soil well

it was finally warm enough to plant tomatoes outside a few weeks ago. i decided to experiment a bit with planting methods. generally, tomatoes are planted 6-12 inches deep in the soil, depending on the size of the seedling. the reason for this is that tomatoes will sprout roots along their stems. so deeper plantings establish a strong root system. this time, i planted the seedling just a few inches deeper. then, working about 6-8 inches from the stem, i built a circular embankment with the soil around the plant. i've noticed in the past that when i water, it runs off the rows and into the walkways. so i thought doing this would help keep the water around the tomato plant. this way, when i water, i can fill the well without all the water running off. then it will hopefully get to those deep roots. my next step will be adding a mulch on top, to conserve the moisture in the soil longer during those warm summer days.

leaf miners

when i was in the garden a few days ago i noticed some artistically defurbished leaves on the wild purslane. leaf miners really like chard and beets, but apparently they'll stoop to eating purslane if no brassicas can be found.

when held up to the light, the leaf miners are more easily distinguished. but since i only got a picture of half the leaf....only one is readily noticeable.

sorry for the horrible picture, it's hard to macro with one hand whilst glaring up into bright light......

garlic braiding

my first garlic braid! it's fairly clumsy and not quite as nice looking as i thought it would be....but it's my first one and it hasn't fallen apart yet. so i'm pretty proud of myself!

lavender tea wand

another post that i meant to write a month or so ago.....
this is easier to make than you would think.
gather 12 or so stems of lavender, cutting them far down the stem, and a few leaves of other herbs you think would blend well (lemon balm, mints, chamomile, lemon verbena, pineapple sage.....).

take up the stems of lavender and hold them just beneath the flower heads.

wrap one stem twice around the others, and then slip the end of the stem through the wrapped parts. this ties all the stems together.

stick the collected leaves into the lavender flower heads.

then, take a single stem and fold it up, and repeat with the others. when done, the stems should enclose the flowers and leaves. push the flower heads behind the stems if they are sticking out, and adjust the stems as needed.

take a single stem, one that is somewhat pliable, and wrap it two or three times around the other stems. then, like before, slip the end of the stem through it's wrapped area, effectively knotting it into place.

the tea wand can be used right away (good for a couple of mugs of tea) or hung in a cool dry place for later use.

how, you too, can grow your own strawberry army

if you grow stawberries in pots, you may have noticed that they send out shoots with little clumps of leaves on the end. these adventure seeking shoots quest for any amount of soil to claim as their new home- be it another potted plant's soil or a neaby plot of dirt. these shoots also make it very easy to propagate strawberry plants, so that the next year your strawberry bounty will double, triple, or even- quadruple! first off, fill a flat with soil. place it next to your strawberry plant(s), and bury the shoots shallowly in the soil. do this if you have a lot of shoots.

if you only have one or two shoots you may wish to bury the shoots in individual pots.

do NOT cut the umbilical cord from the mother plant. time for that kind of mutilation later. water the shoots for a couple of weeks, this allows them time to establish a strong root system in the soil. you can test out the roots after two weeks by GENTLY tugging on the leaves. if they have a good grip on the soil they are ready to be cut loose. simply fill a pot with soil, cut the umbilical cord, and transplant the strawberry start into the new pot. water well, and keep in the dappled shadows for a day. if you buried your shoot in a pot at the first step, all that is required of you is cutting the cord.
you are now well on your way to your very own strawberry army. (for this super thrifty plant pot option, i take home large cans from work....larger than most ceramic pots and free!)

