Thistle Weeds: A thorn in my side

Canada thistle (Cirsium Arvense)This pointy weed might look tough but actually is a delicate plant if you know its weak spots. Thistle is a creeping perennial, meaning the roots will grow like vines under the ground and popup a new plant. It doesn't do well in shade. (colostate.edu)

Medically
This plant is used to treat: tuberculosis, diarrhea, intestines worms, gastritis, skin eruptions, skin ulcers, and poison-ivy rash (georgetown.edu  and naturalmedicinalherbs.net). The leaves and roots are usually used for teas or mashed up to make a paste. I don't need to tell you that eating a prickly plant is not a good idea.

Removal
Killing this weed could be a tough battle. This is one of those plants where you need to attack the greens not the roots. Unless you dig out all of the vine like roots new plants will show up, but this plant is easy to starve out. Every article I read showed that you should take a multi prog approach to remove these weeks (Curt, spray, and shade) They have multiple roots that spider out and can go as deep as 15ft. If digging out the plant is you plan, any roots left behind it will regenerate and create baby weeds (Canada Thistle). Most web pages say not to hand pull the weed, but cut the green part down to the ground.

Chemically Roundup's Ortho Weed B Gone Max seems to be the preferred chemical choice. garden forums says you will need to apply is a second time with the weed comes back. Organically you have lots of options: chop off the leaves, prevent sunlight by covering with cardboard, use farm animals to eat the weeds (like cows), use bugs that love eating this plant (Canada Thistle Stem Weevi), spray with vinegar, or burn with a burn torch.

Personally I will be cutting it down and spraying with vinegar. This might take a few weeks, but slowly starving the plant seems like the best approach. Remember disturbing the roots only encourages new weeds.

Storing Your Extra Food

Waste not, want not

So you started your first garden and planted 6 tomato plants. Now you have too many tomatoes. Or you have more then one raspberry plant, and they all ripen at the same time. Or in your fridge you have that extra herbs from yesterdays dinner. Maybe you should be freezing, canning, or dehydrating?

As with most things in life, everything has its place. In my kitchen (like most people) I have a frozen food in the freezer, canned food in the pantry, and dehydrated snacks in the cupboards. When I have to do the work, I prefer dehydrating. This process takes a fraction of the time, space, requires no refrigeration, keep more nutritional value in the food, and will last for years.

The Freezer is one of the biggest parts on my energy bill (mine is even the newer Energy Efficient model). For all vegetables you need to take that extra step, of steaming, before freezing. I get about 3 months before freezer burn sets in. Nutrient lose for frozen food is 40-60% from the moisture expanding when freezing, causing food cells to rupture.

Canning is so much work, there is a reason it is done in big batches. You need to throughly clean and sterilize all the jars/cans. Then you need to prep all your food using the right ratios of salt or sugar. Next you need to pack each can/jar so you have enough 'head room'. Then boil them for the right amount of time and let them cool. Even after all that there is still a good chance of a few going bad from botulism. My mom would only keep canned/jarred items for only a year. The longest I have seen groceries store canned items is 3 years (salt a main ingredient in that can). One batch canning need pot that is 16 -33quart (4-8 gals) of water boiling. Weather you use gas of electric, that 2hrs of boiling is going to be easy to spot on your energy bill. After that no energy needed. Nutrient lose for canning food is 60-80% from high temperatures and foods immersed in water during period of preparation.

Dehydrating is just easier. Most of the food I dehydrate just needs to be cut into slices and set on the dehydrator. 8hr-12hrs later take it out and put it in an air tight jar. You can't over dry food, so if leave if for any extra day in the dehydrator no problem. It should last 2-10 yrs, maybe longer. A single light bulb uses more electricity then my dehydrator and after pack it no electricity needed. No salt or sugar preservatives are use. Nutrient lose for dehydrated food is 3-5% from low heat during the drying cycle and the gentle air flow.


Summary Chart

Process	Nutritional Loss	Expiration Ave	Energy
Dehydrate	3-5%	2-10 yrs	Little
Freezing	40-60%	3 months	Lots
Canning	60-80%	1-3 yrs	Lots

Resources
http://www.storefood.com/self/nutrdehy.html
http://www.dehydrate2store.com/

Dandelions Weeds: Friends or Foes?

Could weeds be a good thing? Most of the 'none grass plants' in my lawn I immediately condemn as an enemy of the yard. Truth be told, I should probably know what I am killing in my yard. At the very least, to know how to kill the weed faster. Some weeds, like dandelions, are edible and have medicinal purposes. If you see something I missed, leave a comment.


Word of Warning: Before eating/using do your research. If you apply chemicals to the yard, don't eat them.


Medicinally dandelions used as blood purifier, relieving constipation, upset stomach, skin inflammatory, joint pain, treat fever, boils, eye problems, diabetes, diarrhea, eczema, kidney disease and liver dysfunction, such as hepatitis and jaundice (altnature.com, umm.edu)  "Dandelions are a rich source of vitamins A, B complex, C, and D, as well as minerals such as iron, potassium, and zinc. The leaves are often used to add flavor to salads, sandwiches, and teas. The roots can be found in some coffee substitutes, and the flowers are used to make certain dandelion wines" - umm.edu.





Removing dandelions can be tough task. Cutting off the above ground part isn't good enough. They will just grow back. These weeds have a long tap root (as long as 2ft-3ft) that must be fully dealt with. Remember they have a 15 week cycle. So about every 4 months the battle begins again.

