Growing potatoes

If you’ve never grown potatoes, it helps to know that they are grown from seed potatoes. Seed potatoes are not seeds. They are simply potatoes, or pieces of potatoes, that have at least one of those “eyes” that sprout in your refrigerator or pantry. When you plant those pieces of potato, you put them in a trench that is 6–8” deep, with the cut side down and the eye pointing up. Those raw edges and new growing tips are vulnerable to several types of attack, including black scurf infections.


Symptoms of black scurf
 
The tell-tale dark bumps seen on potatoes infected with black scurf are clusters of resting fungal mycelium known as sclerotia. These sclerotia do not damage the still-edible potato, but they do perpetuate the disease. As temperatures rise, these sclerotia germinate. The mycelium may begin growing again, too.

 
As the disease progresses, you may also see reddish-brown lesions on stolons, stems, and roots. When the lesions move to above ground stems, the disease becomes known as Rhizoctonia canker. These lesions mature into rough, brown cankers that can girdle the stem, killing everything above it.


If a black scurf infection hits critical mass and starts its sexual phase, you may also see a white, powdery mold just above the soil line. This is especially common after it rains or been foggy. Heavily infected seed potatoes are unable to produce stems, in a condition known as “no top”.


Black scurf look-alikes

Diagnosing plant disease can be tricky, especially when you’re new to gardening. I like to look at it as a puzzle, searching for clues. In the case of black scurf, there are a few other diseases that look similar enough to warrant closer inspection. If stems look mushy, it’s probably blackleg. If seed potatoes rot in the ground, it’s probably caused by Fusarium. If you notice leaf curl, the potato leaf curl virus may be causing the problem.


Sadly, you often won’t see signs of this disease until later in the season, long after the damage is done. If your potato crop is mostly small, green tubers (aerial tubers), it’s probably black scurf. This occurs because the invading fungi interrupt the flow of nutrients through the vascular bundles, making life difficult for your potato plants.


Black scurf control

Since many soil-borne disease fungi seem to be able to hang in limbo for years, preventing disease ends up being easier than curing it. Some people suggest a 3-year crop rotation but this is only marginally effective. Those years mean nothing to resting fungi, but it can’t hurt.


Commercial potato growers use fungicides containing chemicals with names like azoxystrobin, flutolanil, and mancozeb to treat black scurf. These chemicals range in side effects from mild skin and eye irritation to bird toxin to a possible carcinogen, respectively. I don’t want any of them in my garden or my food. Instead, there are other ways to prevent black scurf from infecting your potato crop.


The easiest way to prevent black scurf is to only use certified disease-free seed potatoes. Seriously. As tempting as it may be to plant those refrigerator/pantry sprouts, don’t do it. Those potatoes can carry potato blight, the disease responsible for Ireland’s Great Potato Famine, along with several other difficult to get rid of diseases. Buying healthy seed potatoes is a small price to pay. Plus, once you start your potato bed, it can go on forever.


When planting, wait until soil temperatures reach at least 60°F. This gives your seed potatoes a better shot at being healthy and strong enough to protect themselves. Also, Rhizoctonia does not compete well with other soil microorganisms, so maintain plenty of organic matter in the soil to improve overall soil health and microorganism populations. As always, avoid overhead watering, space your plants out with an eye to good airflow, and dispose of infected plants in the trash.


Researchers have found that mulching your potato bed with a green manure made from members of the cabbage family helps prevent black scurf (Sexton et al., 2007). Apparently, compounds released by the Brassicas actively kill the sclerotia. Unfortunately, both potatoes and Brassicas host white mold. If white mold is a problem in your garden, you may want to avoid that particular treatment.


Harvesting your potatoes as soon as they are mature also reduces the chance of infection, along with bruising and insect damage.


Potatoes are an easy crop to grow. They look great in towers, containers, and raised beds. And, like their near-sibling, the tomato, fresh is far better than store-bought.

​Most flowers go to great lengths to produce nectar, fragrance, and brilliantly colored petals to wantonly attract every passing pollinator. We call this behavior chasmogamy, or “open marriage”.

But some plants are more modest than that. They prefer their own company to that of the masses. These private individuals have evolved a unique method of self-pollination and self-fertilization called cleistogamy [klīˈstäɡəmē]. Cleistogamy is a “closed marriage” type of pollination that occurs inside a flower. These flowers only open after pollination and fertilization have occurred, if at all.


Cleistogamy is believed to have evolved in regions with harsh conditions and fewer resources. Producing petals, fragrances, and nectar is hard work for a plant. Rather than going to all the trouble to create these attractants, cleistogamous plants pollinate themselves in a highly protected process.


