Category Archives: gardening
edible produce, that is. a learning process.
springing up in the fall
because i have been away so much for business for the past few months, i have sort of let the garden do what it wants in my absence. oh, i peek at it when i’m home and yank a few rogue weeds, but the rain has been frequent enough for the few fall crops that i put in at the end of august, and i just haven’t had time to “deal with it.”
a few weeks ago i was lazily peering through the window to assess how badly i needed to get up and get my hands dirty. i noticed that the basil bush (yes, it grew to the size of the shrubs in the front yard bed) was in dire need of pruning, with nearly every stem flowering.
feeling tired and overwhelmed, i just shut the blinds and opened a book. a week or so later, i noticed that the wind had blown those flowers (and their seeds) all over the garden. tiny basil sprouts were emerging everywhere, as if it were early spring! at this point i was intrigued by my experiment in loose-rein, free-range gardening, and decided to let them be.
last week i finally resigned myself to the fact that the cold really was creeping in for good and it was time to start the winterizing process. by then i had about 20 little basil seedlings, plus two new clusters of dill!
i decided that these new growths were just the thing to provide my kitchen with fresh herbs through the cold months. because that thick, woody basil tree was definitely not coming inside for the winter. i got a couple dozen small ceramic pots in bright colors to plant them in, and set aside more than half for family, friends, and neighbors. what a fun fall gift!
now i plan to always let my herbs go to seed naturally after they’ve provided a good harvest, to keep new plants always rotating in. i’m sure i’ve overlooked this advice in one of my gardening books, but learning by trial and error is more exciting, right?
absence makes the garden grow faster?
- they’re even crowding onto the walkway
now that i am officially a member of the those-who-garden club, leaving town for a few days holds a whole new dimension.
it’s not just that a friend or neighbor gets recruited to dutifully water the thirsty veggies in OK’s 100 degree summer, although that is one more task on the vacation prep checklist. the real anxiety comes upon our return, when i nervously visualize pest infestation or tomatoes that have been choked out by an errant cuke vine curling tightly around their stem.
while there is typically much critical pruning to be done, i’m often astonished to discover how productive my hardworking plants have been in my absence. last year, after a long weekend on the lake with friends, i came home to find this monster waiting for me. and last week, after and impromptu getaway with lee, i was shocked by several football-sized squash hiding among the foliage.
- july growth
in general, the entire garden had burst into a forest of overgrowth, in the span of six days! maybe it always blooms that quickly and i just don’t notice the change as much when i am monitoring it daily, but wow, what a difference from the last photo shoot!
the homecoming harvest filled several baskets—cucumbers and peppers and tomatoes and okra and zucchini and basil and sage and parsley, oh my! it’s got me thinking about dinner… i see a spicy veggie pignolia pasta…or perhaps a rich moroccan-style risotto. and there’s always pesto or tabbouleh or zucchini bread or a cool bisque… um, gotta go, i hear a few recipe books calling.
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- the best thank you for garden-sitting
plenty to share with the neighbors
pile 'em up for the paring!
the accidental gardener
as i bumble through my third season* as a veggie gardener, i’ve realized i’m still quite the awkward adolescent, making incidental progress in an ungainly manner. it seems i’m finding success through sheer determination, a little good luck, and the blessed resilience of nature rather than skill or knowledge.
we’ve made some progress since last month’s update. the lettuce and chard won’t stop producing, even though i harvest several times a week and it’s well past their season. i’ve also been pretty proud of the cucumber plants and garlic, which have managed to flourish even growing up on the wrong side of the shade and in the corner with poor drainage. the okra and squash are faring well for a late planting, and i have high hopes for the pepper plants that are already producing.
however, i can’t seem to coax any vine up my trellises, ants have set up camp underneath my strawberry pot, and something inexplicably killed off one of my raspberry bushes (in a slow, agonizing way) while the two on either side of it thrive. i’m also pretty sure there’s a disparity in soil nutrients throughout the plot, because one tomato plant is taller than me, while some are stunted below my knee.
although i have a long way to go, i’ve become more adept at tackling the pests. i’d like to be one step ahead of them (prevention mode) rather than chasing them down (frantically scouring reference volumes and web pages for solutions.) like my friend and fellow newbie veggie grower savanah has said, “never before organic gardening would i voluntarily smush dozens of aphids between my fingers.”
my basic defense is finger smashing as well, along with a piping hot (caliente y picante!) “super bug death tea” made from basic pantry supplies and recommended by my bro-in-law (who is also cultivating a small backyard garden with my sister.) i admit i feel a wicked glee pouring the searing fluid down their holes and hills, but i’ve got to protect my babies!
i want to use my new expanded space as efficiently as i possible, so i’ve got to find the balance between crowding and planting too sparsely. i feel like bare dirt just invites weeds.
