Gabrielle's Landscaping

Catching Up

2011-09-30T13:56:00.001-04:00

I'm bad. Haven't posted, and haven't been keeping up with the garden. It's a jungle out there. Anyway, I did a bit of gardening today. I transplanted this lavender that I had had growing dramatically out of a sewer pipe.

It was pretty tricky getting it out of there, even though it was in there for just one season. I dug a deep hole for it to live. I think having its roots truly underground will be better for it and it'll get to expand more.

I found this corn salad growing in my sidewalk

As well as this lettuce.

Heroic Hammy

2011-07-10T16:16:00.001-04:00

Here's Hammy with all those parasites cocooned up.

I am actually pretty sad about this but then again my tomatoes are better off.

Sad News for Hammy

2011-07-10T11:09:00.002-04:00

I hesitiate to post this both because it's sad and also because it is gross but it is part of the cycle of life.

These maggots are parasitic wasps larvae emerging to spin their cocoons.

Hammy doesn't have a lot of personality but this still makes me sad. He just loves eating tomato leaves.

I've edited this to make the image smaller. If you like you may click on it to see the gross details.

Notes on tomatoes

2011-07-04T22:37:00.002-04:00

I just want to copy and paste what's out there about my tomatoes

Pruden’s Purple

Days: 75
Color: Purple-Black

Box Car Willie

Days: 80
Color: Red
Type: Heirloom
Beefsteak

Days: 85
Color: Red

Cosmonaut Volkov

Days: 72
Color: Red

White Queen

Days: 85
Color: White

Yellow Brandywine

Days: 90
Color: Yellow-Orange

Amana Orange

Days: 90
Color: Yellow-Orange

Jaune Flamme - first to be eaten early August

Days: 70
Color: Yellow-Orange

Sun Gold - I got this one in late in my earthbox

Days: 55
Color: Yellow-Orange

Snow White

Days: 75
Color: Cherry -uh cherry sized, the color is off white

I forgot
Black Seaman
Days: 75
Size: Determinate
Color: Purple-Black

Yankee Hammy

2011-07-04T17:29:00.003-04:00

Happy Fourth of July fellow Americans!!

Captain Hammy Hornwormgrower is still growing fast.
June 29

June 27

The only thing not growing is the horn. Hammy's poops are getting bigger too.

No Tomato

2011-07-01T22:02:00.000-04:00

That's a joke that a few hundred people will get.
OK so this year I have

Pruden’s Purple
Box Car Willie
Beefsteak
Cosmonaut Volkov
White Queen
Yellow Brandywine
Amana Orange
Jaune Flamme
Sun Gold
Snow White

I could be wrong about a couple there.

Whoah.

Sherpes may not know where they are.

Penny

2011-06-29T16:47:00.003-04:00

Captain Hammy Hornwormblower has grown a lot in 2 days. The stripes are more distinct too. The horn seems to be the same size though relative to the rest of Hammy looks smaller.

Molted

2011-06-28T19:23:00.002-04:00

Last night my caterpillar molted. That's its horn.
It was pretty dark so it was hard for me to get things in focus.

Horned Caterpillar

2011-06-27T14:20:00.002-04:00

I think I will keep this guy as a pet for a little while.

Violas

2011-04-14T11:47:00.000-04:00

Just a quick photo of some violas I picked. At this point I feel like my garden is incomplete without these. They bring in the bees and other insects with a sweet tooth like lacewings and they help locate slugs early in the spring so you know where to lay the bait because the slugs love to eat them. Remember, only use iron phosphate based slug bait like SLUGGO. You may also eat these flowers. They really dress up a salad.

Mantis

2010-07-21T09:02:00.001-04:00

I'm getting downright lazy. Here's 3 mantises in my garden.

Almost Grown-Up

2010-07-13T10:20:00.002-04:00

Just an update

Why I grow sunflowers

2010-06-20T16:30:00.001-04:00

Just a quick note with my farmer finch. I sorta blame these birds for the 2nd generation of sunflowers not planted by me.

Mantis Update

2010-06-05T07:57:00.001-04:00

Just some of the mantises hanging out. Sorta wish I had a shot of one that is still little. His head looks really big relative to his body.

a Mantis and her Molt

2010-05-27T08:50:00.001-04:00

I've got to get a better camera. My canon powershot is a good all around camera but getting it to focus where I want it too is problematic. I took a dozen pictures trying to capture this mantis nymph and her discarded skin below. I cropped it so it shouldn't be too hard to find in the bottom slightly right of center part of the photo but I know I can get a clearer shot. If I am still obsessed I'll try when it is a bit brighter out. This molt hung from all 4 limbs off a mint leaf. Of the handful I have seen this is the only one like this. Others were on the dirt or hanging by 2 legs.

At any rate I got this clear photo of the mantis hanging out. Perhaps she is getting used to me.

Misinterpretation

2010-05-24T15:43:00.002-04:00

I saw this and thought that this mantis was dying. I was so wrong

After seeing another hanging just like that I relaize that this mantis is MOLTING.

WOW!

I figured something out as a result of this... I think.
Little mantises with fat bodies are close to molting. Once they molt their bodies are skinny. At least that is what I have noticed. When they are older it becomes gender specific.

Tiny Creatures

2010-05-23T13:58:00.002-04:00

I think that people who walk by my house must think I am nutty. I am always looking at the tiny creatures that inhabit my plants. I've been keeping a rough count of the mantids. There's about a dozen that I know of. Here are 3 on a butterfly bush. I see 2 looking at each other which makes me nervous. They are very hungry and might eat each other. I have moved some to prevent this. One I gave to a neighbor, two I moved to the back. Of the 2 in back I think one was eaten by a spider.

And speaking of spiders, here's a jumping spider on a sunflower. I saw a mantis around here but I bet it has been eaten by one of these spiders. Such is life.

Here is a lovely nymph that looks female to me. She's graceful and she has a big butt. The males have smaller butts. I think that they are starting to look distinct, plus the females are a bit larger. She is actually less than an inch long, 2 centimeters at the most.

Finally I have a wasp with orange legs. I tried to get a better picture but my vision and camera limit me. It looks like it might be laying an egg into an egg, possibly that of a cabbage moth. Could it be a parasitic wasp? There's so many species that a quick google search has not solved my mystery. It is pretty small.

Dividing Lemongrass

2010-05-23T10:21:00.005-04:00

I keep a few things through the winter. It doesn't mean I take great care of them. Here is some lemongrass, sadly unwatered. It is barely alive and yet it is alive. Lemongrass is tough.

What to do? First a haircut.

Then I cut it out of the pot. Yes, the roots get dense plus it is sharing the pot with some he shou wu, a plant that annoys me.

Now I cut the stalks apart. The soil is almsot bone dry which makes this easier.

I split it in 9. Some stalks actually have 2. This is in my earthbox, a selfwatering planter that might be idea for lemongrass which is happiest with lots of water, sun, and heat. I have a feeling this will be a good year for it.

Anticipation for Hummingbirds

2010-05-21T08:16:00.002-04:00

I love hummingbirds. They love certain flowers such as Brazilian sage, pictured is a bud. for some reason they do this serpentine dance before they actually bloom. It seems to take forever, but once they do they are spectacular. Hummingbirds adore this flower.

Next is some anise hyssop. This is either 'acapulco' or 'tequila sunrise'. I honestly can't remember. It's buds are straightforward. Last year this plant was not very productive but this year it seems to have found it's stride. If the cats aren't too bad I should see some hummers buzzing around this soon.

Here is 'hotlips' sage, now in it's 3rd year. I have to winter this inside which is annoying so I let this plant's sister die. Maybe I shouldn't have as the birds are loving this, though they are shy. I've only seen them early in the morning. Again I fear my cats make them wary.

And finally a tall snapdragon. I haven't seen any birds around this but maybe...
I'll keep you posted.

Baby Mantii

2010-05-14T18:26:00.002-04:00

Spring is the time of renewal. And so today I saw about a dozen mantis nymphs. These are the 2 best pictures I took.

Almost a fortnight ago Sally passed. I miss her but life keeps going on. It seems as though some lives could last longer but there's always life be it old or new.

Some Flowers, mostly Green

2010-04-30T10:34:00.001-04:00

In the background are sunflower seedlings that I transplanted a week or so ago. They sprouted from last year though the birds ate most of the seeds. I just moved them to where they wouldn't be in the way. Sunflower seedlings are pretty delicate but if you move them when they are young and it is pretty cool and moist, most will survive.

I just like these violas.

Here we have more sunflower seedlings, with one that did not need to be transplanted. Transplanting does set them back a bit. They are surrounded by red mustard that still needs to be thinned. I am tempted not to let any of it mature as I have had too much of it this year and last 2 years.

Cats

2010-04-29T08:35:00.001-04:00

Sally has lost weight. She has been diagnosed with cancer. This will probably be her last year but she's doing all right now.

Abe is peeking from behind the swan.

The Cheddarhead loves sharpening his claws on the tree hydrangea.

I keep thinning my greens but they keep growing. They've been really tasty.

Friend or Foe?

2010-04-22T12:03:00.001-04:00

One problem I have is that as a lazy gardener that lets many things go to seed is too many children. I must eat 50 of these tiny seedlings. The same goes for arugula and red mustard. I have lots of bok choi going too. I forget what this is called. I guess it is nicknamed 'beefsteak' for some reason and it has an unusual flavor, something I can eat but I don't like in large quantities. Sometimes there are out and out weeds that still are edible and actually delicious when very young. That'd be lambs quarters and the like. And then there's the floral seedlings. Calendula anyone? Chamomile? Yup, I've got tons of those too.

One Half

2010-04-18T10:26:00.001-04:00

I keep forget which is 'stage left' or whatever. I guess it doesn't matter. There's half my yard sorta, starting with a view from the porch.

