Garden Injustice

Nobody comes here anymore. 

I don't even come here anymore! 

But maybe I'll start again.  Blogger is advertising all kids of new features at me so maybe it will be easier to upload photos, my big limiter from over a year ago.  After all, if you ever visited regularly, you  probably only came for the photos.  Well, come back in a couple of weeks.  You should SEE what is happening in the bed for Tom!  The asparagus is going nuts!  It's amazing!

But today I felt compelled to write and share a little diddy from the Great State of Michigan.  Check this out:
http://oakparkhatesveggies.wordpress.com/

This lady has been charged with a misdemeanor because she planted raised beds in her front yard.  Not even on the parking strip, mind you, in her yard!  I guess feeding your family the hyperlocal way is a crime in Michigan.  This is extra funny given all the hoopla about urban farming in Detroit which, by the way, warms my heart.  I'm sure this case will be dropped, but even if it is, she seems to be a budding gardener as well, learning her way through veggies as I am.  Good luck, OakParkHatesVeggies!

This Bed's For Tom!

There was one blank space in my garden along the fence line just behind (but not obstructed by) the new deck.  It was begging for another bed to match it's next-door neighbor, and I figured after deck building that I had the skills to make it happen.  My bathroom contractor left a chop saw in my garage while he was working, so I decided to have at it - all by myself.

I diligently measured the bed boards already in the garden and determined my lumber needs.  I then randomly poked around the garage and found I already had all the materials.  (Main board courtesy of my previous owners.)  I went to it.

Tom Wilson, Shelby's dad, is the one who helped me build the deck and taught me what I know about working with wood.  Tom had two favorite things, as far as I could tell: his Sawzall and "cutting a notch out of it."  So when I got to the point of installing a side board but almost running into the fencepost, I employed the second of this favorite things. 

I measured, I cut, I drilled, and by golly I got the thing in!  It only took about 2 hours, and probably would have taken a skilled person about 25 mins, but I did it...

I had a few issues with screws, probably on account of my small "girly" drill, so I'm guessing Professor Tom would give me about a B in his class.  Now, if I could get my hands on a Sawzall to take off those tops...

It's all ready to plant my perennial asparagus bed, which I did a few weekends later (last weekend).  Check back in 2 years to see how it tastes!

Tomatoes '09

I'm so lame. I never uploaded a post about my tomatoes. They were fabulous! And I don't even like tomatoes! I harvested aplenty for about a month. I had Isis Candy, a big orange variety I seem to remember as Valencia, and a grape-style that I don't know the name of. I liked them heated and tossed with chard, baked down into sauce, and sliced atop foccacia with zucchini.


I'm considering starting seeds this year if I can get my hand on a grow light and a warming tray. The only problem with tomatoes last year is that they blocked the sun to my eggplant. Next year: eggplant in front of tomatoes.

Zucchini Gone Wild

There's a joke on Vashon Island near Seattle that you can't drive on the island in the summertime with your windows down or else someone will throw a zucchini in it. I completely understand. I figure I've harvested about 25lbs of zucchini so far. I've given away many, contributed one for a chocolate-zucchini cake for our neighborhood block party, made five loaves of zucchini bread, one batch of soup, and several kabobs. Sadly, none of these recipes blow my mind. Zucchini is best eaten simply grilled or in the house special (see previous post). I have "eight ball" that looks like a big globe and "black zucchini" which is the traditional kind. The eight ball looks cool but doesn't taste much better than regular. I want to try it halved and stuffed with a bulgar pilaf - that might make it worthwhile.
Next year: two plants tops, of the regular variety.

Oh, and the plants are still kicking so if you drive by my house with your window open, watch out!

Dinner

When I lived with Ali Segal in Chicago in 2002, we used to both make the "house special" at least once a week: pasta, broccoli and red sauce. At some point my tastes changed and the house special became whole wheat pasta, asparagus, olive oil, fresh parm, salt and pepper. Amazing! But when asparagus isn't in season and there are veggies in the backyard, the formula changes.

In mid-July the snap peas were desperate for the picking, the ugly yellow squash just getting fired up, and the first zucchini - skinny and perfect - were ready for harvest. Behold pasta primavera - locavore style:

From 2009 07 July

From 2009 07 July

It was a good spring

I should be banned from the blogosphere for my absence.


I wish I could claim that I was so busy in the garden this spring that I didn't have time to write, but it's not true. Instead I've been having a moral dilemma: each time I get on a train of thought, it's about pests. Weeds, ants, bugs, the thing that is gnawing on my zucchini, oh, and slugs. The famous Pacific Northwest slug. And then I remember that's the point about organic gardening - no pesticides means pests right alongside my veggies. Well, it wasn't all bad this spring: I had a great crop of field greens and green and red leaf lettuces. Snap peas were abundant and flavorful, especially in these last few days as they've gotten really plump. Raspberries were sweet and strawberries were juicy.

The garden put on quite a show when Lindsay and Ali came to visit at the end of June. Lindsay joined a CSA last year in Chicago and it transformed her cooking repertoire. She brought some CSA zucchini that we thoroughly enjoyed on our camping trip, and snap peas that tasted completely different from mine but lovely in their own right. Ali gardens organically at a community garden in Missoula and I give her huge credit for getting on her bike just to water the veggies. Anyway, I was so happy that they were able to snack in my yard - no washing required.

From 2009 06 June

Nature’s Turkey Baster

I’ve been worried about the bees. You know, the fact that, beginning a few years ago, scientists have noticed a dramatic drop in the bee population which has effects not just on honey production but also on farmers who rely on bees to pollinate their crops. I’ve thought about adding plants that attract bees, and have even toyed with the idea of getting my own hive. I’m just worried about them stinging someone (me).

Today, however, I read my favorite weekly garden column by PNW expert Ciscoe. He says:

The most common problem home gardeners have growing zucchini is that the fruit form, then rot on the vine. The cause is lack of pollination. There just aren't enough bees around to get the job done these days.

Solve the problem by being the bee. Take a male flower and use it to pollinate about 5 female blossoms (the female looks like it has a little fruit at the bottom; the male lacks this) by knocking pollen on the pistil that sticks up out of the middle of the bloom. If all goes well, the only job left to do is to keep the area around the plant weeded, and to remember to pick your zucchinis before they become the size of baseball bats!

I didn’t seem to have a problem with too much zucchini rot last year, but I did have baseball bat-sized zucchini! Well, I’m hopeful that the bees (and the birds) will do their thing this year and I won’t have to get involved, but I’ll be sure to let you know if I get in the pollination business.