Category: Growing

DIY Fish Emulsion

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What is fish emulsion? It’s fermented fish guts. Well, it’s not just guts, its also skins and scales and bones. It’s not a very pretty thing, if I’m honest, but it will make your plants pretty!

Fish emulsion is the grossest thing I’ve ever done for my plants. And the smelliest. I hate poultry manure, but I’d rather handle 500 pounds of that than one bucket of fish emulsion. But, plants love fermented fish. And buying that stuff is expensive! So why should I buy it when my best friend’s husband is a fishing guide and generously offered to give me a freezer full of fish scraps? I’d be stupid not to make this… Right?

Fish emulsion (or if we’re getting technical, what I make is fish Fish Hydrolysate because it isn’t processed with heat) is a great natural fertilizer for your garden. It contains organic nitrogen and soluble phosphorous and potassium. It’s also teeming with good bacteria that will feed microbes in your soil and improve your soil’s health. Remember: We feed the soil, not the plants. And fish emulsion is a great way to do that!

So I’ll tell you just how to make fish emulsion, in case you’re feeling brave and want to try it yourself. Then I’ll tell you what I did so you can laugh about it. Or gag. Blech!

Ingredients:
Fish scraps
Leaves
Water (non-chlorinated)
Molassas
Bucket with a tight lid

Instructions:
1. Cut fish scraps in to small pieces, or blend them in a blender.
2. Fill bucket roughly half full with leaves (these help trap the good nutrients)
3. Add fish to the bucket
4. Add water in a ratio of 3:1 (three parts water, one part fish)
5. Add about 2 tablespoons of molasses for every liter of water/fish scraps
6. Stir. Then cover tightly with the lid.
7. Open the bucket and stir every day or two. You should see bubbles–this is a sign that the fermentation is taking place.
8. Once the smell is no longer offensive, your emulsion will be ready to dilute and fertilize. This may be as soon as 2 weeks, or if you’re me, you’ll wait two years. Because you’re scared to open the bucket.

To Use:
Strain the liquid and mix 2 tablespoons of emulsion (liquid) with 1 gallon of water and apply to the soil. You can also add 1/2 tablespoon to a gallon of compost tea. Add the solid remains to your compost pile.

Emulsion can be stored for later use. Leave the cap loose until the bubbling ceases, then tighten the cap and store.

So Here’s my Story:
I got a few large bags of frozen fish scraps: skins, fins, tails, bones, heads and guts. I brought them home and left them outside overnight to thaw slightly, and the next day I collected two 5 gallon buckets, one with a tight fitting lid. I put a few handfuls of leaves in each, filled the buckets with fish scraps, added some molasses and topped them off with water. I stirred the contents and wondered if I had filled them too full. I just had so many fish guts! I put the lid on one bucket and covered the other with a Rubbermaid tote lid and placed some large rocks on top to weigh it down.

I returned to the buckets after a day or so to stir them. The fish scraps had swollen, and they were, indeed, fermenting! The buckets were overflowing and smelly and messy and there were flies everywhere! I found a third bucket and divided the contents between the three.

Soon the buckets were filling with maggots. Barf. I could hardly stomach stirring them. And after another day, I kid you not, I was sitting at my desk, looking out the window, and I saw a vulture circling. The smell was so bad that it was drawing vultures to the homestead! Vultures! I went outside to prevent the vulture from landing, but I soon abandoned the buckets and left them to their own devices. I didn’t lift their lids, I didn’t stir them.

It’s been two years since I tried to ferment fish guts. I think this year I’ll peek inside the buckets to see what’s there. What will I find? I don’t know. But I hope the smell won’t be too bad. And I hope I’ll have something good inside for my garden. If there’s liquid, I’ll use it as it’s meant to be used. If there isn’t, maybe I’ll add some water (and molasses?) and see what happens. Either way, I will either spread the solid remains thin and deep in my garden bed, or I’ll add it to my compost pile. I just hope that all that trouble will be worth it!

Teaching Kids to Love Gardening

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The kids love the giant rhubarb leaves.

When I was little, my family had several small garden plots, each about 4 feet by 4 feet, all in a row and bordered with long square wooden posts.  Each of the kids in the family got a plot to themselves to grow whatever they wanted.  My sister, Anna, grew pumpkins one year.  And I remember growing a mix of wildflowers. I think my sister, Becca, liked to grow carrots.  Most years we would simply grow whatever vegetable we felt like in the moment.  We always had at least one family plot for bush beans, and it was our job, as kids, to pick them.  We never liked picking beans, but we always loved tending our own plots and watching our vegetables or flowers grow.

