Two Stray Dogs & A Tick - 1st of the season
A Great Gardening Day Delayed in the Wake of Two Cute Strays
What is the inner function which causes the hand to unconsciously move to an unseen, unfelt spot on the body and begin to pick at it? No noticeable sensation, no direct command of the mind - yet it is an action of higher intelligence. One for which I am very grateful.
I picked, and grabbed hold, not having a feeling of picking off an extension of my own skin. That satisfying sense of completion when its removed. Then the slow horror as the mind begins to wonder - what is that which was attached to me?
I remembered-- the dogs. Adorable loving strays, bright intelligence in their eyes, hopeful joy wagging their tails. Animals smelling of skunk, running wild through the woods and fields and ticks. TICKS!
So I captured the little speck, like a tiny crumb and placed it on a white paper under the light of my desk. So tiny, I had to find the magnifying glass. The word “seed tick” came to mind. But I thought that seed ticks were smaller than this little hard-shelled dot. Weren’t those legs seeming to stick out from the oval lump? Yes, I think it was. And I’m glad that it was removed so easily, not ingrained, imbedded or really stuck too deeply into my neck. Gone now, flushed away.
Normally I am very careful about bugs, how did this one get to me? Through the very cute strays that appeared today, opened my heart, and let the tick get under my skin.
The dogs were first spotted through the garden-facing windows. At first I thought she might be a fox with a short body, reddish fur, fluffy tail, and up-pointed ears. She was eagerly sniffing the ground as she wandered around the garden fence. Her friend, a beagly-looking mix with a white and black mottled coat, ranged through the field. Next time I looked, Foxy was settled down, curled up as if at home, near the door to the greenhouse.
Gingerly I opened the door to the deck above her spot. Usually I expect a stressful response from a stray, but she heard my movements and looked up with her tail eagerly waving, and jumped up to greet me. They both came to me like I was a favorite playmate, their joy wagging them, wanting to jump up and lick, with unbridled expectancy. Oh dear, I couldn’t help putting my hand on their heads, responding lovingly.
I knew they’d be carriers of bugs, and they’d been too close to a skunk fairly recently too. But their joyous loving beings could not be ignored. I wanted to keep the puppies. I wanted them to chase away the skunks, hedgehogs, snakes, rats, mice and armadillos, and keep me company around the yard. I could hardly let those little girl wants come through when my adult was cataloging the responsibilities. Shots, flea & tick combing, training, caring, poop patrol, water, food, oohh - there’s so much already on my to do lists.
Food is a really big issue. Many people around here are letting go of pets as they can’t afford to feed them - maybe not even themselves or their families. As the economy tanks, and supply lines fray, would we be able to get food for them? They are less likely to be vegetarian than us. I’m only growing vegies, not ready for the farm animal protein cycle of work. That is, chickens for eggs and meat, dog to protect the chickens, rabbits to feed the dog, cats to catch the mice that like the chicken coup. More grain to grow for everyone, and I would be a slave to my desire for protein meals, and a slave to the needs of my dog - which I wouldn’t want to touch because of insects.
Another awareness came which tipped the scales away from having a dog, when I saw the beagle-mix standing on top of my open compost bin, helping himself to the half rotten produce. Yich. I took big sheets of cardboard to cover the compost piles. I knew I wasn’t ready to have dogs. We like a simple, unstressed quiet peaceful life - which is not what dogs are about.
Then came dog noise. I had given them water and enjoyed my little fantasy of giving them the loving care they needed and their wonderful hearts deserved, when neighbors drove by and the barking noise began. I shut up my heart as best I could and let the little dogs know that NO was the word for the day. GO was the other word. It broke my heart to say it and try to mean it.
I’m sure they could tell I was giving them mixed messages. I had to go back inside so I wouldn’t be in range of their wide-eyed exuberant loving joy. I missed out on a warm and cloudy day which would have been perfect for weeding the garden, opening some ground or starting another project in the garden, because I couldn’t face their desire and my own. So I worked inside, my spirit sagging with sorrow. Later in the afternoon I noticed that they were gone.
I missed Foxy then. Now I know the other one’s name, Bobby McGee. He’s lookin’ for that home and I hope he finds it.
