seedling

Fresh Start

2009-05-28T15:02:00.007-04:00

Usually by this point in the growing season I've got a few posts up. I've fallen a behind a bit, though fortunately not in the garden. We've made some changes, and I'm excited to see how it all shakes out.

For one thing, our little veggie plot is no longer a veggie plot. As I've mentioned before, we share a difference of opinion with our neighborhood stray cats. What's a raised planting bed to us is, unfortunately, a litter box for them. We got a little lazy this winter and didn't cover the plot up. No matter how many cubic square feet of fresh dirt we dump in there, for us that little plot will never be food-safe again. So we now have a cutting garden underway. I'm terrible about cutting my flowers. For as much as I love entering a room and admiring the fruits (or flowers) of our labor, I also love seeing blossoms in their natural habitat. And I never feel as if I have enough to satisfy both desires. Well, by dedicating some dirt to the sole purpose of generating flowers for cutting. And by selecting flowers particularly suited to that purpose. I can have my cake and eat it too. Yay!

Of course, we haven't given up on the idea of veggies. How else are we going to ensure that we'll have lots of tasty low-mileage meals this summer? Upon reading about the fab Brick City Urban Farms in nearby Newark, we're full-on Earth Box gardeners now. Last year we invested in two Earth Boxes and were particularly pleased with our lettuce "crops." As luck would have it, my sister and brother-in-law decided to put in raised planting beds in their spacious yard so we were able to take over their old Earth Boxes. We now have 7 up and running with everything from eggplant to herbs.

Photos to come should the sun ever decide to shine again. Of course if it doesn't, there won't be anything worth photographing anyway.

Morning, Glory

2008-09-01T10:15:00.002-04:00

Since the Mister and I rented our first apartment together, I've always loved this plant. The apartment was in a rather dumpy location– complete with bus depot and train tracks out back. But along this one wire fence someone, most likely years before, had planted Morning Glory. And I was smitten. Being a morning person myself, I admired a plant that got the major part of its work done in the AM.

It was more than 10 years later before I had my own house and yard. And one of the first things I was determined to do was plant Morning Glory, though many advised against it. It will take over the place, they warned. And it has. It's been two seasons since I've even bothered putting seed down. This year one window box has been completely engulfed by the stuff. But it's the end of the season. Not much else is blooming or looking very pretty so I'm glad I have my Morning Glory.

One Local Summer, Week 13: Crab Cakes

2008-09-01T09:31:00.004-04:00

Well this is it, the end of the OLS Challenge. I've enjoyed being a Mid-Atlantic coordinator and am appreciative of Farm to Philly for hosting the event this year. I'd say it was a resounding success. This week's meal consisted of crab cakes, a favorite around here, with CSA swiss chard, squash and potatoes on the side. I also made a salad of our own-grown tomatoes with CSA basil and fresh mozzarella from our local Italian shop.

Reflecting back on the season I am proud of the meals we've made. But there has been a lot more local eating going on here than documented on the blog. Each week I made sure there was always one official meal. And yet because we're committed to keeping our food mileage low, our kitchen has been very well-stocked with local goodness this summer. This has meant Jersey fruit on our cereal. And home-grown tomato sandwiches at lunch. Plus our freezer is stocked with strawberries, green beans and snap peas, spinach, pesto, tomato sauce and watermelon. Summer goodness that will be a welcome taste come winter.

And now that I have a daughter joining us at the table, the stakes are higher and my food choices matter that much more. This summer I watched her taste her first Jersey blueberries, peaches and nectarines– flavors she'll come to look forward to each summer. She gobbled up Jersey potatoes, beets and squash and delighted at discovering the tiny peas hidden inside each string bean pod. She's been slow to warm up to tomatoes, but I can see she's coming around. This is how I want it to be for her. For her to experience food at its very best and appreciate all that it represents. I want her to learn to savor every bite when in the thick of the season so that she also knows the pleasure of waiting, of going without and anticipating the turning of the seasons again. To me that's truly tasting, enjoying and respecting your food.

One Local Summer, Week 12: Steak Frites

2008-08-24T20:25:00.004-04:00

This week we were able to create a favorite meal using only local ingredients. With pasture-fed beef from our local meat source and fingerling potatoes from our CSA we were on our way to a bistro classic. The steak was simply grilled then seasoned with salt and pepper. Nothing else was required, and it was divine. I sliced the potatoes, tossed them in some olive oil along with salt, pepper and some of our own rosemary then roasted them in the oven until they crisped up nicely. As good as fries, if not better. Our CSA also supplied some swiss chard which I steamed and some grape tomatoes which I tossed with some olive oil and herbs from our garden.

Though our meal was inspired by France, it didn't seem right to open a bottle of vin rouge. And we didn't have to. Instead we enjoyed a beautiful bottle of Finger Lakes' Merlot which complimented our meal perfectly without adding significantly to its overall mileage.

You say tomato...

2008-08-22T13:57:00.005-04:00

We're having a lackluster tomato season it seems. We are getting tomatoes. Almost every day now I'm picking a few off the vines. But the vines themselves seem a little sickly, and for every red, ripe tomato I'm picking, there are tons more green ones left behind. Green tomatoes that don't seem to be going anywhere. Many have even shrunken and dropped. So much potential, wasted.

This picture here is the perfect example of what I mean. There's the beautiful red ripe tomato. Then there are its two companions: underripe, undernourished and underwhelming. Oh well.

We even ripped some plants out. The ones that obviously weren't going to make it. And in their place we planted lettuce. By the looks of things here, we're going into the lettuce business.

I'll be thinning things out this weekend. A job I loathe.

One Local Summer, Week 11: Eggplant

2008-08-17T10:24:00.004-04:00

This week our box from the farm came with two eggplants. I peeled and sliced them up. Salted them to get the water out. Then dredged the slices in flour and lightly fried each one. Next I made a quick tomato sauce using CSA onions and garlic, plus a mix of our own tomatoes plus some from the farm. Finally I layered up the sauce, fried eggplant and slices of fresh mozzarella from our local Italian shop. This went into a hot oven until all was steamy and bubbly. It was a definite favorite. If I get more eggplant this week I believe I'll just have to do it all over again.

One Local Summer, Week 10: Sausage + Peppers

2008-08-10T08:44:00.003-04:00

Week 10 already. Hard to believe. And I've gotten to that point in the season where I can't seem to manage to post anything but OLS updates. The garden is pretty much taking care of itself. The first tomato of the season came and went without any fanfare. Often when I find myself with the time to document something the sun has already set or it's raining.

But the meals keep on coming. This week we enjoyed a classic: sausage and peppers. Fresh tomato sauce from our CSA tomatoes. Onions and peppers also from the CSA. Sausage from our local meat source. Bread from NYC's Sullivan Street Bakery. And fresh mozzarella made by our neighborhood Italian deli.

One Local Summer, Week 9: Fresh Tomato Sauce

2008-08-03T22:09:00.005-04:00

If I had to choose a favorite meal, this might be it. Fresh tomato sauce. I could live on it all summer long.

We came home late one evening from a family picnic still a little hungry. As we rooted around the fridge for something to take the edge off, I realized that with just a little extra effort we could do better than that. A drizzle of oil in the pan. Some onions. Garlic. Tomatoes (of course). And basil. All from our CSA. And we had ourselves the freshest, tastiest, late-night supper ever. We served it over angel hair from our favorite Brooklyn pasta source. And it wasn't until midway through the meal that I realized I had myself an OLS submission.

