January 2, 2004

April 9, 2004

June 1, 2004

We are rethinking our time to put out the tomatoes and pepppers. This year is much colder than the last two years.

We will put tomato and pepper plants in tomorrow. Lettuce seed will go in as well.

June 9, 2004

We got our tomato and pepper plants in, and the garden huckleberries. Now we will try to keep the soil moist to speed germination. Carrots, thyme, parsley, and basil will be slow to germinate. We really do not expect to see these up for at least another week. Meanwhile the rest of the garden is just popping up out of the ground, including beans, chard, squash, cucumber, pumpkin, watermelon, and corn. The recent heat has certainly helped. I am working on getting flowers into the garden right now.

Below is an explanation for our raised bed system. What's with the box? Quite a bit actually.

1. THE BOX: The box, filled with soil, gives the gardener a raised bed. This raised bed gets plant roots up higher than they would normally be and allows heat to be absorbed into the roots, not just from above, but also from the side. More heat gives better growth. Please click on the link to our Beds Page. Note that if you don't fill the box completely full of soil, you can then flood irrigate the whole box when you water (and plants are well established). This allows water to soak in slowly and deeply for 'deep watering'. We often line the sides of our boxes with plastic film to keep soil from washing out. Also, for plants that really love the heat (onions, squash, pumpkin, and melons) we plant in old tires.

2. SOIL: We plan what plants will be in what box or tire before the growing season begins. We then adjust the soils in each box accordingly. Some plant varieties like soil that is rich in Nitrogen from manure. Others like soil that has moderate amounts of manure. Some plants like soil that has no manure (Nitrogen) at all. To see what different vegetables like please click on the links to our vegetable varieties pages : beans to chard , corn to melon , onion to pumpkin , and radish to watermelon .

3. CLIMATE CONTROL/TUBES: Climate in Wyoming is harsh and unforgiving. We have found, over the years, that it is best to use short-seasoned plant varieties. In seed catalogs and on seed packages the days-to-maturity is usually given for every variety of vegetable. You will generally have better success in your Wyoming garden with the plants that have the lower numbers. A general rule of thumb is to consider carefully any variety that has a day-to-maturity between 80 and 90; and to not plant varieties whose days-to-maturity are greater than 90 (pumpkins may be the exception to this rule). For the past 30 years my gardening partners and I have experimented and collected data on which varieties work best in our climate. You can get this information by clicking on the links to our vegetable varieties pages : beans to chard , corn to melon , onion to pumpkin , and radish to watermelon . More information is also available on our climate page.

The tube, pictured above, is one of the very best ideas my garden partner, Paul Combe, ever had. We use then extensively now. They are PVC plastic, usually made for water or sewer lines. Short remnant pieces of tube are often found in new developments, and come in diameters of 3 inches up to 8 inches. We cut them to desired lengths with a hand power saw that has an abrasive, or masonry, blade. You could buy PVC pipe at your local hardware store, or substitute old plastic pots or coffee cans with the bottoms removed. When placed around plants just set out, the tubes act as the perfect wind-protection. The open end allows the plant to wiggle a bit in the wind, but does not allow it to be battered. You really do want your plants to experience this wiggling because this action builds up their main stocks, makes them strong enough to eventually withstand the wind when you remove the tubes. Some of our plants never do get the tubes removed. Tomatoes in particular do well with the tube on all season. Cut worms stay away and the tubes can be filled with water for 'deep-watering'. The tomatoes simply grow up out of their tubes.

4. THE PLANT: When not experimenting, we try hard to plant varieties that will give us abundant crops of delicious vegetables in our harsh climate. You can get more information by clicking on the links to our vegetable varieties pages : beans to chard , corn to melon , onion to pumpkin , and radish to watermelon . We also practice intensive planting in our beds. For instance, we plant carrots in 3 foot rows at the rate of 4 rows per foot. A 3 by 3 foot box, therefore, has 12 rows of carrots planted in it. Tomatoes too are intensively planted in boxes. A 3 by 3 foot box has 4 tomato plants in it. We use a kind of trellis system for the tomatoes. Cucumbers also grow up a trellis. We also do some companion planting in some of the beds. We regularly plant beets amongst the cauliflower. When the cauliflower gets ripped out at mid-season, the beets benefit by getting more sun to grow. To learn more about that click on this link.