Luci loves to help move the flower pots around.

It was a simple thing, but it turned work in to pleasure.  Now I’m all grown up, but I still feel like a kid who gets to design and grow whatever she wants each spring.

Double eggplant and other odd shaped vegetables are always a fun find.

There’s something magical about taking care of a garden that will then take care of you.  Here are a few ways to involve the kiddos in that magic:

  • Let them plant with you.  You can make the hole, and the kids can put the seed in.
  • Let kids pick and eat veggies from the garden for snack time.
  • Have the kids help look for and collect potatoes when you dig them up.  It’s like finding a hidden treasure!
  • Make a little garden plot for each child where they can grow and tend whatever they want.
  • Ask the children to choose a veggie from the garden to eat with your meal.
  • Have the children paint rocks or sticks to use as garden markers.
I plant orange, yellow, purple and white carrots. Not because I prefer rainbow carrots, but because the kids love picking colorful carrots.

My Grandad used to have a beautiful strawberry patch.  He would tell us to go pick some strawberries and we’d ask “where should we put them?”  He’d say “in your breadbasket,” which was code for “stomach.”

We don’t preserve many peas on my homestead because the kids like to eat all of them from the vine!

I have great memories as a child in the garden.  And now I get to share my love of gardening with my nephews and niece, and they’re loving it, too.  What ways are you teaching the kids in your life to love the garden?

The Complete Guide to Growing Tomatoes

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Apart from being a delicious and versatile addition to any meal, tomatoes are a great source of vitamin C, potassium, folate and vitamin K.

When you consider what varieties of tomatoes to grow, you may decide you want a cherry tomato for snacking or salads, a slicing tomato for sandwiches, and a fleshy tomato for cooking sauces.

My personal favorites are the Gardner’s Delight for a red cherry tomato and Sungold Select for a yellow cherry tomato.
Some slicing tomato varieties include Moskvich, Abe Lincoln and Bella Rose.
Roma tomatoes are the perfect choice for salsa, spaghetti sauce and tomato paste.

How Many Tomatoes do you Plant?

Cherry Tomatoes: Plant 1-4 plants per person

Slicing Tomatoes: Plant 1-4 plants per person

Cooking Tomatoes: Plant 3-6 of each variety. This will yield about 8-10 quarts of sauces or salsas

How to Start Tomato Plants

Start seedlings indoors about 6-8 weeks before the last frost. You can find your typical last frost date here.

To start tomato seedlings, fill a tray with a seed starting soil mix. You can use a tray with cells that was made for this purpose, or you can use an old cake pan or tupperware or even solo cups or eggshells.

Plant seeds at a depth of 1/4 inch in moist soil.

In order for seeds to germinate (start growing) they’ll need to be kept at a temperature between 70-80 degrees and humid. If you don’t have an indoor greenhouse, you can cover your tray with plastic and place it on top of your refrigerator for warmth.

Seeds will germinate in 5-12 days.

Once your seeds have germinated, your tomato plants will need full sun for 16 hours of the day. Grow lights will make for stronger tomato plants than the sun in a windowsill. To prevent seedlings from becoming “leggy” or “spindly,” meaning tall, thin and weak with sparse leaves, the distance you keep between your plants and the grow light is important. If using LED grow lights, keep the light 3-6 inches from the top of the plant. If using a full-spectrum grow light, 8-10 inches is ideal.

When seedlings are two to three inches tall and have two sets of true leaves, it’s time to upgrade your plant to a larger pot! Gently scoop your plant out of the soil (I use a spoon to aid me), and replant it deep in the new pot, with the soil coming just below the leaves.

Be sure that you use pots that allow for draining out the bottom. This is helpful for two reasons:
1. It prevents your plant from getting waterlogged or rotting by allowing excess water to drain.
2. Watering plants from the bottom is very good for young vegetable plants! Place your plants in a dish of water, and let the soil absorb it from the bottom up. That way you’ll know that the roots are getting the water they need. Be sure not to leave your plants to sit in water for more than a couple minutes.

If you choose to use a tall container for planting (such as a solo cup), transplant your young plant deep in the pot. As the tomato plant grows, you can fill it in with soil. The fuzzies on the stem of a tomato plant will become roots once it’s below the soil, which will make for a stronger plant. If you fill in your pot as the plant grows, you won’t need to upgrade to a larger pot as often (maybe not at all) before it goes outside.

