Hungry Gardener in DC

Rain Rain

2009-03-31T07:33:00.000-07:00

The weather forecast does not look promising for tilling this weekend. Forecasted rain on Wednesday and Thursday will leave my garden to wet for tilling. I have already laid down extra compost and lime two weekends ago. I think I may have missed the March dry "sweet spot" for tilling and planting spring crops.

Lead and Soil Testing

2008-02-25T07:52:00.000-08:00

I had always heard that soil-testing was a good idea to improve the overall harvest, but I became motivated to actually do this when I heard that urban gardens may be more suspectible to lead contamination. Although the risk is relatively low, it suddenly seemed like a good idea to actually know what my ph level was because lead contamination is less likely to occur above 6.5 ph.

The University of Minnesota's Extension service has a good article that can be found here.
Lead Contamination and Gardens

University of Ohio Extension Office FAQ

DIY grow light system vs kit in small spaces

2008-02-25T06:36:00.000-08:00

My master-gardening-mom learned from her classes that a successful grow-light system needs to emit at least 40 watts to give the tiny seedlings the boost they need to grow strong. This new tidbit has finally convinced me that my makeshift system purchased on Saturday at a big box hardware store was not going to work. Thus, I have decided to buy a 2ft ready made kit from Hydro-farm and accept my DIY defeat.

Many garden bloggers have discussed making their own grow light systems using 4ft fluorescent lights, and I have definitely been inspired by their success. However, I live in an apartment and the 4ft fluorescent lights were just too long for my urban dwelling. I had hoped to recreate a similar system with 2ft lights, but I soon realized that there were no plug-in fixtures associated with this size that had the appropriate wattage. After spending several intimidating and vexing hours trying to understand the merits of plug-in versus direct wire lights, I walked away with two, 2 ft, 13 watt plug-in fluorescent lights. After speaking with my mom, I realized that 26 watts were not going to cut it.

So I am going to be a little less thrifty when it comes to my grow-light system. Sometimes living in a smaller space means that the economies of scale from purchasing 10 - 4ft bulbs all at once are just not possible.

The model that I am going to try can be purchased Amazon.com
2ft Hydrofarm Grow light System

Ordering Seeds

2008-02-14T06:47:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that it is February, and I may be a bit behind in my gardening tasks. I just purchased my tomato and pepper seeds yesterday online. I have had really good success with Southern Seed Export and the US distributor of Franchi Sementi seeds, www.growitalian.com. I am going to try growing my tomatoes and peppers from seeds for the first time.

I have received varying advice on when to start. It appears as though one needs to get started anytime between 8-12 weeks before the last frost date. D.C. registers the last frost date as 4/23, but I think I have had more success waiting until May 1st. I still need to buy a light and growing set as I don't have enough natural light to keep them from growing spindly. I hope to have everything set up by February 23rd.

Labor Day Haul

2007-09-04T19:37:00.000-07:00

Labor Day Haul

2007-09-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

An ode to southern vegetables

2007-08-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

There are times when I wish DC was a bit further north. A little less burning sun might prevent my tomatoes from dropping their fruit when they get too hot (see explanation under Chicago Gardener) and might just convince my eggplants that they didn't need to put all the energy into producing leaves.

The hot humid August days do make DC a suitable climate for growing butter beans and okra. I didn't grow up regularly eating these tasty delights. I do have a vivid memory of having okra soup on a plane ride between Atlanta and Orlando at age 5. It was probably the only memorable plan meal I have ever eaten. I don't think I had ever tasted butter beans until I moved to DC five years ago. I'm not quite sure how those Southerns keep butter beans a secret. Perhaps, we northerners were cleverly duped into avoiding them under their the "nom de plume du nord" "lima beans". Homegrown butter aka lima beans are just sublime, and one soon forgets the annoyance of husking after a couple bites.

Is the butter bean a lima bean?

Ask wiki
The first and official butterbean festival says ...

2007-08-12T06:17:00.000-07:00

My tomato broke in half

2007-07-27T12:31:00.001-07:00

When one of my indeterminate tomatoes broke in half the other day , I did feel my heart break a bit as well. For everyone's sake, I am trying to refrain from writing especially cliche titles for my blog posts. Thus, the comparisons between my broken tomato and heart will end here.

