Tag: gardening

Dollar stores have their place in the universe. Today it was place to grab ever disappearing bobby pins. I don’t know where my pins go, but half a pack grew legs and walked off, thus a need to head over to the dollah sto’ on the 1500 block of 7th.
I got my pins, but a walk around to see what there could be used or repurposed revealed dirt. Not plain dirt but 8 lbs of organic garden dirt from Clinton, CT. Several bags of if hanging out in the rear of the store.
I was a bit surprised to find potting soil at the dollar store, but a grabbed a bag. I hoped it would be a dollar. Wrong. It was 2 dollars. The woman ringing me up asked if I was sure I knew I was buying dirt. Apparently the stock of soil she has was a mistake on her part. I don’t know what she thought she was buying.

This weekend I was feeling pretty good. For the second week I appeared in a Post publication. And though my name didn’t appear as I normally have it( with the first initial), was pleased to see the NCPC borders holding.
But then, later that day, a man knocked on my door. I answered and what he said to me, left me hurt and insulted.

Man: Hello Miss, I do yards ’round here and I can get up those weeds you have in your yard.

Me: [with a confused look] Huh?

Man: [pointing to one of several tufts of greenery] Those weeds there.

Me: That’s my peppermint. It’s supposed to be there.

Man: No, those weeds there. I can remove those.

[We both walk over to where he’s pointing]

Man: That there.

Me: [pointing with my foot] That’s peppermint. That’s thyme. They’re not weeds!

He called my yard weedy.

Great Jimmeny Christmas, if a yard doesn’t fit the American norm, it has to be attacked? Is fescue the only allowable thing? Water sucking grass? I have an edible front yard where the peppermint, the spearmint, the Greek oregano, and several varieties to thyme run free. And when I gaze upon it’s green lushness, I am glad. I was going to cut back on the peppermint, but a neighbor mentioned how she liked the smell of the peppermint in the morning.
Weeds? Bah. Yeah, I know some of those yard work jobs are half work, half charity (depending on the worker). But if you can’t tell a weed from herb then I don’t want you no where near my yard.

I was going to post on how I completely forgot to attend the school buildings meeting on the 10th, but that’s just a downer. Instead, why not something happy, that makes me happy, my garden.
The peas are the exciting thing right now. Pea shoots have emerged from the ground and their tendrils are looking for something to latch on to. I read somewhere that pea shoots are a Chinese delicacy that you throw into a stir fry. I’ve eaten the thinnings raw and they do have a pea pod taste, I guess I could throw them in the pan. There are peas growing near my fence, peas in window boxes, peas in pots, everywhere.
As peas make their entrance other things that have weathered winter appear to make their exit. Cilantro is sprouting those funny looking tops that herald flowers, then seeds. Nicely though, I noticed little cilantro seedlings that must have come from earlier plants now long composted. The arugula is flowering and it’s hard to find decent salad worthy leaves on the plants. The flowers are tasty though and are nice additions to salads. Also going to flower are the sage and the chives. I think sage flowers and I know chive flowers are edible and they too will make appearances in salad, as I’ll let some go on to seed for the next season.
The Alpine Strawberries are flowering, but instead of a seedy end, I’ll be getting strawberries. I don’t have the sunniest plot for sweet fruits, but these plants have been wonderful for the past two years or so since I’ve had them. They give me small sweet berries that are enough to decorate a dessert or add to a small yogurt. They even produced when I completely abandoned them last year during the renovation.
I think I’m getting kind of late with starting my salad greens. The only greens I’ve got in pots right now are corn mache and spinach seedlings. A low and wide pot for the mesclun mix would do fine. I look forward to baby salads.
As soon as the sample dries out I’m finally going to get my front yard soil tested. I’ve heard some of your concerns and completely ignored them, regarding the soil from which I grow my tomatoes, chard, arugula, radishes, mint, thyme, and other edibles. Yet I’m curious to know if I’m actually right. If there is any significant amount of heavy metals (lead) in the soil, I guess I’ll do raised beds next year.

Just in case you’re new to the blog and my occassional gardening posts, my front yard has a theme. It is, “can I eat it?” If I can’t eat some part of the plant, I refuse to grow it.
Now just because it is edible, doesn’t dictate that I will eat it. That’s what I was thinking when I moved the Swiss Chard up against the fence by the sidewalk. Looking at it, I realized it was in puppy peeing range. No matter, I’m less of a chard fan this year. Chard has this odd aftertaste that makes my tounge feel fuzzy. Beet greens are much better and no aftertaste.
The Swiss Chard I have, I started in 2007, and they survived the winter pretty well. In Fall I cut them down and gave the greens away to neighbors, only to have new growth sprout from the sides of the left over stump. Another reason why I moved them to the fence was that they are pretty. They are red, yellow and a greenish white leaves. The red can be very vibrant. I figure they are pretty enough to be one of the decorative edibles.

Over at ANC Kevin’s site is an announcement that free mulch is available near 5th & P. I’ve already grabbed some, and will probably grab some more later this week.
I’m not taking it for my yard, but for the vacant property near me. My street has a reputation to uphold for cute yards. Though I can’t do too much about the occupied houses with people who don’t do anything with their fronts, I can take control over one yard. What I figure I can do is chop up the weeds, lay down some newspaper or thick cardboard, wet it, then cover it with the mulch. I will leave some open spots to plant day lilies and other items that I’m moving out of my own garden.
Maybe if there is mulch left and if I haven’t thrown out my back and if I still have the energy, I might try to talk one of the neighbors into letting me do their yard.

Flipping through the Gospel According to St. Martha Stewart (Living), I saw something on the order of “put aside old compost”. Which I promptly did one lovely weekend day. Most of the winter I haven’t been putting a lot in the compost bin simply because it takes a while to break down and I swear the worms get slow and lazy. So, it was easy work to get the shovel and take most of the broken down compost and put it in a heavy duty trash bag. The worms were not pleased.
I now have a nice 20-30 gallon bag of worm poop and decayed material. I plan to share some with B & IT, as well as get some over to the small plot over at the guerrilla garden. I’ll also add it to the soil of my potted plants and put a little in the front yard.
I’ve begun the next batch of compost with kitchen scraps, shredder waste, coffee grounds from Big Bear, and ruined fruit & veggies I don’t get around to eating. Some worms have been relocated to the new compost. Since they can be hard to pick out of the old compost I’m just going to put down some avocado scraps (they LOVE avocado) and pull out while a whole bunch of them are gorging themselves on nature’s green butter.