Pat's Organic Garden

Ordering Seeds

2011-01-26T21:47:00.003-05:00

Yes! Yes, indeed, we will have spring. It is remarkably hard to imagine these days, when we haven't even begun February. "Snow showers this morning" was still the prediction at 10:00 AM! I shoveled an amazing amount of snow this morning -- repeatedly.
What better activity when one burrows inside (following the admirable example of those happily-forgotten woodchucks) than planning one's seed orders? I have spent quite a bit of time already and will do some more. This is my biggest gardening expense of the year, but it's worth it. The catalogs are well worth browsing too.

Fedco keeps expenses to a minimum on most items, but does not have telephone order nor any color in its catalog. Nor does any company have all the items I want, so I place several orders every year, although Fedco gets my bulk.
Only Burpee's has "Two Season Hybrid Chinese Cabbage," which survives
all winter in my Johnny Seeds cold frame. Thus I paniced when it wasn't in the 2011 catalog so much that I went on their website. There it is! It is 65953A, one packet for $2.25. There may be competitors, but I'm afraid to try because so much is at stake and this is so good. This morning I'm feeling glad that I picked tonight's dinner yesterday afternoon!

I will forward cold frame photos after this for those of you who receive attachments, but the cold frame is not in Johnny Seeds' catalog, and someone else will have to be motivated enough to go onto that website. Burpee's offers two that are much cheaper, but they advertise only "for early spring harvests," so I don't know whether they would collapse under our post-Christmas snow. Jose offers to construct custom-built cold frames in Montclair.

Only Johnny Seeds offers Nufar OG basil, which withstands the wilt and has huge leaves by basil standards. I will raise lots more this year than last year because the plants I bought locally last year had tiny leaves by comparison on the plants that survived. Johnny Seeds is also the only provider of hakurei turnips, which are wonderful to eat raw, and far better than radishes in my opinion, although I used to raise radishes.

Burpee's is also the only provider I know of green goliath broccoli, which yields from June to Christmas if woodchucks don't destroy it. This year I'm going to try bonanza hybrid also, which sounds even better. And this year I will stoop to putting human hair around my broccoli, which I have missed enormously in the past two years! The hair looks ugly, but I can keep broccoli in less obvious parts of the garden.

My large tomato has been in recent years Burpee's Supersteak Hybrid, but it too isn't in the catalog. I will try ordering last year's number, but if it isn't available, there are some plausible alternatives, and it doesn't seem as special as a veggie that grows all winter in my cold frame. I raise Sweet 100 (red) and Sun gold (yellow) small tomatoes for eating. The former are still ripening, although no longer quickly and well. Maybe I should give up and binge out on carrots! These are abundant under the bags of leaves, but this is the first year I've had trouble locating the bags. They don't bulge under the driven snow.
Only Park's Seeds provides Malabar spinach, which climbs beautifully and abundantly in late summer where I harvested peas earlier, but, poor Park's, I use my own saved seeds. I do hope they keep them in the catalog, so please do consider ordering them, oh Others!

I find winterbor kale the best type of kale, but this year the bugs made lace of my kale and collards. I may have to take steps against them. Any suggestions as to what steps? I like Roma bush beans. Sugar snap peas taste far better than snappy, I think. Sugar Anns are the best of the low early types of snap peas. I don't know why anyone would go to all the trouble of shelling peas in these days of snap peas! Lettuce mixes are far more satisfactory than individual types. I raise only leaf lettuce, so it will be fresh when I eat it. Gigante parsley and tango celery seem to work well in my garden. I like Spineless Beauty zucchini because I don't like being pricked by prickers. Fedco's catalog comments, "With so many spineless politicians, why do we like spineless zucchini?"
I just answered that question!

Happy indoor planning!

Pat

Questions and frost preparations

2010-10-17T17:11:00.001-04:00

One of you asked why the compost and soil are baked. I found out emphatically when I brought in a nasturtium plant, leaving it in the garden soil in which it had grown, and put the pot in the tray from which I bottom water my greenhouse plants. Soon I saw little things swimming around in the water, about a quarter inch long and very thin. Next thing we knew our kitchen was infested with mosquitoes! So you don't want to use unbaked garden soil any more than you must because don't want mosquitoes in your house either.

Another of you asked how to prevent troubles from bringing in garden soil. Obviously, I don't have definitive answers for this, but I will never put a pot from the garden in water again for the first month after it is in my house. I brought an impatiens plant in yesterday and put it NEXT to the tray. I should have watered it more than I did, and I'm not sure it will survive, but perhaps I can do better next time.

Frost wisdom: Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants survive after their plants turn black, I discovered last year. I picked them AFTER frost killed their plants and they tasted fine, fresh or frozen (no difference there!). Basil and Malabar spinach, of course, are completely lost as soon as the first light frost hits them, because we eat the most vulnerable parts of the plant. So given a choice, pick your spinach and basil aggressively when the FIRST frost warning is given. Please email me before you go to pick so I can tell others and then pick too. Picking by flashlight is possible, although not ideal.

You can read my potting recipe in the "basic skills" section of this blog. I have not bought any potting soil this year or last, and things seem to grow fine. Last year's tomato blight was blamed by many on some infected potting soil that was widely used for tomato seedlings, mass raised and shipped to many garden center outlets nationwide. Since both sand and vermiculite are sterile, I had no trouble. It's MUCH cheaper than commercial mix, of course. I've used commercial seedlings mixes before for starting spring seeds, but I tried using my own for about half this past spring with no obvious failures.

I greatly enjoy having flowers to stare at and give away all winter long. I don't feel evangelistic about this as I do about home vegetable gardening and abstaining from power machinery, but flowers bring me innocent pleasure, as they have for many people over human history (and probably before). Innocent pleasures are not something to be taken lightly in this troubled world.

Happy potting!

Pat

Preparing for frost, open garden Dec. 4

2010-10-16T17:08:00.000-04:00

Today is the day that the Rutgers Extension Service says we should take in our "tropical plants." I have brought in my aloe and my great-grandmother's Christmas cactus. I think I'll leave the others out a bit longer.

However, I'm picking and freezing my basil (as pesto) and my Malabar spinach as fast as time allows. Last year and the year before we had a frost that killed them in October, and the full moon is only about a week away.

I now have FIVE freebees on my front steps: basil and parsley seedlings, potatoes, and columbine and bee balm plants. I'm ashamed I haven't offered columbine before. It turns out to be easy to transplant. It is abundant in my yard right now, so take all you want. It spreads, but it is MUCH easier to dig out than dandelions, and not nearly as invasive as euphorbia (the anti-woodchuck plant). I have composted lots before, but that's a waste of a plant that William Shakespeare obviously liked so much in early spring.

Be sure to bring a plastic bag to pick up columbine or bee balm, and plan to replant it soon after you get home. I'm a bit more cautious about recommending bee balm. It is fine in the shade; take a look at it to the right of the steps, where it's been for years. However, it went wild in the sun next to my curb, and is NOT easy to dig out.