Next we have from the sidewalk facing east. The terrace is filling out.

Beebalm emerges from the thalia. There's also tons of calendula which I really should reduce by at least 75%.

And my frog prince is not yet obscured by vegetation. I found him in the trash last year. He's broken but enough remains that you can tell who he is. I buried some bricks to slow the erosion on the side of the terrace that I din't really terrace. There's lavender, snapdragons, pinks, other things there. Mostly flowering perennials but some annuals already tucked in.

Pick my Brain

2010-04-06T11:55:00.003-04:00

It is the time of year that people ask me questions. I welcome them. Please ask whatever and I will post hopefully with some lovely photos.

Here we have cascade hops erupting. Methinks they need to be thinned.

Early Spring Random Photos

2010-04-05T11:17:00.002-04:00

Abe in back looking handsome

Tulip bud

Lettuce, wild arugula and giant red mustard sprouts in the cracks of the sidewalk

Last year's onions will bloom shortly, with chaos in the background

Green Globe

2010-03-29T16:24:00.002-04:00

I popped some plants into my old ball planter. The onions were already in, that is they are the only thing that survived from last year so I left them. This time I am going for les thirsty plants. I poked in rosemary, lavender, and thyme. I needed to fill it up with quite a bit of soil.

Here is one of the lavenders. It is quite tiny but that makes it better for this, if it survives. It is still cool and rainy so perhaps it will settle in nicely before it gets warm.

There it is, just poked into the side. I've got my fingers crossed. I also poked in some corsican mint. That I put towards the bottom as that gets less sun an the water flows there.

It's almost spring

2010-03-11T08:22:00.000-05:00

And I have started working on the garden. It's mostly ugly so I don't like taking photos, vain gardener that I am. So far I have seen honeybees scouting for flowers. I felt bad that I only had 2 scattered crocuses blooming, which they did not seem to find. I also saw my 1st ladybug, on of the asian variety, but a ladybug just the same. I also found 3 praying mantis eggsacks. I can't remember their technical name but if you click on the mantis label below, you'll find that word as well as mantis uh... reproduction. My narcissus are sprouting too, including some thalia bulbs I planted which may or may not bloom well after being exhausted like that.

I have great aspirations for my garden but it's going to take a few weeks before it starts to look good again.

Bulb vase

2010-03-05T10:15:00.007-05:00

The composition of these photos isn't great but you can see what I am trying to do. This is my best thalia bloom this winter. I really like this vase and though I have had it for 2 years this is the 1st time a bulb I attempted to force in it has graced me with a bloom. This time I get 3! Thalia tend to have multiple blooms but this winter all of mine have had just 2 per bulb. So right now this one is at its peak.

Spring is coming soon. I will have natural blooms soon.

More Bulbs

2010-01-27T09:25:00.001-05:00

These paperwhites are almost ready to bloom. A few days ago spring seemed near. Now I am comforted by my bulbs.

I love this hyacinth vase. It has been blooming for about a week, perfuming the air.

At the base of the stalk is another flower and...

another flower stalk. 2nd flower stalks are generally smaller and strangely shaped but they are still a bonus.

Melt

2010-01-15T13:31:00.002-05:00

Hardly melt but I am an optimist. This is the result of letting things go.

This 1st picture shows kale, allysum, and calendula that so far have survived the winter. 2 months to go.

Here's another kale.

Here's the catnip cage showing that the catnip survived but catnip is not vulnerable to much except for cats.

And finally one of my favorites, a lovely leek. If this snow really melts I can harvest a few.

Houseplants

2010-01-13T11:44:00.002-05:00

It is snowy out. I have changed to a mac instead of PC and everything looks different. I wonder if my old computer was dim. Anyway, this is the green in my life right now.

This goblet has Thalia narcissus. I forced these last year too. I actually forced a lot of them last year. This winter I didn't go as crazy with it.

Here's one of the garden plants, lemongrass, I am wintering indoors. Some are out while others are in the basement in the cold room.

This is a narcissus, unknown variety and a hyacinth. I really like this hyacinth vase. And this bulb has cooperated by rooting nicely. We'll see how well it blooms. I'm always on the look out for hyacinth vases at thrift stores. This one is unusual.

Bad Blogger

2010-01-12T11:27:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted in a while.

There really isn't much to see except for lots of snow.

I will try to get back to this when it gets green again.

If I get feedback, it might prod me to post more.

Hello Again!

2009-11-02T20:11:00.004-05:00

I seem to be neglecting this. Well here is the most recent image of myself with a 2nd harvest of red cabbage.

Next we have some fennel. I like fennel but at this point am annoyed by how much fennel I have had. Anyway, this fennel plant is impressive.

Here's several small cabbage head regrowth. They look like large brussel sprouts.

This turkey is coated with 5 squares of dark chocolate. It's my trial thanksgiving turkey. I believe the chocolate worked about the way I thought it would. It stayed adhered to the bird well and seemed to keep things moist.

Cabbages, butterfly, ladybug and hops

2009-10-06T20:32:00.002-04:00

Cabbages fascinate me endlessly. This is a tiny 2nd growth.

This better illustrates what's going one, though these have not filled out like the picture above

I have not seen many butterflies but this one flitted around a lot. It likes verbena, lantanas and coneflower.

here's a late season ladybug. I seem to have manged to keep them in my garden all during the growing season. I swear flowers have been vital for that.

Beet

2009-09-28T18:09:00.005-04:00

I decided to harvest this bull's blood beet today. It's been growing since this spring. I don't know how tough it will be. In the background is my PG hydrangea.

I have let things get out of control. Tomatoes are like that. Yeah, that's my sidewalk. The bright red is my sidewalk crack love lies bleeding amaranth.

The usual suspect is lurking as usual. The other day I saw him devouring a squirrel. Shortly after that he gave me a hungry meow. He's getting fat and must be the most spoiled feral cat ever.

Saw A Mantis this morning

2009-09-23T11:57:00.002-04:00

But I didn't take pictures. I feel like I overdid that especially the reproductive aspect but really it could have been worse. I now know that it is possible for mantises to mate more than once because I witnessed it, and by that I mean female mantises.

They were all AWOL for about a week until this morning. I am not sure if it was Rasputina or Sylvia but the mantis is female and green. I sorta think it is Rasputina. I still have not seen any eggs though there should be some soon.

I'm on a scarf kick

2009-09-21T19:25:00.002-04:00

No pictures today. I am just enjoying seeing my experiments. I'm not efficient but I am still creating some cool stuff. I sorta like knitting it up then dying it.

So far I've made 3 scarves that border on shawls, all tapered. They seem to work well layered in various ways. When it's daylight I'll take some pictures.

Hop Harvest

2009-09-20T11:58:00.002-04:00

Todd here is helping me uncover our mailbox. We made the mistake of harvesting some immature cones but there's plenty more.

Our hops were planted specifically for brewing beer. I am sorta amazed by how many people ask me "What do you use these for?" Goes to show that I have been keeping different company than I used to.

Decades ago I worked on an archeaological project with 2 crews, the limp dicks and the fat lushes. I was a fat lush. But yes, I suppose I might actually consume some simply as tea.

Thought I'd link to this, Harvesting Home Grown Hops, from Ben's Home Brew youtube account. Ben is actually local to Pittsburgh. Todd has gotten brewing and winemaking supplies from his Tarentum store.

I'm back

2009-09-16T08:59:00.004-04:00

Sorry it's been so long. I just got lazy. Everything is overgrown. I look at photos and think now what part of this should I discuss? A cat picture makes it easy. Here's Abe on the sidewalk.

The bed next to my porch has numerous textures and colors. I can pick out 8 different plants in this image. Well maybe next year the chasteberry will bloom. Nice leaves though.

This eggplant, ghostbuster is my current star. The rest have dropped off their production. The skin is a bit thicker perhaps but it still has a nice flavor.

White Flowers and 2nd Cabbages

2009-08-30T09:54:00.002-04:00

Earlier this summer, or was it still late spring? a nice lady offered me a moonflower seedling. It began blooming this week. The flowers are about 6 inches(15cm) in diameter. They open at night like many night blooms and have a very nice perfume.

This next flower is shown much larger than life. It is old man's beard clematis. It is pretty invasive but at this time it's very nice. Not only are they pretty but like the moonflower, they smell very nice.

I still get a kick out of seeing mini cabbages sprout from where a large head was.

Claude and Rasputina

2009-08-30T09:35:00.003-04:00

Claude(formerly Claudius) is quite the lover. This shows him with Rasputina shortly before they actually mated. He takes his time.

Here's Claude the morning after. The little seeds are fennel.

Rasputina is in the same spot, almost hidden in plain sight

Just in case you haven't been following this blog this week, this is the SECOND liaison that Claude has had this week. He mated with Sylvia a few days before.

Mantises After

2009-08-28T18:46:00.002-04:00

Claudius survived. I gave him the wrong name. Maybe I'll just call him Claude.

Sylvia is as hungry as ever.

Still hasn't laid her eggs. I wanted to believe it would happen sooner.

Praying Mantis Romance

2009-08-26T10:02:00.002-04:00

Here's some nature. Claudius found Sylvia in her usual spot and well, these 4 pictures say enough.

They stayed like this for hours. As far as I can tell Claudius left Sylvia unscathed. I thought she might eat him but google sources tell me usually that does not happen. I also figured out that these are probably Chinese Praying Mantises.

I will be looking for an egg sack, also called an ootheca. Hopefully Sylvia will lay it close by.

Obscure Mailbox, Bumblebee Eater, Cypress Flowers, Rainbow Peppers

2009-08-23T10:05:00.002-04:00

My mailbox is getting hard to find.

Sylvia likes to eat bumblebees. If you look closely at the leaf next to her arms, you'll notice a couple balls of pollen from a bee's hind legs. I guess she doesn't like pollen. I get mad at her but she can't help it. Mantises will eat anything that moves.

