Archive for the 'Garden' Category

November 3rd, 2008 - The dying garden is full of life

I would have said the garden was officially over (except for the rutabagas) last week, but I was surprised yesterday: I found some ripe raspberries! And some ground cherries that ripened after pulling up the plants. But the real life I’m talking about is the birds. I almost left late due to watching out the window–the cardinal pair is back, along with some nuthatches and the ever-present sparrows. The cardinals were finding goodies on the ground while the nuthatches are enjoying the dead zinnias and sunflowers. I absolutely adore having the garden right outside the dining and living room windows. I would miss so much if it were anywhere else. I wouldn’t have chosen this spot if we had a more open yard, so I’m delighted Eric thought of it.

This weekend I finished off the beans (picking anything dry or large to dry in the garage, and ripping the vines down), peppers, and tomatoes. I trimmed the raspberries and covered the strawberries with straw. I dug up the cannas. Still left are the flowers and the Job’s Tears plants–I harvested them but most of the seeds are still green so I’m not sure what luck I’ll have. I’m leaving the plants until they die back as interest in the garden. OK, honestly, I forgot to go back in with the other clippers to cut them down. I didn’t carry anything back to the compost pile. I tried this a bit last year and am doing it more extensively this year: leaving the pulled up plants on the beds. They will provide some cover for the dirt to keep it from drying out as much and they will start to decompose. I will either use them as mulch come spring or take what’s left back to the compost then. It means less hauling in both directions.

Today should be in the upper 60s (hello????), so we’ll be out in the garden after work putting in some edging. If I have time, I’ll spread the rest of the straw and get to the Job’s Tears. I’m leaving the zinnias and sunflowers until the birds appear done. Maybe all winter….

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October 27th, 2008 - Hi Roger!

Oh, wow, someone from my past just commented! Hi, Roger! It seems vaguely familiar that maybe we were in touch a few years ago (or more?) so I’m not utterly surprised, but still surprised. What’s up?

He wondered what ground cherries are. Too bad he didn’t ask back when we both lived in Madison, as we grew them there, too. Trade Winds Fruit has a picture and short description. I can’t figure out how to describe their taste. It’s nothing at all like a cherry nor a tomato (to which it’s related). It looks like a tomatillo with the papery husk, but is the size of a cherry tomato. Despite what TWF says, I wouldn’t use them like tomatoes. They are a sweet fruit. Maggie and I just eat them straight up. When I was a kid, Mom (and Grandma Frost) made ground cherry pie that was fabulous. Maybe next summer when we have more, Maggie won’t eat them all up before I can bake a pie. The Frosts used to also buy them (gc pies) from the Amish.

My plants are from seeds Mom gave me from her plants that originally came from seeds from her father, my Grandpa Frost. I think that’s oh so cool–my OWN heirloom seeds!

Oooh–that last link to the pie article includes info that I may be able to store them to ripen later. Need to move the ones I rescued last week from above the fridge to downstairs. (By the way, my tomatoes are ripening nicely and slowly downstairs. I remembered to check this morning. Now to remember each week until they are gone….)

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October 21st, 2008 - It’s been a long, long time

Sorry for the quiet. Feels like not much is happening on the simplicity front, but here are a few updates anyway:

Still biking to work, despite highs in the low 50s (meaning probably in the 30s or 40s when I ride at 6:40am). I’m just hoping for no rain since I don’t want to bike in that, especially at these temps. I started wearing my long johns, sock liners, and winter coat last week. I’m hoping to bike through the end of the week, which will have added an extra month to my normal biking season. Then, if I can get started in April next year, that will be an extra 2 months!

Still haven’t had frost advisories, except for the one a few weeks ago. However, there was definitely frost on the ground and the cars this morning. A bit nervous about my tomatoes and peppers now. Will bring them in today after work, instead of making soup stock. This probably means no more ground cherries–there are tons on the plants but I don’t think they ripen well indoors. But may try anyway–can’t hurt and maybe they’ll ripen just like tomatoes do.