Most members of the Viola genus use cleistogamy, but so do barley, beans, peanuts, and peas, to one degree or another. But different plants achieve cleistogamy in different ways. And scientists are still sorting out all the things we are learning about plants.


Using the strictest definition of cleistogamy, we have flowers that pollinate themselves and never open. In this case, the sepals are often partially or completely fused, preventing the flower from opening. Each enclosed flower simply produces its own pollen which falls on the stigma and the plant pollinates and fertilizes itself. Orchids and several grass family plants use complete cleistogamy. This method is different from the normal double-fertilization that most angiosperms use to produce seeds. It is self-sufficient in the extreme, but the downside to this method is reduced genetic diversity. Complete cleistogamy can occur above ground or underground, depending on the plant. When it happens underground, as in the case of peanuts, it is called geocarpy. ​

If the end result is not predetermined, we call it induced cleistogamy. Flowers in this category are no different from their more open-minded stem-mates except that they do not open. Many fescues and some Impatiens are in this group. They can switch from the normal, social method of seed production to the more protected method, often after being damaged by herbivores.


Preanthesis cleistogamy is a unique reproductive method in which self-pollination occurs first within the closed bud, the bud opens, and then external pollination becomes possible. Monkeyflower (Mimulus nasutus) is one example of preanthesis cleistogamy.


Knowing if a plant is a self-pollinating or cross-pollinating variety can make the difference between having a harvest or not. The difference between cleistogamy and other forms of pollination may not be as important to your crop, but it’s a good reminder about how diverse and amazing plants can be.

How to grow jalapeño peppers

Being native to southern North American and northern South America, peppers (Capsicum annuum) need lots of heat and sunshine to grow. Optimal germination generally doesn’t occur until temperatures have reached 80°F–85°F, though it can occur as low as 64°F, so there’s no point in starting too early. If you simply can’t wait, you can always invest in or make a seed heating mat. Like other peppers, jalapeños are slow starters. You can plant them indoors as much as 2 months before your last frost date as long as there is sufficient light.


Jalapeño plants are perennials grown as annuals that can reach 2–3’ in height. They grow best in well-drained soil with a pH of 6.0 to 6.8, though they will tolerate 4.5 to 7.0. They need lots of organic matter and they grow well in containers. Seeds should be planted ¼” to ½” deep. Plants should be spaced 12” to 16” apart.


Remember what I said about being heavy feeders? Early in their development, your jalapeños will benefit from a top-dressing of nitrogen (N). As flowers and fruit begin to develop, cut back on the nitrogen and give them potassium (K) and phosphorus (P). Given the right care, each jalapeño plant will produce an average of 25–35 pods, ripening at different times throughout the summer.


Jalapeños need consistent moisture, up to one water-inch a week, but you’ll want to avoid over-watering your jalapeños to prevent fungal disease.
 
 
Jalapeño pepper problems

Jalapeños are susceptible to bacterial spot, beet curly top, cucumber mosaic, foliar blight, Fusarium wilt, pepper mottle, phytophthora blight, powdery mildew, ripe rot, root rot, soft rot, southern blight, tobacco mosaic, tomato spotted wilt, and Verticillium wilt. Most of these disease can be avoided with crop rotation and by controlling moisture levels in the surrounding soil. Soaker hoses work well.


Aphids, armyworms, corn earworms, flea beetles, leafrollers, leaf miners, pepper weevils, root-knot nematodes, spider mites, and thrips will all want to take a bite out of your jalapeños, so be on the lookout.


These plants are highly productive and they look lovely in a landscape.


Which types of peppers will you be planting this summer?

In most cases when it rains, the sky is overcast and temperatures are cooler. [Or you’re watering tropical plants that have evolved their own set of built-in protections.] When most gardens get watered with a hose, it’s a sunny afternoon, after you get home from work. Herein lies the problem.


There you are, standing in your garden with a hose in your hand after a long day at the office. You’re sprinkling vegies and other plants with life-giving water. Dust washes away and your plants seem to be refreshed from above and below. But you may be causing more harm than good with overhead watering.


It’s all a matter of timing because when leaves stay wet at night they are far more likely to develop fungal and bacterial diseases.

Disease contributor

Overhead watering is a major contributor to fungal and bacterial diseases, such as anthracnose, bacterial spot, black rot, black spot, downy mildews, early blight, halo blight, and leaf spot, just to name a few. Plus, if you have one sick plant, droplets from overhead watering can bounce pathogens onto healthy plants, spreading disease.


These diseases all need three conditions to occur at the same time for your plants to get sick: a susceptible plant, a pathogen, and the right conditions. This is called the disease triangle. Remove any one of the three and your plants stay healthy.