While you are there, you have my permission to wander in my FRONT yard as long as you walk only on the sidewalks and the green grass. To the left of the steps are the day lilies. Behind them is the laurel. A lilac bush is at the left corner of the house, where I planted it not THAT long ago. Above the bee balm is Andromeda, which has little white flowers early in the spring. You can see the azalea in the foreground behind the flowers. In front of the holly tree is the astilbe; you can still see the fern-like "flowers" which were pink and red much of the season and I still think are nice. In front of that are my two primrose plants, descended from my great-grandfather's (not the one married to the aforementioned great-grandmother). The asters are just beginning to bloom on the house side of the row of chrysanthemums.

Florence and Jose will join me in an Open Garden tour on Saturday, December 4, from 9:30 to 11:00 AM. That's long enough to be out at that time of year! If you want to open your vegetable garden to the public at that time, let me know ASAP.

Pat

What Flowers Do I Raise?

2010-10-15T20:42:00.005-04:00

One of you wrote in response to Monday's email, "Please make a list of all the flowers that you have in your property. Please also say if they are perennial or annuals."

My first reaction was to think that after the bulbs I have, through the season, columbine, zinnias, and chrysanthemums, but when I went through my mind and the yard listing them, I discovered that I had about three dozen blooming plants in my yard this year, not counting the varieties of each.

Annuals I raise from bought seeds: impatiens, zinnias, nasturtiums Self-seeding annuals: alyssum, columbine (or is it a biennial?)
Perennials: chrysanthemums, asters, monarda, swan's neck, black-eyed susans, echinacca, yarrow, Jerusalem artichoke, milkweed, day lilies (yellow and orange), Dutch iris, yellow and purple Siberian iris, winter sedum, astilbe, primrose, winter rose, rose, lily of the valley.
Bulbs: snow-drops, miniature crocus, flower-record crocus, hyacinths, daffodils, tulips (many varieties of each of the last two)
Shrubs: lilac, Andromeda, azalea, holly tree that Bob McLean planted in 1987, an offspring of one of his Groundcover: periwinkle (aka myrtle, vinca)
Weeds: violets, dandelion, some white flower in bloom now (October).

Shakespeare wrote repeatedly about "sweet columbine in spring." After I became a gardener, I realized he lived just before bulbs from the Middle East came to Europe, so he lived his winters flower-deprived. I raised some columbine from seed over two decades ago, and they reseed prolifically. I realize I should put some of the on my front steps for those who want to start them. I have more than I need and have been
throwing extras into the compost heap. The original package had many colors, but the survivors are mostly in the pink-purple range. Very pretty in early spring!

I raise zinnias from seed each year. I always have State Farm zinnias growing up my garden fence, and this year I have a variety of other types in the front yard.

In the mid-80's I raised chrysanthemums from seed, and they do well along the neighbor's driveway, providing color all fall. In recent years I've been supplementing them with asters. I used to have another variety that bloomed later, but recently I've contented myself with autumn sedum and paperwhites (also called "indoor narcissus") in very late fall. I bought one autumn sedum plant years ago, and I have separated it each spring and distributed it widely in my yard and elsewhere.

A Dutch immigrant neighbor gave me Dutch iris plants that grace my front yard and next to the garage. They have purple flowers, smaller than the usual Siberian irises. I should probably promulgate her generosity next spring; remind me if you want some in early spring. I have purple and yellow irises in the back, which I am known to give away in mid-summer, the right time for sharing them.

I planted minarda (also called "bee balm"), raised from seed also in the mid/late 80's, in the front of my north-facing house, where it has done well. When I started my front yard garden last year, I put some between the sidewalk and street, where it has gone crazy. I need to pull some out. It has a light purple bloom in late spring and/or early summer.

I started alyssum from seed about the same time, and it would like to take over the entire yard. I gave away some last spring, and would be glad to do more next year. It has many tiny white flowers, now invading the sidewalk and my garden in the back.

A former student gave me lily of the valley, which does well under the tree next to the street. I could share some of that next spring too.

I raise impatiens and nasturtiums from seed each year. The nasturtiums have mostly disappeared both this year and last, I assume eaten by those pesky woodchucks. I dug some of each last fall and they did well over the winter inside - very pretty in my greenhouse window. One nasturtium started this fall and I brought it in. More about that in a later email about potting soil.

In January I must content myself with VERY dark (dead) autumn sedum to supplement the holly and indoor bulbs. In late February or March snow-drops and then miniature crocuses scattered in the "lawn" appear. Winter rose and real crocuses appear in March. April brings hyacinths and daffodils, first tete-a-tete and then the full-sized ones. Late April and May have lots of tulips, by then joined by columbine.

The front yard had azalea, laurel and Andromeda when we moved in, and I use them still in bouquets. Do they count as flowers? It's not legal to pick laurel in public places, but I would think I could from my front yard.

Do ferns count? There were many here when I moved in, and I use them abundantly in bouquets. There were just a few at first, but I've separated them and moved them around and now have more than I need. Others took some from this past spring and I plan to be even more generous next spring if I can get takers.

Long ago I planted astilbe, which has fern-like red and pink flowers (?) that make lovely bouquets with ferns in spring.

I planted milkweed to attract Monarch butterflies, which they do, but they are also pretty when they bloom, which isn't for long. The butterflies are still pretty in October this year, which is late for them.

I was given swan's neck and black-eyed-susan for my curb garden and they are nice in late spring and early summer. I was given echinacca seeds, but they aren't very prolific where I planted them.

Day-lilies and Jerusalem artichokes have flowers that don't last when picked, but look festive in the yard, the former in mid-summer and the latter in fall.

Myrtle was here when I moved in at the back of the yard, and their small purple flowers and nice below the daffodils that have naturalized after I planted them following their performance inside. It is quite a riot of color each spring.

The day my nephew was adopted, having made the trip from Korea at age four months, I planted a rose bush. It still blooms this year of his joyous wedding.

A cousin gave me two primrose plants descended from those of our great-grandfather. They are doing fine in front of the holly bush, but when I tried to put pieces of them next to the curb, they didn't thrive and have apparently recently died. She tells me this is very unusual, so I may try again.

Writing this has been a revealing venture. I have thought of myself as a vegetable gardener and a "gardening evangelist," meaning vegetable gardening. Now I realize I have a shadow life, one that doesn't take nearly as much of my time and that I hadn't quite acknowledged before, but might also be of interest to others. That is a curious realization because for the past decade I have regularly given away two bouquets a week along with having one on my table. It appears that flowers are more important to me than I knew. Thank you for giving me this self-knowledge!

Pat

Freebees: I should give away minarda (which thrives in shade) and columbine now. I'm not going to pot them up, so bring a plastic bag to take them away. You can take them directly from here and put them in your own ground. I'll put them on the steps, each in a tray with columbine on the left in alphabetical order. Both spread.
When you take any freebees, please do not disturb the family unnecessarily. Too much of that could soon make it impossible to continue giving away hundreds of plants a year from my front steps.