However, I do know that I have gone two season with lack luster success keeping my tomatoes from collapsing under their own weight. I used tomato cages last year, and they were pretty much lying horizontal by early October. I staked my tomatoes to three closely stake bamboo poles this spring and pruned excessively. Alas, I still arrived at my garden with my tomatoes and bamboo poles lying horizontal on the ground. It probably does not help that I have a very sandy soil. Not much more needs to be said about sand as a foolish foundation. However, I did find a link to some Master Gardeners in California who went on a quest to find the best wait to keep tomatoes upright and strong.

http://www.mastergardeners.org/picks/tomato_staking.html

I am inspired to try the square wooden cage option. It has the most advantages and is a good excuse to get my own drill :)

Hungarian Cucumber Salad

2007-07-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

Last week I had six large cucumbers in my refrigerator and few ideas of what to make other than soup. The recipe below was really tasty, and I was surprised how quickly the cucumbers were used up by this simple recipe. My mom suggested adding onions to the salad next time. It was really refreshing.

HUNGARIAN CUCUMBER SALAD
Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Cookbook, 2004
By Joan Nathan
found at Epicurious

Rosemary Ratatouille

2007-07-24T11:14:00.000-07:00

My mom tipped me off to the good ratatouille recipe on the Cooking for Engineers blog. I substituted rosemary for basil, and it was delicious. Be sure to add plenty of rosemary early in the cooking process. I think it would also be good with a handful of cannellini beans.

Yummy Ratatouille Recipe via Cooking for Engineers

dry dry days

2007-07-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

I watered my garden three times last week, but it was not enough. My bush beans have dried out, and the cucumbers are barely hanging on. The only plants that appear to thrive in the drought are the banana peppers and sweet potatoes. My neighbor told me that I need to work harder because I am at the top of the hill. Alternatively, I could pick a plot without a slope next spring. I think I am going to choose the later option even if it means no winter garden of garlic leeks and onions.

There are plenty of tomatoes right now. I finally bit into my zebra, pear, and big boy tomatoes. I am loosing faith that the brandywine are going to bloom. To my surprise, one of my eggplants has risen from the dead in the past two weeks. I am off to water again tonight.

First batch of Spaghetti Sauce

2007-07-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

Enough roma tomatoes have ripened that I was able to make my first batch of spaghetti sauce on July 11th. The not-so-secret ingredient to my sauce is carrots, and I did have a few smaller carrots ready from my garden. The homegrown garlic, onions, oregano, basil and garlic made their way into the pot as well. I forgot that garden carrots are especially sweet, so I may need to use fewer in the next batch to make it a little less sweet next time around.

I am looking forward to many more tasty tomato dishes in the coming weeks :)

New Zealand Spinach salad

2007-07-02T06:28:00.000-07:00

I had my first full grown New Zealand spinach salad with goat cheese and a dash of aged balsamic vinegar last night. The spinach is tasty, but has a thicker texture that the normal bloomsdale spinach. I had never heard of the green until I tried to figure out why my regular spinach bolted last year. Alas, DC is far to hot for regular spinach, but local gardeners recommened New Zealand Spinach and Malabar as a close subsitute.

Capatain Cook brought back the near-spinach plant, genus Tetragonia, to London after the 1770 expedition. It remains a staple of Maori cooking, and it is well suited to warm moist climates. Although DC only purports to the first adjective, my plants have come in well. One can learn more about the plant at the following links below. Although I was a bit disturbed that the Wikipedia entry suggested that one needed to blanch the veggies to get rid of mild toxins, none of the other resources intruct this, and I still feel find this morning.

Wikipedia's "New Zealand Spinach"
University of Florida's Extension Office on "New Zealand Spinach"
Garden Guide's "New Zealand Spinach"

Cucumber Mint soup

2007-07-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

I have bagged four cucumbers since I came back to DC on Wednesday. My one plant is spreading its vines and sprouting blossoms at a very rapid pace, so I am expecting more soon. Given the plethora of cucumbers coming my way, I was pleasantly surprised to learn how many variations on cucumber soup were flittering out there in the foodie sphere. My first cool cucumber soup of the year comes from the Epicurious recipe below. My neighbor offered some fresh mint to mix as well. I would not have thought to add an egg, ever, to cucumber soup, but it was simply lovely

COLD CUCUMBER SOUP WITH MINT
Gourmet, July 1996 (found with Epicurious)

Some of the comments indicate that the soup needed peppers to add a bit of heat. With homegrown cukes, I think it is best to just keep the recipe as is.

Cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini are here

2007-06-28T06:23:00.000-07:00

I spent a week away from DC, and mother nature did not provide a drop of rain during my absence. I was sure that my plants would shrivel and turn a faint yellowish hue in the 90 degree heat. Some indeed did. A few zucchini plants would crumble with the faintest touch. However, my cucumber plant grew about 2 feet and produced two rather large cucumbers in steamy conditions. One shriveled zucchini plant did put forth a nice four inch zucchini. I also had my first cherry tomato last night. My cherry tomato plant seems so small compared to my memories of an overgrown August cherry tomato plant. We'll see what it can produce in the next two months.

Blessed Beets arrive

2007-06-28T06:09:00.000-07:00

Their scarlet color may stain your countertops. Their bulbous shape is not the easiest to peel. These challenges are easily forgotten once the cooking begins. It is the season of beets, and I am in bliss.

I planted a short row of beets in April, and I now have about 10 small to medium sized beets ready to be roasted beets. The beets are smaller than those that show up in the store, so one needs a few more beets to fill out beet recipes. I sauteed three last night with carrots and homegrown onions for a delicious beet soup. There are so many recipes to choose; I only wished I had grown more beets earlier in the spring. I planted many more in May and early June, but I am not sure if it will be too hot for them to grow. Rather than worry, I will simply hope for more blessed beets.

Other love letters to beets
NPR's Kitchen Window "The Beet goes on"
Eat Local Challenge "And the beet goes on"
About.com: Greek food "And the beet goes on"
Penn State University (recipes and gardening tips "And the beet goes on"
...and thousands more with the same title. Let this be a lesson that your creative play on word may not be as unique as you thought...

Book Review: Animal, Miracle, Plant

2007-06-25T09:23:00.000-07:00

Many individuals look for the "grown locally" sign at their grocery store and frequent the weekend food markets to support local agriculture. The desire to eat the tastiest tomato, cut down on the food miles it takes to grown one's food, and support the livelihoods of neighboring farmers drive the buy local movement. Babara Kingsolver and her family took this initiative a bit further when they decided to move full-time to a Virginian farm where much, if not most, of the locally obtained food could be obtained from their backyard and through their labors. Her description of planting, weeding and harvesting showcase the crisp naturalist prose for which Kingsolver has received much acclaim. She is also at her best when she frames the scale of labor and the timing of the farming year. I did not welcome a lot of the agri-business op-eds that largely equated big as bad and small as good. I didn't necessarily disagree with their arguments, but they failed to cite statistics and references to back up their cases. I would still recommend the book to any vegetable gardener for the recipes, garden humor, and celebration of growing one's own food.

Zebra tomatoes almost here; Eggplant has arrived

2007-06-19T11:50:00.000-07:00

The heat index will hit in 98 degrees today, and even my colleagues look a bit wilted. I watered my garden around 6:30am to give my plants a good drink before the hot day was too much underway. The plants that had been thinned this weekend looked pretty sturdy and happy to have more space to grow. I don't know how I missed it this weekend, but one of my ichiban eggplants had grown four inches long. I have 3 or 4 zebra tomatoes that are about 3 inches in diameter and the correct color. There are numerous green romas of appropriate size that still need to ripen My peppers are just beginning to flower. Although others are eating their zucchinis, I simply have blossoms at this point.

Recipe: Cream of Chard and Beet Greens

2007-06-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

With the arrival of fresh garlic in my garden, I find myself sauteing garlic, onions, olive oil and the vegetable du jour every night. Although I could continue this pattern until the garlic runs out, I thought I should try something different. I decided to make a cream of chard and beet green recipe from the common ingredients found in a cream of spinach recipe. It was heavenly.