(warning: keep them away from other plants as they will send their shoots over and take over.....)

garden salad deluxe

this is the kind of salad that makes you feel pretty on the inside and out. what i like to do is go into the garden with a large bowl and pair of shears and take snippets of just about everything. in this salad there are rose petals, marigold petals, bindweed flowers, fennel, sage, rosemary,thyme, oregano, lavender, lemon balm, apple mint, pineapple sage, purslane, rose geranium, chives, and, of course, lettuce. this gives my salad a variety of different essential minerals and vitamins. when cutting the rose petals, make sure to cut them right above the white part of the petal- the bitter white part is not so tasty. when first starting out making yourself posh salads, start out small. taste what you like and don't like. some herbs have a very strong taste, while others are more delicate. it's a good idea to use only a little of purslane or bindweed. purslane, like cleavers, have been know to have 'purgative' properties (to put it delicately....) if eaten in large quantities. i've never had any problems, but, again, start out with small amounts. and for zeus's sake people, be smart about what you put in your mouth (this coming from a person who used to like certain dog biscuits as a child and has been know to taste strange bottles of liquid that have sat around so long on a shelf that the label had worn off ((but seriously, who the hell makes banana flavored dishsoap?!?))). seriously- know what you're eating. don't assume that you can munch on any old piece of grass or weed.....

artitoes or portachoke?

we planted onions and garlic last fall, and it paid off with a huge basket of harvest. the garlic whistles we blended up with as many cleavers we could find to make a pesto dish. the pesto is a cheap and very tasty alternative to the more traditional pesto made with basil. cleavers* (Galium aparine) are also called goosegrass, and will stick all over you, you can use the leaves and stem in the pesto, the younger less woody ones are the best. it's a nutritious weed- containing calcium, silicon, and sodium. we don't really measure out pesto when we make it- just throw in the cleavers and garlic whistle with some olive oil. then toss it with warm pasta and tomatoes. nutritious and delicious.....yummmm. the potatoes and artichoke we planted in early spring. these potatoes are german butterballs and an early season variety. we also planted a late-season variety which should be ready in another month or two. we found the best way to plant the potatoes is to dig a trench about a foot deep, and place the potatoes about 6 inches apart. cover with dirt, and later, when the potato plants are the size of plant starts, with straw or leaves. leaves or straw can continue to be added on top of the plant as it grows. this allows the individual potatoes to be larger, and can also makes it easier to dig the potatoes up later.


*please note that if you are eating cleavers for the first time it's a good idea to start out with small amounts. large amounts ingested are said to be a diuretic and may cause other discomforts of the bowels sort.....we've never had any problems, but it's always better to err on the side of caution....

lovin' the little green heads

i keep meaning to post 'stuff' more often.....but it never seems to work out that way. *sigh*
we planted some of the tomato seeds we saved last year, and are happy to report that our seeds are viable! That means big plans for the garden this year. Already we have tomato, broccoli, lettuce, cayenne peppers, sweet peppers, cumin, eggplant, celery, and basil all sprouting. It's so exciting to see all the little green heads popping up out of the soil.

in the next couple of days i'll hopefully catch up on some oh so delicious recipes and more gardening fun......

problems in the pea patch

About a month ago we planted some peas......and only two out of about 12 or so came up. Upon investigation, which consisted of digging around in the pea patch trying to find some remnants of the pea bodies, little greyish silvery slithery things were found coiled and twined around a pea full of holes that was still struggling to sprout. I say 'things' because I am not sure what they are. They are not worms as they have lots of squirmy little legs, but I don't think they're millipedes as they are so tiny and not quite as rotund in body shape. We noticed them last fall nibbling on the turnips, so they seem to thrive in damp soil (which we have for maybe 8 months out of the year.....). Other gardeners in the area have said they have also had low pea germination rates and noticed the mysterious 'things' as well. So we planted some peas inside (although they're said to not transplant well as they have long roots, not spreading roots.....) to try and give them a head start when put outside. They only needed about a week to pop their little heads above the soil and start forming leaves. We planted them outside yesterday, and then sowed about 15 pea 'seeds' around them as decoys. I WILL have peas this year.

