Tomatoes were a total loss this year, as were the cukes. Peppers came in nice, and the water garden out front is lovely. We bought some new goldfish, hoping to breed "Big Momma." We'll see.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Onions, Garlic in
Tomatoes were a total loss this year, as were the cukes. Peppers came in nice, and the water garden out front is lovely. We bought some new goldfish, hoping to breed "Big Momma." We'll see.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
So How Does Your Garden Grow? The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Spring 2013
Early on I promised I'd tell you my goofs as well as my great: warts and all, here's my garden this year. (If you have any suggestions, I'm open for advice.
Well, the guy at the seed store told me I was a month or two late getting getting them in (I think it was January or so.) I thought I'd catch up by having them in a cold frame, but I never did get the top on it.
The veggies struggled from the get go. The seed germinated just fine, but aphids or something took delight in eating the greens. It looked like a mess. Even worse, the result was about as big as ping pong balls or extra large eggs, and after 90 minutes at a hard boil, acted like an old tennis ball. They refused to be mashed, and had a consistency of soggy cardboard. Even butter, salt, pepper and brown sugar couldn't help them.
Worse, I planted my new tomato seedlings next to the cold frame, and the aphids thought I was putting out a second course for dinner. The poor little Arkansas Traveler (last year's tomato of the year) was first in line next to the root crops/aphid disaster, and the poor little guy just about didn't make it. Even now he's only about a foot or so high, while his neighbors are all topping three feet, and he's just starting to blossom, while we're already eating cherry tomatoes.
THE BAD
Our lawn. Pathetic.
Last fall we decided to convert about a third of our lawn to flower garden. The broken arm and a few other issues got in the way, and now we have the finest collection of weeds in the county...except where it's bare dirt.
THE GOOD
But when she was good, she was very, very good. The asparagus, snow peas, spinach and arugula was soo good we had plenty to share with neighbors, and I almost got nostalgically weepy when the spinach bolted and the peas gave up the ghost. (I don't have the heart to take out the arugula, and it's rewarded me with some pretty little flowers.
Believe me folks, plant peas, spinach and lettuce. It's easy and tasty. (The early onions are easy and did well too, but the others are so much better than what you get at the store.)
As I said most of my tomatoes are over three feet high, and today we ate our first cherry tomatoes. Most of them have set fruit, and they all have blossoms. But they're all showing some kind of blight or something, so the jury is out til the goods are in. By the by, I love my homemade 60" tall tomato cages.
Zucchini, cukes and peppers are in blossom, so we hope for the best.
But maybe the best has been the flowers. The bride pointed out today that we really haven't done much with our flowers this year, but here's where planting annuals really pays off.
The Rose o' Sharon, lilies, Passionflower, and so many others are really putting on a show, and the Turk's Cap is looking brawny, and ready to bud any day now.
So I'll close with a few of our faves below, and to the right.
 |
| Rutabega Buggas |
I'm not a braggart, so let's start at the bottom
THE UGLY
My biggest boo-boo this spring was my erstwhile cold frame. If you've been following along, you'll recall I broke my arm building it. (Maybe the only man in human history to do that!) But before I didn't finish, I planted turnips and rutabagas in it.
Well, the guy at the seed store told me I was a month or two late getting getting them in (I think it was January or so.) I thought I'd catch up by having them in a cold frame, but I never did get the top on it.
The veggies struggled from the get go. The seed germinated just fine, but aphids or something took delight in eating the greens. It looked like a mess. Even worse, the result was about as big as ping pong balls or extra large eggs, and after 90 minutes at a hard boil, acted like an old tennis ball. They refused to be mashed, and had a consistency of soggy cardboard. Even butter, salt, pepper and brown sugar couldn't help them.
Worse, I planted my new tomato seedlings next to the cold frame, and the aphids thought I was putting out a second course for dinner. The poor little Arkansas Traveler (last year's tomato of the year) was first in line next to the root crops/aphid disaster, and the poor little guy just about didn't make it. Even now he's only about a foot or so high, while his neighbors are all topping three feet, and he's just starting to blossom, while we're already eating cherry tomatoes.
THE BAD
Our lawn. Pathetic.
Last fall we decided to convert about a third of our lawn to flower garden. The broken arm and a few other issues got in the way, and now we have the finest collection of weeds in the county...except where it's bare dirt.
THE GOOD
Believe me folks, plant peas, spinach and lettuce. It's easy and tasty. (The early onions are easy and did well too, but the others are so much better than what you get at the store.)