Hardening off your Tomato Plants

Your tomato plants have been so gently nurtured, but it’s time to get them used to the harsh environment that they’ll soon experience. You can start by setting up a rotating fan on your plants while they’re indoors.

To introduce them to the outdoors, start by placing them outdoors where they won’t be in direct sunlight or strong winds. Keep your plants in a tote with high walls so that they’ll have a little extra protection from the elements. Leave them to sit out of doors for ten minutes at a time, gradually increasing the amount of time and amount of sun and wind exposure over about ten days. Be sure to water them well before placing them outside as the sun and wind will dry out their soil quickly.

Once your plants are able to comfortably stay a night out of doors, they’re ready to go to their home in the garden!

Transplanting to the Garden

Soil
Tomatoes like a soil PH of 6.0-6.8. A soil PH of 7.0 is neutral, so tomatoes like their soil on the slightly acidic side.

Sunlight
Tomatoes will need at least 8 hours of full sun to be happy in the garden. Be sure not to plant it near anything that will cast a shadow.

Spacing
Space your tomatoes 2-3 feet apart to allow for growth and airflow. Without proper ventilation you tomato plants will be more susceptible to disease.

Preparing
Dig a deep hole where you want your tomato plant to live. Place a handful of crushed up eggshells in the hole. This will give your plants an extra boost of calcium, which may help prevent blossom end rot. You can also add some Epsom salt to the hole, which will provide an extra boost of magnesium and sulfur, which are both very good for tomatoes. Cover your eggshells with a layer of soil so that the roots don’t come in to direct contact with it.

Before placing your tomato plant in the hole, remove the bottom leaves. And I mean from half way up your stem. Gently pluck them off. Then plant your tomato plant to the depth of about 4 inches below the remaining leaves. This will give your tomato more strength and better roots. Trust me, your plant will thank you!

Supporting
Tomatoes will need supports to grow in the garden. You can use a tomato cage, or you can tie your tomato stalk to a stake. You can also hang garden twine from above and train your plant to grow intertwined with it. Without these supports your tomato plants will fall over and be at risk of parasites and disease due to laying in the dirt and not having adequate air circulation.

Care
Tomato plants will need about 1-2 inches of water a week. Keep an eye on the weather forecast. Tomatoes prefer one or two good soakings a week rather than daily watering, though your weather conditions will need to be taken in to account and you may find that you do need to water daily. Aim for the soil to be moistened at a depth of 6-8 inches with each watering. Tomatoes hate to have their leaves wet, so water them at the ground and not from above with sprinklers. If the bottom leaves are getting dirty from the water splashing, remove them from the plant so as not to introduce disease to the plant. Water your plants in the morning and not at night. Plants can grow fungus when cold night temperatures are combined with the damp of watering.

Companion Planting

Tomatoes have natural friends and enemies in the garden. Take this in to consideration for happy plants.

Friends:
Basil Asparagus
Beans Borage
Carrots Celery
Chives Collards
Cucumber Garlic
Lettuce Marigold
Mint Nasturtium
Onion Parsley
Peppers

Enemies:
Brassicas Dill
Corn Kohlrabi
Potatoes Walnut Trees

Tomatoes are one of my favorite vegetables to grow. If you haven’t grown them before, give them a try and enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Build a DIY Garden Hotbed for Free!

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Last summer I planted eggplants for the first time. Lucky for me I planted two varieties, because one of them didn’t grow. Here are the two varieties I planted:

The Early Long Purple Eggplants grew beautifully, and produced abundantly. They were delicious, especially lightly breaded and baked. But they were slender, and I wanted something more meaty. I’d like to try stuffing them, or maybe not having to bread and bake a million pieces the size of quarters, but instead just half a dozen pieces the size of saucers.

These Early Long Purple Eggplants are the ones I got:

These Black Beauty Eggplants are the ones I want:

Unfortunately, living in zone 3, our summer nights can still get pretty chilly. My Black Beauty Eggplants flowered, but then the flowers would fall off in the cold night. No flowers, no fruit. Since I’m not willing to move to a warmer zone, and an expensive hoop house or greenhouse just isn’t in the budget…. I made a hotbed! This should create a warmer environment for these cold sensitive plants.

