Upon reading further it came to my attention that you should plant a variety of types of plants. There are June-bearing and day-neutral types of strawberries. When you plant both types, you are able to harvest fruit the first year. The day-neutral type will produce fruit quickly, while the June-bearing are not supposed to produce fruit the first year so that the plant becomes well established and is allowed to grow to full height before producing fruit. You will need to pinch off any blossoms that they produce for the first year so that you will receive a bountiful harvest the second season.

Strawberries need full sun and rich loose soil with a PH of 5.8 to 6.5. They also like a lot of organic matter or compost in the soil. My next bed with be a raised bed since I need to clear out all the grass that has overtaken the bed that they are currently planted in. To help prevent them from disease, they should not be planted in an area where potatoes, tomatoes, or grass has been growing in the past.

It is important to allow plenty of space between the plants so that the runners can establish in open areas and you can control the thickness of the plants. Starting with 25 plants should provide enough fruit for a family of four. Now remember after three or four years, it is required to get rid of the oldest plants as they will probably stop producing a high-yield crop or even producing all together.

I can’t wait to get started on my new strawberry bed now. The race is on to find the right type of soil and plants to be able to make a strawberry-rhubarb pie by the end of the summer. The rhubarb is doing well and just about ready to pick so the strawberries better grow fast.

So if you love eating honey, or more importantly, eating food, you’re probably gonna wanna read this. And then please, dear reader, commit to doing something from the list at the end of this article.

$15 billion dollars worth of fruit, nuts and vegetables are at risk because of all the vanishing bees. Where did they go? What’s happening to them? Well, there are obvious answers, and not so obvious answers.

First let’s take a look at a list of crops that simply will not grow without honey bees:

Forage and Legume Crops: Alfalfa, buckwheat and clover.
Fruit Crops: Apple, apricot, avocado, berry, cherry, citrus, kiwi, mango, passion fruit, peach, pear, persimmon and plum.
Nut Crops: Almond, cashew, chestnut, coconut and macademia.
Oilseed Crops: Cotton, flax, rape, safflower, soybean and sunflower.
Vegetable Seed Crops: Asparagus, broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chinese cabbage, collard, cucumber, dill, eggplant, garlic, kale, kohlrabi, leek, lima bean, mustard, onion, parsley, pepper, pumpkin, radish, rutabaga, squash, turnip.
Vegetable Crops: Beans, cantelope, cucumbers, muckmelon, pumpkin, squash, watermelon, eggplant, lima benas, peppers.

And this is just a partial list! Don’t forget ornamental and flower crops!

It is estimated by the USDA that 30% of our (US) food crop is dependent on honeybee pollination.

Ok, so first what is Colony Collapse Disorder? It is simply a name attributed to the disappearance of entire colonies of bees. For some reason they just simply never return to the hive. From October 2009 to April 2010 28% of beekeeping operations reported that some of their colonies perished without dead bees present totaling a 44% overall loss of their colonies.

Here are the symptoms:
-No adult bees in or around the hive.
-Pupa in cocoons.
-Honey and pollen in hive not consumed.

I’ll save the lecture on bee biological cycles for another post. But I will say that the varying stages of bee development are interdependent on each other. Developing pupae get fed by older generations.

Causes of Colony Collapse Disorder? Who knows? But we can guess at the obvious. Mono-crop agriculture, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, environmental pollution, air-wave pollution, migratory route interruption, global warming, etc.

Personally, I think, yes, all of the above, but largely that the commercial honeybee has been so overly managed (even “organic” honey producers are allowed to use noxious chemicals) that bee-strength and adaptability is probably the first thing to focus on. I’ll explain: Typically, commercial bee colonies are stripped of their hard earned honey, all of it. This is then replaced with simple sugar syrup over winter. All those health benefits of honey and pollen taken away from the species that needs it most? Make sense? So that’s the first place to start. Commercial beekeepers should implement a partial harvesting to allow bees to keep a store to sustain their strength overwinter. (much more to this, but this post is getting rather long)

Ok, so let’s cut to the chase about things you can do:
1. Give a hoot don’t pollute! This means not only automobile emissions, it means reducing your consumption period! A key indicator is how much garbage you put at the curb! Make a commitment to reduce household waste by 1/3!
2. Consider the toxicity of your yard. Do you spray and fertilize? Consider composting kitchen scraps, mulching, removing bugs with a vaccume? (I Do this when ants come in the house, I call it the whirling vortex of death, it works!) Really, this is my number one concern. STOP BUYING THAT TOXIC CRAP AT HOME STORES!!! ALL IT DOES IS INCREASE YOUR COMMUNITIES TOXICITY!!
3. Garden, garden, garden!!! Gardens are the most awesome thing you can do. If it’s not organic, then it’s not a Gardenview™ garden and you are not allowed to come back to this site ever again.
4. Replace your lawn with clover and let it flower! Bees LOVE clover!
5. Turn landscaping beds into mulch factory flower machines! Who needs beauty bark! (I’ll post about this specifically later)
6. Get your neighborhood to commit to green yard management. Send out a flyer, have a pot-luck or just simply talk over the hedge about being green!
7. Lucky #7 Buy an Organichive™ and enjoy being a honeybee naturalist! These hives are proven in the field, awesome, and probably the coolest hobby you could ever do. (I should know, I’m a honeybee naturalist)

So, Gardenview™ friends, there is the short list. I hope you enjoyed the article and that we can link arms to make this world a bit friendlier for our industrious friend the honeybee.

