Meet my "Kale Tree"

Have you ever seen a kale tree? Well it isn't really a tree. I have been growing my kale for over 6 months. This is what happens when you harvest the leaves and continue to let the stalk grow in the center.

Unfortunately after allowing my kale tree to grow to about 3 feet, I must now "chop" it down. My kale tree has been over taken by aphids. I believe that last week I saw there little green slimy eggs and this week, these ashy black specks, perhaps their poop? I don't know. I read that I could just wash it off and spray my plants with water and a pest solution (homemade), but I don't want to chance eating this kale after all this pest junk has been living on it and eating it.

Well...what do you think?

Paper pot maker

Do you like the jiffy peat pots, but don't like spending money on those refills? I do, and I figured out an alternative that's cheap fun and practical.

Behold, the paper pot maker! I learned about it on instagram, through a fellow gardener that I happened to be following. He made these cute paper pots to grow seeds in using a wooden mold. I looked it up on amazon and found various models ranging from $10 to $20+  and found one that was around $13 that shipped to Hawaii. I got it!

The way it works is, you use half of a piece of newspaper page, ripped into thirds. Take a strip and roll it up around the cylinder post of the pot basket. Food the bottom in like a present and then push it into the bottom of the wood base, twist it around a few times, while pressing firmly down. Slowly pull the new pot you've made off of the cylinder.

I have made over 30 pots with this method in one sitting. Its fun and rewarding. I scoop some soil into them and plant my seeds.

Soon my garden will grow again!

Well winter is over and the sun is shining brightly today. With help from my sister, I felt inspired to get back out in the garden after a long hiatus.

We worked very hard today and got most of the weeds out.

Here is a shot from my instagram. Feel free to follow me :-) my user name is kristenhull.

My kale is still growing strong, despite my many months of neglect. It's become a tree, 2 ft. tall!

Melons can grow in Hawaii!

In my past post (click here to read) I talked about my melon growing woes, and how my melon plants were infested with leaf miners. I found a solution to these pests, and managed to plant them successfully in the garden. I have not kept rosemary near these plants in the garden, but they have done fine none the less. Perhaps the leaf miners are more prone to potted plants because I just recently started sunflowers, lettuce, and more kale. They have all been infested with leaf miners.

You will know when your melon plant is doing well, when they grow wild and crazy with vines, and their pretty yellow flowers are abundant! You will also see a few bees flying around, pollinating the flowers. The bees love the melon flowers, just as much as the basil!

Usually I see many bees out in my yard, all fluttering and hovering around my basil plants. More recently though I see them near my melon plants. - Which is a good thing, because I want them to pollinate and help my melons grow! To my surprise this morning, I finally found a melon growing nicely!

Now, like in my previous post about melon growing, the thought still comes back to haunt me...FRUIT FLIES. I am going to be keeping an eye out for those nasty buggers, to ensure that this, my one and only melon does well and survives! This little guy is the size of a softball right now, and I hope it survives the next month to grow into a decent sized cantaloupe. - Without bee stings, and rotting or getting eaten by fruit flies.

Here are some precautionary measures that I will take...

1) Place my melon in a brown paper bag, to prevent bee stings and other bugs from getting to them.
2) Occasionally letting it out of the paper bag to breathe, and also spray with a non-chemical bug deterrent.

What do you think? Anyone have success growing melons and battling the same pests? Please let me know what you have encountered and other possible solutions to my melon growing obstacles.

Zucchini FAIL

I started growing zucchini this summer. I was so excited, because I LOVE ZUCCHINI! I have been terribly disappointed with my growing results. I planted about ten zucchini seeds, not knowing how well they would germinate and grow. Well almost all of them grew! I had seven zucchini plants in my garden this summer.

My zucchini plants suffered greatly from powdery mildew. I blame myself mostly, because number one: I had 7 zucchini plants planted very close together, in my small garden. There was not enough room for them all to grow substantially. And number two: I didn't maintain a good mildew prevention spray schedule. When the air got humid, the mildew grew and spread quickly. I kept having to cut leaves off. I feel like this was the beginning of the end for my zucchini plants.

So I cut all the leaves and stems off that were affected by the mildew, and I kept a close eye on it. The mildew however, spread like wild fire, and attacked my zucchini plants horrendously. The leaves were all blotchy and white, I felt like I would never see flowers, let alone a zucchini. Three of my plants grew but did not look good at all from the chopping off of mildew covered leaves. So I dug them up and tossed them away. The fourth one died. I guess it was just too hot and I wasn't giving it enough water.