And I found the tick they left with me, soaked my fears of ticks off in the bath, and all is peaceful quiet here again. And I have a bitter sweet story to share.
Digital Garden Record-Keeping Tools
- when was that seed planted,
- when did the sprout come up,
- when did it start to wilt, brown, or
- when fortune smiles upon us, when did it flower?
All these questions can be answered with Garden Record Keeping. Certainly this is not an easy or simple task. There is so much data to track.
I remember trying to keep track of life when we used those little sticks of wood and graphite and dried sheets of wood pulp to make records. Then we’d have to leaf through all these pages to find what we wanted to know and correlate data both manually and use up valuable brain cells to think it through.
Now I rejoice in all the digital record keeping tools at my fingertips. Here’s an example:
One of my gardening friends, upon visiting my greenhouse wanted to know when the growth of the lettuce (at this point, I’m forgetting a word she used to describe the growth pattern. Let me digress to investigate. We corresponded by email, so I go to my email program to do a search on mail with her name in it. I didn’t have to go far, only to the next item on my dock - yes, I’m on an Apple, but don’t worry -even Windows users have these cool tools.) accelerated.
Hmm, I said. I don’t know. Let me consult, not the oracle - but the visual record. Moving over to my Photo database, I created a folder and labeled it “lettuce growth”. Then scanning through the photos from the time the lettuce seeds were planted. Oh, how did I know the date?
By consulting the calendar program. I have a calendar which shows up in a different color for each of my life paths (all integrated on one monthly page). Recently I’ve added several to accommodate all the gardening areas. My favorite one is for yearly activities. I set each item to be repeated once a year, so as I learn what needs to be done, when, in this Ozark environment, my trusty computer can let me know when its time for what.
Yes, I’m giving a computer a lot of responsibility, which means I have to BACK UP frequently. I’m sure that my rusting brain cells can remember to do that. Much better than they can remember all the details of everything I’m planting and growing and having to do to keep the garden growing.
Back to the Calendar program, input in search field “lettuce” and I can see when I planted them, 12/31/08. Back to the photographs at the beginning of the year to see more details and place representative pictures of the lettuce growth in the folder marked “Lettuce Growth.”
I love photography. But in the old days, though I had a good camera, I didn’t feel that good about the cost of film and development. And I never liked the date burned onto the photograph. However, I love the date that comes with digital photos! And the ability to label each one and sort them into folders.
Frequently I take the camera with me into greenhouse and field just to note what is going on, so when the questions come up later, there’s the answer!
I planted too many different types of seeds into one tray yesterday. I have little mini popsicle type sticks as the labels that fit in the tray. I know that they can easily be dislodged. And I’d really like to know what variety and color of which plant each seedling is. To keep it straight, I photographed the labels in the tray in order so I will be able to put the puzzle back together if it falls apart. Digitally assisted gardening!
Back to the lettuce - Wow, they were transplanted into the greenhouse bed on 1/5/09 (photo below). That’s fast!
Then (below) the lettuce plants started to overlap on 2/6. (That’s probably when I should have started to thin them, but my “right to life for plants” perspective is not today’s focus.)
I find great beauty in the unfolding leaves.
And below, complete overcrowding occurs on 2/20. My friend received a couple of photos and the answer in her email!
Another example of digital recording keeping:
I’m preparing a post on a comparison/review of two brands of watering cans. I couldn’t remember one of the brand names and the photo did not show the logo clearly enough.
Back to my digital records in the Mail department. I did a search for “watering” in the body of the emails and came up with the email receipt for each item, including model number and brand name. Hazaah! No wonder the Baby Boomers and the Digital Age are such good friends! Whatever my little mind forgets, the super-big hard drive kindly remembers.
I just have to recall what word to search for...
However you garden, May you have joy in both the remembrance and the forgetting!
Digital Photos as Gardening Log/Record
- when was that seed planted,
- when did the sprout come up,
- when did it start to wilt, brown, or
- when fortune smiles upon us, when did it flower?
All these questions can be answered with Garden Record Keeping. Certainly this is not an easy or simple task. There is so much data to track.
I remember trying to keep track of life when we used those little sticks of wood and graphite and dried sheets of wood pulp to make records. Then we’d have to leaf through all these pages to find what we wanted to know and correlate data both manually and use up valuable brain cells to think it through.
