Baja and Mainland vege gardeners; where you at??

Geographically and calendar-wise with your vegetable garden.....

This morning we had 45 degrees at sunrise, over in the Ranchitos of San Carlos, Sonora. Good, in-ground germination of seeds may be coming to an end, if this keeps up.

We are about a mile from the coast. We live on a very wide flood plain with decent soil that has good drainage. Of course, we have amended the soil; mostly well-rotted manure, our own compost, gypsum, arroyo sand and alfalfa, and we have removed stones.

My thing is to grow stuff you cant get in the stores down here. Why grow japapenos or romaine lettuce?

This year I got nearly a two month jump on last year. My germination rates were very low last year by starting in early December, due to other projects around the house.

I started seeds in trays and small pots with tomatoes, chard, spinach and beets in the third week of October. In-ground planting is still a bit of a risk at that time as the sun is still so intense. Rather than rig up some shade over the garden (to be removed later) to protect seedlings, I'd rather move the trays from sun to shade, depending on the solar index of the day. And the soil can actually be too warm for good germination rates, especially for lettuces. I also REALLY enjoy the whole transplanting process.

Since late October, I've begun some in-ground seedings that have done very well. This has been spinaches, lettuces, bush beans, japanese snow peas, regular peas, mustard greens and eggplant.

We use a drip irrigation system with an Orbit 9v hose bib timer and 1/4" drip tubing. Many thanks to David K for his drip irrigation post about the benefits of the emitter hose over the laser punched hose. The pressure is much more even over the whole grid and the holes are such that I doubt plugging will be much of an issue.

On the "menu" for this year:

Seven heirloom tomatoes (pink brandywine, huge lemon oxheart, San Marzano, tomato carbon, big rainbow, reisentraube and costoluto genovese)

Two spinaches (Bloomingdale long-standing and Melody hybrid)
southern mustard greens
arugula
Boston Big Leaf
Bibb lettuce
Ruby red leaf
a mesclun mix
black seeded simpson lettuce
iceberg lettuce (never tried growing it!)
swiss chard
bush beans
broccoli
brussel sprouts
snow white carrots
cosmic purple carrots
icicle radishes
Detroit dark red beets
sugar sprint snow peas
tendergreen improved bush beans
listada de gandia eggplant
quadrolo d'asti rosso red bell pepper
costato romanesco squash
dipper gourd squash

And then in the kitchen garden:

majorum
thyme
genovese basil
tarragon
garlic chives
dill

Oregano grows wild here, so no need for that. Cilantro in the stores, of course.

As the season progresses, I'll begin to post some pics to show progress. Hope to get a good discussion going with others on their successes and failures.

Here is my main garden. 20x30 with a framework of 2 inch square tubing and some 1 inch and half inch (solid) for strength. We have a thin plastic netting over the entire thing to keep out birds, rodents and the dogs. Base is just cinder block stacked up, although I did create about a six inch deep trench for the bottom layer of blocks to sit in.

I grow creepers like squashes outside of this as they take up too much room.

Oh Hook, you're breaking my heart. I'm just putting mine to bed for the snow covered months to come!!!

It was a great year though.

This last harvest became a dozen packages of fresh frozen salsa. (minus the carrots which grew large but lacked flavor)

Got the tomatillos the next day and did green salsa.

Just finished dehydrating tomatos!

We had a lot of "Roma" type tomatos. They sliced into 1.25" rings and dried uniformly in a little 6 tray electric dehydro unit. Most years we dehydrate cherry tomatos which have been cut into halves. They keep best in olive oil, and are almost too sweet for many purposes. Yum Mrs. Vgabndo, did this fine work.

30-40 pounds of tomatos (harvested after canning was done) and stored in two quart jars!

[Edited on 11-9-2011 by vgabndo]

Free advice on setting up a drip irrigation system for your gardens... just ask!

