Lightening .. the natural fertalizer (huh?)

Last Years Garden

I can't wait to peek at the garden in the morning.  We had a huge electrical storm pass through that should green things up.  It's especially true if you have any metal (i.e. fencing) nearby.  I'm no scientist .. just observant.  My pole beans greened up quite nicely last year from such a storm.  Here's an article with some of the facts.  HOW LIGHTENING BENEFITS THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. 

Read more...

Picture Perfect Weather

Today is a beautiful sunny day in the North Woods.  I'm hoping the temps are warm enough to kick start some growth in the garden.  My rhubarb plants have been producing for a few weeks and it's time to start thinking about preserving some of their yummy goodness.  Perhaps canning some rhubarb sauce this week is in order.  Rhubarb freezes well .. it's great to pull out in the winter to bake up a pie or for stewing.

The leaves are poisonous .. but you can add them to the compost heap without a problem.  Nothing says it's gardening time better than the arrival of rhubarb.

Simmered Rhubarb:

4 cups diced rhubarb stalks
3/4 cup sugar
water to cover

Simmer the rhubarb for a few minutes then cover the pan and let it sit until cool.  This method keeps the rhubarb pieces whole.  For a sweeter version, cook uncovered until tender and liquid has reduced by about 1/3 to 1/2 in volume ..  Rhubarb goes well with strawberries and apples in pies.

Read more...

Coaxing Spring (hurry up already)

Our weather of late has been fickle.  Most of March found rain showers, gray skies, a few snow showers .. and April is only a little bit 'more promising' ... Our teeny tiny dining room plant nursery has expanded and now includes a sturdy new shelf unit sitting in front of one of the many windows.  All of our plants have sprouted .. even the pepper plants after getting a good warm start in the little plastic covered greenhouse rigged with warming beds and a grow light. 

Hubby and I worked on building 10 of 14 raised garden beds last week, some extra deep and outfitted with quarter inch wire mesh underneath and soon to include hoops made from curved electric conduit to support different coverings.  We have them stacked and draped outside on a slope until the actual garden ground is ready.  It will be at least another five weeks or so before we are frost free and can transplant the seedlings. 

Through all of this soggy weather, I picked up a flu virus that ended with acute sinusitis and over two weeks of feeling exhausted.  Saturday I finally broke down and visited the doctor to get some meds and am almost up to feeling 100% better.  The thought of lying on the backyard hammock in the warm summer air sounds like heavenly therapy; can't wait!

Read more...

Doing What You Can .. In a Toxic World

Some days I get antsy reading the headlines on the sidebar of this blog.  GMO foods and crops .. to soak or not to soak grains .. raw -vs- pasteurized milk .. toxic money .. etc.  Yes, it is good to be informed.  Taking in the news and trying to eke out a common sense approach to life is important to having a quality life.  There is just too much living to do that one needs not to be in fear of living.  Just breathing is dangerous it seems some days.  I get the most enjoyment trying to figure out how to make products at home.  Be it soap or green cleaners.  Trying to save money and not always needing the latest gadget.  Being content with thrift store shopping.  Growing as much food as possible for summer use and winter storage.  Can I do it all? NO!  .. and I have learned that being a good homemaker means not only keeping busy at home with the garden, etc. .. but also seeking the best local produce, eggs, meat, etc. in the community and not worrying that I can't do everything.  Big sigh :)

Read more...

Call It A Wrap

A nice drape of snow will look lovely over the barren garden #1

Garden #2 mulched and tucked away for winter

With our unseasonably warm autumn weather, I have been able to tuck away the gardens for their winter nap of rejuvenation at a slower pace.  The Spanish roja garlic has been planted and mulched, Swiss chard and spinach are growing under cover, and a few broccoli plants with side shoots were left in place.

garden sink back splash .. nearly completed

Our garden sink project is nearly done .. just waiting for some grout around the tiles .. hopefully to be finished in the next day or so.

Compost from the bottom of the bin has been removed to make more room for winter use at the top opening.

Strawberry beds have been thinned and heavily mulched.  I hope these June bearing plants do better next year .. in the spring they will get transplanted outside the fenced garden space and draped with deer netting .. they are prolific and take up so much room.  The wild strawberries seem to be undisturbed by the deer .. let's hope these will do the same.  A patch of ever-bearing berries will be added in the spring.