Now I rejoice in all the digital record keeping tools at my fingertips. Here’s an example:
One of my gardening friends, upon visiting my greenhouse wanted to know when the growth of the lettuce (at this point, I’m forgetting a word she used to describe the growth pattern. Let me digress to investigate. We corresponded by email, so I go to my email program to do a search on mail with her name in it. I didn’t have to go far, only to the next item on my dock - yes, I’m on an Apple, but don’t worry -even Windows users have these cool tools.) accelerated.
Hmm, I said. I don’t know. Let me consult, not the oracle - but the visual record. Moving over to my Photo database, I created a folder and labeled it “lettuce growth”. Then scanning through the photos from the time the lettuce seeds were planted. Oh, how did I know the date?
By consulting the calendar program. I have a calendar which shows up in a different color for each of my life paths (all integrated on one monthly page). Recently I’ve added several to accommodate all the gardening areas. My favorite one is for yearly activities. I set each item to be repeated once a year, so as I learn what needs to be done, when, in this Ozark environment, my trusty computer can let me know when its time for what.
Yes, I’m giving a computer a lot of responsibility, which means I have to BACK UP frequently. I’m sure that my rusting brain cells can remember to do that. Much better than they can remember all the details of everything I’m planting and growing and having to do to keep the garden growing.
Back to the Calendar program, input in search field “lettuce” and I can see when I planted them, 12/31/08. Back to the photographs at the beginning of the year to see more details and place representative pictures of the lettuce growth in the folder marked “Lettuce Growth.”
I love photography. But in the old days, though I had a good camera, I didn’t feel that good about the cost of film and development. And I never liked the date burned onto the photograph. However, I love the date that comes with digital photos! And the ability to label each one and sort them into folders.
Frequently I take the camera with me into greenhouse and field just to note what is going on, so when the questions come up later, there’s the answer!
I planted too many different types of seeds into one tray yesterday. I have little mini popsicle type sticks as the labels that fit in the tray. I know that they can easily be dislodged. And I’d really like to know what variety and color of which plant each seedling is. To keep it straight, I photographed the labels in the tray in order so I will be able to put the puzzle back together if it falls apart. Digitally assisted gardening!
Back to the lettuce - Wow, they were transplanted into the greenhouse bed on 1/5/09 (photo below). That’s fast!
Then (below) the lettuce plants started to overlap on 2/6. (That’s probably when I should have started to thin them, but my “right to life for plants” perspective is not today’s focus.)
I find great beauty in the unfolding leaves.
And below, complete overcrowding occurs on 2/20. My friend received a couple of photos and the answer in her email!
Another example of digital recording keeping:
I’m preparing a post on a comparison/review of two brands of watering cans. I couldn’t remember one of the brand names and the photo did not show the logo clearly enough.
Back to my digital records in the Mail department. I did a search for “watering” in the body of the emails and came up with the email receipt for each item, including model number and brand name. Hazaah! No wonder the Baby Boomers and the Digital Age are such good friends! Whatever my little mind forgets, the super-big hard drive kindly remembers.
I just have to recall what word to search for...
However you garden, May you have joy in both the remembrance and the forgetting!
Compare Growing Bibb and Romaine/Cos Lettuce
I have to harvest it frequently just to give enough space. Well, I did plant it all too close, thinking that I’d be able to plant it outside, but it grew up way beyond my expectations. I was planning also to cut off every other one as they grew too big. However, it got so overgrown that I have to do surgery just to find the stem to do the cutting.
Notice the one plant above that stands up straight and slightly darker green. This is a mix of Bibb and Romaine and I really like the upright posture which keeps the leaves out of the dirt, keeps the water running off of it and makes a tighter head. Its a lot easier to deal with.
The photo above is of a group that had the outer leaves thinned a couple of days ago. You can see some of the inner leaves of the Bibb lettuce, they are a bit crisper and crinkly and seem to come together almost like a head. I think that to give them a really fair trial I ought to thin out the plants and leave them room to leaf. I could put some in pots and start hardening them to the outside, maybe bringing them back inside for foul or frosty weather.