I stills get a kick out of these flowers and the lacy leaves.

Rainbow peppers are very pretty and VERY hot.

Gabrielle and the Beanstalk

2009-08-23T09:29:00.003-04:00

My backyard is chaotic. This beanstalk illustrates that pretty well. I wish I had somehow arranged it so it could continue skyward. I'm sure that if I had it could be taller than my 3 story house.

Scarlet runner beans are kind of amazing and hummingbirds LOVE their flowers.

My fairly neglected back porch tomatoes are thriving. These are super sweet and juliette. I think I might dehydrate some juliettes for later.

About me and this blog

2009-08-20T16:49:00.014-04:00

This is my homespun gardening blog. I started out trying to make it be instructional but have fallen into posting a million gorgeous pictures of my garden with lots of kitty pictures. This shows Abe the kitty looking cool.
I do emphasize edible plants but am a sucker for straight up beauty. I grow organic and try to do it as locally as possible which generally ends up being cheaper.

I welcome and seek comments from you and will try to answer any questions to the best of my knowledge. I try to give credit where it is due so will link to source I recognize as not being myself.

If you like this blog you will probably find it easiest to follow me on twitter which I have come to recognize as an excellent source of information both petty and deep. I hope that though my emphasis is on the pretty and I do tend to hide the ugly parts of my garden that you will find some depth to it too.

I tend to do things as cheaply as possible which often means recycling things like other people's trash. Here we have Sally the cat testing a wall I made from found bricks from here and there.
I am not a writer and my thoughts, being largely image driven tend to be scattered. I am a landscaper and if you desire my services, do not hesitate to ask if you live in my area, though at this point this blog is not really about generating business.

Oh yeah, my name is Gabrielle Marsden. I am smarter than most people and I've done and seen lots of interesting things. My politics as you might well imagine are left of center. I am an omnivore and value locally produced food more than organic. I have permaculture tendencies though I've only been checking it out recently. I am in my mid-40s and am not a tea-totaler. I speak only one language but have traveled overseas a little and even south of the equation once. My garden is in an urban suburb of Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania.

Sidewalk

2009-08-20T16:09:00.013-04:00

My sidewalk is very lush. This 1st picture is my terrace which has filled out completely.

Next to it is my feral tomato. I am glad that it is a cherry tomato.

My yarrow is growing in well, and so are the weeds. Hrmph. Everyday, I weed it a little bit.

You may have noticed that I have let my garden spill out onto the sidewalk. Most pedestrians seem not to mind though some plants get a little trampled. It's not as bad as some hedges on my street.

The sidewalk makes some things easier. I don't have to search in the dirt for these seedpods.

One plant I have growing in various locations is nasturtiums. After a while they go to seed and when they do they tend to die out a bit and drop these seed pods. I might save some to plant next year. They are also edible if you pick them early enough.

I will let the seedpods dry out then break them open for the seeds inside. That'll be one less package of seeds for me to buy next year.

Catching Up Eye-candy

2009-08-20T15:45:00.004-04:00

It really is hard to keep up. Here's some non sequential photos that caught my eye.

This was the salad bowl. The beets were in it early on and though they are stunted are still lovely. Enough has survived in it to keep it pretty even though they aren't exactly thriving.

This is a good view of the 2nd crop of cabbages filling out. I get a kick out of this everytime I look at it.

These hops are glorious. It will be worthwhile to harvest them this year. Last year they were far less productive.

This is my 3rd post today! I intend to do one more post. I took too many pretty pictures not to.

Racing to get a Photo

2009-08-20T11:04:00.001-04:00

Whenever a hummingbird appears, I have seconds to snap a photo. This morning was better than most. I gave up stalking them months ago.

At this point they seem to prefer cypress vines.

She's looking at me.

Looking again, my auto settings made this overexposed but I like this picture anyway.

Mantis Mania

2009-08-20T10:12:00.003-04:00

This morning I saw 3 mantises! I am so pleased.

Yesterday I found this shedded mantis skin which makes me believe that the mantis without wings and the winged mantis are the same.

I feel like this mantis is my friend. I decided to call her Sylvia. The skin is hers.

This second mantis I have dubbed Rasputina.

I named this third mantis Claudius. I think he might be the same as the brown one i saw earlier who was missing an arm. I think they regenerate limbs. If I am wrong I might have 4 mantises in my front yard.

Red Cabbage Crop

2009-08-19T09:33:00.004-04:00

I am not keeping up with my garden. This curb cabbage was starting to split. I harvested it but probably will not eat it given its proximity to the street.

I will however encourage a second crop. Notice the mini-cabbage heads on the side. If it heals they will grow.

Just like these guys here.

I know that cabbage is a cliche to some as far as ornamental vegetables go but I still get a kick out of them. And this is Pittsburgh, well actually Wilkinsburg and we tend to be 10-20 years behind most trends.

More Mantises

2009-08-16T07:38:00.007-04:00

I am back from vacation and everything looks good except for more weeds. I found out this morning that I probably still have at least 3 praying mantises in my front yard. I only saw 2 this morning but the other is probably hidden.

The thing is that this morning one of the mantises I saw has fully grown wings and the one I photographed in its spot a few days ago did NOT have wings. HMMM. Anyway, here is the mantis from a few days ago. I am not getting up right now to photograph the one sitting on the ichiban right now. Perhaps the mantis grew wings in 4 days?

Here's my cabbage mantis who contrasted quite nicely with this red cabbage. She is AWOL this morning.

This mantis is this morning's surprize. It is missing an arm and is brown instead of green. I have no idea why this is so, I mean the color difference.

This final mantis is not from my garden. It is from my vacation. It was pretty tiny and seemed annoyed by me while my garden mantises are indifferent to me. I believe that this is a carolina mantid.

I don't know much about mantises but I think they are cool.

Vacation

2009-08-05T12:29:00.009-04:00

Pittsburgh is in the news because of a shooting. I am a friend of a friend connected to this like just about everyone else in Pittsburgh. He worked for a large law firm that has a partner that was/is a client of a landscaper I worked for. My connection is actually closer than that, but irrelevant. I found myself having the same morbid curiosity that many have. I read his blog, and this is the one quote that stood out to me, "Unfortunately I talked to my neighbor today, who is very positive and upbeat. I need to remain focused and absorbed COMPLETELY. Last time I tried this, in January, I chickened out. Lets see how this new approach works." Outside of the misogyny and loathing of others, his real problem seems to be a lack of any meaningful connection to anybody.

I know that this is off-topic but I'll make a stretch and say I feel deeply connected to a few human beings, a few animals and a lot of plants. I miss my plants and animals very much right now. I feel it is important to connect to others with whom I am not well acquainted with on occasion. There was a man last year who chatted with me quite frequently who admired my garden. He told me quite often that he was near death. I always tried to talk as leisurely with him as possible, not knowing his whole story but feeling that I, and my garden even more so, enriched his life. You never know when a small kindness might actually save a life.

Guess that sounds a bit kooky. Anyway, here's an under-represented plant, an orchid cactus. It grew a lot in the last year.

Here is Abe who I miss a lot. He's like my 2nd boyfriend.

And of course her royal highness, Sally.

I will see them all again soon.

I mentioned a partner of a law firm in the 1st paragraph. I just want to say that I always loved his garden. I never met or spoke to him but if I did I would heartily shake his hand. I do not feel that way about most of people I landscaped for in the past. Many I am glad not to know. If I were fabulously wealthy, then my garden might be something like his and I am pretty certain that he put a lot of his own sweat into making it what it is despite his high profile existence. Most gardens have shadows of the the spirits that make them.

Food Safety

2009-07-30T17:53:00.009-04:00

This is a little late but outside of healthcare, food safety is being discussed as legislature, specifically HR 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act. I do not feel as well informed as I should to discuss this but people have and do die when we neglect regulating food safety. It is a matter of national security. I found a good non-partisan blog devoted to this issue, Marler Blog, well actually he tracks food poisoning around the US. "Bill Marler is an accomplished personal injury and products liability attorney," so begins the description. I feel guilty for not being able to speak better about this. It is this guy's job to know what is going on with food safety, anyway, it just passed in the house. I still do not know exactly what sort of suspect modification and improvements have been made to it. Some parts were threatening to small farmers, and I am not sure what has been left in.

I'll talk about something I know a little about, my garden. Here's my cabbage growing back in. After a cabbage is beheaded, it often sprouts numerous smaller heads to replace it.

My yarrow is starting to grow in. In part because I am concerned about food safety, I do not eat anything grown on my curb. I understand in some areas that they are trying to force farmers to have dead barriers surrounding their fields to prevent disease. Seems to me that this would not work. What drives me nuts about the internet is that I read so many little things and cannot quite recall my source. OK, it is the Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, which I found out about via ACTION: Speak Out Against the LGMA!, a post in Lavida Locavore.

Anyway, my scarlet runner beans have reached the top of this tower I made from a bunch of rose of sharon that was towering over much of my back yard. Now these scarlet runner beans will tower and perhaps the hummingbirds will enjoy them.

Welcome rainy Day

2009-07-29T17:59:00.006-04:00

portakal patlıcan - Turkish for orange eggplant. Google is often more helpful if you translate things into the language of their origin. I was looking for recipes specific to Turkish orange eggplants and found "I keep looking for recipes for this weird eggplant but can't find any." posted over and over again! By googling the translation I found some pretty interesting results, none that I have found so far refer directly to orange eggplant, but some really interesting Turkish recipes for eggplant in general. The translations left much to be desired but I got the gist. If I use one with my interpretation and good results I will post.

These plants are growing in the pot with the turkish eggplant. I have lemon gem marigold and some basil.

It's a rainy day and the hops are growing. This is a small sample of the cones swelling up.

