RE: {Home Grown Food:374} Digest for home-grown-food@googlegroups.com - 3 Messages in 2 Topics
Inglis-Widrick,Ruth
I spoke with a veteran commercial lettuce grower some years ago and he used blue tarps over his lettuce beds to keep cooler/darker in the heat. He said he could keep lettuce going all summer that way. I haven’t tried it personally, but have used white sheets over lettuce on hottest days on occasion. Who knows if it keeps it from bolting, but seemed like a smart thing to do.
Ruth
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Subject: {Home Grown Food:374} Digest for home-gr...@googlegroups.com - 3 Messages in 2 Topics
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§ Rhubarb as pesticide [1 Update]
§ A couple of random thoughts on shade and heat [2 Updates]
Lisa Stroyan <lstr...@gmail.com> May 22 03:27PM -0600
A friend and I were talking about Rhubarb and I found this page. My
roses often get aphids so I'll have to try this.
Lisa
<http://www.plantea.com/rhubarb.htm>http://www.plantea.com/rhubarb.htm
Rhubarb to the rescue: aphid spray
and saving the ozone layer
Rhubarb's talents extend beyond pies and cakes. In fact, scientists
have discovered that the oxalic acid in rhubarb stems (the same stuff
that makes your lips pucker) can be used to scour cooking pots.
If aphids are pest in your garden, rhubarb can help. In her book,
"Slug Bread & Beheaded Thistles," author Ellen Sandbeck describes a
unique use for rhubarb leaves--as an aphid spray. Here's the recipe:
1) Chop 3 to 5 rhubarb leaves and add to a quart of water. 2) Boil
for 30 minutes.
3) Strain and add a dash of liquid, non-detergent, soap.
4) Fill spray bottle with liquid and use it on aphids.
Note: Because rhubarb leaves are poisonous, don't use this spray on
edible plants
Rhubarb not only saves our plants from aphids, it may also save the
planet. In the mid-1980's, when a hole was discovered in the ozone
layer, researchers found that CFC's were one of the primary reasons
for the ozone's decline. One of the most common forms of CFC's is
freon, which is used as a refrigerator coolant. Conventional methods
for breaking down CFC's were costly and dangerous. But in 1995, two
Yale scientists discovered that oxalic acid, found in rhubarb, helped
neutralize CFC's. Rhubarb to the rescue!
Lisa
----------
Lisa Stroyan, mailto:lstr...@gmail.com
Sue Sullivan <sue...@aol.com> May 22 08:37AM -0700
It's supposed to be 93 today, so I decided to harvest a bunch of
spinach and other greens before the day heated up. It occurred to me
that it might be helpful to pick heavily before a heat wave rolls in,
so that the plant has less leaves to lose moisture from and might
experience less drought stress and be less inclined to bolt. Not sure
what the trigger for bolting is, whether it is simply ambient
temperatures or drought stress, but I thought it would be worth the
experiment to stay on top of the harvesting as the weather heats up.
I have noticed a difference in the ripening times of my strawberries
that are planted in full sun vs. partial shade and while I didn't do
this entirely consciously, I will intentionally keep planting these
and other part-shade tolerant crops whose harvest I want to extend in
different beds with varying light exposure.
Sue Sullivan <sue...@aol.com> May 22 09:16AM -0700
http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/5044/why-lettuce-bolts-and-what-you-can-do-about-it
Okay, according to this site, bolting is primarily triggered by
cumulative light exposure and secondarily by heat stress, likely some
combo of temperature and drought stress.
Hmmm, wonder if I should be putting pots over my greens around 5 pm
every day! :P
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