GARDEN DIARIES

This week, the lows are expected to be at or near freezing with the highs only in the 50s. Meanwhile, the tomato plants are blooming and producing tomatoes. Like crazy. We have a bowl full of cherry tomatoes with lots of green ones still on the vine. And after poking around in the big tomato plant (also covered in green tomatoes), I found that big red one up there hiding deep in the center of the plant. I am still at a loss of what to do about them.

I'm calling this garden season a success. We have kale to last us through the winter and if we're lucky some of the things we planted for the Fall will come up in the Spring. If you had told me three years ago that I would one day be an actual gardener, I would have laughed while throwing all my dead plants at you. In fact, the death rate for plants in my care was so high I could have been considered to be a plant mortician.

I can grow things. I can cultivate food from seeds. I have house plants. House plants that are thriving! I have tomatoes! Three years ago, these were all things I didn't think possible. Three years ago, I didn't think a lot of things were possible. Just goes to show you, I'm not as smart as you thought I was.

GARDEN DIARIES

Remember that garden thing I was doing? Yeah, me neither. No...that's not true. I can't ever really forget about the garden because everytime I stand at the kitchen window I stare out at the mess that it has become. To say that we have been a bit neglectful is an understatement. That guy up there has been camped out on my parsley for days. I just let him stay. There's no way we're ever going to eat that much parsley. I figure I can share. But really, other than pulling up weeds and raking out the leaves, I figured there wasn't much to be done. The stuff we planted for our Fall garden really didn't come in, or it's just taking a lot longer to come in. And for weeks I've looked out on our tomato plants seeing tons of green tomatoes. I have started researching pickled green tomato recipes.

So, I finally had enough. I grabbed my tools and headed out to clean up the sad, neglected garden. I pulled weeds and raked up leaves. I harvested the last of the cucumbers and pulled up the dead vine. The dead smashed tomato plant and failing pepper plant came up. Chris's pepper plant was so loaded down with peppers that one of the limbs fell off while I was pulling peppers off of it. Then, I got to the tomato plants. Cherry tomatoes that had been green just two ago where now bright red. I plucked all the red ones I could find which turned out to be quite a lot.

When I peered into the mass that is the big tomato plant I found one perfect red tomato. The rest of the plant is loaded down with green tomatoes. I left them. I didn't know what else to do. I guess if I still have green tomatoes by next weekend, we'll have pickled green tomatoes.

In a last ditch effort for a Fall garden, I sprinkled the last of the lettuce seeds down in the bare space. I brushed the dirt off my hands, gathered by tools and my harvest bowl and called it a day.

GARDEN DIARIES

The weather here has been in the mid 80s all week and made me think that it was time to pull up some things in the garden and think about planting some things for the fall. So, this morning, I hauled myself out of bed and into the crisp morning air. I pulled up old, over grown lettuce. I pulled up the broccoli and cauliflower. I dug up onions and carrots. I pulled up the the fennel that never bulbed. I dug and turned the soil. And then I checked on the the things that were still growing, the green tomatoes, cucumbers and kale. We have one bell pepper on our pepper plant.

While I worked, I felt the cool breeze on my skin. The air filled with the sent of licorice as I pulled up the fennel. I could hear the sound of chickens clucking. Wait...What?!? Someone in my neighborhood has chickens. I knocked on the bedroom window and made Chris open it and listen. Then I looked at him and said "I'm getting chickens". I let him talk me into waiting until next year. But...I'm getting chickens.

GARDEN DIARIES

Wow, I have really let the garden just go. But, seriously? There's not that much to do but water it. I've pulled up a few weeds here and there and sprinkled everything with organic bug killer, but that's it. The fennel is starting to run a bit wild and lettuce has gotten out of control, along with the broccoli and cauliflower. But I just let them go. There's nothing to be done with them at this moment any way. I do finally have a head of cauliflower out there that I think will makes it way onto a pizza this week. And we are giddy over the success of our tomatoes. Chris is bound to eat this one on a sandwich this week.

Last night I plucked all the red cherry tomatoes to go into our dinner salad. They were delish. And you can open our fridge any day of the week and find a cucumber that didn't come from the store. Today, I gave in and chopped a bunch up for refrigerator pickles.

We still have tons of kale. That's OK because we have some big time juicing plans for that kale. But that's a completely different entry. My head has already started drifting ahead to next year's garden. We are thinking of scraping the round bed and replacing it with some raised beds. I also need a better plan. The tomato/herb combination worked really well. The lettuce and even the kale was a good plan. But I don't think I like fennel and I have a feeling that broccoli plants are just not supposed to grow to jungle size. We need more plants that we eat, maybe more onions and garlic. For the vampires. Any way...it's all got me distracted at the moment.