Past thread on irrigation: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=31858

[Edited on 11-10-2011 by David K]

oh man, I sure miss arugula...hey woody, can you remember to save me some of those seeds if you ever get our way again....or drop em off with you know who...you know where and someone could bring them to us

Garden on the ranch

Geographically, we are on Pacific west of La Paz, Baja Cal Sur. Calendar-wise it doesn't really matter here as the climate is pretty mild by Baja standards - we grow vegetables year-round with the exceptions of spinach and the leaf lettuces which don't like even our moderate summers (max 86F).

Soil here is arroyo valley sand - lots of minerals, very little organic matter. There isn't much to compost, so we grow crops of alfalfa and plow them in with the tiller. Also spread a little (expensive!) high-quality nitrogen when we put in the tomatoes. A 2-meter high cyclone fence surround the garden to keep out the locals - deer, rabbits, hares, coyotes etc.

We DO grow stuff that you can buy in the stores - if you saw what the market gardeners around here pour onto their vegetable crops, you would too.

Most everything grows here, our tomatoes are famous - but there are failures too. We have never been able to grow good broccoli heads - the plants are big, green and luxurious - but the heads are little buttons - even after adding (in desperation) boron as suggested on the web. Chard, cabbage, squashes and cauliflower grow well - go figure. Most herbs (exception rosemary and basil) do not thrive either, still trying to figure that out.

All irrigation is computerized drip. We tried pressurized sprinklers for the alfalfa - but power is expensive and ultimately unnecessary, we now use T-Tape for everything except the trees where we use 1, 2 and 4gph drippers.

We generally have 3 gardens (7x30ft rows) going at once, planted about a month or two apart and rotating new gardens around the fenced area. The tomatoes are covered in bird netting as the carpinteros (shrikes?) like to puncture the T-Tape for a drink. Lettuce and spinach is grown in square-foot gardens (4'x4') where we can give them personal attention.

We also have a carneceria (butchery) - one day I would like to have a cooler for ageing meat.

Life is good.

Yeah, we are only 5-6 hours from the border and with a pretty large gringo community, we network. Someone is going north or coming south every week. So, seeds are rarely a problem.

I've been buying on line and having them shipped to friends. Online has a much better selection, especially since our season is reversed from NOB. You go to nurseries or the home warehouses and they have sent seeds back by late September in some places.

I dont know what I'd do if I couldnt grow lettuces. That's the weakest link in the vege supply in the stores, unless one is willing to eat romaine and iceberg all the time.

I would think lettuce would do well where you are. Now is the time to plant so it is maturing in the cool months. I dont take the whole head; I just cull a few leaves every other day when they are really going. I still end up giving or trading lots of leafys.

What's the problem with your lettuces? Infestations? Are they bolting too quick?

I plant my lettuces along the south edge of the main garden. That's the long edge in the bottom of the pic. In another two weeks, the boat barn will be casting shadows on that southern edge for 2-3 hours a day. That has kept my plants from bolting. But by April, it's getting so hot that it's almost impossible to prevent bolting.

I also search out varieties that resist bolting.

Also, consider planting lettuces between plants that grow tall and provide shade for them.

Hey, it's great having a fellow grower to share info with. Please stay in touch. PM me if you like. We wouldnt want this to rival Turtle Soup or an immigration issue, would we?

Naw, I guess that's not likely. Just not enough CONTROVERSY in gardening to appeal to the average Nomad.

[Edited on 11-10-2011 by Hook]

Here's a link to the dehydrator I have

Hook - check your U2U.

re Lettuce. Problem is germination in Aug/Sep/Oct - think its a straight heat issue - lettuce sits under 80% sun cloth. Also my seed is close to three years old . . . . need to do some serious shopping next trip to San Diego - typically buy from Seeds of Change for the heirloom stuff, also Burpees.

Here in La Paz there is only one commercial seed store and most of that is hybrid. Not bad produce, but no useable seeds and only two tomatoes (Rio Grande and Roma - neither my favorites).

Irrigating it would be no problem, even while I was gone.