It’s going slowly but surely on the weight loss front. I’m down below 145, but wasn’t feeling a strong urge to get a massage so I bought a 6-qt pressure cooker instead. Made soup in it last night–took longer than I expected, however so we ate late. LOL because pressure cookers are supposed to reduce the time to cook! It did, I just estimated much less time than necessary for preparing the food and for depressurizing. Next time, I’ll add 15 minutes for prep and I’ll quick-release (running cold water over the cooker) so that we can eat in about 45 minutes start to finish instead of 90 minutes. This definitely means we can have soup for supper (assuming I find some good recipes–I just don’t have much luck with seasoning soup) without me having to set it up before leaving for work in the morning. (I know, Eric could set up the crockpot during the day, but there are two problems. 1. Have to remember to start it at the right time. 2. The end time is so variable that we seem to always end up with it done too early or too late. Oh, and we have a really big crockpot and I always make too much soup then someone doesn’t like it. The pressure cooker is smaller!) Did I mention before my new goal is 135#?

I used the pressure canner for the first time on Sunday, canning 6 qts crushed tomatoes. The only problem is that you have to let it slowly depressurize, so I wouldn’t want to can more than one batch in a day as the process can take about 2 hours total (heating the jars, boiling the water, coming up to pressure, canning, depressurizing). But you can fit two stacks of jars in there, so I can can 14 qts at a time, even more pints. I’m hoping to find a good soup recipe to can this winter. May also can some of our beans for quick and easy use.

On Saturday, I made roasted red pepper spread for the first time. Took far longer than expected to roast the veggies in the toaster oven (about 45min instead of the 15 in the recipe). Came out quite yummy and I will definitely make it again. It’s a canning recipe, so next summer I can buy a whole bunch of peppers and make a large batch. Oh, you also need plum tomatoes, so maybe I’ll have to plant more of those, too. (I have some this year, but they are really small, just a bit larger than decent sized cherry tomatoes, so a hassle to work with on a large scale.) Twice, Maggie and I had grilled RRP and cheese sandwiches over the weekend.

Speaking of which, we also bought a cast iron skillet. We’ve both longed for one for ages, but had been told over and over they shouldn’t be used on glass top stoves (except the ceramic coated ones, which are lame as the entire surface is coated, including inside. What’s the point of a cast iron skillet if you don’t get the cast iron to cook on?). The last time I was at Fleet Farm, I saw a sign on their Lodge display that the company says you can use them on these stoves, with care (don’t drag and don’t drop, unlike on a computer). I used it three times in two days, also making fried rice (which didn’t work so well, as much of the egg stuck to the bottom, but it came off easily after soaking). Maggie almost burned herself, as she has been allowed to hold pot handles when we cook together. I didn’t think of telling her not to touch this one. Luckily, it was just warm when she did so. I totally understand the little “handle mitts” they sell right next to the skillets; I almost forgot to pull out the hot pad when cooking as well.

My biggest problem these days is that there aren’t enough meals in the day. There are all these good things I’m COOKING. FROM SCRATCH. WITH FRESH VEGGIES (and beans and rice). The fridge is crowded with leftovers and veggies, and there’s just not enough time to eat it all. Tonight I also need to get the broccoli and cauliflower (from the final farmer’s market of the year last Saturday) into the freezer. Maybe tomorrow–as long as it’s not raining, I’m taking the day off and we’re going up to the apple orchard.

Hmmm…I could have made at least seven posts over the last week if only I’d done updates daily instead of waiting. Sorry about that and I’ll try to do better.

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October 6th, 2008 - Growing garlic

Torina asked: Please do tell how you plant garlic! I have always wanted to do this and you may just inspire me to follow through with it :)

Garlic is one of the EASIEST things to grow. I never knew until a few years ago. I don’t know why my family didn’t grow it when I was a kid. But my parents didn’t know how easy it was until I grew it, either.

Buy a bulb of garlic, preferably a good, heirloom variety, but even the stuff from the store should work (though it might not produce all that well). I recommend the local farmer’s market at this time of year. Places like Seed Savers Exchange are already sold out although other companies might still have them.
Break it apart into cloves.
Find an area of the garden/yard that won’t be disturbed through next July. IE, don’t plant it where you intend to have animals rooting (be it pigs or dogs).
Break up the soil if necessary and dig a hole for each clove about twice as deep as the clove.
Put each clove in with the pointy side up and the flat previously-connect side down.
Cover with mulch about 6″ deep. I used weeds and plants pulled up from the garden at the end of the season. You can also use straw/hay.
Wait until next July.

