Earth Day

Last week we trudged down the street and through the rain to a little local park to help plant trees for Earth Day. We ended up planting the trees in the woods between the river and the bike path in order to crowd out invasive plant species. The morning turned out to be great fun and Milo was a great helper. As a thank you for volunteering we received coupons for free Jeni's ice cream at an Earth Day celebration today, also great yummy fun.

Each year (okay for the last two years) for Earth Day, I have given Milo an eco-themed picture book. Coincidentally these are Sesame Street published books and they are both huge hits here. Whether it is the familiar characters or the content of the books we have been reading Grover's 10 Terrific Tips and Plant a Tree for Me on repeat lately. (You should be able to find the Grover book in the Target dollar aisle and who knew the Muppets had their own wiki?)

In other earthy news, our pea sprouts are now ready to be planted outdoors, but I so loved them when they were wee little plants. I don't usually start seeds indoors, but this has been a great project to do with Milo. We water them, talk about their growth and what things they need to succeed and bear fruit - er veggies.

We've come a long way since this was our Earth Day message:

Wanted: Spring

As we're fighting off what feels like the one billionth cold of the winter and I'm listening to the pitiful sounds of Milo coughing his way through nap time, I am hoping that Spring is really coming and coming soon.

Yesterday, it was warmish (still cloudy and wet) and we headed out back for some much needed fresh air. We took two walks around the neighborhood enjoying the feel of muscles stretching further than the typical walk from car to front door. In the midst of the walking and breathing, we took some time to survey our yard. Storms this winter brought large branches crashing down and there are sticks and dead leaves everywhere. We will have a lot of cleanup to do before we start our garden.

Just as I was sinking back into a winter funk, I discovered a lively little clump of cheerful white flowers. And then I found another and another.

Sometimes I need to be reminded there are positives out there to be found if you just keep looking.

The Summer of CSA

For years, at least years since I have become aware of CSAs (community supported agriculture), I've wanted to participate in one. This summer we finally did it. After some research and weighing of options, we chose New Century CSA as our farm provider. This is one of the few (only?) central Ohio CSAs who deliver their produce, which was very nice. I also liked that it is a family-run farm.

Other Impressions of the season:

• We split a full share with another couple. This worked out well as there would have been way too much food otherwise.
• Corn, oh the corn. There was a lot of corn. Like 20 ears per week a lot of corn. Even with splitting the share, this was just too much corn for us.
• The farm said they mostly use non-chemical methods of farming, but will use chemicals as a last resort. I would like some clarification on this policy as it seemed to me some of the produce must have been sprayed.
• We would get a weekly e-mail saying what would be in the share that week. This was helpful, but it wasn't always accurate.
• Each Tuesday morning was an adventure as Milo and I would sort out the veggies. Our favorites were beets, cucumbers, the various lettuces. We could have done with less of the cabbage, okra, and hot peppers.
• Overall the quality of the produce was great. I would have preferred more variety of vegetables overall and varietals of species (all the produce seemed to be from modern seed).

All in all, it was a positive experience. I liked having to come up with menus and recipes using whatever we happened to have at the time. It was interesting to see how the share changed from the beginning of the summer to the end. Early June we had a lot of peas, kohlrabi and some early beets. By the end of August we receiving mostly tomatoes and corn.

We'll definitely do something similar next year, but we may branch out and try a different farm. For people who are interested in participating in a CSA, my advice is to create excitement for it in your family (Milo and I would look forward to the unpacking each week), be open to trying new vegetables prepared in different ways and use it as a learning experience.

Garden is Still Growing

It is late August and I haven't done a garden update in months. Yes, we still have a garden and have been quite enjoying the fruits of it. I can't really say the fruits of our labor, because other than occasional watering and sporadic weeding, we haven't so much labored this year. Milo still enjoys helping us in the garden, but doesn't have the attention span for us to actually do much upkeep. So far, this is what has been going on:

• The heirloom tomato plants are doing great. We have enjoyed the variety (some striped, a few yellow and some nice pinkish ones) on sandwiches and cooking. We also have several volunteer plants which are producing well. Milo really likes to help pick the tomatoes, but doesn't seem to like the taste as well.
• Our pepper plants are doing very well. We have the regular green peppers, what were supposed to be sweet red peppers, a purple pepper plant and sweet banana peppers. These are great for snacking on and cutting up for lunch. Thankfully, we all like peppers.
• The bunny who ate the Swiss chard let it grow for a little bit, but is up to his old antics. We have not had Swiss chard this year.
• The vining plants are doing so so. The spaghetti squash looked healthy, but only produced a few fruit before dying off. The butternut squash, however, is doing great. I am looking forward to freezing plenty of that for the winter months.
• We also planted watermelon in the front yard. In spite of it being rather neglected, the plant loved all the sun and produced several good sized melons. Milo couldn't be happier.
• Our bush zucchini did really well and has been providing us with lots of muffin making ingredients. Again, Milo, is thrilled.
• The potatoes were an utter disaster. We're not sure if we didn't water enough or planted too many in too small of a space, but we only harvested about three thumb-sized potatoes. I'm glad we weren't depending on that crop to feed us all winter. We'll try for better luck next year.
• We're on our second planting of lettuces. The first provided many tasty salads, before bolting and getting too bitter with the heat of the summer.