Next spring I realize I must have a freebee morning, where folks can come thin (i.e. dig) out my perennial plants. My wrists have been better in the past couple years since I've been recruiting volunteer help for this. Don't let me forget, and if you have something you especially want mentioned above, it might be useful to shoot me an email late next March.

Winter Flowers

2010-10-11T17:06:00.001-04:00

I enjoy local flowers from my own property all winter if you are willing to consider holly berries flowers for a couple of weeks. Actually, even then I'm also harvesting winter sedum, which is very pretty now, turning from pink to purple, and can provide a nice foil for the holly. I usually harvest paperwhites indoors from about Thanksgiving to Christmas.

My bulbs for winter arrived this week, and I'll be busy potting them up now. This year's are from Fedco, by far the least expensive, but you might still get them from Dutch Gardens or locally. I like crocuses in mid-January, then tete-a-tete daffodils, then big daffodils and then tulips. By then the daffodils from previous years that I put out in the myrtle at the back of my yard are in full bloom, and I can get flowers from outside.

The "winter rose" that I bought three years ago was beautiful last year and this in March through April, and I have enjoyed outside flowers for many years from spring through the holidays. Chrysanthemums last through the first few frosts.

When she was a teen-ager, my daughter asked, "If Americans had as many flowers growing in front yards and public places as they do in other countries, do you think we would be more peaceful?" It's a question that has intrigued me for decades, and provides one justification for putting so much time into flowers. The main one, of course, is that they make me happy.

Pat

Winter preparations

2010-10-05T16:51:00.002-04:00

In mid-September one of you wrote that she harvests basil all winter from her windowsill. About the same time a friend visited from Manhattan. Her 29th floor balcony garden has no bugs or birds, but tremendous wind. So she raises much of her crop in a barrel that shields it from the wind. She told me that her parsley survives until February!!! Then a super cold kills it.

Fred and I have been enjoying lettuce all winter long recently raised in my greenhouse window, but some tastes of basil and parsley sound appealing. So I found some old seeds, and sowed them profusely in the greenhouse window. In a few days I had more basil than I could imagine and in the past couple of days the parsley is following suit. I was uneasy that the parsley might have been told old to germinate, but here it is!

In earlier years our winter salad green was kale, but it's having a hard time recently. There is a hole where two kale plants were put out. I don't know why, but one day last week Fred heard a loud scream, "EEEK!" as I went out the back door. "What's the matter?!" the poor man called from the kitchen. "A woodchuck!" It left quickly, of course, and is the only one I've seen for months. I do have some kale on the opposite side of the garden from the "door," almost surrounded by basil and tomato plants, but looks like again I will have to count on lettuce for my primary winter salad green.

The Hakurei turnips have germinated where I sowed them after taking out the unsatisfying tomato plant. Would anyone be interested in trying these? I have no idea whether they will transplant, or even whether I will get a yield before the cold takes them, but my daughter assures me that the greens are worth eating even if I don't get the radish-like roots in time. I'll put them on the steps if anyone asks me to, but only then.

My youngest outdoor lettuce is almost an inch high, so it's almost time to sow the next crop. I've done this before and have harvested lettuce outside in December. One can never tell from year to year, of course.

No collards volunteered this year, which is very unusual. So I started some from seed. Some of it is doing well, but some it is being attacked by a pest MUCH smaller than a woodchuck or rabbit. I have two plants in my greenhouse window that need a new home, and I'm trying to decide whether to put them in a larger pot or plant them outside.

By mistake I put one collards plant in the corner of my cold frame. After I realized what I had done, I decided to leave it there and see if I can grow some in my other frame for collards all winter. That would be fun.

I'm doing lots of experimenting this year. It's been years that I've raised all our veggies except potatoes and onions year round, but there is clearly MUCH more to learn!

Pat

A sunny day

2010-09-30T17:39:00.002-04:00

I remember a delightfully sunny day. Ah, yesterday! Predicted were two days of steady storms, so I spent it all outdoors. I'm glad the prediction wasn't completely accurate.

I did the expected things for a sunny day in the middle of lots of rain. I picked raspberries and small tomatoes for two days' consumption, at least. I mowed the lawn. So did Green Harmony Now, and they delivered wonderful, organic, fresh grass clippings. I love running my fingers through them! I did lots of mulching with them while it was so much fun. That involved a certain amount of weeding in non-garden, non-lawn places in the hope that it will remain weed-free for a significant time.

Much more emotional, I took out the unsatisfactory tomato plant. I needed counseling and a hug from Fred first. I don't think I have ever killed a mature, live tomato plant before -- but its tomatoes go directly from green to rotten, so I gulped and did it. My daughter assures me that the role of a gardener is selection, bless her.

I thought that the nearby eggplant and pepper plants thanked me. Fred doubts this, but they seemed so grateful not to have the embracing arms of a sprawling plant over them! It took FIVE little black pails to take all of that one plant to the compost heap.

My mourning is odd because I counted I have over 30 tomato plants this year,
including the volunteers in the front yard (of our north-facing house) and the compost heap (under the trees in the back). Why feel worried about removing one? It isn't like that poor little rabbit last seen diving under the neighbor's fence where the owner chasing the dog who had just broken his leash couldn't follow. I miss "my" rabbit, but that's understandable.

I must count carefully the number of eggplant and basil plants I have this year and raise that many from seed next year. The plants from the garden centers are not as satisfactory, although they aren't failures like that volunteer tomato plant. We ate our first dinner of yellow eggplant this week, and couldn't distinguish the taste or texture from that of purple eggplant. But if not picked, the eggplants rot when they are only 3" in diameter, so those I grew from seed are far more food-providing.

The garden center basil has MUCH smaller leaves than those I raised from seed. I think it is called "mammoth" basil. I picked one leaf yesterday that was at least 3" long and almost as wide, and this is much easier to prepare for pesto than the basil from bought seedlings. Furthemore, the latter go to seed lots, and I must be continually picking off the tops. I have the time now, but raising mammoth from seed is well worth the time of busy gardeners.

I was glad to get out and distribute some more grass clippings in a pause today, but I'm glad that sun is predicted to return this weekend. Not that we can trust that -- or ever could. But we all know climate change has changed all the rules about weather.

Enjoy indoor activities, maybe slipping out between the drops!

Pat

3 miscellaneous responses

2010-09-25T18:02:00.001-04:00

-- A Master Gardener at Rutgers Extension Service says they recommend taking in tropical houseplants on Oct. 15, which makes sense to me. This doesn't mean that NJ veggies will die.

-- Someone writes he has lots of cat's mint in his back yard, but it doesn't seem to discourage woodchucks from scampering over it to the goodies in his vegetable garden.

-- Another reminded me of another woodchuck deterrent that is available only to men and has the same disadvantage as human hair; it must be done again after every rain (from the clouds).

Pat

#3 on woodchucks

2010-09-23T18:00:00.001-04:00

Pepper writes that she thinks that fever few and cat mint deter woodchucks. She plants them around her garden. They thrive in either full or partial sun, and also under one of her trees.

