What Urban Farmers Do in Winter: A Top Ten

Rubber made conversion into Worm Farm.

1. Twiddle our thumbs for seed catalogues (I call them seed porn).-- I heard Dianne got this year's Gurney's yesterday. Now, what shall I grow this year? I dreamed of seed saving, but there are just too many  juicy varieties to repeat.
2. Be in awe at the lettuce still straggling out under Indiana pseudo-winter. Mine is popping out of my pallet garden. Dianne's is in a window bed.
3. Craigslist for a new kitchen compost caddy that is cleanable, handled, air-filtered?, and 'pretty' for the red kitchen I have. Right now, we've lost our old one and have used various recycling containers, including the old pretzel stick container.
4. Discuss the problems of not eating local, but guiltily shovel in chocolate and even melons from ... Another meal interupted... Brrrriinnnnggg (Telephone noise)
5. Take a phone call from a Craigslister, secure a pound of redworms for a great price, negotiate a meeting space, google how to turn an extra one of my rubbermaid tubs into a composting bin for the basement steps and schlep down to the local resale shop for a plant stand and tub to go underneath. Fancy-pants composting caddy problem resolved. Voila. Did I mention I have to do a honey do for my honey as an in-kind trade for make my rub-a-dub-tub into a worm-eating home?
6. Feed the chickens and collect the eggs. Up the protein. It's winter and they are scroogy about egg laying.
7. Defrost the freezer if, as mine is, over-taken by ice. Good thing my deep freeze is in the unfinished basement where the water seeps down into the sump pump drain. Too bad I need to use a bunch of pesto tonight. My kids won't be crying though. Layla used up our bounty of Basil and we have enjoyed it in Soynoodle Pumpkin Soup, "Dad" Pizza and in Rustic Butter Bean Dip. See recipes in post, shortly after I return from the resale shop.
8. Come back to my computer and start checking out Garden's Alive for good fun ways to make my produce grow better this year. I heard spraying squash with fish poop water is great for getting rid of squash beetles while also fertilizing. 
9. Replace the bulbs in my seed starting lamp and begin some winter lettuce or herbs in doors.
10. Nibble the feathery rosemary and thyme that is struggling inside the warm heat of my home. Stay true, little herb. Stay true! 

Oh, yeah! Honorable mention to make your own detergents. Here's a video with tips on toilet cleaners, mirror polishers and more! http://video.about.com/housekeeping/Homemade-Bathroom-Cleaners.htm 

Almost a Dozen

that's what Tom brought in a cardboard carton
last dinnertime, on the eve of St. Nick's Feast
Only a couple a day in these long dark days
before Nativity, in the mid-fast, with so little meat in the mash
that the sleepy cold hens lazily squat and drop
half an egg a day on average
if that is possible, but this is winter and our first year
scrambling up this experiment of city chickens.

God-Haunted Northern Autumns

This is another confessional. I've been lurking in the shadows around this blog. My garden beds were unkempt and threatening to winter in a state of abandonment. I was suffering with the need to come clean. I started to feel God-haunted for not picking up my gardening toys. That's how every autumn feels. Maybe it's why I start to feel a seasonal affectation in October.

I have a love hate relationship with autumn these days. I love the crisp days that whiff of the summer cucumbers. I love the vivid blue sky against the variegated deciduous leaves. I love the smell of apples and the variety of them. I love the scent of hot spice, cider and wine that permeates my home when friends come to eat.

And I hate it. It means blow-hardy rainy mornings. I dread the coming days when I can't run. I hate the downpours that make my hair curl and soak my hairstyles. I'm depressed when it progresses to the moment that the earth makes the trees tremble and give up their last. It commits to the ground what longed to remain, the few black walnuts that won't fall, the last red maple leaves that are on fire.

I was running along the trail Saturday, shouting "Runner" with each of the four rifle reports that signaled the demise of deer somewhere. On either side of the path, the native bamboo was the only green. It contrasted its tall spindles against some variety of red bush leaf. It was a preview of Christmas color in sixty-three degree weather. The sky was perfect bright blue. The sun waxy yellow. What made Saturday so healthy wasn't just the invigorating run, one the last few I get to savor before the cold robs me of this joy. It was also that I was finally going fix the raised beds from this year's garden experiment, and the lead poison debacle.

If you've been reading, you may recall that our three front beds must be abandoned because the lead levels are 4000+ ppm, which is exorbentant compared to the 'high' 800 ppm that the testing agency warned against. It is criminal to continue feeding any person from them, in spite of the entirely new soil we laid this past spring. The lead may seep up into the newer soil. So, we planned to start over, moving our frames to the safe side of our driveway and wintering all the beds under a cover of horse pucky and straw. Saturday morning, Achaius Ranch manager, Nicole, heaped her trailer with doo and the remaining bales of straw from the Cornstock Music Fest. She drove into town and helped us sling it all, for 'free.' Of course, dinner, fresh plant starts in the spring and some workdays on the ranch will be great gratitude gifts.

We laid down cardboard, put on the frames, and threw straw and poo into them. Now we have five beds on the far side of our driveway, safely removed from the old house paint.  We still have one out back and two gardens in the pack. I loosened the soil from the abandoned bed mounds out front and began to wonder what to plant there next spring.

In the spring, we'll stock up the gardening beds with peat, vermiculite and more dirt. I'm planning on expanding the repertoire of veggies. I plan to try two rounds of peas and lettuce again. I will add Italian beans, some tender broccoli, sweet potatoes, basil, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, cukes, squash of all varieties and melons. I like the rutabaga and the endless spring arugula, oregano, thyme, and various odd fresh greens I found in planter form at our local international market. Most of the herbs made lovely deck plants in their huge containers.

I've moved the herbs indoors but the thyme doesn't like the low light caused by the home right by our window. Maybe I should plant it out front, I've wondered. Tonight, I've been researching which ground covers to put on the dirt that will remain over our front lawn. For the moment, my whimsy has me excited about creeping red thyme, corsican mint, more daylillies, hibiscus, and creeping rosemary. I want to avoid mowing, get a visual variety and put into only good-smelling herbs.I want creepy crawlies that won't climb up our foundation and behind siding, like the English Ivy we've been beating back. I want it to infest between the bricks of our red walk around the house.

Earlier this year, in a walkthrough of her gardens, Dianne suggested sweet woodruff. She mentioned that it's been harvested to ferment and brew. I would try that, which means I can't plant it out front. It's a question of what I will not eat. I ate heartily from my produce this year. If I plant edible, rather than just sweet smelling herbs, will I avoid the potential poisoning? Or will I be tempted to taste? This is a question of my self-restraint.

It's a good reflection for me on this last Sunday before we begin one of the major fasts of the Orthodox Christian calendar, the Nativity Fast. As I've slinked around this blog, I've pondered the Gospel reading from three or four weeks ago, the Parable of the Sower. My husband preached a good homily that week, about tending to the soil of spirits. It's amazing that the soil in my yard, and my literal avoidance of dealing with it, was so affective in my spirit. I felt that I was sinning because I secretly resigned myself to procrastinating in wintering those beds. I was going to do the thing I've always done. I've left the tomato cages to rust, the wheelbarrow and sling hoe to weather, the dead vines to rot in the winter wind and cold.

