A friend of mine had some questions, and I want to answer them for her as quickly as possible. I thought there might be some others who would appreciate the questions she had.
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Peas in blossom. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing something grow.There are a lot of ways to compost. If you haven’t already read my post on our compost pile you can read it here. If this is your first spring planting a garden, you are probably too late to do much composting this year. I would start thinking about it for next year though. Composting is a great way to put nutrients back into the soil.
As things start to grow, start a pile of your green waste. When you cut fruits and veggies keep all the pieces separate from your other trash so you can throw it into your garden. You can also put your grass clippings into your garden to keep weeds down. In the fall, you can throw your leaves in as well. We also throw in all the plants left in the garden that are dead from the cold, like tomato plants and pumpkin vines. Designate an area to put all this stuff. When the weather gets chilly and things are done growing, you will have a pretty good sized pile. It should be turned every couple weeks. It may also need moisture added, depending on the rain fall in your area. You want it to be moist but not mushy. By spring, it should be mostly broken down. When you are ready to plant you can spread it over your garden and mix it into the top layer of dirt.
You can’t do anything if the ground is frozen, so if you live in an area where that is an issue, that is the first thing to look for. Once the ground thaws you can get to work. But first, start thinking about what you want to plant. Some things will need to be planted as soon as possible and other things will be better if you wait until there is no more danger of frost at night.
You probably don’t need to prep much until you are actually ready to plant. If you prep early and don’t plant, you will just have to prep again when you get ready to put the seeds in the ground. If you did your own compost pile you will want to spread it out in the spring and work it into the soil. But, if you didn’t do a compost pile you will just want to break up the dirt and get rid of the weeds before you plant. You could also consider adding fertilizer if you want to make sure your ground has the nutrients it needs. Otherwise, just see how it does.
This will be different for each type of plant. I suggest deciding what you want to plant first. Once you figure that out you can go buy your seeds. We have bought seeds from home improvement stores, nurseries, and sometimes the regular grocery store. This year we are going to try online. On the back of each package it should tell you when to plant, in which areas. Some crops do better with cold than others. Some, like spinach, will be no good once it gets too hot.
Check out this picture of the back of a seed package for cauliflower. Notice that this one suggests starting indoors 8 weeks before outdoor planting time. Then it has a chart for transplanting. I live in an area that is green on their map so I would plan on transplanting in July-Aug. Counting back 8 weeks I would figure I need to start the seeds in May-June.
Check the back of the seed package. It will usually tell you what you need to know about when and how to plant. This one is for cauliflower.If you are in a warmer area you may be able to start planting as soon as February or March. We usually have to wait until the end of April or beginning of May around here.
This seed package is for carrots. As you can see, the planting directions are much different than for cauliflower. Carrots are something that I would recommend for a first time garden in most areas. Everybody likes carrots, am I right? Plus, they can stay in the ground until you are ready to eat them. They don’t have to be harvested daily, like some others.
This question is kind of hard to answer. I really think it varies from person to person and from garden to garden. Your area will determine what will grow well. In colder areas it will be easier to grow carrots and potatoes and in warmer areas it will be easier to grow peppers and tomatoes.
A lot is also determined by your interest level. Some things need to be harvested daily in order to get the full value from them. If you don’t have the time to harvest daily or every-other day, you should probably stay away from those things.
For example, when my raspberries are on I find great satisfaction in going out every morning and filling up my bowls of raspberries. I then wash and freeze them. As a result I ended up with a great harvest of raspberries.
Raspberries need to be picked every day or every other day when they are in season, to get the best produce.In contrast, two years ago we planted broccoli. I happened to be pregnant at the time and just the smell of the plants made me nauseous so I never really harvested them. As a result, our broccoli crop never really made it onto our table or into our freezer. Needless to say, we didn’t plant broccoli this year. I think I might finally be ready to try it again, but we will see.
Nothing is effortless to grow. Everything will take time and attention. But different things need different kinds of attention, at different stages of growth.
When we started gardening I quickly realized that I need to plan on spending a little time every day in the garden. It needs water and it needs the weeds pulled. Once things start growing it will need to be harvested as well. Peas for example should be picked either every day or every-other day when they start coming on. If you want the best quality stored produce you should plan on using or freezing them right away as well. If you spend a little time over several days then you don’t end up slammed on your weekends.
You also need to think about what you want to do with what you grow. If you are not sure, just guess for now. You will figure it out as you go. That is one of the fun things about a garden. You will find out what you like and what your family likes.
My point is, you need to consider what you want to do with what you are planting. There is a time commitment involved and if you are excited about what you are planting and harvesting it will help you make that commitment. If you put in the time you will have more success. Success leads to enjoyment.
For sure! As long as you have a window that gets a lot of light. There are a lot of things that grow great in pots. I suggest you start with herbs or leafy greens. Again, it kind of depends on what you want. Check the seed package before you plant. Or, you can buy a potted plant already started, which might be a good idea for your first attempt.
This one wasn’t a question but I wanted to bring it up. You should think about how you are going to get water to your plants. I live in the desert where we can’t rely on rain. We have to irrigate. For seedlings we water the top of the dirt but once the plants emerge we use ditches or pipes (depending on the plant) to get the water to the base of the plant.
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For me this was an essential part in achieving a successful garden. I would forget to water. We had to plan the easiest way to get water to our plants. I also had to set an alarm on my phone until I got into a rhythm. That sounds pretty lame, but hey, it worked. When we start planting I will document how we set up our watering system. I could write an entire blog post just on this topic. Maybe I will.
