Garden Chores

The first daffodil flower this year.

Things we did in the yard today:
My fellow gardener (aka husband) and I took the time to do some work in the yard on this overcast day.

1.  Remove all old leaves around the yard.   There some areas in the yard where a layer of leaves might be used as mulch.  However there are also areas that are intended to be kept neat and clean - at this time should should be cleaned from all old plant parts.

2.  Empty water from open vessels.  There are always containers or pot saucers in the yard that collect water when it rains which need to be emptied to discourage mosquitoes from breeding in them and to protect the roots of plants in containers.

3.  Fill up bird feeders.  The birds are not only delightful to watch but they are also helpful in eating some of the pests around the yard.

4.  Spread snail bait and pesticide (granules) for soil-born insects such as grubs on the lawn area.

5.  Fertilize the lawn.  At this time of the year, complete fertilizer, such as 16-16-16 helps the grass develop not just the part that are seen but also the the roots which is necessary for our dry area.  The better root system the plants have, the better ability it has to search for water and other resources during the drier months.  With that said, my fellow gardener decided to use the Weed and Feed from last year.  It contained a high dose of nitrogen (28-0-2) and some herbicide (2,4 D).  High levels of nitrogen is not needed by the grass at this time but it's not detrimental, so no big deal.  The problem was the herbicide in the fertilizer because I saw him spreading it around the succulents!  We'll see what happens next.  :)

6.  Prune shrubs.  Rosemary, Mexican sage, Santa Barbara daisies.

7.  Fortified the surrounding hollow blocks of the compost pile.

Mint:  Expelled from the vegetable plot.

8.  Remove mint runners from vegetable plots.  I left one mint plant outside the container last year and this time there are new mint everywhere.  I knew it was going to happen but I did not anticipate how far they would go within a year.  :)

9.  Mow the grass.  The grass needed a little haircut today.  And it looks better now.

After we got done with yard work, we had lunch and then watched the Masterpiece movie "Great Expectations".  I think we deserved it. :)

Every day spent tending the garden is a beautiful day.

Super Sugar Snap Pea

Pea 'Super Sugar Snap' (Pisum sativum) Seeds

Today marks the beginning of spring in my garden because the first seeds that would grow in my little garden this year just got planted.  Our weather here can change swiftly from cold (Foothills-cold) to hot (Inland-hot) which poses a challenge in  scheduling to plant any of the cool season crops such as peas.  In previous years, the consistent problem has been having the temperatures get critically high before my peas produce pods.  Hopefully this time will be different.

Super Sugar Snap is an earlier variety, maturing within 64 days from planting.  It is supposed to have shorter veins than the older varieties which would make it snap better and more fun to eat.  Another favorable feature of this variety is its high resistance to powdery mildew and leaf roll virus. We need to understand that the conditions that favor the growth of powdery mildew is the same as the conditions required by the most of the cool-season crops: High relative humidity (RH) at nighttime; drier or low RH during daytime; and mild temperatures (70-80 ºF).  Therefore, in choosing a variety, diseases resistance must be given special consideration. 

Every day spent tending the garden is a beautiful day.

Bitter Gourd

Momordica charantia L.

Family:  Cucurbitaceae

Common Names in the US*:  Bitter Melon; Bitter Gourd; Balsam Pear

One vegetable vigorously growing in my garden at this time in the season is the bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.).  This vegetable was a part of my everyday diet in my earlier years.  Sadly, it has increasingly become a rarity since I moved to California.  But this trend is soon to be reversed. With my success this year, bitter melon may yet become a regular item in my summer garden.

Bitter melon is an important vegetable crop in the Philippines and all of Asia.  The fruits and leaves are edible - both bearing a strikingly bitter taste that varies in intensity depending on variety.  