Flooded and slug eaten

If you live in the northwest, this might be what your Italienischer lettuce is looking like......

seed saving 201: actual collection

this is our first year collecting seeds, so we're still figuring out the plants ourselves. most garden plants will bud, flower,and produce seed. in some plants the seeds are in the fruit, and other plants don't produce fruit at all. a good rule of thumb is that the seed is ready if you can't put your fingernail through it- the seed should be hard. these are the plants we collected seed from, or are in the process thereof....
lettuce: lettuces will bolt, which means they start growing upwards rapidly and become bitter tasting. they typically bolt as the season gets warmer. you'll want to collect seed from the late bolting plants, to promote the trait of late bolting in future plants. after the lettuce has bolted (and the plants can get very tall), it will begin flowering. while flowering the plant will be visited by various nectar collecting insects. the flowerheads will turn white and fluffy. the fluffy cottony part is called papis. when about 3/4 of the flowers turn to papis pull the plant out of the ground. keep the plant upside down in a paper bag, and set in the sun until plant is completely dried out. this takes around a week. after it's dried, shake the plant over a bag, screen, anything to catch the seeds. pull any remaining seeds from the flower heads. lettuce seeds are very tiny and thin. their colors can range from black to brown to a dark tan.

marigold: simply let the plant flower, and don't dead-head. once the flower is dead, it will dry out on the stalk. the seeds will be in the old flower head. split the flower head open, and the seeds will be easy to shake into your hand.

calendula: again, let the plant flower, and don't remove the flower. it will dry up and leave curved rough seeds on the old flower head. collect them when they are hard.

nasturtium: after the plant flowers it will produce a roundish green seed. it will turn dark brown and hard when it is ready to be collected.

morning glory: after the plant flowers it will produce a greenish fruit. this will dry up and become brown. when you put pressure on the fruit, it should pop open, not squish. if it squishes, the seed is not ready. if it pops open then the seed is ready.

garlic: wait until the stalks are dying and turning brown and pull the garlic head up. this is when you would normally harvest it. set aside the heads you want to replant, and hang in a dark dry place until next season. break up the garlic head, and plant the cloves individually.

tomato: pick the ripe fruits that posess the traits you desire. slice the tomato down the middle, lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds. place the seeds in a ceramic or wooden bowl. add enough water to cover the seeds. set aside in the shade for a day, this should allow most of the pulp to seperate from the seeds. rinse the seeds off in a strainer. place the seeds back in a bowl, cover with water again, and set aside for another day. this should remove the remainder of the pulp. rinse the seeds again, then place them on a drying cloth. once dry, place in a storage container.

broccoli: broccoli heads will go to flower, and then take a long time to form thin pods, called siliques. then the pods will take a long time to mature. once the pods toward the bottom of the plant start to open, pull the entire plant up and place upside down in a paper bag. leave in a warm dry place, until the plant is dried up. rub the pods against a small screen to seperate the small round seeds from the chaffe.

cucumber: another lengthy process. the fuits produced later, usually have more seeds. select the cucumbers you want to save seed from, and allow them to ripen on the vine. they will turn a yellowy orange color. once the cucumber becomes mushy, pick it from the vine. cut the cucumber lenghtwise and scoop out the seeds. like the tomatoes, place the seeds in a wooden or ceramic bowl and add a bit of water. allow the seeds to ferment for a few days, and stir them every once in a while. when draining the seeds, the good seeds will stay at the bottom. discard the other seeds with the pulp. place the good seeds on a screen to dry. after two or three days, they are ready to store.

beans: all bean seeds can be collected in this manner, except for mung beans. allow the selected bean pods to dry on the vine. pick before the first frost. remove the beans from the pod. allow the beans to dry for a month, and then store. keep the drying beans in a warm dry area.

a good book on seed collection is "Compleatly Self-Sufficient Food-Plant Propagation" by Herm Fitz.

seed saving 101

saving plant seed from the garden is beneficial financially and for genetic plant integrity in your climate. it's not hard to do, but can take up extra space in the garden for a prolonged period of time and some waiting around (ie:broccoli). so when planning your garden, it's good to know how long it takes for certain plants to go to seed. for example- if the seed is mature in the edible fruit (tomatoes) or if it matures in a later phase of the plants life/cycle (broccoli). some seed saving can be a bit tricky, like tomatoes, whereas other seeds are easily gathered.

