How Green is My Garden

Garden Salad

fannneee — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:32:08 +0000

I ate mostly from my garden tonight and OMG it was soooo good. I traded a neighbor some of my eggs for some grapefruit. I made a salad with my own lettuce, carrots, and beets. I used a grapefruit, some Gorgonzola and I baked some pecans with molasses for the top. It was much better than I ever expected. Next time I will plan ahead and do my pecans different but they were OK in a pinch. I didn’t even need dressing. I just used the grapefruit juice created when I cut it up.

On the planting front, we rented a large cork screw to finish the holes for the trees. All the rose bushes are in. The grapefruit, lemon and a fig tree are all in. If it doesn’t rain again tomorrow I will get 2 or three more in.

On the chicken front, I am having real bad luck receiving live day old chicks.

New Rule

fannneee — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 04:30:38 +0000

No buying anymore plants until I plant what I have.

I went to buy some fruit trees and couldn’t resist these:

: French lace: Delicate buds are outlined in ivory to light apricot, opening to classic white blooms.

Peace: The world’s most beloved hybrid tea, named the day Berlin fell to the Allies. Huge, radiant yellow blooms are edged in pink and sweetly perfumed.

: Chrysler Imperial: The velvety maroon buds of this classic open to large perky scarlet blooms. Won the Gamble Medal for fragrance.

Windemere: Over 80 petals are placed into each quartered, pure cream flower. As they unfurl, the blooms release a fruity essence zested with grapefruit overtones.

Voodoo: Large profile blooms that are a blend of yellow peach and deep orange.

I am not a rose bush person but I am a cut roses in the house person.

This is where they are going. It has taken me 4 days so far and I am not done. I have a combination of clay and decomposed granite. It is to the point that I am using a pickaxe.

I may go rent something to bore a hole in the ground.

So, I did buy some fruit trees, then some berries and some flax.

There is an apple, apricot, pomegranate, and fig here.

I bought a Grapefruit too, it is going here:

Because here is in the middle of the citrus trees.

Here are my boysenberry canes and blueberry bareroot

I’m not sure where to put these yet. Where I would like to put them is too close where the chickens roam when I let them free range and I’ve already seen what they do to a rose bush over there.

I’m trying to get my vegetable seeds started too. Busy Busy

Thank you Neighbors

fannneee — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 05:05:25 +0000

Saturday was one of the greatest gardening days ever. No neighbor had to mow or whack, chip or share their music with me and no dogs needed to bark. It was just me, the plants, the dirt and the birds. Life doesn’t get better than that.

Almost all my seeds are here. Six packs are being cleaned and filled with soil. I am trying soil again. I wanted to use a soil-less mix but the only place that has organic is an hour and a 1/4 tank of gas away. I am also trying chamomile tea and cinnamon to discourage damping off.

Ready to eat I have peas,

onions, carrots, beets,

lettuce,

swisschard and collards.

Happy Inauguration Day

fannneee — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 21:40:53 +0000

Halle fricken lujah

INAUGURAL EVENT

fannneee — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 21:12:07 +0000

I am watching the inaugural event. “We are One” Wow. I keep having to wipe away the tears. Could this many people that jumped at the chance to be apart of this historic time be wrong? I hope not. From Mlive.com

“On that first day, we asked Springsteen, Bono and Garth Brooks within a period of 45 minutes and got three `yeses,’…The artists won’t be performing their big hits, but will be asked to perform material appropriate to the occasion. One musician will be asked to perform “A Change Is Gonna Come,” the song made famous by Sam Cooke.

Springsteen will perform “The Rising,” Stevens said.”

Oh, gotta go the man himself is going to speak. I forgot my bingo card. Crap

Next up some more unbelievableness Pete Seeger with Springsteen, “This Land is Your Land.”

Now Beyonce. She’s been talking about wanting to do this since Barack won. She’s singing America the Beautiful beautifully. And here come all the performers to sing too. I’m gonna have to catch the rebroadcast, I caught it an hour in.

Barack and Michelle are shaking hands with some of the performers.

Oh good, its over, I can get something done and dry my eyes before the rebroadcast.