As of Saturday, the clearing out was the tending needed in preparation for the coming harvests. It's always like that. A job down well in the right time produces a better harvest, or at least, a more cheerful gardener.

Ending the year in the garden

So, on October 28, I wandered out into the garden to see what was left.   We have had some rain in the last few weeks, so the peppers perked up, and I was able to pick some nice-sized ones.  I don't usually have any pest problems with peppers, so all they got this year was some mulch, and some fertilizer.  The tomatoes are still green, so I blended some this week and put them into chili, no one is the wiser.  I kept a few out to let turn red, but I think they get mushy.    Look at these beauties.

 We believe in recycling here, so here is some sun energy recycling happening at our house.  If you looked behind the barn, you'd think we were getting ready for armageddon, about 4 big trees have become more useful in their death by keeping my family warm in the cold months. 

 We just had a big Chinese elm cut down in the front yard, and obviously, none too soon.  This is the first big chunk of trunk coming from the bottom.  This sucker was ready to fall.  I kept some hollowed out branch pieces to use for compostable flower pots next year. We had the tree guy cut the tree, mulch up the junky branches and twigs, and leave us the rest.  Bill cuts everything to useable size, and we all get to work on upper body strength hauling it to the wood pile. 

 THEN,  ta da!  The new burr oak has appeared.  That's one of my coerced yard workers, "College Boy" as I like to call him.  He and his friend, Big Ben, (7' tall) came and helped me drag this sucker out of the trailer and into the 30" deep , x 5 ft. wide hole that I dug in the front yard.   I hope it grows and gives us many years of shade, and keeps the squirrel population fed for many generations.

 This is one of my favorite shrubs in the front yard.  It's called Beauty Bush.  It sits there all summer, and you wait for something to happen, then about late summer, it flowers and then gets covered in all these beautiful purple berries. It's a native plant, so grows like crazy here.   I have it right along the sidewalk for the walkers' viewing pleasure.  I have cut back most of the perennials in the yard, and have been planning changes for next year. 

When the tree stump guy came to grind up the elm tree stump, he made a deal with me I couldn't refuse.  He will bring me truckloads of stump grindings and dump them in the back yard.  He saves cash not having to take it to the dump.  I get all the mulch I can use.  FREE,  folks.    See if you can make a deal like that with someone in your area.    I moved a truckload BY MYSELF the other day.  I got some biceps, baby!!

 A lot of people start planting bulbs about now, but we have a high squirrel population around here, and I generally don't bother with the bulbs.    They look too much like a big box of popcorn, extra butter to the animals here.

Oh, the dogs have been howling several nights this week.  We have discovered a raccoon the size of the Titanic has been trying to eat through our garage door to get to the dog food.  We may start using Robbie's airsoft gun to discourage him.  

I have more to talk about, but gotta run.

Think about how you can get your neighbor to rake his leaves and leave them close to your yard so you don't have to work so hard to get them to your compost heap.   

Dianne,   dirt and all.  

What's up with gardening?? pictures of my POT garden

HA!! made you look!!  pictures later on, my dirt digging friends---

After another year of gardening, I have to ask these questions--

WHY, oh, WHY do weeds thrive during droughts, and the planted stuff doesn't??

Why does that daggone groundhog know how to sort out the sweet potato leaves from the weed leaves?

Why do I plant green beans when I really am not a big fan of picking or processing them?

Why is it called manure when it's good for the garden and SHI- when it's on my shoes??

Why do people insist on letting their walked dogs wander around the edge of my garden and mess it up?  Geez, people, I left enough room between the garden edge and the freakin' sidewalk, keep your dogs outa my gardens. 

Why do I like invasive wildflowers that show really pretty, but start to take over like an angry crowd by the end of two years?  Culprits are cup plant, spiderwort, blackeyed Susans, daisies.

Here is the long awaited POT garden.   I interplanted lettuce in a geranium planter.  See how nicely that works?  See how anyone with a lick of sense and some soil can have a garden, no matter how small?   I have been eating from this!!

Here are some pictures from the end of the garden season..

sideways photo of tomatoes, they are still plugging along!!!

.flowers in pots---must be watered at least once a day.  so I keep them all together along the edge of the deck, they seem more lush that way.  there were some cucumbers and broccoli in these pots earlier.

Here's a great plant for long lasting, drought resistant blooms.  Hydrangea.  I have about 9 in my front yard/garden.   Tardiva, Annabelle, Pinky Winky are a few of the varieties.  Some blooms will start white, and age into a soft tan color, I have some on my desk from last year.  I have some planted under a water-sucking maple, so they may get droopy, but one quick drink of water, and they perk right up.  These are great dried flowers, I was told they may sell for as much as $9 a stem.  I like to use them in the flower vases at church because they stay fresh at least two weeks.   I have successfully grown nasty looking clearance, $5 hydrangeas into the beauties of my garden, it's all in how you treat them.   Lots of water at the beginning, feed them properly, and they will serve you well for many years.

If you see these late bloomers, some call them Autumn lilies, or August lilies, they are a type of hosta, a great family of hard-working garden plants.  I love that they start blooming with these trumpeting white flowers just when everything else is starting to fade.  Plant in the shade with some enriched soil and some mulch, and enjoy!  They are a bit yellowed and starting to fade because we've basically had no rain since the beginning of July.   I have several varieties of hosta, one variegated one I love is "strip tease."  ahem.........

If you have a perennial garden, now is the time to start cutting back iris, daisies, daylilies, flax, faded hostas, bee balm,  columbine, anything else that is looking tired or dried out.  If you have black-eyed susans, be sure to get those seedheads out of the garden.  I laid some dried seed heads alongside my house a couple years ago, and have had an abundance growing in a place I don't like to mow.  It is not a good place for shrubs because the ice melts and falls off our metal roof with big crashes. 

IF YOU HAVE SHRUBS or  perennials, you MUST water them deeply from now until frosts start up.  If they do not get a good supply of water to their roots now, in the fall, they may not make it to spring, especially in our droughty weather.   I put out a sprinkler in the early morning, or later in the evening, and let it run 1/2 hour in one spot and then move it around.  Be sure to water both sides of plants , or the roots will be dried out  on one side.  Many trees and shrubs have shown damage from the past few years of dry summer/fall weather we have had,  and need the water to keep them going this winter.  This is also a great time to start thinking about planting new trees, with shorter days, less heat, milder weather.  We are having a huge elm in the front yard taken out in October, and have already purchased a nice sized burr oak to replace it. 

If you must weed and feed your lawn, try to find newer fertilizers withOUT phosphates, phosphorus in them.   Remember when that was taken out of laundry detergents?  Why is it allowed into a product that is going to run-off into groundwater and streams? 

Also, before you forget, make some notes on what you want to do differently, the same, or record your garden plantings, so you can crop rotate next year.  This cuts down on disease, and doesn't wear out your soil so quickly. 

