Daddy is no longer with us, so I can't
call and get his advise.
These are some of the lessons that I learned from him.
They will be
with me forever.
I hope you find them helpful too. |
Garden onions are ready to be pulled when the green tops begin to wither or turn brown or fall over. In Denver,
Colorado this begins sometime in late July or August. Daddy always harvested before heavy rains. He said the onions could rot if left in wet soggy soil. |
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Buddy's Old Maids.
I never really understood Daddy's fascination with Old Maids (zinnia's
to the rest of us). He could have been the 'Johnny Apple Seed' of
these classic favorites. He must have bought a package of seeds,
who knows when. The seeds from that first crop generated more
blooms at our house, at church, and numerous of other yard. He
saved every seed head and planted them the following year. Zinnias
play a dominate role in my garden. |
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Stop
tomatoes splits. I complained to Daddy that
my tomatoes
were splitting one the vine. He told me that I needed to be more
consistent in watering them. He said tomatoes tended to split when
there is too much water. |
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Second Cabbage Crop.
Daddy had a curious habit when harvesting cabbages. He always made
two shallowcuts. When you cut a cabbage, make two nicks crosswise on the
top of the stump, and within a month or six weeks it will sprout again
and give you a crop of tender greens. |
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Storing Onions.
Daddy stored onions in a bin in his garage. I don't have
such a bin so I just put the newly pulled onions on paper towels or
sometimes newspaper and leave them on my kitchen table. I let them
"cure" that way for a few days. I wait until the outer skins are
completely dry. They have the papery crisp skins like the
onion I buy in the grocery. Leave undisturbed until the outer skin
becomes papery and crispy dry. Daddy kept his onions in the bin for
several months. I don't produce enough to worry about
storing them. I use them as soon as possible.
Can't bet the flavor of home-grown onions. |
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Never bought Blooming
Plants. On the rare occasions that we went to the nursery,
Daddy would never let me put blooming plants into our shopping cart.
He told me to look at the plants with blooms and then pick ones to plant
without them. He said these plants would do because that had
better roots. This is a "rule" I still follow. |
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No More Aphids.
Daddy had the curious habit of burying banana peels at base of rose
bushes. As I recall, he just covered them with dirt and didn't
burry them every deeply. He claimed that the composting banana
peels prevented aphids. |
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Daddy's garden from time
to time would be invaded by snails.
He put a shallow dish of beer next to the snail's favorite plants.
I guess the snails love beer because they would drown themselves in the
beer. |
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Attracting good bugs.
Daddy never harvested all the carrots that he planted. Living in
Texas where winters are "mild" he left some in the ground. Next
season they made the prettiest flowers and attracted the good bugs that
eat the bad bugs to the garden. If you have never seen carrot
flowers, they look a lot like Queen Anne's Lace. |
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Sunflower Plants as
Supports. Daddy was always one to "kill two birds with one
stone" so to speak. One example of this was that he planted six
pole bean seeds in a triangle (2 seeds at each point) and then planted a
mammoth Sunflower seed in the middle. The Sunflower provided an
excellent support around which the beans grew. I suppose you could
do the same thing with cucumbers. Dad had a big garden and always
left the cukes to sprawl out on the ground. |
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Marigolds Keep Bugs
Away. Daddy scattered french marigold seeds throughout his
garden. Not only were they a pretty surprise but also helped keep
the bad bugs away. I know now that is an accepted
companion gardening practice. When I
was little I just thought it was pretty. He also planted garlic
throughout the garden for the same reason. |
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Wet Newspapers. To solve the
emergence of weeds around his vegetables, Daddy put down a layer
consisting of several sheets of newspapers. Keeping them wet,
prevented weeds from coming through. |
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Epsom Salt for
Tomatoes. After the tomato plants were established, Daddy
mixed a little epsom salt into the soil at the base of tomatoes & pepper
plants. He claimed that it made them more productive and taste better.
I know that the tomatoes from his garden certainly tasted better than
store bought. I later learned that epsom salt adds magnesium and
that is a good thing. As I recall he also buried most of the young
tomato plant because it sent out more roots from the buried stalk. |
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Keep Gardening Tools
Sharp. Daddy took great care of his garden tools. He
kept a bucket of sand in the garage. At the end of his gardening
day, he would plunge the heads of your garden tools into the bucket of
sand to keep them sharp. He would also wipe them down with an old
oily wrag. He said that kept them from rusting. |