Honestly, that’s all there is to it! A few addition tips:

Plant right about now, or close to the autumnal equinox (we’re a bit late at this point, but as long as you haven’t had a bad frost, you’re okay).
When the scapes arrive, you can eat them (although I found mine hard and unflavorful); the scape is the twisty, usually round, leaf-like structure. You’ll know it when you see it as it doesn’t look like the rest of the garlic leaves. When the scape starts to bulb up to flower, remove the bulb so the garlic keeps growing underground.
When the leaves start to die back or when they are 2/3rds done (I’ve seen both rec’s), dig your garlic. Every clove will have turned into a bulb. Unless you have really soft soil, dig them out. If you pull, the bulb will stay in the ground.
When you harvest, set aside a couple of the best bulbs to replant. I recommend planting more than you think you’ll want since you never know how the next year’s garden will turn out. You can always give it away (or compost it) if you have too much.

Torina: If you don’t have a place near you where you can buy some garlic, send me your address (annmarie at new dot rr dot com) and I will mail you a bulb of garlic to plant!

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October 4th, 2008 - Getting colder

Fall is here and I’ve started dismantling the garden. Last night, we had to cover up the tomatoes, peppers, and ground cherries for a threat of frost. If we got some, it was very, very light. Our CSA farm got a hard frost however so there will be no more tomatoes, peppers, etc.

Maggie and I picked all the herbs–thyme, mint, sage, and rosemary. They are all hanging to dry in paper bags. Today, I brought in some cilantro (um, not cilantro, the seeds from it whose name I can’t recall right now).

Today we–I mean Eric dug up the potatoes and carrots. I just rubbed the dirt off. I collected dry(ing) beans and put them in the garage where the onions used to be to finish off. It’s been so damp lately, I don’t think they can completely dry on the vines, but some were crunchy to my surprise. The weather’s to be warmer (down to the 40s at night) for the next 5 days at least, so I hope the rest of the beans hurry up and dry as well.

I also saved some wildflower and sunflower seeds for next year. Plan to remove the wildflower gardens. I have some wildflower mix I bought last year to use, but it will also be fun to toss in the seeds that have already been growing in my yard.

Tomorrow, I intend to plant garlic.

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August 27th, 2008 - Canning morning

Yesterday, I took some time off work to do some canning. Excited, I had plans for two separate recipes–next time, I think I should go ahead and break it up into separate times even though it did mean less heating of the water. It is hard to keep track of two different processes and I ended up forgetting the salt (AGAIN! I highlighted in the recipe because I did the same thing last year, too, and added it late. This time, I’d already filled most of the jars. Luckily, it’s optional.).

I made dill beans, following Mom’s recipe, which came from her Mom and aunt. I loved these as a child and haven’t had anything like them since we moved from SD. I should have called and asked about the red pepper. I just used cayenne powder, which was NOT the right thing so these might be a bit hot. On the other hand, the pepper is really old so might not be very potent. I called Mom in the evening to ask about it and they use broken up dried red peppers from the garden. I’ll have..wait a sec–I already have some left over from last year! I only made 3 pints (1.5# of beans) and one one pint broke in the canner. The bottom just completely sheared off. That means I lost 33% of what I’d made. (I did not try to salvage it given the extent of the breakage.) In addition, I had a few beans left over, as well as some of the brine, so I pouted them into a jar and put it in the fridge. Mom says to try them in 3-5 days to see what I think. I’m particularly wondering about the red pepper before I make another batch. It’s definitely worth buying more beans this weekend to make another, larger batch. I originally had the idea to make these a few weeks ago when I got beans from the farmer. Sadly, I put it off too long and the beans went bad before I made the pickles. So now I have to buy beans, but they have them for $1.5-$2 at the farmer’s market. Far cheaper than the $6/jar I saw at the store! (And not nearly as tasty, either.)

Meanwhile, I also made tomato juice cocktail. Had to run out to the store Monday night for celery, but the rest of the ingredients (onion, carrot, pepper) came from the farmer. Had parsley in the cabinet. I made this last year but froze it. I think I’m much more likely to drink it canned as A) I don’t have to wait for it to defrost before drinking and B) it’s in a jar which is so much easier to shake up than the freezer boxes. The juice separates quite a bit so has to be shaken before drinking–sometimes even while drinking. Maggie likes it, too. We picked 14# of tomatoes Sunday night so I had to do something with them–and this is a pretty easy recipe as well as yummy. I tried all sorts of different recipes last summer; most of them turned out watery and were only good for adding to soup. This one was spot on. Say, I should ask Mom for her tomato juice recipe. Or did we only get it from the store once in a while? No, I’m pretty sure what I remember came from canning. I’ll have to see–that’s where I fell in love with tomato juice after all! (We drank a 4 oz glass of juice with almost every single breakfast. Mom and Dad still do. I always forget to have it, even when I have juice in the fridge, since I don’t buy oj on a regular basis. So when I do, or when I bring out my tomato juice, it gets neglected. But it is such a good habit!)