But, imagine my glee, when I saw pics of full grown sudangrass and cowpea in THIS article.

What fun turning that under must be; on a hot, humid day in mid October! Remember, no Massey Ferguson options for us backyard gardeners.

I expect I will be hiring young Mexicans to do THAT kind of work.........

Nan& - good luck with that basil - been trying for 10 years! Could not find any bird netting in Baja Sur, bought it in the States and used as mattress on the way back down.

One problem with alfalfa cover crop was that the longer you leave it (we let it grow to flowering - the bees thank us!), the tougher the roots get. I bought a Troybilt 10HP tiller from Amazon and that REALLY makes a difference in both turning in the crop and preparing new gardens.

Very surprised people are having trouble with basil. I grow the Genovese variety and had 6 plants that grew to almost three feet tall. Trunks were about an inch thick. That was in one year. I removed five and gave them to others and they are all thriving. Mine probably got 10 hours of sun per day.

Now, I've got volunteers coming up all over the place.

It's bee a tough last week. We got a 2-3 inch downpour, followed by a hot, dry wind off the deserts that blew at 20-25 mph (gusts to 48!) for about 36 hours. Still trying to determine how much damage I've gotten.

I expect to have my first salad this weekend; a combo of arugula and Bloomindale spinach.

This is a great topic!
Whenever I head to the beach house, I seem to end up helping the neighbors with their garden / landscaping questions...oh and my manual help too .......for a home cooked meal :-)

One of the questions I get a lot down there is...what to use for fertilizer. I tell them to go to the fish market and get the fish guts, heads...bones...whatever waste. Put in all in a 5 gallon bucket, fill with water, cover with a tight lid, and let it sit for a month or too.

Apply this to the plants. Stinks for a day or two. Your tomatoes will be the size of watermelons


The other method is to simply bury the waste of fish....in the soil...then plant up top. Early Americans did this.


There is many things that you can use...from the Baja region.

Here's some data I C/C off the web:
Manures: Animal manures provide lots of organic matter to the soil, but most have low nutrient value. A few, such as chicken manure, do have high available nitrogen content, but should only be used composted because the fresh manure can burn the roots of tender seedlings.

Bat/seabird guano: Yes, this is what it sounds like — the poop from bats and seabirds. It comes in powdered or pellet form and is actually high in nitrogen (10 to 12 percent). Bat guano only provides about 2 percent phosphorous and no potassium, but seabird guano contains 10 to 12 percent P, plus 2 percent K. The concentrated nitrogen in these products can burn young plants if not used carefully. They tend to be more expensive than land-animal manures.

Blood meal: This is the powdered blood from slaughtered animals. It contains about 14 percent nitrogen and many micronutrients. Leafy, nitrogen-loving plants, such as lettuce, grow well with this fertilizer. It also reportedly repels deer, but may attract dogs and cats.

Bone meal: A popular source of phosphorous (11 percent) and calcium (22 percent), bone meal is derived from animal or fish bones and commonly used in a powdered form on root crops and bulbs. It also contains 2 percent nitrogen and many micronutrients. It may attract rodents.

Fish products: Fish by-products make excellent fertilizers. You can buy them in several different forms. Fish emulsion is derived from fermented remains of fish. This liquid product can have a fishy smell (even the deodorized version), but it's a great complete fertilizer (5-2-2) and adds trace elements to the soil. When mixed with water, it is gentle, yet effective for stimulating the growth of young seedlings. Hydrolyzed fish powder has higher nitrogen content (12 percent) and is mixed with water and sprayed on plants. Fish meal is high in nitrogen and phosphorus and is applied to the soil. Some products blend fish with seaweed or kelp for added nutrition and growth stimulation.

[Edited on 11-30-2011 by mcfez]

Yes, the bones will turn to calcium and other micro nutrients that is needed for plant growth. The wetness from watering the garden...deploys the bones into a rapid breakdown.

Dont use catfish waste....the dogs will go nuts for that area

[Edited on 12-2-2011 by mcfez]