Recently in Garden Category

The sunflowers have dried up, the tomatoes are long and leggy and experiencing a resurgence of green after all the rain and cooler temperatures, and my son delights in picking the green peppers.  The okra's still going strong, too, but the squash were devoured by the squash bugs.  (I'm sure I'll be dealing with those again next year.)  Such is our garden now, and I'm wondering what we need to do now that it's fall. (By the way, that's not my cute dog -- from everystockphoto.com by darkpatator, photo called "Les feuilles magiques.")

Looking at several lists, these are the basics to making getting started again next year that much easier.

Clean out plant debris.  Healthy stuff can be composted, but diseased or pest-ridden plants need to go in your yard waste or burned in your brush pile (if it's legal).

Plant or tansplant your trees/shrubs.  Be sure to keep watering young plants until the first freeze.

Clean and sharpen your garden tools.  I hear that putting oil into a bucket of sand is good for storing your tools in and keeping them honed.

Save and store seeds from your favorite plants.  I use regular paper envelopes.  It makes them easy to label and keep separate.

Harvest your herbs.  If you don't already have an herb garden, now might be a good time to plan for next year's.

Feed the wildlife.  Make sure your feeders are free of wasp nests and such, clean and ready to fill for the winter time.  We have a feeder hanging right outside our dining room window so the kids can watch birds eating while we do.  We don't mind the mess, but be aware that wherever you hang a feeder, it gets messy below.

Water features need to be cleaned and drained.  Frozen water expands, and you don't want to ruin your investment.  It's not attractive, but that's why fountains are turned upside down in the winter.

Take care of your roses and gladiolas.  (See links below.)

Some sites if you want to know more:

• Assocaited Content
• Garden Guides
• Love to Know
• Suite 101 -- Cottage Garden
• (Google "fall garden chores" to find related articles)

Enjoy the early fall and the beautiful weather to get your boost of vitamin D and fresh air.  My kids are loving it, but most importantly, so am I!

The rewards of the summer are in the bounty of the garden.

I took my youngest to the botanical garden yesterday, the older three being with their grandma, and we got to pick some purple beans (like green beans, only purple).  I brought our handful home, added them to our small bit of green beans and the small batch from our produce delivery.  We had a full bowl, and they tasted delicious.  I'm not sure if it was the purple beans or not, but they seemed to have a particularly buttery flavor.  Delicious.  (picture coming as soon as my obstacles are overcome!)

I've also taken our bounty of squash and zucchini, added some onions, bell peppers, mushrooms (all flavored with some hoisin sauce and a bit of soy sauce) and teriyaki chicken to make a stir fry, served with brown rice.  The kids raved and raved, much to my surprise.

If you don't have your own garden, take advantage of the local farmers' markets.  Use your imagination to create something from what's in season.  It's a good practice anyway and will add something new to your diet, and, chances are, you'll be glad you did.

Enjoy!

I thought it would be timely to share some gardening tips.  Nothing new or revolutionary, just practical tips that might come in handy if you haven't heard of them before.  If you learn one thing, then I've done well.

Watering

• Rain barrels!  Who knew you could collect so much water even from 5 minutes of rain?  Making your own seems to be the most cost-effective method.  If time is a pinch, then buy one or four.  You can daisy-chain them, which is a goal of ours after we have one at every corner of the house.  Right now we just have two, and I've never run out.  I can't imagine having one this huge!  I use the water for the plants outside since we don't have a filter on the home water system yet.  The chlorine and other chemicals in the water are understandably hard on plants.
• Water in the early morning.  Mid-day the water evaporates too quickly and could be hard on the leaves.  After dusk the moist soil can attract more pests and can leave the roots too soggy.  If you can't get up and into the garden before 10am, then set up a sprinkler on a timer.  An exception might be for drip hoses, shaded by the plants' foliage.  I would think those would be okay into early afternoon and are ideal for conserving water.

Pests

• Companion planting works wonders.  I've planted radishes with cucumbers just for the benefit of the cucumbers, not because I'm fond of radishes.  If you can't find a companion, it's worth planting other beneficial flowers or herbs.  That's why marigolds are so common in gardens.  (And because they seed easily -- take the dead flower, open it up and sprinkle the seeds around.  Cover with a little soil, water, and you'll have marigolds soon enough.)
• If you wouldn't eat it, don't use it in the garden.  We promote organic gardening around here.  Sure, it takes a little time and effort, but isn't it worth not adding harmful substances to your family's bodies?  I suppose the exception is the minerals we add to the soil.  You wouldn't catch me eating compost, either!
• Don't be afraid to catch a bug.  When bad bug hunting, carry a container of soapy water.  It doesn't have to be big.  I caught about a dozen Japanese beetles the other day who were munching away on our raspberry bushes.  Catching the few that were there is better than using a trap and attracting even more.  Usually I let them eat away at our non-blooming wisteria if it keeps them out of the garden.  Hornworms die in the soapy water, too.  Fast-flying bugs are harder to catch, and squash bugs I just, well, squash.  I don't like squash bugs.  Wear gloves if you're afraid of the bugs.
• Egg shells are effective for keeping slugs at bay.  I rinse them off and keep them in a bowl by the kitchen sink.  After they're dry, I crush them down.  When I get a bowl full, preferably in early spring, I take them out and sprinkle them around the plants.  I wasn't as good about doing it this year, and the slugs are everywhere!
  