One Local Summer, Week 8: Potatoes

2008-07-27T19:46:00.008-04:00

Much to my delight, this week's CSA box contained red-skinned potatoes. I am a staunch believer that potatoes benefit from the freshness factor. Granted they have a long shelf-life, and I love them for that too. But a potato newly plucked from the earth is a different animal (or vegetable) than one that's languished in storage. So to celebrate the kick-off of potato season I sliced ours, drizzled them with oil and seasoned them with salt, pepper and some springs of our own-grown rosemary. Then I wrapped them in foil and cooked them on the grill. Delicious.

To accompany our taters I defrosted some Cape May scallops from the freezer. In the early weeks of the OLS challenge I came across some at our local Whole Foods. Knowing you can never have too much of a good thing, I bought extra for freezing. I browned some butter, added some sage from the garden then seared the scallops until they were caramel-colored on all sides. Also delicious. We served them with CSA beets, another favorite in this household.

And if that wasn't enough, in an effort make good use of some of our other CSA goodies, the Mister whipped up some gazpacho. Tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic and green pepper pureed perfectly into soup. I enjoyed a bowl almost every day this week. Freshness personified. So crisp and cool and such a welcome antidote to the steamy weather. That's a dollop of Pennsylvania-made yogurt on top, sprinkled with our own chives.

Echinacea

2008-07-25T16:42:00.004-04:00

My cone flowers are in full bloom, and they seem to have attracted the attention of a certain yellow butterfly.

At this time last year I was in the home stretch of my pregnancy. On the morning we were heading off to the hospital my neighbor came out to wish us well. Maybe because we seemed a little nervous, she also took the opportunity to mention that she saw a yellow butterfly in our garden just the day before. She said she thought it was a good sign.

Our daughter was born that evening. Our neighbor still calls her "little butterfly."

I'm so glad to finally make its acquaintance.

One Local Summer, Week 7: Pesto

2008-07-20T12:59:00.002-04:00

This week our box from the CSA held lots of basil, along with some garlic and a handful of plum tomatoes. I could think of nothing else but pesto. I stopped by our local farmer's market to supplement the basil– it's always worth it to make as much as possible. It freezes well and is a welcome mid-winter meal. I served it over angel hair pasta from our favorite Italian shop in Brooklyn. I found many other uses for it throughout the week as well. Non-local ingredients included olive oil, Romano cheese and nuts.

Red Hot?

2008-07-19T12:10:00.002-04:00

So our poblanos are on their way. This one seemed to go from green to this lipstick-red color almost over night. My research has revealed that poblanos do indeed mature to red. This surprises me as my experience with poblanos (as in chiles rellenos) led me to believe I'd be getting a larger, dark green pepper. I'm finding images of both my smaller red version as well as the green version I know on the Web. Anyone care to shed some light on the issue?

One Local Summer, Week 6: Pizza!

2008-07-13T18:53:00.003-04:00

Taking inspiration from some of my fellow OLS participants, I decided to grill up some pizza this week. I became even more inclined after discovering a pint of frozen tomato sauce in my freezer. I thought I had already used up last year's bounty, but fortunately I had not. I sliced up some locally made mozzarella. Then topped it all with some CSA radicchio and basil. I love what radicchio brings to a pizza– both in terms of flavor and texture. Its sharp bitterness plays off of the sweetness of the tomato while its crisp crunchiness is a foil for the melted cheese. And it just looks so darn good piled up on top...

One Local Summer, Week 5: Crab Cakes

2008-07-06T08:05:00.003-04:00

I know Maryland likes to claim them, but Jersey has their version too. These crab cakes were available (previously frozen) at my local Whole Foods. I'm having quite the OLS seafood streak, and you'll hear no complaints here. It's been a delicious way to keep our eating close to home.

The photo hardly does it justice, I was rushing against failing light and hungry bellies to get it done. I replicated the basil/garlic scape pesto I had made the week before and served that over some ravioli from our local Italian shop. CSA swiss chard and lettuce completed what was a very green meal.

Potential, part 2

2008-07-03T12:01:00.006-04:00

Awhile back I wrote about and documented some flowers in my garden that were on the brink of blooming. Today I wandered around the veggie patch with much the same intent.

Mmmm. Tomatoes. Hard to imagine how those delicate yellow blossoms will ultimately yield such weighty fruit. Even the branches seem hardly prepared for the burden they will bear...

These peppers are a first for me. I'd say so far so good. I almost want to pick them now, but I have to wait for the color to deepen and the fruit to fatten.

This is our second go-round for zucchini. Our first attempt was a resounding failure so as I look at these gorgeous blossoms I feel it's decision time. Do we cut our losses, harvest the blossoms and enjoy them stuffed with cheese and lightly fried? Or do we keep the faith and hold on just a little longer...

One Local Summer, Week 4: Atlantic Cod

2008-06-29T10:05:00.010-04:00

Eating local is becoming a family affair here at chez Seedling. Our 10-month-old daughter's food repertoire is expanding which for us means she can join the challenge. Here she is enjoying some local cod, home-grown swiss chard and CSA broccoli. The kidney beans were the only non-local element of her meal. She practically cleared her plate,
or, in this case, tray.

Our version was a little fancier. We had planned on grilling the cod, but the weather foiled that plan; so instead we broiled it. I improvised a pesto by processing together some basil and garlic scapes from our CSA along with some non-local olive oil. Very tasty, and I made enough so that I was able to use it again later in the week in a pasta salad. The scapes impart a flavor that's definitely reminiscent of garlic, but there's also a quality that's fresher, greener, more like a scallion or chives. The end result was broiled cod on a bed of non-local quinoa and sauteed, home-grown chard, topped with pesto and sauteed CSA zucchini. I'm not a huge fan of cod and this meal didn't necessarily change that for me. Though I did thoroughly enjoy everything else. We toasted our OLS meal with a glass of chardonnay from the Finger Lakes region of New York.

Lil(l)y

2008-06-26T10:44:00.004-04:00

This cala lily was given to me last summer on the occasion of the birth of our daughter whose middle name just happens to be Lilly. Upon my mother's suggestion I wintered the bulb along with my dahlias in the basement. I planted them all this spring. The dahlias are also just beginning to open. I pass by this lily every day and am struck by how quickly this year is passing. Flowers and babies are such nice ways to mark time.

Abutilon

2008-06-24T09:35:00.003-04:00

A gift from my sister, this plant is a new favorite. Otherwise known as a flowering maple, there's just so much to love about it. First, those leaves. I just love speckled, variegated leaves and these are almost snakeskin like in their texture. Then that blossom. I love its bell shape, the crepe-paper quality to the petals and that beautiful apricot color. I hope to winter it over indoors because this one's a keeper.

One Local Summer, Week 3: Cape May Scallops

2008-06-22T09:27:00.002-04:00

Back-to-back OLS posts as we're just returning from vacation. I wasn't able to blog, but at least I was able to keep up with my local eating...

Anyway, as I've mentioned before, I've noticed a big difference in terms of what local ingredients I'm able to find at my grocery store when comparing this year to last. Whereas before I'd have to do most, if not all, the legwork myself: signing up for a CSA, plus growing my own veggies, and searching the Internet then traveling the state in pursuit of local meat and cheese. Now, in pinch, I know I can find most of what I need at my local Whole Foods. Granted this is Whole Foods. And a lot of what they're doing, I believe, is in response to Michael Pollen's Omnivore's Dilemma and subsequent discussions the CEO had with Pollen. But that's OK by me. And don't get me wrong, I still belong to my CSA, still grow my own herbs and veggies and still prefer to make the trip to meet the people who make my food. But when I was shopping this week I was thrilled to see Jersey scallops in the seafood aisle. And since the nearest shore point for me is still an hour away, this was my moment.