If this is your first attempt, or your first attempt in a while, just pick one or two things that you feel pretty confident you can handle. For example, buy a couple of potted plants for your window sill. Maybe Basil and a tomato plant. See how it goes and decide if you want to tackle more in the future. Don’t beat yourself up if things don’t go well. Just evaluate what went wrong and try something different.
If you have some things you are thinking about but want to run some ideas past me I would be happy to give you my feedback.
What is canopy research, and why have you been involved in it for more than 30 years?
Canopy research is the study of tree tops. It’s especially important to learn about life in the treetops because canopies are the interface between atmosphere and earth. Trees are homes for millions of creatures. More than half of all the land-dwelling organisms on our planet live in the canopies of trees.
We need to understand forests because humans cannot live without trees. Trees provide a source of energy from sunlight and they are hotspots for fruits and flowers. They also help to keep the air clean and control our climate.
Tell us about some of your innovations in canopy research.
I helped to create the first set of tree-climbing rope technique using ropes, slingshots, a harness made from seat belt webbing, and an adaptation of climbing hardware from cavers. I went on to help design the world's first canopy walkway. Then I worked with a French team who made a hot air balloon, and we made many refinements to that apparatus including a sled. I have used/designed different towers and treehouse types of set-ups for remote canopy research.
What tools do you need to study the tree canopy?
I pull up a bucket of field equipment with me: a camera, a waterproof magic marker to number leaves and branches, waterproof electricians tape to make tags to find permanently marked branches —every month I’d go back to the same tree. Instruments like acetate paper to trace leaves, rulers, or graph paper to measure how much of the area bugs had eaten.
Why do we care about studying the tops of trees in particular?
We now know that forest canopies are a center for global biodiversity. Almost 50 percent of the biology on the land portion of Earth lives on the treetops. That is a lot of species! And we didn’t know that 30 years ago!
The canopy is home to so many species on the planet. Tree tops undertake energy production in a humungous way. It is a region of abundant fruits and flowers and lots of sex! Incredible materials that we harvest include from canopies include medicines, building supplies, and food products. And canopies give us clues about forest health in general; healthy forests provide water conservation, prevent soil erosion, store carbon, provide shade, serve as a genetic library, and influence climate control in a big way. It is amazing to appreciate that millions of trees, while we sleep, are doing all these things for us!
Why is this happening at the canopy and not other parts of the tree?
The sun is the answer! All the fruits and all the flowers live in the tops of trees not on the floor. Because of light all this activity is going on in the upper regions. There is approximately 1% light on the forest floor of a tropical rain forest, so it is almost dark! Foliage is concentrated at the top and that’s why everything lives up there. If you are a beetle you don’t want to travel 100 feet to get to your salad bar—it is easier to just live amidst your lunch. And canopy photosynthesis leads to the production of wood and different leaves.
Trees can’t run away from their enemies like animals can. So it’s a miracle that trees don’t get completely eaten up by their enemies. Leaves defend themselves by producing chemicals, and/or sometimes by creating thorns or stinging hairs. There is a constant battle of leaves producing defensive chemicals, and insects adapting to digest different chemicals. And as a consequence, humans come along, pick the leaves and utilize leaf chemicals for different medicinal purposes. And this “apothecary in the sky” is essentially due to the incredible and constant tug-of-war of leaves trying to defend themselves from insects. The action of insects eating leaves is called herbivory, and that is technically what I study in forest canopies!
How do you decide which trees in a forest you’re going to study?
I spend usually a couple of weeks designing the questions of my research. So, for example, when I was trying to understand how long leaves live in tropical rainforests (they only live six months in temperate forests) I knew I had to survey at least five species of trees.
I had to map the forest. I’d do cross-section maps that took me sometimes a couple months to find out what was common and what was rare. In the past I’d do drawings because we didn’t have GPS or an ability to do an aerial survey. I’d make grids through the forest to estimate how rare or common different species of trees were and which ones occupied the upper canopy, where leaves are small and tough to withstand wind, and the mid canopy, where leaves are bigger and last longer. In the lower canopy the leaves live the longest and they’re the biggest in size.
What are you documenting while you hang in the treetops?
The aim of my work was to say how much of the salad bar the insects were eating. The when, where, and how. As well as the toughness, age of the leaf, and its height on the tree.
I’d have to sample at least 30 leaves at each height and three trees at three sites. The essence of field biology is to get averages that give you confidence in your results.
I’d look at all variables of temporal and spatial variation of the canopy. That would be height, light, elevation, location of the forest. And then I needed to replicate temporal variation: young vs. old leaves, new foliage vs. mid foliage, if it leafed out in March or September. Activities of the insects for 12 months a year, year to year, or decade to decade. That gives a complete picture—a huge snapshot of the forest canopy in terms of how the foliage is being impacted.
What are some of your most unexpected research findings?
What are you working on now?
My work has shifted from climbing trees to saving trees. Although I still love the exhilaration of the canopy, I now realize that we need to SAVE forests before we can enjoy the luxury of classifying what lives there. My latest projects are in Ethiopia, India, and Peruvian Amazon. If you visit my website, www.treefoundation.org, you will find my non-profit that is fundraising and educating the public about the importance of forest conservation. We are literally saving the last 5% of northern Ethiopia’s last forests.
Each summer, I also take a group of citizen scientists to the Amazon who help me discover insects feeding on trees, who explore the canopy with me using a wonderful walkway, and who also collaborate on projects such as providing fresh water for local villages in Peru.
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