A half day ta work was quite nice. Wish I could work just half time all the time! Will probably do this again in a week or two when the next batch of tomatoes ripens and it’s not Saturday or Sunday.

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August 22nd, 2008 - Homemade salsa

Last week, we got a bunch of tomatillos from our farmers. I’ve never eating a tomatillo before but had a vague notion they could be used in salsa. So I hauled out the salsa cookbook. The few recipes that included it didn’t work very well for me. One was cooked. One had you roast the tomatillos. One had ingredients I didn’t have. I also looked online. Similar results.

But I was inspired. I didn’t have to follow a recipe! Salsa primarily has tomatoes, onions, and hot peppers, with a variety of other things such as green peppers, tomatillos, salt, garlic, vinegar, cilantro, etc., in varying quantities. So I improvised. I chopped up a large tomato from the garden. About half the tomatilloes (just in case it didn’t work, I could try them in something else!). An onion. 3 cloves of garlic (wasn’t enough). A poblano pepper (it was too much). Some cilantro (started to pick the measly little plant that grew out front, then remembered I had some nice cilantro in the fridge. The problem out front is that I didn’t realize it was cilantro and pulled most of it out as weeds. Ooops.) Tossed in some salt and some lemon juice (since many called for lime juice and we don’t have that on hand). After tasting it, I added another tomato in.

My biggest mistake: I didn’t seed the tomatoes so the salsa is very watery. And I put in too much onion for my taste. It tasted better today for lunch. The heat had softened a bit. Last night, barely 30 minutes after making it, we got a lot of extra-hot (to me!) bites. Maggie stopped eating it entirely after one of them. I hope she’ll try it again tonight. She actually loves Daddy’s super hot salsas, and this is probably medium. (I prefer mild salsa!)

I put some Cherokee Trail of Tears beans in soaking water today and will cook them tonight. Then I can make a black bean and corn salsa! I always remember the one from our wedding–not the taste exactly but that I adored it. I think I’ll need lime juice for it, however.

Side note: my tomatoes are finally ripening. In fact, they’ve been ripening. :( I forgot that I had pineapple ones, and they are a pale yellow. Those were ripe, to my despair, because I lost two as I never even checked to see if they were ripe before! I did get one for the salsa and another on my counter. The red ones aren’t ripening yet, however. I finally just took two off even though they didn’t come easily just s I could make the salsa. We’ve been using some small black plum tomatoes for our sandwiches, which work, but I’ve been looking forward to one slice tomato per slice of bread–and the plum tomatoes it takes more like 1.5 entire tomatoes to cover a slice of bread!

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August 7th, 2008 - Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers

And AnnMarie picked one purple pepper! How could I forget it in the list of what’s in my salad yesterday (and today, minus the tomato). First pepper, but there are at least three more purple ones and little greens ones on the other plants.

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August 6th, 2008 - Tomatoes!

Yesterday after dinner (eaten outside due to great weather after a hot and humid day), Maggie and I checked the garden for raspberries. We only found two–one itty bitty one and one big enough to share. Walking back through the garden, Maggie didn’t want to go out, so I pulled a few more weeds. Then, I discovered what I’ve been waiting all year for: two ripe tomatoes! They were black plums, so only 4 bites each. Maggie and I shared one and the other went into my salad this morning.

Speaking of which, is it still a lettuce salad where there are more other veggies than lettuce? Today’s contains: greens, basil, dill, summer squash, carrot, tomato, broccoli, cauliflower, onion, peas, green bean, Dragon’s Tongue bean, and flowers (3 kinds).

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August 4th, 2008 - Garden harvest

Last weekend, I harvested the onions. I’m not sure how many I have this year. I didn’t buy a bag of 100, and never counted them! I planted about 15-20 as green onions (some of which are still growing!). I’m figuring around 80; maybe I should count them now.

