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20
Oct
2008

I know it’s really late in the season to be planting a garden; it’s the middle of fall and winter is nearly upon us. After discussing the bee crisis thing with a friend, however, we thought it would be a great idea to a) take advantage of the rest of the snow-less weather for a bee-friendly garden and b) to start planning for spring. So I’m writing this chronicling the beginning of our venture, with much more to come. 

My friend and I aren’t the gardening type, really. I’ve planted a few geraniums along my parents’ walkway in my day, but that’s the extent of it. Still, we love the idea of tilling the soil, working the land, and being as outdoorsy as two city girls can manage.

 So far, we have access to the backyard behind my apartment building and, more fitting as the weather grows colder, a little plot of land in a greenhouse through Chicago’s city garden effort. I borrowed a trowel and the bitty rake thing from my mom, and we’re going to get some soil from Home Depot tomorrow, as well as some plants.

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7
Oct
2008

Fall is a season notorious for cool weather, warm clothes, and orange pumpkins. Pumpkins are a hearty variety of gourd popular in autumn, both for picking and for carving, and with a number of other uses. What makes pumpkins, and many other gourds, remarkable is not only their many uses, but the fact that you can use every part of them. Here are some great ways to use your whole pumpkin, even after the annual pumpkin-carving is over. 
  • Roasted Seeds: There are great recipes online for roasted pumping seeds. They make a tasty, and healthy snack. You can either roast them plain, with oil such as olive or vegetable oil, or dry seasoning. At any rate, you’ll want to spray the pan and then lay the seeds flat. Bake on 250 for 15 to 20 minuets. When done, let them cool and you have an easy, storable treat. 
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5
Oct
2008
Just a few weeks ago, I went to a family reunion at my grandparents' farm in Mississippi. It was one of those reunions with long tables full of food and third cousins you've never met, lots of iced sweet tea and babies on blankets in the yard and your great-aunt asking about a sibling you don't have... "No, really, Great Aunt Tillie, I just have one brother. I promise."

My grandparents - all four of them - grew up in the Depression, worked hard, and made comfortable lives for themselves. My mother's parents are the ones with the farm. My Grandpa started out small and farmed cotton and soybeans. He worked hard, saved money, and now he has a 1000-acre farm that he rents out while he sits in his air-conditioned antique shop and sips his Diet Coke.

At the farm, they keep a bucket with a wooden spoon in it in the cabinet underneath the sink. Every uneaten scrap of food goes in that bucket, and at the end of the day two or three or four eager farm dogs consume it. They like it lots better than their dog food, which they still get, but it's never enough to make them sick.
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24
Sep
2008

In the summer our nice patch of veggie garden has a tendency to overflow, prompting the annual frantic give-away of produce to neighbors and co-workers- even my teachers got the cornucopia a few times. But when all else failed, by father would set up a stand at the end of our driveway and spend all day selling produce.

Our income from the endeavor didn’t amount to much- maybe $10 a day- but it was a relaxing ritual, and one I’m glad to discover lives on in the spirit of the Farmer’s Market.

Farmer’s Markets are a growing trend in small towns, farming communities and suburban areas. In my college town each Saturday morning from 8:00 to noon a swarm of stands go up in the area park and seasonal fruits as well as local honey and homemade soaps

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18
Sep
2008


Autumn is the time to wrap things up in the garden. You may be taking in one last crop of spinach or peas, but most of the garden needs to be cleared out and tucked in for winter. Don't forget your compost pile while you're out there working.

Get a good pile of grass clippings before the mowing season ends. Grass clippings are nitrogen-rich. They decompose rapidly, heat up the compost, and provide moisture. Good stuff to have in that pile.

When you start raking those piles of leaves, shred them and add some to the compost. If you have more than you need for the compost bin, use the extra as a layer of mulch over flower beds.

Add the plants (not weeds) you've cleaned out from your garden and flower beds to the compost pile, as well. Don't include diseased plants (unless you are absolutely sure that the heat from the composting process will kill the disease.) If in doubt, bag and dispose of the diseased plant. You don't want to spread it to the rest of your garden, or your neighbor's garden...
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8
Sep
2008


I've been compiling a list of projects I want to complete before baby #3 makes his/her appearance, and near the top of the list (right below "paint the bathroom" and "redo master bedroom") is this heavy-weight: "landscape the yard."
Oh, yeah, I can do that all by myself. No problem.