The greenhouse will be jam packed soon. Its time here in the Ozarks to start the nightshade seeds and its hard not to go too overboard on them. Hoefully this year if I have too many plants started, there will be neighbors or people at the Farmer’s Market who would like to take them home.
Above are my favorites. Crisp and crunchy, well behaved Romaine or Cos lettuce. They are much easier to care for as the leaves don’t touch the dirt and I can have them closer together. Of course, the question is, for how long will they be able to be so close together. If I can keep on eating salad twice a day, I’ll be able to trim off the outer leaves - but I doubt I can stay ahead of this growth.
Below is today’s favorite tool for harvesting the lettuce, leaf by leaf. If the heads were much bigger, thicker and I were whacking off a whole head, then something bigger would be good. But for the kind of trimming from the outside of the head, these little clippers, shown here in their plastic pouch, are very easy to wield. They have a very precise response. I’ve seen them in craft stores.
The greenhouse beds the lettuce are growing in were given good amendments last year and when the lettuce starts were planted they were planted in some worm castings. Probably could use some more, if I could get through the plants to the soil.
I always do this, try to plant more than what is recommended for the spacing. Its hard for me to believe what it says in books or on the back of the seed envelop. Must do the mistakes myself, often more than once. I think I can get away with it, but rarely does it turn out to be good. When the lettuce was really little, it seemed like lots of space. Below is how they looked on January 5. Yes, they look too close together then too.
Alright, it must be time to re-supply the neighbors.
So whatever lettuce you choose,
May you be Growing Ever More Joyful!
Aphids, Herbs, New Tools & Blotonical
The greenhouse spinach was cut down to the bone to remove aphids (aphids again!) I’m wanting to be in the kitchen preparing spinach and eggs, yum. But I’m glued to the screen of my computer, working on communications to people I’ve met on a gardener blog community. I’ve spoken to many people in the past who are devoured by “social networking” on the web. But this great place, www.blotanicals.com is more than social, it ties in to my strong focus on growing food.
See, the title indicates I’m going to tell you about the new sprouts that came up in the last two days and the cool tools that came by UPS, but no, I’m getting right to the blotanical focus, so just to proove I can, I’m signing off Blotanical and going to the kitchen, n o w.
Global Growing Inspiration and Information in a friendly sharing web environment is a reality in a network of garden bloggers called Blotanical.com
Its such a delight to connect with gardeners who love to grow from myriad perspectives, flowers, food, native biospheres and suburbs. All supporting and communing and reading each others’ blogs.
An example of how much I am enjoying this creative web family is what happened when I returned home from a long day trip to the nearest city. I left garden and greenhouse supplies in the car and brought inside the edible delights. In the hallway was a big box containing long awaited garden tools. The box label read “Haws.” Wow, my watering can and garden knife. And for the last 3 hours, the box is unopened!
I went right away to the computer, opened my mail. I was faved! (That means a reader on Blotanical wants to continue reading my posts. I feel very honored and excited.) Soon I was deeply involved with editing and publishing today’s blog. Then I remembered that there was an excellent snack which I’d brought from town. Blotanical is so delightful I forget to eat my goodies, that’s quite amazing.
All gardening friends are invited to check it out. Its a safe, well-lit place for the plant oriented people. Welcome!
Do Leggy Spindly Seedlings Have a Future?
This struggling, weightlifting beet seedling from last year didn’t make it to adult beethood. It was never able to cast off its seed hat. I’m sure that I didn’t give it what it the light, soil or understanding it needed. This year, I’m trying to do better.
When the seedlings first appear through the starter mix and have been lovingly welcomed, they are placed in the window light of the sunny upstairs room. Once all or most of a tray are up, they are moved down to the greenhouse. There’s artificial light there on a timer for cloudy days, and a heater for colder nights. Its on now, keeping the air at 50 degrees when its below freezing, with clear sparkling skies.
I delight in checking on the plants. Tonight I noticed that the lettuce is growing into heads, holding the leaves close together. The spinach raises its leaves up into a bouquet. Are they hudling for warmth or seeking upward toward the sun? Or is this a maturing development, like the head-making of the lettuce. I don’t know. There are the first tender greens I’ve raised that humans are getting to harvest before the bugs. All part of the luxurious wonder of growing before the critters wake up.