Hoping to Reap What I Sow

fannneee — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:48:50 +0000

I ordered my seeds last night

Beans:

Good Mother Stallard
Hidatsa Shield Figure
Hutterite Soup
Rattlesnake Snap
Ireland Creek Annie

Corn

Country Gentleman

Cucumber

Telegraph Improved

Melon

Golden Jenny
Bidwell Casaba
Charentais

Pepper

Jimmy Nardello

Spinach

Bloomsdale

Tomato

Arkansas Traveler

Watermelon

Wilson’s Sweet

I had three catalogs

Baker Creek
Seed Savers
Bountiful Gardens

There were so many selections that I used a database to compare and select. I used flavor, productivity, whether they grow in heat and whether they were organic or not as the criteria. I think a couple are wishful thinking but hey it could happen.

I also ordered a bunch of flower seeds I couldn’t resist in the momentum of ordering seeds.

I have lots of left over seeds from the last two seasons that I hope will still germinate. I used some this fall and they worked. And, I saved seeds from my earliest and best Black Krim and Cherokee Purple tomatoes last season and an unidentified melon that was delicious.

I was going to go to the nursery this morning and get organic non soil seed starter but I feel compelled to use camomile tea or cinnamon or some other recipe from the interwebs to discourage damping off. I think it is the guilt about ordering the flowers. It is so hard to control yourself when ordering seeds.

Okay off brew chamomile tea, get the cinnamon, and clean my six packs and planting tools in a diluted bleach solution. I bet that is not organic, but what to do?

(Oh crap gotta go look for my Pontiac red potatoes to order)

Look What the Wind Blew in

fannneee — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:50:17 +0000

We had Santa Ana winds on friday and they blew these in

They weren’t from my naked tree

I’m always looking for more things to add to my compost pile. These were big enough to just pick up without getting other things like eucatlyptus leaves in the mix.

On top of that we have had temperatures in the seventies since last Wednesday and 81 degrees today. I’m starting my tomato and pepper seeds in starter pots tomorrow.

Rockin n Rollin

fannneee — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:18:27 +0000

There was a whole lot of shakin goin on last night here at chez green garden. The dogs lost thier collective minds.

Sophie lusting after someones foood

Soph recovered nicely,

Iz listening to bird calls on NPR

But Iz was a bowl of jello the rest of the night.

Me? It got my attention enough to get up and move away from the window. I don’t panic anymore unless it starts off with a slam or it continues to build in shaking intensity until I lose my mind.

On another note. It is practically hot here, 75 degrees today.

Off Topic

fannneee — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:29:57 +0000

Oh my gosh I just saw Sandra Tsing Loh on PBS. It is so weird to see the people I usually hear on NPR.

On Compost

fannneee — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:21:54 +0000

How can tell you have gone over to the composting dark side? When you are helping your hostess fix a meal and you are trying to figure out how you can take home all the kitchen scraps even though you are a thousand miles from home and won’t be there for a week. Or when you try to sweet talk your husband into filling your truck bed with seaweed on a beach trip.

My first try at composting was a pile of horse poo from a neighbor and my gardening waste in a pile on the ground. There are people that compost successfully like that. But, it became obvious that I was not going to have enough green stuff for my pile on a regular basis. I don’t have a lawn and I am pretty sure all of my neigbors use pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers on thiers. The pile was hard to keep damp, I was worried about what medicines the horse was given, and the pile took a long time to break down and I am not that patient.

For my second attempt I dug a hole in the ground into which I put my kitchen scraps covered by some left over hay from the goat enclosure, with some worms and a little dirt. This was easier to keep damp, broke down much faster and was useable in a few months. I dug another hole next to it so that I could stop adding to a pile at some point, let it finish up decomposing and still have a place to put new kitchen scraps.

I am in the process of digging out this pile and using it. I discard the eucalytus leaves that inadverdantley get into the pile

One day happened upon a plastic compost bin at a big box hardware for 60% off so I bought it. (Many municipalities offer bins for very reasonable prices)

I do the kitchen scrap left over hay method in this box too, with some other odds and ends like dryer lint, my hair, dog hair and chicken poo.

I have started to use my garden waste again in the holes I dug because I have the quicker compost so I now have a total of 3 piles going at any one time.

This is my little covered bowl I put under the sink for kitchen scraps. Larger would be better but it is what I have for now.

Compost bowl, the lid is in the lower right

The moral of my story is that you do need a combination of greens and browns but everyone has to figure out thier own ideal compost recipe depending on thier personal organic principals and what they have on hand.

My next stop on the garden path? Vermicomposting. I’ve started. That will be another post.