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garden
sat 14 apr 2012 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2012/20120414.html |
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A couple stalks of garlic, six little mustard greens. and a beautiful hyacinth...
Pretending to be gardeners is hard work. So we swung by for some vegan cupcakes on the way home. Me: Rockin' Raspberry, SO: Black Forest. Yum! |
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garden woe
tues 24 apr 2012 | |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2012/20120424.html | |
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A Garden must combine the poetic and the mysterious with a feeling of serenity and joy. Unfortunately our garden combines the ugly and the slugs with a feeling of frustration and despair. heh. We have a large patch of our plot which is covered with this horribly horrible thing:
It has deep roots, it's impossible to pull up easily, it's impossible to fork out easily, and I hate it like I've never hated any plant before!
I'm going to try to murder them with this thing: Reviews say it'll probably only last about 20 minutes. Hopefully that will be long enough. And yeah, I don't know what the evil plant is. I thought it was marsh marigold, but the leaves are all wrong. I should have taken a pic of the leaves. For now, we are just going to refer to it as: The Bane of My Existence! |
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weed destruction
sat 28 apr 2012 | ||
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2012/20120428.html | ||
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We went to the garden armed with these things and we put a good dent into our weed problem!! Significant Other worked with the weed machine, the Fiskars Deluxe Weed Remover, and he was impressed! It pulled up each evil weed, with minimal effort and no back strain. The thing looks like a joke, but it works great. The reviews said it was going to break after about 20 minutes of work. I was completely prepared for this to happen. And I'm happy to report that SO worked longer than 20 minutes (maybe close to an hour?) and it hasn't broken yet! If it survives to clear out the rest of the evil weed... it'll be well worth the 40$ I paid for it! I killed some weeds with the handheld weeder. It worked, but not as well as the machine... the mud is just too soft to "pop" the weed out. I think it'll work better in the summer, once things dry out a bit! Last weekend, after our first attempt to kill this weed, I was crying with frustration and was worried that we would have to give up our community garden plot. But with these tools, there is a glimmer of hope! There's still much to do, but I feel much better about it now. |
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Garden
sat 19 may 2012 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2012/20120519.html |
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Significant Other has been doing some great work, killing weeds in the garden, while I waste my time at the day job. Remember the weeding tool? Well, the second one broke after it's _second_ visit to the garden. arg! But enough of the evil weed has been killed by weeding tools number one and two that I didn't think it necessary to buy weeding tool number three. (Next project: work on getting replacements from Fiskars.) (and side note: the hand-held weeding tool is pretty handy. Plus, it hasn't broken once! I've used it extensively, with no back pain or shoulder pain... I do have to brace myself with my knee tho, and the muscles in my right thigh have been getting the workout of their lives!! ) Anyway. Significant Other had cleared out a space big enough to start planting things! We got some starts at Saturday Market, and now our garden plot doesn't look like a joke any more. :)
Four different kinds of tomato plants and a couple herbs. Plus some flower seeds tossed down randomly! We still have work to do... the other half of our plot is filled with 4 foot tall grass which we need to kill before the people in charge start threatening to kick us out. One of the community garden rules: weeds can't be over 18 inches. And grass is definitely a weed. Ha. They threaten to revoke our membership every single year. But I'd like to change things up this year, and clear out the weeds before they start complaining. ;) |
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Long Weekend Plans
fri 25 may 2012 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2012/20120525.html |
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Looks like Significant Other is going to leave me to my own devices for most of this weekend, since he's got his own stuff going on... Just the grand opening of his fav pinball place. It's all good: we will both be working hard this weekend!
My To Do List #1: Fix Bedroom
My To Do List #2: Fix Garden I left the day job early today, and this afternoon I spent a good hour at the garden plot. I forked a five foot square area of grass, and then I pulled out roots by hand. I am very proud of my little section of dirt... unfortunately, the forking may have killed my back, and there's probably eight to ten more hours of weed-killing to do. *laughs* We might have to be the joke of the Community Garden -- yet again -- this year. eh. We'll see how this weekend goes. |
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Garden Cont
sat 26 may 2012 | |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2012/20120526.html | |
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Saturday Market provided us with some baby plants. Today we got some cucumbers and some sunflowers to augment the tomatoes we planted last weekend.
