Suburban Homesteading – Frugal Living

Ever since I was young I have had a love affair with flowers…

…all kinds of flowers. 

Sure, I have my favorites, but there are few that I don’t like.  I love the colorful blooms, the bright green foliage and the scents of different flowers as it drifts over my suburban homestead on a sultry summer breeze.

When I was young I use to help my mom at garden club plant giveaway days, and hound her to bring home anything that was left over…no matter how many there were.

This was never really a problem. We lived in the suburbs on a ¼-acre lot that we treated like a mini farm and flower garden.  And, a ¼-acre is a lot of ground to cover.  I guess this is partly where, or why, I became what I call “a child of the earth”, someone who enjoys getting down in the dirt, digging, planting, nurturing and watching green things grow.  I have never lost that childlike enthusiasm.

Although I’m no longer a child I still get a childlike giddiness every time spring comes around, or when I visit a beautiful garden or potager, the endless possibilities for what I can incorporate into my own garden are always exciting.  A potager is a fancy French word for kitchen/flower garden.  I say that in all loving jest because I love visiting gardens, finding new plants or techniques I can bring into my own garden.  Over the years I have seen dozens of flower and vegetable gardens in America, France, England and Ireland.  It is a huge dream of mine to create a quintessential English garden on my own property.  But, with California’s arid weather, not to mention the ongoing drought, this dream will only take place if I move to an area that gets more rainfall than we do (or, I win the lottery and can afford the water bill).  A girl can dream though, can’t she?

All is not lost, though.

No need to feel sorry for me.

I do have a flower garden, one that is on the verge of bursting with blooms this time of year.  And the flowers I am most looking forward to seeing in bloom is my collection of bearded irises.  I say collection because I have acquired about 50 different varieties (colors) that I’ve gathered through the years.  Some came from those early garden club giveaways, some were given as gifts, some I brought from my previous home, and some were purchased from iris growers here and abroad.  I have to say, it’s a tricky thing to get iris bulbs through customs:)

But, most of my collection has been acquired from other iris gardeners when they divide their bulbs.

And, in turn, I have supplied new iris enthusiasts with divisions from my own garden.  Garden people are like livestock people…we are always willing to help a new member of our “unofficial” club.

To help new gardeners, or to maintain my own beds of irises, I divide my iris rhizomes every 2 to 3 years so they don’t become overcrowded, affecting their ability to bloom.  Dividing, separating and transplanting helps to rejuvenate the clump and to give the gardener a way to enlarge the iris bed.  Always a huge plus in my book.

Dividing irises isn’t a difficult thing to do, but it is important that the irises be divided during the right season so the bulbs have time to reestablish after being divided and transplanted.

The steps below will help you make the most of your iris bed, so that you will be ensured of lots of future blooms.

8 Steps to Dividing Bearded Irises

Step 1:  Timing is Everything — For best results, divide irises after they have bloomed.  This can be done from late spring through early fall, depending on the weather.  (I usually divide in the fall when it’s not so hot) If winter lingers in your area, wait for warmer days.  Also, irises should not be divided in winter when they go dormant and use their stored energy to survive.

Step 2:  Digging the Clump — Use a sharp spade or fork to dig deep below the roots and gently lift the clump up.  Remove excess dirt by shaking or hosing it off.

Step 3:  Divide the Fans — Bearded iris leaves look like a multi-pointed fan.  Break off larger fans, or cut with a knife, at a joint, making sure that they are firm and not squishy.  Limp or squishy divisions can be diseased and should be thrown away.  Do not compost them, as they can spread disease.

Step 4:  Prepare Divisions for Transplanting — Remove dead and older, limp leaves.  Trim remaining healthy leaves to about 8-inches above the rhizome.  This will help keep the plant from toppling over while it establishes new roots.

Step 5:  Prepare New Planting Area — Dig and sprinkle the new planting area with lime, irises like a bit of lime.  For group plantings, create a triangle with 18 to 24-inch sides.  For all plantings, form a mound and set the rhizome on top of the mound, spreading the roots out in the hole.  For group plantings, make sure the “toe” or bulb part faces in towards the triangle.

Step 6:  Settle in the Rhizome — Firm soil around to the top of the bulb and pack it down.  It is alright if part of the bulb is showing.