You know it id hard for me to resist the cats. Abe is being demanding here. It's hard to say exactly what he wants but he is used to being spoiled by me. Sometimes I love the distortion of my canon powershot. One of these days I'll get something fancy but really, this camera is just so easy and pretty good even with its limitations.

Cabbages

2009-07-26T15:33:00.004-04:00

My cabbages! That's my new exclamation in front of small children.

This proud cabbage, what with all the rain is starting to split.

It is pretty big, 7 pounds 2 ounces(3 kilos?) to be exact. I think this picture most accurately shows its scale relative to my head.

Here's a sister cabbage that I harvested a week or so ago. Already it is growing baby cabbages which should be about as big as softballs. You can't quite see them in this picture but this plant still looks pretty cool.

Tomatoes(before)

2009-07-24T14:49:00.007-04:00

I posted these tomatoes to compare their growth with the same tomatoes today posted in Tomatoes sure do grow fast.

This is the supersweet tomato, image posted May 9th.This white queen photo was posted June 9th.

Here's the juliette, image posted May 30th

It is nice to see progress. That is one reason why gardening is so satisfying

Tomatoes sure do grow fast.

2009-07-24T14:38:00.007-04:00

I think I'm gonna look up some 'before' pictures to compare to these 'after' shots even though these tomatoes haven't even peaked yet. OK, Tomatoes(before) is the link to see if you are not on the mainpage. All but the back door tomatoes are represented at an earlier age.

I did not post a 'before' picture for these guys. Really, these are my orphans, left pot-bound for far too long They seem to be doing all right now. Tomatoes can be fussy but they are resilient.

I am enjoying my driveway tomatoes now. Supersweet are great anytime snacks. Really, I end up eating more raw food when it's just a bit just in reach.

Where's the tomato? Uh, somewhere in with all those sunflowers. This is part of my obscure backyard. That's a white queen. I think I will let the sunflowers mature then chop them down to save for winter, then the tomatoes will get their space.

This tomato on my sidewalk has produced the earliest. I am pleased with its productivity and people walking by have complimented it. I do sort wish that this was the supersweet because this juliette is basically a mini-plum which isn't as nice to snack on. I want people walking by to fill free to snack on my tomatoes. It just isn't a great eating tomato. I mostly using juliette sliced on homemade pizza.

Homemade pizza is a wonderful way to use fresh produce. If you have basil and tomatoes, you are more than half there. Some fresh chives or other onion type plant is great too. I also LOVE fresh eggplant sliced on pizza too, which is one reason why I really enjoy the smaller varieties of eggplant.

Artichoke Bloom

2009-07-24T14:32:00.001-04:00

For some reason this artichoke is more purple than the others.

The novelty of these blooms isn't as strong but this one struck me with it's purpleness.

Turkish Orange Eggplant

2009-07-24T14:14:00.001-04:00

These little babies are starting to ripen. We'll see how they taste. They are mostly larger than golf balls but smaller than apples.

Just a quick post here.

Cats Studies

2009-07-22T12:52:00.001-04:00

Abe under the hedge

The Cheddarhead

Sally with sunflowers I am saving for colder weather

Curb Cabbage

2009-07-21T10:05:00.010-04:00

I finally finished cleaning up my curb, and my neighbors rejoiced. Overall, they like what I am doing but yesterday some neighbors that had never spoken to me before did, and they were kind words.

You see, I am one of those people that sees grass as a desert, who thinks that mowing a lawn is a waste of time and fossil fuels, though my mower is hand pushed. I resolved this year to leave it in the basement. I only needed to pull up the rest of the grass and let the good plants take over. But I procrastinated. I have a coffee mug that says

"Procrastinators of the world unite and fight...
tomorrow"

and it suits me perfectly. So there it is, my curb with my fine cabbage in the middle of my labor.

And after.

I left a few plants I like there. I chose to divide the yarrow that had been growing quite well before I moved in all over my berm. Yarrow is a native plant that is excellent for xeriscaping. Yarrow also has a very long history of medicinal use all over the world. It was even used in divining the I Ching.

Anyway, this ended up being much more work than I like. I pretty much dug up EVERYTHING, including the cabbage to more effectively remove all plants in my disfavor. I also removed a lot of dirt. I think I took away several cubic feet which I dumped in back. I wanted the soil line to be lower than the curb and sidewalk so that perhaps I will have less plants growing in the street and that perhaps when it rains the water will collect in the soil rather than just washing away. I amended the remaining soil with some gypsum, greensand, and compost in all of it. Most was on top of a hardpan clay but some was on top of decaying concrete. I added a bit of lime to the clay parts. I also buried some bokashi below part of it. Another part has cat turds from bad kitties that keep pooping below some hedges that are not part of the veggie area and part has no additional fertilizer. I wonder how differently each part will grow.

I am sure I will still need to weed it, indeed, it still looks a little sloppy, but it is much better and hopefully will be less work. As you can see I replanted the cabbage. It has received a lot of admiration.

Mint Puree

2009-07-21T09:42:00.007-04:00

I needed to prune my mint pot. It was getting too leggy so I trimmed off 8 inches(20cm)or so. What to do with the mint? Dried mint is easy but not special. I decided, after my mint chutney experience to puree and freeze it.

I had a LOT of mint. I pulled the leaves off and used only the stems at the tips. I mixed in a little bit of water and started with just a little mint, adding more as each bit was pureed. This was a bit tedious adding a little mint at a time but I ended up with almost a pint of it, and it actually burned my eyes when I opened the blender. I did not need to add anymore water after the initial time. I think that the large quantity worked out much better than a smaller one would have.

I ended up with a mixture that was mostly a very wet paste on the bottom which some liquid on top. I did my best to distribute the paste into my ice cube tray and to pour that remaining liquid evenly on top.

After it is frozen I will take the cube out of the tray and into a freezer bag. I may use this puree in lots of things but on the top of my list is mint chutney. One cube should be enough for a small batch.

Green Fruit

2009-07-19T09:02:00.004-04:00

My turkish eggplants are pleasing me even though I have yet to truly sample them. This is a unique growing experience. I suppose that I should use google to figure out how to best use these. These are not yet ripe. I have found numerous images of shiny orange eggplants.

These sungold are staring to ripen. Sungold are delicious as well as pretty. I suppose supersweet might rank slightly higher, that is if I only have room for one tomato it I might choose supersweet, but I think that these should be more common. Cherry tomatoes are necessary for me because they do ripen early. I can't stand waiting around for SOMETHING to ripen. Cherry tomatoes let me bid my time for the big'uns.

Speaking of of big'uns, here is a green carbon tomato. Last year a groundhog sealed his fate by gnawing the stalk of my carbon tomato. There were perhaps a dozen green tomatoes on it many as big as this one that I lost. I feel safe from groundhogs this year. If there were one around he wouldn't get to this one as it is growing in my tomato box.

This is simply a view of the left side of my front yard showing many edible plants flourishiing. An incomplete list is ghostbuster eggeplant, royal purple beans, sungold tomatoes, alaska nasturtium, strawberries, lemongrass, he shou wu... you get the idea.

I am so glad that yesterday was a traditionally cloudy Pittsburgh day. I like my photographs better.

Monarda

2009-07-17T11:17:00.004-04:00

I love monarda. Monarda is a perennial native to north America also known as beebalm and oswego tea. Bees love it, hummingbirds love it and I love it. I have seen various bees sleeping on a monarda flower. There was a mcmansion I worked at years ago that had insanely huge monarda growing 5 feet tall in clumps almost 6 feet in diameter. I had to prune and tie it back while seemingly thousands of bees buzzed around me. I had no fear, bees at this plant are always very happy.

This 1st flower is in the tomato box and is the most red of all the ones that have bloomed so far.

This pink one is the 1st to bloom.

Raspberry is my favorite color. Actually, it seems to be the most popular color in general. This color is usually called 'raspberry wine'. I bought my monarda this spring in a 4 inch pot that had perhaps 8 individual plants in it which I think may have come from seed.

I had a hard time choosing just 4 pictures. I really do love this perennial

This plant likes lots of sun, water, and rich soil. It is also susceptible to powdery mildew. I'll see if I can avoid that. Probably not, but for now they are growing pretty well.

Mantises

2009-07-17T10:56:00.002-04:00

I have seen 3 different mantises in my front yard.

This one is the smallest.

I think this mint mantis is the largest but it's hard to say.

This one seems to get around a bit. I guess you can tell by the shape which one is largest. I tried to show them each at about the same size.

Feral

2009-07-16T22:16:00.005-04:00

I am less obsessed with my garden now. The most important plants are flourishing and have done so for more than a few weeks. It's getting hot and humid, yet I've had little rain. My water cistern is dry, and has been dry for about a week. I need to water my garden pretty frequently which annoys me. A large percentage of my neighbors are using their air conditioners. I have none. I hear the hum of somebody's air conitioner everytime I go outside now.

I was just sitting outside drinking a beer thinking about the people I see walk by. Some are friendly, some are not. I think the only one I can justify feeling superior to is the woman, just a girl to me, who walks by with her jack russell terrier who is always talking on her cell phone. One day Abe ran across the street growling and hissing at her dog for no reason that I could understand. He was batting at the dog and generally acting like a mad cat. The girl's response was to keep talking on her cell phone and walk faster. That is not how I would act.

My neighborhood is pretty mixed. I don't actually know everyone's story, but there are working class people, mostly that actually, but also students, and a few arty types I suppose. Really I live in a buffer area. A few blocks either way go rough or somewhat upper class. My neighbors are perhaps half white, half other. I like my neighborhood.

So gardening is less high a priority for me now. Everything seems OK. None of my tomatoes have late blight so far. My one feral tomato is showing itself to be a cherry tomato. Hopefully it will be interesting. I grew 6 varieties of cherries last year and it could be any number of cross breeds. I suppose I will know in a few weeks.