And this is the best time of year to start that compost heap!  drive around and find people who are bagging their leaves and offer to take them off their hands... they're happy, and you didn't have to work so danged hard.

have a great week, my gardening buddies, and Stan, who lurks here, but probably never gets his hands dirty.

Dianne, who has probably one more weekly mowing left in her. 

10 Tips for a Zero-Waste Household by Bea Johnson — YES! Magazine

Bad news today.
And, it just sank into my noggin.

Last spring I read that Purdue University would test my soil in their earth science department. Liam and I dug up, labeled, and shipped off three large samples from the front, side and back of our 1874 Victorian. I forgot about it until today.

The Center for Urban Health at IUPUI was sponsoring a study for urban homes and a colleague at work had recommended I do this. I blew it off, a bit, and if I recall correctly, we'd already begun chipping the old paint from our porch off. Today, when those results came in, our lead ppms were above 4700, and the highest levels for alert action were 400-600ppms. OMG comes to mind. The letter explaining our lead results says that if we [had] 400-600ppms of lead, we should
1. build raised beds and don't grow root or green leafy veggies in them unless we wash thoroughly. We have put three of our raised beds out front. This maximizes sunlight and reduces grass mowing. I hate grass for the record. I'm looking for something that doesn't suck water and require fossil fuels to control. Besides, I'd researched the effect of old walnuts on soil and suspect that falling walnuts or leeching into the raised beds in the back might ruin veggie crops. So we put our fortunes out front. Wrong move.

Worse yet, I'm retracing my steps. My daughter was out there for hours chipping paint. Did we chip that paint into the soil before or after the test? I didn't make her wear a mask! Should she be tested for lead poisoning? I think so. Who cares that I will have to call 80 dollars worth of shipped in soil a wash and move those dang beds next spring. I'm really worried my daughter was damaged.

In the meantime, I guess we can eat from the maters we planted out front, if we're washing them thoroughly.

In all, this was an interesting year for bringing our home back to basics. We've gone from piles of trash weekly to almost complete recycling. We compost or feed the hens all our food scraps. Almost all plastics, papers, styrofoams, metals and glass are collected in every trash can of our house and hauled to the local recycling center. That feels good. So here's some tips for you. Test your soil. Take that seriously if you live in an urban area. Then read this awesome article and more from YES! Magazine.


10 Tips for a Zero-Waste Household by Bea Johnson — YES! Magazine

Now, I will go pine for a subscription to this piece and wonder if I can justify the extra three bucks for the Wendell Berry poster the site is hawking. Love me some Wendell Berry.

Night night all.

Past the Peas

Yesterday, I got the questions.
How did your garden do this year?

My answer? And I promise this was not just because the person asking was selling the last of the garden yummies planted by my CSA maestro of last season. My answer is, "I miss my CSA." Not so good is the answer.

I love this gardening thing, but true to form, I've lost the momentum a bit. Don't get me wrong, we're still producing tomatoes and cukes as fast as we can pluck them. The basil has been like arugula and we have so much PESTO!  It's fabulous.

Yet the patty pan, zucchini, melons, pumpkins and butternut never actualized. I plucked two small spaghetti squash, three white melons, six or seven patty pans and one butternut squash. That is all, folks.

It's time to reflect upon what worked, which is what I've been dodging. Like listening to "You Bet Your Garden" with Mike McGrath. Like weeding in 100 degree heat. Like replanting for a fall rotation. I pulled out the pea seeds I bought two weeks ago to plant this weekend. "Plant two months before the first frost" read the directions on packets promising a fast production.

TOOOO LAAATE.

So, for this first year and first reflection, here's what worked:

1. Window boxes of Arugula work. Move indoors at the first sign of heat and kick any large Garfield colored long-haired monstrous cats who sit on and poop in said boxes. I'm not kidding about the cat. Kick it. I like arugula more. It doesn't try to rub affection out of me when I'm not feeling affectionate. And I can eat it. Even if I ate meat, society frowns on stewing up cats.
2. Add a lot more manure and dirt to my boxes. The front ones are not attractive but prolific. They had the most dirt. I started this yesterday. after volunteering at Achaius Ranch. I threw two large 20 gallon buckets of green fresh horse manure into my ghetto sled (a dottering old Toyota Sienna). Then, I drove 2-60 down the roads to keep the tiny flies from biting us and to push that smell out the window vents in the back. At home, forty gallons of manure only surfaced the one 5'x5' box out back.  It needs several more cubic yards. That one was my squash box. I got the six patty pans from it.
3. Re-arrange where I plant what. Cukes were great next to the fence row. They climbed my pallets and fences. I will mix in lots more of the cherry tomatoes for snacking. I will create much better tomato cages and let the cukes and maters compliment each other. Summer squash will stay out front, with basil, climbing spinach, peas, beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrots and rutabagas. These are prettier and I can show them off. I will put some climbing winter squashes alongside the house, maybe. Out back? Some maters, some taters, and lettuce. I want be more conscious of how the seasons can compliment the growing. 
4. Stop being a summer only gardener. I did start seeds early, but only for summer plants. I didn't put out broccoli or other items like that this year. I was jealous at the success of Dianne's--her shared tastes whet my appetite without the the havoc that grocered items produce. This year, I need to learn more about rotation. I need start really cold plants in January and have 'em ready for those boxes. I need two rounds of peas and beans. 
5. Find out why my sweet potatoes didn't grow, and where to get good starts. That's my plan.
6. Rinse and repeat on all herbs. That worked very well! Pallet gardens were good for herbs, edible flowers and lettuce, until the summer heat. It didn't help that I was gone four long weeks of the irascible Indiana heat. It's hard to teach the kind friends how to water. So much for early morning, drip and deep watering. These are better than throwing beats of water all over the leaves of plants in mid-morning, which is either like a magnifying glass to burn leaves or a mere cloud, evaporating away without ever reaching the belly of the plant down there in the dirt.

Okay, this is like a gardener's journal. Here's my confession. I justified paying more for seed-savers heirloom species. My plan was to save and regrow. Considering this year's production, I think I need more work on basic. We'll get to the art of seedsaving after I learn plant rotation.

In other news- our hens have moved to Tom's a block or so away. They are producing shiny blue feathers mixed with their rustic red ones. Coxcombs are appearing. Poo is flying. I'm ready for eggs, brotherman!

More to come on next year's watering and vermiculture.

Will it just rain, already???

It has been very dry here in central Indiana this summer, since the beginning of July.  Oh, sure, I griped about too much in May and June when we cut the grass twice a week.  I mowed Friday, it took me all of about 10 minutes, and that was just to knock off the tops of seeded grass and some hardy weeds.   I looked like a speed demon on the big Grasshopper ZTR (zero turn radius) mower.  When we first brought that sucker into town to mow our very big lot, the neighbors all came out to watch me, they all have postage stamp lots.   It was great having an audience until I killed it on a sneaky stump.  And looked ridiculous going to get Bill to help me get it started again.  So much for looking cool on a mower.