- lemongrass on the right; on the left, NOT lemongrass
the weeds (mostly misplaced blades of grass) are tricky when they resemble something i’d want to cultivate. i almost harvested a tall sprout growing next to my chives, and came THISCLOSE to actually cooking with bufflao grass thinking it was lemongrass.
even though i know it would help keep out the weeds and prevent loss of precious moisture in the soil, i am still undecided about mulching. i like the versatility of being able to plant and replant without being bound to predetermined rows or sections. i guess i need to decide if i’d rather devote time to mulching or weeding.
a few weeks ago, i took some photos of what i thought was impressive growth in my baby herbs at the time. by the time i got around to uploading the pics, they had burst into the verdant blooms you see below and needed another photo shoot.
(ohmygowthspurts, update: less than a week after i posted this entry, the herb bed looked like this. i guess i’m not the first mama to underestimate how quickly her babies will grow up!)
the mint, basil, sage, and cilantro have taken off faster than i can keep up, while the delicate thyme and dill have finally started to get hardy enough to prune. i have a surplus right now for anyone close by who would like some gorgeous organic herbs or greens.
stay tuned, as you never know if my next clumsy step will produce beautiful fruit or ugly leaf spots.
*that is, unless the standard that defines an official season is based on producing a quantity of edible output. if so, then this technically counts as my second season.
anyone close by who would like some organic herbs or greens, i have a surplus right now.
april showers… check!
even though we’ve been a little water-logged so far this spring, my plants seem to know how to swim and i’m seeing some growth in my newly expanded dirt-patch. the cool weather lettuces i planted early have already been providing yummy contributions to my kitchen, and i’m hoping to get several more harvests out of them to tide me over until my summer greens mature.
- swiss rainbow chard
- cabbage and lettuce
- kale and romaine
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the raspberry bushes are no longer skinny brown sticks, and their teensy sprouts of green leaves are attracting garden-friendly bugs. now that i have some of the summer blooming veggies in place, i have to just be patient for the squash, okra, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and berries to produce.
i’ve got my row of ‘maters and peppers (yes! a whole row this year!) all prepped with the proper support this time. while they do look a bit silly right now playing dress-up in their oversized threads, i’m not risking a reprise of last year’s fate.
- raspberry bush and lady friend
- tomato and pepper potential
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although i’m still debating the “to mulch or not to mulch” question, i think i’ll just keep slopping around in my crocs and follow the advice of my favorite organic farmer at the market: “mulch? if i see a weed i just yank it and leave it lying there to die. i figure if it’s gonna rob my soil of nutrients it should have to stay there and give ‘em back! that’s how i mulch.” well said, bob.
extreme makeover: garden edition
when it became clear that spring was coming early to oklahoma, i was more than ready to get a head start on my “growing green” project. i had already been making lists of supplies i needed and new produce to try this year.
when we built the garden, i thought two 3′x6′ boxes was plenty ambitious for my novice attempt, but i underestimated the thrill of gardening.
after my overcrowded crop last year, i knew that i would need more room if i were to successfully grow all the veggies i wanted to. so when i began outlining plans for this season’s bounty a few months ago, i dreamed of doubling my plot to four boxes. it seemed worth it, but i wondered if i had it in me to relive the battle preparing the soil (er, okie red clay & devil bermuda grass), building boxes, hauling in several tons of dirt, etc.
i needed help, and i knew it. my really-smart-but-not-so-handy husband seemed relieved when i suggested bringing in reinforcements rather than breaking our inexperienced backs with rented equipment again.
although i was reluctant to hand over the garden we had worked so hard to create (and did a pretty good job on, i might add!), i was more infatuated with the thought of an expanded growing space. when dr. greenthumb came over i knew instantly that i would not regret the decision to “outsource.” i didn’t even mind when his vision was a little more creative than mine and included essentially destroying the product of our blood, sweat, and tears. (you may have noticed this shot in the ~OLIOsnippets~ feed recently and thought that i had lost my mind.)