For our local meal we enjoyed Cape May sea scallops sauteed with CSA-grown arugula and home-grown sage. This was served over pasta from one of our favorite pasta-makers in Brooklyn. We grew the lettuce for our salad and baked the bread. I didn't use seasoning beyond salt and pepper (didn't have to), and I used Vermont butter rather than olive oil to keep everything as local as possible. Would love to find a Jersey butter source, but haven't so far.

One Local Summer, Week 2: Strawberry & Sirloin Salad

2008-06-14T10:08:00.004-04:00

After coming into a healthy inheritance of strawberries, the challenge for me this week was to make sure nothing went to waste. As I said in my previous post, much of our bounty I froze. What remained was enjoyed thoroughly including this delicious salad. We started with lettuce, something else we have in spades right now thanks to our CSA and our own garden patch. Then we tossed in some CSA radishes and snap peas. We grilled up some more Jersey asparagus from our local supermarket. And sliced up a generous helping of strawberries. At the center of this hearty salad was some grilled, grass-fed sirloin steak. A few times throughout the year we make a point to visit Simply Grazin' farm so we can stock our freezer with local meat. Theirs is out-of-this-world delicious. The dressing was seasoned with our own-grown chives and rosemary. The oil, vingear, salt and pepper were the only non-local ingredients.

P-Y-O

2008-06-12T10:30:00.006-04:00

We belong to Honeybrook Organic CSA. For us a CSA is a great option since we can only grow so much on our small plot. In our first distribution we enjoyed seven heads of lettuce. Seven heads! We couldn't come near that. Granted it was a challenge to find uses for that much lettuce, but between neighbors, friends and family and our own love of salad we made short work of that task.

And I love leaving my veggie decisions in the hands of a farmer. Who better qualified? Each week's box holds such mystery and promise– will it be chard? Arugula? Peas? Or, if we're lucky, strawberries! It has been strawberries for the past few weeks. Plus as members of the farm, we're free to avail ourselves of the pick-your-own crops. One hot and steamy Saturday afternoon we headed down to pick quart after quart of strawberries. Much of it I froze, I'll thank myself for that short investment of time come winter. Some of it became ice cream. And the rest has made breakfast a little sweeter this week. I thought my fingers might remain forever strawberry-colored. But they've recovered.

One Local Summer, Week 1: Frittata

2008-06-08T15:09:00.009-04:00

It's hard to believe it's that time of year again. But then again, with the sudden onslaught of heat and humidity, it really isn't that hard to believe at all. The first few weeks of OLS are always the most challenging.

Seconded only by the last few weeks. With less to work with in the pantry, it's hard to create a truly local meal that doesn't leave you hungry. That's where the frittata comes in.

Eggs, a little water and a few swift turns of the whisk and you have a meal. A hot cast iron pan and whatever veggies and herbs you have on hand. . . and your work is done.

Our local Farmer's Market doesn't start up until July so I'm glad I've got the CSA to fall back on. They provided the lettuce for our salad this week. We got SEVEN heads in our first distribution in addition to other treats, plus our own garden plot is brimming with greens. We're up to our ears in lettuce. The asparagus is Jersey born and bred, and I'm happy to report that I found it in our local supermarket. Slowly, but surely, locally grown veggies are appearing in the produce aisle. It's great to see.

My sister supplies me with eggs. Her part of Jersey is more farm-centric, so when OLS rolls around, she picks them up for me. Sadly I'm not able to find Jersey eggs in my own neighborhood stores.

So, behold, the frittata with asparagus and our own-grown sage. Served with a green salad on the side and a loaf of our home-baked bread. . .

It's not coincidence, then, that I ended last year's OLS challenge with a frittata, and now I'm kicking off this year's with one as well. It's one of the most straightforward ways to enjoy fresh-from-the-farm flavors, even when your options are limited. It's proof that eating local needn't be a complicated undertaking. In fact, at its essence it's about enjoying flavors at the absolute peak of freshness (no ripening in the back of an eighteen-wheeler). And to do that you need to do very little which is one of my favorite parts about eating local.

Don't just take my word for it. Read what other locavores are savoring this week...

In Bloom

2008-05-30T11:17:00.002-04:00

Very busy and very happy to see that the perennials are doing what they do best. I haven't done a thing to this particular garden this year, and I'm happy to see that I don't have to. This is why perennials are so worth it. Once they're settled in and established, they truly take care of themselves. And with time being of the essence these days, I so appreciate that!

Spring Cleaning

2008-05-20T07:22:00.008-04:00

This weekend we made a big push to get the garden in order. It's always this particular time in May that sees us scrambling to get everything potted up or in the ground. Calendar-wise our town's garden club plant sale always takes place in the days leading up to Mother's Day. It's a good cause and they've always got a great selection– it's hard not to do some damage. So I always return with a trunk full of green things in need of a home in my already over-stuffed garden. This year I picked up some hosta (the Mister is so pleased after last year's debacle trying to grow it from seed,) a sedum, some lavender, various herbs and veggies, and some portulaca, cosmos and oxalis for our window boxes. This is the first year I feel somewhat confident about my window box selections. For the first time I've made my choices based on my own personal experience rather than gut. Finally I've actually got some experience to draw upon!

To further complicate things, by this time of year the greenhouse inevitably becomes less hospitable. White fly takes over. Making the trip to check in and water is a hassle. Everything is leggy, overgrown and ready to come home. So all the coleus I'd been wintering over is home again as well. Slowly we're beginning to find some order.

Potential

2008-05-14T12:19:00.008-04:00

I love lupin. The cool star-shaped leaves. And crazy cone-shape blossoms. It blooms from the bottom up, the color slowly climbing higher each day. It's like a natural thermometer marking our daily progress toward warmer weather.

This daisy-to-be is quite deceptive. Inside that tiny little bundle sleeps all those petals, rows and rows of "loves me, loves me not."

And this rose is an even more efficient packer. When it blooms, it'll be like a magician pulling an endless trail of scarves from his sleeve.

Perrenial Favorites

2008-05-06T07:16:00.008-04:00

This is the time of year is all about reuniting with my perrenials. There's the thrill of seeing who's returned. More than that, there's the thrill of seeing which plants are really succeeding.

Take for example our Star of Bethlehem plant. It came to our garden, via another's garden, two years ago right about the time I was starting this blog. I reported on how unpromising its prospects looked.

Then last year I was tickled to discover that it indeed found our little plot worthy of its roots. It not only returned, but also graced us with a few flowers.

And now, be it ever so humble, this year it's decided there's no place like our garden.

I can hardly wait to see what next year will bring.

Baby Lettuce

2008-04-17T13:28:00.003-04:00

This would make some salad. Anyway, it's probably worth holding out a bit. But at least we're on our way!

The cruelest month?

2008-04-01T15:57:00.017-04:00

And so it begins. . .

The crocus and daffodils are up. . .

And the first of our seeds are in.

We're planting a variety of lettuce... May Queen, Rouge d'Hiver, Speckled, plus some spinach and swiss chard. Ideally we would have liked to have gotten the seeds in a week or so ago, but as usual we're behind schedule. This year is different, though. I'm home with our baby so my gardening time is no longer relegated to the weekends and whatever I can accomplish racing against the sun post commute. However, now I find myself racing to make the most of an unpredictable nap schedule so whether I actually achieve more gardening remains to be seen. So this afternoon did not find me lovingly placing each seed in its cozy waiting hole, but instead scattering them willy nilly. Though quicker now, I do realize that this will be more time consuming in the end as I'll have to thin everything out. But I'll deal with it then which has been my approach with most things as of late. Meanwhile I've got the promise of May salads to keep me going.