Someone else wrote that she also had been told by an expert that Irish Spring soap keeping deer away is just a myth, but she uses it with success as I do. Bartletts has used it to effectively prevent disaster with their spring bulbs.

Another wrote, "I heard Epson salt is good for the plants as well as keeps woodchucks away. The only problem is, if it rains, you will need to reapply."

This reminds me that my first effort to keep woodchucks out of my garden was human hair. The nice woman who cuts my hair at Illusions would keep the hair on the floor of their beauty parlor separate from the other sweepings, and I'd go frequently to pick it up.

It worked, but had to be renewed after every rain -- a LOT of work! -- and I thought it looked incredibly ugly. So I hired the pest removal man and then entered into my own catching stage.

My daughter and I both had woodchuck damage for 6-8 weeks this spring, which cost me my broccoli crop and many peas, but then they seemed to have moved out. It makes sense that they are especially hungry after their long winter's nap. Maybe I'll try human hair for just a while this spring to get some broccoli. I could stand it that long... I think.

Long live humans!

Pat

When first frost?

2010-09-22T17:58:00.001-04:00

Someone just asked when is the first frost in our area. This is a more complicated question than it might appear.

Three years ago, I would have answered, "mid to late November."
However, both last year and the year before we had a light frost in October that killed first the Malabar spinach, then another that killed the basil and some tomatoes. The "killing frost" that did in the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant waited until November. I did cover them with burlap when the October frosts were predicted, so that helped -- but it won't work forever!

I heard an old farmers' tale decades ago that seems to be a good predictor. The first frost usually comes with a full moon. The Bartletts have found this to be usually true too. I assume it's because the gravity of the moon pulls the atmosphere away from the earth, leaving the growing things on the surface without the blanket they have at other times of month. That's my idea; I haven't read it anywhere. I think the scientific community doesn't believe in this old "myth," but the fact that the Bartletts have observed it to be usually true over a much longer period than I've been gardening suggests there is some validity to it.

Anyway, if low temps are predicted and it's full moon or near it, I take out those pieces of burlap I keep handy in the garage.

Perhaps I should add that lettuce and fall greens usually thrive until the holidays. I sowed some lettuce seeds within the past week. It surely seems unlikely today that we could have frost in a month, but life is full of surprises.

Pat

Woodchucks again + deer

2010-09-20T17:55:00.002-04:00

One of you wrote to me in response to my afternoon email:
Please inform your devoted followers that Euphorbia lathyris (splurge) is poisonous and should be handled with gloves. I would not plant it where there are small children. Throw the berries in the groundhog burrows.

Another forwarded a web piece that says it is native to southern Europe, northern Africa, and Asia, and is invasive when it gets to this continent.

Trina writes that she can catch woodchucks without bait simply by blocking other exits to their hole. I think I've done that too.

Another writer said the more she caught, the more that came, corroborating my experience.

My daughter, who teaches gardening classes, says they installed a "woodchuck ready" fence, bought for that purpose, and dug the recommended foot below the surface, and the woodchucks CHEWED or CLAWED through the fence and came into the garden!

Jose of Green Harmony Now offered to build me a fence, but he hasn't had any woodchucks in his own garden yet (at 69 Grove Street!), and he didn't brag about how successful he has been with installing woodchuck fences. Have you been successful, Jose?

Jean protested that I haven't said how pretty the flowers are. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any flowers -- or berries either. Since my strong neighbor helped us remove the largest plant because neither Fred nor I could do it, I have been removing them before they are full-grown. Where did all these young 'uns come from? Hm...

It reminds me of my biologist cousin, with top credentials, insisting that Irish Spring soap deterring deer is "only a myth." But I had one devastating visit and since I put the soap around the garden, none have returned, even though some have been seen in our front yard.

Life is puzzling, and that certainly includes gardens.

Pat

Woodchucks (aka. Groundhogs)

2010-09-20T17:43:00.003-04:00

Woodchucks, also called "groundhogs," have been the worst garden pest for me by far. Since I have received a number of pathetic appeals for help recently, I will devote an entire email to them.

I had none when I started gardening here 32 years ago, and for quite a few years thereafter. I remember hearing about their destruction in central Jersey with some skepticism, which now prods feelings of guilt. Then they arrived here.

It was more than 12 years ago because I my father was still alive. I asked him what his father had done about woodchucks. I still remember his answer with shock. His father was the supervising principal of the Middlesex Township public schools of Cape May County, traveling far and wide to lead many one-room school houses in those days before busses. Yet he raised the family's vegetables in Cape May Court House, as all good fathers did in those days.

- "He had me shoot them," my pacifist father said with downcast eyes.
- "What! You used a gun?!" He nodded, found out.
He had never joined my mother's relatives in their sport of hunting, and I sensed disapproval as they reported their adventures, although he did join in eating the hunting harvest.

Today's gardeners can't use that method of checking our wildlife. It's against the law. So at first I hired a pest exterminator. We paid him $75, and he didn't catch any. Then I bought my own woodchuck-sized cage. At first we were as successful as the exterminator, but then Trina told me you can catch them if you put the cage with bait just outside their hole, blocking any other escape, so as they come out hungry, they don't notice they are walking on metal. I used Jerusalem artichoke leaves and caught many. One can, of course, use anything they eat in your garden for bait if you have something left.

It didn't seem to decrease the number of woodchucks. There were more and more, as I caught more and more. At the July 2008 Open Garden the topic of woodchucks came up, as by then it always did. Jean Blum said she had trouble until she got a plant from a gardener in central NJ that seemed to keep woodchucks out of the garden. She offered me some, and in August 2008 I planted three around my yard. I had no noticeable woodchuck damage for ten months.

Then I had by far the worst of my gardening career. I've had essentially no broccoli the past two years, and before that it was a winter mainstay after I ate and froze lots in the warmer weather. I would harvest it until Christmas.

Last year my peas were almost non-existent. The woodchucks not only ate the peas, but tore down the vines so neither they nor we would get more! This year I have had a decent crop, but not like before. I started Sweet-100 tomato plants in January, and put them with the peas to climb up the fence. I harvested decent peas where the tomato plants protected them. I tried the same with pac choi with no discernable success. I guess next year I will have LOTS of tomatoes. (Not that I don't this year, but I like tomatoes.)

Meanwhile, last August (2009) we hired Keil's Construction Company to replace our garage floor since we had seen them burrowing through in many places. That seemed to stop the woodchucks for another 10 months.

There was much less damage this year than last. The euphorbia (the official name for the anti-woodchuck plant) has been prolific, and perhaps that helps.

However, now it is VERY prolific and I spend an amazing amount of time tearing it out. Since I'm retired, it's okay; I prefer doing this to having woodchucks wreck havoc with my garden. However, I hesitate to recommend it because it is so invasive and there are other variables that may have caused my decreased woodchuck damage this year. Also, I still lost my broccoli.