​A wasteful practice

Overhead watering is wasteful. On a hot day, as much as 30% of the water ends up running off or evaporating, providing your plants with nothing but disease potential. Some of that evaporation occurs before the water ever reaches the plant. The rest of it happens when the water lands on sun-warmed leaves. Add a little more sunshine and that irrigation water has left the building. Overhead watering also contributes to erosion and groundwater contamination.

Besides sprinklers and overhead watering with a garden hose, consider these options:

• drip systems – very efficient, but they tend to get clogged in areas with hard water.
• furrow irrigation – lay a hose at one end and let the furrow fill up
• hand watering at ground level – very efficient, allowing each plant to be watered according to its needs; time-consuming (though very pleasant)
• soaker hoses – provide a slow release of water, excellent for raised beds, tree rings, and traditional garden rows
• sub-irrigation systems – highly efficient underground watering systems; expensive

Conservative watering also reduces weed growth and helps keep nutrients in the soil where your plants can reach them. Mulch helps, too.


There are times when overhead watering can be helpful. Black spot fungal spores take 24 hours to fully attach themselves to leaves. Some growers have found that if spores are washed off of plants every day during peak infection periods, the spores can’t infect plants. A quick afternoon rinse can also get rid of dust, which provides habitat for aphids and spider mites. It can also help cool off plants that are heat or wind stressed. Again, the important thing is making sure the leaves have time to dry out before nightfall.


When you water, water deeply. This encourages roots to grow downward where they are more likely to find their own water and be safely away from various types of surface exposure. And be sure to select plants suited to your microclimate, minimizing the need for irrigation in the first place.


People used to say that watering in the afternoon would cause leaves to burn. That somehow the sun’s rays would use water droplets as magnifying glasses and burn leaves. This isn’t true. Burnt leaves are usually the result of too much fertilizer, chemical overspray, or misapplication of dormant oils.


If you really love watering your garden with a hose the way I do, just do it in the morning. This will give leaves time to dry off during the day.


​How do you water your garden?

Alternaria leaf blight control

Nine hours of continuous wetness sets the stage for Alternaria to attack plant leaves. This is especially true when temperatures range from 70°F to 82°F. Thirteen hours later, spores start germinating. Since Alternaria leaf blight spores can travel for over a mile on the wind, it’s important to use good cultural practices to reduce the odds of infection in the first place. These practices include:

• use certified disease-free seeds and seedlings
• space and prune plants to maintain good airflow
• avoid overhead watering
• do not work around plants while they are wet
• employ crop rotation
• apply mulch around but not touching plants
• dispose of infected plant material in the trash

There are fungicides rated for use against Alternaria leaf blight, but I’d rather prevent the problem in the first place.

Purple blotch is a fungal disease of chives, garlic, leeks, and onions. Caused by the Alternaria porri fungus, purple blotch is found throughout North America and is responsible for losses ranging from 25 to 50 percent.

​Fungi enter mature leaves through wounds and dead tissue caused by chemical overspray, mechanical damage, pollution damage, thrips, and water-stress. Germinating Botrytis spores, the fungi responsible for grey mold and chocolate spot, can also create points of entry.


Purple blotch symptoms

As fungal spores attach themselves to leaves, small, water-soaked spots can be seen. These spots turn brown as plant cells die, creating oval-shaped lesions that get bigger and eventually turn purple, surrounded by a yellow halo. If you look closely, you may be able to see black or brown masses of fungal spores. As the disease spreads, leaves turn yellow and then brown. Lesions may also develop on stalks and flowers.


Purple blotch management

Since the Alternaria porri fungus is nearly always present in the soil, gardeners need to monitor plants for conditions conducive to disease. In the case of purple blotch, mid-season warm, wet weather, typically ranging from 77°F to 85°F, is all that’s needed to trigger these pathogens into action. Cycles of low and high relative humidity can also cue spore growth. Temperatures below 55°F slow these fungi to a halt, but they simply wait for things to warm up.

This fluff is easiest to see early in the morning when it is likely to be covered with dew. It may not be visible in the afternoon because the sun dries it out. If the mycelium is easy to see in the afternoon, it is probably southern blight.


Plants infected with Sclerotinia blight will develop sunken, light-colored, elongated lesions. If you were to roll an infected stem between your fingers, the tissue would fall away in something called shedding. This occurs because everything except the vascular tissue is rotting. Affected branches die and turn dark brown.


Sclerotinia management

Like other blights, Sclerotinia blight is easier to prevent than cure. Use these tips to avoid getting the disease in your garden in the first place:

• clean garden tools after each use with soap and water or a bathroom disinfectant
• select varieties that ripen early in the season
• use resistant seeds and seedlings that are certified disease-free
• space plants properly to allow for good airflow
• protect vines and stems from damage
• irrigate deeply, allowing the soil to dry out between waterings
• avoid overhead watering

If an infection occurs, diseased plants should be removed immediately and completely and thrown in the trash. They should not be added to the compost pile. Fungicides rated for use against Sclerotinia blight can be used as a preventative measure, but they won’t cure the disease once it takes hold. These fungi can remain viable in the soil for several years, so crop rotation is not helpful.