Recipe
2 Tbsp of butter
2 Tbsp of flour
2 small shallots (courtesy of my garden)
1 cup of skim milk

a big bunch of Swiss chard stemmed
a good handful of baby beet greens
1/8 cup of grated fresh Parmesan cheese

salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

I simply melted the butter over medium heat and then sauteed the shallots for a minute or two. I then sprinkled in the flour while stirring vigorously with a silicon spatula. Once the mixture was smooth and bubbling, I added the milk and greens. The greens begin to wilt as the milk heats up. I grated the cheese and nutmeg directly onto the mixture when greens the had cooked down and the sauce was thickening.

Weeding and Thinning - unintended sacrificial kills

2007-06-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

I spent about nine good hours weeding my garden this weekend. The blessed rains that had nourished my garden had also quenched the thirst of little weeds staking territory in my plot. I arrived on Saturday morning to find a thin layer of weeds covering every inch of my garden. With cultivator in hand, I was ready for the task.

I actually don't mind weeding. Weeding is fine when you still think you are winning the battle. It is a quieting activity, but some vegetables require more attention than others. I prefer weeding around beans and okra because I am more confident that my cultivator will simply take out the weeds. Weeding around young carrots, beets and chard sprouts requires more patience and technique. Their thin roots seem almost eager to fall over with even the faintest vibration. Such nudges are hard to avoid when the weeds are less than an inch away. It is a cruel fate to kill one's plants when trying to remove the weeds, but a few extra carrots and beets were lost in the long weeding war this weekend.

I wasn't too worried about the accidental thinnings because I needed to purposefully thin through my carrot and beet rows. I had to thin the carrots back severely because the seeds were sown so heavily. Few of my carrots germinated last year, so I was more generous while sowing this spring. The pendulum had swung in the opposite direction this year. My carrots came up mere millimeters apart. Rather than pullout the root of the sacrificial thinnings, I used a scissors to cut off the tops because I did not want to destroy the root structures of the carrots and beets anointed to live. I couldn't help avoid moving the soil ever so slightly; the cardinal sin of thinning. After all of the stress, my beet and chard plants did provide 8 cups of delicious tiny salad greens. The sacrificed carrot tops simply gave me heartache.

Book Review: United States of Arugula

2007-06-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

My favorite dinner was peanut butter on white toast for a certain period of my childhood. I turned up my nose to meatloaf, frozen peas and many other frozen vegetables. If it was green, I did not want it on my plate. Yet the landscape of what children put in their lunch boxes has changed dramatically over the past 30 years. Sushi is in school cafeterias; school pizzas are topped with sun dried tomatoes, and even if they are not, kids wish that it were so. I think that many kids would still protest if they found brussel sprouts at the dinner table, but the spectrum of acceptable flavors and textures has augmented dramatically in the past couple of decades. And not just amongst kids.

To gain a better understanding of why olive bars are frequented, well more frequently, I recently devoured David Kamp's United States of Arugula. Kamp's history of American food culture is driven by personalities. Economic factors such as the advent of just-in-time supply chain management and the development of hybrid varieties capable of weathering long distances make no appearance in his analysis. One knows that these and other very boring economic factors influenced changes in food culture, but it is simply more entertaining to hear how the chortles of Julia, inner-temptations of James Beard and the coke-driven madness of Jeremiah Towers changed what we eat for dinner.

The book is mainly the journey of those who put down their jello molds, frozen peas and hamburger-helper mix. Americans already eating kim-chee, burritos, and caprese salads as a part of their family traditions are laregly ignored. Yet, all of us can now get arugula salads at McDonald's. We all see celebrity chefs on the Today show with regularity, and I am fairly certain that many Americans can name more famous chefs and foodies than U.S. senators (and I am not saying that this is a bad thing). Even with the omission of ethnic diversity and economic factors, I would recommend this book. Kamp writes a witty and convincing tale of idiosyncratic Americans propelling us into a new reality in which there is chevre in my neighborhood bodega, Chipotle offers free range meat and curious Americans will stroll to their local farmer's market on Saturday morning to see how the swiss chard is looking these days.

Recipe: Tilapia with cherry tomatoes, olives, and parsley

2007-06-10T18:32:00.000-07:00

The recipe below will be even better when cherry tomatoes are in season, but fresh parsley and fresh garlic made it taste heavenly tonight. I think this is a nice simple dish to cook on a weeknight with a glass of pinot grigio. It is also a nice way to end the weekend without making too much of a mess in the kitchen.