As I said most of my tomatoes are over three feet high, and today we ate our first cherry tomatoes. Most of them have set fruit, and they all have blossoms. But they're all showing some kind of blight or something, so the jury is out til the goods are in. By the by, I love my homemade 60" tall tomato cages.
Zucchini, cukes and peppers are in blossom, so we hope for the best.
But maybe the best has been the flowers. The bride pointed out today that we really haven't done much with our flowers this year, but here's where planting annuals really pays off.
The Rose o' Sharon, lilies, Passionflower, and so many others are really putting on a show, and the Turk's Cap is looking brawny, and ready to bud any day now.
So I'll close with a few of our faves below, and to the right.
Monday, May 27, 2013
No Yard? No Land? No Problem!
You can still enjoy gardening on your apartment balcony, on your porch or even on your
windowsill.
Truth be told, you'll also have the same problems: pests, disease, keeping your green "pets" watered and fed. (But you won't have to walk them twice a day or change their litter box.)
Even though I have a "regular" garden, I still get a kick out of planting in pots around the yard. Many flowers can be purchased in a patio ready pot, but I'd suggest most plants need more room, so blow a few bucks, and buy a big(ger) ceramic or clay pot, and give your little buddy a little extra breathing room.
Herbs do exceptionally well in containers, and many tomatoes, like patio, cherry or grape varieties seem to thrive in a pot.
The only difference is that since the pot will dry out faster than a plant in the ground, so you really need to water it daily, maybe twice a day.
Yes, you read it right above: you can have a lovely water garden with limited space. It just takes a little creativity. My friends Courtney and Sarah Willis have converted a galvanized tub into a stunning water garden to give the back of their townhouse some beauty and serenity.
Finally, don't fall for the "Topsy Turvey Tomato" that was all the rage a few years ago. That isn't nearly enough soil to retain the moisture a tomato needs, so you'll find it struggling all summer, no matter how often you water it.
Just like us suburban gardeners, you'll have the same choices: flowers, veggies, or maybe even a water garden.
Truth be told, you'll also have the same problems: pests, disease, keeping your green "pets" watered and fed. (But you won't have to walk them twice a day or change their litter box.)
Even though I have a "regular" garden, I still get a kick out of planting in pots around the yard. Many flowers can be purchased in a patio ready pot, but I'd suggest most plants need more room, so blow a few bucks, and buy a big(ger) ceramic or clay pot, and give your little buddy a little extra breathing room.
Herbs do exceptionally well in containers, and many tomatoes, like patio, cherry or grape varieties seem to thrive in a pot.
Yes, you read it right above: you can have a lovely water garden with limited space. It just takes a little creativity. My friends Courtney and Sarah Willis have converted a galvanized tub into a stunning water garden to give the back of their townhouse some beauty and serenity.
Finally, don't fall for the "Topsy Turvey Tomato" that was all the rage a few years ago. That isn't nearly enough soil to retain the moisture a tomato needs, so you'll find it struggling all summer, no matter how often you water it.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Could You Grow Enough to Live On?
Could you totally feed your family out of your garden?
Well, if you supplement it with some locally raised meat and dairy products, could you mostly eat out of the garden for a whole calendar year?
Barbara Kingsolver tried a few years ago when they moved their family of four from suburban Tuscon to a small Appalachian family farm, and lived to tell about it in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (HarperCollins).
Kingsolver started out with several objectives.
First, she recognized (as every gardener does) how much better homegrown tastes than supermarket fare. But she also recognized her family’s inadvertent addiction to hydrogenated corn syrup, oils, and fats that are added to every fast food meal or prepared foods. And she saw how much in fossil fuels America spends in fertilizers, pesticides and shipping things like bananas from Central America, or apples from Washington State or strawberries from California or Mexico.
Their “farm” really was tiny. They cultivated 3,524 square feet on the sides of their Appalachian hillsides. When you think about it, that’s not much more than most Plano houses have as lawns.
Add in room for a few chickens and turkeys, and she figures they used about an acre to feed the family.
When they bought milk, beef or lamb, they committed to only buying locally grown produce.
You might say they were “spiritual, not religious.” Admittedly, they had to go international to buy coffee or chocolate, and they couldn’t find local wheat for bread-making. They ate out now and then, and went to friends’ houses without acting holier than thou.
They weren’t trying to re-enact “Little House on the Prairie.” She relied on modern conveniences like freezing, and electric food dehydrators, and they took a trip to Italy in the middle of it all.