​
So get out there and keep your plants healthy!

Rhizoctonia blight most commonly attacks dry beans, beets, chickpeas, escarole, peanuts, peas, potatoes, safflower, turnips, yacón, as well as longleaf pines and, more recently, coastal redwoods.


Rhizoctonia blight symptoms

Stem cankers, root rot, and seedling death are the most common symptoms of Rhizoctonia blight. The hypocotyl, or first stem, is often affected. Typical cankers start out as reddish-brown streaks or sunken spots. These cankers get larger and darker over time, creating a rough texture. Eventually, these cankers can girdle the stem. All this damage to the root system ultimately causes the plant to collapse and die.

Rhizoctonia blight management

This pathogen prefers warm, wet weather and it normally takes hold in early summer, but you wouldn’t know your plants were infected until much later in the season. To prevent Rhizoctonia blight from occurring in your garden, use these tips:

• only use certified disease-free seeds and seedlings and resistant varieties
• improve drainage and reduce soil compaction with aeration and mulch
• wait until temperatures are warm for plants to grow quickly
• avoid overhead watering which can splash fungi onto nearby plants
• employ crop rotation

The fungicide pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB) is somewhat effective against Rhizoctonia blight, but there is debate about its safety. It was removed from the U.S. market altogether in 2010. The EPA authorized its use in limited cases one year later. I don’t want it anywhere near my food crops (or me).


Once again, prevention is the best medicine. Keep your soil healthy. Space your plants out properly. And toss sick plants in the trash.

Unlike most blights, which are fungal in nature, common bacterial blight is caused by bacteria. And blight is not a disease per se. It is a symptom. But many plant diseases with blight symptoms include the word blight in the name. I know, it gets confusing. The important thing here is to be on the lookout for signs of disease.


This particular pathogen (Xanthomonas campestris pv. phaseoli) is attracted to legumes, such as beans, fenugreek, and lupines. [Sadly, I could not find a licensable photo.]


Common bacterial blight symptoms

Common bacterial blight looks a lot like halo blight and bacterial brown spot, but there are differences. Common bacterial blight starts out looking like insignificant angled, light green, water-soaked areas often seen first on the underside of leaves. These areas expand and merge. As plant cells die, these areas turn brown and dry. If you look closely, you can see a distinct yellow halo around these lesions. If a plant is infected with halo blight or bacterial brown spot, that halo would be pale green. Also, leaves infected with halo blight tend to turn pale green, while the lesions from bacterial brown spot tend to merge into large ovals.


Infected stems have sunken, water-soaked areas that develop red streaks. These stems often become girdled, allowing the stem to break and fall over, exposing the bacteria to wind, garden tools, and your pant leg.


Infected pods exhibit round, sunken, water-soaked spots that follow the same pattern of expansion, merging, and drying. These damaged areas may or may not affect the seeds within. You wouldn’t want to plant or eat them, though.


You may be able to see a yellowish bacterial ooze or a dry crust on affected plants. Throw these plants in the trash.


Common bacterial blight management

This disease commonly occurs when contaminated seeds are planted. Hot, humid weather compounds the problem, especially when temperatures reach daytime highs of 82°F–90°F. Common bacterial blight can also be transmitted by beetles, leaf miners, and whiteflies.


To prevent common bacterial blight from occurring in your garden, try to plant resistant varieties. There aren’t any yet, that I know of, but that can change at any time and there are some tolerant varieties, such as Great Northern Harris dry beans. Space plants properly for good airflow and remove any weeds from the legume family. Avoid overhead watering and working around plants when they are wet.


If any infected plants appear, remove them immediately and completely. There are some chemicals that may treat common bacterial blight, but these come at a price. Bacteria can evolve a lot faster than we can.


Fixed copper or Bordeaux mixture may be applied while plants are in the vegetative growth and flowering stages, but prevention is a lot easier and more effective.

Squash lady beetles and Mexican bean beetles are vegetarians. Bean beetles prefer legumes. Squash lady beetles prefer the leaves of squash plants.  This means your butternut squash, chayote, cucumbers, gourds, pumpkins, watermelons, and zucchini are all vulnerable to this garden pest. They might eat your bean and pea plants, too.


Squash lady beetle identification

Squash lady beetles have the familiar dome-shaped body we associate with the more helpful lady beetles. But these slightly larger insects are yellow with black spots. They look a lot like spotted cucumber beetles, which have more elongated bodies.