I called this post feral because Abe was a feral cat who chose domesticity, to a point, and because of the tomato. Abe gave me a bit of a scare after a fight he had with one of his rivals. He was given a clean bill of health by the vet today.

Mint Chutney

2009-07-14T13:16:00.011-04:00

OK, so none of these images has anything to do with mint chutney. I've been distracted by raw alpaca fleece but I am not motivated to post in my spinning blog because frankly though I am enthused, I cannot share it as effectively as I can my garden with my beautiful images. If I could share the tactile via the internet that'd be something, but I can't and I am also more self-conscious of it. Instead, I share these pictures. Below, I share a sort of recipe for mint chutney that is delicious.

My monarda is finally starting to bloom. Monarda is in the mint family, so that sorta counts right? At some point I will expound on monarda, but not today.

I am so pleased that this bicolor butterfly bush is finally blooming. I got it is a 3" pot which means it is not as big as most I could have bought at a local nursery. However, I have not seen this variety locally. I got this from Mountain Valley Growers, who remain my favorite place to get live plants. Great prices, selection, service and the best packing I have seen is what you get from them. Did I mention that they are organic too?

These scarlet runners are starting to bloom. they do however look like they have some issue with this spot. There's a few corners in my garden where things don't grow right. Hopefully I can fix this. Anyway, scarlet runners are pretty tough so maybe this won't matter.

This vase came from the street, left as some sort of offering from an anonymous person that I have accepted. I put in a sort of false bottom to retain water so it is sorta self-watering. It seems to be working out OK. It's got asparagus fern, that curly grass and lobelia.

OK, so here's me paraphrasing a recipe I found online. Since I did not follow it to the letter I think that this is OK. In most cases I do not follow recipes to the letter, I just use them as guidelines.

Mint Chutney
2 parts mint
1 part cilantro
lemon or lime juice
fresh hot pepper - you decide how hot and how much
a bit of yogurt
chopped onions,perhaps a quarter or half as much of the cilantro

just put it in a blender add some juice to help it blend,yogurt too.

I think I might make a bunch of this and freeze it. MMMMMMMMM,great way to use some of that extra mint I have.

Volunteer Flowers

2009-07-12T14:14:00.003-04:00

All of these flowers, though amaranth isn't exactly that, appeared here without me planting them. The amaranth I would have pulled up but I figured it came from the birdseed and I was curious. It isn't the prettiest thing but I think it has some sort of beauty. I think I will try to save this plume to feed the birds later on when food is more scarce.

Calendula flowers have appeared all over my garden. I enjoy them very much.

This viola came from a bunch I planted last year that all died out. Out of several dozen, just 2 or 3 plants have reappeared.

Swan with Eggplant

2009-07-10T08:35:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since I have posted anything with my beloved plastic swan planter. This spring it sprouted chamomile and was glorious for a while. When that got scraggly I cut it back, topped the planter with my special potting mix and tucked in a few random flowering annuals. I seems to be looking good again.

I moved my ichiban eggplant forward as it is becoming very productive and seems to enjoy the extra sun and warmth.

First Tomatoes

2009-07-09T22:16:00.001-04:00

My 1st ripe tomatoes are from this juliet from one of my wall plantings. You cannot really see the staples and velcro securing the vine to the wall but they are there. Everyday that I look at this I think to myself "God am I clever." I am pleased by the fact that not only am I clever but I am breaking some rules about how you are supposed to grow tomatoes.

Here's the evidence that yes, these are ripening! Juliette is not as easy going as supersweet. They take a little longer to produce and are not the candy that supersweet is but once they get going they are very nice and they are quite pretty, a nice contrast from other cherry tomatoes though I think of juliette as being a very small plum tomato. Already this plant is doing better than the one I had last year.

Rake Lawn Ornament

2009-07-09T10:57:00.004-04:00

This rake struck me this morning with beauty as the cypress vine wound its way through it. I found it in the trash like so many garden things I am using.

The confusion of plants below are nasturtium, basil, monarda, calendula and marigolds. I have denuded the 2 tomatoes in this planter so that the other plants are not overshadowed. Some believe that tomatoes with less leaves produce more tomatoes and are less susceptible to disease.

All of these plants seem to be benefiting from the bokashi I have buried below.

This photo is much better seen full size.

Mint Mantis

2009-07-09T08:34:00.001-04:00

For the past couple weeks I have noticed this resident in my mint pot. There was an egg pack in my hops earlier but I missed their hatching. This praying mantis may have come from that. So far I haven't seen any others. This guy seems to only live in the mint pot so far. This image is larger than life in most browsers.

Hummingbird Lures

2009-07-08T09:23:00.003-04:00

I have for the most part dedicated my porch to luring hummingbirds. The height is reassuring to them as I have more than 3 cats that lurk my yard. So far I have had both blooms and birds on my Brazilian sage and my anise hyssop. My cypress vines have yet to bloom though they are growing fast. I have not seen any partake of my lantanas but they are pretty and in my temperate climate, not invasive.

Full Bloom Artichoke

2009-07-08T09:08:00.002-04:00

I think that this is in full bloom. I consider this to be my pedestrian show stopper. People in cars notice the driveway cabbage.

Here's the same bloom 4 days ago. A lot of folks have asked me how long this lasts. It lasts a while.

The bees love it.

I love my Mint Pot!

2009-07-08T08:44:00.002-04:00

I use some mint everyday. I drink my own blend of herbal tea which almost always includes a sprig of mint. This picture shows the cheddarhead being bribed with canned cat food is exchange for some domesticity. He is an average sized cat that shows the scale of this pot. It is large enough to grow tomatoes and engineered to be self-watering. Mint is pretty hard to kill but I have found that given how rapidly it grows that it is very thirsty.

Lacinato Kale etc... and Twitter

2009-07-08T08:12:00.004-04:00

I am glad I have given this lacinato kale its own large pot. It is a very graceful vegetable. I should however being eating more of it. Lately it's been mostly beet greens. I should freeze some.

I've decided to not do posts with 4 different photos that don't relate directly to each other. I am influenced by twitter. Twitter seems more useful to me as the people I follow often share information with others via links to all sorts of things and I may pick and choose as I skim through the various tweets and click on those that catch my interest. I was initially wary of posting more than once a day but so many people tweet 20 times or more and I still get useful information from them.

I am slightly saddened when I remember growing up with a paper delivered to my front door every morning by a local teenager. I used to read the whole newspaper and absorbed all sorts of information without all the distractions that exist in the way that we get information today. It was in a way more limited in that as I read, if I had a question about something I could not just google it on the spot like I do everyday. Anyway I am on twitter mostly tweeting my blog posts and I am looking for more people to follow.

Artichoke Bloom, Eggplants, and my Sidewalk Crack

2009-07-05T09:00:00.011-04:00

Yesterday my artichoke started to bloom. I had forgotten how long it takes to open. It is only beginning to open.

Today I harvested 2 ichiban eggplants. This one is shown still on the vine. Under the ichiban I have siam queen basil, leeks, and lemon gem marigolds growing. These underplants are one reason why I have pruned the extra leaves and offshoots.

I believe that in most browsers that these Turkish eggplants below are shown slightly larger than life. I cannot wait until I can harvest one. When will I know that these are ready? They are starting to show green stripes. They are supposed to turn orange. I've never seen an orange eggplant. What will it taste like? I know that white eggplants are sweeter than purple ones.

I have offered a couple nice neighbors that walk by eggplants in the future in anticipation of an eggplant overload. Really, the 1st year I grew them I both came to appreciate them much more than I ever had because homegrown eggplants really are much, much better than store bought, but I also got tired of them. One neighbor seemed scared by the prospect of eating a non-large purple egglant.

I will assure anyone out there that if you like regular large eggplant you will LOVE ichiban. I think today I might do eggplant Parmesan. I think I will try many eggplant recipes this summer. Hopefully I will find recipes that correspond with the variety I am growing. Any good Turkish eggplant recipes out there?

My test recipe for new eggplants is to simply slice, salt, and fry in olive oil which has some onions and garlic browned in it. Last year my eggplants were not as productive but this year looks much better.

These 2 planters already look very productive. I have them rigged to be self-watering. I consulted How To Make A Self-Watering Container from video jug. If you go to that link you'll see that I had a comment. Nobody there addressed my questions, ahem! Uh, anyway, I ended up doing things a little bit differently. The watering tube is unnecessary and if your pot is outdoors you need a drainage hole that sits where the reservoir meets the soil, or perhaps slightly below that line. In the United States we don't call things 'LECA', I found 'hydroton' though I suppose that plain pebbles or sand might do instead and cost considerably less. I used hydroton though it took some research to find it and to even find out what I was looking for.

That is a problem with international things. Even if you are speaking the same language, some things are not the same and I do strive to be understood by everyone speaking English. If you have any questions feel free to ask and I will try to answer them. Anyway, I think self-watering containers work well with eggplant.

As long as I am going off on tangents I feel I oughta mention a website that helped guide me in my eggplant pruning. AVRDC Extension Materials has a lot of growing information for vegetables I have never heard of. Like I never knew that cleome was eaten in any way.

Here is my next sidewalk plant, love lies bleeding. Last year many passersby loved this plant. I am glad that purchasing seeds has been unnecessary.

Hops

2009-07-04T09:20:00.006-04:00

The hops are producing cones. There are 3 varieties cascade, centennial, and unknown. Here we have a cascade cone.

This cascade is in its 2nd year here and it shows. The 1st year I had it in a large container because I wasn't ready to plant it in the ground. This year I had reclaimed enough space and it was pretty clear to me that the plant had outgrown its container.

This unknown variety of hops has shown its gender. A friend who worked at the Mung Dynasty brought me a small pot of what I thought were going to be unknown established pants with rhizomes. Instead they were a small pot of many, many seedlings. Out of that, I repotted some of them into a 9 cell seedling pack. When they got bigger I repotted 6 into small pots. Even later I planted 4 of those into different planters, but kept the 2 still in small pots. Of all of these only this plant which was still in a small pot and stunted for it, has shown any sign of cones.

