I have to admit I have been feeling quite beaten down struggling with my little garden in this climate. Then Debby came along and dumped a ton of rain (and some wind damage) which felt like the icing on my garden woe cake. My son was diagnosed with diabetes this past week (husband was diagnosed about a year ago.....genetic, not weight induced). After feeling like I had been kicked in the stomach once again, I figuratively slapped myself and decided to shift into high gear with my gardening. I've started seeds for the fall garden, ordered more seeds, started up the hydroponic for lettuce/spinach indoors and given my surviving plants a little extra TLC. While I will have many moments of shaking my fist at the sky and bellowing "why!!??".....I will succeed 😂
Growing cowpeas this summer and they are so prolific! My husband loves to harvest them daily, we shell the dried pods, let the peas air dry, and have many jars of black eyed peas in the pantry now. Very satisfying! And the pods make great compost, as will the vines soon.
I love them too. I went a little crazy and planted quite a selection of different cowpeas so now I don’t know what I’m gonna get. lol. I do like to harvest some kinds when the pods are green and tender for “green beans” because I like to can those and my husband enjoys that more than the peas. 🤷🏻♀️ I like them both and get so excited to have something growing happily in the garden all summer. ☺️It’s also very low maintenance. Now if I can keep the bunnies out of the garden I’d be all set. 😂
I won your seed giveaway a couple of years ago and when I opened the package and “only” saw 10 beans I was a little disappointed. The joke was on me! Those 10 beans outgrew two trellises and almost broke the third trellis. Thank you again, Petrina! This year the beans have grown from multiple volunteers and are taking over adjacent beds. All Floridians should grow this unstoppable crop. My melons and tomatoes were decimated but the Puerto Ricans have no enemies!
I'm up in the panhandle and we have serious nematodes. I was about to give up when Lazy Dog Farms had a cover crop video where they explained mustard greens for biofumigation. Plant them think, chop them up and till them in. It worked great. However, near the end of the season, the nematodes came back. Now I'm going to plant mustards between all my plantings.
Great video. Thank you. Sometimes I choose not to grow crops for a season due to inability to properly tend the vegetable garden that season. Perhaps I'll be traveling, or want to focus my energy on my pollinator beds and of course summer. Any time I'm not actively vegetable gardening I plant a cover crop. I've also started intercropping my wildflower beds with cow peas for their nitrogen fixation and chop and drop to build the soil in those beds. I use dried black eyed peas from the grocery store. Cheap and easy.
Thank you, I recently moved to the Low country SC, 9a and found your Channel. You’re experience has been real helpful especially figuring the timing of planting and varieties suited to warmer weather. I love southern peas for quick cover crops and usually just go to grocery and buy a bag of field peas, they work great and are cheap. I appreciate the info on sunhemp, I will add that to the program next year.
Great video! This year I am growing peanuts, sweet potatoes, marigolds and cowpeas as cover crops. Although sweet potatoes don’t provide nitrogen they produce a lot of leaves and when those leaves die they compost in place so wherever I plant sweet potatoes I notice that my soil becomes black and less sandy.
I recently discovered your channel. I love your easy to understand information. I also live in central Florida so when you talk about summer i totally get it. Ive wanted to grow cover crops for a ling time now but didnt know what to grow. This episode was fantastic for me.
I’ve learned it’s all about variety. I’ve been testing a bunch of plants to see which do best in super high heat. Peppers, cowpeas, melons, sweet potatoes love summer here so I mainly grow them now.
One cover crop I’ve used for the root knot nematodes is a spicy mustard, Kodiak brown. Although you really need to grow this later in the season when it cools down some, definitely I think too hot now. Sure helped with those nematodes. One question what is your favorite Way to harvest and preserve black beans
I usually pick the pods as they dry ( so they don’t mold in our humid weather). I then shell them and lay them out for about a week to make sure they are completely dry and then store them in glass jars in the pantry.