One Local Summer: Week Ten

2007-09-02T09:51:00.000-04:00

Hard to believe this is the last week of One Local Summer. Not only has local eating sustained us this summer, posting about our meals has also sustained this blog. With a new baby in the house, I must admit my garden is so overgrown and neglected, it's far from blog-worthy. Without our local meals, this blog would have gone the way of our garden.

More than material for blogging, we've enjoyed getting to know our local foodshed. Though the challenge may end here, we've got the know-how we need to keep eating locally, at least on some level. And the incentive, too, because meals made from mostly local ingredients are by far the tastiest.

So, for our final meal I made a simple frittata. All summer long I was hoping to get my hands on some local eggs. My sister, who lives in a more farm-friendly part of the state, came through for us. And I must say, having never tasted a farm-fresh egg before... wow.

With squash from our CSA, basil grown in our own back yard and locally made mozzarella we were able to cobble together a simple, yet delicious meal.

Get a taste of what others are cooking up locally. . .

One Local Summer: Week Eight

2007-08-19T17:42:00.001-04:00

We've been impatiently waiting for our tomatoes to ripen. Since we don't have a lot of space to dedicate to vegetable gardening, we have to be very selective about what we grow. This year we decided to specialize; we planted only tomatoes. And this week we were finally able to enjoy our first harvest. The beauty of a fresh-from-the-vine tomato is that it requires so little fuss. Perfect for us as our newborn requires much fuss.

Our CSA provided the basil, garlic and onions. The pasta was locally made. And the tomatoes are all ours. It simply doesn't get any better than fresh sauce.

One Local Summer: Week Seven

2007-08-12T13:37:00.000-04:00

This is actually our meal from week six. The explanation for my delayed post and lack of week-seven meal will follow. First let me start with the food. We were pleased to see that we were able to "localize" one of our favorite pork recipes. The chops (courtesy of Simply Grazin' Farm again) are rubbed with (non-local) fennel seeds, salt and pepper. Grilled. Then served with a vinaigrette made from pureed green onions, honey, sage, lemon juice and olive oil. Aside from the lemon juice and olive oil, all the other ingredients were Jersey fresh. Patty pan squash and red potatoes from our CSA rounded out the meal.

This was a meal that turned out to be the calm before the storm. Just a few hours after enjoying it, I proceeded to go into labor (one week early!). Our baby daughter was born the next evening. Our new life hasn't much room for blogging let alone full-on local meals. However, we're still enjoying as much fresh-from the farm produce as we can, when we can find the time to stop and eat!

Get a taste of what others are cooking up locally. . .

Gone Fishing

2007-08-12T13:24:00.000-04:00

Metaphorically speaking.
With our first tomato harvest in, I'm happily plotting a week's worth of meals from tomato sandwiches to fresh-from-the-vine sauce spiked with basil to whatever else we dream up.
Hard to believe we went from saving seeds from last year's harvest to planting seeds in the greenhouse to transplanting seedlings to the garden to this.

One Local Summer: Week Five

2007-07-29T16:36:00.001-04:00

The Mister gets all the credit for this week's contribution: our variation on eggplant parmesan. With local tomatoes, eggplant and onions readily available, it all came together fairly easily. The grocery store stocks locally made fresh mozzarella and rolls. The CSA is continuing to keep us in salad greens. And we're more than happy to take full advantage of all the Jersey corn that's out there right now.

Get a taste of what others are cooking up locally. . .

One Local Summer: Week Four

2007-07-22T14:06:00.001-04:00

A trip to our old neighborhood in Brooklyn enabled us to stock up on pasta from one of our favorite Italian specialty shops, Caputo's. Much of what they sell they make themselves, and for us it's always worth the trip back. As far as the crow flies, it's a mere 12 miles away. Of course those can be 12 very traffic-clogged miles. Fortunately this time around it was a breeze.

We also decided it was time to break out the pasture-fed steak we had been storing in our freezer. Simply Grazin' Farm, our local meat source, specializes in pasture-fed beef and though we've had some experience with it, we're still very green when it comes the preparation of this particular kind of beef. As opposed to the corn-fed, industrialized beef found in most grocery stores, pasture-fed beef is much leaner and not as marbled. That fat and marbling benefits the steak as it cooks, tenderizing it and giving it moisture. So when cooking a pasture-fed steak, you got to work fast and hot. The meat basically gets seared over high heat so that the flavor is preserved and the texture isn't compromised by over-cooking. I'm happy to report that the Mister did an expert job at the grill. This steak was truly one of the best I've ever tasted. . .
The pasta was tossed with local zucchini, spring onions and garlic scapes from our CSA and some home-grown herbs. The salad came courtesy of our CSA.

Green Thumb Sunday

2007-07-22T13:52:00.000-04:00

It's great when our plants can look pretty or produce something tasty and edible. It's a further bonus if they can help us in our quest for more privacy. It's in fact a rare thing when one plant is able to deliver on all three, so we're particularly pleased with our sunflowers this year. They're gorgeous. They'll produce a wealth of tasty seeds. And instead of my neighbor's house, we get to look out on this...

Visit more gardens. . .

Progress Report: Tomatoes

2007-07-22T13:45:00.001-04:00

They're definitely getting bigger. The question is when will they start getting riper and redder? They're on their way for sure, but it's hard not to be impatient. We're considering stripping some of the leaves to allow more light to filter in. Has anyone out there had any success with that technique?

One Local Summer: Week Three

2007-07-15T18:02:00.000-04:00

This week's contribution was enjoyed on Friday. Local zucchini has been abundant lately, so once again we took full advantage. We sautéed it up with some of our own home-grown basil.

As for the centerpiece of the meal, we opted for chicken on the grill again. This time around, the bird came from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. We grilled it, then seasoned it with our own rosemary along with some baby onions from our CSA. The mushroom/amaranth combo we cooked up for our first meal definitely bore repeating, especially since our CSA has been keeping us in amaranth. The mushrooms again came from Pennsylvania. A salad of CSA lettuce rounded it all out. . .

One of the challenges of eating locally for me has been to achieve variety when most of the ingredients I'm working with are the same. So far this hasn't been a problem as we're always happy to repeat a successful meal, but at the same time I'd love to be able to experiment more. Our particular "foodshed" is somewhat limited. Ironic for the Garden State, no doubt. As the season wears on, I'm sure I'll get my hands on a greater variety of produce. I'm hoping for enough to be able to make a meat-free meal. At the moment, I just don't have enough stuff to work with to feel I can produce a wholly substantial vegetarian meal.

Dahlias for Dummies

2007-07-13T06:38:00.000-04:00

Last October I dutifully dug up our dahlia tubers with the intention of wintering them over in our basement. I wasn't sure this would work. For one thing, I had started these particular dahlias from seed. My knowledge of botany is scant at best, so I was having a hard time imagining how a plant I generated from a seed ultimately develops a tuber. But when the time came, I dug them up and was happy to see that in the end, I had tubers.

So what remained to be seen was that if I wintered them over would I, in the end, have dahlias again.

There was much I could have done to see to the success of my dahlias– powders and treatments I could have used to prevent rot and mildew, etc. But once they went in the basement, I promptly forgot about them.

Fortunately, come the spring, I remembered them again. The tubers looked a little dessicated, but for the most part, none the worse for wear. A few were sprouting even. So I planted them and hoped for the best.