GARDEN DIARIES

It's been a while since I've done a Garden Diary entry. In the time since the last entry, I have thoroughly killed the squash,harvested two peppers, three cherry tomatoes, and six cucumbers. It's finally gotten hot here. Hot and humid. And it seems that if I don't make it out there early in the morning, I don't make it out there at all. This evening, I'd had enough of looking out from the kitchen window. I could see from the window that something was back at eating the cauliflower and broccoli leaves and the cucumbers were breaking out of their corral. It was time to do something about that.

I decided it was time to pull up some carrots and see how they were doing. I think I've made the same mistake with the carrots that I made with the radishes. I should have tilled the ground a bit. Also, I probably planted them a bit too close together. The group I pulled up had two carrots all twisted together. They still tasted like carrots though. Chris is excited about his pepper plant. They are Italian Peppers and taste like a Bell, but a bit sweeter. They work well in gazpacho and on pizza.

We're waiting on tomatoes to turn red. My little cherry tomato plant produces one red cherry tomato at a time. I pick one, we cut in half and share it, and then two days later I pick another. I think it's time to try making mozzarella again. I have basil and hopefully any day now, nice red tomatoes. Speaking of basil. I planted the basil and oregano in between the tomatoes. It seems that this really helping with pest control and I need to remember to repeat the process for next year.

Finally, we also have a small head of cauliflower. Both the broccoli and cauliflower have grown into these huge leafy green plants, but with no flowers. I think we're going to start eating the leaves. If it's good enough for the worms, it's good enough for us. Maybe. And that's the state of the garden.

GARDEN DIARIES

I wake up really early these days, early but not well rested. Being with out power is exhausting. I feel like I am in a constant state of panic about when and if our power ever gets turned back on. I know this is silly. Powerless really means that you are powerless. But this why I found myself sneaking out to the garden early Sunday morning for my church. The garden was much neglected. We had been out of town and then a tree fell into part of it. The garden was a mess. Cucumbers had started creeping into the onions. I had drooping plants from trampled work boots and tree. One whole bell pepper plant was lost completely. So, I got to work cleaning up sticks, pulling weeds, and building a cucumber coral. I trimmed up the lettuce and righted the toppled tomato plant with hopes that it will bounce back. I sprayed everything with soap and dusted leaves with Dipel Dust. And then I sat back and just looked.

I am always surprised by the things I find each week in the garden. The bell pepper plant that survived has a pepper. There's a couple of tiny cucumbers and lots of squash. But this week, I am most surprised by the resilience of our little garden. Two weeks after planting those seeds, it snowed. We've had side-ways rain and wind. We've had a tree land in it. But there it is, still going. I think if the garden can do it, so can we.

GARDEN DIARIES

Our landlord called us Sunday morning to warn us that we'd be coming home to no power and part of a tree laying across our backyard. Apparently there was a pretty big storm that hit here on Saturday morning and as we've been told by neighbors, sometime around 8:30 AM part of our neighbor's tree cracked off and landed in our garden damaging the fence and taking out the power. You're probably thinking "This isn't a garden entry!". Oh, but it is. That tree fell across the very edge of my garden, missing the majority, but taking out the one tomato plant that had four tomatoes on it and the dill. It is like somewhere in the Universe someone doesn't want me to grow tomatoes. Because seriously. Things the tree missed: kale, lettuce, broccoli, onions, bell peppers, squash, carrots, radishes, two tomatoless tomato plants, basil, cilantro, and parsley.

We were really lucky. If we had been home, the dog would have been laying in one of the two areas near the fence where the tree landed. Of course, the one place he hardly ever stays, his dog house was spared. We have enough power in the house to run a couple of fans, but they should be out to fix that today. Internet is down and I don't know when they will be back to fix that. Bonus is we get a brand new power line and upgraded breaker box. Hopefully by the weekend, things will be bit back to normal around here. Until then, I'll probably be taking a short (forced) break.

GARDEN DIARIES

Last night we had thunder, lightening and lots of rain. I woke up early this morning, thinking that I really should go out and deal with the garden while the ground was still wet instead of putting it off until Sunday. So I crept out to the back yard, leaving Chris snoozing inside. I have to admit that I had gotten a little lazy about the garden. I may have given up on getting all of the clover, but there are still other weeds working their way in. So I went out to the garden with a heavy heart, knowing that I had a lot of work to do. It's surprising how easy that mood can change. As I crawled around my circle of veggies pulling weeds, I felt the cool breeze and listened to the morning tunes around me. The birds were chirping, squirrels chattering, even a woodpecker could be heard knocking on a nearby tree. I began to notice the changes of the garden, the new blooms and buds, promises to come and I was at peace. I was glad I had forced myself out of bed on an early Saturday morning.