I Love it!!!! We are seeing those big yellow and black bees also, maybe they are bumbles bees? We've never seen them before but boy are they happy!!!! We just watched a film called "The Biggest Little Farm" and everything they did was in conjunction with nature, of course they had farm animals too but to see them combat issues with nature was amazing!!! The took a dead plot of land and made it flourish!!!
In NE Tx we call the really big black & yellow bees - borer bees. They actually bore a little hole into wood/trees & lay an egg or two. U can google about them. They don't really make honey but the borer bees are great pollinators. They love my wisteria 🥰
I added my cover crop of cow peas late, about a month ago. My question is, do I chop and drop and then transplant my seedlings within? Also I like to scatter seed lettuce etc. how does that work with copping down my cover crop? How long does it sit till I plant? Thank you!!!!
Yes exactly. Chop them down and either till them into the soil or leave as a mulch later. You can plant into it within a week or two. It doesn’t have to be completely broken down.
So I really wanted to know when and what to do to prepare garden when you have all the cover crop. Do I chop and drop, or mix into soil? Do you remove all flowers(marigolds], or peas? I applaud your energy. I have learned so much and attempted new crops. Thank you.
I normally just chop and drop them. You could work them in but it’s not necessary. If you just want them for the soil heath, chop them down before they flower. If you still want the flowers and peas, you will want to harvest them first otherwise you could have a lot of self seeding.
@@HomegrownFloridaZ9a watching you has given us the courage to grow all seasons. We have a wonderful pea crop and sweet potato’s. Learned alot about both crops. We are getting gardens ready and plant to begin planting mid to end October. From harvested lettuce seeds to big box starters we will plant. Planning to hit up Cody Cove for a small banana tree to plant. Thanks again.
I just chopped and dropped half my cow peas today. They were wild and Im starting to feed the soil as I plant fall seeds inside. (Zone 10a) I would love help with timing on herb/flowers! Chamomile, etc...
Nice! I would wait till about October or November for your herbs. There are some flowers that enjoy the warmer temps like marigolds zinnias cosmos and sunflowers but things like borage chamomile and calendula prefer a little cooler weather.
Hello 😊thanks for sharing your beautiful garden with us .keep well ❤..by chance did you reap the garlic that you planted last year Nov ...i think ..if so did you do a video.Let me know please thanks
Yes! I did. I incorporated it into a harvest video. Here you go - How To Use A Small Harvest? Garden Vegetable Quiche Recipe ruclips.net/video/2r8Wff6RHGE/видео.html
Hi Patrina, in the next couple of weeks I’m planning to add one new raised bed that I will use for tomatoes and maybe some basil. The tomatoes in the first bed are looking very sad in this heat so I’m wondering if those old tomato plants will make good chop & drop or do you recommend I compost the old tomato plants or do something else with them? Also since ‘23 was my first time gardening I have lots of questions on how to continue such as is it a good idea to plant the same crop in the same raised bed as it grew in the previous season? Thank you.
I’d go with an acid loving flower like azaleas, hydrangeas, bee balm, echinacea. They can handle the ph levels and they have flowers to bring in the pollinators.
I had volunteer Beans that are not flowering. They have taken over but no beans. Any suggestions? They are either PR Black Beans or a tan bean that was in an Urban Harvest cover crop mix that I planted last year.
More likely than not it’s probably the ironclad cowpeas. It’s a great cover crop because it takes a long time to flower which is great if you want it for biomass and fixing nitrogen but not so much for food. Eventually it will flower and when it does, you will know for sure which bean it is.
Where can I get Sun Hemp seeds in smaller quantities? I have a small garden and I don't need 5 gallons of seeds! I would love to try it next summer - I'm in zone 10a.
@@HomegrownFloridaZ9a Thanks so much! I love your channel. You have a wealth of information that is so helpful to me! I am retired and have lived in Florida for 16 years. I was an avid and successful gardener in Michigan, but when I came here and tried to garden I felt like a failure. You have provided so much information and I'm back in the garden with one raised bed, 3 Green Stalks, and lots of grow bags and potted plants. I can't tell you how much I appreciate what you do! Also, I love the videos of how you use your harvest. So helpful, even for an old gal like me!