I think that is about it. It looks like a lot, but really, it has been pretty self-sufficient. We have had some wins and some losses, but all and all it has been a good summer for gardening.

How My Garden Grows

We are in the middle of a wet spell here in Columbus. The garden is either going to love us this rain, or totally turn into a swamp. It could go either way.

The veggies we planted early on are doing well (except the peas which never came up). We have had our first micro-greens salad and have been enjoying our fresh herbs, especially parsley, on many dishes. I'm giving the radishes another couple of days, but some are about ready to nosh on for pre-dinner nibbles.

This year we bought tomato starts from a farmer at the Clintonville Farmer's Market. He had packaged heirloom seeds into three packs and was selling a variety. So we have six different varieties of tomatoes. I know one is chocolate colored one and one is zebra green, but it will be a surprise what the others are as I can't remember. There are also several volunteer plants shooting up from last year. I've pulled some up, but are letting others survive if they happen to be in a good spot.

The potatoes are doing really well. I've never seen a potato plant, so it has been very interesting to see them grow. I hope these turn out well.

We also have banana peppers and a jalapeno plant in the ground. I've planted yellow beans and green peppers from seed. We have a cool blue pumpkin start from my Mom in the front yard. I've yet to plant butternut squash and zucchini, both of which will be from seed.

The first casualty of the season was a Swiss chard plant nibbled down to the quick by a local bunny. I still have high hopes for it, but it doesn't look good. On top of the rabbits, the slugs are back for another year and loving the wet weather. As soon as things dry off, the beer traps will be set. And if the pests keep up, I'll be having a beer with them.

Gardening Time Again

While we are not totally out of the woods for a hard frost quite yet, it is still time to think gardens. Technically for those who take gardening more seriously, thinking gardening should already be done and seedlings should be sprouting happily from indoor planting. For those of us without the space for sprouting our own seeds, though, now is the perfect time to get going.

So far this year we have cleared out what has traditionally been our lettuce bed. It is now planted with spinach, mesclun mix lettuce, leaf lettuce, peas, broccoli and kohlrabi. Everything is up except the peas and either the broccoli or the kohlrabi (we'll have to wait until harvest to figure out which variety it is since I planted in the same row). These seeds have been in for almost three weeks, so we will probably plant another batch of all the same things next weekend to extend our spring harvest.

We are also planting potatoes this year. Milo helped to clear the bed and Chris built a potato tower. The seed potatoes are in the ground and have been in for almost two weeks, but I have yet to see any progress. Fingers crossed.

I'll wait until the traditional Mother's Day date to put in tomatoes and peppers. Last year we had Swiss chard which was nice and we will probably do that again. As much as I love fennel, I have not gotten a good bulb in the last couple of years, so I don't think I will plant it again. Then we need to decide what vining veggie we want to put in this year because we really only have room for one. I'm leaning toward the butternut squash again as that worked really well last year and froze beautifully to eat throughout the winter.

What are you planting this season?

Spring

Each year, I tend to jump the gun on the spring season. I was reminded of this when for some reason I received a magazine from the American Horticultural Society at work the other day. It featured veg gardening tips and I immediately got excited until my boss reminded me to wait until at least two weeks after I want to to actually start planting. I know that is the best thing to do, I just get so anxious to get out there and start the garden.

This morning as I was gazing out the window, trying to balance a 9 month pregnant belly in tree pose and focusing on the real trees for inspiration, I noticed buds on our Tulip Poplar. Then I remembered that the spring equinox is only four weeks away...it's March 20, the same day as Olive's expected due date. And suddenly I am even more excited for spring this year.

Crazy Old Coot

My brother T said it was a good thing I got married because I was starting to show the makings of a Crazy Cat Lady. To begin with, I don't know why it is out of line to ask if the cat can come to holiday meals. She is part of the family. Besides, what would the Simpsons be without the Crazy Cat Lady? For that matter, what would holiday meals be without impressions of the Crazy Cat Lady on the Simpsons?

So if I have narrowly escaped being the Crazy Cat Lady, I think I might have stumbled into even worse territory this weekend. After the torrential downpours ceased, I went to the garden on Saturday to assess the situation of what looked like drowned tomato leaves. What I found instead was a red aphid infestation. So naturally, I stood in the hot sun getting bit by mosquitoes for two hours spraying the tomato plants with a spray bottle of dish washing soap and water. I was wearing gardening shoes and a sun hat, because when you're a Crazy Old Coot, that's just what you do.

Garden Update

Well, the rains have come. Along with them assorted bugs and lots of weeds. At least the vegetable garden seems to be doing well. Quick run down:

• Tomato plants are getting big and bushy with lots of green fruit. Barring any major problems, everyone I know will be getting tomatoes in the next couple of weeks. Because I just don't do the canning thing and don't have room for freezing.