Now it's off to the library to check out some gardening books for my winter reading, and hit the knitting needles, and soap making supplies, and, and, and ... endless possibilities with the garden under wraps.  What will you do with your free time this winter?

compost bin emptied a bit ... black gold

straw over the berry plants

Read more...

This Week At Home

We've been busy with company, my folks, and have given a few (ahem) chores to my pop to complete.  He has hooked up a faucet to our new garden sink with cold water, now to tile in the back splash with some mosaic tile 'art' .. and, yesterday, he took charge of putting up my new T-post clothesline by digging post holes and cementing in the galvanized steel posts; tomorrow we can string up the line.  Already the birds have discovered the T-posts.

Yesterday the pea vines growing on the trellis were pulled up .. not before saving some of the pods I left to harvest for seeds.  They were still producing a few peas .. but had gotten rather past their prime.  A new crop is growing to extend the season.

I am so pleased with my nasturtium 'Jewel Mix' seeds that were planted this year.  The colors are so bright they almost hurt your eyes :)  They were ordered from the Good Seed Company (Oroville, Washington) which sells open pollinated and heirloom seeds for northern gardens. 

This year's garden is a mixed review ... yet to be written off ... but already thinking about how to amend the soil for better results next year.  What's your best success (garden wise) this year?

Read more...

Preparing for fall

An (almost) entire summer away this year reminded me of our experiences many years ago, returning home to Southeast Georgia and our small college town after summers of research (at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland).

One memorable summer, we arrived home about 10 pm, to a grubby and mildew-edged house (it was too expensive to run the ancient, non-energy efficient AC even at a high temperature, and we didn't have the money to upgrade it then).

We set about scrubbing the walls in our bedroom, airing the house out, and cleaning the kitchen before finally falling into bed quite late.  I don't remember worrying about the landscape, however.  Since it was dark, I guess I wasn't worried, and I was a botanist and plant ecologist then, not having added 'gardener' yet to the hats I wear.

This year, we returned to a house slightly aromatic from low-VOC paint and plaster mudding on the ceiling.   Since the last time we were here (to do the final check with the painter), it's been HOT, and the temperature was set on 79° F  (not exactly high, but not low either).  The first order of business was trying to get the house back in order.  We'd barely managed to get the furniture back in place after the last quick trip, so all of the pictures, etc. that needed to go up on the wall awaited our attention.  And things need cleaning up, too.

Today, we finished getting most all of the paintings and prints back up, and it's nice to have them back in order.  We've changed things around a bit (a old lovely Oriental rug has moved from my study to my gardening companion's), and without the old bed (a veteran from the house in the story told above) has been recycled to a new home.

It was a joy to get out in the garden and finally start shaping things up this morning.  I started in the messy border outside the kitchen door (lots of drought-related mortality in the shallow soil), cutting things back, removing dead plants, weeding, and cleaning up.

There was a brief diversion cleaning up my garden shed (a mess following the last garlic harvest without a follow-up sweeping), and then a clean sweep of the main vegetable garden (largely fallow this summer), weeding and turning over the beds. 

Tidying up my potting bench area, rooting out the dead herbs from pots, pulling up dead bermuda grass dispatched on our last visit helped make things look more like mine, and less like an abandoned garden!

There's certainly lots more to do -- the perennial borders and meadow, not to mention the area nearest the porch, with the bird feeders and container plantings, are currently looking quite shabby.  My gardening companion was suggesting I do a planting design for the area nearest the porch.  Hmm.

We haven't 'edited' the rest of the garden yet!

Read more...

Yesterday's Yard

Blue skies and white clouds make a beautiful backdrop for our garden home.  Here are a few pics that were snapped showing summer's green fashion in both maintained and natural areas around our home.  Spring and early summer rain has kept the landscape very green ... and in some parts a jungle of overgrowth that needed to be cut back around the veggie gardens.

Read more...

Veggies Gone Missing (already)

... those pesky voles!  Some of my extra onion bulbs I stuck in at the end of the asparagus patch have been pulled through the soil into Mr. & Mrs. Vole's tunnel.  Others are just limp from  having the roots gnawed off.  Seems to only be a problem at this one spot that did not get rototilled.  Let's hope they are satisfied with the excess bulbs and don't head over to the big patch of onions. 

Read more...

