Shovels 101

Shovels 101

by | Mar 3, 2017 | Projects

Shovels 101

Dudley Vines

Shovels come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and you can pay as much as you like for a shovel.  First of all, do you want a short handle or a long handle?  According to True Temper®, short handles allow more precise digging in small spaces or in raised beds, while long handles are the standard, versatile choice and are especially useful when you need more leverage.

After you decide on a long or a short handle, should that handle be wood or fiberglass?  The advantages of the fiberglass handle are that they are more durable than wood, do not shrink and become loose, and they do not crack. They can be left out in the weather and will not rot or get soaked and loosen when they dry.  However, you get what you pay for, and a cheap fiberglass handle may be quite heavy, which means more work and perhaps joint pain as well as sore muscles.  A quality fiberglass handle is equivalent in weight to a wood handle and has enough flexion to absorb some of the shock involved with digging, as wood does.

You can buy forged shovels and you can buy stamped shovels.  “Forged” means cast from molten metal, while “stamped” means the shovel is made from a piece of flat sheet metal.  The stamped variety are more common and are cheaper.  However, a stamped shovel will provide a long service life if you take care of it, so the extra cost of a forged shovel may not be worthwhile (unless, perhaps, you are a professional shoveler).  Whichever you buy, make sure there is a flat area on the back edge to step on when driving the shovel into the earth.  You may wind up standing on that flat part and bouncing up and down to cut through turf or soil someday.  I’ve done it.

Now you need to decide on which type of shovel to buy.  Are you going to be digging a hole?  Need to cut through turf or heavy clay soil?  Moving mulch or gravel?  Trenching for a pipe or cable?  Here are descriptions of the most common shovel types used in gardening.

The most familiar shovel used for digging holes is the round point shovel.  It has a somewhat curved blade viewed from above, because, after all, most holes are round.  Next, the spade is used for hard packed soil and cutting through turf.  A spade has a somewhat narrower blade with less curve.  In fact, you can dig a square hole with a spade.  The blade has a less pointed edge than the round point shovel, and the edge may even be square.  Then we have the trenching spade, which is narrower and is ideal for digging a trench for a drain or an irrigation pipe.  Finally, you might use a transfer shovel for moving gravel, compost, and loose dirt.  It typically does not have a sharp edge because instead of digging, you’re scooping loose material.  It has a wide, curved blade with a flat edge and can move a lot of material with each motion.

There are other types of shovels, mostly intended for special applications.  Snow shovels and roofing removal shovels are examples.  But the four discussed in this article are probably the most common shovels used in the home garden.

Care of shovels:  Be careful using the handle of a shovel as a lever, because you can break the handle or bend the blade.  This might happen when you cut into dense soils and try to pry out a clump of dirt.  If the soil won’t move easily, try cutting into the earth in several adjacent spots to break it loose.  A bent blade will soon split, and a broken handle ruins the shovel.

Shovels don’t require a lot of maintenance.  After use, it is wise to wash off mud or debris because it has a tendency to hold moisture and cause rust.  When shovels used for cutting into soil become dull, you can sharpen them a little with a file, or at least remove any ragged edges, but don’t go for a razor-sharp blade on a shovel.

Compost and Curcubits

Compost and Curcubits

by | Feb 7, 2017 | Experiences, Growing Tips, Projects

Compost and Curcubits

by
David Pojmann

Several years ago, I read an article about growing cucurbits in a compost pile. I finally decided to try the concept in 2016. My compost pile consisted mainly of leaves and various plants from the garden. I had started it in the fall and decided to use the compost in June. After sorting and screening the compost, I found that there were some spots that did not have enough water and had not fully decayed. I made a new pile of that material and decided to do cold composting with it as the pile had rotted enough to not produce heat. That’s when the thought came to me to try growing pumpkins in it. I had some seeds from a 50-pound pumpkin that I grew the year before, so after sprinkling a little 21-3-3 fertilizer over the pile, I put two seeds in it and added a water source.