• Remember the beneficial insects!  You gotta love the worms, ladybugs, wasps, bees, even some ants and many more.

Weeds

• Newspaper makes a great biodegradable weed barrier, preferably just use the black and white print.  So does straw (so long as it's not hay).
• Toss the weeds to the compost pile.  Some say it's better to wait to add them until they've died.  We've done both.
• Be aware of volunteer plants when weeding.  Some of our tomatoes and melons are from volunteers.  Keep a keen eye out for those fledgling plants, especially around the compost pile!  You can move them if they're still small and in the way.  I've found that they grow best if they're left where they are, though.
  

Compost

• Okay, I've mentioned it more than once already, but I think all gardeners will agree this is one of the most important aspects of gardening.  Read up on it; there are over a million sites related to composting.  Learn what you can and start building up your pile.
• No meats, dairy or fats/oils.  We have read that you can have these things in your pile if you're careful as to what you add with/around it, but we have a rodent family around here, and I don't want to encourage a village.  I'm not particularly keen on the stench, either.  With just our fruit, veggie, coffee grounds, tea bags, weeds, twigs, soil, etc., we've got a good pile or two going, and I can stand to be around it.  If the top layer of scraps stinks a bit, toss some soil on it.
• Fancy gizmos aren't all they're cracked up to be.  We got a compost tumbler for our last house.  It stank, and we never got to use what we put into it.  Now it sits neglected.  I have it if anyone wants it!

Journal

• I have a garden journal (a spiral notebook with a cover I collaged), but most of the time I just use a sheet of paper to map out the garden.  This is handy so I know where I planted things the year before to prevent planting the same thing in the same spot.  Crop rotation has many benefits.
• Plan your calendar/seasonal chores.  Some books help with this, but I haven't found a favorite yet.  It also depends on where you live, what kind of plants you're working with.  It's best to put everything in perspective and have an idea of what you need to do when.  I know this, but it's practicing it that I'm having a hard time with!

I hope this helps in some way with your gardening.  If you have other tips to share, I'd love to hear them.   The best way to learn is from other's successes and mistakes, right?

I watered the plants one day last summer, for they didn't look like they could wait any longer for the rain that promised to come any minute but hadn't for days.  Little sprinkles just don't quench a great thirst, though, any more than little pecks of a kiss give justice to great passion.  So I watered the plants.  Within 15 minutes it was raining and continued to rain on and off for most of the afternoon.  I joked with my kids that I watered the plants just so it would rain, kind of like washing the car to make it rain.

Almost as much as the plants needed water, I needed some fresh air.  We had turned on the air conditioning just a couple of weeks before, so the home was sealed off from the natural flow.  As good as it is to keep the humidity off our pictures and portraits, there's something to be said for being in tune with nature as the temperature and humidity rise and fall.  I was grateful for my fresh air that morning  and enjoyed the once limp flowers rising tall again.

As for the rain barrels that provide the water for my watering cans, they were overfull when I began my chore.  I should have known they would be filled again soon.  With our summers around here, though, you never know if it's going to rain for a week or come a drought.  I shouldn't have worried. 

As with all things, if we hoard or collect, we can become stale and stagnant.  It's much better to be useful and beautiful in due course and then be renewed when the time comes. 

I remember the story of the proud Zen student asking the teacher why he hadn't experienced enlightenment, especially since he knew so much about the ways of a good monk.  It was tea time, and the teacher poured the student some tea as he listened.  And he kept pouring.  The cup was overflowing, and finally the student asked the teacher why he didn't stop.  The teacher asked how he could teach when the student's mind, like the cup, was so full.

Hopefully I didn't completely destroy the beautiful story, for it is one of my favorites.  (If you enjoy good, quality dharma talks and Zen stories, please visit Zen Reflections.)  I think of this story, though, when I feel like I'm all used up, when like the flowers and plants, I'm wilted.  It's not entirely a bad thing.  When the rain comes, when the energy returns, the sense of vitality is incomparable, the possibilities endless.  Best to use while it's fresh and make room for more than worry about what may or may not happen, wasting what is already at hand.  Plus, I'd hate to miss an important lesson, not able to catch it because I thought I already had enough.

May your days be fresh and fruitful.

 

Finally, we have something in our garden besides volunteers, which consisted of some sunflowers -- the first of which bloomed this morning -- some tomatoes and some sort of squash or melon (we'll know when it gets bigger leaves or its fruit).  Now we have our intentional tomatoes (the salmonella-free variety), squash, zucchini, okra, cucumbers, sweet bell peppers, and seeds for basil and cilantro and flowers, soon.


Time in the garden inevitably reconnects you to the earth.  There's rejuvenation in tending to the plants, noting the beneficial insects, removing the pesky ones (with a blessing and pardon).  Rising before the sun crests high enough to heat you through and through, it's refreshing and truly signals the start of a new day with hope and promise.  You are at the mercy of nature, lacking the control to determine exactly how the crop turns out, but if you do your best, chances are you'll be rewarded.

