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May 13, 2015 • 800 × 533 • Radish background

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thefarmchef

Teaching a passion for gardening & cooking food that nourishes the body. Creator of the 5-week program called Cooking for the Family in Cincy. Zone 6

Funny garden things. Some of my tomatoes are try

Funny garden things.

Some of my tomatoes are trying to look like Davy Jones of Pirates of the Caribbean. Haha.

I’m trying out vertical pumpkin growing in my tiny spaces. But they got so heavy that I’m using my daughter’s old holey tights to keep them on the fence and not break the vine. The tights will grow with the pumpkin. We’ll see how it goes. The vine is strong enough for the small ones just hanging out right now but that first one is sooo heavy!

Monarch Tagging. Now is peak season for monarchs i

Monarch Tagging. Now is peak season for monarchs in our area as they are preparing for their migration south to Mexico. We went to @thegormanheritagefarm to learn how to tag monarchs with @monarch_watch so they can track and study their migration. Monarchs are such fascinating creatures!!

If you ever see a monarch with a tag on their wing you should go to monarchwatch.org to record that you saw it. I can’t wait to check in April/May to see if the tags we helped with have been seen and where they went.

#monarchbutterfly ##monarchmigration

Summer harvest. It’s pickling time.

Summer harvest. It’s pickling time.

Time to make sauerkraut… cabbage + salt + stron

Time to make sauerkraut… cabbage + salt + strong arms + time = yumm.

Still loving this soil for @tilth.soil! Our seedli

Still loving this soil for @tilth.soil! Our seedlings are growing beautifully. Yay!

Planting some things outside this week: peas, cabbage, onion sets, carrots, and kale.

Already harvesting: lettuces, spinach, chives, green onions, and chickweed (ha I didn’t plant that, but I love wild edibles).

Time to start our seeds indoors. We just got our s

Time to start our seeds indoors. We just got our soil!We are so excited that this year we get to use soil from @tilth.soil. This stuff is so fluffy and lucious. I have high hopes for our seedlings. Huge thanks to @mustardseedfarmcsa for recommending them and organizing the order.

Tip: if you have old metal blinds cut them up to make plant labels. You can reuse them year after year. Also, @cincyrecyclingreusehub has a ton of previously used pots for free that can help you with seed starting.

Squash Vine Borer larvae. Sometimes I have a love

Squash Vine Borer larvae. Sometimes I have a love hate relationship with insects! They are so vitally important and even this vine borer looks really fascinating and has an interesting lifecycle, but man they wreck havoc on squashes!

Tip of the day, if you lose a squash plant to these guys cut the stem up and kill all of the larvae so they don’t grow into the moths who make more of these creatures.

I have fairly good success with saving plants infested with vine borers if I catch them early enough. As soon as you notice what looks like sawdust on the stem of a squash plant, start at the hole and carefully cut up the stem until you find the larvae. Extract the larvae and then mound damp soil around the stem and cover the cut.

I didn’t catch this one early enough and it had 5 larvae in it! Yikes! I luckily planted a second round of squash in seedling trays about a week ago to replace the ones that die, so I can continue with a constant supply of summer squash.

#squashvineborer #gardentips #backyardgardener

Start of summer garden. It’s getting hot out her

Start of summer garden. It’s getting hot out here!

I love trying new types of peppers each year. This time I tried Candy Cane peppers from @funkesgreenhouse. Aren’t they beautiful?? Evidently they turn red and chocolate striped and are sweet like a bell pepper.

Thank goodness for my garden helpers. We could really use some rain helpers though.

#summergarden #gardentour #zone6a #backyardgarden

Late spring garden check in. Yay! My garden is com

Late spring garden check in. Yay! My garden is coming along.

Aren’t these King Tut purple peas so beautiful? From @bakercreekseeds “One of the most historical peas known, this particular variety is said to have been taken from the tomb of famed Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, or King Tut. The story is, his servants planted and harvested these peas to help provide for his afterlife. Though some claim to have debunked the story, Lynn McKee’s family tradition asserts that her father received the seeds found in the boy King’s tomb, where they had been undisturbed for nearly 5,000 years until Howard Carter found the tomb on Nov. 4, 1922. From there, as the legend goes, the seeds were taken to England where they were propagated and shared with friends.” Check out their website for more of the story.

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