I know that we’re all really excited about putting our summer crops out. Here are a few tips on getting your timing right with summer crops.

Get to know which plants are tolerant of cold temperaturesare or sensitive to frost and which are not (See my FREE summer planting guide) Even if a plant does not experience frost, cold nights and windy rainy weather can be very stressful for heat loving plants. Short list of frost sensitive crops are: tomatoes, peppers, basil, beans, melons, cukes, squashes and some flowers.

Get to know the Last frost date for your particular region or neighborhood. If you are new to the area or don’t know when your last frost date is, I suggest you don’t look on social media and get advice from someone who doesn’t live where you do. Find out from someone who lives in your valley, slope or your ridgline when they plant their summer crops. Frost is very region specific, 1/2 of a mile can make a huge difference. Asking locally is a great way to get to know your neighbors, talk about the weather and build community. Maybe you can share vegetables or collaborate on a seed saving project.

I live in Southern Oregon which is Zone 7. Our last frost date is June 1st. In the 30 years I have lived here, I have seen many frosts in the month of May and many cold nights. In the Rogue Valley Floor, towns such as Medford and Grants Pass most people report May 15th. Some say Mother’s day. Some say watch for 7 days of nightime temperatures above 45 degrees.

Overall, I would err on the side of being cautious. In the 30 years I have lived in Southern oregon I have seen frost the last 2 weeks of may . I am often wearing a wool sweater on May evenings, which is too cold for heat loving plants.

If the weather is cold plants might not die of frost, but they would be stressed. It is very difficult for a heat loving tomato plant to be thriving in a cold environment. When a plant becomes stressed it’s susceptible to disease and the plant becomes set back and will have to recover it’s vigor. Cold nights, windy rain are not conditions for growth but yet an opportunity for the plants to decline.

I suggest, you find a way to keep that tropical environment going for your plants by finding a way to give them a few weeks of the pampered life. Pot up your plants into bigger sizes so they do not become root bound. Once a plant is root bound (especially the cucurbit family) they have a hard time recovering there ummph.

If you don’t have a greenhouse, there are some easy low tech ways to keep your plants growing on safely: 1) you can put your plants on a wagon or sled and move them in and out each day. Try to find a warm sunny wall during the day that is protected from the wind.

2) Use clear plastic totes as instant mini greenhouse. Be sure to prop up one side for ventilation.

3) Use old windows as a cover surrounded by strawbales or wood or simply lean the windows up against a wall.

A raised garden bed is a container or box full of soil in which plants are grown, elevated above the ground. Raised beds are also called garden boxes or planter boxes. Raised Beds are most commonly constructed of wood lumber, though they can also be made of stone, bricks, concrete, metal, logs or landscape fabric. Raised beds are typically not filled with the naturally available soil in their surrounding environment; instead, these structures are filled with soil that is either purchased or moved in from another location. Raised garden beds are often used in lieu of planting directly in the ground.

In-ground garden beds, there are no containers made of wood or masonry like raised beds. The garden beds are shaped into the existing soil and amended as needed. In-ground beds are created by either machine tilling or hand prepping the existing soil. Then amending, and adding compost and organic matter to the soil as needed. Some people prefer to shape their beds as slightly mounded in-ground planting space, with the pathway lower than the bed. This creates a distinct planting area from the surrounding yard space.

Let’s dig a bit deeper into their differences.

1) Soil quality 

With raised garden beds, you have better control over the condition, quality, and texture of your soil. Rather than simply working with what you’ve got, the soil in raised beds is all imported into the bed frame, making it easy to have soil that your plants will love. Soil quality and composition is one of the most important factors that leads to a healthy and successful garden! 

In general, raised beds are used when the soil quality is not high enough for planting. Meanwhile, in-ground ones suit areas where the natural soil is healthy enough to support vegetation.

If you are lucky enough to have the native soil in your garden fertile already, you have an ideal situation. Most gardeners find that their native soil is not suitable or desirable to grow food in for one reason or another. For example, the soil may be rocky, have poor drainage or too much clay or silt. 

2) Temperature

The soil temperature in a raised bed warms up faster, which is helpful in the spring, but also dry out faster which means they need to be watered more often. I personally have struggled to keep my raised beds moist during the hottests days here in Oregon. In the fall the soil temperature gets cold or frozen more readily in a raised bed than in the ground beds. For example carrots planted in a raised bed will freeze at a lower temperature than in the ground beds.