I’ve learned my lesson about using those peat containers shown below for starting seeds. Now, I’ll never let the edges of the little cup protrude from the soil (after planting) or they’ll leech all the moisture away from the plant and back out to the air. And I’ll always remember to tear apart the bottom of the cup too, to let the roots escape!
Below are some more seedlings that look like bean-poles. These are the red and green cabages that you saw being planted with the Widger tool from the Wonder Tools post on 2/16/09. I’m betting that these will make it. In this photo, just transplanted to the six-pack, they are resting under the soothing lamp which may well help them to grow up to be big and strong. Tonight, they looked very healthy and strong.
Stay tuned and we’ll see what happens to them!
The photo below shows one of the greenhouse beds denuded. The Chard plants (from last Spring) had aphids, so all the leaves were harvested and the remaining plant well watered and then sprayed with a mix of bug stuff I made up, stronger than necessary for aphid, but I believe multi-purpose. It has garlic, onion, red pepper, mineral oil (from some professional anti-bug bottle) and dish soap. Mixed 1 ounce per gallon and sprayed on everything. The rate that I’ve been getting bugs in the greenhouse, I am trying to do it every week. I like grazing while in the greenhouse, but can’t do it when the plants already have the soapy salad dressing on them!
Filled with tenderness and joy in the happy growth of the plants and the lovely atmosphere they create,Wishing for All, to Grow Ever More Joyful!
See The JOY - 4 Best Photos
Above is the Mid-August Garden, in its first year of growth!
Above are lovely Anne yellow raspberries with a late October frost upon them.
This winter squash harvest is my joyful delight, my vegetable, cookie, cupcake, quick-bread even pancake staple. Even with the great numbers which were given away, there’s more in the larder and some steaming, fresh out of the oven, in the kitchen right now!
This little friend never came to my gardens up North. Diligence every day helped me learn to find him, his friends and family, and not willing to share everything with them, I did frequently interrupt their dining experience.
Thank you for joining the Celebration on this newly renamed journal, from GROWING FOOD to GROW JOYFUL !
Multitudes of Grasshoppers & Morality Questions
Here’s that spindly seedling again from the post on the Widger, which is shown in all its glory tucking a red cabbage into its next home. We addressed the plight of the stretched out little plant in the previous post Leggy Spindly Seedlings.
Now, lets explore what might happen to these guys that could distress them long before they enter the brine for sauerkraut, or are thrown in the steam heat before freezing. Oh, its horrible what I plan to do to these plants I really love! I can’t help but give thanks for the fact that I didn’t have children in this life. Imagine how I might treat a child I loved if this is what I plan to do to the plants I nurture even from seed. Its a horrible thought, worthy of Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”. If you don’t know the essay, or have a strong sense of moral outrage, or a weak sense of humor, I don’t suggest you go there.
I find the awareness of love, nurturing and tenderness for these green beings and my hungry plans for them once they reach the fullness of their lives a bit duplicitous. However, I recall, at the end of the growing period, the plants and I have such a loving regard for each other, and the awareness that the purpose of the plant is to give its fruit (or vegetable), that at the time of harvest I feel only gratitude rather than guilt.
Also, I try to save seed, and in this way, contribute to the continuity of life of these generous and beautiful plant creatures.
We’ll see how these cabbages will do, even with their stretched out beginning. They have yet to withstand the onslaught of hungry catepillars, the ravages of intense sun, pounding of fierce rain and all the gentle blessings that Nature gives when she is nurturing to growth, not just to toughness. So I hope that they will make it to fertile ground and that the care given to them sustains them throughout their season.
I’ll give you a foretaste of one of the challenges to come: the bug situation.
It may be that last year was a plague year that no one else around here mentioned. I didn’t hear anyone else saying that there were multitudes of grasshoppers afflicting their gardens. It was the first time in many years that the yard which is now mine had not had a flock of chickens eating everything that moved. This means that everything that moved converged on the first plants I had out there - the cabbages and broccoli in 2008. This is how it looked:
Yikes!
And I still don’t have a flock of chickens to feast on these critters. I’d need to have more fencing first; know that I could grow feed for them; want to get out at the crack of dawn to care for them, and have every plant I care about behind fencing. In other words, I’m not ready for chickens. But will my garden thrive without them?