SPICY SAUTEED FISH WITH OLIVES AND CHERRY TOMATOES
Via Epicurious and Bon Appétit, May 2002, Candida Sportiello, Ventotene, Italy

I made this with a half pound of tilapia, two hand full of grape tomatoes, fresh parsley, and cracked green olives from Trader Joe's. I usually coat the fish in flour per the suggestion of others on the Epicurious website and deglaze the pan with a little white wine. I tried coating the tilapia in almond meal rather than flour with favourable results. To avoid smoking the olive oil, I needed to keep the heat at medium rather than medium high.

Garlic, onions, and parlsey oh my

2007-06-10T06:56:00.000-07:00

I picked my first bulb of garlic and a handful of small onions yesterday. I am still searching through recipes to find a new a tasty meal with onions, garlic, and parsley, which is the basic foundation of any good meal. The onions are small, but were removed to make room for their neighbors to grow larger. The garlic was a bit lilliputian, but it had broken through the ground and was thus vulnerable to little critters or the covetous hands of someone wandering near my garden. Our community garden does have its fair share of "volunteer harvesters" who come to our garden to do their shopping. Petty garden theft is a somewhat complex issue of food security, the urban environment, and cultural misunderstanding that I will write about later. Let's just say for now that I wouldn't even think of curing my onions in my garden. The technique of drying out the onions by laying them out in the soil for a month at a time would only, in my humble opinion, invite these volunteers to take the onions. No matter, I have found a bit of shade in front of my apartment.

For more information on curing onions, try this resource from the University of Illinois Growing Onions

okra plants, beets, and carrots on their way

2007-06-10T06:34:00.000-07:00

I feel as though I have needed to start each post with the phrase "nevermind" as of late. My frustrated attempt to diagnose the barren appearance of a patch of garden that I sowed with beet, carrot, chard, and okra seeds nearly a month ago has filled my blog posts as of late. Yet, I was greeted with dainty okra, beet, and chard seedlings when I arrived at my garden on Friday. This patch had looked like fallow grounds on Wednesday night, but it was now filled with incredibly lovely short rows of budding new plants. The seedlings were exactly where they should have been. I guess my garden is more forgiving than myself. It is clear that more water would have brought me to this happy state sooner, but it came when it needed. The predicted light rains should help these new plants grow taller and stronger

I was so flush with happiness that I called my mother right away to tell her the good news. I began my happy tale with, "so you know how I have been so worried about my seedling that never came." Someday I know I will worry less. There will always be odd years for gardening, rain will come down in heavy down pours, and sometimes it will not come at all. Perhaps reading a year's worth of blogs in which my worries melted with each rain will teach me to be more patient. Right now, I am just so pleased to look at those proud short rows of plants.

Not enough water (mystery solved)

2007-06-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

Although I may have waxed philosophic about the failure of my seeds to germinate on my Monday-June 4th-post, a wiser neighboring gardener told me that I just didn't water my garden enough in May. He encouraged me to water last night even though DC was soaked on Sunday because the ground was still so dry. He dug into my garden, and sure enough, the ground, and thus roots systems, were dry after about 4 inches. In addition to the derth of rain in May, the topography of my garden leaves me particularly vulnerable to dry soil. My garden gently slopes downward, and thus the rain waters drain into other gardens down the hill. My garden is near the crest of the hill.

My neighbor offered some parsley cuttings along with his evalution of my garden's health, and I think he is going to add a sunflower to my plot as well. That is how we offer up bad news in our community garden association.

NOAA provides some very useful climate reports on the obeserved temperature, wind, and precipitation for different time periods. I checked the monthly climate report at the National Weather Service, and DC only received 1.76 inches last month. The average is 3.81 in for May in our region. While I did water my garden on the weekends, it is hard to germinate plants when little moisture and high temperatures dry out the soil.

More stats from NOAA to come.

Easy Chard and Pasta Recipe

2007-06-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

After an unfortunate squirrel incident, I only have a few chard plants producing leaves. I supplemented my supply with pickings from my local farmer's market last Saturday and tried the following recipe from PBS's Victory Garen website on Tuesday night with moderal success.