Yesterday, we harvested the garlic. Eric loosened the row with the pitchfork–thank goodness he did it. It’s been very dry (despite watering Saturday morning) and the dirt mainly came up in huge chunks. (And then it poured last night. And thundered and lighteninged for hours in the middle of the night.) I again have way too much garlic. Two years ago, I tossed some very old garlic “seeds” (the bits that come from the flower at the top, they aren’t really seeds but will grow garlic) at the end of the garlic row. (They came from Gramma Paulukonis, who died in 1995. So they were over 10 years old.) Last year, they grew a little bit, forming one small clove each. I didn’t do anything at the end of the summer, and they continued to grow this year. They are still fairly small, but had multiple small cloves. I can’t believe something that old still grew!

I will dry it for a week or so (in the garage) and then bring some of them in to work to give away. I ended up throwing out probably half of last year’s garlic when it wasted away this spring. I will also try drying some to make garlic powder. We don’t actually use much garlic powder, but it will be interesting to try.

I dried some shallots and onions this weekend. Put the dehydrator in the back of the garage due to the smell. We left the car in the driveway, too! The first day it was pretty strong, but the second day was barely noticeable. I’m guessing the garlic will be worse, as the shallots aren’t terribly strong-smelling. These were all from the farmer. I’ve been using shallots in my dressing/dip, but it takes me a while to use the dip up so I got backed up quite a few shallots. I chopped them up for drying. Dried, they made up less than 1 cup! The onions came Saturday. I knew I wouldn’t use them any time soon, plus if drying didn’t work out, I wouldn’t be bothered if I lost a few I hadn’t planned on anyway. It was suggested to try them sliced, but I don’t think it worked too well. They took a lot longer to dry than the chopped ones. And the only thing I use sliced onions for is onion soup (which admittedly, I’ve made just once, this past winter. But we liked it and plan to make it again.) So I may as well chop them next time–we throw dried onion from the store into things all the time anyway. In fact, I use it more often than fresh onions because we usually use so little onion at one time it’s easier. I should probably dry a lot more onions. I put the thermostat all the way down to 95 (if I have the time, dehydrating is healthier if you don’t attempt to cook the foods with heat!) and it took maybe 20 hours total. I had only two sheets of each kind (the chopped ones on solid sheets). I think I took the chopped ones out after 15 or so hours. The slices might have done well with more time; I figure I’ll toss them back in when I do the next batch.

I also chopped and froze green onions. This will probably work quite well…except that my freezer smells oniony. :( I don’t’ know if it’s just from the freezing time (I put them on a cookie sheet) or the bagged ones as well. I’ll have to check in a couple days and either double-bag the onions and/or put some baking soda in there.

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July 30th, 2008 - First raspberries–from my own garden!

Last night, Maggie and I checked out the garden. We’d rushed outside hoping to catch sight of the jets flying overhead, but we missed them. So we went to the garden instead. Poking around here and there, Maggie snacked on a bean while I checked a few plants and pulled a few weeds.

Then I saw them. Huge. Red. Globular. In the vicinity of…my raspberries? YES! There were two ripe raspberries out front. We dashed through the front gate and checked them out. They were about an inch long; one was actually two grown together. We split them both. Oh they tasted so good. Fresh, warm, uncrushed. And there are more to come! (I don’t remember what variety I planted out front; I’ll have to check my garden book at home.) I cannot wait for the rest of them this summer–and so many more next summer!

Maggie also ate chives, rue, and basil before we went inside for bed. And expressed interest in garlic and onions, but the ground was dry so I couldn’t pull any up. (And in all sorts of other plants that are either inedible or not yet ripe such as the lilies, lamb’s ear, tomatoes, zinnias, and ground cherries.)

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July 1st, 2008 - Is this any different than a lawn service?

Eric sent me a short story about a new company in San Francisco that will maintain an organic garden in your yard. It makes it sound unique, but it sounds a lot like having a gardener or lawn service, except that it’s organic. The one difference is that you can have them grow more than you’d eat and you become part of a CSA (except you still have to pay for the CSA, albeit at a discount). The big picture is a distributed urban organic farm.

I’m a bit ambivalent…until I remembered that I’d love someone to help in my garden. I’m quite afraid that my sciatica will prevent me from doing as much as I’d like. Or I just spend my summers in pain, which isn’t much fun (like this summer and last). I ADORE having a garden right outside my door. I wonder what it would cost to have someone else do most of the work…. and would I love it as much?

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May 22nd, 2008 - Mutant tulip

As long as I was bringing photos, I thought I’d share a few of the yard. First up, one of my apple trees bloomed!
apple flowers

They are only on their second summer in my yard and far too small to support apples, so after snapping the picture, I removed them. So sad…but this bodes well for next year or the year after that!