Sunflower babies, and in the background, there are nasturtiums and some strawberries! I also planted a row of Snow Pea seeds. It is way late for peas, but the weather has been so cool lately, I think it'll be okay. I love peas! I have major projects this weekend, and I have minor projects this weekend. As is the case, when you are working hard on other things... Ideas for new projects occur.
Ha! What do you do when you have ideas that you don't have time for? I used to have an Idea Notebook... but that seems more like a black hole, where ideas have the life squished out of them! I'm thinking maybe I should just start working on the new ideas. Even just a few minutes working on these projects would give them a momentum which I could continue. But with so many projects going at once -- just like when I am reading three or five books at once -- it takes forever to finish one! That's frustrating. I need more time! If only my day job could be part-time! "If only", but how will the rent get paid?? And so I plug along, like the turtle in the race against the rabbit. |
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garden
sat 7 july 2012 | |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2012/20120707.html | |
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Last weekend, I had bought some blue daisies when I went to Saturday Market with my Mom. We went to the garden that afternoon, and planted the pepper plant and basils that I also got. But we had to leave before we got to the flowers because of a rain shower. Unfortunately, the sun has been shining ever since, and the pepper plant died of lack of water. The basils might not live either. eh. I told Significant Other that we need to start watering daily. I really hope my flowers live, because I just love them...
The weeds have sprung up in our cleared areas, and the grass is starting to grow again. SO and I worked on that for a little while. The four different tomato plants are well established with deep roots, and they are going to give us lots of good fruit! I can't wait!
The slugs got one of my cucumber plants, but the other two are healthy and growing. I've planted zucchinis twice now, and the slugs got both of them. So much for soup and zucchini bread. Significant Other mentioned how pretty the red and orange flowers were. I said, "Nasturtium. You can eat them." He didn't believe me, but he plucked a flower. I added, "It has a peppery taste." He ate it. They are a bit too spicy for my taste, but I agree, they are pretty! :) The strawberries are pretty much done. Two sweet potatoes are still alive. A few carrots. and the creeping thyme seems to be holding it's own... the lemon thyme got lost under the nasturtiums. Don't know what to think of the mustard greens: they went to flower as soon as I planted them, and now they have short green sticks coming off their stems along with the flowers. The snow peas got planted pretty late, but they are growing and one has a flower. Not sure if they'll do anything other than that... Wish the first ones I planted had lived: I love peas! And the one sunflower that lived is a good 3½ feet tall! The other plants keep dying, but as long as I get some pretty flowers, I'll be happy. Happy enough to do it again next year? hmm... |
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garden
sun 15 july 2012 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2012/20120715.html |
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I noticed this right away:
Wow! It's the Indigo Rose Tomato plant, and that is one black tomato! The three other tomato plants (all different types!) seem to be doing well and have some blossoms. I can't wait for the deluge of tomatoes!! Plus, I just love taking pictures of tomatoes. The leaves are beautiful in their randomness, and the round green-ness of the growing tomatoes, and then the contrasting colour of the ripe ones. The whole plant just delights me! My blue daisies are still alive... but today the borage and the nasturtiums stole the show!