My front beds of Sunn Hemp are doing fantastic-ish. The back beds (N) Umm, umm...Tasty grasshoppers, had a feast, and what was left, the Hawks smashed, getting the grass hoppers. 😆😆😒So, the plan..Where my good beds are, they will get the tomatoes, and I will chop the hemp, and fill the back beds for the cabbage. I did order some Redmond clay, to help hold the nutrients. Oh the grass hoppers even ate my PEAS...heifers! 😠😠🤣 2 years in a row, no peas because of those nasty yellow, can't kill them grasshoppers.
Greetings Tried Uharvest got this from their site. "DESCRIPTION A pole black bean, incredibly productive for dry beans. Tender perennial. Great for food forests or permaculture application. Saved from local heirloom seed, not available on large commercial seed sites. Annual. 4 inch pot. Grown by Little Tree Homestead & Nursery. This is a Live Plant. At this time, we are unable to ship live plants, and are for local pick up from St. Pete, Florida only" I planted Whipperwill peas and Cali cowpeas instead. Would love to have some PR black beans. Guess I will try some store bought dry black beans next time. Keep up the GOOD WORK
You can cut it down as early as a couple weeks. Mine isn’t normally broken down completely by the time I plant so it usually looks a bit messy but it does the job.
Thank you for your response. I live near Gainesville and tried starting a new garden area that is overgrown with weeds. I got some sun hemp seeds in the mail a few days ago. I was wanting to plant a cover crop, but I have not done that before. I wasn’t sure what I need to do and I found your video. I appreciate all of the information that you give in your videos.
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Wow! We eat the leaves of cowpeas in Kenya...it's called kunde.
I have to admit I have been feeling quite beaten down struggling with my little garden in this climate. Then Debby came along and dumped a ton of rain (and some wind damage) which felt like the icing on my garden woe cake. My son was diagnosed with diabetes this past week (husband was diagnosed about a year ago.....genetic, not weight induced). After feeling like I had been kicked in the stomach once again, I figuratively slapped myself and decided to shift into high gear with my gardening. I've started seeds for the fall garden, ordered more seeds, started up the hydroponic for lettuce/spinach indoors and given my surviving plants a little extra TLC. While I will have many moments of shaking my fist at the sky and bellowing "why!!??".....I will succeed 😂
You got this! The cool thing about gardening is every season is a brand new beginning.
Aw, sending, xo....love my garden!
Good for you! You can do this!
Growing cowpeas this summer and they are so prolific! My husband loves to harvest them daily, we shell the dried pods, let the peas air dry, and have many jars of black eyed peas in the pantry now. Very satisfying! And the pods make great compost, as will the vines soon.
I feel the same way! They are just so rewarding and every part of the plant is helpful.
I love them too. I went a little crazy and planted quite a selection of different cowpeas so now I don’t know what I’m gonna get. lol. I do like to harvest some kinds when the pods are green and tender for “green beans” because I like to can those and my husband enjoys that more than the peas. 🤷🏻♀️ I like them both and get so excited to have something growing happily in the garden all summer. ☺️It’s also very low maintenance. Now if I can keep the bunnies out of the garden I’d be all set. 😂
Interesting video. Thanks!
Agreed!! Cowpeas are AMAZING for this!!
Yes they are!
I have to hand it to you for gardening during this horribly hot summer. I just couldn't mind the garden in this heat.
I definitely do the bare minimum lol. It’s so very hot that 15 mins is all I give.
I won your seed giveaway a couple of years ago and when I opened the package and “only” saw 10 beans I was a little disappointed. The joke was on me! Those 10 beans outgrew two trellises and almost broke the third trellis. Thank you again, Petrina! This year the beans have grown from multiple volunteers and are taking over adjacent beds. All Floridians should grow this unstoppable crop. My melons and tomatoes were decimated but the Puerto Ricans have no enemies!
