host plant and bury themselves into the ground and cocoon. The cocoon is brownish red with a “pitcher handle” or weird looking stick protruding from it. These can be cut in half with scissors if found, I am not sure if tossing them into a bucket of soap water like the caterpillars will work or not. If these cocoons hatch they become the moth version of this pest often called hummingbird moths or hawk moths. They will mate and lay eggs soon after hatching and are capable of traveling long distances. You would be most likely to see them at your porch light during the late evening or at night.

My Tomato Killers

A few more interesting facts about hornworm caterpillars is that you can sometimes locate them via the droppings “frass” they leave behind or below them while feeding. Apparently I scared the “frass” out of the one in my bucket if you look at the picture *ewww* If you see these signature little markers look above them to locate your plant devourer. Also in the picture you can note what the much younger version of the caterpillar looks like. They are very similar in appearance but the younger one does not have markings as distinct along its sides but that name inspiring horn is still there. The hornworm has a natural enemy too, the parasitic wasps (braconid wasps) often target caterpillars to lay their eggs in. Though you will not know if this has occurred until you see the tell tale white cocoons on the worms back. The cocoons look kind of like grains of rice stuck to the worm. If you happen to find a hornworm that has been parasitized you may want to take it with a leaf put well down into a glass jar in your garden so that the caterpillar can no longer do any more damage to your garden and the wasps will hatch, kill the host and hunt other hornworms from your garden and kill them and other pests as well.

One of the things I want to do is write down the resources I find most helpful to me. One of the things I do most with my free time other than game is read books. Some of them stand out and as I fished for my copy of “The Bountiful Container” by Rose Marie Nichols McGee & Maggie Stuckey, I realized I had come to rely on this book a great deal.

The core of the book is to learn to be able to garden out of anything, even old milk jugs or old butter bowls. They take you step by step through the information needed to succeed as well as recommend space saving varieties and they highlight each species individually. There are themed gardens throughout and it is very easy to read straight through or to skip around and read what interests you most.

They even bring edibles together for beautiful displays and every single thing I have tried from their book has worked marvelously. I even often use it as a reference for my in the ground gardens too. Also, they cover a wide variety of things I never would have even heard of without them. Things like the saffron crocus, or delightful pineapple sage.

Beginner or veteran, I recommend to you this book. Of every gardening book I have read to date, and that is a lot of books, I have never found one as complete as this one. I urge you to check your local library or gardening buddies to find a copy to flip through.

One last thing to keep in mind, they do garden in the north so keep your local planting dates in mind. They show you how to grow just about anything in a container so if all you have room for is a window box, you can still enjoy fresh produce and they explain how to make it eye appealing as well.

Hard to believe it is May already, it just sort of snuck up on me. We gardeners have a busy month ahead of us depending on our personal flavor of Gardening.

Now is a great time to trim back spring flowering bushes. The Houston area has some wonderful resources for learning how to prune things. It can be a little tricky to get a hand on but once you get the hang of it, it takes only a few minutes for most plants.

Also now is the time to fertilize any trees you have not fertilized as of yet. I know I have mentioned it before but I highly recommend using MicroLife fertilizer. It is an organic fertilizer available locally from many locations. Feel free to send me an e-mail with your general area and I will let you know of a nearby supplier if I know of one.

1Up Basil

The various planting charts I have been researching for my vegetables suggest planting: asparagus bean, basil, buckwheat, chives, collards, cucumber, eggplant, Malabar spinach, peppers, luffa squash, okra, peanuts, pumpkin, rosemary, sesame, southern peas (like limas), squash, sunflower, sweet potato slips, cantaloupe, and watermelon.

That is a lot of food to get into the ground. For many of the above listed the first half of May is the best time of all to plant them. I am planning on starting a lot of the above from seed in the next couple of days. I know now more than ever a lot of us are trying to learn more about gardening. Especially not knowing what the future may hold for the economy. Victory gardens are becoming more and more popular. CNN even mentioned the victory garden as more Americans are starting gardens, for the first time in many cases.

I actually see this as a good sign, as we grow more of our own food we will be saving ourselves money. I have put a lot more money into this than I really needed to. Some of it because of not knowing better and some of it for convenience sake, like the irrigation system, which will in time pay for itself. Watering without it is certainly easy enough, just finding the time or if you plan on being gone for an extended time you need to make sure you have a back-up plan of some sort, a neighbor or an irrigation system, or pay a gardener to water your plants because a vacation could be devastating to your plants without planning their care into your trip. I still travel back to Missouri a lot and so my irrigation system means I do not have to worry about being gone.

With time moving so fast it is easy also to get behind. Projects we plan to do can keep getting put off, sometimes indefinitely. Now is a good time to start writing your plans and thoughts down. Even an online journal like this can help you remember events that happened in your garden. It doesn’t have to be pretty, or even full sentences. Simply the plant type, date planted, location planted, and productivity or healthiness of the plant. Then next year you will know which ones should become annuals and which ones not to try again without changing at least one of the variables.