We have tomatoes! And squash! Actually, the squash is the cause of sleepless nights around here. I'm constantly worried about something happening to them before we can eat them. I keep a squash head count. There are things I've given up on too. The radishes had grown so tall, they were falling over onto the carrots. I think I should have loosened the soil more when I planted the seeds. Lesson learned. I had just about given up on the broccoli too when I noticed that finally there is a tiny bunch of broccoli flowers peeping out from the top. All is very well in our little garden.

GARDEN DIARIES

We have 93% humidity today here in the Kansas City area. Yesterday (and for the last few weeks really) the high never made it above 68 and drizzled all day. Today it's hot and humid and I'm loving every steamy minute of it. If I had curly hair, it would be a frizz ball by now. I even saw my first mosquito while I pulled weeds from the garden. And speaking of the garden. Let's take a look back (because that's always fun) and see what the garden looked like at day one.

That picture was taken four months ago and a week after planting my seeds, it snowed. But apparently that just made the seeds stronger, because this is what it looks like today.

Every day last week, I'd go out and cut off a handful of lettuce for salad for my lunch. It was the most satisfying week of salads. Still, the garden is a continuous practice in patience. We see blooms on the tomatoes and one of the squash plants has a big bloom about to open up. I'm ready for squash and tomatoes. I can only get Chris to eat so much kale. But I am happy to say that I only pulled two worms from the cauliflower. The Dipel Dust Tiffany recommended seems to be doing the trick.

Every thing here is green and happy. Just like Kermit.

GARDEN DIARIES

Exciting news everyone! The radishes have bloomed! I had no idea they even did that. Actually, I know very little about radishes and because we were curious about their progress, I dug one up. They're not ready. But they sure are pretty to look at.

I am starting to think of gardening as my church. Every Sunday, I slip on my garden shoes, pull on the gardening gloves, grab my camera and garden tools and step out into my garden. The circular pattern of the garden becomes my meditation labyrinth as I start in one quadrant and work my way all the way around, back to start. The only part I don't like (this is my communion) is the part where I pick the green worms off my broccoli and kale. They make a popping sound as I smush them and their guts are bright green. I hate them.

The carrots are taller. The squash is bigger. The chard is just popping up out of the ground. There's even a wild strawberry vine that has found it's way into the garden. We are happy.

GARDEN DIARIES

It is a cold miserable day here. It made it hard to get out and work in the garden, but the more I looked out upon the ever encroaching weeds, the more I couldn't stand it. In the end, some of those weeds won. Clover. I've just decided to let the clover stay. There's just too much of it. So I pulled the ones closest to the plants and left the rest. The biggest problem we have now is the something that's attacking my cauliflower and broccoli.

I found the culprits: little green caterpillars. The exact same color as the leaves. I plucked and smooshed as many as I could find and I hope I got them all. I think it's time to break out the soap spray I used last year for bugs.

Despite the weeds and the bugs, things are thriving. I have buds on my radishes and I harvested a basket of lettuce and kale.

The squash is getting big and the plants I planted last week seem to be taking to their new home.

And to finish this day, we will have potato soup with fresh kale. It's a perfect day for potato soup.

GARDEN DIARIES, THE EASTER EDITION

I know today is a Garden Diary day, but really there's nothing new about the garden. It's growing and so far there have been no attacks by possums. Instead, I bring you our Easter Sunday. Which has been a very good Sunday with sunshine and cool breezes, punctuated with just the right song in just the right moments. We had bunny shaped pancakes for breakfast. They had blueberry eyes and banana mouths and when Chris came into the kitchen and spotted them, he pointed at them and said "Ha!".

Last night we colored Easter Eggs. You should have seen us sitting at our little table surrounded by pipe cleaners, glue, stickers, and bright colored fuzz. As each egg took on it's monster alter ego, we would begin to giggle. They are hilariously funny.

Hope your day was as sweet.

GARDEN DIARIES

Does any one know what possums eat? Do they eat gardens? Do I need to worry about this? Are they rabid? Hooper and I saw one of the possums last night slinking around the house. I'm hoping this doesn't become a problem, but they do kind of freak me the fuck out just a bit. What with their beady little eyes and rat tails. It doesn't look like they've been gnawing on anything out there, but maybe their waiting for when things get ripe. Possums. Blerg.