I'm not a hops expert but I do know that each plant is gender specific. The cone producing gender is female. In most hops farm they only grow female hops. Why these hops have both genders I don't really know, but they do and I intend to keep only the female hops. I might end up discarding the rest of the wild hops if they show signs of being male.

I have tentatively named this female hop either "Mung Duke" or "Duke Mung" because not only did they come from behind the mung dunasty but it also used to be the Duquesne Brewery, where they brewed Duquesne beer, also called "duke."

Who knows, perhaps I have a unique variety. I have tried searching for what these might be without success. Perhaps they will be productive enough to share with other people. I think I will need to keep them for a few years before I know.

Edible(sort of) Bouquets

2009-07-04T08:35:00.005-04:00

Has your lettuce bolted but it still looks pretty? Is it getting tall and shading your cabbages? Do you feel bad about wasting what was a perfectly delicious food a few weeks ago? Do not despair! Pull it up, cut away the roots, remove the lower leaves, put it in a vase and you've got something pretty.

This principle works with anything that bolts, like say, fennel.

I don't know how long these will last but it's cheaper than buying flowers. I'm going to a barbeque today. Perhaps I'll bring a bouquet. Is that what a patriotic American would do on the 4th of July? I think Thomas Jefferson might approve.

No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.

-- Thomas Jefferson

The Wilder Side

2009-07-03T09:58:00.010-04:00

I have 2 categories of wild in my garden though arguably, most of it looks wild. I have had someone walk by and ask if he might help me by weeding. Well, let's just say that no one can weed my garden but me. My 2 wildest things are my bird/squirrel sown flowers and almost all of my backyard.

This safflower is finally in bloom. It is a birdseed flower. It's not as pretty as sunflowers but I am committed to letting it go to seed. Perhaps I will collect it before it resows itself.

This is part of my cilantro bed. Right now all of it is bolting and going to seed. The advantage of this is that I may adorn my food with flowers and green coriander seeds, milder than mature seeds.

This white queen tomato is flanked by more birdseed flowers, sunflowers which I transplanted when very small to the back.

Here's my Dr. Wyche tomato. I look at this picture and see several problems with my backyard. I think this explains why my front gets more attention. I might do something later on to help this tomato grow better than it will as currently planted. I oughta rip out those redmustards that are bolting. Aw, the warmth of summer!

Bokashi Sidedressing and the Summerbowl

2009-07-02T15:35:00.008-04:00

I said I would talk more about bokashi so here it is. Below is a picture of 2 tomato leaves, oversaturated to emphasize that one is greener than the other. The one on top is one of my ground tomatoes while the one on the bottom is from my box planter. I noticed a few weeks ago that the ground tomatoes have become distinctively less green than the box tomatoes. The reason why I believe this is so is because the box tomatoes have been enriched with bokashi.

And so, I decided it was high time I gave the ground tomatoes some of their own bokashi richness. I can't just top them with it. This is super rich stuff. Instead, I side dressed them.

I have a special skinny shovel that is perfect for digging deep narrow holes. I dug a hole as close as I dared to without damaging my tomato's roots. I have a little secret thing I've been planting in tandem with my bokashi, it's hair, hair of any kind be it my own, my pet's or in this case waste alpaca. Why do I have waste alpaca? If you wanna know check out Gabrielle Spins, my other blog which I have not been very active with. Perhaps I will again as it gets cold again but really, the dynamics of a garden are much greater than spinning.

I got interested in using hair to fertilize when I heard about Smartgrow. This seemed indeed to be something smart but it also seemed to be something I had available already that normally I just threw away. Anyway, burying hair below the bokashi means it will break down faster for my plants to use sooner.

Right on top of the hair is the bokashi. Then a little bit of backdirt mixed with some lime. Bokashi smells like vinegar and is very acidic. In part because this is in fairly close proximity to my well established plants it is a good idea to help the soil to maintain a go pH balance. Then I backfilled the rest of the soil. I hope that in a few weeks from now I will see some positive results.

My garden is revised many times during the growing season. This saladbowl is one example. I spared you the shot of the chervil fully bolted and gone to seed. Gone is the pretty flower phase, it was down to the seeds turning brown while the plants yellow. I pulled the majority of them up. Indeed I pulled out most of the lettuce. It too was bolting and bitter. The soil for being so overwatered had become pretty nutrient poor. Really, in all honesty, this is NOT an efficient way to grow vegetables. It was a pretty experiment.

Now I'm not ready to just chuck it all away so instead I pulled up the worst of it, leaving in particular these lovely beets. I mixed in some fertilizer, not bokashi this time. I don't think bokashi is a good option here, just a dry organic fertilizer with a bit of lime and some water retention crystals. This time, I hope to keep whatever I have here growing. With that in mind I planted just about the least sensible thing I could think of, a watermelon.

I will keep you posted on how that works out unless it is a complete disaster that is an embarrassment to me. I am not above being embarrassed and under-reporting my failures.

Some Eggplants, Cats and Bolting Lettuce

2009-07-02T08:59:00.008-04:00

I think I will have too many eggplants soon. Here I am holding a spent ichiban bloom next to a orange Turkish eggplant. You can see that the Turk is much smaller. The Turkish eggplant will become about the size of an egg, though it looks as though it may produce bunches of eggplants like grapes. I am very curious about how they'll taste.

Here's the actual plants. Both ichiban and Turkish orange(or is it orange Turkish?) are fairly large for eggplants. I guess 4 feet is typical so I have short stakes for them. I also have pruned them to have fairly bare stems at least up to a point as I have interplanted many things below them that need the light. I also limit their branching out. They don't get as overgrown as tomatoes but it does make it easier for me to see what's going on and in theory their fruit should be more consistent, especially the ichiban.

My latest poll is closed. The results are as follows

Cats-5 (55%)
Flowers-6 (66%)
Tomatoes-6 (66%)
Bugs-4 (44%)
Birds-5 (55%)
Greens-8 (88%)
Weeds-7 (77%)
Compost-8 (88%)
Disease-6 (66%)
Death-3 (33%)
Bokashi, come on, BOKASHI!-5 (55%)
Ummmmmmm-4 (44%)

There was a total of 9 votes. Given that small sample I can only conclude that I will blog about whatever I feel as usual. I chose my topics at random anyway. Now I know that I do not have a large following but based on my analytics, I DO have more than 9 regulars and I do want their opinions.

Anyway, given the randomness I will do more posts about cats, because they amuse me and they are a secret joy to people. Why do we have LOLCATs? because people like them even if they are tired of them. So LOOK AT THESE CATS!

You'll also be hearing more about bokashi. I have noticed that my bokashi tomatoes look better than my non-bokashi tomatoes. I am also finding it cheaper and less complicated than as described by others. More on that later.

My final picture for this post shows a red lettuce bolting. This is not highly recommended. It looks kinda nice right now though. I am letting a number of my lettuces bolt. I probably should just pull most, if not all of them up but I do have guilty feeling when I perform herbicide on my domesticated plants. The pluses of letting this bolt is that later I may collect seeds for future plantings. The blooms will attract beneficial insects and if I really let it go, I will have no need to sow any lettuce seeds. My permaculture tendencies are showing.

Catnip Protection Part II

2009-06-30T09:16:00.009-04:00

I recently expanded my catnip dome. In this 1st image, the new catnip cage is barely visible unless you enlarge the picture by clicking it. I just have to show you how my whole wall here is progressing, especially the sunflowers, though it looks as though they have a blight.

Anyway, here's the old dome. As you can see, the catnip has been bitten down and there is a good bit of cat hair on the dome from the cats going crazy getting as much nip as they can. It was time to give the nip more room to grow because the cats were not going to.

I simply extended the space by attaching the dome to a short wire fence. In doing so, I made certain that it was VERY securely attached.

Based on the primary color of the fur on the dome, the Cheddarhead seems to indulge on catnip the most. It is his habit to go straight to the nip after I feed him. Must be tough dealing with a lady trying to tame him.

Anyway, so far it seems to be holding up. See Catnip for more info on how I 1st planted this catnip.

Also this. There wasn't enough spare catnip left for me to spoil Sally.

One reason I expanded the cage is that Sally prefers her catnip fed to her. She doesn't like getting her paws dirty by harvesting it herself. This video below, filmed a few years ago when Sally weighed 6 or 7 pounds more than she does now. She likes it when I 'fight' with her while I give her catnip. I rub it on her face and tickle her hind paws. Really, she loves it!

Wall Tomatoes and CATS

2009-06-26T10:52:00.013-04:00

I am pretty happy with how these are growing. Tomatoes are basically a vine, if indeterminate. That's really why it is necessary to stake or cage them.

A few years ago, I had some supersweet on a stoop growing out of strawbales. This experiment ended up being fairly high maintenance as I lacked any soil and had to thoroughly water and very frequently fertilize them but still, the results were very spectacular. They grew much better than the ones in back. One major reason I believe is that they were growing on a very hot, tar paved alley, my place's front entrance was a crowded, alleyway, largely devoid of any life except litter, some weeds and irresponsible neighbor's dog poop. I swear the sweltering heat made them thrive.

I am happy to say that I have moved up a bit. Now my neighbors... well, I won't get into specifics, but my surroundings are closer to 'middle class'. I suppose it depends on your perspective. They do pick up after their dogs. Er, so out of this experience I realized that tomatoes will grow endlessly if the conditions are right and you let them. I imagined building a tomato hut.

I will return to the present. I am not keen on this railroad tie wall here not the globe arborvitaes. Arborvitaes are an interesting tree and shrub native to North America that the locals ate for its vitamin C content. I can't remember the specific history, but it has been used to prevent scurvy in many situation where fresh food was not to be found. So I do have some admiration for arborvitae.

