Vegetables – Page 6 – Center for Urban Agriculture

Your Garden Mission – Eliminate Squash Bug Eggs

July 27, 2016 by Becky Griffin

This week’s garden mission – eliminate squash bug eggs before they become squash bugs!

Scouting for pests in your garden on a regular basis is a MUST. Scouting alerts you to problems before they get out of hand. This time of the year as you scout among your squash plants you may see squash bug eggs. They are not too hard to spot and should be in a cluster:

Your Garden Mission - Eliminate Squash Bug Eggs — Squash bug eggs appear in a cluster.

If you find an egg cluster congratulate yourself because you can now stop this pest cycle. There are several ways to do this. You could remove this leaf. Or, flick the eggs off the leaf with your fingernail but you run the risk of just moving a viable egg that could eventually become a squash bug. There is an easy way to get rid of these eggs and keep the squash leaf intact.

First, cut a short length of tape. Clear packing tape seems to work very well:

Next, press the tape on top of the eggs. Press firmly and move the tape around a bit. The eggs stick to the tape:

Finally, remove the tape and fold it. Crush the eggs within the folded tape and your potential pest problem is removed. Notice the squash leaf is intact.

If you miss scouting and missed finding the squash eggs, the eggs hatch and these squash nymphs become squash bugs:

An easy chemical-free way to take care of your garden! For more information on growing squash successfully see UGA’s Home Garden Series: Homegrown Summer and Winter Squash.

Wishing you a squash bug-free garden.

Happy Gardening!

July Gardening Chores for Your Georgia Garden

July 22, 2016 by Becky Griffin

UGA’s Vegetable Garden Calendar gives us an idea of what we should be doing in our gardens in July.

Lettuce is a wonderful cool-season crop.

July’s Garden Chores

Start planning the fall garden.
Keep grass from going to seed.
Fallow soil to conserve moisture for germination of fall crops and to help reduce the nematode population in the soil..
Clean off harvested rows immediately to prevent insect and disease buildup.
Plant the following vegetables not later than July 20 to allow time to mature before frost: tomatoes, okra, corn, pole beans and lima beans. Also plant cucumbers, squash and snap beans.

Get that last planting of beans planted. - Woodstock Community Garden — Get that last planting of beans planted. – Woodstock Community Garden

Water deeply and less often — as needed to prevent drought stress.
Plant that big pumpkin for Halloween.
Be sure to make arrangements for neighbors to harvest and water your garden while you are on vacation.
Make sure the garden is well mulched to prevent weeds and conserve moisture.

Happy Gardening!

June Chores for Your Georgia Garden

June 8, 2016 by Becky Griffin

It is June, the official start of summer and a very busy time in the vegetable garden. We have complied a list of chores to add to your list to keep your garden in peak condition. According to UGA’s Vegetable Garden Calendar:

Harvest vegetables such as beans, peas, squash, cucumbers and okra regularly to prolong production and enjoy peak freshness.

June Chores for Your Georgia Garden — Bean trellis at the Stone Mountain Community Garden at VFW Park

2. Eat “high on the hog” this month and in July and preserve enough to last during the winter months ahead.
3. For best results, harvest onions and Irish potatoes when two-thirds of the tops have died down. Store potatoes in a cool, dark place and onions in a dry, airy place.

4. Clean off rows of early crops as soon as they are through bearing and use rows for replanting or keep them fallow for fall crops.
5. Water as needed.
6. Plant sweet potatoes and a second planting of Southern peas.

Food for a Thousand – A Garden of Community

June 2, 2016May 4, 2016 by Becky Griffin

St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church’s Food For a Thousand garden in Albany, Georgia is a true lesson in community. Dedicated church parishioners and Dougherty County Master Gardener Extension volunteers (MGEVs) maintain this space and harvest the produce. Dougherty County 4-H volunteers even lend a hand. All of the produce is donated to two local food pantries and a rescue mission. This is an impressive operation.

April Gardening Chores for Georgia

April 13, 2016 by Becky Griffin

It is that time! Spring planting for summer vegetables. Before planting check your soil temperatures. Are they 60-65 degrees F and rising? Look at the medium range weather forecast. Any frost or temperatures below freezing predicted?