Also, we try to put seeds and live plants in at appropriate times. Times vary from year to year. The last average day of frost for Casper is May 25. The operative word is average. That means that some years the last frost is LATER THAN MAY 25. The last frost this year was June 1. We delayed putting out tomatoes, peppers, and garden huckleberries this year, accordingly. We also delayed planting or putting out most of the other varieties we plant because the weather this Spring was very cool.

June 11, 2004

Wind! There is always a cold spell in June and always some wind. The wind yesterday and today though was as bad as I can remember. The sustained wind was 40 mph with gusts up over 60 mph. It blew hour after hour like that and did extensive damage to a lot of Casper gardens. We had planned for wind protection for our tomatoes and peppers, and so are in better shape than others. But it is very discouraging to have a garden wiped out by wind. We know this from bitter experience, and we feel sorry for our fellow gardeners who have seen their hours of work wiped out.

June 23, 2004

If it seems like your garden is going backward, it might be. This spring has been as cool as any I have known.

July 12, 2004

Tubes. We have gone tubular. We are using short sections of 4 inch tubes around all kinds of plants, particularly beans, cucumbers, and musk melons. We have discovered that the smooth-walled plastic tubes protect plants from the ravages of instects. Our first experiment equaled dramatic results. Newly risen pole beans did not get eaten and are now sending up their vines ahead of older, and beaten up plants. We prefer tubes to using chemicals, and tubes seem to be more effective.

Cool. This year has been the pits. Here are the degree days for this year and the last two years through July 4th. Degree days are cumulative, and are a way to measure the total heat we have received during the growing season. Judge for yourself: 2002 - 626dd, 2003 - 483dd, 2004 - 372dd.

Bush beans have been severely damaged. From worst to best: Royal Purple, Contender, Blue Lake 274, and Top Crop. The distance of the respective bean beds from the paths (where we think the bugs live) correspond perfectly with the results, with Royal Purple being closest to the path(s) and Top Crop the furthest.

Pole beans have also been severly damaged by insects. As with the bush beans, we are installing tubes and replanting and still hope to get some beans before frost.

Sun Jewel Melon was wiped out by insect damage. Our first plantings of both Sweet Success and Cool Breeze Cucumbers were wiped out by insects. Tubes are in place and replanting has occurred.

Trinity Sweet Corn and Golden Hawk Pumpkin had real germination problems in our cool spring. We are also disappointed in the onion plants we bought.

We are most pleased with the following: Better Bell Pepper, Packman Broccoli, Snow Crown Cauliflower, King and Queen Watermelon, Sunshine Squash, Sorcerer Pumpkin, Green Hubbard Squash, Burgess Buttercup Squash, and particularly Lady Godiva Squash/Pumpkin. All the tomatoes, while subdued by the lack of heat, are looking fine. Sweet Baby Girl and Bloody Butcher flowered early.

July 28, 2004

Primo musk melons were struggling before the tubes, now they are progressing nicely. Sun Jewel Melon was wiped out first thing in the Spring. We think now that tubes would have prevented that. I am predicting less disease problems now that the bugs can't crawl all over the plants now. Our corn is tassling now, and most of it is under 3 feet tall. We will be lucky to keep any away from the mice and skunks. We are harvesting lettuce, chard and broccoli now. Cauliflower will be ready as early as next week. Cabbage may get the boot next year. The plots may be too hot for them. Potatoes are also dissappointing, possibly for much the same reason.

August 2, 2004

Squash and Pumpking are setting on fruit. We begin picking Cauliflower tonight. Tomatoes are setting a lot of fruit on, particularly the Valentine Tomato. Carrots are starting to shoot up in the heat. It looks like we are actually going to get some beans this summer, and we have a 50% chance of getting cucumbers this summer, all thanks to our use of tubes to protect the plants from marauding bugs.

Don't do what we did this spring. We had a big pile of vines and plants from the 2003 growing season stacked up in the corn area. We burned the pile. Right where we had the fire, and particularly right where the fire was hottest, the soil got sterilized, all the little microbes in the soil that help growth were destroyed. The lack of growth in this area by the 2004 corn is pronounced.

We are still way behind on the heat. Through the end of July we have recieved 853 degree days. Through the end of July 2003 we had recieved 1063.5 degree days, and through the end of July 2002 we had recieved 1252 degree days.

Below is my degree days chart for 2004. It is based on 50 degree (F.) average days. Note all the 'blue' lows in the 30's, and the fact that we started the chart in the negative. It has been cool indeed. June saw some hot days, but a lot more cool days. July has been warmer, but also scattered with rain.