My tomatoes are starting to look pathetic, so I put out a "fan" sprinkler, you know the kind. I can't think of the real name.  I moved it around to hit all the parts of the garden.  The ground was still damp a day later, that hasn't happened for a while.   What little rain we have had just seems to soak back up into the atmosphere.  I have picked blackberries (we have determined they are NOT black raspberries) about a half cup at a time.  I cut back hard last year and must have cut back some canes that were needed this year.  They fruit on last year's new canes, so I have to be careful where I trim.  I should have a bumper crop next year,  I have lots of new canes this year. 

We put out the Hav-a-Heart cage for the danged groundhog, and he then decided that he could find better places to eat and left, haven't seen him since.  Bill believes that maybe he did get caught but the fall-down gate didn't latch all the way and he finally got himself out, and was probably spooked by it.  We did, however, catch an opossum.  One of my VA riders (I drive vets to the hospital in Indy) told me they are good eatin'.  Not sure I want to know.  There used to be an old lady at "Beautiful Bud's" hunting/fishing store here in town that would crockpot up some good eatin' and tell you what it was after you ate it.  She was famous for roadkill stew.  I'm sure she turned the stomach of many a tough, macho man hunter in Crawfordsville. 

Down in Parke County is the Rockville Produce Auction, run by a group of Amish businessmen,  a great place to pick up some produce at a very cheap price if you know what you are doing.  I set out yesterday early, got there, no one was there, didn't remember that they pick produce early on Mondays, not late on Sundays, so the auctions start at 1, not 9.    So called my friend who invited me when I got home and put in an order for canner tomatoes, she told me they were going for 25 cents a large box last week.  I have a message to go pick up some this morning from her.   Last year I canned about 100 jars of juice, soup mix, so we could still live on those, but if I can get them really cheaply, I'll make more.  Last year I bought half bushels of green, red, yellow peppers for about $6.  Gave some away, not sure Presbytera Maria REALLY appreciated me handing her a big box of peppers.....One year I bought 3-- 25 lb. bags of potatoes for $10, sold two before I got them off the pallet.  Sometimes people will hover and wait until someone else buys a large quantity and then they will sidle up to you and ask for a small quantity.  It's all part of the game of the auction.  The best auctions I have been to have been in Sept. when the chrysanthemums are going cheap and going in great quantities.  The buggies and wagons from the Amish farms show up early and arrange their mums by color, size, number all around the edge of the parking lot, it's a lovely sight.  You buy in batches of 25, 50, 75.  They go for anywhere from $1 each to $15 for HUGE pot mums.  Sounds great until you figure out the kids have to sit on top of the van to get the 25 mums in.  I had to laugh once when some ladies from Indy came out and bought about 100 and had to call someone to come with another truck to take them back. I think I got some beauties from them for $2/each.

I drove home on gravel roads and here are some of the sights..Have you ever seen so many huge punkins in one place before?? Their porch was full of larger-than -bushel-basket white pumpkins.

Then I drove down the road and had to share right-of-way with these ladies....

They are either female turkeys or guinea hens. I'm not sure. 

I wanted to show you something I "jury rigged" in my tomato patch.  I had planted cantaloupe alongside the toms, and they found their way up the climbing fence.  They may eventually fall off the vine because of their weight, so I found some old panty hose and rigged up a sling.

Here are some potatoes as they are being dug up.  I think this is one of the fun things to do at the end of the season, digging up "taters."   You will never eat anything fresher tasting than newly dug potatoes.  You have to wait until the vines are dying and falling over, you can even leave them in the ground and dig as you please until about frost time.  Just remember where you planted, because the dried vine can sometimes break off from the ground, and then you're not quite sure where the tubers are.  Boil up with some mint and peas,  yum....
The sweet potatoes won't be ready yet for maybe another month, so I just keep watering them, hoping something is growing down there.

Something else very special has appeared in my "Mommy garden."   I didn't even know I had planted it.   That's number 44,  the new kicker/punter on the JV football team, Robert Combs.   He plays JV soccer, and tried out for football kicker.  I'm not sure he even knows what football is all about besides getting the ball down the field.  He was getting fitted for his uniform and the coach was dressing him, as Bill was shoving food in his mouth after soccer practice last night.  So now I gotta go to two or three soccer matches a week, along with at least one or two football games, so if I disappear from here, I have grown to the bleachers at CHS.  We are all very proud of him.  We DID see something funny before the game yesterday, he was practicing a punt, didn't step it off well, and kicked the center in the butt......

Sent Bailey, the oldest, off to Wabash College on Saturday.  It's about 10 blocks from our house, so we are saving the housing fee ($8100, choke) by having him stay at home, and he enjoys the walk.  Maybe not in February, but right now he's okay with it.  I started my kids out young with lots of long walks, they aren't bothered by it now.   I think he will thrive there, it's a liberal arts college, with about 850 young men, no women.  Let's see how it works. 
 
I am still supplying church flowers from my garden, the  hydrangeas and "cut and come again" zinnias have been a Godsend in this heat, when the perennials are sneaking back into dormancy. 

Dianne, dirt, sweat, and watering can in hand....

Rosemary-Chevre Soup: Another Recipe

The basil is overflowing, the heirloom tomatoes just beginning to turn out all over. Tomorrow, I plan to serve some "Greek" dishes to friends. I tried this variant idea on Lemon Rice Soup for my family.

1/2 C canned white beans such as butter beans or cannellini
1/2 C. quinoa
2 garlic cloves, minced or 2T garlic juice
2T Extra virgin, unfiltered olive oil
3-4 oz herbed chevre
2T dried rosemary or 1/4c fresh and snipped rosemary
1c whole wheat shells
2 cubes of vegetarian boullion +8 cups water
or 8 cups vegetable stock
1 T lemon extract or the juice of two lemons

Saute quinoa and garlic in olive oil (add garlic juice after quinoa has turned light brown).
Stir in water, bouillon, or stock, shells and lemon juice or extract, and beans.  Bring to light boil until pasta is al dente. Turn off the heat and stir in chevre until melted through.

Enjoy with sides of crusty bread, kalamata olives, Fatoush, melon or watermelon feta salad and falafel with minted greek yogurt.

PS-

My melon recipe is a variation on this one, but I use 1/4 c dry red wine and 1/4 kalamata brine with the balsamic. I skip the olive oil and change out red onions. I prefer shallots.

GROUNDHOG is taking a vacation

Because we're gonna catch him, and send him on his way!!!  We're borrowing a live trap from a friend who also gardens, catching the little muncher and giving him a new place to live, far, far away!

 Well, dang it,   we just had the driest and hottest July on record.  Period.  Yesterday the county north of us got 1" of rain, we got nothin'. The ground feels like concrete, I haven't mowed in three weeks, and my potted flowers look sick, even though I have watered sometimes twice daily.  Don't ask about the green peppers, they are not amused.   They have shriveled up and gotten spots on them. 

