Garden Gate Greenhouse & Gifts

04/13/2025

The greenhouse is looking good . Lots of radishes, lettuce, cilantro, mint, and parsley ready for harvest. Orange tree blossoms smell wonderful.

09/16/2024

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is more than just an aromatic herb that elevates culinary dishes; it's a powerhouse of health benefits and home remedies. This evergreen shrub, characterized by its needle-like leaves and distinctive fragrance, has

09/04/2024

The next time your basil plant begins to flower, think twice before pinching off those blooms and tossing them aside.

07/24/2024

THE SQUASH VINE BORER

The squash vine borer has four stages in its life cycle: egg, larval, pupal, and adult:
1. Egg
In late June or early July, adult squash vine borers emerge from cocoons in the ground and lay eggs singly on the stems of susceptible plants, usually near the soil line. The eggs are tiny, brown, flattened ovals that are glued to the stem or petiole. Each female can lay 150–200 eggs in her lifetime.
2. Larval
After 8–14 days, the eggs hatch and the larvae immediately bore into the stem, leaving a small hole surrounded by sawdust-like frass. The larvae feed on the plant tissue for 4–6 weeks, tunneling through the center of the stem and blocking water flow to the rest of the plant. They are wrinkly, white to cream-colored caterpillars that can grow up to 1 inch long with dark heads.
3. Pupal
When they are ready to pupate, the larvae exit the stem and burrow 1–2 inches into the soil, where they spin a black, rough-textured cocoon and overwinter as pupae. The pupae are dark brown and shiny with tapered ends, and take 14–30 days to complete development.
In warmer climates, they can emerge for a second life in cooler climates they stay buried and overwinter in your soil. 
4. Adult
In the following summer, the adults emerge from the cocoons to begin the life cycle again. They are fat, black clear-winged moths with orange legs and an orange and black abdomen, and look similar to wasps.

Rototilling and plowing is one way to kill them as you will be bringing their pupae  and cocoons to the surface, where they will be frozen or fed on by birds or buried even deeper, preventing them from emerging.

Crop rotation does no good as the moth is winged and will just move to a new area.  the Trichogramma wasp  is one way to battle it, but only does good in late spring time when the eggs are being laid .

Identifying the eggs on the stem of your squash and Identifying them in the plants , destroying them through either larva extraction, BT injection ( https://www.facebook.com/share/v/j45QonT2qeu441wv/?mibextid=WC7FNe ) or fire are supplementary Control . 

Planting later in cooler climates seems to be one of the best methods, especially if you are growing in urban or suburban areas where other people will be growing cucurbits as well . By planting later, your stems will be too small for the moth to lay her eggs  and there will not be a second cycle that year. 

06/11/2024

Wanna grow the best Brussel sprouts ? Plant the seeds now .
By the time the seedlings are ready for transplant your Garlic will be well out of the ground or maybe your early summer or late spring crops will be harvested. This will allow you to put in your brussels sprouts as an upcoming fall crop. As the cane grows break off the bottom leaves ,forcing the plant to grow taller and taller. You will get more brussels per plant this way .
You’re fully developed canes will be ready for harvesting from late October to late November. L If you’re really lucky the first frost will hit your brussels sprouts marking that as your time to harvest. The benefit of this is that cold makes brassicas sweeter. My fall Brussel sprouts are always sweeter than my summer sprouts .
You can pull the entire cane up and hang them upside down in your basement or garages.
Brussel sprouts are awesomely cold tolerant and in my climate I can push them all the way into December.
If you have the space to do so plant a few extra for your chickens as they love this as a treat through the winter months.
The leaves you break off are very similar to collards as they are a related cousin. I use them in this way and they are an awesome supplement to your homestead kitchen pot.

05/24/2024

05/14/2024

OMG WHAT HAPPENED TO MY GARLIC ?

Real soon I will be fielding some messages from you garlic growers out there with concerns and it's about time I address those.Many of you will send me pictures of your garlic in a "lodged" or fallen over state and you're thinking you've done something wrong. There's nothing wrong at all and lodging is a natural development in softneck Garlic's field life.
When your Garlic begins to lodge it is telling you it's near harvest. The Garlic plant itself will still take up some nutrients and water as it finishes bulb development.

The Garlic plant is in the end stages of dying but it is far from dead. The remainder of the nutrients leaves the plant and enters the bulb.The paper coating around the bulb is finishing up as well. We usually wait two weeks after the Garlic has lodged to harvest as this is crucial for long-term bulb storage keeping.
If you're harvesting by hand try to harvest after the two bottom leaves have gone completely yellowed or brown but not before the entire plant is crispy yellow . The stem should be yellowed but when you bend it back and forth it should still have a little pliability and a "juicy" inside . This will help you in hanging your Garlic later on ( more on that this weekend ) to finish the curing process.This will also aid in harvesting and prevent lost bulbs in your field as the neck easily detaches sometimes from the bulb when the plant has can completely gone brown and " crispy".
If you are using mechanized harvesting it's a lot easier to let the Garlic go completely brown and then burn it off the surface. This is what some of the Californians will do
Your harvester will have no problem picking up the bulbs afterwards but my harvester doesn’t have issues with the dried stem material either
This variety is Transylvanian