In my village, bitter gourd is believed to be purgative.  Newborn babies (before their first taste of their mother's milk) are given a teaspoon of bitter melon tonic - pure extract from the leaves of the plant. This blackish-green delight is bitter enough to squeeze every facial muscle of the infant.  As if this is their initiation into the world.  However, this does not diminish the fact that bitter melon is an acquired taste even to Filipinos.  For my grandmother, the more bitter the parya (Ilocano word for bitter melon) the better it is.  But to my grandfather, parya and food did not go together.

   

In the bigger world, bitter melon has gone a long way.  Extensive research has led to understanding the medicinal properties of the plant down to molecular levels.  Bitter gourd has emerged to be one of the most significant botanical remedies for type 2 diabetes.  Recently,  AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center spearheaded a project called the Bitter Gourd Project which "aims to improve the incomes and health of the poor in developing countries, particularly the quality of life of diabetics, through scientific research on bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.)."  But as for me, bitter gourd or bitter melon is just one of my favorite vegetables in the world.  

Now let's talk about the plant. 

Bitter gourd is tender perennial - in this area it is treated as an annual plant.  The vine grows eight to ten feet in length with robust branching and foliage growth.  It looks delicate but its every node bears a tendril that allows the plant to secure itself easily on trellises or other plants.  The palmately lobed leaves are beautiful.  

The flowers are bright yellow and very fragrant.  Just like all other plants in the Cucurbitaceae family, the bitter gourd is a monoecious plant - having separate male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers on the same plant.  Only the pollinated female flowers turn into fruits. 

Fruits of bitter gourd are generally warty with colors ranging from dark green to white.  They can be small and rounded (one-inch diameter) to large and elongated (3-inch diameter and 15-inch long).  The plants growing in my garden have small and elongated fruits with an average length of 3 inches.  

Growing Bitter Gourd

1. Choose sunny location - afternoon shade in hotter climate like mine.  Bitter gourd can be grown directly into the soil or in containers. Mine is growing in a five gallon bucket.
2. Incorporate compost or decomposed animal manure into soil.  
3. Plan and install support structures for plants (I attached wire mesh on the fence but you can used bamboo stakes or trellis). 
4. Direct sow plants in warm soil after the last frost.  Water the seeds thoroughly.  It takes about a week for seeds to emerge.  
5. Protect seedlings from snails and slugs - I've learned it the hard way.
6. Water regularly to keep soil moist but not wet.  
7. Mulch to conserve soil moisture and reduce weed growth.
8. Fertilize bitter gourd when there are two tendrils stretching out of the stem.  Repeat every two to three weeks. 
9. Yellowing of the leaves can be a sign of nutrient deficiency.  Remember:  Low-dose fertilizer applied frequently is better than high dosage at a less frequent interval.  
10. Check for pest and diseases regularly.  
11. Harvest fruits when they are green and shiny.  When fruits begin to turn yellow then it is too late.

Have you ever grown bitter gourd in your garden?  And have you eaten bitter gourd before?  What did you think? 

My Apprentice of Fifteen Years

Then:  Fascinated by colorful flowers.

In the yard of our old house, was my kids' garden.   This is unlike any other garden; it is a small patch of dirt where my they kept themselves entertained while I did my own gardening.   Here, my son planted and watered flowers that he and his sister had picked.  Believe it or not those flowers stay fresh if watered the way my kids did.  Sometimes I replaced the flowers when they wilted...but then I realized that I was fooling my kids and myself.  So I began to teach them about plants.  We started by identifying the poisonous plants in the garden.  

Today my son Brahms turned fifteen.  Hooray!  Not only has he advanced chronologically, but also horticulturally.   As a smart and hard-working sophomore, his busy schedule includes extra curricular activities like Robotics, Chess Club, Christian Youth Band, and AWANA (leader-in-training), etc.  However, in the midst of all these he finds time to do some gardening.  

 

Now:  Amazed by some tropical vegetables.

For fifteen years now he has watched me tend a garden.  I think he made up his mind - that gardening is indeed a good thing.  There is a sense of joy that emanates from the knowledge that this son of mine is going to know how to raise plants for food and beautiful surroundings.  

Like plants, gardeners clone themselves by training someone to do the same.