Unfortunately, the eggs of squash lady beetles look exactly like the eggs of helpful lady beetles: yellow, oblong, and laid in clusters on the underside of leaves. The larvae look a little different. Good lady beetle larvae look like tiny alligators, while squash lady beetle larvae look more like yellow hedgehogs. The pupae are fat yellow grubs.


Damage caused by squash lady beetles

Adults, larvae, and pupae feed on leaves, usually from the underside. They have an odd way of circling the leaf as they feed, in a technique called trenching. A study at the University of Delaware found that this behavior reduces the likelihood of the plant sending out chemical defenses. Leaves end up skeletonized, with only the veins remaining. The fruit is rarely affected, but leaf damage weakens the plant, reducing crop sizes and increasing the chance of other pests and diseases taking hold.


How to control squash lady beetles

Handpicking in the middle of the day is your best control method. Heavy infestations can be treated with products containing Spinosad.


As you grow cucurbits this summer, be on the lookout for squash lady beetles.

How to grow bitter melon

Bitter melon seeds should be planted ½” deep in loose, nutrient-rich soil, in a location that receives full to partial sun. Plants should be spaced 12” apart. Bitter melons thrive in hot, humid regions, so you will need to keep the soil moist. Top dress around the plants with aged compost or feed with a slow-release organic 5-10-10 fertilizer for the best results.


Bitter melons grow best in soil with a pH of 5.5 to 6.7. These plants use tendrils to climb, so trellising or stock panels can help you make better use of your garden real estate. This also helps prevent belly rot and other fungal diseases from affecting your bitter melon crop. As plants reach the top of the trellis, pinch back the tips to encourage lateral growth lower down the stem. If your bitter melons end up on the ground, provide a protective layer of straw between them and the soil.


You can also grow bitter melon in 5-gallon containers. Bitter melon are said to be best intercropped with beans, corn, and other cucurbits. It is not recommended grown around potatoes or herbs, though I couldn't find out why.


Bitter melon problems

Bitter melons are susceptible to all the normal cucurbit pests and diseases. Downy mildews, powdery mildew, rots, rusts, and watermelon mosaic virus are the most common diseases of bitter melon. If possible, use disease-resistant varieties. Spotted and striped cucumber beetles, which can carry bacterial wilt disease, can become problematic, along with fruit flies.


Bitter melon’s bright yellow flowers normally attract plenty of pollinators. If those garden helpers are in short supply, you can always hand-pollinate. And leave one or two fruits on the vine at the end of the season for next year’s seeds.


Jose told me that one of his favorite bitter gourd dishes is called ‘Bitter gourd thoran’. He also told me that all ‘thoran’ contains grated coconut. Bitter gourd thoran is a slow-cooked stir fry made with chopped bitter gourd, shallots, garlic, and green chili) usually served with rice. I may have to give that recipe a try.

​
Thanks again, Jose!

How to grow Malabar gourds

You can grow Malabar gourds from seed or by layering an existing plant in USDA Hardiness Zones 3–11. Tendrils covered with soil can also develop roots and be cut from the parent plant to create the next generation. Seeds should be planted one- to two- inches deep in loamy, nutrient-rich soil. These plants can grow in partial sun to full sun. They need regular irrigation and good drainage. Plants should be spaced 2–3 feet apart. Being heat lovers, only the sturdiest plants can handle brief periods of frost. Harvested fruit can last for several years if kept dry.


Problems with Malabar gourds

Being something of an ancient rogue, Malabar gourds have very few pest or disease problems. In fact, these plants are often used commercially as rootstock for other cucurbits.


Research has shown that eating Malabar gourds can help reduce the complication associated with diabetes. But these ancient edibles would probably make a nice addition to your foodscape, even if that weren’t the case.

If you’ve ever roasted pumpkin or butternut squash seeds, you know what a treat they can be. Buffalo gourds can provide you with a hefty harvest of snackable high-protein seeds. These seeds contain a lot of healthy oil (linoleic acid), too. Traditionally, that oil was used by Native Americans to make soap.  


Buffalo gourd problems

Being such rugged individuals, buffalo gourds have very few problems other than white mold related to drainage issues. Cucumber beetles and squash bugs, which normally plague cucurbits, have a hard time penetrating the tough skin of buffalo gourds.


If you live in an area with plenty of hot weather and you love snacking on seeds, give buffalo gourds a try.

​This second group is often called bottle-gourds. Bottle gourds can be used to make bird houses, bird feeders, and some amazing art.