I’m hoping that last year was an aberration, and this year will not find waves of them fleeing as I walk across the yard or through the garden.
Wonderful Tools - Widger
What is a Widger?
That’s what I wondered too when I saw it in the catalog of Bountiful Gardens (www.bountifulgardens.org), a biointensive publication for heirloom, untreated, open-pollinated seeds (and stuff) for sustainable growing.
No, they didn’t pay me for this review, but they did make the wonderful Widger available to me (and everyone) for a small fee of $5.
My previous seed starting “technique” used to be different than it is today. I used the little individual packets of peat moss that inflate with water to start individual seeds. As many have found about this method, the little bag (would you call it that?) which holds together the peat moss, also, sadly holds togther the roots and keeps the poor plant from growing to its fullest. Of course, one who knows something about gardening, and isn’t too impatient to plant (which does not describe me in the past) knows to tear apart (or sometimes cut apart) the exterior to loose the inner contents and free the roots. To my mind though, does this not undo the value of the little seed starter bundle?
Now, I am working with starting seeds in flats. If I can wait until the true leaves grow in, I transfer them WITH THIS WONDERFUL TOOL to a six pack, filled with freshly worked soil and freshly strained worm castings. A work of love.
If I did not have this tool, I’d be casting about for facsimiles of it, trying to use knives, screw drivers, nail files, what else could work? The end of a spoon? I’d never known there to be a tool to do this precise job.
But this little thing, yes I’ll show you pictures, has a gentle edge that will not damage the young’ns. It has a bit of concave plane which holds some soil, roots and can also support the stem. There’s a little place for the thumb to rest so mind/hand coordination can work optimumally to support the little ones.
Below you see the intrepid widger sliding into the starter mix to gather together the roots of a red cabbage seedling.
Below the widger creates a hole and holds back the soil to make way for the baby root ball in the 6 pack.
At last a full photo of the widger, tamping down the soil around the red cabbage. Yes, the seedling is a bit leggy. If you recall reading the February 11th post called Light on the Seedlings, I admit to using unapproved lighting techniques. However, the plants are kept in a greenhouse which is bright when the sun shines, so I believe it all evens out. Besides, what if the power grid gives out and we don’t have electricity? What did we used to do before electricity? This valley where I live only started to have electricity some 60 years ago - so I know it has to be possible to raise food by the power of the sun.
More about the question of leggy, stretched out seedlings, in the next post!
Here’s what the Bountiful Gardens catalogue says about the widger:
For many years we have used and loved this elegant little stainless steel tool for pricking out and transplanting tiny seedlings. The original British manufacturer stopped making them in 2004, but we have finally found someone who produces them just for us ... slightly modified but just as useful as the original. it’s amazing how much difference a small tool like this can make! A Bountiful Gardens exclusive.
Whatever you tools you use, Grow Happy!
Silence of the Snow
How still, serene the solitude
Of White, with lines of grey
The peace and blessed silence
Of a Nothern Winter day.
Yes, I know the gardeners in the South exult in early Spring
And the gardens of the North are but dreams
in the too clean hands of those still wrapped in down.
So here is a short list of things to comfort the Northerners.
Things you don't have (and don’t miss) because of your wonderful long cold winter:
Armadillos digging up the lawns, fields and anything they can get to, some really big holes too!
Chiggers, invisible, annoying, long lasting itch producing bug - the best reason to bathe nightly any day over 50 degrees!
Too Short Winter rest! Enjoy the silence of the snow!
Here in the middle of the Mid-West, not North - nor South
we seemed to have but one month’s rest between
the season of harvest storage
and beginning to start seeds.
I’m delighted to have the greenhouse to jump start the growing life,
but I imagine another month’s rest also would have been good.
Where ever you garden - Grow Happy!