Last week Pepper left me a perennial plant that she claims woodchucks don't like and isn't invasive. Can you give up its name, Pepper?
Perhaps I should cautiously share some of my euphorbia with those who beg if they assure me they know it is very invasive. Someone told me that Plock' sells it under the name of "mole plant" because it deters moles. Others assure me that there are 2000 varieties of euphorbia, and my eyes and knowledge don't support finding more details of the name. I'll spread the word if someone who thinks they know tells me the complete name.

Gardening is still satisfying and healthy for me, but writing this emphasizes how truly we are all "beginning gardeners."

Pat

Open Garden Report

2010-09-13T18:21:00.002-04:00

I had a wonderful time at Saturday's Open Garden, and I gather most of the other hosts did too. It is wonderful to bathe in communication with so many good people! About 60 came through my back yard, and many more enjoyed the butterfly tent in the front.

We seemed to have an unusually sociable group of 40-60 butterflies. Trina would open the tent flap, and offer the butterflies an opportunity to fly freely, but a remarkable number would sit, apparently happily, on children's fingers. Some remained so long, I wondered if they were injured, but eventually they took off and went far, far upward! They seem to like children's fingers, and the children clearly like them.

In the back yard I fielded many questions. Probably the most common was, "My garden and my neighbors' looks so dry. Why is yours so lush?

I think there are two answers. One is the as-thick-as-possible grass mulch that covers my vegetable garden. The other is the organic matter in the soil that holds water for a long time. I described double digging, which you can learn (as I did) from John Jeavon's book, "How to Have More Vegetables than you ever thought possible on less land that you can Imagine." It's in the Montclair public library. When I started gardening, I double dug spring and fall for three years, and then the soil was as friable as it is now.

This led to the question, "Aren't you afraid of the poisons on the grass clippings?"
"Yes, I think they are terrible. Please see the display about Safe Lawns Montclair (or its website), which is working to abolish them in Montclair. They are totally against the law in the entire province of Quebec. The lawns there look just as lush as ours." Then a discussion would ensue about unpoisoned lawns in Montclair, including one on Upper Mountain Avenue. We old timers told about the beautiful lawns before lawn chemicals became available.

Then I would tell about how dramatically my health improved after a few years of eating my own fresh, organic food. The short story is, "The garden is good for me, even with the poisons. I'm sure it would be better without." Later that day Jose, president of Green Harmony Montclair landscaping service, offered to bring me poison-free clippings. Whoopee!

"Do you turn your compost heaps?" No, I did at first, but that has lost its charm. My heaps turn to compost in a few months in the summer, and more slowly in the winter. I have plenty of compost.

"Do you water your compost heaps?" No

"Do you use bio starters?" No, I put weeds in the compost heap, and apparently the soil on their roots provides enough microbes to get the composting going.

"Why do you have all that soap around?" It keeps away the deer. Last year I had one devastating night in the spring, and I assume it was deer. I've heard that Irish Spring soap keeps deer away, so I sent Fred out for some and he immediately bought an 8-pack. Since then I've had not apparent deer damage in my garden, although some deer have been seen in my front yard.

"Why don't you water your lawn?" Mostly because I think I have better things to do with my life. However, the world is having a water crisis, and it makes sense to get into habits of not wasting it.

"What do you do about woodchucks?" That's worth an entire email, which I hope will get written within a week.

Happy gardening!

Pat

What you can see in Saturday's open garden

2010-09-08T18:18:00.001-04:00

My refrigerator is sufficiently well stocked with fresh raspberries that I can abstain from taking more until the Open Garden this Saturday from 2-4 PM. Barring an untimely visit from purple grackles, that will leave plenty for delicious nibbling by (at least) early guests. Take only those that are dark and ripe, and come off the vine easily! The almost-runs will be my treat on Sunday.

In the garden you can see impressive tomatoes (if I may be allowed some gardener braggadosio), eggplants, peppers, basil, carrot plants, celery, parsley, and just-planted-out pak choi, kale, collard, and Burpee's two-season Chinese cabbage, among other things. The last is in my cold frame, available for $325 from Johnny Seeds, so you can see where I will be picking in January. Oh, yes, and there is the Malabar spinach, pretty on the fence, but not yet providing free seeds.

See you Saturday!

Pat

Eggplant, grass clippings, euphorbia

2010-09-03T18:14:00.001-04:00

The will of living things to continue living is impressive. I pulled a large euphorbia (also called "anti-woodchuck plant" or "mole plant") out of the middle of my garden this week and saw a stunted eggplant plant there. It didn't get much sun, and it was competing for nourishment from its roots, but it didn't give up. It was about half as tall as its siblings, but there it was, looking healthy! Its most mature siblings have been giving me delicious eggplant parmesan for two weeks now, and they are really beginning to "come in."

Inspired by that, I planted out today the runts of the eggplant litter that I started in April. They looked really pathetic when I planted out the others, but I kept them in my greenhouse window. Today I decided they were ready to be planted where I've been clearing out. We'll see if they have time to be fruitful before frost.

This living thing is feeling really let down this evening at the lack of rain. I've promised Friday rain all week! Hurricane Earl is doing enough of trouble elsewhere. Why can't it water my garden, as promised? Maybe the weed growth will be less enthusiastic. Last time I complained about the weeds, some of you thought I was worried about weeds in my garden. Not really. With my grass clippings mulch, I don't get many. I may have twice as many as usual this year, but that's hardly worth mentioning. Also the lawn may have twice as many as usual, but that
too is hardly worth mentioning. It's not quite true, as two landscapers told me over 20 years ago, that once you remove the weeds from your lawn, they don't come back, but it's true enough so lawn weeds are not a real problem.

It's those other places that are far more prolific than I thought they could be! And the borders between them and the garden or lawn. Weed, weed, weed! I was delighted to get three containers of fresh lawn clippings last Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, so weeding is satisfying this week because I can mulch afterward and have some hope the situation is under control.
And then there is the euphorbia popping up all over. Jean warned me, and her warning has made be reluctant to offer or recommend it to others. Still, if that's the reason I haven't had woodchuck problems since spring, and not nearly as many then as last year, it's worth it. How can one tell causality in a garden? (or elsewhere...) Anyway, I'm digging out the 3"ones and oodles of tiny ones, which are very easy to remove, and leaving well-placed 'tween-sized euphorbia scattered thoughtfully around the property.

Happy weeding!

Pat

Euphorbia available at Plochs, transplanting, finding grass clippings

2010-08-23T18:11:00.002-04:00

Someone anonymously left a tag for what I've called an "anti-woodchuck plant" for two years, saying it is available at Plochs. Or so my mysterious visitor believes, which may well be right. They label it as a "mole plant" and say it is "euphorbia lathryis." The label says (in very small print) "The stems of the Mole Plant contain a sap which is poisonous and caustic and is said to deter moles and gophers. Grows as a single stem and bears yellow flowers in clusters. When Mole Plant is spaced forty feet apart as a border plant around flowers, herb, or vegetable gardens, it is extremely effective in deterring moles."

I have had many fewer woodchucks this year than last, and the many euphorbia around my garden may be a major reasons. I find the plants are very difficult to remove after a certain size, and have been removing them smaller. I haven't seen any flowers. They are extremely invasive and easy to remove when less than a foot high. I remove them selectively. I'm not a total believer, but I'm cautiously optimistic. I'm still experimenting.