The gourd clan

Gourds come in all shapes and sizes. Some are no bigger than your thumb, while the biggest on record was a pumpkin that weighed in at 2,323.7-pounds back in 2014. For comparison, your average car weighs 4,000 pounds. Unless you are willing to commit an awful lot of time, water, and real estate to your gourds, I don’t think you’re going to have to deal with anything that substantial.


Most gourds are annual vines, though bush varieties have been developed and there are even a few trees. Most gourd plants use tendrils to climb. They have large palmate leaves that are often covered with bristles. The stems tend to be hairy. These plants produce large orange, yellow, or white flowers which are either male or female, making hand-pollination easy. Cross-pollination can occur between some gourds, but not with others. It depends on which group they are in.


If you want to be technically correct. the word gourd refers to two specific genera of Cucurbitaceae: Lagenaria and Cucurbita. But we don’t need to be that picky. ​

The edible gourds (Cucurbita) are from Central America and bottle-gourds (Lagenaria) are native to Africa. The Latin word lagena means bottle or flask. Back before we figured out pottery, mature gourds were allowed to dry and the hollowed-out shells used to carry water and other things. There are also edible snake gourds (Trichosanthes cucumerina), from Asia. The flesh of snake gourds, being red in color, is used as a tomato substitute. [I may have to try some this year!]

​
How to grow gourds                                                                                                   

There are many edible gourds that deserve room in the garden, including buffalo gourds, burr gherkins, chayote, cucamelons, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and squash.

​
Being from Africa, Asia, and Central America, gourds need lots of heat and sunshine. Annual gourds also need frequent irrigation to reach full size. Perennial gourds, not so much. Large seeds should be planted one to two inches deep in loose, nutrient-rich soil. Cattle panels, trellising, and pergolas can be used to keep the fruit off the ground. They look pretty impressive, hanging overhead, too.

Self-heal has a rugged creeping growth that can become invasive, so you may want to grow your self-heal in a container. Those stolons can move surprisingly fast when you’re not looking. Self-heal also readily self-seeds an area.


How to grow self-heal

If you know someone who has a self-heal plant, ask for a cutting. Simply cover it with soil, keep it moist, and you’ll have your own plant before you know it. You can also grow self-heal from seed.


Self-heal grows in grasslands, wastelands, wooded areas, and wetlands. Did I mention this plant is rugged? It seems to prefer damp, somewhat shaded environments, in Hardiness Zones 4a-9b, so plant accordingly.

Common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) and tepary beans (P. acutifolius) are both annual legumes that produce edible seeds. The real difference is that tepary beans can be grown in desert and semi-desert environments, making them an excellent choice for areas with frequent drought conditions. Tepary beans are also higher in protein than their more common cousins.


These high protein edibles nearly disappeared, but efforts to bring them back have been very successful. As global temperatures continue to rise, we may find these beans become a regular part of our gardening plans.


Cultivated for thousands of years by the Tohono O'odham desert people of the Sonoran Desert and peoples from Mexico’s Valley of Tehuacán (where corn was originally grown), tepary beans are known by several names, including Bawĭ, escomite, pavi, pawi, and yorimuni.


Types of teparies

Tepary beans are available in bush, pole, and trailing forms. Stems can reach up to thirteen feet long. Most tepary bean plants have pointed leaves. There is another form, latifolius, with broad leaves. There are white and brown tepary beans, with the white beans tasting somewhat sweeter and the brown beans have a more earthy flavor. There are nearly 100 types of tepary bean, including black, blue speckled, pink, red, tan, and yellow varieties.


Tepary beans tend to be small, which is no surprise, growing up in a desert, where they may only receive three inches of rain all year and temperatures can go as high as 118°F. Generally speaking, flowers appear after summer rains and pods ripen in autumn. Once germination occurs, very little water is needed to produce a crop. In fact, too much water interferes with pod development. How’s that for water conservation?


Rather than the plump shape of dried common beans, many tepary beans are more wrinkled and they need to be soaked overnight before cooking.


How to grow tepary beans

Traditionally, climbing tepary beans were grown along with corn and squash in the Three Sisters Method of intercropping. Broad squash leaves shade the ground, reducing evaporation and competition from weeds, corn provides the beans with something to climb, and the beans’ ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen into a form usable by plants adds to the mix. Of course, that nitrogen stops being available as soon as the beans start producing seeds of their own. Seed production is hard work!


When growing tepary beans, early peoples would plant three to five seeds together in hills that were six to eight feet apart. When you grow tepary beans, plant seeds one to five inches deep and 4 to 6 inches apart. Rows should be at least 12 inches apart. Do not soak your teparies before planting.


Tepary beans do not handle clay soil very well. If you have clay, you may want to grow your teparies in containers or a raised bed.


When 80% of the mature pods are dry, cut the plant off at soil level. Allow the remaining pods to dry in a protected spot. As they dry, the pods shatter when handled, making it easy to separate the beans from the pods.