Next, I have a mutant tulip. It’s the one on the right. The one on the left looks normal.

And it’s conjoined to the one on the left. Notice that it’s stem is twice as big as any other tulip stem, even before the join.

For another comparison, here’s a normal version of this tulip. Notice that it is a variety that looks different from a regular tulip already.
normal tulip

Anyone know how to make words go where I want with the images–above each one rather than wrapping around them? Now I now why this happens to other blogs I read. I can’t get the text to appear below each image. I tried lots of breaks and paragraphs but it did nothing at all. The text just appears next to the previous image any which way I try it. I found directions to use the class = “centered” code, but that didn’t do anything.

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May 10th, 2008 - Garden update May 10

Been doing a bit of work in the garden since returning from vacation. I have a problem, however: I can only work for about 30 minutes or sciatica kicks in. Today, I worked for 90 minutes then 30 minutes later. I hope I’m ok tomorrow. :( I did try to keep things easy. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

At the beginning of the week, I planted strawberries–Alexandria alpine and Italian alpine from One Green World. Wish I’d found them last year–I only found seeds and I didn’t have any of them germinate. The s’berries are listed “bundle of 5″ so I was picturing an actual bundle so figured they were just roots. Nope–I got 10 live plants in the mail! They seem to be doing well, especially the Alexandria ones–they were packed a bit better and were in great shape when they arrived as well. Except that animals, probably squirrels, are intrigues by the compost I mixed in and keep digging holes around them. So far, they haven’t dug up the s’berries, but…. Maggie helped me, which is ironic since she can’t eat them. Speaking of which–some of the Italians had berries on them already. I had to trim them and all the flowers off (oops, I’ve forgotten to look for more) so I ate the ones that were large enough to taste. The largest one, although still yellow, was sweet! I may be able to eat some later in the summer.
Compost. This has taken me a lot of time. The compost bin isn’t fully composted, so I can’t just dig it out and put it in the garden. I have to put the large pieces back in the other bin. Before Friday, I just used a pitchfork which wasn’t all that useful. Yesterday, I used a rake as a sifter. That worked better but was quite awkward. (I sift into a bucket.) Today, I found a wire tray at a garage sale. (I also picked up a plastic strainer, and then remembered a big one I had downstairs. Neither was very effective.) It’s perfect! Well, at least a lot better than my other options. So I sifted 3 2/3-bushel baskets of compost today and took them to the garden. It’s neat to see the decay and to get to the good stuff at the bottom of the pile!
Planted: greens, carrots, onion sets, and zinnias. Got the onions at the downtown hardware store. At Menard’s, they come in packages of 100 for $1 or more. At Kitz & Pfeil, it’s a bin and it’s $1/#. I got 33 cents worth and it was more than enough for two rows. I used the extras (probably another row’s worth) for green onions. I hope these all grow better than last year’s did. Most of them got little bigger than the sets. I was told that they need more water–they weren’t in the garden so never got watered and we had a bit of a drought.
Ordered tomatoes, peppers, and basil from Foxglove via the Red Radish. They’ll come in on Friday. Which means I need to prep 2.5 beds (1.5 for tomatoes, .5 each for peppers and basil) by Friday. I hope it doesn’t rain. I also need to plant my beans I think.

Given my sciatica issues, coming after a winter of working on my lower back and weight lifting (personal training at work), I’m getting more worried about my ability to keep up with a garden this size. I don’t have a problem weeding or harvesting (mostly). But digging the beds, sifting and carrying compost…it’s tough for me. So I’m going to look at more fruits and perennials. Starting with raspberries. Instead of putting them in the back, I’m going to turn over at least two beds to them–just one for now. And maybe alongside the house as well, since the watermelons don’t appear to have germinated. Out back, we’ll put blueberries instead–that works better since they need acidic soil so hard to do in the garden. So I also have to prep for raspberries this week; they should have been planted a month ago.

This also makes sense cost-wise. Raspberries are $4/pint at the farmer’s market! Carrots are $1/bunch. I’ll probably still plant carrots anyway…. And I signed up for a 1/2 share in a CSA this year. They mostly do veggies. And if that seems to work out, I can do a lot more fruits in the garden and still be happy. That and greens. I love fresh salads from the garden. And flowers.

Now I need to go stretch out before bed. I’m sore!

