Drying Herbs and End of Summer Garden

Today we are spending at home. I have a long “to do” list and while I’ve knocked most of it out, neither am I killing myself over it either.

I have enough work going on tomorrow. I’m still beat from yesterday. And the trouble with being an active volunteer and being a SAHM is that your days blur together and you don’t really get a “weekend” like other people with a less fluid schedule do. Unless YOU put the brakes on and declare it so, you won’t get that “weekend” feel.

Well, it can’t be helped that I was working over the weekend. I had movie nite and coffee hour going on and I’m pleased that both went over nice, friendly, and low key.

But today?

Today is for the home.

Julia and I slept in a bit, got ourselves together and put in a load of laundry. She’s off playing know while I take a journal break but we just got done harvesting my crazy herbs. The basil bushes are running rampant!

Julia held the bowl while I hacked it back. We got a large bowl or green sweet basil and a large bowl of the purple opal.

I’m not crazy about the purple opal. Gorgeous color, but it really didn’t do as well as the sweet basil in terms of growth and it seems to attract stink bugs. What’s that all about?

Last fall when we harvested basil, we pureed it in olive oil and preserved it that way. I don’t have time for that production today so we went simple and did bunch drying.

Julia played with the discards that I snipped off and she colelcted in smaller bowls at my feet. She said she was making a “bug house” from them.

Meanwhile I stipped lower leaves off stems, tied the bunches with yard, rinsed them, shook them and then just clipped them to my kitchen curtain rod. I dont’ think I will be eating any of the purple but Julia wanted it so I hung it to dry all the same. It looks pretty and smiles nice even though I don’t find stink bug nibbled basil something I want to eat when I have so much perfect green basil to get through first!

Paul was kind enough to do the mowing and weedeating on Saturday so this week I hope to put some time in prepping for the fall season planting in late August or early September. I know I have to start seeds either tonight or tomorrow. Where does the time fly?

All the tomatoes are old and dying off but I did get a nice crop form the yellows. Some are still ripening out there.

The Purple cherokee were a bust. Nice to look at, but too fussy for my style of guerilla gardening.

Julia’s African daisy is taking over her bed and sports a wicked looking spider. I figured out from this link that it is called an Argiope florida. It is not harmful to humans.

Her little plot has the final tomatoes coming.

And a nice little crop of jingle bell peppers. She harvested two already.

My eggplant is tall but I have to get rid of the old eggplants I didn’t pick to eat so the new ones can have more space and plant energy.

Lots to do.

Hello, Eggplant!

Here is our most recent backyard harvest for dinner….I was thinking pasta so there were the first two eggplants, then some green basil and some purple basil, any little yellow tomatoes that were ready… and I decided to bring in the next two purple cherokees to finish ripening in the kitchen perhaps for some future lunch time sandwich:

My child has a fondness for the green onions so she insisted we needed some of them too:

She piled them on top of everything else we were bringing inside:

So our dinner harvest looked more like this:

Julia then decided to pretend the eggplant was a telephone. “Hello, eggplant!” she exclaimed.

Which is fine. I much prefer eggplant “telephone” to what my spouse suggested. Perv. LOL.

The Green Egg Story

I’ve been really busy with volunteer work. I’ve got a few special events and fundraisers on my plate along wihtthe usual kiddie gardening class and homeschooling so I haven’t been writing much. If I have the time, I rahter be tending the kitchen garden rather than writing about it.

But there is one story I wanted to write down before it fades from my memory. I’ve been letting things bolt from fall season even as we get on through spring season planting. Just for grins and giggles and to let Julia figure it out.

She’d long grown used to the spiky looking stalks of green onions and going out to harvest some for me to use in making dinner. One day we were out there and she came running back in yelling.

“Mommy! Mommy! The green onions have an egg!”

And so I went out to look. Indeed, and egg-like object had magically appeared on one of the stalks. then more came.

Of course, I knew it was the plant bolting to produce seeds, but she never saw it before. So I asked her, “What do you think is happening in there?”

And she thought about it as only a 4 year old can and replied, “I think it will hatch into a green chicken.”

A few days later the first mysterious green “egg” started to split further and she could see strange fuzzy protuberences peeping out.

“Mommy, what kind of feathers are THOSE?” she wondered.

“What kind do you think?”

“I don’t think that’s a chicken. Maybe it will be a duck.”

A few days later an alien flower appeared.

I asked what she thought it was and sat back expecting another bird type answer because of the fluffy look to it and she surprised me again. She seized it and pulled it off and began prancing around.

“We grew a magic wand! Hooray! Poof! I turned you into an anole!”