Problems with tepary beans

Unless there’s too much humidity, tepary beans are relatively disease-free. Too much moisture can lead to common mosaic virus and other fungal diseases. Tepary beans are susceptible to garden variety bean pests, including aphids, armyworms, cucumber beetles, cutworms, darkling beetles, leafhoppers, leaf miners, loopers, lygus bugs, spider mites, stink bugs, thrips, weevils, whiteflies, and wireworms.


Tepary beans mature in 60 to 20 days after planting, depending on your microclimate and the variety.


You can find tepary bean and other endangered seeds at Native Seeds/SEARCH.

More accurately called urticating bristles, because only mammals have hair, these protrusions are an effective form of defense for several reasons. Being sharp and pointy, they are no fun to run into. In some cases, urticating bristles can be forcibly ejected at an enemy, thwarting attack. Very often, these bristles are coated with chemicals that can cause burning or itching sensations.


If you’ve ever gotten ahold of stinging nettles, you know what I’m talking about.


The word “urticating” is Latin for “nettles.” Nettles are characterized by pointy, hollow trichomes that grow next to a gland which produces bothersome chemicals. Adding insult to injury, the tips of urticating hairs often break off in your skin, making matters worse.


In most cases, urticating bristles are painful but not dangerous. There are exceptions.


Australia’s gympie gympie (Dendrocnidae moroides) causes stings that are described as a cross between being electrocuted and burned with hot aid. The gympie gympie has been known to kill people, horses, and dogs. And there is a tree in New Zealand, called the ongaonga, or tree nettle, that killed a person who walked through a thick patch. All because of urticating bristles and the associated toxins. Yikes!

Urticating caterpillars

Several species of moth and butterfly caterpillar have protective urticating bristles. These include:

• black-wave flannel moth (Megalopyge crispata)
• buck moth (Hemileuca maia)
• hag moth (Phobetron pithecium)
• io moth (Automeris io)
• puss caterpillar (Megalopyge opercularis)
• saddleback caterpillar (Sibine stimulea)
• spiny oak slug (Euclea delphinii)
• stinging rose caterpillar (Parasa indetermina)
• white flannel moth Caterpillar (Norape ovina)

​
As for tarantulas, you;re on your own.

First aid for stings

Sadly, there isn’t much you can do about these painful stings. Adhesive tape may help remove the urticating bristles from your skin. Wash thoroughly with soap and water to remove at least some of the irritating chemicals. Applying an ice pack may help, too.


Personally, I make a paste out of baking soda and a little water. It seems to work better than anything else. Antihistamines are not helpful.


Fools may tread where angels fear to go, but gardeners go where they have to, to care for their plants. Before reaching into a space blindly, take a moment to put on your gloves.

It looks like a tomato, but it’s a pepper. [Sadly, I could not find a photo I could use.]
 
Tomato peppers (Capsicum annuum var. annuum) were one of the first peppers grown by Europeans. Also known as the Hungarian, Kalman’s, Beaver Dam, and Hussli tomato pepper, this small heirloom variety was brought to Wisconsin in 1912 by the Hussli family from Hungary.
 
As hybrids took over the market, tomato peppers nearly became extinct. Until 2010, when one woman, Lee Greene, took it upon herself to rescue this meaty, flavorful pepper. There are now festivals held in its honor and seeds are readily available to anyone who wants to try their hand at growing tomato peppers. You can even find different varieties. One orange variety looks like a miniature pumpkin! Plants reach 2½ feet tall and are heavy producers.
 
The walls of tomato peppers are twice as thick as most peppers, with just a little heat, similar to a poblano. Glossy green peppers turn deep crimson when ripe. Like heirloom tomatoes, tomato peppers were not bred for shipping and storing. Instead, they have been grown for flavor and sweetness.
 
How to grow tomato peppers
 
Like most members of the nightshade family, tomato peppers need at least 6 hours of sunlight each day and a long growing season, with most temperatures above 80°F. You can start seeds indoors or in a protected space up to six weeks before your last frost date. Plant seeds only ¼” deep and mist the soil to keep it moist until seeds germinate, usually in a week or so. If you use a watering can or hose, all your seeds will end up smashed together in a corner of the pot, making transplanting more traumatic.
 
As your seedlings grow, you can up-pot them into larger containers. Once temperatures are above 60F, you can begin hardening them off. Prepare planting areas by digging in aged compost. These plants thrive in loose, nutrient-rich soil. You can also grow them in 5-gallon containers.
 