I haven't had mole problems that I am aware of, but woodchucks have been terrible at times.

I began transplanting the lettuce I sowed last week today. It was perfect transplanting weather -- between showers! If it is indeed dry enough tomorrow morning to finish, I may have.

My own great excitement today was finding some grass clippings available on the curb after a 12-hiatus following our return from MathFest. I could understand why people weren't cutting their grass, but it sure is nice to have mulch again. It makes weeding seem like it has a promise. Actually, I have dug out some large euphorbia in recent days and some "gone" collards, so I'm making space for the seedlings to go out before the open garden on Sept. 11. IF the euphorbia are actually deterring woodchucks, they work before they are maximum size, when, I've discovered, they are hard to remove.

Happy weeding!

Pat

Cucumbers, buying seedlings, sowing seeds, dead raspberry bushes, weeds

2010-08-18T18:08:00.001-04:00

I officially pronounced my cucumber plants dead this afternoon. These super-long cukes from Fedco are great while they last, but I think they die out sooner than some varieties. Since I raise my own seedlings, I could raise more than one type. If you are still harvesting abundant cukes, what is the type? Is Marketmore still looking healthy? Or is it this summer's unusually hot weather and my reluctance to water the culprit?

Someone asked for local places to buy seeds and seedlings now. Once I tried to buy seeds at a Montclair outlet in early summer and was told with distain, "You must plant seeds in May!" I was speechless in disbelief at his ignorance, while he stared at me with a superior look. I've had the charity not to remember where that was, but since then I have bought abundant seeds from mail-order in the spring. If I forget something, I phone Burpees again. Fedco doesn't take orders after a Montclair-type deadline.

However, I bought seedLINGS from three garden centers early this summer: Bartlett's on Grove Street somewhat north of Montclair on the left; Ploch's, at the end of Alwood Avenue on the left side as you drive out of Montclair north on Broad Street; and that place on Center Street in nearby Nutley, on the left shortly after you turn left from the GSP (or more accurately, East Passaic Avenue).

Today I noticed that the lettuce I sowed outdoors last week has germinated. This week I sowed pak choi, kale, collards, and Burpees two-season Chinese cabbage (which will end up in my cold frame for harvests all winter) in my greenhouse window. I suspect any sunny windowsill would do nicely. I still have some fledgling eggplant seedlings in my greenhouse window to put where I will remove the cucumber plants.

Last evening I put FOUR full bags of dead raspberry bushes on the curb; they were picked up this morning. Earlier I had put three more out. Cutting them out is a huge project, and I hoped I was done, but as I began mulching today the raspberries with the leaves Fred kindly brought home last fall, I discovered some I had missed. That happens every summer as I remove last year's raspberries plants.

More seriously, I was appalled as I looked at the weeds in my front yard. I've been so busy freeing the young raspberry bushes for harvest, I had ignored the front yard. The old raspberries have savage thorns, and the young 'uns are getting quite prolific now. (If you come to the free film this evening, you might sample some.) Anyway, I hope people aren't too shocked by the growth in my front yard. I began a bit this afternoon, but it will take much more effort to get it presentable. Every experienced gardener and landscaper with whom I discussed this agrees this is a phenomenal year for weeds.

But the goodies are good too. Happy harvesting!

Pat

Home again! What do I plant now? Carrots, watering, eggplants

2010-08-11T20:58:00.014-04:00

We arrived home last evening from another week away (this time visiting relatives while driving to and from MathFest in Pittsburgh), and it's always interesting to see what the garden is like after a week of neglect. The news is good this time except for the lettuce, which was chewed to the bottom.

Someone asked what I do for watering when I'm gone. Except for that time about a month ago when I confessed to you that I had watered in the extreme heat during that super-hot spell, I haven't watered the garden for three years with a hose. I'm not in principle opposed to watering a garden, as I am to watering a lawn, but it just hasn't needed it. There have been times in the past when I've gone away for three weeks (both in June and in August) and the garden was fine while I was gone. The only thing I need human help with sometimes is picking beans and zucchini so the plant doesn't think it's done its duty and die.

Speaking of beans, it's a fine time to plant them again if you now have the space.

Lettuce is also fine up until September, but it will need lots of watering with a can until the plants are a quarter inch high, and you may have the problem I did last week. (That can happen any time of year.) Soon I will start pak choi and collards plants inside to plant out this fall for fall harvest. I will also start Burpee's two-season Chinese cabbage and kale inside for winter harvests.

Last week when I was home for four days I noticed that I had one eggplant that was the usual purple color and another (on a different plant) that was green! I'd never seen anything like that before. Now I see I have one that is yellow, which I assume is the mature version of green. These must be plants I bought. (I raise most of my own, but this year supplemented eggplant, peppers, and basil with plants from garden centers.) Does anyone have experience with this? I wasn't warned by the label. Is a yellow eggplant ripe? Will it continue to grow the way purple eggplants do?
Last week I forgot to mention that with that wonderful haul of grass clippings, I thinned and mulched my carrots. Wow! The "thinnings" were the best I've ever had. One was nine inches long and a half inch in diameter. Unprecedented for early August! All plants are growing remarkably this year, both goodies and weeds.

Incidentally, I see that there are few weeds where I mulched with grass clippings. However, they have managed to fit themselves into many unprecedented spots. Perhaps it's worth mentioning that I compost all garden waste (dead goodies and weeds) except raspberry bushes. The Heritage raspberries are bearing again! I still need to remove the remaining dead plants, but I did some this evening, and will continue to chew away at that job. I have an extra incentive now because removing the oldies makes it easier to get to the new plants that are bearing. I feared Fred and I had been too raspberry-greedy at breakfast today when I went out this evening, but then I found more buried among their elders.
Soon they will be yielding lots, in time, I suspect, for the next Open Garden on Sept. 11 from 2-4 PM.
We ate well while we were away, but we both agree that garden eating is welcome again. Isn't summer nice? Well, except for the heat and humidity... The next two days are supposed to be cooler, which seems appealing.

Pat

P.S. The final honorary address was given by the leading Native American mathematician. He choose to devote much of what was expected to be a math talk to photos he had taken while hiking in the Rockies over recent decades to show how much evidence there is of climate change. The photos were beautiful but scary. Afterward he told Fred and me about a physicist at MIT (whose name, lamentably, I forget) who insists there is not convincing evidence of human implications in climate change. "He doesn't believe in statistics. He says there is an excellent correlation between the number of Republicans in Congress and the number of sun spots, and that is true." But his conclusion that the correlation between human activity and climate change does not imply we are implicated in its quick progression is not justified. "He doesn't admit he doesn't believe in statistics, but that's what his arguments imply." He and I worry about the consequences of people who should know better denying the human impact on climate change.
Let's raise vegetables locally, ride bikes whenever possible (It's fun!), and turn off your motor vehicle when it's not moving. I read recently that after 10 seconds an idling motor will hasten the demise of the engine. Such precise estimates are always subject to skepticism, but idling is hard to defend even if it's 30 seconds or a whole minute.