I tried to capture the riot of colour, with the blue borage (starflower!) blossoms and the reds and oranges and yellows of the nasturtiums. And the beautiful green foliage of both. There was one sadness. Someone had cut down our sunflower. It was just forming blossoms, and I'm sad that I won't get to take pictures of the flowers. I've loved sunflowers ever since they popped up as volunteers in our first year (2009) of the community garden. I didn't even do anything, and I get these huge beautiful flowers?! ha! well. The sunflowers I planted are dead, but there are plenty of other garden plots with sunflowers in them. There will be ample opportunity to take pictures... |
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weekend gardener
sat 21 july 2012 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2012/20120721.html |
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Since I haven't been biking to the day job this summer, I also haven't been biking to the garden during the week (after work). The community garden is just over a mile from our home, and almost two miles from the day job, so it's not very easy to walk to. And I don't. But Significant Other waters the plants at our garden plot every day. And we get pretty good work done on the weekend... While I deal with the weeds around our veges, Significant Other forks out a grassy section. Today we didn't go to Saturday Market, where we usually get new plants. But I still wanted to plant stuff. So I put down some flower seeds in the new section SO forked. Marigolds and Snap Dragons. (Thanks AJ!) Seeds don't grow in our plot for whatever reason. But I keep trying! |
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yay cucumbers
sat 28 july 2012 | ||
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2012/20120728.html | ||
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I was so happy that I ate an entire cucumber in one sitting. Sliced and with Yumm! sauce (a local form of Goddess Dressing). Significant Other goes to water the plants every day. And every day he brings home a handful of sweet snap peas! We planted them pretty late, so I'm thrilled to be eating them!
The black tomatoes are still small and green, but there are dozens! We didn't pick any, but after we left, I had the idea... Fried Green Black Tomatoes! haha! Other fruits that I am eagerly awaiting... Lemon Cucs, Sweet 100 Cherry Toms, Oregon Spring Toms, and Early Cascade Tom. There are a couple of carrots, too, but it kind of makes me sad to kill a whole plant just for a couple munches. Which is why I should probably just grow fruits and flowers in the garden!! There is a wild flower growing that I'm interested in learning more about...
This was in with the weed that was the bane of my existance... It was similar, but it was much easier than the bane to pull up. Of course, it has come back, which worries me a bit. (A little bit of the bane has come back too... and I am aggressive about digging up any that get close to our planted areas!) The fact that I was never able to put a name to my bane, really annoys me. I have searched and searched and looked at hundreds of pics of yellow flowers (which the bane has), and never got a match with it's leaves. Which makes me not-so-excited to do a search for this thing. The community garden used to have a Ning site... which I really miss. That's how I found the name of Borage and Comfrey, by posting pics at the forum. Borage is wild flower which grows in our garden plot. It likes to take over, but it's so helpful that I mostly let it do it's thing! The bees love it... and making bees happy is important to me. |
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Try Again
sat 1 sept 2012 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2012/20120901.html |
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A regular day's haul from the garden: Lemon Cucumbers, Sweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes, American Slicer Cucumber, Oregon Spring Tomatoes, Cascade Tomato, Indigo Rose Tomatoes. My most favorite thing in the world right now... slice up a cucumber, cut some cherry tomatoes in half, add a few grocery organic baby carrots... and a bowl of Yumm! Sauce to dip in. Oh my goodness, this meal is bliss! And I would eat it forever if I could. :) |
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Mystery Garden Plants
sun 2 sept 2012 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2012/20120902.html |
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The other squash is still a mystery:
I think it's ready to be picked and eaten. It would be nice to know what the heck it is, but whatever! :) This squash is probably 12 inches in diameter, but maybe only 7 or 8? inches long. very squished! The yellow and green seem to indicate that it's ripe... I don't think it's gotten much more yellow in the past week or so. We will pick this thing soon, and see if more show up! Here's our other mystery plant...
This was a volunteer plant. I was clearing out a little section of weeds, and I saved this one because it reminded me of a pepper plant. It hasn't produced any fruits yet, so I have no idea if it's anything but a pretty wild flower! All the leaves are "moth-eaten" as you can see. The flowers are all facing downward, like pepper blossoms. And the plant itself is about 18 inches tall. I think this is just a wait-and-see one! Which is fine and dandy. I'm looking forward to finding out what the plant will make! |
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Garden
sun 9 sept 2012 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2012/20120909.html |
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The sweet potato leaves have gotten a purplish aspect, and I was inspecting them, wondering when I would dig them up. And under the leaves...