Haha! They are out of control over here! It’s crazy how this one little seedling turns it to this enormous monster.
Very well done! There is not a lot of good information available for our hot and rainy climate. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.
Glad it was helpful!
I'm up in the panhandle and we have serious nematodes. I was about to give up when Lazy Dog Farms had a cover crop video where they explained mustard greens for biofumigation. Plant them think, chop them up and till them in. It worked great. However, near the end of the season, the nematodes came back. Now I'm going to plant mustards between all my plantings.
RKN are a tough pest to shake but the more you do that the less and less they will come back.
So just plant mustard seeds and it helps
@@michallaquartimon5107May I ask, where do you get your mustard greens from, please?❤
Good clear explanations regarding why the soil needs plants and covering.
Thanks so much 💚
Great video. Thank you. Sometimes I choose not to grow crops for a season due to inability to properly tend the vegetable garden that season. Perhaps I'll be traveling, or want to focus my energy on my pollinator beds and of course summer. Any time I'm not actively vegetable gardening I plant a cover crop. I've also started intercropping my wildflower beds with cow peas for their nitrogen fixation and chop and drop to build the soil in those beds. I use dried black eyed peas from the grocery store. Cheap and easy.
The big bag of black eye peas at the store are such a great idea. Cheap and they grow really well.
Oh! Thank you for that temperature tip. I always wonder when to do the transition to fall crop. This helps a lot.
Happy to help!
Thank you, I recently moved to the Low country SC, 9a and found your Channel. You’re experience has been real helpful especially figuring the timing of planting and varieties suited to warmer weather. I love southern peas for quick cover crops and usually just go to grocery and buy a bag of field peas, they work great and are cheap. I appreciate the info on sunhemp, I will add that to the program next year.
I’m so glad you found it helpful. Getting a bag of dried peas from the store is a great option. Good idea
Up north too people grow turnips as a cover crop
Great info. Thanks!
Great video! This year I am growing peanuts, sweet potatoes, marigolds and cowpeas as cover crops. Although sweet potatoes don’t provide nitrogen they produce a lot of leaves and when those leaves die they compost in place so wherever I plant sweet potatoes I notice that my soil becomes black and less sandy.
Same here. I think they are a great cover crop to enhance soil health. My beds are always full of worms when I grow sweet potatoes
I recently discovered your channel. I love your easy to understand information. I also live in central Florida so when you talk about summer i totally get it. Ive wanted to grow cover crops for a ling time now but didnt know what to grow. This episode was fantastic for me.
That is awesome! I’m so glad it was helpful 💚
Om goodness your garden is so amazing so lush and full 😮I must be doing something so wrong
I’ve learned it’s all about variety. I’ve been testing a bunch of plants to see which do best in super high heat. Peppers, cowpeas, melons, sweet potatoes love summer here so I mainly grow them now.
I love you've named your snake Gregory, the kids named ours Slytherina 😅.
Love that! Naming him makes me less scared of him. Lol
@@HomegrownFloridaZ9a exactly, although snakes still scare the daylights out of me.
Thanks for the cover crop tips. My marigolds have taken over all of my beds. At least they look good 👍
Marigolds are so pretty!
I'm trying cowpeas this week for the first time! I just love your videos and the way you present it!❤❤❤
Yay! Thank you so much.
One cover crop I’ve used for the root knot nematodes is a spicy mustard, Kodiak brown. Although you really need to grow this later in the season when it cools down some, definitely I think too hot now. Sure helped with those nematodes. One question what is your favorite Way to harvest and preserve black beans
I usually pick the pods as they dry ( so they don’t mold in our humid weather). I then shell them and lay them out for about a week to make sure they are completely dry and then store them in glass jars in the pantry.
I Love it!!!! We are seeing those big yellow and black bees also, maybe they are bumbles bees? We've never seen them before but boy are they happy!!!! We just watched a film called "The Biggest Little Farm" and everything they did was in conjunction with nature, of course they had farm animals too but to see them combat issues with nature was amazing!!! The took a dead plot of land and made it flourish!!!