Pete Skenandore

Sources:
OrganicHive™
AH&OH STUDIO – image
Green Living Tips

After last years composting frenzy, I thought this year the soil would be loaded with all the nutrients needed to get a great big pumpkin.

As you may or may not know. I do not use any type unnatural fertilizers. It’s composted kitchen scraps, lawn clippings, leaves, and that’s it. So there is no secret “blue” formulas, no nitrogen loaded pegs, nothing.

So here’s the quick run down of the great giant pumpkin experiment of 2010.
I planted seeds in the ground early this year, ’cause, you know, it was sunny and warm outside. Those little guys burst forth out of the ground with vigor.
…then it froze.
…and they withered.
…and I cried.

So I “contemplated” meaning -procrastinated- about replanting for about a week, and low and behold one of the little guys just decided he wasn’t about to go visit the great pumpkin in the sky. My little bud poked his head up between the other frost dead leaves and fought back hard. And my friends, you are looking at the proud accomplishments of that little guy.

Note: basketball to show scale. The basketball is not a giant basketball. Repeat: the basketball is regulation size. -just in case you were wondering. And I know you were.

So the 2010 giant pumpkin experiment yielded a completely natural 24 -ish pounder. I’ve decided to try and dehydrate it along with all the birdhouse gourds my daughter grew. haha.

I’m naming this pumpkin Lazerus for obvious reasons (nothing to do with lazers).

Can’t wait til the giant pumpkin growing season of 2011.

First, you want to turn over the soil and make sure there are no clumps. You want a fine, even texture. Next, moisten the soil. There are a lot of ways to spread seeds, but with lettuce, all you want to worry about is leaving about a half-inch spacing between seeds. After the seeds are all spread out evenly on the soil, sift soil or potting mix over the seeds, until the seeds are covered with a quarter inch of dirt. Then sprinkle the newly sown bed with water, water thoroughly but gently. Keep the seedbed evenly moist until germination (about two weeks). They won’t all pop up at once, but should within a week of each other. So how long from dirt to table? You can start to harvest the little lettuces when they are 4 to 5 inches tall (after 35 to 45 days) but be sure to cut them down to an inch or two from the ground with sharp scissors after every harvest.
Keep your salad garden well watered and pest-free for delicious fresh salads every day!

The US is divided into 11 plant hardiness zones. The climate zone you are in drastically affects what you plant. The USDA developed a plant hardiness zone map that breaks down North America into eleven zones based on annual minimum temperature.  Zone 1 being coldest and zone 11 being hottest. Always factor in your climate zone when selecting plants for your garden. Zone is important, but is not the only major consideration before planting. What I mean is, you can plant a zone 5 plant like lavender in zone 5, but if you plant it in wet, clay soil it will fair poorly. So! Always take into account all factors, like zones, dirt quality, and sunlight that will affect each individual plant before planting!

Pete Skenandore

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New World natives, marigolds were the sacred flowers of the Aztecs. They attributed magical, religious, an medicinal properties to the marigolds. The marigold was taken from the Azteks by early Spanish explorers to Spain. These cultivars were grown in monastery gardens. From Spain they made their way to France and northern Africa. In the early 20th century they were introduced to the American gardener, making a full circle where they are one of the most popular garden flowers today.

Bright yellow, orange and red marigold blends make a fantastic border for your vegetable garden. They prefer rich light soil and a sunny location. They take 45-60 days to germinate and will flower all summer long.
Marigold (Calendula) can be used in fish and meat soups, rice dishes, salads and as a coloring for cheese and butter. This flower is also used to heal wounds, including internal and external ulcers, improves blood flow, and is an antifungal agent used to treat athlete’s foot, ringworm and candida.

-Pete Skenandore

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We spent many rainy days floating our race-boats (popsicle sticks) down those gutters.   On occasion we would dam them up with varying degrees of ambition.  Our goal, of course, and now remember we were 7, was to connect both sides of the street and make a huge car stopping lake. My first garden “scent” memories were from this neighborhood.  There was a very nice family that lived down the street on the way to the pool.  While most homes had the lawn and fence routine.  They were gardeners extraordinaire!  Their entire yard, front to back was like a jungle.  While I don’t remember everything they had planted, I do remember two distinct things.  When I get a whiff of these two distinct things, I am whisked back to the early 70’s  in my old neighborhood in Fort Collins Co.

To this day, I love these two smells.  They evoke such potent feelings of nostalgia.  It’s crazily unavoidable.  If I smell these two things, I can’t help but think of Fort Collins.  It was in Fort Collins where I first learned how to swim.  It’s also where I learned how to ride a bike.  It’s my first memory of having a best friend. Santa delivered huge denim bags of wooden blocks one Christmas. Squares and rectangles.  A black dot on my set to differentiate from my brothers.  Hours upon hours were spent in the basement making opposing forts and then sliding blocks back and forth across the black and white checkered floor to see who’s would be destroyed first.  Now that was fun.There are many more memories and good times that are brought back by those two scents. While I don’t remember having a family garden in Colorado.  I am thankful for the incredible garden of a neighboring family.  I’m thankful for those scents that remind me I was once a kid.  I’ve planted Marigold seeds with my 7 year old daughter this year.  I’ve also had her help me turn the compost. Which is my other favorite childhood garden smell.  I don’t think it’s hers…  Yet.

Authored by:

Pete Skenandore
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