I have been processing tomatoes every three days, just enough to fill some gallon bags, to put into the freezer.  I put them into a big pot of boiling water, and cook until the skins start to shed, then immediately dump into cold water in the sink.  That should make skinning them quite easy. Not hot water bathing yet, it's just too hot to heat up the house.  Hot water bath is a big, open-topped canner with water over the tops of the jars, and boiling for a specified length of time.  I heard somone the other day tell me that she was going to process green beans with hot jars, hot vinegar, and hot water bath.  I asked her if she intended to kill her family.   There are NO veggies besides tomatoes that are correct to hot water bath.     It works with tomatoes because they have lots of acid, that kill the botulism  bacteria.   Green beans do NOT, and must be pressure canned. If you add anything to the tomatoes to make a salsa, or soup mix, there is only a small amount you can add before it lowers the acid level enough to use pressure.   Botulism is not necessarily evident to your eyes, nose, or tongue when present, so don't attempt changing times, pressures, or skimping on cleanliness.
http://ucanr.org/freepubs/docs/8072.pdf  This is from U. of California, (I'm too lazy to find the Purdue stuff) that talks about botulism.  I would only trust canning instructions from a university, a canning jar company, or a reputable book.  I found some online stuff that was not quite accurate.

When using a canner, you need to do some maintenance. 

This doesn't look exactly like mine, but they all work the same way.  If you look on the back of the lid, you see a red dot.  This is very important.  This is a red rubber membrane that aids in gaining a vacuum inside the canner.  I had an old one once that never let the lid seal, and it took over an hour to get pressure, which is ridiculous, it should only take about 10-15 minutes.  I went to Ace Hardware and found the canning section, bought a new one, and it works great.  Inside the lid is a big rubber ring, this also helps with the vacuum.  They age, and need replacing every few years.  Doing these two things will eliminate a lot of frustration in your canning day.  Take yours with you, or your manual, to get the right size.
 

Here are some proper tools for canning.  The long 'knife' in front is for running around inside the glass to eliminate air bubbles in the product, which can spoil food.  Timer is important, use whatever you have, and don't get distracted.  The next thing is the jar lid tightener. I don't use it so much, but you can to keep from burning your hands.  Read directions for tightness needed.  The tongs are used to fill jars, or move hot tomatoes to cold water.  The last item is the jar lifter, VERY necessary.  Once the hot bath timer is done, you must get the jars out of the water, to hasten the sealing.  You REALLY don't want to be distracted or bothered when taking jars out of the canner, or boiling bath, because if you drop it, everyone gets badly burned. Put jars on counter, cover with a towel, and listen for the "Ping!" of the sealing lids. If you have a jar that doesn't ping, DON'T force the center of the lid down.  Just put the jar in the fridge and eat whatever was in there this week  The green cup thingie is for loading jars.  Quite handy.
I can hear you now--"But , Dianne, oh Goddess of the Garden, I don't HAVE these wonderful items with which to can all the lovelies from my garden, or whatever I happen to steal from the neighbor's, what shall I do?"  I highly suggest posting a notice at work or church, and telling people that you will gladly relieve them of that big pile of jars in their, or their mother's basement, garage, shed.  You can come over this week and get them.  Many older ladies, with no kids at home, quit canning , but don't get rid of their stuff.  They would be glad to have someone come and get them.  If they seem hesitant, or want money, offer to mow their lawn, or rake some leaves or something.  Jars cost money and you will need lots.  Canners can be over $50 new.  Buying jars from the market is prohibitive if you plan on being self sufficient. Offer to share some of your stuff with her.  Check freecycle (an online free recycling site for local things), or Craig's list.  Maria does all that, she finds all kids of stuff on there.  She recently found big, plastic food grade 55 gallon drums for rain barrels.  Several people pitched in and they got a deal. 

I have been gathering black raspberries the last couple weeks, from my backyard patch.  I'm freezing small bags, waiting to get enough to make some jam.  It has been so dry that the berries are really full, but tart, so I think jam is a better use for them.  My grapes ought to be sour enough this year to make some great wine, anyone up for that??? I've never done it.  We just love jelly.   I process grapes to juice, and then freeze it, to make jelly on an open window day in October.  

Remember earlier in the spring when I talked about testing my soil, and adding nutrients?? Well, I can tell you that this has been one of the healthiest tomato crops I have ever had.  No blossom end rot, (from low calcium), lots of leaves ( I upped nitrogen), and everything else looks great. 

Canning is a great way to preserve the summer sunshine from your garden,  just be CLEAN, be ACCURATE, be SMART with what you're preserving.

Dianne, dirty feet, and all

help!!I'm being attacked by green beans!!!

and the onslaught begins!!  went out today to take pictures of Bill in his Civil War outfit, smells and all, after his big reenactment at Bull Run/ Manassas this weekend, and noticed that the green beans have come on full tilt.  I sent some lovely new ones to a friend the other day, not knowing that would be the beginning of the bean wars.  Now I'll have to keep on top of them, probably blanching and freezing, rather than canning.  It's just too darn hot to have the canner steaming up the kitchen everyday. 
Also, the tomatoes have started to turn red, I can see them peaking out from under the leaves, so lots of tomato salads, and giving to the neighbors begins...

Also sweet peppers.

Just bought an oak tree to replace one in the front yard in October.  50% off from a locally owned nursery.  He was glad for the business.  He will keep it for me until autumn, when the tree goes into hibernation. 

Here is Bill, after the battle.  The beard came off right after this!! They were posing as the 1st Minnesota Infantry, who dressed as firemen in red shirts and dark wool pants.  This was the fastest and cheapest uniform the state could get together for the first battle of the Civil War. oh, yeah, I paid about 12$ for the uniform, at my favorite store,  Goodwill. 

Now, to get out the bean buckets and start picking!!

I want to remind everyone that if you are canning, to have have all your utensils and jars squeaky clean,  your kids out of the way, and to have your timing/pressure charts at your side.  Canning is a precise job, and being distracted, or careless can get you scalded, burnt, or later, sick from botulism.  

Dianne,  sweating to the green beans

What You Can Do With Homebrew, and Organic Eggs and Goat Cheese

After your husband or friends come to brew that yummy home crafted beer, compost that leftover grain. Let the beer set and if it's a decent porter, make up these two recipes!

Presvytera's Porter Gelati

12oz mild soft chevre
24oz Porter Beer
1 C cane sugar
1 C organic cocoa
2T Vanilla Extract
1/2 strong coffee, cold
2 rennet tablets or 1t xantham gum

Over medium heat, dissolve cane sugar in 8oz of beer. crush rennet tablets (If using xanthan gum, blend into the cheese before add dissolve into heated beer mixture.
Meanwhile, blend or food process cocoa, (xantham gum, if using in place of rennet), chevre, and coffee and vanilla in that order. Slowly blend in the remaining 12 oz of beer. Finally add the sweetened beer.
Pour your mix into a ice cream freezer or a cold bowl. If hand stirring, stir frequently and often.

 The other recipe is not mine, but received excellent reviews. I did tipple a bit o' scotch and a tablespoon of butter into the caramel sauce.