And I'm happy to report that my blooms are taller, fuller and more plentiful than they were last year. I'll definitely be digging up those tubers again. And I might even work a little harder at ensuring their comfort through their long winter in the basement.

One Local Summer: Week Two

2007-07-07T15:51:00.000-04:00

This week we decided to dedicate our 4th of July dinner to the One Local Summer challenge. A rather cool and grey day, the holiday lacked its usual dog-days-of-summer appeal. Our menu was likewise not in the typical Independence Day vein, though it was quite tasty just the same.

We had steamed greens, mostly courtesy of our CSA. . .
A mix of dandelion, kale and beet greens.

Our grocery store now features local produce which is helping us supplement our CSA share. There we scored some beets whose greens were steamed while the rest was simmered with non-local couscous. . .

The veggies accompanied pork chops from our local meat source. We seasoned the chops with herbs from our own garden, plus baby onions from the CSA.

I'm lacking local sources for dairy and grains, though I do think I'll be able to get some eggs soon which will enable me to broaden our options a bit. Cheese would also be helpful. For next week's meal, I'm hoping to get my hands on some local seafood. We'll see.

It's a Jungle Out There. . .

2007-07-06T06:22:00.000-04:00

It doesn't seem all that long ago that we were transplanting our tomato seedlings, taking care to strip the lower leaves and bury the stems so that we'd have strong, stable plants.

And now, just a little more than a month later, it's a jungle out there. . .

We took some time this weekend to remove the lower leaves, pluck out any suckers and secure each plant to its stake. It's great to see just how similar as well as dissimilar each variety is. Some you can't tell apart at all. Whereas others, like the Ferris Wheel, are quite different. More gnarled and vine-like in its growth, this pink heirloom seems to have retained much of its wildness.

Anyway, the most exciting part of it all is that we've already got some of these. . .

One Local Summer: Week One

2007-06-27T21:29:00.000-04:00

This is the second year that Liz over at Pocket Farm has hosted the One Local Summer challenge. Participants endeavor to create one meal per week comprised of as many local ingredients as they can get their hands on. I watched from the sidelines last year and am looking forward to joining in this year.

Fortunately, we already had a source for local meat. . .

Simply Grazin' Farm raises organic, grass-fed cattle in addition to pigs and chickens.

Our primary veggie source this summer will be our CSA, Upper Meadows Farm. For our first OLS contribution, our farm share provided the salad in addition to many of the herbs used in the preparation. I also supplemented with herbs grown in our own backyard.

Nearby Pennsylvania is known for its mushrooms which our local grocery store carries. So we sautéed some with a handful of amaranth leaves from the farm. This was our first experience with amaranth leaves, and we were quite pleased with this particular preparation.

We rounded out the meal with gnocchi. The gnocchi was made by an Italian specialty shop from the Bronx. I can't really vouch for where they source their ingredients (still beats imported, I guess). I tossed the pasta with brown butter and home-grown sage.

So, all together it made for one tasty, low-mileage meal...

Green Thumb Sunday

2007-06-24T21:49:00.001-04:00

Going Native

Often seen "beautifying" highways, yarrow is known for attracting more than just eighteen-wheelers. A native species in my region, butterflies seem to like it, too.

Visit more gardens. . .

Green Thumb Sunday

2007-06-17T19:59:00.000-04:00

Widow's Walk

I picked up this geranium at our town's garden club plant sale. It's known as Mourning Widow or Phaeum, a rather grim moniker indeed. Though when compared to its cheery, window-box cousins, this one does seem a bit more serious.

Visit more gardens. . .

Roses Make Good Neighbors

2007-06-14T22:55:00.000-04:00

When we first moved into our house over 2 years ago we had grand plans for the yard. Mainly we wanted to create an oasis. After years of apartment living, we were ready for our own slice of the great outdoors. Our particular property presented two challenges. One was square footage. The other, privacy. We were lacking for both. After some scheming we came up with a garden plan that allowed for flower beds and veggie gardens, a patio and trellises heavy with roses to shield us from the neighbors. There'd be no grass left to mow. Now as of today, though we haven't achieved everything just yet (there's still grass to mow), we have managed a lot of what was in that initial scheme: there are flowers and vegetables, we've got a patio and yes, we even have roses.

The roses were among our first purchases. Of all the options for creating a "living wall," roses seemed the most appealing. Perhaps this was also testament to how little we knew about gardening and flowers in general. Roses are like the pizza of the botanical world. Ubiquitous in every sense.

Now having gotten my hands dirty with this whole gardening thing, I still can't say that I regret our decision to go with roses. Sure I've since become
acquainted with flowers and vines that are more exotic, less typical. But the roses are working. They keep coming back, stronger and more hearty than before. That's enough for me. And what I really like about our roses is that as they afford us our much needed privacy, they're likewise giving our neighbors something to enjoy as well. That beats a wall or fence any day.

You Say Tomato. . .

2007-05-31T08:59:00.001-04:00

OK. The lettuce is out. We've got tons in the fridge which we've been feasting on all week. So now the tomatoes are in. . .

24 plants total counting those we put in containers. And I've got seedlings to spare still. I suspect we planted them a little too close together, but I haven't the discipline yet to plant less. Instead I want to give every seedling its fighting chance for fear I won't have anything to show for it in the end. With experience I suppose I'll develop the ability to put the plants' needs ahead of my own!

Anyway, we tried a technique recommended to us by the Mister's uncle. We stripped each seedling of its lower leaves, then submerged most of the stem in the soil, and rather than pointed downwards, we curved the stem sidewards. The result is a rather short tomato plant.

However, by burying the majority of the stripped stem, you're encouraging roots to sprout from the nodes of the removed leaves. By orienting the stem sidewards the plant is also given a more stable root foundation which should help it later when it's (fingers crossed) laden with plump, juicy, beautiful tomatoes. We shall see. One important thing to remember is which direction you orient your stem. If you find yourself staking the tomatoes later in the season you don't want to wind up puncturing your plant. We oriented them all in the same direction and even staked them now to be doubly sure.

Here's what we planted...

Roma Plum Tomatoes from seeds I saved last year.
Cuor di Bue from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. An Italian red that's great for sauces.
Ferris Wheel from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. A pink heirloom with a "fantastic, sweet flavor."
Green Zebra from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. "Sweet with a sharp bite."

As an aside, we used organic soil, then tossed in a few bags of manure/hummus for good measure. The red stuff you're seeing is cayenne. This has proven to be an effective pest deterrent.

Green Thumb Sunday

2007-05-28T17:10:00.000-04:00

Worth the Wait

I direct-sowed these lupine plants two years ago, and these are my very first blooms. Last year I had quite an impressive display of foliage, but nothing more. I had been wondering if I was going to need to relocate them. However, they came back with such force this spring, that I felt pretty sure that this would be the year.

Visit more gardens. . .

Backyard Salad

2007-05-17T09:48:00.000-04:00

I present to you our first home-grown salad of the season. We can't vouch for the dash of olive oil or squeeze of lemon. But we can take full credit for the greens: mesclun and turnip tops. We're hoping to harvest a few more bowlfuls including some spinach, radicchio and beet greens before we have to make room for the tomatoes. Unfortunately space is our biggest restraint; we're only able to dedicate a mere 2' x 14' bed to this endeavor. Even still, I'll take a few weeks worth of home-grown salad over grass any day.

Green Thumb Sunday

2007-05-14T09:45:00.001-04:00

"One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter."