UGA Extension’s Vegetable Gardening Calendar give us this advice for April:

Plant your choices of the following “warm-season” or “frost-tender” crops: beans (snap, pole and lima), cantaloupe, corn (sweet), cucumbers, eggplant, okra, field peas, peppers, squash, tomatoes and watermelon.
Plant tall-growing crops such as okra, pole beans and corn on the north side of other vegetables to avoid shading. Plant two or more rows of corn for better pollination.
Make a second planting within two to three weeks of the first planting of snap beans, corn and squash.
Within three to four weeks of the first planting, plant more lima beans and corn. Remember: for better pollination, plant at least two or more rows.
Be sure to plant enough vegetables for canning and freezing.
Cultivate to control weeds and grass, to break crusty soil and to provide aeration.
Maintain mulch between rows.
For the crops planted earlier, side-dress as described above.
Plant tender herbs.
Remember: Do not work in your garden when the foliage is wet to avoid spreading diseases from one plant to another.

Happy Gardening!

Add Organic Matter, Water Deeply for Healthy Tomato Plants-A Guest Post by Michael Wheeler

April 6, 2016 by Becky Griffin

This week we are happy to have UGA Hall County Extension Agent, Michael Wheeler, as a guest blogger to give us a refresher on growing tomatoes. Michael writes….

Homegrown vegetables are a must have for many Southerners during the summer.

The one vegetable, well technically a fruit, which makes everyone’s mouth water in anticipation is the tomato. The folks I know always say the first tomato of the season is the best.
It is a known fact that homegrown tomatoes are much better than anything you can buy from the grocery store. Nothing can beat it.
Whether or not you are trying to grow tomatoes for the first time, or this is your 30th season, there are some tips to follow to make sure your harvest is plentiful.

Add Organic Matter, Water Deeply for Healthy Tomato Plants-A Guest Post by Michael Wheele — Tomato seedlings ready to go in the ground.

Before you plant, incorporate four inches of new organic matter. This will encourage the plants to explore and get established quickly.

Plant your tomatoes deep. At planting, remove the leaves from the bottom of the plant and bury about two-thirds of the stem. This deep planting causes the plant to grow roots up and down the stem that is in the ground. This extra root system will make the plant stronger and more stable as it matures.
As a UGA Extension county agent, I always tell my clients to use mulch when you plant anything. Well the same goes for veggies.
A good 2- to 3-inch layer of wheat straw will go a long way to hold back weeds, keep the plants clean from rainfall and keep the soil moist in the middle of summer.
Speaking of rain and moisture, what if we don’t get any during the summer? This is where many of the problems in growing vegetables come from — improper watering.
Water your plants so the soil stays fairly evenly moist, avoiding the extremes of it being parched and then flooded. When you do water, keep the water at the base of the plant. Wetting the leaves will only encourage diseases.
Give your tomatoes fertilizer when they are first planted. After that, they do not need much fertilization until the first tomatoes are the size of a dime or so.
Pushing your tomatoes to grow will only encourage the growth of leaves and stems, but not much fruit.
If during the summer you have problems growing tomatoes, stop by your local UGA Extension office for help identifying pests or diseases.

Thanks, Michael! Happy Tomato Gardening!

Spring Greens for your Georgia Garden

March 2, 2016 by Becky Griffin

Spring greens are fun to grow in the cool weeks before the heat of summer begins. We have picked three favorites for you to try in your Georgia garden. You will be glad you did:

Arugula

Arugula is a fast-growing green (about 40-45 days) that comes from the Mediterranean. It has a wonderful, peppery taste that works well in sandwiches as well as salads. It is even popular as a pizza topping.

Drunken Woman

Drunken Woman is a great addition to any garden. These bright green leaves have red, ruffled tips. This lettuce is a loose-leaf type that resists bolting (about 55 days). That makes it a great choice for Georgia. It has a sweet taste and remains crisp and flavorful even when stored in the refrigerator for several days.