Beer Bread Pudding

My front garden

Robbie needed something to do this week, so in all the heat, I let him do this....

He and Bill went to HD and bought the wood, and put this arbor together.  He was sweating like a sailor, but gave the neighbors a show with his six-pack abs he's so fond of.   I'm trying to decide what to grow up it.  It still needs side rails, but those can wait at the moment.  I may just try some pole beans right now.  With this heat, they should grow like Jack's.  I'm not a big rose gardener, but I can grow CLEM-atis like nobody's business. 

Here is some of my frantically reproducing broccoli, closely planted with green peppers, to cut down on weeds.  After the first big sprout in the middle is harvested, side shoots will continue to form, as long as the plant survives the heat.  This is the back garden, but I also have them in the front.   They get more sun, so they are about finished for the season.

Tomatoes over the top of the fence. 

Stop glaring at the weeds, I mean it.  Stop.  The patch to the right is the strawberry patch, which has been mowed after production is over, and is growing back like gangbusters.  Behind them is the broccoli , green peppers, eggplants, and a bare spot, with the compost heap in there somewhere.  A new strawberry patch has been put in behind all this.  The long row to the left is the sweet potatoes, peering out from under the weeds.  My happy friends, the hollyhocks, are raising their faces to the sun, in jubilation that it ain't snowing.

Okay, so gardening isn't always pretty, neither am I after a bout with the obnoxious weeds.  Sometimes I just ignore them, they don't care, they carry on.  I just have to decide what is my tolerance level for them.  

Happy weeding to  all my dirty-fingernailed friends.

Dianne
Dirt, weeds, and all

Dead heat of summer

And I MEAN dead heat, as in, if I go out there and weed, I'll be dead.    It was hot when I went out to get the paper this morning at 4:30. 

Indiana is at the eastern end of a huge heat dome over the continent, and the worst is yet to come.  I know this because I am a scientifical gardener, and  I watch the weather to decide if I should go out or not.

I decided not.

The tomatoes are finally starting to come in red, they are a big tease, sitting there on the vines, doing nothing but staying green.  Oh, and the black spot  leaf virus on them I can't seem to get rid of.   The one cure I read about was to bleach the ground and then put black plastic over it to kill the virus.   Oh, sure, like I have time to do that, or even want to.    I have been pulling off bottom leaves to increase air circulation, that seems to help.  Then destroy the leaves, don't compost.

My green beans have had some company, I can tell by the way they have been munched on one side that deer have been visiting the garden, along with that $#$%^^$  groundhog.

I finally succumbed and starting mowing a path between the beans and the sweet potatoes, saves a lot of cussing at the weeds.

I looked up pictures I took of my green beans two weeks ago, but they don't look anything like that now.  They are over the top of the fence and flowering.  If I get a picture on here, there is to be no criticism of the weeds that surround it,   I can't keep up right now, we had record rain in June, and now it's just $%%## hot.

 I have two fences topped with beans, with white potatoes planted in between.    I planted them under a long pile of yard and garden waste for mulch, and they seem to be thriving.  The yellow flowers at the end are "cup plant"  a prairie wildflower.  Where the leaves attach to the plant, it makes a shallow cup, hence the name.  A favorite watering hole for bees and small birds.

 I should go out and start the hunt for Colorado potato beetles.

These are nasty little fellows, they can deleaf and kill a potato plant in a short amount of time.  I know that Bill got away from me last week and sprayed with Sevin, but sometimes that is the only thing that will save a garden.   One of the summer garden jobs is to go out to the 'taters with a bucket and gather these suckers, then skvish  them, skvish them all,  mwahahahaha!!!

Here is my passion in my flower garden.  These are Asiatic lilies, both planted out of bags from Home Depot, or from the discount shelf at Lowe's.  These are about the easiest to grow, and you get a lot of bang for your buck, since they are also great cut flowers.   Pictures compliments of my talented 15 y.o. darling daughter, Alice-Ann.   These prove that she can do  more than eat and dance.

Last week at church I was chatting with a new member, Maria,(not my fellow blogger) and told her about the Sugar Creek Daylily Farm, in Darlington.  She told me this week that they drove out there after church, and as soon as she saw the flowerbeds, she took off her shoes and wandered around for a while.  Here's a picture of that wonderful place.

People, he has 1600 different KINDS, not just plants, but KINDS of daylilies.  This is a picture of just a tiny part of it.   I bought Challenger, Black Plush, Catherine Neal, and some other stuff, they went immediately into the garden, and are growing well, since I have been watering them almost daily.  I love the spider-type flower, and deep reds. He doesn't have a website, you just have to go there.  If you can't get here, I suggest finding a public garden, or a passionate gardener in your area to visit this time of year, to see how things grow at a mature stage, so you can tell how that little plant in the pot will look in two years. 

Here is a "shout out" to my friend, Donny, who has had both knees replaced, cares for his homebound wife, and yet, still gets out there and works the yard, and his neighbor's.   Keep it up, Buddy, not every hero has a t-shirt, or an action figure.........If you ever move back to Indiana, be close enough so I can come over and steal stuff out of your garden..

I also want to compliment the Weir family, for diving straight into gardening and chickening, with raised beds,  and a coop.  I have permission to "help myself" while they are gone to camp and Guatemala on a mission trip... does she know what she has done????


Things we have been eating out of the garden,,,, zucchini, beats, (duh, BEETS, I have played too many band concerts this last weekend), broccoli, finally tomatoes, the first green peppers, and cukes.   I have been pulling up brocs that have flowered, but the ones I have been harvesting, just keep growing, so we keep eating them.  Just watch for those little green cabbage moth caterpillars, they look just like broccoli.  Soaking in salt water brings them out of the stalk. 

Next on the list,,,,,,, black raspberries..........yyuuummmm......

Stay cool, hydrated, and healthy, by eating your yard...

Dianne
dirt, sweat, and all.

You Betcha! Top Five Things I'm Doing WRONG in my Garden

After a week on a missions trip, a week on vacation, and facing two more weeks of camp and missions, I'm in garden avoidance land. I excitedly grilled the first patty pan. The heirloom pasters are starting to turn and everything is flush and full, but I didn't want weed, prune, thin, train, or any other necessary action.

I blame this on July. August will be worse. This is always where I fall of the gardening train. It's the reason I wanted (and got!) raised beds this year. 

Add the 90+ degree weather this week and all the work and packing required of me, and I was just about to let it go. I can't. My husband faithfully waters the beds every night. He's working harder than me and this wasn't his project in the first place. Admittedly, he's doing more of the grunt work right now.

But did you catch that? He's watering at night. Just when I was even avoiding my favorite "You Bet Your Garden" radio show from WHYY and Mike McGrath, I felt guilty, listened to a June archived podcast and came home in full gear. I have five things we need to change cause we are doing them wrong. All this work and we'd can change just a wee bit to make it better. Here goes my list:

1. We are watering for a bit every night.
Big No-NO. We need to do a deep water, a couple times a week, at about 5am. Since I have about seven spots where I'm invested with plants, that means two hours of watering daily. Two beds. Avoid stressing plants by bedding them down in moisture that can rot and mildew. Water longer but fewer times a week.