3)Drainage

Raised beds drain very quickly which makes them easy to work and plant in the early wet spring. If you have soggy areas on your land or clay soil, a raised bed can provide a fluffy dry refuge from the muck. Because the raised beds drain quickly, the nutrients also drain out of the beds quickly which makes the need for regular amending.

4)Fertility

Also the bags of potting mix or soil that people buy for their raised beds tends to be low in organic matter, which has a foofy white -bread consistency. This soil has been really frustrating for me to deal with when I am trying to help my clients have a successful garden. My preference is good ol homemade compost and aged manures. In my experience the contact with the earth, with a mulched path on either side of the bed in an in-ground bed has worms, mycelium and another tiny life that seems to multiply and thrive with in-ground beds.

5)Expense

Raised beds are expensive to build even if you are doing the work yourself. Most wooden beds I have seen in Oregon tend to decay at about 10 years. In my own garden have gotten very creative using logs that are pinned together and have used bark standing on end to create free raised beds. I also once spent several days making a raised bed out of rocks that was lined with gopher wire. If you are resourceful you might be able to use found materials to construct your beds.

The raised beds are expensive to fill with purchased quality soil and costly to maintain the fertility.

6) Excluding Pests and Diggers

For me, This the the most important reason to construct raised beds. We have a well established population of gophers, ground squirrels and moles here in Oregon. The gopher issue here is REAL. It is nearly impossible to grow root crops directly in the ground in our area because the gophers will eat it all. The ability to grow carrots and other root crops that are free from the pressures of these critters is a huge peace of mind for me.

It is really easy to add hoops mide of poly pipe to the side of a raised bed to support row covers or greenhouse plastic to extend the season and protect your plants. These hoops can also support netting or chicken wire to keep out the rodents, squirrels, birds, skunks, neighborhood cats and other pests The Raised bed garden area can be designed to include trellises or fencing that are attached to the beds to keep out the dogs or chickens.

7) Ergonomics and elderly gardeners

It sure is more comfortable to work in a bed that is raised off the ground. For some people getting down on the ground and squatting is difficult or impossible. Raised garden beds are more accessible for people who use a wheelchair, walker, or otherwise have trouble bending over or stooping.

If you do have limited mobility or back issues, make your raised beds no more than 4 feet wide, 3ft wide bed is even better if you have difficulty reaching to the middle. The sides of a raised bed can double as a seat if needed.

8)Your Esthetic Choice

In-ground gardens provide more flexibility for creative shapes and form fewer hard lines than raised beds. Some gardeners really like the tidy look of raised beds. The clean edges prevent pathway material like gravel or bark mulch from spilling into the planting area itself. 

Sunflower seeds are high in protein, fiber, Vitamin E, Selenium and other essential nutrients. All varieties of sunflowers are edible, but larger, grey and white striped seeds are meatier and tastier than the smaller dark oilseed varieties. Try your hand at growing and harvesting the seeds.

Giant Mammoth Sunflowers -Super Tall with plump, edible seeds

There are so many sunflower varieties (helianthus annuus) to choose from but my favorite is the ginormous Mammoth Sunflower (Mammoth Russian, Mammoth grey stripe, Mammoth Black seed). This giant sunflower is a fast grower, produce one flower per plant. The single stalk can reach 10-12′ tall and produces one 10″-12″ flower! The sheer size of this radiant flower towering overhead strikes awe into onlookers below.

This Sunflower provides spectacular golden beauty to your garden, then it gives you seeds for roasting and eating. This sunflower is very easy to grow, not fussy about soil and is drought tolerant. Grow in a tight row to make an attractive screen

Where do I get the seeds?

Here We Grow Gardens has our own Sunflower Seeds for sale in our shop. We have 2 Mammoth Varieties

1) Mammoth Grey Stripe – 10-12 feet high 10-12″ heads – Taller with smaller heads https://www.herewegrowgardens.com/product/mammoth-grey-str…edible-sunflower/ 

2) Mammoth Black Seed – 6-10 ft high -12- 14″ heads – bigger seeds – bigger heads – shorter plants https://www.herewegrowgardens.com/product/mammoth-black-seed-seed-packet-giant-edible-sunflower/

Planting the Sunflower Seeds

When you are planting sunflowers outdoors, make sure you wait to plant them no sooner than two weeks before the last expected frost date. Where I live that’s about May 15th. It’s best to sow sunflower seeds directly into the garden after the danger of spring frost has passed anytime after soils have warmed to at least 50°F (10°C). Although, I do see sunflowers volunteer and make it through the last spring frosts, they really do grow best with warm weather.

