Growing Berries

Fall is a great time to plant berries. Plant them in September so they can get a solid root structure before the cold sets in for the winter. 

• Berries grow easily in Utah and are very cost and time effective for the home garden. With just a few plants they will supply your family with a year’s worth of produce
• Berries love sun. So plant them in a partially sunny to sunny location. (But with that said I have raspberries that grow under my apple tree, but they just do not produce abundantly.
• Berries grow well in out of the way spots, not used for other backyard activities. So try planting some in your side yard or try some strawberries under your rose bushes. 
• Strawberries make good ground cover.
• Water berries deeply 2-3 times a week in the spring and early summer before and while bearing.  After they are done bearing watering can be reduced. 
• Many varieties of raspberries, boysenberries and blackberries bare on the new canes or vines so each fall or spring the old canes or vines (which have already born fruit) can be cut off.  
• Boysenberries grow in long vines (6-10 ft.) so it is good to grow them on a trellis or fence. This keeps them off the ground and makes them easier to pick. 
• We all love berries and so do the rats, birds, squirrels and snails. This is why strawberries are most effective planted in patches so they can be covered with netting.

Healthy Home Harvests

Our Stake R.S. Provident Living focus for this spring and summer is "Healthy Home Harvests". Watch for information on this blog and in your wards on great produce you can grow and harvest in your own yard. There will also be tips on how to enjoy, cook and store the great abundance we hope you will have!

With all the flooding, tornados and other natural disasters food prices may increase in the near future. A "Healthy Home Harvest" can help you stretch those food dollars so your money can be spent wisely in other areas. Start planting today for the great rewards in the summer and fall!

Growing Rhubarb

April 6, 2011 - Rhubarb emerging.

May 1, 2011- Rhubarb about 2 feet tall.

by Christi Jardine- Stake Provident Living Leader

Rhubarb is easy to grow and has a tangy, zippy flavor when used in cooking. You can have a neighbor share a start with you or invest in a plant from a garden center. Either way you will have oodles of rhubarb for years to come.
Rhubarb loves sun so plant it in a sunny location. Once it is established with water and sun it will take off. As you can see in the top picture I have a drip line to my rhubarb and it is great! I just cut rhubarb when I need it. Other than that I completely ignore it until the fall when it is time to remove the dead stems that have died back.


The large (usually a foot or two across) leaves are a beautiful green and the stems are variegated green and red or bright red depending on the variety. This great plant adds variety of size, leaf texture and color  to your landscape.  It can be planted by itself in an otherwise hard to use space that just grows weeds, among the flowers in a bed or in your vegetable garden. Any way you plant it, rhubarb adds to the beauty of your yard and to your edible landscape! Plant some today!

By the middle to end of May rhubarb is ready to eat. It is often the first harvest from your backyard garden. Start a new Memorial Day tradition by making a great rhubarb recipe.

May 15, 2011- Rhubarb is about 3 ft. tall and about 4 ft. across.

Rhubarb is really classified as a vegetable, because it is the stem of the plant but it is used in cooking more like a fruit. If you buy rhubarb in the store it is usually several dollars a pound. For the limited work it takes, home grown rhubarb is a great deal!

The rhubarb in this picture to the left is ready to use. I made my first rhubarb cake yesterday.It was great!

Container Gardening

Stake Provident Living Meeting- April 6, 2011

Janeel Burningham- 5th ward Provident Living Leader

There's no better place to start a simple garden than in a container, But also you can fit a pot into the smallest of spaces.  Container gardens are also relatively inexpensive.

Things to consider:

1. Container: Any containers are possible, just stay away from narrow necked containers.  Select your container according to plant size and number of plants in each.  Make sure your container has drainage holes.  You can add Styrofoam peanuts or small extra pots turned upside down in the bottom of a container to use less soil and make it less heavy.  Wood containers can rot from constant water contact.  Clay and ceramic pots are not winter hardy.  Expansion from freezing water can crack the pot.

2.Soil:  Loose potting soil works best so dirt doesn't compact and oxygen stays at the roots of your plants.  Some soils are available with fertilizer added.