August 31, 2004

Well, it is the end of August. This is the time of year we walk through the garden taking notes for next year. Here are those notes.

Cool Breeze Cucumber: We had dead and dying plants from bugs at night. Then, in July, we replanted inside 3 inch pvc tubes. The results were dramatic, and we will get a few cucumbers. Next year we will plant in tubes right at the start of the season.

Sweet Success Cucumber: We had the same experience with Sweet Success as Cool Breeze.

Bush Beans: It was a very cool summer, and it was buggy. We had a similar experience with bush beans as with cucumbers. Once in the tubes the beans took off. In this tough year the best producers are Contender and Royal Purple. Blue Lake 274 and Top Crop have not been as productive.

Pole Beans: Very similar results as the bush beans. The best producers are Helda and Stringless Blue Lakes. Musica and Ura succumbed to the bugs and disease. We will plant in tubes from the get go.

Lettuce: Green Ice hardly germinated. We may want to replace it. Olga did fine, as did Red Sails, Nevada and New Red. I was not impressed with the lettuce blend we tried. From now on I will make my own blend.

Peppers: Cherry Pic did just fine, as did Big Bertha, Fat N Sassy, and Better Belle. Guney Giant needed more heat and did not get it. The hot peppers (Thai and Jalapeno) neede a lot more heat.

Carrots: Slow growing year with all that cool weather. Will judge when we harvest.

Potatoes: We will not plant potatoes in boxes again. Boxes are probably a bad idea for potatoes.

Melon: Primo grew just fine once we replanted in tubes. There will not be enough time to get any melons. Sun Jewel was wiped out by the bugs and disease.

Chard: Bright Lights grew just fine this season. Next year I will add more red stemmed chard to Bright Lights.

Cabbage: Savoy grew just fine once we got it started. The Chinese Cabbage is going to get moved out of the boxes.

Garden Huckleberry: grew just fine. But getting enough plants started proved to be difficult.

Broccoli: Did just fine though it was only about half as tall as normal.

Cauliflower: was slow but did produce. It needed more heat.

Onions: Starting from seed was a disaster. Mail order plants had a hard time, but the ones that survived grew really big!

Squash: Lady Godiva is superb even in a tough year. Patty Pan, Heart of Gold, Buttercup, Super Zuc, Goldrush, did just fine. MooreGold and Acorn harly produced. The biggest surprise was how well Sunshine did in this very tough year.

Pumpkin: Tough year. We will plant Autumn Gold again and Sorcerer. Golden Hawk was a failure.

Watermelon: King and Queen outperformed Whopper.

Tomatoes:

Generally tomatoes did just fine. One reason is that we aggressively trimmed beginning in July. We have just the right mix (for us) of small tomatoes: 2 black plum, one yellow pear, one red pear, and one Sweet Baby Girl. Sweet Baby Girl is the newby for us and is a fine, productive tomato.

Perhaps the most productive plants we have are the Valentine, followed very closely by Goliath. Sunny Goliath and Black Krim were just fine. A pleasant surprise is how well Big Zac is doing in this cool year. Its crop of tomatoes is going to be large and heavy.

Bloody Butcher did OK, but nothing special and Black Prince was a failure.

Corn: It has been a bad year. Trinity, supposedly a 7 foot corn, is 1 to 2 1/2 feet, shorter than the Kandy Kwik. Kandy Kwik, supposedly a 6 foot corn, is 3 1/2 feet right now....at least we are getting some ears from it. We will be investigating much taller corn for 2005.

September 22, 2004

Here is a link to a new page featuring the garden of Bill Simpson. His approach to gardening in Casper Wyoming is very different than our own. I thought you would enjoy seeing what he is doing.

Here are some more notes from the garden to augment notes at the end of August below.

Peppers: While Gurney Giant Pepper does fine in an average to hot year, this year was neither. The Fat N Sassy outperformed the Gurney Giant.

Cool Breeze Cucumber: We actually got to put up some (14)quarts of pickles this year thanks to the pvc tubes. We will get a much better crop next year.

Sun Jewel Melon was not wiped out altogether. We got a few right at the end.

Squash: It was just too cool for the Acorn, though Buttercup performed well.

Tomatoes: They did more than just fine. This year was one of the best tomato years we have had. Aggressively trimming our indeterminate tomatoes helped, so did having lots of flowers around to attract bees. Big Zac turned out to be a big cropper. Our Black Krim grew larger tomatoes this year than last. Over the winter I am going to add comments on how to trim indeterminate tomatoes.