Other then that the garden is puttering along nicely. Things are growing taller. I've added some more onions (since a gazillion come in the starter bundle). I added a few more mixed salad greens. And now we wait. The weed pulling has begun. The problem is, some of the weeds are still young and they seem to be popping up in the same areas as where I planted seeds. The weeds get to stay until I figure out if they're edible.

Next weekend we fill in the fourth quadrant of our circle with tomatoes and peppers and maybe start mixing in some herbs here and there.

GARDEN DIARIES

And....We're Back! I wasn't sure this was going to be a reoccurring theme this season, what with the move and all. But here we are, a month into the new place and I've already planted seeds. Really, we'd been here two weeks and I had seeds in the ground. Then it snowed and I shrugged my shoulders and said "I guess I'll be planting those seeds again". Except I didn't and we have things sprouting out of the ground! Here's the plan.

And it's a good thing I wrote that stuff down, because when things started sprouting, I had no idea what any of it was. But we have fennel!

And salad greens!

And spinach!

We also have onions, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, carrots, and kale. Oh my. Once again, I am astonished that I planted seeds in the ground and they are now actually growing. I think next month, we'll put in some tomato plants and some herbs like cilantro and sage. We planted bell pepper seeds, but I'm not sure about those guys. I may be buying some starter plants. We will see, but not a bad start for some half hazard gardening.

GARDEN 2011

We didn't plan on doing a vegetable garden this year. The plan was to invest very little in the place we are renting now. We aren't even going to put things up on the walls or unpack Knicks-knacks. We've unpacked the things we really need and the rest has gone down to the basement. The previous owners had a small above-ground pool that, once hauled away, left behind a circle of bare earth. It was kind of like this place was begging us to plant some seeds or something. So we did. Today we built a make shift fence around the perimeter. We put some stakes in the ground and wrapped some twine around them, keeping them in place with some staples.

We split the circle into four sections and laid down some seeds. We planted spinach, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, radishes, salad greens, fennel, squash, basil, cucumbers, parsley and onions. I left some space for some actual tomato plants to come later.

Turned into a much bigger garden then expected. Chris calls me the haphazard gardner. I kind of just tossed seeds around. My theory is that nature does it just about the same way. We did all this only to realize that there is not water faucet in the backyard. Now we must purchase a garden hose that will reach around from the front of the house to the back.

GARDEN DIARIES

Today, I went out to the garden with all intent and purpose to pull the Christmas bean plant out of the garden. We had had our little taste of beans early in the season only to have the plant peter out. Then it came back with gusto. For months now it's been this growing green mass producing nothing but a few flowers and I was fed up. The plant was too big for the climbing structure we had provided. It was leaning over the chard. It was just a mess.

So I marched out there ready to pull it up out of the ground and trash it, but then I saw bean pods. Lots of bean pods. Loads of bean pods. I forgave the Christmas bean plant for it's slowness and let it stay because, people?, it looks like I'm going to get a whole pot of beans. A WHOLE POT! I suppose patience really is a virtue. That and laziness. Chris and I have not been good gardeners lately. We haven't been out there in days, forgetting to water and everything. I felt really guilty when I went out there today and saw things trying to come up in the dry soil and droopy bell pepper plants.

But, despite our neglect, the garden keeps chugging along. The bell pepper plants keep producing peppers and I think I even saw a carrot top today. Still a little uncertain about this since we planted carrots and radishes together. There are things out there that could be either. My thumb is now officially a very week shade of green.

Garden Diaries

Well, I thought it would be at least another week before I could tell how the new stuff we planted was doing, but I looked out there today and was once again surprised to see things sprouting out of the ground. We have a few sprigs of spinach coming up already. The broccoli has sprouted and we even have a couple of sprouts coming in where we planted the radishes and carrots. We kind of just mixed these two together. I think it's a radish sprout but I could be completely wrong.

Other things in the garden are still chugging along. We have bell peppers which will be a lovely addition to our soft taco night this week. One may even make an appearance in the tonight's pot pie. The Christmas beans are still out of control. It's covered with little delicate flowers so I'm hoping we get another wave of beans. I also still have chard, something I wish I would have planted more of. I guess I could still go sprinkle some more seeds down, but I'm afraid they may not care for the cooler temps in the evenings.

I still can't get over the entertainment value of the garden. Chris and I are always totally amazed to see things growing out there after years of failed growing attempts. I can't wait for the broccoli. Or the carrots. I just can't imagine what it's going to be like to pull a carrot from the ground.