Salad Bowl

Salad bowl (about 40 days) is a standard when it comes to spring lettuce. The bright green leaves are ruffled and are a nice addition to any salad. When fully mature it makes a loose head but can be harvested as leaf lettuce.

When planting greens in the spring choose loose-leaf varieties instead of head producing ones; you will have more success. You can simply cut off leaves to add to your salads instead of waiting for heads to form. The leaves don’t have to be fully mature to harvest. If we have a short spring and hit those warm summer weeks early, you will be able to enjoy some wonderful salads before the greens bolt. Homegrown greens have much more taste than anything you can purchase at the grocery store.

These seeds can be purchased at some seed racks at hardware and big box stores. They are easily ordered through seed catalogs. You can direct seed them or start them indoors. Sometimes they can be found as plants in specialty plant nurseries. For detailed instructions on planting these seeds see Lettuce is Luscious in a Georgia Community Garden, a past blog post. As always, your local UGA Cooperative Extension Agent is a great resource.

Happy Gardening!

February Chores for Your Georgia Garden

February 3, 2016February 3, 2016 by Becky Griffin

As we all wait patiently, or impatiently, for Spring there are things we can do this month to be ready. This chore list was taken from UGA vegetable specialist Bob Westerfield’s Vegetable Garden Calendar.

Indoor Chores

This is the time to start your seedlings indoors. Peppers and eggplants take about eight weeks to grow from seed to transplant size. Tomatoes will take about six weeks. For detailed information about indoor seed starting visit our January 2015 post on seed starting by Amy Whitney.

Check in with your local UGA Extension office to see what type of classes are being offered near you. Agents plan their trainings on what you want to learn! There is also an upcoming events page on our website.

Outdoor Chores

Now is the time to repair any raised bed materials and think about adding compost. If you haven’t done a soil test in the past three years get that done now.

Make early plantings of your choice from the following: carrots, collards, lettuce, mustard, English peas, Irish potatoes, radishes, spinach and turnips.

Use “starter” fertilizer solution around transplanted crops such as cabbage.

Replenish mulch on strawberries.

These chores will keep us busy until the temperatures warm up!

Happy Gardening!

Being Thankful for Sweet Potato Pie

November 9, 2017November 18, 2015 by Becky Griffin

Thanksgiving Tradition

Thanksgiving dinner is about much more than the turkey – it is also about the pie! In time for Thanksgiving baking we are fortunate to have Lauren Bolden of Woodstock, Georgia’s Pie Bar share a family sweet potato pie recipe with us.

The Pie Bar is a cute shop in downtown Woodstock that sells wonderful pies. It has been open just since September but it is already an asset to the Woodstock community.

Being Thankful for Sweet Potato Pie — Lauren has perfected her pie crust!

Lauren grew up making pies using frozen pie dough. A few years ago she decided to learn how to make homemade crust and after much experimentation she has it perfected!

She and her husband, Cody, began selling pies at area Farmers Markets. There they built a client base and met many of the local farmers. They took a big leap in starting their own pie shop earlier this year. Insisting on using local ingredients when they are available, Lauren enjoys building relationships with farmers. Peaches, pecans, apples and blueberries are all locally grown.

Like all good recipes, the quality of the finished dish depends on your ingredients. For good sweet potato pies you MUST start with quality, cured sweet potatoes. Like the ones you have grown!

Bolden Family Sweet Potato Pie

Makes two pies

– 2 All Butter Pie Crusts (par-baked)
– 3 medium sweet potatoes (roasted in oven)
– 1 can evaporated milk (5oz can)
– 1 cup granulated sugar
– 2 large eggs
– 8 tbs melted butter
– 1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
– 1 tsp cinnamon
– 1 tsp vanilla

Wash and prick (with a fork) sweet potatoes. Roast potatoes at 400F for 1 hour, or until soft. Cool potatoes, remove skin. Pulse sweet potatoes in blender or food processor until smooth/pureed.

Reduce oven temperature to 350 F.

Place pie shell on baking sheet and fill with parchment paper. Add uncooked beans or pie weights to shells and bake for approximately 7-10 minutes. Remove parchment paper filled with beans/weights; cool shells slightly. You do not want to cook the shells completely. If shell begins to puff up, use a fork to prick slightly.