when saving seeds you want to keep in mind that each seed has its own genetic code with different individual traits. so you'll want to collect seeds from fruits with desirable traits- germination time, flowering time, size, taste, color, disease/pest resistance.....plants with individual fruits (tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, beans) it's easy to see which fruits to save for seed (first to ripen, last to ripen....). plants without specific fruits (broccoli, lettuce, kale, spinach) you look at the individual plant as a whole (last to bolt, fast grower, disease/pest resistant, production). one way to do this is to have several color-coded flagging ribbons, sticks, etc. to correspond with different traits. it's probably a good idea to collect seed to collect seed from at least two plants of the same variety for genetic diversity. this prevents susceptibility sudden changes in climate or pest presence (we've all heard of the irish potato famine......). planting a few seeds from every year of collection also helps increase the gene flow amongst your plants and it is probably a good idea to plant some seeds from an outside source (purchased, from a neighbor, etc.) every five years or so to widen the gene pool.

another thing to keep in mind is hybridization amongst species in the same families. some plants are more susceptible to hybridization than others, such as brassicas (broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale) and winter squash (butternuts, acorns, pumpkins). to prevent hybridization limit the varieties grown within the same family and plant as far from each other as possible. something else to consider is how the plant is pollinated (insect generalist, insect specialist, wind) so that you can create appropriate buffers in between the plants; and whether it can be pollinated by itself. if the plant is self-pollinating you would only need one, however if it is not you would need at least two within a close proximity. just for clarity: you can plant as many butternut squash plant you can fit in an area, but make sure your acorn squash are at the other end of the garden with plenty of flowering plants in between.

still to come: seed saving 201, Seed Saving Simplicity

little fatty poop machine and the search for the new nest

this weekend we decided it was time to get the compost heap in order. it has been neglected for quite some time.....and not by us. it was there in all it's confusion when we moved in. generally, it's been to have three or so different heaps of compost, in varying stages of decomposition. one bin for the ready stuff, one for the getting there stuff, and one for the new stuff. having one bin makes it difficult to turn the compost, to use the compost, and for the compost itself to be composted. we started with dismantling the whole thing- moving the large brush pile in front, taking apart the cinder block wall, rolling up the sagging wire, and shoveling slimy composting food onto a tarp. surprisingly, there was quite a bit of ready to use compost. so we built a cinder block structure for the ready compost, this will be spread onto the garden in the spring and then tilled in. then came the part where we got to use power tools. i was shown for the last time (because now i remember) how to get a drill bit in and out of the drill. i am apparently a faster learner than octipi as it only took me 4 or 5 times of being taught before i remembered......we (or rather- dirty) sawed up some wood planks that have been laying around rotting to make a two bin wooden structure. there were lots of complications when it came to actually drilling the screws in. 2-squares and 4-squares (um, phillips heads and.....the other ones....) screwing and stripping and all kinds of jealousies going around. but despite all that we managed to complete it all within three days....or so. amidst all the de and re construction there was the important discovery of a mouse nest. in our last apartment there was a mouse raid once. the mice did nothing but poop everywhere, so we started calling them little fatty poop machines. it was horrible because the pest man gave us not so humane traps. i was skeptical when i first met him and noticed the he had a bleeding hole in the middle of his forehead. the mark of cain? my skepticism increased when he started describing how they test poisons out on dogs with cancer. but all the apartments got these 'humane' mice food poison boxes. so we got some too. the next thing i know, these two mice are running around frantically all over the kitchen for the next couple of days. they seemed to only like the kitchen and didn't venture out to explore the rest of the house......until it came time to leave their little furry bodies. then they came into the bedroom, got onto the quilt and proceeded to have all the blood in their bodies squished out of them. i came home from work to a sorrowful site. needless to say, everyone had their poison mouse food replaced with live traps.

but to get back onto the subect at hand.....we had disturbed a mouse nest. after we took the compost heap apart we went inside for a bite to eat. on our way back out i noticed a little tail in my shoes (that i had left outside). the mouse was really active in there and i was getting a little worried that little fatty was living out his poop machine destiny. but it turns out he was just on a quest for a new nest. after exploring the inside of my shoes, he started digging at the outside or the shoes and trying to push it over. i just wanted to mention this because it was disgustingly cute......