May we all be blessed with bountiful gardens, whether our plot is large or small, spreading across acres or spread around in containers.  Enjoy the bit of earth you are blessed to share, and tend it well.

A gardening book we were recommended and encourage others to look into as well:  John Jeavons' How to Grow More Vegetables.

Today was Kids' Day at our local farmer's market, and we were happy to have an Earth Scouts booth there.  Not only were we telling other folks about this great alternative scouting program, but we were encouraging them to participate in The Great Sunflower Project.  Do take a look at the site, grow some sunflowers, count some bees and report your findings.  It's a great summer project for those of you with kids old enough to understand it or at least get the general idea. 

Tomorrow we'll be visiting our local botanical garden for a music/puppet program.  The summer fun never ends!  All the while, we're getting a good dose of vitamin D, and the kids sleep well at night.

And, if you need a crafty floral idea, my mom sent me this link to make a pressed flower bookmark.  We've already bought a bunch of flower seeds.  Hopefully before the summer's over I'll be able to share some beautiful flower photos.  It would be even better to have my own flowers pressed into a bookmark.  Time will tell.

Enjoy the sunshine and watch for bees!

Spring awakens my senses, surging through my veins a desire to grow towards the sun, all the while digging my fingers deeper into the soil.  'Tis the season when the blossoming, growth and fertility all around us reflects the same within most of us, and it is a wonderful time to be alive.

Thinking of all the beauty around me, from rich earth to new green to smiling children, as I look out the door, a web of worms grows on our aging cherry tree.  The dialogue ensues.  This is a reflection of the beauty of nature, likening that to our own true selves.  Ugly worms don't belong here.

Ah, maybe that's why they're in my line of sight today.

Left to its own devices, our earth has its own system of checks and balances.  There is no third party evaluation to discuss the ethics, and the consequences are known, precipitating the action.  Nature lives in balance

However, we as humans have the unique gift of free will.  We get to choose our way and find our own balance.  Where have your choices led you?  Where you are now, is all thriving?  Is there balance?  Or do you need a disaster to restore you closer to where you should be?

We receive signs, if we pay attention.  We receive assurance.  Like it or not, we are part of this "nature" around us, and I feel that if we pay attention to it, Nature will offer suggestions on how we should live, maybe even how we can make improvements.

The worms outside.  I will have to cut off that part of the branch and kill the worms to keep them from spreading before they outgrow their current nest of sorts, if they haven't already.  I don't like having to do that.  I apologize to the plants as I prune them back and wish insects light and love and a good next life before I squish them, apologizing after.  But I do what I feel I must to keep a balance, prevent an infestation that could further destroy the good thing I hope I have going.

Our cherry tree is on its last leg.  Already I've chosen a couple of its off-shoots to grow in its place, several feet away from the original tree.  Eventually we'll have to cut down the beauty to allow room for the new trees.  I suppose it's not unlike our love for our children.  We can't live forever, overshadowing them.  It's best that our ego takes back seat if not disappears so that our children can grow in their own light and live the lives they were brought here to live.

It is all an intricate balance, a web of life, not without death.  Verily, there is neither beauty nor disgust; there is just what is, and that whole is . . . just is.  I want to say it's beautiful, but that would be me adding that which is excessive, tipping the scale.

I should take these lessons and practice them, mull them over and throughout, evaluating my own environment, removing what needs to be removed, nurturing what nourishes the whole.

Happy gardening to you, and may the music of spring sing in your soul.

Storms and all, Spring is definitely here, and I guess I'd rather stay up way too late cleaning than waste precious daylight.  The kiddos and I got our jump start on gardening, getting the straw for much.  What is some straw in the garden without the strawberries?  I bought two root bundles -- that means 50 plants.  Yes, we take our strawberries seriously around here, though not scientifically seriously enough.  I'm not sure about the variety we got; I need to research the Chandler kind since that's what we brought home!

So, 25 strawberry roots are already planted.  There are two groups of three near the red raspberries and lavender (both just in their second year in our garden) in the bed by the veggie garden (not yet planted at all this year).  I'm curious to see how and if flavor is affected by the nearness of the plants, but that's a long-term project.  (I was inspired by the wine conversation in French Kiss, one of my hubby's and my favorite movies.)  The other 19 plants are filling in unused sunny space. 

Our yard was landscaped when we bought it, but it's largely ornamental, though good for animals/insects.  There's lots of space we foresee filling in to make it more like an "Edible Estate."  We have a long way to go and lots of research to do to make that happen, but it's a goal.  You gotta have goals.

We didn't plant today since I thought it would rain.  We'll see what it's like tomorrow afternoon because I just can't wait to get all those berries started.  For me there's nothing like a good day's work outside to revitalize the soul.  Fresh air and a boost of vitamin D does a body good.  Now if I could just get my kids to be aware of that positive energy to dilute their angst and negativity, we'd all be better off.

Happy sunny spring days to you.