Jose's Garden

2010-08-02T20:54:00.006-04:00

Just before I left on last week's trip Jose German and I found a common time in our schedule for me to visit his garden. Wow! He has much more variety of techniques than I do. He has a commercial set of short boxes that are suitable for worm composting in the winter in kitchen and he now has outdoors. He has a contraption that makes compost tea overnight. He raises crops in all kinds of settings that suggest nobody has an excuse for not raising some.

He has more beans than you could believe could grow in a Montclair yard. He was harvesting eggplant over two weeks ago. He aspires to rid his yard of lawn before long.

He told me he has 170 native species on his property, seven trees, 14 bushes, three vines, and more than 120 flowers and other plants. Twenty-seven different flowers are blooming "now." He knows an amazing amount about property care, which makes us very lucky that he has started GreenHarmonyNow.com. (If you want his landscaping or advising services, you can get in touch with him there or at 973-233-1106.) He agrees we have an inordinate amount of weeds this year, but adds he has a team of three men who can pull a thousand weeds in three hours!

Pat

Thrills and weeding

2010-08-01T21:42:00.006-04:00

Thursday evening Fred and I arrived home from being the only NJ participants at the first International Conference on Ethnomathematics (ICEM-4) held in the U.S., which was a WONDERFUL experience with people from 20 countries.

However, as we drove down Grove Street, I felt a thrill of how beautiful Montclair is. There was another thrill as we turned onto Gordonhurst, and, of course, several as I became reacquainted with my garden after a week away. I feel lucky to live in northern NJ for the beauty!

I had thought that my bush beans were ready to pull when I left and was contemplating what I would do with that choice spot in front of my greenhouse window. Lo and behold! When I arrived home, there were little beans on most of the plants. A whole new crop!

One more zucchini plant had bit the dust, but there are three left, and all seem to be thriving.
The small tomatoes were abundant, although one neighbor said he had picked some when we were gone, as he had permission to do. We picked and ate our first large tomato last evening. I had to take a photo of it between those activities because it was SIX INCHES across. Now, that is a big tomato!

The peppers are coming along. We are enjoying them in salads, but they aren't abundant enough yet for freezing. (I just wash them, cut them in pieces, and put them in a ziplock bag in the kitchen freezer for winter stir-fries with the fresh greens from our cold frame.)

Our first dinner back was pesto. Yum! Very little basil has died, but national warnings about basil blight make me wary. It should be eaten or frozen as it becomes available, especially this year.

I was happy to spot several eggplant flowers, and then saw my first purple eggplant. It was over an inch in diameter, not to eat this week, but full of promise. Then I couldn't find it for two days. Did I imagine it? No, this evening it was there again. This time I won't forget where my first fresh eggplant parmesan dinner of 2010 is coming from.

One of my cucumber plants has died, but the other seems to be thriving and has a couple juvenile cucumbers. I still have some in the frig from before the trip.

The second crop of raspberries is abundant, but not ripe.

Friday morning I noticed that a neighbor had left two bags of grass clippings on the curb. Big thrill! My neighbors are catching onto the fact that there are better uses for grass clippings, so finding them is always exciting these days. The weather has been delightful for mulching and weeding, and the yard certainly needed it. I've spent lots of time outside in the past three days. About sundown this evening I placed the last of those two bags.

I'm not devoted to neatness, but this year's weeds have been trying even my tolerance of mess. Furthermore, those super-hot days had me carefully rationing my outdoor time to early morning and dusk. At my age and health one doesn't want to run more risks than necessary. But the recent weather can only be good for health, don't you think? I have enjoyed watching the property become more suburban, as I weed, weed, weed, and mulch those empty spots so the weeds won't return. Maybe.

Pat

P.S. Ethnomathematics is the study of the interface between math and culture. Many people at ICEM-4 had been studying how math is used and learned in various cultures with the hope of enriches all our lives, promoting world peace, and inspiring youngsters in those cultures to learn more math. I learned about masons in Portugal, bus conductors in India who keep all the records for a day in their heads without a machine or writing, and weaving in many parts of the world with a remarkable variety of social connotations.
The most amazing report to me was a young woman in Hawaii who has learned the ancient navigation art that the Polynesians used thousands of years ago to cris-cross the Pacific Ocean. They had no written language but did sophisticated trigonometry in their heads! In our own culture people have been studying the informal math of street children. The researcher from South Africa says he is fluent in 6 of their 11 official languages, and can speak 4 of the others somewhat.

Pat

Open Garden report and homecoming

2010-07-21T21:37:00.005-04:00

The Open Garden on July 10 was a glorious morning. Many new faces had found us from the STAR LEDGER article the day before. There were many questions, but three stand out 11 days later.

What is the soap for? "Irish Spring soap is there to keep away deer. I had one terrible morning last year, and I dug around for what to do. Then Fred went out and bought me an 8-pack, which I put around the garden."

"Does it work?"
"I've not had any deer since, and they are still in Brookdale Park. They've been seen in my front yard." Last week I visited a cousin who is a professor emeritus of biology and he insists that Irish Spring soap deterring deer is just a myth. However, it seems to work for me.

"What about the chemicals others put on the lawns whose grass clippings mulch your vegetable garden?"

"I live in metropolitan New York on planet Earth. Nothing is pure. However, by the time the chemicals sink into the neighbors' lawns, and the grass is cut, and whatever is left goes into my soil, only a bit of which comes up in the vegetables, I think I'm getting much purer food than anything you could buy. The mulch keeps away the weeds, keeps the moisture in the earth by preventing evaporation, and when it decays, it nourishes the garden."

"What is that plant?"
"That's an anti-woodchuck plant. It deters woodchucks."
"Does it work?"
"Maybe somewhat. I've done several things to deter woodchucks this year and have much less damage than last year."
However, I now know its sap stings human skin painfully, and causes a red rash. It is very invasive, but easy to pull in its infancy. I'm cautiously optimistic, but not as enthusiastic as I am about Irish Spring soap.

"What is its name?"
"I don't know its grown-up name. I call it the anti-woodchuck plant."
"It's euphorbia," said Alphonso, a newcomer. Whoopee! A possible grown-up name! I haven't checked it, but that gives those of you who are curious a name to investigate on the web and elsewhere.

Since I arrived home this past Sunday, I have had three woodchuck sightings in my back yard, so it isn't perfect in its efforts, but it may be worth the trouble. One of my collards plant is nibbled suspiciously, and one young zucchini has had most of its leaves eaten. What self-respecting mammal would stoop to ZUCCHINI leaves? Ugh! However, the plant had a blossom this morning, so it hasn't given up.

My first two zucchini plants died this week, earlier than usual, but they also bore fruit much earlier than usual, so I don't fret about that. I still have two younger ones still bearing, and the two I started in June that I hope will bear into the fall.