Zaatar from the Richters Catalog
More about Zaatar and Zataar
Yes, Zaatar is also the name for a tasty combination of spices and herbs, and sometimes sesame that is wonderful sprinkled on almost everything. It is a Middle Eastern joy which transcends political boundaries. In addition to the obvious ethnic stores which have not migrated to the Ozarks yet, the spice mixture can often be found in ethnic sections of larger, enlightened markets. Below is product information from the source of my Zaatar plant. Yes, I spelled it differently, as do many others. I’m glad that I was asked to look it up, as I had forgotten its hardiness level. I’m glad that it was safe and comfy in the greenhouse even when it went down to 30 degrees. The source is Richters in Canada. They stock a wonderful supply of medicinal and culinary herbs. Their catalogue is great in that they do not shy away from listing the actual medicinal uses, not just as “folklore” or “hearsay” either. They can be found at richters dot com. Here’s the link to the page. The content is below that. |
Drying Zataar Herb
How does one dry an herb that tends to disconnect from the stem while drying?
How lovely the Zataar herb bunches, tied with twine on the cedar table.
The twine is suspended from a ceiling hook.
Zataar bunch is hung from the twine. If it slips, the double knots in the twine should hold it up.
Hanging one below the other the zataar becomes a garland.
Below you see a basket lined with linens, to catch the falling dried leaves.
Dried or fresh zataar on goat cheese. Very delicious.
Zataar of the Oregano Family
The leaves are a bit thicker, broader and stronger. One little plant survived years of bad potting to come to thrive in the greenhouse, even through the winter.
Here it is in its fullness, next to the spinach in the shallow bed.
The zataar plant was growing too boisterous and thick and needed to be repotted. Someone else might like a taste of Zataar, so I decided to tame it into eighteen 2.5 inch pots. It however, decided that it would not like to be limited to that. We did cooperate.
A careful harvest was accomplished into a half-bushel basket. Just a day after Garden Club. Two days earlier, these rootable cuttings would have made lovely gifts. Sorry.
And the plant is still entrenched in the bed, ready to expand again, with fresh worm castings to feed it.
Next posting will be on how the zataar was hung to dry.
There are nineteen 2.5 inch pots of Zataar with roots getting ready to be shared when Spring comes. After they grow a bit and fill out I’ll show you a picture. Right now, they are a bit ragged looking.
Making the Beds, Tucking in Onions
We began to build this greenhouse, after studying what the “right” way was, just the best way that we could. We had a Southern exposure, a space and we had materials. So, all was put together to offer a “well lighted place” to nurture plants, and to be nurtured in their presence (and flavor!) Oh, savor the flavor.
We added two large beds, surrounded by cedar wood. The garden’s wonderful soil, amended by what seemed right went in. Two really deep beds, about 2 feet high, connect to the soil, ground, strata of gravel, whatever you’d call it. Those beds were also amended and left on their own, looked like the right side of this photo.
I had small delicate strands of onion, leek and chive seedlings to put in, and imagined they would be mangled and destroyed by the rubble. So I utilized some tools which were ordered from Bountiful Gardens (www.bountifulgardens.org). They are kind resourceful helpful folks there, who spread the gospel of growing good healthy food around the world. The soil sifter resting in the white pan below comes through them. It helped me smooth out the top inch or so of the bed until it looked like the left side of the photo.
So smooth, so soft, a well made bed.
Below is what I used to sift the soil. The two buckets on the top received the detritus, stones and rough stuff on the left.
Donations for the compost on the right.
The plastic spade pressured the soil through the seive, into the pan.
Then the kinder gentler soil was replaced on top of the bed, and smoothed out.
Above, the sieve is used to prepare the worm castings. A small colony of worms worked for over a year. The ones that survived my learning curve of how to care for them, created a couple of bags of nutritive castings soft enough for the tender seedlings. I knew that the onionettes would need the food value of the castings, so I made tiny channels in the bed, filled with castings and laid them in.
There were about 200 seedlings.
We like to cook with onions. How many onions do we use in a week? (4) In a year? (4 X 52). Which varieties will store well? How many of each kind? Perhaps a sweet onion that doesn’t store will be able to grow in the greenouse over next winter.
So how many to plant now? We have leeks, chives, long keeping browns, short keeping sweet reds, and vidalia style sweet onions. We’ll see what happens.
Some of the onion seedlings were really too small to transplant, but the job took two days as it was. I really didn’t want to put off finishing it. Two days of bending over the bed, arduously putting the tiny things in and gently covering them.