Try to plant your seeds directly in the ground if possible rather than planting them in a seedling tray or container. With water and warmth these sunflower seeds should germinate in 7-18 days, The seedlings grow incredibly fast and develop the strongest root system if allowed to grow in place directly from the seed. Sunflowers have a large tap root, which grows quickly. Direct sown Sunflowers tend to grow taller and withstand blowing over than transplanted sunflowers.

If you must starting seeds indoors, they key is to make sure the seedlings do not stay in there pot too long. The appeal of starting sunflowers indoors gives you a head start on getting the sunflowers on there way to making flowers. You can start the sunflower seeds 2-4 weeks earlier than if you are growing them outdoors. I suggest using a 4 inch pot as a minimum size, with 1-2 seeds per pot. The seedlings should only be in the pot for a maximum of 3 weeks. Any longer than 2-3 weeks and the tap root will hit the bottom of the pot and start curling around, which will forever effect the root system of the plant.

Plant Spacing – If you want your sunflowers to get really big and really tall they will need to be at least 12 inches apart at the base. If you are direct sowing the seeds they can be thinned once the seeds are up. If you are transplanting baby plants, I suggest staggering the plants in the row maintaining a space of at least 12′ around each plant.

Water – keep the seedlings moist for the first 6 weeks and then you can taper off the water. Sunflowers are somewhat drought tolerant.Once a established, Sunflowers like long deep soaks instead of daily water. Think of how deep the root must be to be producing such a huge plant.

Sunlight – Mammoth sunflowers need full sun to grow to their full height. They need at least six hours of direct sunlight a day to thrive. However, they grow better/taller with closer to eight hours of direct sunlight.

Staking – Mammoth sunflowers really live up to their name but sometimes they become too tall for their own good. If the plant is in danger of toppling over from its own weight or from a forecasted wind, the plant can be staked with a heavy-duty tree stake.

This central disk is made up of tiny florets that are self-pollinating. As the season goes on, each individual floret will produce one seed in a tough outer hull that is either black or striped. Russian Mammoth sunflowers mature in 75 – 90 days with 12′ stalks and giant heads. Thin-shelled, striped seeds are plump, meaty, and very plentiful.

Ripening the sunflower seeds to maturity Seeds are ready for harvesting when you can visibly see the shell of the seeds throughout the face of the flower and the petals have started to brown. As you wait for the seeds to fully ripen, one of your biggest challenges may be keeping birds and other small critters away after the flower has finished blooming and has started to dry out. They love to snack on the seeds and won’t wait for them to be fully ripe. If you see some seeds missing from the edges, it is time to cover and protect the heads.

I like to allow the seeds to mature on the plant. I live in Oregon where the fall is dry. The sunflower head will droop and the plant will dry down naturally as the plant finishes it’s cycle.  The head will be hard, inflexible and brown when it is dry. I like to place a pillow case or scrap row cover, mesh over the head and secure with a long twist tie, bungee or string. ( i have a collection of pillow cases and ball bungees just for my sunflower heads) You can use a paper bag, but your bag won’t hold up well to rain and wind.

The sunflower heads could be harvested early to protect them, then dried indoors. If you want to harvest the heads earlier, cut them when the back of the head has turned from green to yellow. You’ll need to set up a drying rack with good air flow to put the sunflower heads on. I have had lots of issues with mold when I bring the heads inside to dry so check the heads often. The birds also love to peck at the drying heads if they are in a greenhouse or porch area. Do not put the heads in a box or tote and leave them there. They will get moldy.

Processing the Seeds – Once the seeds are dry, the fun job of hand rolling the seeds off the head is next. I like to use a large metal bowl to catch the seeds. Using your fingers or a fork, rub the face of the flower over a large bowl, loosening the seeds and allowing them to fall into the bowl. Continue removing seeds until the entire face of the flower has been stripped.