Chemically Scotts offers suggestions of: fertilizes with 'Weed and Feed', Mow high, and Spray them with Ortho Weed B Gone. Although this might be the easier approach, there are many warning labels how humans and pets should not be in contact with these product. Remember that 'Weed and Feed' fertilizer works by sticking the broad leaf of weeds. This works the best when the lawn/weeds are wet (after a rain, morning dew or even a quick spray with a garden hoes)

Organically the website Plan Tea covers most of the solutions I found in my web searches. Mowing high will make it hard for the weeds to get sunlight. Cutting often will cut off the yellow flower, preventing them from producing seeds and spreading. If you are going to dig them out, use a tool that help remove the entire tap root. You could kill the weed by pour boiling water on it, spray with vinegar, covering the weed with cardboard, or burning it with a weed torch. Applying corn gluten meal (CGM) to your lawn prevents any new seeds from growing.

Lawn Care

Maybe it is a case of the 'Grass is always greener...' but my neighbor yards look better/healthier then my yard. I need to take a long deep look at how I am taking care of my yard. Last year I took a very simple approach of  fertilize and cut the lawn, but still my lawn is lacking. And so the experiment beings...

This year I am going to try 2 different theories of lawn care. Though out the year I will update you on how things are going and any issues I having.

Front Yard: The Conventional Fertilizer Chemical
This is your basic fertilizer and spray weeds/bugs. I am mainly going to be reading through brand name websites like  Scotts/MeracleGro. People have been doing to for year so it must work. I am going to dig deep learning about the chemical way and let you know what work/fails.

Back Yard: Mother Earth Organic
It is age of 'Going Green'. I am going to all natural with this approach; Digging up weeds, using organic lawn repair (lime, gardener's sulfur, compost), and rest to the earth worms. Most of the good information I have found is from Rich Soil. Lots of what I have been reading says just let it be and pull up weeds.


Feel free to leave comments, concerns, or ideas.

From clay to soil.

Most of the soil in Milwaukee is clay. While trees and shrubs do well in clay soil, smaller plants (like bulbs, vegetables, flowers, perennials) will not do so well. Lets look pros and cons of clay soil, and what you can do to fix the soil.

The Bad News:

• Clay is dense and compacts easily, preventing roots to grow well.  Bad for root crops and starting from seed. This is also why it clomps together and sticks to your shoes. Don't work the soil when it is wet, it just compacts more.
• When clay drys out, the soil crusts over and cracks. This rock hard crust makes it hard for seeds start growing and find sunlight. The crust also more run off  from rain.
• This soil is slow to warm in the spring. Bad for germinating seeds and plant growth.
• Slow the drain water. Soil that is constantly wet, will rot the plant's roots.
• Damaging to plants over the winter (Winter/Frost Heaving)

The Good News:

• The soil retains water, meaning less watering is needed. This is a great for raise garden beds, where other soils dry out too fast.
• Usually, clay is more richer in nutrient then other soils types
• Good for making seed balls

What can you do?

Amend the soil by mixing in organic material.
Mixing things like leaves, grass clippings, and compost is great for amending any soil. I have been doing this every fall for 2 years with great results. I mix in leaves using a shovel and over the winter the worms do their thing, making the soil better. This is not a instant change from clay to garden soil. From my progress, I am guessing after the 4th year I should have that 'garden soil' you see sold in the stores. However my tomato plants did great even after the 1st year.

I know mixing manually is tough. You could use a tiller, but using a shovel to mix in leaves is better for the soil (about.com). I use a ratio of 60% soil to 40% leaves, because the leaves compact down when mixed. If you have extra leaves, maybe you should save some for your composting needs next year. Shoveling is a lot of work and takes me about 2-3 days to do a 8ft x 20ft garden bed, but it is a great way to burn off that thanksgiving dinner. Here are some picture of what I have done: clay soil

Build on top of the soil. 
You could just build raise garden bed on top of the soil and fill it with garden soil. Remember just like container planting, you will need to replace the soil each year. I'll warn you it can get expensive depending on your garden size. This is what Mel Bartholomew recommends in his book 'Square foot gardening'.  Mel cites that this is less work, better soil, and usually better results. I think it is good plan if you are doing a small 4ft x 4ft garden and might be moving soon.

Plant clay friendly plants.
If you can't beat them... actually plants that do well in clay soil, slowly start repairing the soil. Beans, Pees, Potatoes, Cabbages, Brussels, Kale, and Legumes are some good plants (plants for clay soil). Cover crops (clover, rye, or oats) plated in September and then chopped down in May also help repair the soil (improving clay soils). I haven't tried cover crops but it sounds easy enough.


What ever you choose, let me know. Clay soil is a challenge. It is always helpful to learn from others.

Milwaukee Weather Data

As we wait for warmer days, I started doing some more planning.
you can check out the numbers on my spreed sheet here or you can find your data using Weather Data from: http://www.rssweather.com/climate/

Look like gardening will be better from June - Sept
weather chart

Milwaukee Weather

Liz is home

I bought a lemon tree (Liz) for my wife and because of a shipping mishap, Liz has been stuck at parents house for the last 4 months. As you can see Liz is not happy. Hopefully a bigger pot, fresh soil, water, grow light, and some organic plant food should help.

Update:

Here are more pictures of Liz, as I try to bring her back to life.  Liz albums