Gardening, stewardship, and sustainability

Transforming lawns to a vibrant wildlife habitats, growing vegetables, and carefully tending 'our' patches of land are sustaining activities, ones that ground me in what I can do, and away from worrying about the difficult environmental times that face us.

My work (as a garden educator) is also encouraging: I help folks learn how to be better stewards by being better gardeners, promoting native plants and restoring wildlife habitats, and am definitely an encouraging voice about growing more vegetables and fruits in the open spaces (lawn or not) that many Americans have access to, whether on their own 'property' or not.

I love the idea of guerrilla gardening - planting plants where they should be, but aren't! These are the curbside planting areas, empty 'hell strips' between sidewalks and roads, and barren parking lot edges.

Gardening and stewardship provides hope, for restoration of both native and created garden space. At least that's what true for me.

Read more...

Double Digging

... the garden by hand.  It's a lot of work .. but I hope it will pay off with a bumper crop of food this year.  Helpful hubby huffed and hoisted a cubic yard of composted manure by the wheel barrel full as I hand dug.  He tilled and raked afterward.  One more truckload should suffice and it will be done.  Sonny Boy sliced two more dozen garden log stepping stones from a downed tree.  Pictures to follow as soon as I find my camera's charger. 

Read more...

Yesterday I trekked to town to pay a visit to the public library. Seeking more information about gardening practices for the Inland Northwest, I picked up the following books:

Gardening in the Inland Northwest, a Guide to Growing Vegetables, Berries, Grapes & Fruit Trees, by Tonie Jean Fitzgerald. (This book interested me greatly as living in this area poses many challenges since we have a short growing season). Although not totally organic in nature, there are many ideas to glean from this short read.

The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing A good reference type of book that is reader/novice gardener friendly.

Lasagna Gardening For an easy read ... this book gives directions to plant a garden with "a new layering system ... no digging ... no tilling ... no weeding ... no kidding" I actually tried a similar method two years ago (my own formula) so I thought I'd compare notes.

The Organic Garden by: Allan Shepherd, Green gardening for a healthy planet

Already I've gained an important tip regarding the use of grow lamps ... place the plant tray no more than six inches from the lamp source or your seedlings will grow too leggy/tall trying to reach the light. You should see my lettuce plants growing in the basement ... so that's what went wrong. I'm a learn by doing type of gardener.

Winter is the perfect time of the year to start gathering and learning new skills to practice while waiting to plant a spring garden.

Read more...

Winter Garden: A month ago I purchased a grow light ... I now have lettuce plants growing inside ... the only garden plant I miss in the winter. Will post pics and let you know how it works out.

Read more...

Digging for Yukon Gold ....

potatoes that is. In April I planted several rows of these delicious golden nugget seed potatoes along with a few rows of red 'new' potatoes. Yesterday a few were harvested, boiled, mashed with half and half, sprinkled with sea salt, and infused with a mix from my mini blender of butter and fresh basil. The result ... heaven! Add a quick stir fry of tender pork loin strips with freshly picked carrots, onion, and garden sugar peas .. and we dined on a delicious and easy meal. No gravy required ;)

Eating from the garden is akin to having dined on food kissed by a technicolor rainbow. The flavor explodes with rich 'colors' not found in store bought fare. All those years growing up .. eating canned veggies and hamburger helper ... years 'wasted' food wise ;(

My best childhood memories of food always drift back to visiting with relatives during the month of July that lived on farms in Illinois .. or had backyard gardens and home canned foods. We in the USA have grown accustomed to over processed, chemically altered, blah foods that hold no candle to nutrition and/or taste compared to home grown food. I encourage anyone that hasn't planted a garden to start planning for next year to give it a try. Even if you just try growing tomatoes and herbs in containers on your back deck or patio ... it's a start to wake up the inner gardener inside all of us.

artwork credit here

Read more...

Turnip greens (at least the ones from my garden) are not bitter. They are not palatable fresh (such as spinach) due to prickly fuzz, but blanched they are delightful. I have had success feeding them to my children by chopping them up (about 1/2 inch diced, thick stem parts removed) along with some carrots, celery and onions. Brown rice and chicken stock make a good addition as well with said veggies. If I told them to eat their turnip greens (alone), they might just turn up their noses! For 'non greens' eaters, the trick is to not overpower them by eating all greens. Moderation is a good thing. Are you a 'greens' eater? If so, care to share a quick fix?