the guys had it done in a day, like magic. and it looks so good! (click on the photos for a larger view.) now i can plant right into the ground, and i even have a little raised section in the back to protect my delicate herbs.
the decorative boulders not only look much prettier than my brick pavers, but they will absolutely keep the grass from encroaching on the borders of the garden. lee doesn’t have to weed-eat inside the fence, yeah!
the trellises are secure enough now that i can actually utilize them for vines, and the compost bin is much more conveniently located near the back door for easy kitchen to compost delivery. (the guys thankfully mixed in the entire batch from last year—one less round of shoveling and raking for me!)
i am giddy to get started, now. this season is going to be a big improvement over the last if i can just apply what i’ve learned. i’ve found a few more sources for good organic seeds and seedlings, and have also made a couple of new gardening buddies to swap advice with.
now, to plant! i have some hardier lettuces and cabbages blooming now, but the tomatoes, peppers, squash and more tender herbs will have to wait a few weeks until we know the weather’s not gonna pull a fast one on us. (i’m pretty sure my over-eagerness to get something in the ground will have me struggling with a protective tarp in the freezing cold if the snow comes again like they say it might.)
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so here’s to fresh greens on st. patti’s day (happy birthday, mom)!
growing green gaffes
now that the intense summer heat is waning and the weather is slightly more tolerable, it’s time to start thinking about my fall plantings. which means i spent all afternoon clearing the space where spring/summer veggies once produced and digging in compost to prep for new seedlings. as i begin to plan the layout of my new crop of goodies, let’s take a moment to reflect on the things i have learned from my mistakes (aka, what NOT to do). wait, first, let’s look at what i’m proud of:
yay, produce! i actually had a fruitful garden that offered herbs, kale, spinach, squash and tons of beautiful tomatoes. my bell peppers are coming in nicely now, as well. not too shabby for my first full season!
“i used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, and stand in deep contemplation over my vegetable progeny with a love that nobody could share or conceive of who had never taken part in the process of creation. It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world to observe a hill of beans thrusting aside the soil, or a rose of early peas just peeping forth sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green.“ ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mosses from and Old Manse
now let’s look at the blunders i’ve committed in the garden. may we all glean wisdom from my error. or at least get a good chuckle.
these are photos of my plot a few months ago. this may look impressive at first glance – i was indeed impressed with myself when my patches of dirt burst into green. however, any experienced gardener looking at this right now is just shaking their head in knowing pity.
what you are looking at is the ill-conceived layout of a garden planned by an over-eager novice. this is another area where my personality traits exasperate each other.
as much as i love to extensively research my new hobbies, i am so anxious to do it that i sometimes jump in before i have all the information. like reading the part of the book about spacing between plants.
what you see in the first garden box above is three tomato plants in the center (yes, three) flanked by mint, dill, and cilantro on the left, and basil, parsley and zucchini on the right (all surrounded by edible flowers to make it “pretty”).
what?! first of all, the three tomato plants could fill that whole box themselves, as well as the soon-to-be gargantuan zucchini squash. not to mention the assortment of herbs that soon began to crowd each other, even under the less-than-ideal shade of the plants towering over them.
i had read about “companion plants” that thrive when planted next to each other, which is why i surrounded my tomatoes with mint, dill, parsley and basil. and i knew enough to support the tomato plants, but my lack of proper follow-up led to another faux pas we’ll see later.
on the right in the second garden box you see my broccoli trying to choke out my salad greens and baby pepper plants (all while attracting pests and producing nothing—a real winner).
at least my herb containers were safe. thankfully mother nature can be forgiving, and my plants were still productive enough to provide for my kitchen and plenty to share with others. there was some considerable pruning, to say the least, and probably much more attention needed to pull them through the season. (transplanting seemed a more overwhelming alternative to me.)
so now what do those lovely tomato plants look like? behold the monstrous leaning towers that weighed down their flimsy supports in no time and began their slow tilt outwards. too cheap to buy cages at first, i just kept adding more of the bamboo sticks and twine (vaguely visible in the photo) until cages were no longer an option. i figure i’ll have to cough up the dough for some trellises now, although i’m sure other homemade techniques are possible. lesson learned.
p.s. you can see my pretty pepper plants in the background. and those started as seeds from a pepper i bought to eat!