The seeds sprouted quickly, and the vines grew, covering the pile and emanating out, eventually reaching a length of about 25 feet. The leaves were large and very healthy looking. The early blossoms were mostly male, but by late July pumpkins were forming. I eventually culled the fruit to one per vine and watched them grow. Instead of seeing a compost pile, I was now looking at green vines. The end result was two pumpkins of about 45 pounds each, which I used for our yard decor. By this time the compost was ready for application to the garden, and I started a new pile using the pumpkin vines along with other vegetation and leaves from our cottonwood trees.

I may try different kinds of squash this year to see how other species do. Even though growth was healthy and rapid, I may add more nitrogen to the compost to see how that affects the end result. The pictures below show the vines during early growth and the resulting fruits. I grew the ghost pumpkin in normal garden soil to which I had added compost from the original pile.

Pumpkins grown in compost pile

Finished product – compost grown pumpkins

Winter Garden Chores

Winter Garden Chores

by | Jan 29, 2017 | Growing Tips, Projects

Winter Garden Chores

Winter Garden Chores
By Dudley Vines
Winter is a slow time for gardeners. Many folks enjoy looking through nursery catalogs and planning next year’s garden. Winter is also a good time to clean, sharpen, oil, and otherwise maintain your garden tools. And hopefully, you’re enjoying some of your produce from last year, if you canned or froze it. Did you know that the Extension Service offers free classes and facilities for canning? Educational bulletins are available on the http://bernalilloextension.nmsu.edu/mastercomposter/index.htmlwebsite and here’s the canning center website.

What else might gardeners do in the winter? Here are some suggestions:

1. Clean up and dispose of leaves. There may be some perennials that you want to leave some leaves piled around for winter protection, but if leaves are blown up in piles against your fence, why wait till spring to start cleaning up? Your yard will look better, and you’ll have less work in the spring. Maybe you prefer to rake leaves several times during the Fall so your yard always looks great. Myself, I like to let them all fall and dry up, and then I clean up everything at once on a sunny day in December.

If you don’t compost at home, disposing of leaves and garden waste can be a bit of a problem, so fill your trash bin once a week and let them haul it away for you. If you have a pickup truck, you can haul your debris to the county landfill (the green waste fee is very modest) but those of us without trucks can let the trash man take it. I don’t fool around with plastic bags; wait until the leaves are really dry and crispy so you can crush them down in your trash bin. You might have to spread your leaf cleanup over a few weeks if your trash bin can’t hold it all at once. But, hey – who’s in a rush?

2. Prune trees. January is a wonderful time to prune trees. And you learned how to prune in SCMG class. The trees are dormant, and you’ve got the time, so get ‘er done. In this case, once again, your trash bin can serve you well in disposing of the waste.

Actually, it would be great if you started composting at home. The Sandoval County Master Composters conduct classes all the time, and compost is a valuable commodity in the garden. If you’re not into composting, and you have a truck (or a friend with a truck), I encourage you to haul garden waste to the Sandoval County landfill at 2700 Iris Road in Rio Rancho and toss it in the green waste pile, because there they compost on an industrial scale and sell the compost cheap. But if you don’t, instead prune one or two trees a week and put the debris in the waste bin. I cut everything up into pieces small enough to fit in the bin using my pruning saw and pruning shears. It’s a little work but I need the exercise and fresh air. And spreading the work over a few weeks makes it easier.

3. Spray trees with dormant oil. You might
do this in February before new growth starts. Dormant oil eliminates overwintering insects and insect eggs. No leaves or limbs to dispose of for this task. Be sure to read and follow all directions on the label. Some horticultural oils require temperatures to remain above freezing for 24 hours. Since you spray dormant oil with a hose-end sprayer, you need to pick a sunny day when the temperature is warm enough to unroll the hose and turn on the water (hopefully you drained your garden hose and coiled it up at the beginning of winter, and covered your outdoor faucets). Just connect the hose and spray the trees, and then drain the hose and cover the faucet again because, after all, it’s not springtime yet. Your trees will thank you.

In March and April, garden cleanup starts in earnest and you’ll be glad you got rid of the leaves and pruned your trees already, and you’ll have room in the trash bin for the material you prune from your perennials. And think about learning to compost because it is a noble undertaking.