It all makes for an interesting journey, outstandingly written. One thing Kingsolver found along the way was the damage shipping food around the country does to our local farmers. They just can’t produce oranges in October, or asparagus in August. But she makes a convincing argument that the slightly higher prices you pay for quality local organic produce is worth every penny.
Their primary meat was chicken and turkey, and no, those birds don’t come naturally wrapped in plastic. Her goal was to start a breeding flock of turkeys, but as luck would have it, modern turkeys are artificially inseminated. They’ve just about forgotten how to “do it.” So she went to extraordinary lengths to coax the “lovebirds” into a family way. She admitted to watching. “Hey, we don’t have cable out here.”
Did they succeed in living off the land for a whole year? I’m no spoiler, you have to read it yourself, but at the end of the year they were looking forward to some lobster, Alaskan salmon and a few other delicacies not raised in Appalachia.
But maybe that's her point: perhaps we don't have to limit our diet to the backyard or the neighborhood, but be conscious of what we eat, where it comes from, and what it took to get here.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Latest tomato tip: smack 'em with a broom!
Tomatoes don't rely on bees or butterflies for pollination.
The wind knocks the blossoms and scatters the plant's pollen. So if you have planted your buddy in a corner of the backyard, or other place that doesn't get much breeze, be sure to haul off and whack the tomato's stake or cage with a broomstick, to get that pollen around!
Sounds too simple, but believe me, it works!
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Got Bees? Call a Beekeeper, Not an Exterminator!
Any good organic gardener is thrilled to see bees around the garden.
It was last spring about this time, when I felt good about "my bees" until I saw they were making a "bee line" straight for my house!
The were buzzing in between the brick first floor, and the wallboard that covers our second story. The little buggers made themselves comfortable by actually lifting the 1x4 lathe that covers the joint.
Recognizing that your house is literally a bee hive of activity is not a comforting thought.
Even though I claim to be organic, my first instinct was to go see my neighbor, who is a professional exterminator. He was kind enough not to take my money, and steer me in the right direction - a professional beekeeper.
Any exterminator using chemical poisons will only be slightly successful in getting rid of bees in your house. The first problem is that the queen is royally ensconced deep in the hive, and not likely to get a lethal hit of the pesticide. Secondly, the hive with its honey is like a neon sign inviting other bees to re-colonize, even if her royal highness gets knocked off.
I got a list of beekeepers (AKA "apiarists") from a few green friends. The bad news is that this time of year, these folks are busy, and their services ain't cheap, averaging $400-$500 for a guaranteed "treatment." The good news was that my hunt brought me to Horacio and Shirley Acevedo of Ace Bees.
They are a delightful, knowledgeable, professional husband and wife team that promptly came out and removed our uninvited guests.
Horacio started by diagnosing the situation, and laying out a plan. He observed the hive from the outside, then came inside with a thermometer. The hive was between the ceiling of the first floor and the floor upstairs. The temperature of floor above the hive was a few degrees warmer, due to the bees' activity.
Horacio said he would need to open the cavity to extract the hive, and could cut through the floor, or the wall outside. Even though he assured me he would tape the doors of the bedroom to contain the bees, the thought of a house full of bees versus a little cut in the wall board pushed us outside.
Once he cut the hole, he used paddles to scrape out the hive and honey, and put it all in a five gallon plastic bucket. Then Horacio vacuumed up any lingering (and very angry) malcontents, and sealed up the hole.
While the Acevedos guarantee against reinfestation at that spot, they can't guarantee the whole house will be forever bee-proof. They advised me to go around the entire house and caulk all potential bee entries.That neon sign inviting new bees will hang around for years, and my job is to make it as tough as possible for them to make themselves a home.
I was fascinated by the entire process, and Shirley lent me a beekeeper coat so that I could get up close and personal with our little invaders. (Hence these pictures.) It was a warm afternoon, and I got lax, and peeled off the hood about 20 feet away. Big mistake.
The Acevedos explained that actually I was lucky to be stung "only" four or five times. When they began as apiarists 20 years ago, about ten percent of bees were aggressive Africanized bees. Today it's 90 percent, but mine were the domestic "passive" variety.
The Acevedos called later in the week to tell me they found the queen and the colony was now happily ensconced at their place in Princeton. For days afterward, bees who were out on patrol when the hive was moved tried to get home. It was kind of pathetic as they clung to the wall, homesick.
But I didn't shed any tears over their plight. My lighter wallet and wounds were still stinging.