It seems a little strange to highlight something I never intended to grow. However, these cropped up all over this week, and I am a bit fascinated by them. Perhaps it's the whole Alice in Wonderland thing. Or that mushrooms are one of the few foods one can still forage for (no worries, you won't find these particular specimens on our dinner table).

Anyway, I suspect we're experiencing a bumper crop of mushrooms because I'm still getting the hang of our soaker hoses. They almost make watering too easy. After turning them on one early morning, it was well into the afternoon before I remembered I had never turned them off. Of course at that point I was in my office, tucked away in a high-rise, a healthy train ride from the spigot in question. If only there was a wily caterpillar I could have called on. Fortunately a neighbor was able to come to the rescue.

Visit more gardens. . .

Shopping Spree

2007-05-12T09:59:00.000-04:00

Recently over at A Study in Contrasts, BLACKSWAMP_GIRL posed an interesting question about shopping carts and what they revealed about the shopper. Back from my own expedition, I gave her question some thought. Here's my "cart". . .

This was after a day at Well-Sweep Herb Farm in Port Murray, NJ with my sister. In addition to herbs, they grow a wide variety of perennials and some annuals, too. As I'm still getting the hang of this gardening thing, I appreciated their highly organized, well-signed gardens where visitors can wander prior to making selections. That was an education in and of itself.

The herbs I purchased probably say very little about me, save that I'm not yet ready to invest in culinary escapades. Though they had an impressive selection of herb varieties, I decided that I'd rather have the basics on hand as those are the herbs I see myself getting the most use out of: basil, rosemary, sage and thyme. There was a no-bolt cilantro that was tempting me, but I resisted as my space is limited. I do see myself someday tracking down more obscure herb varieties with very specific recipes in mind. For now, having herbs that flourish through the season and are always on on the ready are enough for me. As I said, I'm still very new at this!

I am pretty excited about the perennials I purchased: lungwort, pasque flower and sedum. I came wanting to pick up some sedum after having spied some in my neighbors' gardens. I was particularly impressed by its longevity, carrying on into autumn even. The lungwort and pasque flower were totally new to me. I love the lungwort's funky, spotted leaves and shade-friendly flowers. The pasque flower has equally wild foliage, in this case sort of silvery and fern-like, and a great, jagged, cup-shape blossom. If I was a little conservative in my herb selections, I at least feel I made up for it with my perennials.

Seeds Worth Saving

2007-05-09T14:00:00.000-04:00

Looks like my plum tomatoes will be back for an encore performance. . .

I'm quite happy to report that thus far the seed-saving experiment is a success. The seeds I collected willy-nilly and the seeds I lovingly soaked and fermented seem to be neck and neck. This is sort of interesting to me because as I understood it, tomato seeds need to ferment in order to ultimately germinate. And it seems as if we've got no problems there, regardless how the seeds were initially handled. In the end, I'm sure it's worth the extra effort to ferment the seeds, if nothing more than as added precaution. Besides, gardeners have always considered extra effort a fair price for the sublime sweetness of a home-grown tomato.

Green Thumb Sunday

2007-05-06T17:59:00.000-04:00

A Star is Born

This star of Bethlehem plant was given to me 2 years ago by the Mister's aunt. She's an avid gardener and has been kind enough to share her plants with us over the course of our relatively short gardening career. I could never get this one to bloom. Return it did last year, but blossom it did not. This year it was moved to make way for a new oak leaf hydrangea. Well, it seems that made all the difference.

Visit more gardens. . .

Brussel Sprouts à la Cayenne

2007-05-03T16:19:00.000-04:00

Our little veggie patch is in full gear right now. We jammed it full of spinach, turnips, beets, radicchio, mesclun mix and brussel sprouts. The sprouts were started in the greenhouse so they have a leg up on the rest. Still, the others are humming along quite nicely, and I expect we'll be harvesting greens in no time.

This weekend I armed myself with cayenne pepper and gave the veggie patch a good seasoning. Deer aren't the issue in my neck of the "woods." Instead, we battle stray cats. From what I hear, they're not ones for spice. Let's hope it's so. Does anyone else have any suggestions for keeping strays at bay?

Green Thumb Sunday

2007-04-29T18:39:00.000-04:00

Snowbird

After wintering in the balmy climes of the community greenhouse, our geranium is refreshed and ready for summer.

Visit more gardens. . .

Not a Hosta

2007-04-29T17:30:00.000-04:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that I purchased some hosta seeds on Ebay. This is what they yielded. . .

In all fairness, I'm not entirely sure the seeds themselves produced this particular specimen. It's likely that the seeds yielded squat, and what you're looking at here is a greenhouse-variety weed. The Mister, who was the motivation behind the hosta experiment, is not quite ready to give up on this plant (we have 5 total). In fact, he's threatening to transplant them to our garden. Not so much because he believes this is a hosta. More so because we've dedicated time, patience and precious greenhouse space to it. I maintain that it's a weed, we should move on and take what we can from the experiment: that growing hosta from seed is a losing proposition and that as seed sources go, Ebay may not be the place. Anyway, anyone want to weigh in on the debate? Is this a plant worth keeping?

Green Thumb Tuesday

2007-04-24T12:09:00.002-04:00

Weeping Cherry Tree in full bloom, my first contribution to
Green Thumb Sunday.

Green Thumb Sunday: Blogroll

2007-04-24T11:44:00.001-04:00

Join these bloggers as they post what's growing in their gardens at least once monthly. . .

The Greenhouse

2007-04-09T21:19:00.000-04:00

These last seven months or so in the community greenhouse have proven very productive. A lack of sufficient containers and space in general have been my only constraints. And despite some questionable hosta seeds, most of our experiments appear to be succeeding.

I came by my seed in various ways. Some I saved from my own plants. Some I pinched from neighbors' plants. Others I purchased including a rather dubious foray onto Ebay where I became the proud owner of those "hosta" seeds. I also wintered over some coleus plants in addition to vinca, lantana, geranium and heather.

Quickly space became a premium. Especially when it came time to transplant those seedlings into larger pots. Pots that despite my best intentions swiftly became insufficient. And as those seedlings moved into even roomier digs, I found myself inexplicably sowing new seeds with no sense of where I'd go next with my newest crop.

Somehow we made it work. Thankfully I had neighbors who didn't seem to mind me spilling over into their territory. And there were some unclaimed spaces that quietly, over time we took over as well.

And it has really paid off. The false indigo and hollyhocks are zipping along. The brussel sprouts we started in January seem to have transitioned nicely into the veggie patch out back. We had less than spectacular results from the partridge pea and beard tongue seeds I saved, but all in all it's been a productive winter.

Green... but not with envy

2006-10-09T11:38:00.000-04:00

Summer's sad, soggy end did not bode well for my "crops." Instead of a second round of salsa and salads, sauce and sandwiches, I've got a big brown bag full of under-ripe tomatoes. Sigh.

I plan to make some green tomato relish. Does anyone else have any recipe suggestions?

Meanwhile, I did manage to cull some seeds from my riper, redder specimens. Before this final harvest, I wasn't all too sure that there would be any to collect from, and I've been wondering if seed-saving from under-ripe tomatoes was advisable. Now that I have my "control group" of ripe tomato seeds, I think I will go ahead and save some green tomato seeds as well. This little experiment should keep me quite busy in the greenhouse come winter.

Here's a murky shot of my rather murky tomato seeds...