October 5, 2004

Degree Days:

Below is my degree days chart for 2004. It is based on 50 degree (F.) average days. Note all the 'blue' lows in the 30's, and the fact that we started the chart in the negative. It has been cool indeed. June saw some hot days, but a lot more cool days. July has been warmer, but also scattered with rain. August has been very cool.

MAY	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
HIGH	67	70	68	77	75	58	72	61	70	57	59	66	73	74	59	57	65
LOW	32	45	39	42	50	45	45	37	41	41	34	37	41	51	45	33	37
AVER. 2004	49.5	57.5	53.5	59.5	62.5	51.5	58.5	53.5	55.5	49	46.5	51.5	57	62.5	52	45	51
DD (50)											-3.5	-2.0	5	17.5	19.5	14.5	15.5

JUNE	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
HIGH	72	74	85	88	80	91	87	76	72	67	71	75	76	82	80
LOW	31	34	44	45	46	53	47	49	48	55	46	40	39	37	42
AVER. 2004	51.5	54	64.5	66.5	63	72	67	62.5	60	61	58.5	57.5	57.5	59.5	61
DD (50)	17	21	35.5	52	65	87	104	116.5	126.5	137.5	146	153.5	161	170.5	181.5

JUNE	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
HIGH	53	56	45	74	70	63	78	83	72	75	69	73	73	83	78
LOW	43	45	41	39	48	43	39	46	47	43	46	42	48	46	54
AVER. 2004	48	50.5	43	56.5	59	53	58.5	64.5	59.5	59	57.5	57.5	55.5	64.5	66
DD (50)	179.5	180	173	179.5	188.5	191.5	200	214.5	234	243	260.5	278	283.5	298	314

JULY	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
HIGH	79	81	82	76	68	77	93	86	90	91	95	96	94	93	79
LOW	52	48	48	50	52	41	53	56	40	56	46	50	53	62	63
AVER. 2004	65.5	64.5	65	63	60	59	73	71	65	73.5	65.5	73	73.5	77.5	71
DD (50)	329.5	344	359	372	382	391	414	435	450	473.5	489	512	535.5	563	584

JULY	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
HIGH	84	90	93	89	85	87	72	65	71	85	86	77	69	77	84	91
LOW	54	56	61	64	59	53	59	54	48	46	46	55	49	45	45	47
AVER. 2004	69	73	76	76.5	72	70	60.5	59.5	59.5	65.5	66	66	59	63	64.5	69
DD (50)	603	626	652	678.5	700.5	720.5	731	740.5	750	765.5	781.5	797.5	806.5	819.5	834	853

AUGUST	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
HIGH	93	90	85	88	82	87	90	80	76	76	76	78	82	83	89	86
LOW	50	60	59	49	55	57	60	49	47	47	39	37	41	42	44	45
AVER. 2004	71.5	75	72	68.5	68.5	72	75	64.5	61.5	61.5	57.5	57.5	61.5	62.5	66.5	65.5
DD (50)	874.5	899.5	921.5	940	958.5	980.5	1005.5	1020	1031.5	1053	1080.5	1088	1099.5	1112	1128.5	1144

AUGUST	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
HIGH	81	63	74	76	83	82	75	73	75	69	90	74	79	84	85
LOW	50	56	51	49	50	50	54	44	51	48	44	34	39	43	42
AVER. 2004	65.5	59.5	62.5	62.5	66.5	66	64.5	58.5	63	58.5	67	54	59	63.5	63.5
DD (50)	1159.5	1169	1181.5	1194	1210.5	1226.5	1241	1249.5	1262.5	1271	1288	1292	1299	1312.5	1326

SEPTEMBER	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
HIGH	89	83	68	54	68	74	80	84	85	82	86	85
LOW	56	57	50	48	51	39	40	45	51	49	38	55
AVER. 2004	72.5	70	59	51	59.5	56.5	60	64.5	68	65.5	62	70
DD (50)	1348.5	1368.5	1377.5	1378.5	1388	1394.5	1404.5	1419	1437	1452.5	1464.5	1484.5

SEPTEMBER	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23
HIGH	69	68	67	77	86	86	89	64	42	55	67
LOW	50	46	37	40	47	49	64	49	37	34	32
AVER. 2004	59.5	57	52	58.5	66.5	67.5	76.5	56.5	39.5	44.5	49.5
DD (50)	1494	1501	1503	1511.5	1528	1545.5	1572	1588.5	1578	1572.5	1572