I used a wonderful tool, also from Bountiful Gardens (www.bountifulgardens.org). It is just a slender curved piece of stainless steel, it is perfect for working in small dimensions with delicate roots and fragile stems. I couldn’t figure out what it was in the catalog, but trusted them when they said it was useful. Indeed. I’ll put a photo of it in tomorrow.
The seedlings that didn’t have enough leaf/stem to stick out of the soil were placed under the soil. I’ve been waiting to see them push through. Seems that a few new onion stems have come through, but I’m still waiting on more.
What I really like about the onion bed - it is so simple to differentiate the weeds from the onion family. If it has any bit of a circular leaf, out it goes. If it has the tip of a grass stem (like a lance or arrowhead point), out it goes. Only the smooth cylindrical shaft, without ornamentation remains in this bed.
Planting the seedlings was harder than putting in onion sets. The little ones are so tender.
These plants will go in the garden when the soil and temperatures are right, and when they are pencil thick and ready to transplant. Seems like it will take years for that to happen. They are growing quite slowly. I’m told that’s normal for onions.
The photo above was taken on 1/22/09 just after they were transplanted.
Below, was photographed on 2/12/09. You might see multiple and slightly thicker leaves .

Also, notice how easy it is to tell which little green growths are weeds!
I love making my fingers into tweezers and excising the little weeds,
pulling straight up so their roots slide out without disturbing the onions.
Greenhouse Potatoes
For a change, let’s start with the finished product, circa August 18, 2008
Some shiny purple potatoes in a colander. These were very good to eat. We ate potatoes. We had potato soup. Some is still in the freezer and it is delicious. We tried drying them in the dehydrator - not worth it.
The ones we didn’t wash and didn’t eat, which looked like they might make good seed for ’09 were stored in a box in the basement. In the beginning of ’09, I noticed that they were going to seed and wouldn’t make it until Spring. I took some to a friend who has a cooler spot, and some I tried to save, by planting right away in the deeper bed in the greenhouse. In a few weeks, one or two came up and were promptly killed by too little heat on a really cold night.
I’d been told that if the potato plant is not too big when its frozen, it will come back. And without any special incantations (besides the usual loving pep talk I always give the plants) look, it is growing back!
Yes, that very rough looking ground is in the greenhouse bed. After I remove the potatoes I’ll take care of that. Preparing for the onion bed taught me how to do that. (Details on another post.)
It is possible that new potatoes and seed for the garden will be ready on time for planting on April First.
Light on the Seedlings
Not the best way to do it
We’ve all read about and looked at pictures and plans for the RIGHT way to put light on seedlings. Here’s a change from the norm.
What do we have in the house? That’s just what we use! And so far, the end product of the food we eat after following no one’s directions is still delicious, so here’s a way NOT to do it.
The metal stand here is a shoe rack, stackable higher than what you see here. We’ll probably add shelves to it when more seedlings appear. What I like about this rack is the squared frame, which makes it easier for the clip lamps to attach. (They really don’t work with rounded supports, see below).
Very Important: DO NOT PUT A BULB ON TOP LIKE THIS! (unattached, unsecured)
WHY? BECAUSE IT TAKES NOTHING AT ALL TO FALL OFF AND BREAK AND THEY SAY THAT THE MERCURY INSIDE IS TOXIC. (Worse than the thermometer mercury I used to play with as a kid? Who knows, and from what I read, the purity of the Earth seems to be on the decline.) Anyway, the greenhouse remains toxin free, but just, don’t do this, okay?
This is what it looks like with some seedling trays basking in the light.
I put a timer on the lights and now the greenhouse glows like a lovely E.T. in the night.
Worst Choice
Below is an option which doesn’t work well at all. The plastic round supports are very difficult to clip on to and the underside of the shelving is not much better. However, to get the seedlings through the dark overcast days of rain and snow, it will be good enough. Because when the sun shines - everyone thrives!
These plastic shelves will be better for the taller plants, to save space and still be exposed to the sun (when it comes back).
Ah, all is right with the world. They are happy in their little homes of sifted soil mixed with fresh worm castings.
These photos were taken about February 6, 2009 - oh, all photos by Rachel Claire. You probably guessed that.
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