She ended up carrying the green onion magical wand around all afternoon. It was a bit whiffy, but I wouldn’t trade that sort of magic for anything.

First and Second Lettuce Harvest

Remember the lettuce we planted shortly before Winter Solstice? We’ve been eating them.

Here is one of them  12/21/07:

It was like this on  1/30/08:

On 2/8/04 it had gotten this fluffy so I decided to harvest it and its friends and make a salad:

Here is the first harvest:

Julia did not want to be in the picture. She said she’d hide behind lettuce:

Here is some of the salad. It was excellent — vibrant and fresh:

Here we are on 2/17/04. The bottom box that I harvest about nine days ago is filling back in:

I decided to harvest the top box:

Here’s our second harvest in a large, deep, round bowl:

Now I’m trying to decide what sort of salad it will be and we will eat it for dinner.

SFG Series: Filling Your 4 x 4 ft raised Bed

“Dirt Day” is always a fun day over at my house. My preschooler looooves to dig and it’s one of her favorite parts to getting a new bed together.

In the All New Square Foot Gardening book, Mel Bartholomew suggests this formula for making up your soil mix for your raised bed:

• 1/3 vermiculite
• 1/3 peat moss
• 1/3 compost

In a 4 x 4 ft raised bed that is 8 inches high, that translates to about 3.5 cubic feet of each thing.

That doesn’t sound so bad until you go to the store and figure out that compost is sold by the pound, you get peat moss in bales or litres, and then the best vermiculite source I found sells in quarts or bushels. (Hint for homeschoolers: There’s your math lesson of the day — converting things from one volume measure to another!)

Luckily, you don’t have to be exact.

SHOPPING LIST

First, go to the Home Harvest website and order 1.5 bushels of vermiculite. They will ship to your house. Even with the shipping, I haven’t found vermiculite locally in this quantity for a better price than the ~$30 it costs. It is your most expensive soil mix ingredient, but you never have to put it into the bed again. It won’t rot away. (Don’t substitute with perlite — perlite has a habit of rising to the top and floating away in the rain.)

It takes about a week to arrive and when it comes, save the box and packaging.

All the rest I picked up at Lowe’s this afternoon for $40.

• 1 bag of Black Kow compost — 50 lbs
• 1 bag Black Velvet Mushroom Compost — 40 lbs
• 1 bag Timberline Organic Compost (cow) — 40 lbs
• 3 bags Majestic Earth Peat Moss — 44 L per bag

The peat moss doens’t have to be Majestic Earth Brand — any will do. Try to go with 3 to 5 different types of compost if you can. The more varied, the better, but shoot for three at minimum.
FILLING THE BED

Mel suggests using a tarp to mix all the ingredients together. My helper is too small to deal with trying to fold tarp full of more than 120 lbs of soil mix and I don’t feel like washing the tarp afterward so we do it this way instead… sort of lasagna gardening style but not quite.

The first step is to put down cardboard at the bottom of the bed. If you saved your vermiculite shipping box, you can use that. If not, use a thick layer of paper grocery bags, newspaper, or a mix of all three. This will kill off the grass and prevent weeds from popping up into your bed. If it is flying around, wet it down with a hose so it stays put.

Next, dump two bags of peat moss in. Use a rake to spread it around to cover the cardboard.

After that, dump in the two 40 lb bags of compost. Spread it evenly over the peat first, then start raking it so it is mixing together.

Now dump the vermiculite in. Have child stand back because it tends to be dusty coming out of the bag. Wet it down a little bit with the hose if you need to so the dust isn’t flying around. (If dust sensitive, wear a mask or bandana around your nose while doing this.)

Do the same thing as before — use the rake to spread the vermiculite evenly across the raised bed first and then start to mix it into the other ingredients.

Now add your last bag of peat and your last bag of compost. Spread it out evenly, and then mix. Children tend to like the mixing so let them go at it as long as they want to. Just remind them to keep the soil mix inside the raised bed. You will end up with something like this:

You may also end up with a planted rake or two!

NEXT WEEK:

• Making the Grid and Planting

SFG Series: Building a 4 x 4 ft Raised Bed

Different Types of Raised Beds

There are many kinds of raised beds to fit any budget and style. For our 4 x 4 ft square foot gardening project, I’ve tried to keep it simple and affordable by going with a plain wooden box frame that can be made and installed in less than an hour:

While you can Google all sorts of styles, I will mention three other types for those who lack tools or feel nervy about carpentry with small children under foot:

• (14) 8″ x 16″ cinderblocks. I know they get heavy, but they are cheap, and offer you extra planting space in the holes. Lay it out so you put down 3 blocks, then start the second side with 4 blocks, then the third side 3 blocks, then complete the square with 4 blocks on the last side. The inside dimensions should be about 4 x 4 ft square.
• Raised Bed Connectors — If you get the connectors, all you need is a screwdriver. Plop your boards in and screw it up. (Both Home Depot and Lowe’s will saw your wood to size for you.)
• 3 x 3 ft Grow Beds – Recycled plastic sections that snap together and are a smaller size to deal with.

