OOPS, the camera setting was on

B&W from this past weekend, but here is a sneek peek at some really fun, and different for growing your vegetable plants in next spring. We hope to have some of these at the Wichita Garden Show nest March, but you can watch the progress here.

January 27, 2010

Well the straw bale project has not gone as planned. First off, the bales are in an unheated greenhouse, and I think they will start to break down faster in a warmer area. The greenhouse is now being filled with perennials for this seasons sales and the bales are going outside, where it will be even colder. As the spring season warms, I think the straw bale project will progress, we'll see.

BUT, Jeremy found these grow bags in jumbo sizes which will work really nice for an affordable, reusable, planting area. This is a 100 gal container planted in Square Foot Garden soil recipe, more on that in a later post. In the center is a 'Cherokee Purple' tomato and planted around is 9 herb plants. Our plan is to have this planter at the Wichita Garden Show the first weekend of March.

God's Artwork

I just thought you would like to see my backyard pond waterfall. I leave the pump on 24/7/365. Today, with the temps in the teens, made a great ice falls.

It's Tomato Time at Johnson's

I don't know if I have ever seen greenhouse tomatoes as nice as these. A local greenhouse grower had some extra space in his production greenhouse that he was heating and decided to try some hydroponic tomatoes. I think one of the things that make these tomatoes special is that he grew garden varitety tomatoes, not hydroponic varieties. I would guess he had some seed left over from his spring bedding plant crop and grew what he had. We have all eaten grocery store, or reataurant tomatoes that are pale red at best. These things have flavor! They are harvested at their peak, not weeks early and let ripen in a box.

These plants have also been grown without the use of pesticides. I don't know for sure, but many organic growers use preditory insects in their greenhouses for insect control.

We will have these for sale this week, and hopefully for the next several weeks, if supply holds out. Avoid getting the tomatoes grown across the border and #1, help a local grower and #2, enjoy the best tasting tomatoes you can get in December.

It's Christmas tree season

The past few Christmas seasons we have had the opportunity to supply the lighted Christmas tree at Friends University in Wichita Kansas. The Concolor fir that we supplied again this year came from the Cimmaron NM area. If you have had the opportunity to visit Philmont Scout ranch as a scout or a leader, you know the area. We loaded the 25' tree this morning on our flatbed truck, delivered, set up and lit the tree today. Check back and I'll post a photo of the tree at night illuminated.

The photo added at the top of the page is another Concolor fir that we delivered to Southwestern College in Winfield Kansas. I need to make a road trip some evening and get some night shots of the trees, check back.

Johnson's Christmas Open House

If you have been out in the wonderful weather wem have been having this weekend and have missed our Spring Open House, be sure to stop by on Sunday for the last day. Special prices on Christmas items, and good things to snack on while you shop. Hours on Sunday are 12-5

Planting the Kansas Keukenhof

It is late October, many think it is too late for gardening, nothing could be further from the truth. Our good Friend, Piet Stuifbergen (our Dutch bulb supplier from The Netherlands) thinks that October/November is the perfect time for planting these Spring-flowering miracles. We still have an excellent assortment of bulbs to select from, whether it is tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocus, any of the misc. bulbs. I started my project today by pulling out the geraniums in our flower bed. Tilled the soil with a Mantis tiller, leveled the soil and then planted the bulbs. I like to till the soil 6" deep which will make the planting go much easier. If the area you are planting in is not tillable, then a bulb planter works well. I planted a variety of Species crocus 'Gypsy Girl' in bunches of 6 along the border. These 4-6" tall, yellow with black striped bulb should bloom by March. Next came Gregii Tulip 'United States' This mid-season tulip has yellow and red flowers that will grow to 18". Behind these in the rear come a bunch flowering, Single Late Tulip called 'Antoinette' which is a reverse of the 'United States', red and yellow flowers. Over the top of all the bulb to bloom for 3 seasons in a Yellow Pansy with a dark blotch called 'Colossus Yellow' I fertilized the area with Ferti-Lomes Start-N-Gro Plus, a slow release fertilizer with a weed preventer, which will keep the area weed-free all winter. Most importantly I watered the area 3 times to get the bulbs moist to start the root development. Check back and see what other bulps I get planted, maybe I'll have a showing next spring of my 'Kansas Keukenhof'

My dog had fleas

I am sure you have heard, and probably even sang a few measures of that catchy tune at some point. Our 11 yr old Golden knows first hand what it is like to have fleas. Last fall was the first time Bailey had ever experienced fleas. Last fall I noticed there seemed what I thought was dirt in her coat. Upon closer examination, I saw these tiny insects crawling in her fur. You can imagine what the specs I was thinking was dirt, we won't go there. I knew that we sold several versions of Permethrin, a safe insecticide used in most flea and tick controls for animals. It is even used in clothing that you purchase which has an insect label. I checked the label on Hi-Yield Indoor/Outdoor Broad Use Insecticide and sure enough it had animals listed on the label. this product has 24 pages of uses for all types of insect control in the landscape and inside pest control as well. It is low odor which is nice when using on our pets, and around the home as well. My method of application for Bailey was a Ferti-Lome Air-O-Matic hose end sprayer. If you have swine, poultry, beef cattle, horses, sheep, goats, or a dog, try Hi-Yield Indoor/Outdoor Broad Use Insecticide to control fleas and other insects.

How did the product work on Bailey? Well, last fall it only took 1 application to control the fleas. I am confident that today's spraying will do it for this season as well.