2. We haven't mulched.
No excuses. The 4H Fair is going on next door with all sorts of cast off poopy straw. Got a couple 9-year old boys and a wheel barrel. We'll be visiting a bit for a few nights, plus picking up more poo from the horse rescue ranch. Till we do this, we're just leaking water into the atmosphere.

3.  I haven't thinned.
I planted tons of  kohlrabi, carrots, and basil. I know the rules of thumb but I have this problem. I hate losing those plants. I know the end result of thinning is greater harvest. So, I've gone out and cut and pinched the basil, trimmed down the cilantro, and, this morning, I plucked out tons of weak kohlrabi. Now, for those carrots.

4. I hadn't weeded.
The grass, dandelions, clover, and even some purslane have sprung up around my tomato plants. I had watching chunks of dirt go with the root systems of those pesky plants. (Okay, I actually like the purslane. It's tasty in the salad. So, I left a bit of that in a free space. I just have to 'watch' it.)  The raised beds make me conscious of dirt as a commodity. They weren't quite full enough to my taste when I planted. But if the hubby has slung 32 cubit feet of dirt and manure into five beds, I'm not going to whine at a certain point. They were mostly full and we can top them off with manure throughout the year, right?

5. I hadn't brought in my 'cold' boxes.
I have a window box of arugula that I reseeded for round two. That died due to heat. But the older arugula went to seed. I needed to bring that into my sunny kitchen window and let the air conditioning cool it off. I love that arugula.

So this morning, I craigslisted food grade barrels, weeded, thinned, and planned for our two weeks away. I also talked to hubby about a new watering routine. Ah, it feels good to face the truth about my bad gardening habits. It's like a long run, in spite of a hot day, which is when I listen to my gardening show incidentally.

time to plant, a time to weed

okay, Maria is right, more time to garden, less time to blog.

Yesterday I was at the yard waste site at 8 a.m. with a trailerload of brush from the neighbor's house.  She is recently widowed, and after having to care for an elderly husband with cancer, she has not had time to put into her yard, so the neighborhood chipped in a couple of days while she wasn't around(she can be , picky, (difficult) about weeding, and clearing.   I stopped and weeded at church for a bit, and then ran home for a shower to clean off any poison ivy that may have been in the pile, I never trust what other people have gathered.  then ALL morning pulling weeds, and finding the sweet potato vines under all the greenness around them.  Just in time to satisfy the stupid groundhog's urge to come at dinnertime and start munching on them.  Stinker.  Then second shower of the day.
Tied up and trimmed bottom leaves from  tomatoes, they are reaching for the sky.   Ate my first one last week, not quite ready, but I thought third week of June was a good time to start in on them.  I did keep hold of two or three big bags of raked leaves from the neighbor's, they are now mulching my new strawberry bed. 

I have started some nice big flower pots, now if we would just stop having nice, big thundershowers, they wouldn't fill up with water so fast.   I'm going to have to put them up on bricks so they'll drain better.

I'm sad that the strawberries have finished for the year.  Not a great year, didn't reap large, heaping pots of berries. Talked to another gardener at Lowe's,  she said the same thing, that this was not a good year.  We've had some way ups and downs with temps, that may have been the problem.  Maria,  I have a patch of berries under my flagpole, since they are being shaded out by lilies now, how about you come and transplant them to your yard in the fall???  Right along your driveway, lots of sun.  Strawberries need cool, shorter days to grow, so spring and fall are time to transplant.  This would be the time to get a bed started, weeds pulled, composted, line up some mulch.  Also, you have until about September, so not a backbreaker. 

Now, if you want something fantastic for your garden that takes little effort on your part,  next spring find some Asiatic lilies in those bags of 6 for $5 at WallyWorld, or Lowe's, wherever.   Dig a little hole, plop them in, and   tahdah!!!   Right now my yard is full of beautiful blooms, they last a long time, and are great cut flowers.  They can stay on the ground, and will multiply nicely.   Next year I am investing in several more bags, to keep church supplied.
The broccoli is starting to bolt,  if you keep  harvesting before the flowers appear, then you can keep the plant going longer.  Once it has flowered, it has done its job for the year, and will die off. 

I have a big double row of brocs, so when they are done, I'm pulling them and putting in some vining stuff that takes up space, and maybe by planting mid-summer, I'll avoid some of the pest issues.   Yes, it's fine to plant stuff now, like lettuce (may need some afternoon shade),  brocs, brussel sprouts,  cabbage,  melons, zukes,  cukes.   If you have some space, or you have given up already, don't, just push some seeds in the ground,  mark with a stick , so you remember where stuff is, and mulch with cut grass once seedlings are up.   Bribe a kid with extra movie time or a treat to rake the yard when you mow.   Dandelions aren't blooming now, so grass  should be okay to use on garden.

I'd post some pictures, but people keep running off with the laptop, that stores the pictures. I'll get some later. 

P.S.  if you are in the Chicagoland area, I highly recommend going to Cantigny Park in Wheaton,  fabbbulous perennial beds, lovely gardens, just fabulous.  Wonderful rose garden,   test veggie garden, children's garden.  Lots of perennials, in full growth, so you can see how they will look once out of the scrawny pot at the nursery. 


Dianne,   living where the pollen is cheap and plentiful

"A Few Less Words Here"

To quote Emily and Amy from "Tether" out of context, I've called this "A Few Less Words Here." I've noticed all my blogging friends have slowed down. It's spring and early summer here. The temps have topped 90 at record levels and the spring has had what I think of as a hot summer Langston Hughes like "Lazy Sway."  This doesn't usually grip us until July and August.

I got slow to post with all the end of the school year grade work, the graduation parties, the evenings of meals on the back patio. Already, I have mowed my way through the first round of Arugula, and replanted. The lettuce is done. The Kohlrabi is filling out like a teenage girl. The melons, cukes and squash are curling out excitedly. I'm training them up the freebie pallets. The chicks have the ribs on their beaks and real feathers. They eat alot and jump around in the chicken tractor. Before long they will need their space.They are out there now, scratching around, up like my daughter at wee hours- only she's secreted herself in the bathroom with a Glamour, trying new makeup techniques. They exert their independence by no longer cuddling together, unless we come wanting to show one off to a preschooler.

I had a fit of jealousy with all those Graduation parties. I was showered with the tenderest of broccoli and sweetest of true tasting strawberries. Real fruit and grocery-coddled fruit are two different flavors. Real fruit is bursting with the tangy subtleties that made me crave stealing it as a child. Oh, yes, I snuck into my grandmother's tire strawberry patches and secreted away a few berries. I niggled a few apricots from my grandfathers tree. And, last Sunday, my son and I gloried in the few mulberries that were plump enough to have flavor. Those are not the best of fruits. 