~~Happy birthday, my son!~~

Beneficial Insectary Plants

Santa Barbara Daisy (Erigeron karvinskianus)

Beneficial insectary is a term that refers to plants that attract and host beneficial insects.   In other words they are the plants that provide a habitat for predatory insects.  Beneficial insectary plants often have nectar and pollen to offer to the good insects.  Their flowers offer a flat landing place for insects and sometimes they exude an unusual scent as an attractant.   The list of beneficial insectary plants continues to expand with the increasing research work and interest in organic farming.     

Beneficial insects on the other hand are insect predators that prey on many common garden pests.  Indirectly they benefit gardening by helping eliminate the destructive plant-feeding insects.   For example lady bugs don't eat plants; instead they feed on aphids that are destroying plants in the garden.  For the gardener, beneficial insects offer a biological control of pests.  Effective biological pest control is a safer alternative to pesticides. 

In My Garden.  There are some plants growing in my garden right now that are known to be beneficial insectary.  The Santa Barbara daisy (Erigeron karvinskianus) as I mentioned before is a very versatile perennial.  In addition to its aesthetic contribution in the garden, it is also valued for the role it plays in biological control of pests.  Among the herbs that double as insectary are spearmint (Menta spicata), coriander or cilantro (Coriandrum sativum), flat-leaf parsley (Petroselinum crispum).  Although my marigolds (Tagetes patula) are newly planted and recently damaged by birds, they are also known to harbor some beneficial bugs including lady beetles.  Hence, they are recommended to be planted near tomato plants.  Even English ivy (Hedera spp.) is supposed to harbor some beneficial wasps. 

What then?  Not all insects are gardeners' enemies.  In fact some of them are our allies.  They eliminate the real enemies.  This is like having your own army protecting your plants while you sleep and play.  However, their loyalty is dependent on the fringe benefits we give them. Some gardeners provide a dedicated habitat (Beneficial Insectary garden) for these allies.  However, if your garden is small, you can diversify your plantings to include the ones that attract them.  

Finally, do not be deceived - not all pests can be eradicated by biological means.  An effective pest control involves an integrated approach based on numerous factors.  Read more about integrated pest management approach (IPM). 

To Garden or Not...

Commercial Potato Production (The Sunrise Produce Farms)

Just like New Year's resolutions are thought of at the beginning of the year, so gardening plans ought to be also.  You want to loose weight... therefore go ahead and think of the ways that you can achieve that.   So you decide to shorten your hybernation.  While you are panting on the treadmill or sweating your muscles out in the gym you can also be thinking of the things that you want to see in your garden come spring and summer.  Imagine yourself in your skinny form walking in the garden or by the pool.  Well, that picture needs to include some color in the background such as flowers and greenery.  That can be fixed, right?  You might even want to look like a health goddess walking along rows of life-prolonging-herbs and draping with high-in-antioxidant fruits of various forms and fiber content.  Did you say you want organic fruits?  You can certainly produce your own organic you-name-it...but you've got to plant a garden.   You won't loose your excess poundage either is you don't start moving or changing your habits.

Yes, making yourself look beautiful and healthy involves making your surroundings in ship-shape.  Be trendy - eat foods that are grown locally; the closer they are grown to your kitchen, the better.  Even those who are not gardeners can learn to become one.   It may seem daunting at first but gardening is learned and every gardener develops their own style based on knowledge, practice, and attitude.  The following quote says it all:

"The fact is that farming is not a laboratory science, but a science of practice. It would be, I think, a good deal more accurate to call it an art, for it grows not only out of factual knowledge, but out of cultural tradition; it is learned not only by precept but by example, by apprenticeship; and it requires not merely a competent knowledge of its facts and processes, but also a complex set of attitudes, a certain culturally evolved stance, in the face of the unexpected and the unknown. That is to say, it requires style in the highest and richest sense of that term."

~Wendell Berry

"Discipline and Hope,"

A Continuous Harmony: Essays Cultural and Agricultural

  Plant a garden...it's good for you and your environment.