I’ll have to check that out. I love videos like that.
@@HomegrownFloridaZ9ayou’ll love it!!!!
In NE Tx we call the really big black & yellow bees - borer bees. They actually bore a little hole into wood/trees & lay an egg or two. U can google about them. They don't really make honey but the borer bees are great pollinators. They love my wisteria 🥰
Thanks for the great info
Any time!
Great video. Greetings from Leesburg FL. Have a pleasant weekend.
Thank you! You too!
I am growing tai solider beans . Great for eating and soil and also marigolds and sweet potaoes
Thai soldier beans are the best!
Cool video
I added my cover crop of cow peas late, about a month ago. My question is, do I chop and drop and then transplant my seedlings within? Also I like to scatter seed lettuce etc. how does that work with copping down my cover crop? How long does it sit till I plant? Thank you!!!!
Yes exactly. Chop them down and either till them into the soil or leave as a mulch later. You can plant into it within a week or two. It doesn’t have to be completely broken down.
Watching from glecious tv your new friend
So I really wanted to know when and what to do to prepare garden when you have all the cover crop. Do I chop and drop, or mix into soil? Do you remove all flowers(marigolds], or peas? I applaud your energy. I have learned so much and attempted new crops. Thank you.
I normally just chop and drop them. You could work them in but it’s not necessary. If you just want them for the soil heath, chop them down before they flower. If you still want the flowers and peas, you will want to harvest them first otherwise you could have a lot of self seeding.
@@HomegrownFloridaZ9a watching you has given us the courage to grow all seasons. We have a wonderful pea crop and sweet potato’s. Learned alot about both crops. We are getting gardens ready and plant to begin planting mid to end October. From harvested lettuce seeds to big box starters we will plant. Planning to hit up Cody Cove for a small banana tree to plant. Thanks again.
@@MichelleCobb-lp7pv that makes my heart so happy! Congratulations on your garden
Can I use the cover group in my container pots?. I usually put sealed tops over my soil containers. Also, how do you deal with iguanas.
You can definitely grow cover crops in containers. It’s a great way to revitalize the soil. I don’t get iguanas where I live.
@@HomegrownFloridaZ9a Thanks. I live in the Miami, South Florida area.
I've heard Sunn Hemp recommended for RKN control as well. I think it might also be nitrogen fixing
Yes! It’s great for both
I just chopped and dropped half my cow peas today. They were wild and Im starting to feed the soil as I plant fall seeds inside. (Zone 10a)
I would love help with timing on herb/flowers! Chamomile, etc...
Nice! I would wait till about October or November for your herbs. There are some flowers that enjoy the warmer temps like marigolds zinnias cosmos and sunflowers but things like borage chamomile and calendula prefer a little cooler weather.
Thank you so much!!!@@HomegrownFloridaZ9a
Hello 😊thanks for sharing your beautiful garden with us .keep well ❤..by chance did you reap the garlic that you planted last year Nov ...i think ..if so did you do a video.Let me know please thanks
Yes! I did. I incorporated it into a harvest video. Here you go - How To Use A Small Harvest? Garden Vegetable Quiche Recipe
ruclips.net/video/2r8Wff6RHGE/видео.html
@@HomegrownFloridaZ9a thank you
Hi Patrina, in the next couple of weeks I’m planning to add one new raised bed that I will use for tomatoes and maybe some basil. The tomatoes in the first bed are looking very sad in this heat so I’m wondering if those old tomato plants will make good chop & drop or do you recommend I compost the old tomato plants or do something else with them? Also since ‘23 was my first time gardening I have lots of questions on how to continue such as is it a good idea to plant the same crop in the same raised bed as it grew in the previous season? Thank you.
I have marigolds all over all summer long.
What’s a good companion crop for blueberries?
I’d go with an acid loving flower like azaleas, hydrangeas, bee balm, echinacea. They can handle the ph levels and they have flowers to bring in the pollinators.