(Those wanting a deeper 4 x 8 ft wooden bed — check Sunset’s “The Perfect Raised Bed.” If you were wondering what I use, I’m a link-a-bord fan. It’s slowly making it’s way over here from England.)
Shopping List

If you are like me, you probably have a sidekick that isn’t crazy about long errand days.

I’ve written the supply lists with the idea that it will take three trips to Home Depot or Lowe’s. One day to get lumber, one day to get soil ingredients, and plants/seeds day.

On lumber shopping day you will need:

• (2) 8 ft long pieces of 1×8 untreated lumber for the box sides
• (1) 4 ft long piece of 2×2 untreated lumber for the box support posts
• Box of 1 ½ or 2 inch deck screws with at least 16 screws in it. More is ok.

SUBTOTAL:~ $25

If you can get cedar or similar rot resistant wood that is great. Otherwise get untreated pine and just know that it will require replacing after a few years.

Get them to cut the 1×8 wood into 4 foot lengths for you in the store so it is easier to transport home.

Check the scrap bin first for a 4 ft length of 2×2 that you can have cut into 1 ft sections for posts. If you have to buy a new 8 ft long piece, cut it up into 1 ft chunks and take the extras home for a second box at a later date.

On the posts, it’s nice to cut one end at a 45 angle so it is easier to drive into the ground. If you can’t, don’t worry — you can dig it in instead.

Assembly

First, clamp a post to a board. Then drill two pilot holes with a drill bit smaller than your screw size. This will help the screw go in straight.

After that, put the screws into the pilot holes and screw them all the way in either by hand or with a screw bit on the drill.

Then clamp the next 1 x 8 board on to the 2×2 support post and repeat the process. Keep going all around the box frame.

Watch where you put your screws. While they don’t have to be perfect, you also don’t want to crash into another screw that is already there. Stagger it a bit. Also mind how you line up your boards as you work your way around the box frame so you will wind up square.

When you have screwed the frame together, carry it to a sunny spot in the yard. Ideally it will get at least 6 to 8 hours of sun each day but if your yard is less than ideal, just go with the best sunny spot you have.

You can dig little holes for the posts to go down into and fill them back up once the bed sides are flat the lawn. Or if you have a soft lawn and you angled the posts, pound them into the ground with a hammer. Your raised bed is done!

Next Week:

• Filling Your Raised Bed

Square Foot Gardening With Children (and Kid’s Tools!)

Introduction

I started putting in a 100 sq ft kitchen garden for myself last summer. I’m still nowhere close to being done installing beds and I’m still learning as I go along when it comes to growing edibles.
But I’ve really gotten to love spending time with my preschooler puttering around in the yard. I’ve watched her make mud pies, catch anoles, plant marigolds, find caterpillers, harvest herbs, and draw endless pictures of little squares with dots inside them representing seeds.

It’s high time she had a 4×4 ft raised bed of her own.

For those who want to give it a whirl, I’ll be writing a series of mini articles about organic square foot gardening with small children that explains how to copy our efforts at your own homes. Most of our January weekends are going to be spent setting one up so she and her friends can do a homeschool gardening unit in February.

The budget for a 4 x 4 ft bed is between $100-$150 depending on where you source your supplies.

If you want to jump ahead on your own, the Orange County Library has copies of Mel Bartholomew’s All New Square Foot Gardening and his website provides tips for the basic set up. The GardenWeb community has a great SFG FAQ and the SFG folks at Flickr have a good collection of photos.

Goals

We only have three goals for our little gardeners:

1. Set up an organic 4 x 4 ft SFG correctly
2. Plant it up
3. Grow something for a while

Whether or not the plants last the season or we get to actually harvest anything edible is bonus.

 

Children’s Tools

Children especially like having their own garden tools. I bought my daughter a metal and wood long handle set that included a leaf rake, rake, hoe, and shovel by Toysmith for about $25. Brio also does a metal and wood set. We mainly use these to stir dirt around when setting up a new 4 x 4 or digging in new compost in an established 4×4 at the start of a season.

Julia also has a small hand shovel, trowel, and scissors for harvesting. We use these the rest of the time during the season.