My last three zucchini plants were transplanted into the ground, and finally baby zucchinis were beginning to emerge. I was so happy, but the happiness did not last. All three zucchini plants had blossom end rot, AND powdery mildew.

I am afraid to try growing them again, because I don't want the same thing to happen to my new batch. I have read that blossom end rot is brought on by calcium deficiency in the soil. So I am looking for all kinds of solutions for this. I have a hunch that maybe this is what is really wrong here. - My bell pepper plants suffered the same fate. The peppers would grow to a small size, and then rot. The pepper bush did not grow very big and strong either, which leads me to further believe that I have a case of low calcium soil. I have heard from others to use egg shells, or ground up sea shells to add calcium to my soil. I have also heard that I could mix in a chemical - lime. But I am skeptical about adding chemicals to my garden. I do not want to do that at all really. If I absolutely have to, it would be my very last resolution to this problem I am facing.

Anyone else have suggestions for me on this zucchini growing problem?

Cherry Tomatoes Round 2

A few months before summer came, I planted four tomato seeds. I started them in a seed tray and then transplanted them.

I like to grow most of my seeds in seed starter trays. It is used to ensure more seeds germinate and survive, due to a more controlled environment. I have tried growing seeds directly in the garden, but have learned that they do not do well for me, where I live. Some seeds do not even germinate at all when I plant them directly into the ground. Here in Wahiawa, Hawaii, the ground can become too hot, too moist, and the air too humid. Growing the seeds in starter trays works wonders for me, and so I have stuck by them for the last 2 years.

I have noticed that the plants growing in the ground, bare a lot more fruit. Of course it grows much bigger than container grown ones, which probably is the reason why. The only problem for me is maintaining the growth. About every two weeks I have to cut some branches and leaves off, so that my plants don't get over grown. I assume, it will also allow for the plant to have more room to "live" and "breath." Air circulation is very important for them, as well as space.

I love cherry tomatoes because they grow so so fast. I have also learned that they last for a very long time. For me, in Hawaii, I have had about 3 harvests so far from my 4 plants, in 3 months. I am going to be planting some new seeds and starting a new batch of plants for winter. I believe they will do well, however will still suffer from mildew (like it did last year). - But I just need to remember to spray them with mildew preventing spray (homemade/natural/non-chemical).

In the picture to the right, I have two cherry tomato plants in the ground. I run the "branches" along the fence to allow them to grow long and wide. Like stated above, I trim off leaves and branches to ensure that the plant gets proper air circulation, and prevents mildew from growing on the leaves when a rainy spell hits.

I have learned to pick my tomatoes as soon as they start turning light orange. Otherwise, birds will flock to them and start feeding on them. I usually find two to three tomatoes with big holes in them because apparently the birds love them too.

Know Your Zone!

As a novice gardener, I never paid attention to "zones" or climate zones, when other gardeners posted things in forums and blogs. Today I decided to look my climate zone up, out of curiosity. I also figure I should know this incase I want to try growing some vegetables or flowers that are not going to do well in my climate. I need to get over my "slacker" attitude when it comes to gardening and learn some important facts. Haha.

I went on over to the NGA website. - National Gardening Association.  Click here to find your zone.

I've discovered that where I live - Oahu, Hawaii - That my climate zone is 10.

Now I guess I will look up plants and produce that grow well in zone 10.

How to start your own compost bucket

Last month I decided to try and make my own compost bucket. I had acquired a couple 5 gallon buckets from a friend and decided it would be a good idea to put them to use.

My process went like this...

1) Drill holes in the bottom of your bucket. I asked my husband to do this part for me, as I am NOT handy with electric powered tools! He used a fairly large drill bit. Some people drill holes on the sides of the bucket as well, to allow for more air. I opted not to do this, because I planned on leaving my buckets open most of the time.













2) On the bottom of the bucket, lay out a layer of food scraps. Keep in mind this is only vegetable and fruit scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds and filter paper, and used tea bags. I made sure that the scraps were cut up into 1 inch by 1 inch pieces.

You want to make sure that your scraps are cut up in to small pieces. This will speed up the break-down process of your green waste, and it will also be much easier to mix after a couple days of leaving it in the hot sun. The small scraps also makes things less smelly.