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April 11th, 2008 - Quick garden update

I don’t have to worry about moisture for my newly planted seeds as it’s been raining and SNOWING this week. Not like in MN, northern WI, and SD, but a few dustings along with sleet and freezing rain. So much for spring. I just hope it doesn’t get too wet while we are gone. Luckily, one morning I pruned the apple trees before work–good thing as it’s been raining every since (at least during non-work hours).

Erin at Prairie Roots has up a beautiful poem “Mulch” by Linda Hasselstrom. I haven’t mulched photographs (didn’t think it was good for the soil since you can’t recycle them either) or love letters (don’t have any to get rid of), but I have composted old flowers such as from my grandfather’s funeral.

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April 7th, 2008 - First plantings

It took me nearly TWO hours yesterday to plant greens, carrots, rutabagas, peas, and watermelon. I do not know why it took so long. It didn’t feel like that much time so I was surprised when I went inside. No more planting till I come home. But there’s plenty of other yard work.

I need to prune the apple trees. I thought I was being good last year by not touching them. At the end of the season I re-read the pruning materials, wondering if I was to do something in the fall. I should have pruned them right after planting! Ack. So now I’ve lost a year. And I’m scared to chop them off because I might ruin them. I had to remind myself that the worst that could happen is that I kill a tree–and they only cost about $20 so that’s okay.

When Maggie and I got back from our walk, I went straight for my pruning guide and hand held cutter. I started on the shortest one–the one I was least afraid of ruining. My cutter is in bad shape and I may have injured the tree. So I stopped and am sending Eric to replace it this morning. I have to finish this before we leave.

I’m probably not going to do raspberries. I just don’t have the time and in 4 weeks it might just cause me to have bad berries. (You should plant them in really early spring.) And the area still needs to be prepared. So instead, I’ll prepare the area at the end of the summer. ::Sigh:: I was really looking forward to berries this year. Well, at least I’ll get the strawberries in. (Assuming they aren’t mailed while we’re gone and die.)

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April 6th, 2008 - Spring is HERE!

It’s been tough reading blogs of folks farther south as Spring has been around for a while. I can finally say it’s come to Oshkosh. Robins appeared about a week ago and the snow is almost all melted. (Yes, almost, there are still pockets on northern sides and where tons of snow was piled up.) My bulb garden is popping out and two flowers appeared yesterday. I worked in the yard and garden yesterday afternoon. It was too windy to do the raking I wanted to do, so instead I neatened a few beds. In the garden, next to the house, I got rid of a section of plastic covering that allows me to plant another bed–I’m going to put the watermelons there so they have room to spread out for once.

This afternoon, I plan to plant my first seeds–greens, carrots, peas, and rutabagas. I’m actually a bit late on some of them! I will have my work cut out for me when we return from vacation. It’s prime time for working on the garden and I’ll be missing it for two whole weeks! (My brother’s wedding–we’re going to go to the Johnsons’ in NJ, then the wedding in MA, then the Paulukonises’ in PA.) I’m not going to stress out about planting a lot before I leave, however. Most of the rest shouldn’t be planted until all chance of frost is gone, which isn’t until May 10. But there’s plenty of cleanup to do in the yard. Oh well! I’ll do a bit some days this week if it’s nice after work. And the rest will just have to wait. (Like the raspberries!)

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November 27th, 2007 - Oh these carrots are yummy!

Yesterday after work, I finally dug the carrots and rutabagas. I was a bit nervous because of the snow and freezing temps we’ve been having. The snow turned out to be an advantage–it’s melted making the ground nice and soft to work with! It’s wasn’t trouble at all and I easily did it by myself.

I gave the three largest rutabagas to my neighbors and kept two little ones to eat.

And the carrots? They are oh so sweet! These are delicious! I think I might leave carrots till the end of November on purpose next year!

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November 23rd, 2007 - Weather and food

It snowed!!!! It snowed enough Wednesday evening/night that it’s still on the ground this morning (Friday). That’s atypical for first snows. Actually, it snowed on Tuesday, but it didn’t stick.

The only problem is that since it’s still be relatively “nice” for November, I planned to dig out the rutabagas and carrots yesterday. Seemed like a perfect chore for Thanksgiving Day! I’m going to recruit Eric to do it tomorrow instead as I suspect the ground will be too hard for me. I hope the rutabagas are ruined, but I wasn’t going to eat them anyway. I’m going to give them to my neighbor who loves them. It was nice to have a couple for soup stock, but I don’t think I’ll make any more stock. Maybe I will–I’ll have carrots, onions, two squashes and rutabagas I suppose. And tomatoes. Hmmm…might have to do that Sunday!