Tomato pepper problems
 
Aphids, armyworms, broad mites, Colorado potato beetles, hornworms, leaf-footed bugs, leaf miners, pepper weevils, stinkbugs, thrips, tomato pinworms, and whiteflies are common pests of tomato peppers. Common diseases include anthracnose, early blight, Fusarium wilt, gray mold, late blight, Septoria leaf spot, and Verticillium wilt. In many cases, proper plant spacing and the avoidance of overhead watering go a long way toward minimizing these problems.
 
Tomato peppers can be enjoyed raw, pickled, or cooked into sauces, soups, and stews, or in hot sauces and pepper jellies, Tomato peppers are also popular ingredients in a Louisiana dish called maque choux made with corn, peppers, onion, tomato and garlic. [I think I’m going to have to try that one—it sounds delicious!]

Grass family growth

Corn and other grass plants generally send up central stalks with leaves wrapped around that main stem. Sometimes, new branches start growing from the lower five to seven stalk nodes, or from below ground. These "daughter plants" are clones that are able to grow into independent plants with their own root system, leaves, nodes and internodes, and even their own ears (female flowers) and tassels (male flowers).


When this type of new growth occurs higher up the stalk, they tend to grow into ear shoots which are morphologically different from tillers. Ear shoots have shorter internodes, smaller leaves, and they always terminates in an ear, rather than a tassel.


Tillers can sometimes get confused as they grow, terminating with a flower that is both male and female. These are known as tassel-ears.


Tiller science

Research has shown us that tiller development indicates optimal growing conditions. Abundant water, sunlight and nutrients create a situation in which the plant has enough reserves to invest in tiller development. While tillers may compete with their parent plants, they usually don’t have enough of a growing season to develop harvestable ears.


Tillers can also occur in response to damage. When the main stalk is damaged early in its development, whether through insect or herbivore feeding, frost or hail, or mechanical injury, tillers can take over and may even develop harvestable ears, though this is rare.


In most cases, tillers have little or no effect on crop size. But if your kids are driving you nuts this summer, you can still send them out to remove tillers.

That was the old-fashioned method of making compost tea and it resulted in a soup of anaerobic (without oxygen) microbes and nutrients. Modern marketing and manufacturing now offer compost tea brewing kits, or ready-made compost tea. These kits use energy to aerate the tea. The differences between aerated and nonaerated compost tea will be discussed in just a moment.


Compost tea claims

Compost tea is said to be a mild food additive for plants, much like our daily vitamin pills. Proponents of compost tea claim it makes plants and the surrounding soil healthier, reducing the need for fertilizer. Compost tea is also said to improve soil water retention, reducing the need for irrigation. The addition of all those microorganisms is supposed to improve soil structure, reduce compaction of heavy clay soil, and help sandy soil retain water and nutrients. But wait! There’s more!


Using compost tea is also said to stimulate root growth and counteract the negative effects of chemical-based herbicides, insecticides, and pesticides. And foliar (leaf) sprays of compost tea are said to stimulate the growth of beneficial microbes on leaf surfaces, reducing the chance of disease and pest damage.


Science and skepticism

Like most claims that sound too good to be true, compost tea does not hold up well to scientific testing.


First, the availability of nutrients is misleading. Unlike slow-release fertilizers and composts, compost tea risks dumping large (variable) amounts of nitrogen, potassium, and other nutrients into the soil all at once. Plants can only absorb so much at one time, so many of those nutrients (assuming there are any) end up in ground water causing eutrophication, or nutrient contamination.


Second, claims of disease prevention are greatly exaggerated. Just because something works in a lab does not mean it will continue to work in your garden. There are simply too many other factors at play.


It’s true. Some studies have shown that foliar sprays of nonaerated compost tea do, in fact, reduce the incidence of some diseases in laboratory settings. Disease severity is not altered, and results are less clear out in the real world garden. Also, some fungal diseases were reduced with foliar sprays of aerated compost tea. Those diseases were growing on Petri dishes. In greenhouse testing, the diseases were not affected. Other studies have shown that foliar sprays of aerated compost tea actually made diseases of apples and potatoes worse.


Like probiotics, the microbial and nutritional makeup of compost tea is extremely variable. It is almost impossible to say what each batch actually contains. In fact, some compost teas can contain human pathogens. [Can you say e. coli or Salmonella?]


The bottom line

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, it is against the law to sell unregistered substances for use as pesticides. Compost tea is not registered in this way, so any claims made about its effectiveness as a pesticide are false. Aerated compost teas have no documented ability to suppress disease.


Rather than wasting time and effort on something that lacks a scientific basis, use that compost the way nature intended. Apply a nice thick layer of aged compost as a mulch on your planting beds and let the worms, microorganisms, and other natural processes take advantage of billions of years of evolution.


The benefits of mulching with aged compost are well-documented. And if your plants need a little nutritional boost, I suggest fish meal.