3. Water: Container gardens need water every day in hot weather.  When planting seeds, water garden with a light spray nozzle so seeds don't get washed away.  The amount of sun exposure will affect the frequency of watering and plants can sunburn.

4. Plants:  You can start your own seeds or buy plants from garden centers.  There is a wide variety of plants available so experiment with some fun combinations.

Advantages of container gardening:

You can move containers around to different areas of  your yard.

Containers can be changed with the seasons.

Invasive plants can be controlled by planting them in a container (example: Mint)

Sources:

1. "The Simple Garden"  Burpee Gardens (2008)

2. Personal experience and experimentation.

Here is another great publication that the church recommends:

Benson Institute Container Gardening

Longkeeper Tomatoes

by Christi Jardine, Stake Provident Living Leader

This is a picture taken on Sat. April 2, of some "Longkeeper Tomatoes" that I picked from my garden just before I pulled it out last October. We have enjoyed them all winter. These are the last ones left and would not have lasted much longer, so we enjoyed them in a pot of chili after General Conference! 


If you want to try something new, try "Longkeepers" or another variety of tomatoes that will store over the winter. This is the first year I have tried them and they worked out great!


They were picked green and when they were ripe, they look like an heirloom tomato on the outside with variegated yellow and red skins. (Maybe they would have turned red if I would have wrapped them in paper to ripen. I will try that this year.) But when you cut them open they are just like a nice red tomato. I only had two plants and they kept us in tomatoes all winter! 

When you plant your garden give these a try!

*Thanks to Barbara Barrett in the 8th Ward for giving me a plant to try in my garden! 
Don't we just love the many, varied blessings that come from Visiting Teaching!

Seeds of Self Reliance

Here is some great advice from one of our prophets!

 “…to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees—plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard. Even those residing in apartments or condominiums can generally grow a little food in pots and planters. Study the best methods of providing your own foods. Make your garden … neat and attractive as well as productive.”

Pres. Spencer W. Kimball, “Family Preparedness,“ Ensign, May 1976, p. 124

Also, there is a great article about growing gardens throughout the world in March 20011, Ensign. Check it out!

lds.org/ensign/2011/03/seeds-of-self-reliance

Growing a Garden

"I often hear economists claim that growing a garden is too expensive, that land costs are prohibitive and that your economic return is very poor. I beg to differ.You have the land around your house. You can grow nothing, or you can grow a great garden. The land cost does not change. You also likely water the land, so watering a productive garden is no more expensive."

Larry Sagers, "Cut High Produce Prices by Growing Your Own," Deseret News, March 14, 2011, pg. C3

Enjoy the Sun!

It is such a beautiful sunny day today! If you have started seeds indoors take them out side for the day to give them a little more sun. This will keep them from becoming elongated. They will be stronger and transfer to your garden better if they are adjusted to the outside light and temperatures. Just be sure to bring them in at night and don't take them out on days that are too cool.

Gardening

Time to Prune

I am so grateful for the older members of our stake. They are a wealth of knowledge. Every year I know it is time to prune my grapes, berries and fruit trees when I see them out working. It is time, my neighbors are out!

Choose a day when the weather is nice and take an hour or two and get started. Your vines, berries and trees will produce better because they have not given all their energy to shoots that you will cut off. So start now before they leaf out!

Here are some articles that will be helpful to you:

 For grape vines:
deseretnews.com/article/705291081/Careful-grape-pruning-brings-sweet-rewards

For raspberries:
deseretnews.com/article/600119331/Prepare-soil-prune-to-reap-raspberry-rewards

For peach trees and other stone fruits:
deseretnews.com/article/660197866/Proper-pruning-will-yield-the-best-fruit

For all fruit trees:
extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/HG_363.pdf

Happy Pruning!

Family Home Evening Idea

Start Seedlings For Your Garden

It is the perfect time to start a few seeds indoors that will be ready to plant in your garden once the last frost is past, usually May 15th in Salt Lake. Some of the more tender plants can be started now and it is a great FHE activity. Any type of squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, melons,  or any thing else you would like to try, can be started indoors in paper cups or egg cartons.

Here is a great article from Mormon Times to tell you exactly how to do it:

mormontimes.com/article/19815/Spring-ahead-and-plant-your-garden-early