Step 7:  Spacing your Irises — Whether planting in a triangle, square or line, plant bulbs at least 12-inches apart and make sure the fans all point in the same direction.  Closer spacing is fine, but you will be dividing your clump more often.  This is not a problem, it’s just that irises are perennials that may not bloom the first year after dividing.

Step 8:  Water in your Transplants — Give your transplants a good soak to settle in the soil, then deep watering a few times a week to establish your new patch.  Less frequent watering is better as irises are fairly drought tolerant.  Too much water, though, can rot the bulbs.

Once your patch is established you’ll have beautiful blooms all season long.

A garden is just not a garden without the ramblings of tomato plants.

The warmer weather of our somewhat early spring took me into the garden to begin the reclamation of my much neglected suburban homestead.  Between pulling weeds, mulching beds and turning over the soil I was eager to get some plants in the ground.

A few weeks before I had potted up a bunch of seeds in my greenhouse, but I wanted more instant gratification than those little seeds could provide. I wanted growing things!  Badly.

The timing was perfect because the annual Tomatomania event was taking place at a local nursery that very weekend.  It’s a celebration of sorts, all things tomato, for the serious tomato lover.  The three day event touts over 300 different varieties of heirloom and hybrid tomato plants, from green to pink to orange to yellow, you can find anything you want, tomato wise. Some plants come in 4-inch pots and some in 1-gallon pots…for people who need more instant gratification than me I suppose.

To be honest, I’m not much of a fresh tomato person.  Oh…I do enjoy sliced tomatoes and mozzarella with balsamic and basil, and a slice now and again on a burger, but that’s about it.

My favorite varieties are the fleshier roma or plum types rather than the juicy slicing varieties like Better Boy or Beefsteak.

After combing the racks I settled on 3 heirloom varieties – San Marzano, Orange Strawberry and Bleeding Heart.

The San Marzano is an indeterminate long-season red plum type variety with lots of thick flesh and a strong, sweeter and less acidic flavor that matures in about 90-days.

The Orange Strawberry is an indeterminate mid-season German variety, shaped like a strawberry with a deep orange color and a crisp sweet flavor that matures in about 80-days.

Bleeding Heart is an indeterminate mid-season multi-colored heart-shaped tomato with a mild sweet taste that matures in about 70-days.

My choices had more to do with color and interest than production or canning ability.  I wanted something new, something I had never grown before for my new garden.  But, that doesn’t mean I don’t want them to produce well.

So—what do all these terms mean?  Read on!

Tomato Terms

Determinate tomato plants reach a certain height and produce most of their fruits in a short period of time, which makes them perfect for homesteads that want to can sauces or paste.  Determinate types also make great choices for container or patio growing.

Indeterminate tomato plants continue to set fruit all along its stems throughout their growing season.  These are also more rambling plants that need extra support to keep the fruit off the ground.

Early Variety are tomatoes that ripen fruit in 50 to 60 days.  These are prized for bringing fruit off long before most other varieties, or being planted in the late summer for an early fall crop.

Mid-season varieties are those that can be harvested in the middle of the growing season, typically ripening fruit in 70 to 80 days.

Late-season varieties are those that take 90 or more days to ripen fruit.  These are traditionally varieties that won’t be picked until late summer.

Most suburban homesteaders like the mid-season varieties with a goal (or challenge) of getting tomatoes by July 4^th.

Tips for Growing Better Tomatoes

1.)  Make Your Choice.  Choose a variety that is best for you and your area.  Choose early, mid- or late-season tomatoes, letting the “days to maturity” guide you.  Choose seedlings with sturdy stems and bright green foliage.

2.)  Find a sunny spot.  Tomatoes love sun and heat.  6 hours is the minimum and 8 hours is preferable.  If your area is unusually hot during the day you may need to rig up some shade during the hottest part.

3.)  Amend the soil.  Be generous with soil amendments and compost and remember to feed your plants with organic fertilizer.  Tomatoes love a good rich soil.  Layering over the top of the soil will protect the roots from being disturbed by tilling.

4.)  Plant seedlings deep.  Remove the lower sets of leaves and plant up to the remaining leaves, leaving about 3 to 4-inches of plant above the surface.  The little leaf nodes will send out roots, making you plants sturdy and better able to carry the weight of the crop.