I was recently at the SuperTarget on Orange Blossom Trail and Town Center Blvd and noticed they had brought back the colorful long handle tools they’ve had for the last two years in animal designs. The also have the hand tools, garden boots, butterfly nets, watering cans, magnifying glass, and more.

There are online retailers also:

• Child Size Garden Tools
  
• 6 Piece Kid’s Tool Set
• Little Gardener Tools
  
• Kid’s Garden Tool Set
• Child’s Gardening Equipment

Let It Be

Preschoolers are best at digging, watering, and harvesting. Just don’t be surprised if they dig what you don’t want dug, water what you don’t want watered, and “harvest” everything down to nothing well before it is time to actually harvest.

If the children want to plant feathers and sticks right along with the seeds — why not? If they want to plant and unearth the same flowers over and over — go right ahead.

My daughter recently planted peas — cooked ones. She’s still waiting for them to pop up. She’s also planted earthworms and toads. They didn’t seem to mind it because they burrowed down even further.

Let it be. Kiddie gardens aren’t going to be like a grown-up’s garden. Keep your sense of humor and let their garden become whatever it may. You can always make a second raised bed for yourself to maintain and grow things for dinner. The kiddie raised bed is for growing wonder.

You may find that while your crops are tasty, theirs are more exciting!

Next Week:

 

• Building a wooden raised bed frame.

Purple Dragon Carrot Harvest

Today was fun — carrot harvest day. Out of the 32 seeds I put in, we got 23 out. Though next time I will plant 9 per sq foot rather than the suggested 16 because they get fluffy, and then the bigger ones cover up the smaller ones and they struggle for light.

They were great growers though. A little slow, but no pests in the foliage nor the roots. I didn’t even spray them much. Homemade seed tapes worked out. After keeping a sharp eye on them to make sure they germinated and weren’t going to wash away in the rain, I could ignore them other than watering. Unlike the beans and tomato which had to be kept hand picked from bugs!

Julia explained to me that the one in her hand was one of the sad, tiny ones that didn’t get enough light.

Tiny or big, she was pleased with her carrot crop.

We’ve got enough there to juice, steam, or make into salad tomorrow.

My favorite shot today:

After rinsing them off, they just glow with that awesome purple! We’ll have to try other carrot colors.

One New Shelf, Two New Beds

Julia and I have been busy. Going through a fit of spring cleaning indoors and outdoors. We also had a little freeze one day so we had to cover what few plants are left in the mini garden. So today’s entry is eye-candy!

I bought a 4 ft wide chrome shelf at Target on New Year’s Day for $50 and child and I put it up the next day. I wanted my trays out in sun, not holed up on card tables on the screened patio.

The seedlings will be happier now.

Julia planted some sunflower seeds and they germinated.

She also went anole hunting.

We lay down cardboard for the new beds.

Julia helped me fill them up.

Spreading vermiculite.

Planting leaves — she told me not to plant anything on top of them. (She’s also tried planting cooked peas, feathers, and other odd objects.)

The other new bed is in grass.

Got red petunias for her gazebo.

Basically we are set for spring planting in the mini kitchen garden. Any other new beds I put in are bonus. I hadn’t planned on finishing them til summer. I got 100% germination in the seed trays so I’m going to have extra plants to give away to friends.

What I have to work on next is a 4 x 4 ft box for Julia’s own growing experiments.

Rosemary Onion Tart

I made this for Christmas at my parent’s house.  It was first from Deborah Madison’s “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone” and I’ve been making it for Easter or Christmas for a long time. I don’t like to make it for non-holidays because it is a butter hog.

The only thing I have to remember is that my dad likes the taste but not the texture of dried rosemary — so if I’m making it for him it’s best to infuse the wine with it and not actually put it in.

I want to try veganizing it one day.

Dough:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbs sugar
• 12 tbs unsalted butter
• 1/3cup water

Combine with hand mixer til dough forms. Add more water by spoonful if needed.  Roll out on floured surface into 14 inch circle, put into springform pan or pie pan. Edges will stick out if not using tall springform pan. Set aside in fridge so it doesn’t get too soft waiting on the counter.

Filling:

• 3 tbs butter
• 6 cups sliced onion
•  1 tbs rosemary
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tbs Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup Romano or Parmesan cheese
• salt/pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 deg.

Melt butter in large pot and sautee onions for 15 min with rosemary. Add wine
and simmer until reduced. Salt and pepper to taste.

Set aside 2 tbs of egg for wash. Combine remaining egg with mustard and sour cream. Then dump into pot with onions, bread crumbs, and cheese. Mix together well.

Spoon filling into pan. Fold sides of dough over filling all around the tart. Center will remain open. Brush crust with reserved egg. Bake until golden — about 25 minutes.