Apparently you need to soak the seeds in order to allow them to ferment. This was news to me. Does anyone else out there soak their tomato seeds? With my first batch, I simply scooped them out and plopped them on a paper towel to dry. Days passed, the seeds affixed themselves to the towel, and as I was prying them off and doing my best to pick away the papery fuzz they'd acquired, I realized that there might be more to this seed-saving thing. A little time with Google revealed a whole step-by-step, seed-saving process. Who knew? Anyway, if I'm really feeling scientific, I may sow the unfermented, Bounty/Roma hybrid seeds as well. It may be a long, slow winter, after all.

Holy Hyacinths!

2006-10-03T11:13:00.000-04:00

For some reason my Hyacinths are under the impression that spring is right around the corner. . .

They bloomed quite nicely a mere 4 months or so ago. What's it with me and over-eager bulbs? And what should I do? Cut them back? Or is this their way of siphoning off a little nourishment before the long winter ahead?
Please advise!

Coming Soon, The Greenhouse Edition

2006-09-25T09:07:00.000-04:00

As the season is winding down, I'm finding that starting a garden and starting a blog are not all that dissimilar. Both are works in progress that evolve over time. And though you may think you have a vision of what it is you're working toward, both a blog and a garden ultimately take on a life of their own that you work more in service of than as master to.
Well, suffice to say I'm hooked on both blogging and gardening, and am sorry the season is coming to a close. The good news is I scored some space in our community greenhouse, so I'll be blogging about my (mis)adventures there...

On the topic of garden blogging, I'd like to express my appreciation to Farmgirl of In My Kitchen Garden & Farmgirl Fare fame. Not only have I gained a wealth of knowledge from reading both blogs (including a fabulous Savory Tomato Pesto Pie recipe), but she also took the time this week to shine a little light on this fledgling effort. Mostly I've been toiling away here in obscurity, and I appreciate her words of encouragement as well as the exposure. Thanks to her kind words, I received two comments (a bumper crop for me). Unfortunately due to technical difficulties, I've been unable to publish those comments. Hopefully they'll be up soon. Meanwhile, thanks Farmgirl, Mama T and Contrary1 for stopping by. Please visit again!

More good news from our little garden plot. We were among the winners of our neighborhood association's "Garden of the Year" award. How great is that?

Now here are some of this season's favorites. . .

This Cleome did not disappoint. I could have beaten it senseless, and I believe it still would have kept right on blooming. My kind of plant.

A fellow student from the gardening class I took this past winter gave it to me. It's an annual, but it's quite the seed-generator, so I'll be growing this one in the greenhouse.

I just love Oxalis. I bought a few pots at the Philadelphia Flower Show. They made great indoor plants (folding up like little sleeping bats at night), and then happily made the transition to the great outdoors, too.

I'll be bringing them in this fall with the hopes of preserving them for next year.

Portulaca is another fave. Hope to have this growing all around the patio some day.

Picked up this Coreopsis and Ornamental Pepper at our community plant sale. The Nastursium I grew from seed sort of took over, though. Note to self, go easy on the Nastursium. A little goes a long way...

My greenhouse adventures should start up in October...

The Back Forty: an update

2006-09-14T10:55:00.000-04:00

The squash didn't make it after all. Not sure if the exhaust from our dryer did them in. Or if it was a lack of female plants. Or if I indeed overpacked the plot. Will try again next year after having rigged something to divert the exhaust elsewhere. If I had more space, I'd line dry. But I'm using the term "back forty" very loosely here.

With that being said, we've done quite well with our tomatoes.

This was our first harvest, enjoyed about a month ago. We've got plenty still on the vine, however the weather has not been conducive to ripening, so we'll see. Once I'm sure the tomatoes are done for good, I'll pull them out and replace them with some seedlings I've started for fall: beets, spinach, turnip and radicchio. No idea if this is going to work, but I figured the experiment was well worth the $10 seed investment.

Friend or Foe?

2006-08-16T11:11:00.000-04:00

Found this fellow kicking back on a sunflower leaf. Transforming our suburban patch into a garden oasis has brought all sorts of critters out of the proverbial woodwork. I'm just curious to know... do I want the likes of him in my garden? Even if I don't, I really don't plan on doing anything about it. Just don't have the heart. Besides, generally speaking, it's not that kind of garden...

The Patio: an update

2006-08-11T12:07:00.000-04:00

At the start of the summer we dedicated a couple of weekends to installing a patio. With such a small yard we really wanted to get the most out of every inch. So far I'd give the patio an enthusiastic thumbs up.
We're getting a lot of use out of it. We'd get even more if the mosquitoes weren't such spoilers. They never pay me any attention, especially when they have the mosquito delicacy that is the Mister to feast upon. They go after him with such gusto, as if he were an all-you-can-eat buffet. Poor thing. Anyway, the patio's success has only served to reinforce my position that ultimately all the grass must go (still lobbying the Mister on this one). To date we have a small square in the front, which could be a lovely shade garden. There's another strip along the side which, if I get my way, will ultimately be swallowed up by my grand plan to extend the perennial garden. And finally, there is the path that constitutes our "back yard" that runs along our veggie swath coursing between the patio and grill. It's becoming so well worn that it's just begging for some stepping stones to put it out of its misery.

Name that Plant. . .

2006-08-10T22:20:00.000-04:00

Anyone have any idea what this may be? Last September I scattered some wildflower seed anticipating a care-free summer garden brimming with native blooms. What I ended up with was something less naturalistic and more, well. . . abstract, with random croppings of mostly unidentifiable specimens here and there. For all I know they're weeds. This one I'm pretty sure is legit. Any takers?

The Back Forty

2006-07-13T08:54:00.000-04:00

As I've said before, we have a miniscule yard. It almost doesn't even count as a yard-- I'd be more inclined to call it a patch. However this did not stop us from tearing up more sod and putting in a tiny swath of a vegetable garden.

Since we're inexperienced and were raring to go by April, we decided to grow most of our bounty from seed. Both of us commute to NYC for our jobs which leaves little time beyond the weekend for our gardening efforts. Since it took a whole weekend just to get the sod up, the soil down and the garden ready for planting, we were faced with having to wait another week before we'd get our seeds in. With visions of just-plucked green beans dancing in our heads, we decided the weekend was just too far away. So after a full day's work and a long commute we found ourselves crouching before our garden swath, racing against the setting sun. The seeds went in. It seemed a shame to waste the whole package, so many seeds went in. And since we were working in dusk conditions, we weren't always entirely sure where the seeds were ending up. Let's just say we're going for a very "naturalistic" veggie garden. In no time we were seeing this. . .

Some of our tomatoes plants came from the Mister's grandfather's garden. As I mentioned in an earlier post, he's quite the propagator. He grew these plants from last year's tomatoes. They're already looking quite delicious...

Despite our inexperience, we seem to have a successful vegetable garden. The beans are quite tasty. The tomatoes are ripening nicely. We have some swiss chard that's ready to go, and our beets are really moving along. My only concern is our squash plants. They have the unfortunate fate of being situated right below our dryer vent. Periodically I pick fluff out from between their stems (I know coffee grinds are good, anyone know anything about dryer lint?). Their leaves are treated to a weekly, salon-style blow-out. I've noticed some of the blossoms that were looking so promising have shriveled up. Of course this may have something to do with having 500 squash plants crammed into a 2' square of soil (it's called squash for a reason, right?). So we'll see about that. Meanwhile, everything else looks pretty satisfied. And satisfying. . .

Like a Moth

2006-07-05T20:06:00.000-04:00

I'm taking to this gardening thing like a moth to a Nasturtium leaf.

Somehow June managed to come and go without a single post. Well the blog may have languished, but the garden has not. I've been meaning to dedicate a post to my perennials-- they're near and dear to my heart since I knew them first as mere seeds. I brought them home from the community greenhouse in early May. The Mister kindly cleared some sod for me, and a perennial garden was born.