Combine pureed sweet potatoes, sugar, melted butter, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. Once combined, add evaporated milk and eggs. Whisk until smooth.

Fill par-baked pie shell with sweet potato filling and return to oven for 35-40 minutes; rotating 180 degrees halfway through. Use a toothpick to check the center of the pie; it should come out clean. Use the back of a teaspoon to lift the edge of the pie shell to check to see if your crust is complete.

Cool pie on the counter for up to 2 hours. Keep pie refrigerated up to 4 days.

We like to top our sweet potato pie with our homemade cinnamon whipped cream. That recipe is below:

Cinnamon Whipped Cream

– 2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
– 9 TBS Confectioners Sugar
– 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Whip heavy whipping cream in stand mixer (or hand mixer) until you notice a slight trail. Add cinnamon, then confectioners sugar one TBS at a time as you continue to mix. Mix until whipped and stands on its own. Store in the refrigerator.

A Sweet Potato Tradition

Recently Grade 6 students of the Waldorf School of Atlanta harvested 960 pounds of sweet potatoes with the help of the Atlanta Community Food Bank’s Fred Conrad. This has become a grand tradition for the school; it is the 5th year of the harvest.

The video of the harvest shows the importance of having young people involved in growing food. As you watch, look at the facial expressions of the students. Thank you Lindsey Lingenfelter for sharing the video. Nine hundred and sixty pounds of sweet potatoes will make alot of pie!

https://vimeo.com/144634407

From garden to table….

Happy Baking!

The Due West Elementary School Garden

November 30, 2015November 11, 2015 by Becky Griffin

Recently I was privileged to visit the Due West Elementary School Garden in Cobb County, Georgia. The garden program is coordinated by Ms. Rita Fullick, a UGA Extension Cobb Master Gardener. She has been working with the program for four years and her enthusiasm is evident.

Due West Elementary School currently has 640 students. The school garden is spread out around the property. There is a sensory garden for the k-1st graders, a garden devoted to the importance of water, a pollinator garden, a wildlife habitat garden, and vegetable garden plots.

The Math Garden

$The Due West Elementary School Garden$ The math garden is unusual. The beds were created in geometric shapes and professional grade rulers line the beds. Metric and English measurements are both included.

In the Math Garden the learning can be endless. Using a scale to measure soil weight or children’s weight. How much we can carry?

How far apart do we plant? How Deep … both in metric and standard measurements. How high is it growing? How many flowers or vegetables are planted?

Sound like math to you? Counting the number of weeds pulled and the number of rolly pollys collected is understanding the relationship between numbers and quantities. This connects counting to real life.

Did I mention that as the children are working and learning in the garden they are playing in dirt?

There is also an outdoor auditorium. The entire school property is a wonderful space for outdoor learning. The date I visited the students were getting ready for a soil experiment.

Community Support

The Due West Elementary School Garden — Ms. Rita Fullick, A Cobb County Master Gardener loves her work in the Due West Garden

The principal, Ms. Peggy Fleming, feels that every student should garden. Ms. Jan Divelbliss, the school science specialist, is also on board with the school garden. The school support is the biggest part of the school garden’s success. Parent involvement is also crucial. Ms. Fullick has a group of involved parents she calls Garden Angels. In addition to assisting during the school year, Garden Angel families volunteer to help keep the gardens in order during the summer months when school is out.

Ms. Fullick gave two pieces of advice she says could help any school garden. First, engage community partners. Don’t be afraid to ask local businesses to be a part of the garden. Visit the businesses in person and don’t be shy about asking for donations. Also, find local experts to provide programs for the students. A representative from the local water department helped the students in developing a rain barrel system.

Secondly, provide signage for the teachers. Some teachers are intimidated with the garden subjects and teaching outdoors. Having signage to guide them encourages more teachers to actually use the garden.

We thank Ms. Fullick for the tour and for the words of wisdom. Due West Elementary is fortunate to have her and we wish them a wonderful school year!

Happy Gardening!

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