• Pea plants are adorable. I love them, the flowers are dainty, the little tendrils are curly-cue magnificent and the vegetable itself is delicious. Unfortunately, I don't think we planted enough of these guys as other than snacking we haven't done much with them because they are only ready 3 or 4 at a time.


• Cucumber plants are getting their vine on. We had to replant as the first seeds didn't germinate, but this batch looks good.


• Hot peppers are looking good, as are the regular peppers. I just can't get that excited about peppers.


• Fennel is feathery and fragrant. This year I will know to leave it in past where I want to pull it for a really good bulb.


• Lettuce is overgrown and a mess. Our little plants are starting to bolt and I can only imagine the leaves are bitter and not edible (not willing to try at this point). Will get yanked this weekend.


• The carrots aren't doing great. One row is being overshadowed by a bully of a tomato plant and the other row didn't really take off. I think we may get one or two actual carrots, which doesn't seem quite worth it.


• And finally, yeah, for raspberries ripening at the appropriate time and thank goodness I don't have to pay $3 a container for them at the grocery.

The Slugs Are Back in Town

Our little uninvited guests are back. The first year in our house, we were amazed to see huge slugs hanging out on our garage door one night after returning home . They were fascinating in a prehistoric way and since we didn't have a garden other than a few volunteer tomato plants and lots of perennials we weren't too concerned. So the slugs were thought of a quirky edition to our new home, that is until I started having nightmares about giant slugs slithering all over me. To stop the night terrors and rescue the hosta plants, we set out a few beer traps and called it a year.

Last year, our garden was virtually free of the slugs. Not wanting to congratulate ourselves too much, but still sure our anti-slug efforts were valid, we thought that maybe our yard was the equivalent of a gay bar at a Baptist conference - some people would sneak in, but they weren't about to tell their friends. Now, I think last year's dry and hot summer had more to do with the absence of slugs from our yard than our pithy little beer traps did.

This year the slugs are back in force and they're no longer happy with chewing their way through hosta leaves. In fact, I think all the slugs from the first summer were just out on maternity leave last year and are now debuting their babies in this year's rainy slug haven. Our fennel plants look like a slug nursery all loaded down with slimy little bundles of happy baby slugs. Which is funny, because this site suggests planting fennel as a slug deterrent. Our slugs' love for the anisy flavor of fennel would be fine if they just stayed there or even on the hostas, but, no, I'm constantly picking the little buggers off the pea plants and our lettuce is inedible because we can't get all the slugs off enough pieces to make a salad.

So, the beer traps are set, and I'm thinking of hand washing some of the leaves of the lettuce and peas with Shaklee detergent. Yes, I'm planning on individually washing leaves of vegetable plants with high-priced natural cleaning products. That is the madness of slugs and I'm expecting the nightmares to commence any day now.

Raindrops on Tulips

Spring Sprouts

A weekend summer ritual for us is walking or biking up to the Clintonville Farmer's Market each week, stopping for Starbucks and picking up some goodies. It's a great way to start Saturday mornings and I simply love the idea of buying produce and other goods from local suppliers. After the long winter months without our local Market, I was so happy to welcome the tents back to High Street this morning.

As it's still early in the season, this week's Market featured sprouts and seedlings as well as a couple of early produce choices (greens and asparagus). I didn't know about the Sprout Sale last year, but this year I was really excited to take part. It is great to know where my seedlings came from and how they were produced. Also, I think the sale was a bargain - for about $30 we bought five different varieties of heirloom tomato plants, a sweet pepper seedling, basil and tarragon plants, a bag of organic fertilizer and my favorite purchase of the day: two hanging baskets of green beans (one is for my parent's house).

In other garden news: our lettuce is just about to the point where we should be thinning it out, there is one healthy volunteer fennel plant and I threw down a few more seeds to even out that row. The grape vine we are foster-parenting for our friends Jacqui and Brad is starting to come back nicely (would have felt bad if we would have offed that guy).

A Bet I'll Take

I've enjoyed reading, thinking on and talking about Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma and An Eater's Manifesto, so when this article was forwarded to me earlier in the week, I took the time to read it. And it did take some time to digest it it, but it's worth the read.

Most of what Pollan's work takes a little bit to read (less so with Eater's Manifesto as opposed to Omnivore's Dilemma). Writing style is one of the reasons why Pollan isn't a quick read, subject matter is another. The nutrition and food chain mess we have gotten ourselves into doesn't have a quick explanation or an easy solution.

However in this latest article, Pollan talks about the simple act of planting a garden. The task of producing some of your own food puts the industrial food chain into a new light. It's also one small part we can take to deter climate change. Plus, it helps with the recent high prices at the grocery store.

Ever since we have had this house, we've had a garden and have found it to be really rewarding.
Currently our lettuce is in the micro form, we have a few seedlings of volunteer fennel from last year and we put peas in this afternoon. Later we'll add tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and peppers. It's not a big garden, but it will help a little with the grocery bill. And it will connect us more to our yard and the earth.