I consulted my books endeavoring to give each plant its due in terms of space. However, mine was a bumper crop, and though I was happy to share some of the bounty with my sister, I was a little greedy, too. After all, some might not make it, then what? We'd have this bald spot in the yard punctuated by the occasional perennial. Besides, when they first went in they looked like this:

Plenty of room to breathe, to photosynthesize, to grow, etc, etc. There's Foxglove around the perimeter. Hollyhock in the center flanked by Oxeye Daisy and Coneflower. Rounded out by a couple of Yarrow and Dianthus plants front and center, with an Evening Primrose off to the left.

Two months later and it's literally a jungle out there:

I'm delighted, truly. However, I totally underestimated my perennials. They're huge. They're a tangle of branches and leaves. And they're still growing. Have I overdone it? Have I doomed them to a single-season life span with roots all hopelessly knotted together? Is there anything I can do?

I began this blog because I am a novice gardener. I figured it was a great way to record my fledgling efforts while also tapping the internet for guidance and advice. What's happening, though, as I blog away (or even as I don't, as the last month is a testament), is that I'm coming to realize how much I'm taking to this gardening thing. I love it. I love watching seeds become seedlings. And seedlings, plants. I love seeing my garden's daily evolution. I dote over each one. And, as you can see, worry over them, too.

Bulbs: an update

2006-05-26T11:51:00.001-04:00

Remember those bloom-phobic Irises I was writing about some time ago? Well, somehow, some way they went from this. . .

That's to say spindly, stalky, bloom-less little reminders of just how little I know about this gardening thing.

To this. . .

Not bad for an amateur, no? What really threw me off was how they were the first ones up-- I mean they lapped all the other bulbs by weeks-- yet the last ones to bloom. Go figure.

Garden Notes ~ Our First Rose

2006-05-23T06:41:00.000-04:00

Aphids be damned, this little beauty entered the world sometime late last week.

The Patio

2006-05-10T19:20:00.000-04:00

Some projects take over your life. Others take just two weekends.

Garden Notes ~ Bulbs

2006-05-09T20:54:00.000-04:00

The last of the bulbs have bloomed, 5.6

Sweet Basil

2006-05-03T12:09:00.000-04:00

The Mister's grandparents are avid gardeners. With even less earth than we have (hard to believe!), they've managed to work every inch of soil they've got into something green and lovely. The front is mostly dedicated to her flowers. She's got Clematis, some of which she's propagated herself, and the most amazing Butterfly Bush that's as round and perfect as any I've seen. While the back is all his to plant veggies and herbs. "If you can't eat it, it's not worth growing," he's been heard to say more than once, though no one believes it's sincere. Yet it does reveal much of the motivation behind his own gardening. For as much as he relishes getting his hands dirty, I believe he's equally moved by the sheer genius of growing one's own food. Not only can their tiny vegetable patch sustain them through the summer-- with plenty left to share with friends and neighbors -- but once that food has long been savored, there remains seeds from which he can always make more. Year after year. A simple principle. True.
But one I don't feel I've fully come to appreciate yet, especially as a new gardener who for now can only hope to shepherd her plants through one season.

So he shared his Basil seeds with us. I love imagining their lineage. How connected he is to them, and how now we're in the mix, too. I look forward to knowing these plants. I think I may fuss over them just a little bit more because they'll remind me how gardening orients you in this world. How as you work your tiny patch of soil it's easy to forget you're working the earth, too. How locked within every seed is the culmination of seasons come and gone. And how throughout every one of those seasons,
a gardener tended his garden.

Two of Hearts

2006-04-25T20:36:00.000-04:00

We have two bleeding hearts. Political implications aside, we've got issues. Last year, the Mister's Aunt kindly divvied up her Bleeding Heart for us along with Star of Bethlehem and some sort of mini Daisy. After transplanting, the Daisy flourished, the Star of Bethlehem wilted away and the Bleeding Heart produced one blossom. No, not one cascade of blossoms. I mean one, single bleeding heart.

This year I was encouraged to see the Star of Bethlehem's distinctive grassy foliage up early. This was followed closely by the Bleeding Heart which literally sprang up, reaching 5" tall seemingly overnight. I've seen neither hide nor hair of the Daisy. Meanwhile the Star of Bethlehem has lost all momentum. That grassy foliage is just lolling about now, showing no inclination towards producing anything resembling a bloom. And the Bleeding Heart has also petered out a bit. The leaves look a little, I don't know, feeble. Then today I saw this. . .

Two bleeding hearts. I realize gardening is a great teacher of patience. However, this is pretty extreme. Incidentally, these plants are alongside the bloom-phobic Irises of my last post. Again, I'm thinking too much nitrogen. Hence the initially healthy foliage. This is a pretty sunny spot, however all three plants do spend part of the day in shadow. Perhaps I should move them. If so, then when? Can I move them now, or is it better to wait until their blooming (and I’m using the term lightly) season is through?

Bulbs: a progress report

2006-04-24T08:22:00.000-04:00

We planted our bulbs in the fall. I, armed with a bulb planter, took care of the Dutch Iris, Anemone, Jonquil and Grape Hyacinth bulbs. While the Mister took shovel in hand and dutifully dug a trench where we layered Tulip, Daffodil and Crocus bulbs. A master gardener I had the good fortune of meeting proposed this scheme and further advised that we point our bulbs in different directions so as to prolong the overall bloom. Well, it's all worked very well thus far. First the Crocus popped up-– yellow blooms followed by white and purple ones. As soon as they faded, up came the Daffodils followed closely behind by red Tulips. Now that the Daffodils have faded, yellow Tulips have kindly stepped in to take their place.

Also in fall, in the same bed where we planted the Crocus, Daffodil and Tulip bulbs, we tossed around some wildflower seed. The company from whom we mail-ordered the bulbs promised a seamless transition-– meaning that as the bulbs fade the wildflowers will spring into action masking the old foliage as the bulbs loll about nourishing themselves. This is looking less and less likely in my garden. The few seedlings I do have will not outpace my Tulips' decline-– already the Tulips are looking a little pooped.

Now speaking of bulbs and that rule about not cutting the leaves... My Dutch Irises were the first to appear this season. Thanks to a mild January, they were up early, just in time for a fluke February snowstorm. Well, one hard lesson I've learned is that early to rise does not mean early to bloom... or make that, does not mean they'll bloom at all. I have 25 splendid Iris stalks (which means all 25 bulbs are accounted for!) that are beginning to yellow at the tips now thereby confirming that there will be no purple and yellow blossoms this year. Sigh.

So here are my questions... Why oh why didn't they bloom? I heard that mail-order bulbs don't always bloom the first year. I've also heard too much nitrogen can over-promote the green stuff at the expense of blooms. And since I used Milorganite both when planting the bulbs and in the early spring, I'm wondering if I overdid it. Our local nursery advised me to use the Milorganite. But now that I've researched it further I see that it's heavy on nitrogen (6-2-0), so now I'm wondering if that was not the best advice. Of course, I'm also wondering if the freaky late-winter weather is the culprit. Could the snow have stunted their bloom? And finally, can I cut back the leaves yet? The rule, as I understand it, is to cut them back 6 weeks after the flowers have faded. So, without any flowers as a benchmark, when can I cut them?
Please advise!

Garden Notes ~ Rose Bushes

2006-04-23T22:19:00.000-04:00

Pruned, late March
Fertilized, 4.2
Aphids discovered! Broke out the Soap Spray, 4.23