My advice: seal up any cracks and crevices now, before an infestation, and if you are "bugged" call the pros.
It was last spring about this time, when I felt good about "my bees" until I saw they were making a "bee line" straight for my house!
 |
| Horacio Acevedo "digging" into his work, despite protests of the residents. |
The were buzzing in between the brick first floor, and the wallboard that covers our second story. The little buggers made themselves comfortable by actually lifting the 1x4 lathe that covers the joint.
Recognizing that your house is literally a bee hive of activity is not a comforting thought.
Even though I claim to be organic, my first instinct was to go see my neighbor, who is a professional exterminator. He was kind enough not to take my money, and steer me in the right direction - a professional beekeeper.
 |
| My hive was about half the size of a basketball. |
I got a list of beekeepers (AKA "apiarists") from a few green friends. The bad news is that this time of year, these folks are busy, and their services ain't cheap, averaging $400-$500 for a guaranteed "treatment." The good news was that my hunt brought me to Horacio and Shirley Acevedo of Ace Bees.
They are a delightful, knowledgeable, professional husband and wife team that promptly came out and removed our uninvited guests.
Horacio started by diagnosing the situation, and laying out a plan. He observed the hive from the outside, then came inside with a thermometer. The hive was between the ceiling of the first floor and the floor upstairs. The temperature of floor above the hive was a few degrees warmer, due to the bees' activity.
 |
| Your intrepid blogger in full regalia. |
Horacio said he would need to open the cavity to extract the hive, and could cut through the floor, or the wall outside. Even though he assured me he would tape the doors of the bedroom to contain the bees, the thought of a house full of bees versus a little cut in the wall board pushed us outside.
Once he cut the hole, he used paddles to scrape out the hive and honey, and put it all in a five gallon plastic bucket. Then Horacio vacuumed up any lingering (and very angry) malcontents, and sealed up the hole.
While the Acevedos guarantee against reinfestation at that spot, they can't guarantee the whole house will be forever bee-proof. They advised me to go around the entire house and caulk all potential bee entries.That neon sign inviting new bees will hang around for years, and my job is to make it as tough as possible for them to make themselves a home.
I was fascinated by the entire process, and Shirley lent me a beekeeper coat so that I could get up close and personal with our little invaders. (Hence these pictures.) It was a warm afternoon, and I got lax, and peeled off the hood about 20 feet away. Big mistake.
The Acevedos explained that actually I was lucky to be stung "only" four or five times. When they began as apiarists 20 years ago, about ten percent of bees were aggressive Africanized bees. Today it's 90 percent, but mine were the domestic "passive" variety.
The Acevedos called later in the week to tell me they found the queen and the colony was now happily ensconced at their place in Princeton. For days afterward, bees who were out on patrol when the hive was moved tried to get home. It was kind of pathetic as they clung to the wall, homesick.
But I didn't shed any tears over their plight. My lighter wallet and wounds were still stinging.
My advice: seal up any cracks and crevices now, before an infestation, and if you are "bugged" call the pros.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Pass the Peas, Please!
Life is good, and spring has sprung.
You know it's spring when baseball is in full-bloom and the peas are popping out of your garden!
For my fellow Texans, if you haven't planted peas yet, it's too late. (At least for this spring.)
But you Yankees and Canadians still have time.
I particularly like Asian Snow Pea varieties, with the edible pods. They're easy to grow on a trellis (like my Four Inch Garden) and they actually improve the soil by fixing nitrogen. Best of all, they taste great.
Here's a favorite recipe:
Cashew Chicken with Pea Pods
1 lb. chicken breasts, chopped
1/2 lb. snow peas
1 C cashews
Marinate chicken in 2 T soy sauce, 2 T oil, 2 T minced ginger.
Stir fry chicken, combine with peas and cashews, and serve over hot rice.
Yum.
You know it's spring when baseball is in full-bloom and the peas are popping out of your garden!
For my fellow Texans, if you haven't planted peas yet, it's too late. (At least for this spring.)
But you Yankees and Canadians still have time.
I particularly like Asian Snow Pea varieties, with the edible pods. They're easy to grow on a trellis (like my Four Inch Garden) and they actually improve the soil by fixing nitrogen. Best of all, they taste great.
Here's a favorite recipe:
1 lb. chicken breasts, chopped
1/2 lb. snow peas
1 C cashews
Marinate chicken in 2 T soy sauce, 2 T oil, 2 T minced ginger.
Stir fry chicken, combine with peas and cashews, and serve over hot rice.
Yum.
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