Next, I winnow the seeds with a fan to remove the florets and petals and any light seeds. I then put the seeds on a drying rack for a few days to ensure that the seeds are 100 percent dry before storing the seeds. Now the seeds are ready for roasting and sprouting and eating!

Enjoy!

A fruit tree guild is a planting design based on natural eco-systems, like what you would find in the forest. A guild is a grouping of plants that grow well together and mutually benefit each other. In a natural native plant guild, each plant and animal species performs a specific function that benefits the entire ecosystem. For example, some plants may provide shade, or attract beneficial insects or provide nitrogen fixation. Similarly, animals in the guild may provide pollination, pest control, or nutrient cycling services.

The idea behind a guild is to create a self-sustaining ecosystem where each element of the guild supports and enhances the growth and health of the others. Think of it as companion planting taken to the next level. By incorporating other plants around your tree, you are attracting beneficial insects, repelling pests and diseases, building soil, and preventing erosion, creating less maintenance providing shade and conserving water, . and recycling nutrients back into the soil,

You can have a standalone tree guild or link them together with fruit bushes and other trees to form a food forest. Start building your very own food forest beginning with a fruit tree guild.

Benefits of a Guild

Fruit tree guilds imitate nature. By selecting plant species that have multiple functions, a guild can produce a diverse range of products without relying on a single crop. By incorporating nitrogen-fixing plants and soil-building fungi in the mulch, a guild can help replenish the soil with nutrients and organic matter, improving its structure and fertility over time.

When you have a system that is producing it’s health and fertility on it’s own, this ends up reducing your overall workload in the garden. Diversity attracts bacteria, fungi, insects, and birds. Incorporating edibles, medicinal plants, and flowering plants to grow alongside your tree allows those natural processes to take place.Watering is more efficient, due to weed suppression and decreased erosion. In addition, some companion plants may be able to shield your growing fruit tree from sunscald and wind.

Designing A Fruit Tree Guild

Start with a fruit tree that thrives in your zone. Find out the mature size of the tree before purchasing. You will want to consider how much space it will need and the shade it will create as it matures when selecting locations for other perennials. For smaller gardens, choose a dwarf fruit tree or a small berry bush as the central element to your guild

Prepare the area around your fruit tree, Dig out the grass and weeds to where the canopy of the mature tree’s size will reach or at least a big enough circle to have room for all of your plants. You can increase your guild size as the tree grows.

Apply compost and amendments if needed. Nutrient levels, which are necessary for plant growth – as well as soil pH, texture, and structure – vary from site to site. This might be a good time for a soil test. If you have the compost, apply a layer all around the tree up to 5″ thick, but keep the compost away from the tree trunk. It is always important to leave the base of the tree open with good air flow.

Choosing your plants: There is no single formula for the perfect tree guild.Below are some plant suggestions. Typically, a guild consists of fixers, repellents, attractors, suppressors, mulchers, and accumulator plants. There are many plant choices that will work for your guild.

Fixers: Nitrogen-fixing plants – Fixers refer to plants that are nitrogen-fixing, meaning that they add nitrogen to the soil as they grow. Planting “fixers” will be the source of fertilizer for your fruit tree. These can be silverberry, goumi, and pretty much any legume (clovers, beans, peas, lentils, peas, chickpeas, peanuts, etc.)

Attractors and Repellers: Plants that attract pollinators, beneficial insects and discourage pests. Attracting the right insects can be crucial for the overall health of your fruit trees. Attractor Plants: Edible herbs like fennel, dill, oregano, lavender, and coriander and flowers, calendula, yarrow, borage and marigold. Pest Repelling Plants: onions, garlic, perennial scallions, daffodils, marigold, oregano, chive

Suppressors: – These plants suppress the weeds and decrease watering needs with a ground cover. Suppressor Plants: white clover, red clover, squash, pumpkins, rhubarb, strawberries, nasturtiums, miners lettuce, self heal, thyme and lemon balm

Mulchers: A Mulcher plant is a perennial plant that is cut and the leaves scattered around the tree. This holds in moisture and reduces watering needs. Mulcher Plants: comfrey, hostas, ruhbarb,