Seed2Need – 2014 Lessons Learned, Part II

Seed2Need – 2014 Lessons Learned, Part II

by | Apr 29, 2015 | Fertilizer, Growing Tips, Plant Pests, Projects

Seed2Need – 2014 Lessons Learned, Part II

By Penny Davis, SCMG

In Part I, we discussed several problems encountered by Seed2Need over the past five years.  This month, we will discuss one other major problem – blossom end rot – and then we will talk about a few things that have worked well – tomato cages, row cover and plastic mulch.

Blossom End Rot:  Every year, Seed2Need has a problem with blossom end rot (BER) at the beginning of the season.  Usually, this problem disappears after the first fruit set but in 2014 we experienced blossom end rot throughout the season.  We estimate that BER reduced our 2014 tomato harvest by 5000-7000 pounds.

Blossom end rot is a physiological disorder that results when there is an inadequate supply of calcium available to the developing fruit.  This can result from low levels of calcium in the soil or it can result from many other factors that prevent the plant from absorbing the calcium that is available. Some of these factors

  1. Excessive fertilization – Ca in soil solution competes with potassium, magnesium and ammonium based nitrogen  for uptake in the plant.  Ammonium based nitrogen, in particular, may increase blossom-end rot as excess ammonium ions reduce calcium uptake.

Rapid vegetative growth due to over-fertilization of nitrogen and potassium during early bloom and fruiting stages is a major contributor to BER.  Since calcium moves with the transpirational water flow, water is going to go to areas of new shoot growth that have the greatest transpirational demand. Calcium will therefore be deposited in the new shoot and leaf tissues that result from excess fertilization, and little will end up in developing fruit where it is needed most.

  1. Inconsistent watering – Fluctuations of soil moisture may trigger BER due to irregular transpiration rates, affecting the quantities and timing of water and calcium moving up the xylem.  Conversely, during hot, dry weather  when transpiration is occurring at a much faster rate, developing vegetative parts such as growing leaves and stems become greater sinks for Ca than developing fruits.

Mulching should be practiced where feasible to maintain an even supply of soil moisture.  In general, tomato plants need at least one inch of water per week in the form of rain or supplemental irrigation.

  1. Inadequate root system – A large root system is better equipped to absorb the calcium needed for the healthy development of the fruit.  To encourage a large root system, seedlings should be kept a little on the dry side from the time the transplants are established until they begin to flower and set fruit.  If cultivation is necessary, it should be shallow to avoid damaging the roots.  Planting the seedlings deep will also help develop a better root system as roots sprout along the buried stem.
  1. Temperature – Hot, windy conditions with low relative humidity can cause high transpiration rates ideal for inducing blossom end rot.  This sounds like spring in New Mexico, doesn’t it?  For those of us who use plastic mulch, black plastic mulch can also damage the roots by increasing the bed temperature.

How does Seed2Need plan to address BER in 2015?  Soil tests show that all of our gardens have adequate calcium and we also use an automatic watering system so we are pretty confident that inconsistent watering is not the problem.  Based on our research, we believe that our problem with BER is due to a combination of applying all of the fertilizer recommended by the soil tests at one time in the early spring, using ammonium sulfate as our nitrogen source and using black plastic mulch on the tomato rows.

In 2015  we will use white over black instead of black over black plastic mulch.  The white side (top) reflects the sun to help cool the soil while the black side (bottom) suppresses weed growth.  In addition, we will use compost as part of our nitrogen source and reduce the amount of other fertilizer applied in the early spring by half.  We also started our tomato seedlings early so the plants will be taller when they are planted.  This will allow them to be planted deeper to help provide a better root system.

We will report our results in August when the tomatoes begin to ripen.