I just don't have much room and these plants are in a very prime location as far as light and warmth are concerned. Rather than destroy them I compromised by trimming them back a bit and planting some things in spaces that they aren't supposed to grow.

If you click on either tomato picture you'll see a stake coming out of nowhere and a staple or 2 driven into the railroad ties with some velcro tomato ties attached. I've been limiting these from branching out a lot. I consider these tomatoes to be my 'guerilla style' tomatoes. Click on that link for more info and many fun pictures, like people planting cabbages while police lights flash. I thought it was pretty funny that they refer to a 360th anniversary of guerrilla gardening taking place at the same time of the G20 protests in London because the G20 is going to be in Pittsburgh in September. That doesn't have much to do with anything but I like the idea of people defiantly planting vegetables in 1649.

I probably should have made this 2 post but anyway, here's a couple cat pictures. The cheddarhead and abe aren't exactly friends but they do swat playfully at each other every once in a while. They have a rivalry over the catnip dome.

Sally prefers solitude but does tolerate others. She's just a little queen.

It's hard to decide

2009-06-24T18:41:00.008-04:00

Which photographs to publish. My camera decides sometimes, like the coriander seeds forming I thought I had focused on came out blurry. Everyday my garden is different. Especially after lots of sun and warmth.

This faded sunflower still has a sort of beauty. There are now 5 others blooming in its place. I ponder whether when this is ready for the birds whether I should leave it standing, save it for myself, or saving it for the birds when it is winter again. I suppose with more than a dozen blooms I may do all of the above.

This broccoli must be harvested. Oh the burden of fresh vegetables.

I want to do a post on my 'wall tomatoes' as they grow up to the stakes I have poking into my shrubbery. I have a feeling that they will end up growing better than some of my tomatoes this year despite their unorthodox location.

These are 'juliette' what I think of as a cherry plum tomato. These are larger than the ones i grew last year which also were quite susceptible to blossom end rot. These don't seem to have this issue, at least not yet. I have been pretty vigilant about watching for that as I have had this problem with quite a few of my tomatoes over the last couple years.

These are tansy flowers. I think I got these at a garden swap. I got another variety at a garden event outside Trader Joe's. I like this variety better. I know that one of them had some babies in my garden which I chose to remove. I understand tansy can get pretty invasive. I ended up transplanting my other tansy to a part of my garden that is dark and less visible. This tansy here is more delicate looking so I might end up making it my only variety.

Tansy is one of those herbs that has been eaten by people but more so I believe during medieval times. Based on what I've read, I don't think I will. I mean, it is sort of poisonous. It could be handy if I had worms. I think it's one of those herbs that kills worms which would make it more useful in midieval times than now. It does have an interesting flowers and ants do not seem to like it very much.

I have so many kinds of plants in my yard. I should count them sometime. There are still a few I haven't documented.

I know I am not doing right by my peppers

2009-06-23T09:47:00.004-04:00

Look at how crowded they are! I wanted to put them up front but last year I had potatoes up there and you're not supposed to follow them with peppers. So I put them here but still haven't had the heart to pull up all the beets.

This bull's blood beet doesn't have much of a root but this variety is largely grown for its tops. I do have more in back that I can let mature.

I just love that red! I actually pruned a few leaves of this to let in a little light for my peppers. I know that's feeble but it's early yet.

My overplanting does reduce any weed's chance.

No Eggplant is Better than one from your Garden

2009-06-22T09:49:00.004-04:00

This morning I am craving what I had last Friday, eggplant, quite simply sliced, salted, then fried in olive oil with onions(in this case a small red onion from my yard) and wilted basil(here it's thai)on a cracker. As the 1st eggplant, I couldn't make a full meal out of it, just 12 crackers.

I am certain, I hope, to have more eggplants than I can use soon. Here's my green striped orange turkish plant, slightly battered from that bad storm. I pinched off its lowest branches to make it grow taller but now I intend to let it branch out and set fruit. I wonder how they'll taste. The different varieties do taste a little different from each other. I've never had an orange eggplant so I am pretty curious. These are supposed to be pretty small, egg sized I think.

Here's the ichiban looking glorious but not growing fast enough for my craving today. "GROW, GROW," I keep repeating in my head whenever I look at it. I might end up harvesting a small eggplant earlier than I have intended just to satisfy myself.

Do I deserve this? Perhaps I do. Things always taste better in small quantities. I'd better eat something now, maybe just some toast.

After the Storm

2009-06-20T08:41:00.001-04:00

Our basement's water level peaked at about 3 feet(1 meter). Needless to say, everything is very lush.

My prostrate rosemary is filling out again. I poked an italia pepper in its pot. The small mint pot looks less pale, my tarragon is doing all right and perhaps my yuzu citris will do better this year.

A few sunflowers fell over during the storm but I righted them and they seem ok. The black and blue salvia are hummingbird magnets and everything else up there is growing all right.

My ground tomatoes are growing up well though they look slightly paler than the box tomatoes. I keep trying to equalize that with fertilizer and a bit of lime. Almost all of my tomatoes have small tomatoes growing now. I am denuding the stems somewhat and reducing their tendency to branch out like crazy. There's a whole lot more going on in this picture. There are 2 varieties of beans, some basil, nasturtiums, kale strawberries,and garlic.

I have 2 cabbages that are growing monstrously. It sorta amazes me how many people walk by and ask me, "Is that cabbage?" That's one reason why I feel like I should stay in an urban location, just to set an example and to just help people understand what vegetables actually look like, rather than finding 1-5 acres out somewhere. I am somewhat inclined to take over the small yard of the apartment building next door completely, but I must conquer my back yard first. Alas, it doesn't have the light that the front does. I could grow some wonderful tomatoes next door, and cabbage. I have enough to deal with here.

Flash Flood

2009-06-18T08:47:00.003-04:00

High water

After the flood

Wheelbarrow filling up

Very wet chamomile(there's a street behind this)

Growing Local

2009-06-17T17:14:00.007-04:00

In response to my little survey, not as of this posting completed and what's in my head this rainy day, I have decided to write at least partly about compost. Compost has more than one definition and it seems to mean something else in different areas.

In the United States, we tend to think of everything that we throw into a compost heap as compost. In more British areas, I believe that they tend to think of the final product from a compost heap, and potting soil as compost. I have had a few clients ask me if I can deliver some 'soil' to their garden for topping when what they really mean is 'compost'. All that really matters is that you reader, wherever you are understand what I am saying.

OK, so where was I? Growing local, yes, I am trying to establish a self-sufficient garden, but I have imported a lot of material into it. The 1st is compost, meaning the final product. I get mine from a local source, Agrecycle. I also use Agrecycle to dispose of yard debris, both my own when it's bulky, and that of clients. They compost it and sell it right back to me. So that means that the compost that I have topped my garden with is local.

I also supplement my garden with various fertilizers. I am not a scientist but I try to balance out my various plants need, especially my tomatoes. This year I am finding it easier to fertilize them with my bokashi, which because it allows meat and cheese waste, is richer than other self-produced fertilizer. I also have buried a lot of pet hair and some alpaca fleece waste(I started spinning last fall after I acquired some very inexpensive western Pennsylvania raw alpaca fleece).

I became very interested in hair and other things composed of keratin after I heard about smartgrow. Smartgrow is simply a mat made out of human hair which sounds really bizarre. I won't explain it here, visit their site. Anyway, it seemed to me that I could replicate smart grow results just by using my hair, my pet's hair and all the alpaca waste I accumulated when I carded my fleece.

Anyway, It occurred to me today that not only am I reducing the waste I am producing but I am truly turning my garden into a locally grown garden in more ways than I thought. And by doing so I am greatly reducing my carbon footprint. I am also reducing my fertilizing costs.

And I haven't even discussed my rainbarrel project. There are multiple levels in which that is beneficial. But that is a future post.

One more tarp post

2009-06-16T17:05:00.009-04:00

I do love my tarp. In this case I have some yard debris wrapped up tight. The load here was much bulkier before I packed it in here.

I decided to post this picture of lasagna to show how I load up my yard debris. Pasta is to tarps as tomatoes, meat and cheese is to yard debris.

You cannot see it here, but there are 6 layers of yard debris between 7 tarps, including my super-tarp. Why am I making such a big deal out of this? Because loading up your bed lasagna style saves a lot of time and energy, both in loading but more so in unloading. It also makes it easier to really pack it in.

I'll just pretend that most readers can figure this out without an extensive explanation. I impressed a number of landscapers, especially those working on a smaller scale like myself when they see how fast I unload at the dump, and all by myself too. I just pull each tarp out one at a time, each with a manageable load rather than one heavy one.

This last photo is from a previous post showing how I spread and secure my tarp when getting a load from a backhoe. For yard debris, I am not this elaborate. I don't use the blue cab tarp shown here and I only use 2 bungee cords though really i don't need any, it just keeps things in place in case the wind blows. What is pretty key here is packing down each layer, something that is harder to do without tarps.

#1 Ichiban, 1st eggplant

2009-06-14T13:11:00.003-04:00

I have finally harvested my 1st eggplant. It was just a bloom at the end of May.

About a week ago it was this big.

And here it is just before I harvested it. I probably could have let it get bigger but it is my habit to harvest my eggplants when they are certain to still be tender.

Alreadi I have 3 more eggplants growing on this plant. My other eggplants have yet to bloom. I delayed blooming on this one and my other just a little bit by pruning them a little. I know that eggplants on an eggplant like ichiban grow straight and are more salable if they are started higher up the stem. Once they hit the ground they might started to bend. I know that by the end of summer,if these grow well, I will be tired of eggplant so I am in no rush.

1st Sunflower Bloom

2009-06-14T09:10:00.003-04:00

These pictures were taken over a period of 5 days. This is my 1st and currently, my only sunflower bloom.