Thank you. I have 5000 bushes but can plant the flowers intermittently down the rows.
Bonus….Sunn hemp is good for getting rid of RKN too!
Great video!
Great point!
What is RKN?
@@2021-j2d Root-Knot Nematodes
@@2021-j2droot knot nematodes
I had volunteer Beans that are not flowering. They have taken over but no beans. Any suggestions? They are either PR Black Beans or a tan bean that was in an Urban Harvest cover crop mix that I planted last year.
More likely than not it’s probably the ironclad cowpeas. It’s a great cover crop because it takes a long time to flower which is great if you want it for biomass and fixing nitrogen but not so much for food. Eventually it will flower and when it does, you will know for sure which bean it is.
Where can I get Sun Hemp seeds in smaller quantities? I have a small garden and I don't need 5 gallons of seeds! I would love to try it next summer - I'm in zone 10a.
Theurbanharvest.com has a cover crop blend in smaller quantities that includes Sunn hemp along with several other good seeds. Check them out.
@@HomegrownFloridaZ9a Thanks so much! I love your channel. You have a wealth of information that is so helpful to me! I am retired and have lived in Florida for 16 years. I was an avid and successful gardener in Michigan, but when I came here and tried to garden I felt like a failure. You have provided so much information and I'm back in the garden with one raised bed, 3 Green Stalks, and lots of grow bags and potted plants. I can't tell you how much I appreciate what you do! Also, I love the videos of how you use your harvest. So helpful, even for an old gal like me!
@@debbiewaldorfjohnson9022that’s so awesome! I’m so glad you are back in the garden
My front beds of Sunn Hemp are doing fantastic-ish. The back beds (N) Umm, umm...Tasty grasshoppers, had a feast, and what was left, the Hawks smashed, getting the grass hoppers. 😆😆😒So, the plan..Where my good beds are, they will get the tomatoes, and I will chop the hemp, and fill the back beds for the cabbage. I did order some Redmond clay, to help hold the nutrients. Oh the grass hoppers even ate my PEAS...heifers! 😠😠🤣 2 years in a row, no peas because of those nasty yellow, can't kill them grasshoppers.
I have so many grasshoppers this year. It’s been wild
Is it too late to grow cow peas now? Or should I start getting ready for fall planting
They grow pretty fast and you don’t need to grow them to maturity to get the benefits so you still have a little time.
Where'd you purchase the Puertorican Black Bean seed?
I get mine from theurbanharvest.com
Greetings
Tried Uharvest got this from their site.
"DESCRIPTION
A pole black bean, incredibly productive for dry beans. Tender perennial. Great for food forests or permaculture application. Saved from local heirloom seed, not available on large commercial seed sites.
Annual. 4 inch pot. Grown by Little Tree Homestead & Nursery.
This is a Live Plant. At this time, we are unable to ship live plants, and are for local pick up from St. Pete, Florida only"
I planted Whipperwill peas and Cali cowpeas instead.
Would love to have some PR black beans.
Guess I will try some store bought dry black beans next time.
Keep up the GOOD WORK
When do you cut the cover crops to,give it time to break down before you plant again?
You can cut it down as early as a couple weeks. Mine isn’t normally broken down completely by the time I plant so it usually looks a bit messy but it does the job.
@@HomegrownFloridaZ9a thanks
Could I plant sun hemp this late in summer?
Yes. It grows fast and it’s not necessary for it to grow to maturity to make a good cover crop.
Good question!!
Thank you for your response. I live near Gainesville and tried starting a new garden area that is overgrown with weeds. I got some sun hemp seeds in the mail a few days ago. I was wanting to plant a cover crop, but I have not done that before. I wasn’t sure what I need to do and I found your video. I appreciate all of the information that you give in your videos.
@@merryrobertson4854I’m so glad it is helpful. Good luck
Where do I get sun hemp seeds
Nothing is easy to grow in Florida. Lol
🤣😂😳