Here’s how I built my hotbed for free:

Supply list:
3 or 4 pallets
Screws, nails or metal wire for tying pallets together
Cardboard boxes, broken down
Hot manure (horse, cow, chicken, rabbit, or llama will do)
Brown compost matter (such as leaves, straw or hay)
Composted soil

Instructions:
Start by screwing, nailing or tying the pallets together to form a large C, or if you want it to have four sides instead of three, you can make a square. I did three sides because I’m short and don’t want to reach up and over the hotbed to tend my plants.
Then line your three-sided pallet box with cardboard and fill about half full with hot manure and brown compost (I used dried leaves). Layer the manure and brown compost matter so you’ve got about one foot of manure, then an inch of brown compost, then a foot of manure, then an inch of brown compost. You can use a large piece of cardboard to act as a fourth side to help hold and shape the manure.
After your hotbed is about half full, pile on at least 18-24 inches of soil.
Then plant your eggplants on top and let the manure warm your little garden bed!

A hotbed can be used for any plants that love heat, or it can be used to extend your growing season by providing warmth for your plants. Once my eggplants are flowering, I can easily cover them with garden fleece from edge to edge of the hotbed when the evening forecasts are cold, which will be kinder to the plants than if the fleece were laying on top of them while they’re planted on the ground. The high sides of the pallets can also act as a bit of a windbreak, which will help keep my plants toasty and cozy.

What do you think? Will I have Black Beauty Eggplants this summer??? I’ll update you when I know!

Have you ever built a hotbed? How did it work for you? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Update!

At the end of the summer I had pretty, pretty Black Beauty Eggplants growing in my hotbed. It worked and it was so worth it.

Keeping Rabbits and Birds out of your Garden (The Natural Way)

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I’ve been waking up every morning at about 5:30am to the sounds of birds in the garden. They sound so beautiful, but I don’t want to wake up that early! I have an alarm clock that makes the sounds of birds chirping, so I’m conditioned to wake up to them. The birds have made themselves at home in the trees by the garden, and I don’t want that to become an issue as my veggies grow.

Then there’s the rabbits. They didn’t show up until late last summer, but when they did, my peas started disappearing and my tomatoes were being eaten. This spring I planted my peas, and the next day I noticed divots where I had deposited several of my precious pea seeds. So I replanted and covered my peas with garden fleece. And they grew. But they don’t want to be tucked under the fleece anymore, so what do I do? Easy! I do this:

Since I have a couple extra flower hangers, I simply place one in the ground and tie an old aluminum pie tin to it. It waves in the wind, and sometimes bangs on the metal post. The sight and sound keeps the birds and rabbits away. Easy peasy. Once my petunias are transplanted in to their hanging baskets, I think I’ll hang one opposite of the pie tin, making it a really pretty solution to my rabbit and bird problem!

The Secret to Successful Morel Hunting

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Three days ago I found and tasted my first morel mushroom, and I became instantly hooked. As a new mushroom hunter, I want YOU to enjoy the feeling of pride that comes from being a part of this special group of foragers. Below are some of the things I’ve learned, read, heard and observed in my special first season of morel mushroom hunting.

1. Start looking when nights are cold and days are warm

Nighttime temps of 40 and daytime temps of 60 are ideal for morels. In Minnesota it’s just before the mosquitoes start to bother. For Minnesota’s cold spring this year, morel hunting began on Memorial Day Weekend, or May 26th. The season can last up to three weeks, and morels pop up fast, so look every day!

2. Morels grow near fallen trees

If you see ash, aspen, elm, hickory, sycamore or oak trees, look around them for morels. These trees are said to feed morels from their roots. I was surprised to find morels surrounded by pine needles and leaves both, though, so don’t assume that you won’t find any near the pine trees.

3. Look for disturbed soil

If tree roots feed morels underground, then when the soil is disturbed by traffic, fires, logging, etc. the morels are forced to the surface and voila! They emerge! The spot where I found the most morels this spring is where some small trees were mowed down last year, and where the horses trod in the south pasture.

My morel trail. Lots of morels were found here, especially on the shaded, west side.

4. Morels like moisture

Do you see the low ground, covered in water in the picture above? It’s not far from where the morels were found. The ground was moist, but not saturated. The soil was not sand and not clay, but loam. In my searching, I noticed that some ground was covered in moss, and that morels were not found there. Morels are typically more plentiful after a winter with lots of snow, or during a wet spring.

5. Where there’s one, there’s another

If you see one morel, look nearby and you’ll most likely find another!

One more thing: while you’re gathering, carry your harvest in a mesh sack (like the ones you buy onions or clementines in). Mushrooms propagate by releasing spores rather than seeds. The spores are finer than dust and you probably won’t see them, but if you carry your mushrooms in a mesh sack, the spores will fall out and hopefully produce more lovely morels!