A Couple More Things I’ve Learned

As I've said before, you can learn an awful lot from working at a Farmers' Market booth.  There are shortcuts and long cuts that we all go through when growing plants in Solano County.  I've heard about growing veggies, for instance, upside down, right side up, and planting tomatoes sideways!  The “tried and true” places to purchase seeds and plants, plus the places where “not to go”.  One thing for sure though, is there as many ways to garden as there are gardeners.  But still, some questions still are “stump the chump” originals!  Some of the better ones follow:

“What is mushroom compost?”  The first thought is compost made for mushrooms – beep, wrong answer.  Mushroom compost is “regular” compost in which mushrooms have been grown; nothing in the Sunset Books about that subject.  This can be purchased at some full service garden centers or purchased by mail or over the Internet.  That question bothered until I got home and goggled it.

“Where can I buy mushroom seeds?”  Well, it appears that mushrooms don't have SEEDS but spores, you can't.  The sources I found online suggested buying mushroom growing kits only.  Perhaps the local mushroom society (and yes, there is a mushroom society) can help you with that if you didn't want to buy one of the commercial kits on the market.

The most popular question is dealing with tomatoes, and lately, summer squashes.  The question goes something like this: “My tomatoes (squashes) were growing so well and now the tomatoes are turning brown or black and rotting.  What insect is causing this?”  Well, the problem is NOT an insect so hold up on the insecticides!  It has to do this watering, temperature, and calcium.  BLOSSOM END ROT is a disease resulting from deficiency of calcium due to uneven water moisture in the soil.  This deficiency occurring because with our recent extremely hot days, the transpiration rates of the plants can vary due to soil temperature and moisture in the soil.  This in turn affects the amount of calcium carried through the plant and out to both the leaves and fruit; because the uptake of calcium is limited in fluctuating wet and dry soils conditions, the plants should be kept consistently watered.  Mulching the planting areas and using either drip irrigation or watering frequently from below will help kept this problem at bay.  Cleaning the plant of the rotted fruit will keep additional diseases and problem such as fungi. 

A suggestion from Patrick Greenwald (2013), Missouri Botanical Kemper Demonstration Gardens, is to test the soil the following year to check on soil calcium and amend if necessary to eliminate this problem.

And please remember that if you're hot, your dog or cat is probably pretty warm too.

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