oh my gosh, that is so pretty! It looked so much like a morning glory that I actually checked to see if the flower was connected to my sweet potato plant! haha... but the internet tells me that Sweet Potatoes and Morning Glories are cousins! Ha! Also discovered you can eat the young leaves of the sweet potato plant like salad. And can cut a vine and plant it and it'll grow. Amazing! Even if there aren't any sweet potatoes growing underground... I will definitely grow a lot more of these next year! :) And might just grab a cutting to experiment with a new house plant. |
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garden
sun 7 oct 2012 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2012/20121007.html |
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We brought home about ten pounds of tomatoes this weekend! Yes, literally. I didn't actually weigh it, but I have a good idea of what 10 lbs is... and the bag we brought home might actually have been more than that! ha. But the garden is definitely shutting down for the summer and I've got some over wintering plans. This is the 4th year that we've been in our Community Garden, and we have done several winter strategy experiments in that time. One time we laid down black plastic. That seemed to work okay, from what I remember. But I didn't like it. Plastic is definitely not going to save the world, and I do not want random toxic chemicals leaching into the dirt where I plant my food! Another time, we laid down cardboard boxes. This did not work out at all. The boxes were supposed to disintegrate over the winter in the rain... but they were still 80% intact in the spring, and our plot neighbors complained about the slug haven we created. *sighs* So this year, I've decided on a cover crop. The idea is that you plant the seeds in the fall, they grow throughout our very mild and very rainy winter, and then in the spring you fork them over about a month before you plant and they provide nutrients in the soil as they break down! I got some Berseem Clover from Territorial Seed. And we have already cleared out a small space to plant them. We are weeding as we go... a lot of grass has sprung up in the last couple of months. Stupid grass. Well. The grass I can deal with. I am happy to report that "The Bane of My Existence" -- that invasive weed that I never did identify -- has not returned in strength. There have been a couple small plants, but I murder them in cold sap as soon as I see them! |
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Vegan Month of Food
sat 13 oct 2012 | ||||
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2012/20121013.html | ||||
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One of my favorite blogs, It's Easy Being Vegan is celebrating the october Vegan Month of Food by posting photos of everything she eats. It's quite interesting, so I decided to that today!
Always start the day with some coffee. I buy the MimicCream at VeganEssentials. It's really good, but I usually drink my coffee black with tons of sugar and some cocoa powder. That's one of my favorite coffee mugs, too. Greenhill Humane Society was a way station for Rhino the guinea pig!
A great brunch: Tater Tots, tomatoes from the garden, and some Yumm! sauce. Yumm! sauce is the best thing ever. Unless you live in the area, you can't get it easily. But that's okay...Yumm! sauce is very similar to Annie's Goddess Dressing, which you can buy at your grocery store!! I _highly_ recommend you try this out, if you haven't yet! 
A few cherry tomatoes from the garden... where the plants are dying and the wild flowers are taking over! 
And we stopped by Divine Cupcake on the way home. This is a new flavor for me, Jasmine Berry. I got it because it is beautiful. But it tasted good as well. 
And pasta for dinner, with the ever present garden tomatoes! heh. This is "flavored" rotini pasta with some crunched up whole wheat thin spaghetti thrown in. Oregon Spring tomatoes and Early Cascade tomatoes. Two sheets of ripped up nori (the seaweed they use for sushi) (I love that stuff!). And some Oil and Vinegar salad dressing by Paul Newman. The taste test happened after the photo... and it was a little too "tomato-y", so I added some green peas to sweeten it up.
And for supper? I'm not sure yet... There is leftover fried brown rice, which Significant Other made for friday dinner. It would be wonderful with tomatoes and Yumm! sauce. Or I have a bit of leftover baked tofu that I've been eating on a sandwich for lunch most of the week... This was actually the best tofu I've ever made: I sliced up the tofu block, loaded my baking tray with Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette, a bit of canola oil, and big handful of diced tomatoes (of course). After coating the tofu, I broiled it on high for 15 mins, flipped the tofu and broiled until it just started turning dark. very simple. but wow, put the results on bread, and I was looking forward to lunch time every single day! But! Supper is probably an hour or two away... I will post pics of whatever I chose to eat, later! |
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