Read more...

Floral-bundance! I just love to make up new words. And 'floral-bundance' seems to fit the description of this lovely bouquet I picked from the garden when my parents were visiting. Included are peonies, cat mint, wild lupine, and spirea.

The Beginning:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of god was hovering over the waters ... Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: see-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds ... and it was so."

From Genesis, Chapter 1 (NIV)

Read more...

The garden this week received four afternoons of rain showers. This is the type of deep watering that can really make a garden 'take off' ... a good thing. My parents are visiting for a few weeks. Dad grew up on a family farm and has been a great help clearing a path around one of my veggie gardens. Wild berry growth was pushing up against the deer/moose fence surround ... we can now walk around with ease. He is eighty years young and is used to hard work. This is what has kept him so young and in good shape for so many years.

With the garden growing leaps and bounds, we have begun harvesting (finally) some edible crops such as radish, lettuce, herbs, and using up the thinned out onions in salads. I have picked a few turnips and will use them along with the green tops in a nice rustic Italian soup for lunch tomorrow that includes greens cooked with smoky bacon, white beans, chicken broth, garlic, and topped with bread croutons.

Speaking of the deer/moose fence, a few moose have been spotted this week lumbering around our neighborhood. I'll never tire of seeing them ... of course, if they find a way inside the garden fence, then I'll be hopping mad!

Read more...

How Does Your Garden Grow ? ...

Of late, I've been eating, sleeping, breathing all things garden related. This year I've doubled the size of last year's garden ... and added a new separate section. I cheated a bit and ended up buying my tomato plants. With last year's poor production and short season, I got a head start with some nice four inch pots. In the photos you will notice the blue/green tents in the garden. These are my wall 'o water plant covers that help to get the plants growing quicker. Today, I was able to remove them as the plants have grown to the top. I replaced them with wire cages. We planted eight tomato plants this year. Several varieties.

Here's what is growing:

tomatoes
potatoes
red & Spanish onions
walla-walla onions
scallions
turnips
radishes
thyme, Italian parsley, basil, cilantro, tarragon
mint
carrots
sugar peas
rhubarb
strawberries
asparagus
blueberries
raspberries
corn
cabbage
peppers
garlic
watermelon
cantaloupe
cucumbers (two varieties)
zucchini & yellow crooked neck squash
pumpkins (two varieties)
green beans
lettuce
apples
sour cherries

later we will plant

rutabagas
winter squash

Most of my 'babies' have at least sprouted. The radishes are ready to eat ... but then, they are always the earliest to harvest.

Lest we have hail or pests, this year is off to a good start ... LORD WILLING AND AMEN!

Read more...

Gardening

It's been a lovely weekend spent in the garden. There's something spiritual about digging, planting and sowing seeds. It connects us (gardeners) to the earth and certainly reminds me to be grateful for farmers. The idea that I could grow all my own vegetables (much less our sustenance) is daunting. I'm keen on our three-to-four seasons in our benign climate, but the effort it would take to can, freeze, and store our growing season bounty sounds like hard work, and it is.

I love to garden. The physical effort, checking the plants, enjoying fruit production, watching the pollinators -- all of these things I love. I do enjoy my vegetable garden the most (I think because I love to cook directly from the garden), but our restored landscape provides peace.


Our front yard didn't always look like this -- it was a vast lawn desert when we moved in.

The backyard, ditto. And we're still working on both.

The view from the porch keeps improving -- I've got to add more bird feeders, to be sure. But here's another view from the front steps.

Read more...

This week started out with great weather, so I've been able to work two days in the garden enlarging it by two and a half times the original size. There is plenty of room now for corn and two rows of potatoes (in trenches). Five or six raspberry plants and two blue berry bushes were relocated to a permanent home there. Rows were hoed for strawberry plants ... and tripod steaks were erected for pole beans and cucumbers. Everything and every plant is now being drawn up in my mind (and on paper ... a safer bet ;). Welded wire fencing was installed around the entire area to keep the deer and moose out. A gateway was left open for easy access ... some type of actual gate will be installed in a few weeks. It's a good start and I thank the Good Lord for the great weather. At the end of the day I'm feeling a 'good' tired from all the digging and pounding in fence posts. I'll post a few pictures soon.

Read more...