Actually, I can do a lot of it by myself. It's a matter of time and steady progress. Some things, such as digging large enough holes in which to plant trees, I need a little help with. That's where my husband comes in.

Meanwhile, though, I've been planning. I want to design a sustainable landscape, which leads me to the next, obvious question: what is sustainable landscaping? In my little bit of digging (no pun intended), here is what I've found:

Sustainable landscaping produces an aesthetically pleasing and useful landscape design while conserving natural resources, minimizing use of chemicals, protecting ecosystems, and reducing waste.
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16
Aug
2008

Lemon balm is so easy to grow. It is a no-nonsense herb, requires the minimum for life and health: a patch of dirt, occasional water, and sunshine. Plant it and it will grow, and grow big: it can reach three feet in height. It will flower in mid-summer, but you can use the leaves anytime. And this herb is so prolific you will have plenty of leaves to use, so here are a few ideas.

This recipe came from Llewellyn's Herbal Almanac for the year 2000, page 34 and sounds lovely:
Lemon Balm Muffins
2 cups flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 eggs
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons minced lemon balm
Grease muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray, butter, or oil. Blend together the dry ingredients. In another bowl, whick the eggs until blended. Add applesauce, lemon juice, and minced lemon balm. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix well and drop into muffin tins. BAke at 375 for 20 to 25 minutes. Serve warm with butter.
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13
Aug
2008

This is "my version" of tex-mex because I'm not from Texas or Mexico and so I can't speak authoritatively on either culture's food and use of tomatoes. Maybe none of these recipes would be accepted in any sort of proper tex-mex application. I don't know, but I do know that they're good and perfect for all the surplus tomatoes my garden produces in August.
Caution: this is not date food. This is messy, gooey, all over your plate, garlicky strong food. I guess you could leave out the garlic... but what date is worth that?

Spicy Grilled Cheese Dip: adapted from Llewellyn's Herbal Almanac for the Year 2000, page 50.
1 pound grated cheddar cheese
1 carton sour cream
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 chile, finely chopped
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped + 1 tomato for garnish.
1 bunch fresh cilantro (coriander, washed, stemmed, and minced
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6
Aug
2008

It's summertime, and the livin' ain't always easy. We have bugs. Bugs are helpful, sometimes, in some situations. Spiders eat other bugs that bug us. Ladybugs eat little garden pests. Mosquitoes eat us. Flies bother us. Roaches make us turn pale and frantic. We like grasshoppers most of the time, but when they just fly up out of nowhere into our faces, we get a little ancy. (Not that we want to kill them; we just wish they would not jump in our faces. Bugs tend to ignore personal space.)

I don't mind most bugs, as a general rule, and I recognize that they have a place in the life-nature cycle. Still, when they venture indoors or bite my legs or munch on all of my tomatoes, it's necessary to draw a few lines. The line-drawing can be done without chemical pesticides, as you'll see here.

For garden bugs that aren't helpful:

  • Dilute a couple of tablespoons of Dr. Bronner's soap (or another mild soap) in a spray bottle of water. Mist the leaves and fruit of your fruit and vegetable plants. Once the soap-water mix washes off, it won't be helpful, so you'll need to repeat this application every day or so.
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31
Jul
2008

This seems to be gardening week; I keep thinking of more gardening ideas, advice, topics, questions... Bear with me. I promise next week I'll talk about something else.
Like farmer's markets...
So if you visit a big bookstore's gardening section, you could be wandering for days. People, lots of people, lots of people other than me, have a lot to say about gardening. And apparently lots of people like to read what they say about gardening, because the garden-book category just keeps growing. (No pun... oh nevermind.)
You don't need all those books. But a few wise choices can be extremely helpful if you plan on growing (living) things on a regular basis. Even if you're just doing a little container garden, you still need some information. Here are my general gardening book recommendations:

  • If you get nothing else, get one big "gardening tips book" or "complete gardening" compendium
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