5.)  Be water wise.  Watering correctly means soaking the root ball every 3 to 4 days for the first few weeks after planting.  Proper watering can affect the taste as the tomatoes grow, so once the plant starts growing, water deeply and less frequently, giving them just what they need.

6.)  Fertilize.  Feed plants around the root zone once they are established and again when they flower.  If your soil is depleted you may need to fertilize more often or with a particular fertilizer to address the deficiency.

7.)  Provide support!  Especially with indeterminate varieties, since some of these can get to be 10-feet tall.  Stakes or bamboo are good and sturdy.  Cages also work well.

8.)  Be patient!  Just because a tomato is red (or yellow or pink or orange) doesn’t mean it is at its peak of flavor.  Look for a deep true color of the variety and some give when touched before devouring your harvest.

These steps will help you get the most out of your tomato season!

For decades I’ve been a huge fan of pots; like my love of galvanized watering cans, it borders on a slight obsession.

Old mossy green pots that look like they have been used in a garden shed for a hundred years. The one’s covered in a lovely patina that harken you back to Victorian era gardens, or at least Victorian era garden shows.

With my yearlong funk over and the weather finally turning warm I have been antsy to get some seeds started, to feel the soil between my fingers and inhale the sweet smell of warm, damp earth so fragrant in spring.

I literally haven’t touched a plant in almost a year. Saying I’m eager to get back to gardening is actually a huge understatement. So I dug out my box of seeds to see what I had in the way of flower seeds and found Hollyhocks, Poppies, Bachelor Buttons and Nasturtiums.  Then it was off to the greenhouse to gather my pots. That’s when I discovered…I have no seed starting soil.  Great!

I also realized that my collection of seed starting pots had also been sitting collecting dust and God knows what else for the past year.  This was not good.

When you go through a funk many things fall by the wayside.

I was determined not to be thwarted in my newfound vigor to get my hands in the garden.  So, I decided to clean and sanitize the pots and let them dry while I went to town to buy the supplies I needed to make my seed starting soil.

I set up my cleaning station in the sink of my greenhouse, along with a few scrub brushes for scrubbing mystery gunk.

Sanitizing your seed starting pots

There’s really no magic trick to doing this, honestly, but I do have a few words from years of experience—Don’t Use Bleach!  It’s hard on your hands and fingernails, stinks like the devil and it makes your hands slimy—yuck.  The better alternative is good old fashioned, common as hell, cheap3% hydrogen peroxide.  Yep, you got it.  Don’t fuss around and over think this, just buy the cheapest stuff you can find.  I get mine from Big Lots for less than $1.00 per bottle and have several bottles on hand for wounds (human and animal), household cleaning solutions, detoxing baths and you got it…sanitizing garden pots.

Here’s how I cleaned and sanitized my pots.

One:  I filled my tub with water and a bit of anti-bacterial liquid soap.

Two:  I brushed off all residual soil and grime, and, in my case, cobwebs and dead bugs.

Three:  I then scrubbed the pots in the soapy water to remove any crusted on soil, and to clean and disinfect them.

Four:  Lastly, I poured a bottle of hydrogen peroxide into a shallow wash pan and added about a quart of water. Then I bathed each pot in the peroxide solution before setting them on the rack to dry.

Why do I use hydrogen peroxide instead of bleach?

Simple.  Bleach can soak into the clay pots and be leached out when the planted pots are watered, killing the seedling.  Because the peroxide has beneficial properties, is diluted, but still strong enough to sanitize, it won’t hurt the plants.

You can also use this process on plastic pots, pony packs and seed trays. Just soak them and let them air dry.

If you’re in a hurry you can also spray each pot with regular white vinegar.  If you’re really concerned about fungus or bacteria, give your cleaning process the one-two punch by soaking the pots in the peroxide solution before spraying them with vinegar. That combo will kill just about anything.

This process took a bit longer than I had hoped because I was cleaning dozens of pots. By the time I got to town to buy my seed starter ingredients I was in no mood to spend the afternoon mixing soils. It was time for some instant gratification, meaning I purchased premixed seed starter soil.

I know, I know.

But, I can be a lazy homesteader for a day, can’t I?