 References:
http://extension.uga.edu/publications/detail.cfm?number=C938
http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/hot_topics/2007/07blossomendrot.html
http://extension.psu.edu/plants/vegetable-fruit/news/2012/hot-year-means-more-blossom-end-rot

Tomato Cages:  When Seed2Need started growing tomatoes in 2009, we staked each plant using a t-post and a standard round tomato cage.  While this works fine for growing a few dozen tomatoes in a home garden, it isn’t practical when growing tomatoes on a commercial scale.  Seed2Need currently plants over 2000 tomato plants a year and harvests around 30,000 pounds a season.  In 2010, we started researching tomato cage designs looking for something that was relatively inexpensive, low maintenance and that could easily be covered with row cover.  Unfortunately, we did not find anything that satisfied our needs.

Then in 2010, Seed2Need received a donation of concrete reinforcing wire from SCMG Judy Jacobs.  This wire  was used to design a tomato cage that  (1) is durable (2) is less expensive and less labor intensive than using fencing and t-posts (3) does not blow over in the wind  (4) is easy to install and cover with row cover and (5) is stackable at the end of the season.

Volunteers bending concrete reinforcing wire into tomato cages.

Volunteers bending concrete reinforcing
wire into tomato cages.

A stack of 7 tomato cages.

A stack of 7 tomato cages.

Tomato cages covered with row cover to reduce curly top virus caused by beet leafhoppers.

Tomato cages covered with row cover to reduce curly top virus caused by beet leafhoppers.

Tomato plants inside cages covered with row cover.

Tomato plants inside cages covered with row cover.

The end result of using row cover - healthy, productive and easy to harvest tomato plants.

The end result of using row cover – healthy, productive and easy to harvest tomato plants.

Row Cover:  Seed2Need uses row cover on the entire tomato crop (approximately 2200 plants).  We also cover our cold frame with a sheet of row cover to protect the young seedlings from infection.  As a result, we seldom lose plants to curly top virus.  In 2015, we also plan to cover our squash and cucumbers with row cover to protect them from squash bugs.

Our use of row cover was based on a study conducted by Dr. Ron Walser, NMSU, in 2008-2009.  Dr. Walser tried two techniques to protect tomato plants from curly top virus, a disease transmitted by beet leafhoppers.  The first technique was to whitewash the plants with Kaolin Clay so the insects would not want to land on the plant.  The second technique was to cover the plants with light weight row cover.  Because sunlight, water and wind passes through the fabric, it does not affect plant growth and because tomatoes are wind pollinated, it also does not impact harvest.

In 2008, when the leafhopper infestation was heavy, 50% of the covered plants were lost after the row cover was removed in July.  However, that same year, 100% of the plants were lost that had not been covered with row cover.

For more information on Dr. Walser’s study, see http://newscenter.nmsu.edu/Articles/view/4928 

Plastic Mulch:  In 2012, we started using plastic mulch under our tomato and chile seedlings to suppress weeds, reduce evaporation and to protect the t-tape irrigation system from rodent damage.

In 2012, we also tested red mulch vs. black mulch.  Red mulch seemed to stimulate tomato plant growth but it also allowed weeds to grow under the mulch.  Black did a better job of suppressing weeds.

Tomato plants after the row cover was removed and the plants were weeded the first week of July. Note that the plants on the left (planted on black plastic mulch) are noticeably smaller than those on the right (planted on red plastic mulch).

Tomato plants after the row cover was removed and the plants were weeded the first week of July. Note that the plants on the left (planted on black plastic mulch) are noticeably smaller than those on the right (planted on red plastic mulch).

We used black plastic mulch in 2014 and set a new record for tomato crop production.

In 2015, we plan to test white over black plastic mulch – black on the bottom to suppress weeds and white on the top to reflect heat.

Fall Colors in the RIo Rancho WaterWise Demonstration Garden

Fall Colors in the RIo Rancho WaterWise Demonstration Garden

by | Oct 3, 2014 | Projects

Fall Colors in the RIo Rancho WaterWise Demonstration Garden

Fall is a great time to visit the Rio Rancho WaterWise Demonstration Garden.  Not only is it a place to take a a stroll through one of our beautiful parks, it is truly a working  demonstration garden,  showcasing the best plants for our local climate and soil.  See how these native plants and trees will look at maturity and get ideas for your own WaterWise Garden.

More info on the WW Garden here