3) I then sprinkled some potting soil onto the scraps.


























4) Next put a layer of shredded newspaper.

Repeat this process until all of the scraps are used. On the final layer, I make sure to cover with more shredded newspaper and spray it with water until the paper is shiny. You don't want to saturate the materials in your bucket.

Lastly I put my compost bucket inside of another bucket that had no holes in it. That way when the water dripped out, I could catch it, save it, and use it as compost tea. I will talk about compost tea in a different post.

My compost bucket is all set to go. I leave my bucket outside in my yard. I make sure it gets a lot of sunshine. If I know wet weather is coming, I cover my bucket so that it doesn't get too wet. You could use a regular bucket lid or wooden boards. A tarp could work too. I also like to cover it so creatures don't get into it. Bobo my dog has gotten into it and actually started taking rotting fruits or vegetables out and ate some. GROSS!! There are also some stray cats that come out at night and I want to keep them out too.

After a couple of days if letting the compost heat up and sit, I check up on it. I use a small shovel to dig through the compost and mix it up well, making sure to bring the bottom compost up to the surface to allow it to dry out. The bottom will have collected a lot of moisture, so you want to make sure you spread that around. Another method I use to mix my compost, is to cover the bucket with a lid and lay the bucket on its side. Then just roll it around the yard about ten times. It should take about 2 to 3 months for all the compost to break down, if you do not add more layers of scraps to your bucket. I still have a couple months to go because I added more. In fact I had to start a second bucket to hold more scraps!

Happy composting! 

Powdery Mildew

Today was the first day, in 3 days that I could actually do something in my garden. But it wasn't all that fun.

I had to cut and get rid of a lot of my newly grown zinnia flowers. The leaves were covered in mildew patches due to the rain and humidity. I've read that you could use a homemade spray to prevent mildew from spreading, but if the leaves or plant already has spots, you need to cut them off and get rid of it, or the mildew will just keep spreading.

So my zinnias went from huge to sparse. I was not happy. Once I got rid of the mildew stricken parts I sprayed the remaining ones down with my homemade spray of baking soda, water, dish washing soap, and vegetable oil. Let's hope this works. I'll re-apply in a couple days.

Zinnia's went from this...

To this. :( 

Sunflowers

Another easy plant to grow in your containers, garden, or flower bed, is sunflowers! There are different types of sunflowers to choose from. Dwarf/short sunflowers, non-seed producing sunflowers, and also different colored sunflowers that range from light yellow, yellow, to red, and even darker maroon colored ones!

My sister and I started our sunflowers at the very beginning of our gardening journey. It was one of the first things we ever planted, along with tomatoes. They were wonderful and grew fast! They are strong plants and bees love them! We planted them near our tomato plants, which I'm sure was a great benefit, because there were always bees around them, which led them to our tomato plants.

These sunflowers were so gorgeous and easy to take care of. They love fertilizer, water, and sunshine. 3 things that we could provide for it everyday. By winter however, when muggy, wet, and humid weather came, they did not fair well. By that time we would find powdery mildew growing on the stems and leaves. Same thing happened to our zinnia flowers. At the time, I did not know about homemade sprays to fend off mildew, so this year I will definitely be whipping some up and using them on my plants.

We had beautiful flowers for our dining table at dinner time. The only irritating thing we had to deal with was the pollen would fall down and gather on the table, which was easily solved with a quick wipe down.

Cherry Tomatoes

These are the easiest vegetable to grow! They grow quickly and if you plant around 4 seeds and grow them till they are mature, healthy and strong, you will have an abundance of fruit for you, your family, and friends. There is no way you would be able to eat it all by yourself!

Just remember to feed them with fertilizer (every 2 - 3 weeks) as they are growing, and do not forget to water them everyday (either early morning before the sun is burning hot, or later in the evening when the sun has set).

As my 4 tomato plants grew taller and taller, I realized would have to use a stake to help them stand up, because the weight of the tomatoes kept pulling the leaves and branches down to the ground. This would not be good because bugs, slugs, and water would likely damage and kill the baby tomatoes.

Here you can see my 4 cherry tomato plants all bunched together (too close, I've learned, now that I've been growing them for awhile). I know that they would do much better with a trellis of some kind, to help with air circulation and to keep little bugs from swarming the plants.