Fettuccine with Swiss Chard, Walnuts and Lemon

The recipe has a good balance of ingredients, but the temperature settings for cooking the chard seemed way off. I think that the recipe asks one to cook the chard on high heat to soften up the chard stems more quickly. I have found it easier to cut out the stems and steam them seperately for 5-10 minutes (depending on the toughness of the stems) and then simply add the softened stems and leaves together in a sautee of olive oil and garlic over medium heat. The greens will wilt quickly event at this lower temperature.

I also added a bit of white wine in place of some of the chicken stock to deglaze the pan. Given the ample nutrients provide by the chard s(see University of Illinois extension), I decided that I had earned it :)

May Climate Fast Facts for Gardeners

2007-06-05T14:24:00.000-07:00

I was completely surprised when I read the National Weather Service's May Monthly Weather Summary for DC. I had thought that my plants had suffered due to what I thought was the abnormal temperature extremes in the area. The observed values almost completely matched the normal values.

http://www.weather.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=lwx
accessed June 5, 2007
Weather Observed Value Temperature (F) : Highest 91 (May 26th) Lowest 44 (May 8th); Normal Value highest 90, Lowest 44; Departure from Normal: Highest 1, Lowest 0

The real abberation was found in the precipitation we received last month.

Roughly 50% of our rainfall is attributable to a single rainstorm (which I was caught outside in) on May 12th. Many of my seeds didn't get sown until a week later.

too much dirt...or too little...or

2007-06-04T17:41:00.000-07:00

My rows of beans, carrots and beets that were planted on 5/20 have yet to break free from the soil. This is not a good sign. It usually does not take three weeks to germinate. I have tried to delude myself that some weeds were actually beans, but I know that the weeds will look even more like weeds and less like vegetables when I return to my garden on Friday. In addition to a healthy does of denial, I am still trying to figure out what I did wrong. Either I planted the seeds too deeply and they didn't have enough energy to make it to the surface, or I planted them to shallow and the heavy rains washed away the seeds. It is also possible that the seeds didn't receive enough moisture during germination. There is also option "d", none of the above.

I think we are usually conditioned to think that we can learn from experience. However, gardening regularly challenges this thought. After many springs, one might have a better grasp, but there are so many things that are just unknown to the novice. Although frustrating, it is probably good that I can't research out the answer or test my hypothesis. Instead, I can simply shrug my shoulders and plant again on Friday.

2007-05-31T07:30:00.000-07:00

Reflections on Gardening and Politics

2007-05-31T07:20:00.000-07:00

And he gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.

- Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels

"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth,no culture comparable to that of the garden ... But though an old man, I am but a young gardener."

- Thomas Jefferson

"The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its culture."

- Thomas Jefferson

Gardening Best Practices (aka my shallots appear as though they will bolt soon)

2007-05-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

I think my shallots are going to seed. There are big bulbs at the tips that look suspiciously like they will become flowers. There is also a healthy contingent of British gardeners that are suffering from the same woes. My hobby compatriots actually suffered from this in early March in the midlands region, but their desperate listserv posts still showed up on the top of my Google searches last night. I tried to refine my web searching results to limit all hits to zone 7 and fall planted shallots. The latter search attempt tended to drive me to "seed saver" pages. Given my current state of frustration at my shallots bolting a bit too soon, I am less than enthused about learning about how to save the bitter seeds. I could at least find some comfort in the common struggles shared between myself and the English gardeners of another time and space.

I am still not sure where I should go to learn about my shallots. I have a very specific question, but the specific answer remains elusive. I have consulted a few vegetable gardening books from the library, but my bolting shallots don't appear to make their list of common problems. I need to know whether I should pull out my shallots right now to avoid them becoming bitter, or if I might be able to wait another week. I know this knowledge exists out there because others have certainly faced this problem. Yet in this world in which every piece of information feels as though it would simply be a click away, I can't seem to click to the correct answer. This is not a condemnation of the web as I can't find the answer that I need from library reference books either. I am the only one with shallots in my community garden, or I would have asked the wiser gardeners for their advice. Perhaps this just means that I have been in DC too long. Maybe there is not always a "best practice" or "model" that one can reference before making a decision. I will most likely have to experiment with this harvest and pull up half of the crop now and wait to see what happens with the rest in a week or two. I will be more seasoned when I plant again. And there will always be another fall.