To Use Comfrey or not? Comfrey is recommended often in permaculture design as a Mulcher. It is a wonderful medicinal plant that has helped me so much in times of major bruises. Comfrey is the classic chop and drop, It is a hardy perennial, easy to care for, and can be a mulcher, pollinator, accumulator and medicinal plant. However, My personal experience is that comfrey is the most invasive plant I have ever introduced to my home. Just a tiny piece of the root will grow a plant that has a tap root so deep you can never dig it out. Even the very bottom of the stem will grow if it has a piece of the root attached. I have seen it take over entire gardens and engulf huge swaths of farm rows. Just a tiny piece getting caught in the mower can spread it to another area and there is no way to remove it. I do not use comfrey in my plantings anymore.

Accumulators – Accumulators rejuvenate soil by pulling up more nutrients from deep down in the soil. Accumulators: borage, comfrey, chickweed, yarrow, strawberries, sorrel, vetch, artichoke, dandelion, chicory and comfrey

Remember your fruit tree guild will transform and evolve. As your plants mature, you will notice some plants may need to be transplanted due to increased shade or crowding. Experiment and find what works in your garden.

Remember that air flow around the base of the tree is important. Don’t let your understory plants grow against the trunk of the tree or crowd the trunk area. Always pull back your mulch to allow the base of the tree to breathe.

The trees main feeder roots go all the way out to the drip line. Remember when watering your tree that the water needs to be out at the drip line and a bit beyond. (Do not irrigate with the 2 drippers at the base of the tree method. This will stunt the growth and make the tree dependent on frequent watering) As the tree grows I extend my mulched area out to the drip line and just a bit beyond.

Mulch – Mulch brings in the magical fungal component.

Applying mulch on top of a group of plants, tucks them in. It reminds me of frosting a cake. My favorite mulch is a combination of aged leaves, grass clippings and well rotted woodchips. It is important to make sure there is plenty of nitrogen in your soil before applying woodchips or any brown woody matter. These materials will take nitrogen from the soil as the material breaks down. Be sure to pull the mulch away from the bark of the tree. It is also critical to tuck in each plant carefully and lift all the branches or leaves above the mulch to able to reach the light. If you are planting dormant plants, then just be sure that the mulch is applied lightly where the plant will emerge.

Water:

Hopefully just after you finish your planting, it rains. If it doesn’t rain, it is important to water in the tree and the plants around it. Keep the area moist and walk by every day to check on your guild. Once you see new growth emerging, the plants will be more established and require less care, but at first the plants are very tender and can not dry out at all.

Happy guilding!

When I moved from Vermont to Oregon, I thought I had arrived in the tropics when it came to gardening. I was delighted to see that there were crops that could be harvested in the winter. I remember harvesting a fresh leek from the cold soil on a December day and triumphantly bringing it in to make soup.

Over 25 years of growing food in the Siskiyou Mountains of Southern Oregon, I have just about mastered the art of year round gardening here. The seasons have come and gone so many times that I just intuitively know when it is time to plant and harvest.

Season Extention means to provide protection for plants so they might grow a little early or a little later than they would without protection. Using a thin layer of plastic or glass makes the range of gardening options much bigger. Specifically using cloches and cold frames can make your spring crops mature faster, provide a jump start on the summer crops and allow you to harvest tender salad greens all the way til Christmas.

Whats the difference between a cold frame and a cloche

A cloche is usually portable and designed to be moved around and a cold frame is usually built in long term spot. Often cold frames are built out of wood or other frame materials and situated up against a building or some other thermal mass. Most of the cloches I have seen have thin light frames with a plastic cover, so they can be moved. Really I think the 2 terms are often interchanged.

Have you ever gone out on a winter day and pulled up a muddy carrot? Maybe washed it off and ate it right there? outside, next to where it was growing? OR how about wiping the carrot off on the wet grass and then on your pants before crunching it down? For me, this type of connection to my food and mama earth is what being grounded feels like. Food doesn’t get any fresher than this. The enzymes are alive. We have a relationship with the plant where this food came from. .

As much as I support the local farmers markets as cornerstones of a local community., there is nothing like picking the produce you pick yourself. Blessed are those who have the gift of food growing right outside their door. I wish for more people to have this earth to mouth experience. I actually believe it is a crucial connection, something many humans are craving and don’t even realize it. This is why I do what I do.