Design

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

Today is a beautiful sunny day in the North Woods.  I'm hoping the temps are warm enough to kick start some growth in the garden.  My rhubarb plants have been producing for a few weeks and it's time to start thinking about preserving some of their yummy goodness.  Perhaps canning some rhubarb sauce this week is in order.  Rhubarb freezes well .. it's great to pull out in the winter to bake up a pie or for stewing. The leaves are poisonous .. but you can add them to the compost heap without a problem.  Nothing says it's gardening time better than the arrival of rhubarb. Simmered Rhubarb: 4 cups diced rhubarb stalks 3/4 cup sugar water to cover Simmer the rhubarb for a few minutes then cover the pan and let it sit until cool.  This method keeps the rhubarb pieces whole.  For a sweeter version, cook uncovered until tender and liquid has reduced by about 1/3 to 1/2 in volume ..  Rhubarb goes well with strawberries and apples in pies.

Our weather of late has been fickle.  Most of March found rain showers, gray skies, a few snow showers .. and April is only a little bit 'more promising' ... Our teeny tiny dining room plant nursery has expanded and now includes a sturdy new shelf unit sitting in front of one of the many windows.  All of our plants have sprouted .. even the pepper plants after getting a good warm start in the little plastic covered greenhouse rigged with warming beds and a grow light.  Hubby and I worked on building 10 of 14 raised garden beds last week, some extra deep and outfitted with quarter inch wire mesh underneath and soon to include hoops made from curved electric conduit to support different coverings.  We have them stacked and draped outside on a slope until the actual garden ground is ready.  It will be at least another five weeks or so before we are frost free and can transplant the seedlings.  Through all of this soggy weather, I picked up a flu vi...

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

A nice drape of snow will look lovely over the barren garden #1 Garden #2 mulched and tucked away for winter With our unseasonably warm autumn weather, I have been able to tuck away the gardens for their winter nap of rejuvenation at a slower pace.  The Spanish roja garlic has been planted and mulched, Swiss chard and spinach are growing under cover, and a few broccoli plants with side shoots were left in place. garden sink back splash .. nearly completed Our garden sink project is nearly done .. just waiting for some grout around the tiles .. hopefully to be finished in the next day or so. Compost from the bottom of the bin has been removed to make more room for winter use at the top opening. Strawberry beds have been thinned and heavily mulched.  I hope these June bearing plants do better next year .. in the spring they will get transplanted outside the fenced garden space and draped with deer netting .. they are prolific and take up so much room.  The wild strawberries...

We've been busy with company, my folks, and have given a few (ahem) chores to my pop to complete.  He has hooked up a faucet to our new garden sink with cold water, now to tile in the back splash with some mosaic tile 'art' .. and, yesterday, he took charge of putting up my new T-post clothesline by digging post holes and cementing in the galvanized steel posts; tomorrow we can string up the line.  Already the birds have discovered the T-posts. Yesterday the pea vines growing on the trellis were pulled up .. not before saving some of the pods I left to harvest for seeds.  They were still producing a few peas .. but had gotten rather past their prime.  A new crop is growing to extend the season. I am so pleased with my nasturtium 'Jewel Mix' seeds that were planted this year.  The colors are so bright they almost hurt your eyes :)  They were ordered from the Good Seed Company (Oroville, Washington) which sells open pollinated and heirloom seeds for northern...

An (almost) entire summer away this year reminded me of our experiences many years ago, returning home to Southeast Georgia and our small college town after summers of research (at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland). One memorable summer, we arrived home about 10 pm, to a grubby and mildew-edged house (it was too expensive to run the ancient, non-energy efficient AC even at a high temperature, and we didn't have the money to upgrade it then). We set about scrubbing the walls in our bedroom, airing the house out, and cleaning the kitchen before finally falling into bed quite late.  I don't remember worrying about the landscape, however.  Since it was dark, I guess I wasn't worried, and I was a botanist and plant ecologist then, not having added 'gardener' yet to the hats I wear. This year, we returned to a house slightly aromatic from low-VOC paint and plaster mudding on the ceiling.   Since the last time we were here (to do the fin...

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

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

Transforming lawns to a vibrant wildlife habitats, growing vegetables, and carefully tending 'our' patches of land are sustaining activities, ones that ground me in what I can do, and away from worrying about the difficult environmental times that face us. My work (as a garden educator) is also encouraging: I help folks learn how to be better stewards by being better gardeners, promoting native plants and restoring wildlife habitats, and am definitely an encouraging voice about growing more vegetables and fruits in the open spaces (lawn or not) that many Americans have access to, whether on their own 'property' or not. I love the idea of guerrilla gardening - planting plants where they should be, but aren't! These are the curbside planting areas, empty 'hell strips' between sidewalks and roads, and barren parking lot edges. Gardening and stewardship provides hope, for restoration of both native and created garden space. At least that's what true for m...