How fine are your garden rows?

2007-05-29T06:55:00.000-07:00

"There is a quality even meaner than outright ugliness or disorder, and this meaner quality is the dishonest mask of pretended order, achieved by ignoring or suppressing the real order that is struggling to exist and to be served." - Jane Jacobs

Many of my community garden neighbors have praised the look of my garden this spring. They say that it is a "fine looking garden" and that I am "tending to it well." Most of the elderly gentlemen gardeners simply walk over and nod approvingly without any unnecessary comments. We both know that my garden looks neat.

I have a nice square of onions with towering green stems and smart, short rows of root vegetables and greens. My rows are labeled with markers, and I have moved systematically each weekend toward my manifest destiny of sowing seeds to the western boundary of the garden plot. I have order in my garden, and there is wide recognition that this is a good quality. As long as I continue the long war against the weeds, my garden would look smart for the rest of the summer. I would always leave my garden with dirt-stained knees and sweat and soil mixed across my brow, but my garden would be neat.

The quality of messiness spread from the gardener to the garden last Saturday after a successful trip to the farmer's market. I found the healthy looking zucchini plants that I had heretofore not found. I also saw a sweet potato plant and wondered what it might be like to eat a homemade sweet potato pie from home grown sweet potatoes. Knowing that the answer would most likely be "heavenly," I purchased the zucchini and sweet potato plants and tried my best to find them new homes in my well-packed garden. After surveying the grounds, I plopped a zucchini plant in my onion patch and snuggled a sweet potato plant amidst my beans. Another zucchini plant found its home amongst the radishes. My rows still look neat, but the vines of the new plants will soon sketch new angles and disrupt the sharp parallel lines that had defined my garden. The green leaves of differing plants will become tangled, and the row markers will not point directly to the crop they once announced proudly.

My experiment in polyculture may fail, and I am willing to entertain complaints that some of these roots crops probably would do better without the competition of another plant in such close vicinity. Yet, the rebel in me who suffered through boring and tragic tomes of failed monoculture extension efforts in developing countries, decided that a little bit of polyculture may be just what my garden needed. And thus, the beans and onions will make room. The radishes will soon be gone, but their former home will not lay vacant. I will loose a bit of crawling space, but my knees will undoubtedly remain covered in dirt after gardening. And maybe, just maybe, new growth will flourish in a less tidy space with a less tidy look. If my young sweet potato plant lead to pies and budding zucchinis lead to chocolate quick bread, I will not grieve the praise I would have received if I had stuck to a more cartesian layout. Messiness will bring other rewards.

State of the garden 5/26 (also known as the end of bloomsdale spinach

2007-05-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

Does gardening make cents?

2007-05-24T05:31:00.000-07:00

I stopped by my local Whole Foods last night to pick up some mussels and white wine for dinner when I happened to pass the radishes. One could purchase an entire bunch of gorgeous organic radishes (10-12) for $1.64. Finding fresh, healthy, vegetables at a reasonable cost is usually a red letter day for me, but the low price tag made me glum. I was disappointed to price out my radish crop as being worth $10 at Whole Foods... Let's just ignore Walmart's radish prices to protect my fragile ego for the time being.

I know on some level that my dismay is somewhat silly. I wasn't planning to sell my radishes anywhere and was thus not expecting to actually receive any cash regardless of the price point. Given that I only paid about $2.50 for the seeds, I am not loosing money on the deal. Gardening is still a more affordable hobby than knitting, golfing, or anything beyond reading books in libraries and running in parks. Furthermore, I will still most likely conduct clandestine radish drops on the front steps of my friends' houses to get rid of my excess harvest.

Yet, I have to admit that it bothers me that vegetables that I can grow with some success are actually really cheap to buy when they are in season. I avoided the zucchini and jalapeno aisle last August to remain in blissfully ignorant that these items are essentially given away during the late summer. Although I still cling to the idea that I am getting a deal on tomatoes and peppers, William Alexander wrote a book entitled, The $64 Tomato, which would seem to dispute my ill-founded hope.

American Public Media's MarketPlace Money did a story on whether victory gardens actually saved one money and came up with conflicting results. Check it out, and make up your own mind.