I am happy that I caught this green bee looking creature

I just found the great sunflower project. I am registered and recommend others do too. This is a bee counting project which I think is pretty important now.

Backyard Chaos

2009-06-12T11:11:00.006-04:00

I am a little embarrassed by my backyard because I haven't given it as much TLC as the front and it shows. It has however been productive in some ways.

The best thing I've got going here is my cilantro bed. Everything in here is self-sown and though I should probably weed it, it is mostly cilantro. In addition to cilantro are chives and numerous mitsuba, a japanese herb that I am not fond of but I haven't had the heart to eradicate. I did however pull up the original generation of mitsuba and replant it in a dark corner. That is why there is some bare soil here. I also poked in a couple tall growing snapdragons just for fun.

This white queen tomato is my centerpiece. In front of it is some giant red mustard, all self-sown. To the right behind it is some birdfeeder sunflowers that I transplanted here. There's more stuff in the background. I'll try to get to that later on.

Here's the Dr Wyche straw planting. I have tided up this area a little bit. The bark mulch helped a lot but I think Iwant to lay down some sort of stepping stones as well. I might want more bark mulch too in other bare spots.

Here's a spot that was planted with a thyme groundcover that has turned into weeds and parsley. The jug has some weed tea. I am trying to really go all organic and LOCAL, as far as fertilizer is concerned. So far I think it is working out pretty well. I feel I'll feel certain as to whether this really works for me when this growing season ends.

Things that fly

2009-06-11T11:02:00.008-04:00

I really want to know what this insect is. It was on my ichiban(oops, not ichiban, actually my turkish orange eggplant) yesterday and today on a sunflower. Be it friend or foe? I have to know!

Strauzia longipennis
sunflower maggot fly
I had an assist from an internet acquaintance. The site that confirmed it is BugGuide.Net
I found more detailed info about this variety of fruitfly here, North American Insects and Spiders, via wiki. Gotta love the internets! Instant info.

Guess it's bad but it's pretty.

I finally have documentation of hummingbird visits. They come by pretty frequently now, every few minutes, at least at dawn and dusk, rather than once every few days. It is true that salvia guaranitica is a hummingbird magnet. They LOVE it. I think during the day they get scared of people. There is a lot of foot traffic on my street and next door a 6 unit apartment building whose entrance is 15 feet(5 metres for you metric types) from my front door.

I've been obsessed. Last night, as dusk set in and this morning at the crack of dawn I staked them out. The 1st picture is from this morning, the second from last night. I think I used a flash for both.

Tomatoes (part II, frontyard)

2009-06-10T10:18:00.009-04:00

Here's my prime gardening space, my front yard. Right off the bat I am breaking tomato growing rules. This tomato, a juliet cherry is growing under a globe arborvitae. I kinda ran out of room so I planted this and another cherry tomato under it. As it grew I broke the leaves off. It is too dark under the shrub for it to benefit much anyway and extra leaves can make it more susceptible to various afflictions. I also broke off extra branches. I will let it branch out a little, but not too much. I intend to train it to this railroad tie wall, possibly with landscaping staples. This borders the sidewalk and gets a lot of traffic so hopefully people walking by will sample these tomatoes and enjoy them. I think I will have some issues with nutrients here as the soil quality is pretty bad but I have taken steps to correct that.

Here's the 2nd wall tomato, a supersweet I think. It is on the driveway. I am training it towards the sidewalk. Supersweet cherry tomatoes will probably be in every tomato garden I have. They are very productive and taste great. They also are very early. They gratify me while I am waiting for my big tomatoes to do something. Unintentionally in this picture is a bottle of weed tea. I won't talk about weed tea in depth in this post but recommend any gardener to know about this.

Here is my most traditional tomato planting. These are sungold, an excellent cherry and costaluto genovese, a delicious and beautiful(to me) tomato. I can't even remember if there is any bokashi buried below these tomatoes or not but I did a lot of amending of the soil for these guys. Last year in this space I had artichokes. Unfortunately in Pittsburgh, wintering them outside is not a great idea. I dug them all up except for one which was killed by the elements despite extra mulching. Anyway, it might not be readily apparent here but I kept the diamond planting of strawberries around this bed. I also have decided this year to prune away most of the sideshoots and to strip my tomatoes of excess leaves. I want them to have a bare stem that goes above the companion plants around them. This should allow their companions to grow batter and also should make the tomatoes less likely to be infected with blight. I also have these tomatoes attached to a 7 foot stake. I will encourage them to grew very tall. There are some that believe that removing extra leaves makes tomatoes put more energy into growing tomatoes. Perhaps this is true.

Here's my tomato box. In it is a bucket of bokashi, buried very deeply. I think that this will be excellent for my tomatoes. Varieties here are carbon and brandywine. I think that this will need more water then the in ground tomatoes but this box is so big it might be be a big issue. I have to admit that around here, water is not the issue it is in other areas. We have 3 rivers so we never have to ration.

I'm going to post this in each post. Please take a moment to answer my little survey. Thank you!

Tomato Strategies (part I side and back yard)

2009-06-10T08:10:00.014-04:00

This is one of those posts where I attempt to keep my thoughts coherent. I have 10 tomato plants this year and 6 tomato growing strategies. I've said it before, tomatoes are complicated. They are pretty demanding and there are multiple philosophies about how to grow them right. I wouldn't say that any one is the right way, but like so many things they do deserve examination. The things to strive for are productivity, tasty produce, beauty and low maintenance. Another question is how much space do I have and how well will it grow here? Well, my gardening style is freestyle. I'm not worried about maintenance because I am obsessed with gardening. I like to experiment, follow rules and break them. I like to try obscure things and throw some new ideas into the mix. And that is how I grow tomatoes.

We'll start with my most neglected tomatoes. A problem I have is indecision. This makes me put things off because I cannot decide what to do. Such has been the sad fate of these 2 cherry tomatoes, super sweet, and juliet. I just planted these here 2 days ago. They are on my back porch which does not get as much light as the front in an earthbox. The earthbox is a self-watering container that is nice for a lot of plants, most actually, but not all. I had some herbs in here that weren't very happy because they liked it less moist. Anyway, these poor tomatoes might do better than they are right now.

This is my straw planting. It is a Dr Wyche. A couple years ago I did a lot of plants in strawbales. This was an excellent experiment. I learned a lot about what makes different plants happy but I also found it to be fairly high maintenance. The biggest problem with bales is that things get dried out fast. This time I cheated a little. I mixed in a little moist stuff, um what's it called? Some people actually plant disposable diapers but I have yet to take that plunge.

Now that I have taken the time to research this tomato, I am finding it likes LOTS of water and usually is not very productive. Uh oh. This might not have been a good idea for this variety. I was actually thinking about mounding up some compost around this to keep it wetter. I might do that.

One more thing. This isn't a bale. It is a metal laundry basket I got at yardsale for 50 cents that I stuffed with straw. This allowed me to shape it the way I wanted to and to include a deep pot shaped cavity in the center. I am of the philosophy to plant my tomatoes as deeply as possible. Up to the top leaves. A lot of new gardeners don't know that the stems will grow roots. You want your tomatoes to soak up as much water as possible. This tomato was 3 times as tall as it is here because 2 thirds of it is underground.

This is my centerpiece tomato for the back yard. It is planted on top of some bokashi. I am hopeful that my bokashi will greatly reduce the need to fertilize all the tomatoes that are above it. You may have noticed that all of my tomatoes are planted with other plants including marigolds and basil. You can't see it so well but I also planted leeks with these 3 tomatoes. I think if I planted them alone that they might end up being more productive, I can't really say but I've decided that a very important thing for me is beauty. I think tomatoes look prettier with flowers. However, flowers are more than pretty. They attract pollinating and pest eating insects so I grow them together.

There's so much more I could say about tomatoes and I will say more, but in my next post. Next is my front yard tomatoes. Please humor me by responding to my little survey. Thanks for reading!

Number One, in more ways than one!

2009-06-09T13:00:00.005-04:00

Why am I so self-righteous? We'll start with this eggplant. This is the 3rd year I've grown ichiban eggplants, but somehow I only discovered a week or so ago that ichiban means "number one" in Japanese. I can see why. The plant is beautiful. It appeals to my taste for dark things. The fruit is beautiful, the plant very, very productive and delicious. I became an eggplant convert in large part because of this variety of eggplant. And today, it earned the title number one for one more reason, it is the 1st eggplant, and I have 5, that is producing fruit! I should qualify that by admitting that I had to buy a 6 inch pot rather than 2 inch, which is what all my other eggplants started as.

I consider these sunflowers a triumph too. I have not seen any as big as mine right now. In this instance I may thank the birds and the squirrels for spilling birdseed all over the place. These germinated as soon as the ground was warm and moist enough for their taste. I simply transplanted them here and they survived. I might be the 1st to have sunflowers blooming on my block, if not my neighborhood.

All right, this image does not continue the #1 theme. It's the back of my pick-up and it shows my homemade potting mix. I won't get into a specific recipe. I will only say that this batch has these ingredients, compost, which was already in the truck, peat moss, vermiculite, and agricultural lime. I like to do more than a few pots and it's a lot cheaper to mix my own especially when I buy compost by the cubic yard anyway. I just mix it all up in the bed of my truck as needed. Most people that make their own mix it up in a wheelbarrow. This is more or less what potted soil is.

I love red cabbage, not so much to eat, but as a focal point in landscaping. I can directly acknowledge Joy Larkcom as my influence here. Just a few days ago a little boy asked me about this cabbage. "Is that a cabbage?" he asked while gently petting a very grateful Sally (Sally loves children, unlike the other cats)
"Yes it is!"
"Is it edible?"
What a smart child! That was my #1 moment that day.

I hate to shill myself here, but I'd be quite gratified if you readers would take a moment to answer my survey on the right.