All last week, I made coffeecakes for breakfasts. Unfortunately, Eric and I really like different ones. LOL I figured out a solution for two of them. He and Maggie can’t have nuts–so I put nuts on 1/3rd of it before the topping and I get nuts! He also didn’t like the nutmeg in one, so I can put that on my side with the topping as well! The only drawback to the coffeecakes is that they use 100% white flour. I’m not sure how they’ll do with whole wheat, but I’ll start trying that next. (Actually, I think I used 1/4 ww in one of them. I hope I noted it!) I guess I finally got bored with the bread machine fruit breads. I’ll still make them, however, as I have lots of dried zucchini to use up. The nice thing is that Eric eats them, and he doesn’t care for the fruit breads, except banana.

I’ve avoided bananas since summer. The 90% reduction made me think about how non-local they are. We still buy them for Maggie–they help keep her regular we think–but I haven’t eaten one on my own in ages. I sometimes eat part of hers when she doesn’t finish it. And I’ll make a banana bread tomorrow as one went too soft to eat. I’ve barely missed them since I have so many other local fruit to eat–peaches, blueberries, apples, pears.

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November 7th, 2007 - Sauerkraut update and CSA talk

Almost 2 months ago, I wrote of beginning my first attempt at sauerkraut. After watching it carefully every few days and removing the scum that appeared, it began to smell off and some bugs appeared. (The same bugs that appeared in the worm bins and around the litter box. No clue what they are.) So I thought it was done for and a few days later threw the mess out.

At the compost pile, I stuck something into the kraut to see what it was like, out of curiosity. I was disappointed to discover it looked and smell like what I expect kraut to be! Unfortunately, I hadn’t used a clean hand and there was no way I was going to keep it now. (Plus, those bugs.) But, it gave me hope for trying again next year.

In other vegetable news, I signed for a half share in a CSA* for next summer, Polasky’s Farm Market. (I believe it’s the same farmer from whom I bought the cabbage I used. Maybe not. I know I bought the red cabbage I used for drying from him.) My first choice would be the place we buy our meat, but they only have pickup every other week and up in Neenah. We don’t get up there all that much anymore since we’re reducing our driving, so I hesitated to get a CSA through them. At the last market of the season, Polasky’s had an info sheet out. The price is reasonable–$250 for 10 weeks (half share)–and delivery is right here at the Oshkosh market that I hit almost every Saturday anyway. *CSA = Community Supported Agriculture, pay upfront, get fresh produce during the season.

Now why would I want to get a CSA when I have a lovely garden? Because I still go to the market, as I said, and because I want to be challenged. I don’t usually buy quite a few things that would be good for us that I bet will be in our share. I want to expose Maggie to these. Yes, I could buy them and I’ve done that to some extent, individually. But I find that I rarely do so. But I’ve already paid for these veggies and don’t have to think about it each week. I think I can also rely on it for some staples, like green peppers, and plant the multicolored ones I really like to plant. I miss plain green ones, however! I also won’t be bothered as much, perhaps, when a crop fails in my garden, such as the onions and first two carrot plantings did.

I didn’t sign up for the poultry CSA as I think that would be too much chicken for us. And I’ve never tried theirs before. I plan to buy a couple next summer and see. Maybe we’ll get it the next summer, then.

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My Adventures in Simple Living

Archive for the 'Garden' Category

November 3rd, 2008 - The dying garden is full of life

October 27th, 2008 - Hi Roger!

October 21st, 2008 - It’s been a long, long time

October 6th, 2008 - Growing garlic

October 4th, 2008 - Getting colder

August 27th, 2008 - Canning morning

August 22nd, 2008 - Homemade salsa

August 7th, 2008 - Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers

August 6th, 2008 - Tomatoes!

August 4th, 2008 - Garden harvest

July 30th, 2008 - First raspberries–from my own garden!

July 1st, 2008 - Is this any different than a lawn service?

May 22nd, 2008 - Mutant tulip

May 10th, 2008 - Garden update May 10

April 11th, 2008 - Quick garden update

April 7th, 2008 - First plantings

April 6th, 2008 - Spring is HERE!

November 27th, 2007 - Oh these carrots are yummy!

November 23rd, 2007 - Weather and food

November 7th, 2007 - Sauerkraut update and CSA talk

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