Now, I'm wishing I had a shirt that reads: Will Run for Berries. I've re-arranged my morning 15K to find the wild raspberries which threaten to turn black right after I pass them. Ah, I love this time of year. So far the beds are weeded, the rain holds and I'm still energized enough to throw out a few more plant starts. If my backyard is not a mess of melons- canary, cantelope and watermelon by August, then I've done something wrong. I'm not kidding. I'm already relishing the early US melons and I've planted over 15 in my yard. That's just ape-ish, isn't it?

This brick walk was lovingly uncovered by my husband last week! I plan to throw creeping thyme seeds and sweet woodruff over the path, after I give the melons a chance to trail out over it a bit. Closer within the garden there, my daughter planted the discount lily, blazing star, dahlias and a few other flowers. Can't wait to see what grows.

Dianne and her mother do the bulk of the planting, weeding and watering on the lovely cutting garden outside our parish building, just blocks from my house! At this time of year, it is best for the rest of us to do "speed-weeding" on our free moments before and after weeknight services.

As Amy and Emily say, and to take "Tether" out of context again,"Sow what you want/cause one day it's gone rise up.. / So plant what you need/ to make a better stand."

No, The Garden isn't Dead

No the garden isn't dead.

I've been traveling for work. So the family is bearing the load. My priest-husband is becoming a gentleman farmer. He fixed up the chicken tractor and retrieved the eight Rhode Island Reds, which we just enjoyed cuddling.  Oops. I'm typing on my computer without having washed my hands afterwards. I also popped an olive in my mouth with my fingers. I'll leave you to ruminate on that... Going to wash those digits.

So, while my video of us handling the chicks is uploading, let me say that my hubby hung CD's around the front beds and all the storms have twisted them off to the sides. The plants are still standing. The tiny nubs of basil, carrot, summer squash, flowering spinach, cilantro, brussel sprouts, and more are shining through the dirt.

My son has smashed the melon rinds from whose bowl I snarf up tons of middle eastern watermelon salad. In the compost pile, the seeds have sprouted too many watermelon plants which will never bear fruit. Hybrids, the lot. It is a sign, though, that my composting is souping up. I lay awake worrying about my lack of mulch and compost. I came home from listening to the May 21st "You Bet Your Garden" and started Craigslisted shredder/mulchers. Apparently Forsythia soups up fast when shredded because it has a high sugar content. Our entire back fence is Forsythia.  It's gargantuan.

Our sad compost pile

Dianne's potted broccoli

So, now, for now I'm itchy and enviously admiring Dianne's early harvests of tender broccoli and strawberries. I made delicious tapas with her flowerettes, the Belteros Ranch herbed chevre, and Soy-Flax chips. We ate this with my Lupini-Green Bean Salad and a side of Pomegranate Salsa and Chevre rounds for supper. It was 95 degrees today in C-ville and this went nicely with virgin Mango Margaritas.

Layla just finished her garden. Dinner plate Dahlia bulbs, Blazing Stars, Giant McKenna's, Asian Lilies, Spotted Mint and Brussels Sprouts all from our clearance and leftover starts. I started the last of melons- Canaries today. That's it. Now for the second round of Arugula before I give up until the cooler weather. Ah, life is good. Urban Farming. How Hip.

Transplant Time Part Deux

In her wonderful last post, Dianne mentioned taking that late spring cold snap as a last ditch moment to transplant. I've been waiting to beg some hostas from Dianne and her mother, Ann. Friday, for mental health, I polished off some major 'to-do' items in my gardening. It's been tough lately, with all my travel for work, but I have a three week window here.

Thanks to Dianne, whose gardens I plan to kodak this week, I restored mental health. She gave me red and yellow lilies, which will bloom later in June and July, and variegated Hosta. The Hosta, I found out, should be able to grow under my Walnut tree. I split up some of my own hosta and used some of hers under the tree. I happened to put a Hydrangea she gave me there too. It should have been a quicky transplant, but I had to snip and snap the snarling ivy and poison ivy vines all around the bottom of that durn tree.-- Here's some anecdotal proof that my year-long adolescent bout with poison ivy, due to ingesting it while we built a house on untamed Indiana acreage- made me immune. I was too dirty and in a hurry after a 7-mile run -- and before a date with the hubby-- to go get the microfiber garden gloves I've come to adore. I grabbed those vines with my bare fists. Some are dead, due to my natural weed killer spray ( 1 gallon distilled vinegar, 1 cup salt 7 drops dish detergent sprayed on the slashed up vines). Others are tenacious. Yet, two days later, I bear no signs of reaction. Hmmm

Thanks, Dianne. Really, I'll come help you with your ivy infestations in kind for the hostas and lillies. Anyone else want to donate Hostas to me?

I also transplanted my peony on Friday. All her lovely lilies now grace the front of my porch, waiting to bloom. As I weighed my tour of her gardens, all instinct and lovely variety, I decided to dig up a dying, lonely peony from beside my driveway. It's the centerpiece along that new line of flowers. Let's see if it survives. It looked droopy yesterday when I came home from visiting the Indianapolis Decorators Showcase Home. In those gardens there were white, blue and pink Azaleas. Last year I recall, they were ubiquitous in Northeastern PA. "Imma get me soma those," I muttered to myself. Oh, yes, I left the showcase with Azalea lust. Lilies, Azaleas and peonies will grace the bed next to the porch. Now, who has some of those to share? Or where, Oh where are those on clearance?

Friday was my hubby's honey do day. He got four loads of dirt from the local Progreen. I wanted organic but that was a bit pricy. By the time we drove to where Craiglisted free dirt was, we spent the same amount of money for the dirt here. We loaded five of the six 5'x5' beds with dirt. There will be a 2' path between those lovely lilies and my veggies squarefoots.

At the Showcase, I got the idea of staggering my heirloom tomatoes, 9 of which I planted in one bed until tomorrow night. I will mix with summer and patty pan squash varieties on mounds, colorful lettuce, and one bamboo teepee that should hold climbing spinach found in Macungie PA and sugar snap peas or flat green beans. I wasn't planning on these, but the teepees in the Victory Garden were so lovely. I can't help myself. I think a few bushes of Basil will come later.  Ah, fun.

One last tip I got there: old cd's hung from low wire fence and string are great for scaring off the rodents and birds. Married to a former musician, I can say, we have a few of those to recycle.

Our final hooray this weekend? My hubby and son hacked out another ugly overgrown bush. Dianne says I should plant potatoes there this year. Next year, I plan to whack my way back the brick walkway around this deck bed and do as she does. (My hero, says I, batting my eyelashes at Dianne's gardening genius.) I will let the thyme and sage and parsley periannuals ape out over the edges of this. Right now? I'm wondering if I should add carrots and brussels here for the year, behind the taters. Will they help break up the roots of that batty old bush so I can dig it out easier come fall or next spring?  Ah, the fun.

Tonight, my hubby is off to get the Chicken Tractor. Perhaps my next episode will be called "What comes first?" or "The Sky is Falling" or "Hen House" or "The Chickens are Coming; the Chickens are Coming!"  In good news, I hear it is NOT illegal to have hens, only roosters in within city limits. Whew. I will do civil protest, but I'd rather not.