Market Place's "Grow your own Garden"

In light of the cheap prices for some of the veggies that I grow, I am coming to terms with the fact that I am probably more like what David Brooks would call a Bobo (without that great paycheck) than a penny-pinching hippie. Gardening also brings numerous perks such as:
1) I have a nice tan
2) I have lovely community gardening neighbors hailing from all over the world
3) I can eat spinach from my garden without worrying about E coli
4) My radishes tasted better than Whole Foods (Yes, I did try it out for comparison.)
5) I get to play in the dirt
6) I like watching things grow. I am not sure why watching grass grow got such a bad rap. Watching my bush beans inch up ever so slowly is indeed infinitely pleasing.

Green garlic for the impatient gourmet

2007-05-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

I planted my garlic in late October of last year and have been eagerly awaiting its harvest ever since. Some gardening websites indicate that fall planted garlic can be harvested in mid-May. It may be due to the lack of nutrients in my plot, but I think my garlic needs another month. However, I did pull one plant last night to taste a bit of "green garlic." A gourmet will tell you that green garlic has a more subtle flavor than regular garlic and that it lends itself to many dishes. The eager harvester, me, enjoys the gratification of pulling out a few plants now for flavoring dishes. I plan to make a green garlic spread on crisp bread and top with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, fresh basil and olive oil. I am anxious to taste the green garlic subtleties, but I also think that this confirms my theory that the explosion of baby veggies has as much to do with taste and looks as it does with gardeners wanting to dig up their plants.

You can learn more about green garlic at Gourmet Sleuth

The radishes are coming

2007-05-22T05:18:00.000-07:00

I stopped by my garden after work last night and noticed blooms on my spinach and cilantro. I must say that these veggies have a graceful way of closing the curtain on their life as a veggie. My poor eggplants are being eating alive by beetles, and I am thinking of replacing them this weekend.

I picked a few radishes as well, and they are almost at full size. I neglected the advice of the "sow a small bit at a time" school of thought and am thus expecting a large supply of radishes in the very near future. With a little help from Google, I learned of some more unique way to showcase the radishes. The most delicious sounding options are listed below. I sauteed some radishes in butter last night as directed by the good folks at the Splendid Table, and it is indeed as good as the rave reviews say.

Radish Cabbage Coleslaw via Epicurious

Sauteed Radishes via Splendid Table

Radish Spread via Beyond Salmon

2007-05-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

My sister gave me one piece of advice when I started to garden, "Keep a journal." She said that it had been an effective way for her to evaluate different varieties, techniques and planting layouts. After a year and a half of trying to keep straight in my head whether I liked the Greek oregano and when I should plant my carrots to avoid splitting, I decided to keep a blog of my little urban garden. You can follow along to see the joys and moments of frustration associated with my 20 by 20 ft community garden pot. This is my second year of gardening in DC, and I am definitely still a novice. It has been a great way to get a little sun, snag some tasty okra for fritters, and relax on Sunday afternoons.

I went to my garden yesterday around noon to plant the remaining open space in my garden. When I arrived, I was saddened to see that my beautiful swiss chard plants had been dug up by a little creature and left to dry out in the sun. I had been so proud of my little plants that were grown directly from seed, and the swiss chard thinnings had led to some very tasty salads. Gardening can be stark reminder that although you can nurture your little plants to the best of your abilities, there will always be things outside your control. The choice is either to accept that plants will fail, disease may come, and the rain, oh the rain, will not necessarily fall on cue, or give up gardening. I decided to plant a couple more short rows of a heirloom swiss chard and hope for the best. I'll need to look up some ways to protect my new plants when they begin to mature in a couple of weeks.

After addressing the swiss chard, I got busy mixing in some organic top soil and planting some beets, carrots and lima beans. I bought some heirloom varieties from the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange this year for the frist time http://www.southernexposure.com/index.html I think it may be a little late to plant carrots in this area because the soil temperature is pretty warm, but I still wanted to try. I used last year's harvest of carrots to make the tastiest spaghetti sauce I had ever cooked. I am hoping to learn more about "putting aside" carrots to make batches of spaghetti sauce throughout the year. To learn more about preserving my harvest, I am going to read the new Barbara Kingsolver book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle just as soon as it arrive in the DC public Library.

Enough for now. Happy gardening :)