Yesterday I trekked to town to pay a visit to the public library. Seeking more information about gardening practices for the Inland Northwest, I picked up the following books: Gardening in the Inland Northwest , a Guide to Growing Vegetables, Berries, Grapes & Fruit Trees, by Tonie Jean Fitzgerald. (This book interested me greatly as living in this area poses many challenges since we have a short growing season). Although not totally organic in nature, there are many ideas to glean from this short read. The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing A good reference type of book that is reader/novice gardener friendly. Lasagna Gardening For an easy read ... this book gives directions to plant a garden with "a new layering system ... no digging ... no tilling ... no weeding ... no kidding" I actually tried a similar method two years ago (my own formula) so I thought I'd compare notes. The Organic Garden by: Allan Shepherd, Green gardening for a healthy planet Alre...

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

Digging for Yukon Gold .... potatoes that is. In April I planted several rows of these delicious golden nugget seed potatoes along with a few rows of red 'new' potatoes. Yesterday a few were harvested, boiled, mashed with half and half, sprinkled with sea salt, and infused with a mix from my mini blender of butter and fresh basil. The result ... heaven! Add a quick stir fry of tender pork loin strips with freshly picked carrots, onion, and garden sugar peas .. and we dined on a delicious and easy meal. No gravy required ;) Eating from the garden is akin to having dined on food kissed by a technicolor rainbow. The flavor explodes with rich 'colors' not found in store bought fare. All those years growing up .. eating canned veggies and hamburger helper ... years 'wasted' food wise ;( My best childhood memories of food always drift back to visiting with relatives during the month of July that lived on farms in Illinois .. or had backyard gardens and home can...

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

Floral-bundance ! I just love to make up new words. And 'floral-bundance' seems to fit the description of this lovely bouquet I picked from the garden when my parents were visiting. Included are peonies, cat mint, wild lupine, and spirea. The Beginning: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of god was hovering over the waters ... Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: see-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds ... and it was so." From Genesis, Chapter 1 (NIV)

The garden this week received four afternoons of rain showers. This is the type of deep watering that can really make a garden 'take off' ... a good thing. My parents are visiting for a few weeks. Dad grew up on a family farm and has been a great help clearing a path around one of my veggie gardens. Wild berry growth was pushing up against the deer/moose fence surround ... we can now walk around with ease. He is eighty years young and is used to hard work. This is what has kept him so young and in good shape for so many years. With the garden growing leaps and bounds, we have begun harvesting (finally) some edible crops such as radish, lettuce, herbs, and using up the thinned out onions in salads. I have picked a few turnips and will use them along with the green tops in a nice rustic Italian soup for lunch tomorrow that includes greens cooked with smoky bacon, white beans, chicken broth, garlic, and topped with bread croutons. Speaking of the deer/moose fence, a few mo...

How Does Your Garden Grow ? ... Of late, I've been eating, sleeping, breathing all things garden related. This year I've doubled the size of last year's garden ... and added a new separate section. I cheated a bit and ended up buying my tomato plants. With last year's poor production and short season, I got a head start with some nice four inch pots. In the photos you will notice the blue/green tents in the garden. These are my wall 'o water plant covers that help to get the plants growing quicker. Today, I was able to remove them as the plants have grown to the top. I replaced them with wire cages. We planted eight tomato plants this year. Several varieties. Here's what is growing: tomatoes potatoes red & Spanish onions walla-walla onions scallions turnips radishes thyme, Italian parsley, basil, cilantro, tarragon mint carrots sugar peas rhubarb strawberries asparagus blueberries raspberries corn cabbage peppers garlic watermelon cantaloupe cucumb...

It's been a lovely weekend spent in the garden. There's something spiritual about digging, planting and sowing seeds. It connects us (gardeners) to the earth and certainly reminds me to be grateful for farmers. The idea that I could grow all my own vegetables (much less our sustenance) is daunting. I'm keen on our three-to-four seasons in our benign climate, but the effort it would take to can, freeze, and store our growing season bounty sounds like hard work, and it is. I love to garden. The physical effort, checking the plants, enjoying fruit production, watching the pollinators -- all of these things I love. I do enjoy my vegetable garden the most (I think because I love to cook directly from the garden), but our restored landscape provides peace. Our front yard didn't always look like this -- it was a vast lawn desert when we moved in. The backyard, ditto. And we're still working on both. The view from the porch keeps improving -- I've got to add more...

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

I've been reading an excellent, and beautifully written, collection of essays called Grassroots Gardening: Rituals for Sustaining Activism by Donna Schaper . It's about gardening and keeping grounded. I came across a mention of it in An Urban Plot , written by a gardener in North Carolina. I'm quite certain I wouldn't have come across it otherwise. So for a miniscule price + shipping, I've obtained this lovely book of meditations on gardening. Something I connected with, and why I bought a copy, was an prologue quote posted in An Urban Plot that "I garden to remind myself of my hope." And her next post about the book included: "I just love this image of growing hope and curing despair through the garden and the act of recreating (create again, renew) while recreating (activity done for enjoyment)! Yes indeed, good stuff happens in the garden, layers and layers of amazing stuff that one can not even begin to measure by any standardized means....