Monday morning, two days after the open garden, I left for a vacation in New England, culminating in a wonderful wedding. My five-year-old grandson and his parents stopped in here Saturday night on
their way home to Virginia. It was my first opportunity to show Nathaniel my summer garden, and his response to tomato picking was inspiring. The small tomatoes have become somewhat overwhelming, but he showed me how to enjoy it. Each evening since, I have picked a large container of small
tomatoes (about four cups), which serve as our "fruit" these days.

We're between raspberry seasons except for a few stragglers. It's time to cut out the old bushes, a daunting task. I've been spending as much "cool" time as I can cutting them back. I put two (used) lawn bags of raspberry bushes on the curb today that the collectors picked up. I don't choose to compost raspberry bushes, although I'm pretty fanatic about other organic waste.

I'm feeling lawn-clipping-deprived this week. My garden would like more mulch. But I can understand why others would not want to mow their lawns in this season; mine isn't growing very fast either. It has some brown spots, but I'm sure they will green up when the heat is less intense and the rain a bit more abundant. Weren't those thunder storms this week welcome?!

Pat

Watering lawns, gardens, and trees

2010-07-04T21:32:00.005-04:00

As I biked out to my Sunday morning activities today, I was saddened to see sprinklers on several lawns. There is no faster way to ruin a lawn than to water it when the sun is shining. If we should have a water shortage, the problems are compounded. The easiest way to improve your lawn is to never water it.

I have never watered my lawn in 35 years. Its roots go down deep, and when we have a drought, it stays slightly green after the watered lawns go completely brown during the watering ban. It greens up much faster than the others when the rains return. If you MUST water your lawn (because it's become dependent on your attention), do so ONLY in the evening, when the water goes into the soil and not the atmosphere.

Gardens are a different matter. I haven't used a hose on my garden for three years, but I just placed mine to use this evening on newly bought seedlings that I planted this week. They don't have the root structure yet to sustain themselves even with this much drought without my help.

When I first started gardening, one of the old guys who had been running a garden center for generations told me that you only water a garden when the tomatoes look tired in the evening. "If they droop during the day, just tell them to cheer up. Life will be better before long."
"When you do water, do it in the evening and only face-on for a full hour." Then he sold me a spout that sends a spray face-on. I have always followed his advice before, but this evening I'm catering to late-in-season-bought seedlings although my tomatoes, which have been there for weeks, look perfectly happy during the day. The newcomers don't.
If you don't have a face-on spray and must content yourself with a rotating sprinkler, let it go for three hours in the evening. I figure that gives as much water to any one place as the face-on one does in an hour.

If you haven't planted out in the past couple of weeks I suggest taking the late Mr. DeVos' advice and water only when your tomatoes look tired in the evening.

Trees are yet another matter. Montclair's arborist has told me to tell people with new trees planted in front of their house to water evenings when the weather is hot and dry. A bucket gently dripped on the base of the tree so that it goes as far into the soil as possible and doesn't just wash away might do the trick. Obviously, a hose dripping water gently would be even better.

The goal whenever you water is to get the water as far down in the soil as you can. This is done best in the evening, when it can sink in instead of evaporating, and in large quantities at one time not very often. And don't water your lawn ever!

Pat

Woodchuck stories, good and bad

2010-07-01T21:28:00.012-04:00

I shouldn't complain. My garden now is yielding abundant zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, basil, and raspberries. But being human, I WILL complain, but kindly tell two amusing stories first.
Yesterday afternoon I was meditating in the back of the yard facing the garden, when a woodchuck entered the yard from the yard on my right. To my amazement it stopped less than a yard directly in front of me! I could study a woodchuck as never before and yearned for a camera. With all their flaws, they surely are cute!

Then it moved about two yards to my left, and paused again. Now I felt safe that if I told it to leave, it would go to the neighbors on the left and not into my vegetable garden. "Go!" I said pointing.

It stood up on its hind legs and looked around, apparently wondering at the uppiness of some intruder.

This morning Fred and I were meditating together in a similar place. (We took TM classes some time ago, and he joins me for the morning meditation.) This time we noticed a raspberry bush moving oddly. Then we saw the hind part of a woodchuck below the bush. The upper part, including the head, was invisible, but we guessed its activity. Shortly, our suspicions were confirmed. We could see the whole side of the woodchuck on the ground, busily nibbling on raspberries. It continued happily. Since I have plenty of raspberries higher than it can reach, I wasn't bothered.

Not so with other crops. The heads of the three broccolis that were trying largely disappeared Thursday at dinner time. They were there in the afternoon and gone in the evening. Lettuce is chewed over. I put some cut anti-woodchuck plants over the attacked plants, and am hoping, but it's mighty late for broccoli at best. One of you did have a good harvest, so something odd is happening in my garden, which is typical of gardens.

Even sadder was the mangled dead bird that I found in my garden yesterday afternoon. That's the first time in 32 years of gardening, and I haven't seen any cats. Guess who I suspect.

Pat

Harvesting garlic

2010-06-28T21:06:00.002-04:00

I should have mentioned in last week's email about harvesting that this is the season for harvesting garlic. Those of you who took a garlic from me last spring and put some bulbs in different places have noticed that they are turning brown. That tells you it is the time to pull them.

Actually, I'm a bit tardy on this. When I pulled one this weekend, the stem was so dry it broke! This makes it challenging to hang to dry the bulb, so I'm digging the others now, which is a bit more work than pulling.

The books say you should hang the garlic from their stems in the attic to dry out the bulbs, but I have a place in the kitchen where I can hang them. When they are dry, it is easy to remove the stems and fuzziness on the bottom of the root and put them in a cupboard to use -- or separate them into bulbs and put them in different places in the garden for next year.

Pat

Peas, Malabar, Broccoli, Collards, Basil

2010-06-26T20:59:00.000-04:00

One of you wrote, apparently surprised, that some of his pea plants are dying. Yes, they usually start this time of year and are all gone by mid-July. Both the super-hot weather and the early tendency of everything would accelerate this. I picked as many as I could today and froze them, taking my solace in the tomatoes that are now plentiful for salads. I won't have nearly as many peas in my freezer as two years ago, but far more than last year.

The early summer demise of peas is why I like malabar spinach so much to replace them on the fences. One of you lamented that her malabar is only about an inch high. Yes, malabar spends a LONG time in infancy. Some of mine is two inches, but most has not gotten to that lofty height. When the weather stays hot, it will take off.

Yesterday and today the woodchuck (I assume) ate most of my broccoli plants' leaves. The plants hadn't begun to form heads yet, so I almost feel the woodchuck is welcome to them. However, what does it forebode? It intensifies the woodchuck-dread I feel this year. One plant has a head (more than an inch in diameter), and the woodchuck spared that one until I was inside this afternoon taking refuse with a (room) air conditioner. This evening I cut off a piece of an anti-woodchuck plant and lay it over the top of the struggling broccoli plant.

I might as well remove the other broccoli plants and hope that the garden centers can provide me more eggplant and pepper plants. Has anyone had success with broccoli this year? The only responses I've had to that question before were negative. Judy says it's been too hot, and she may well be right. That 90-degree spell in April may have done them in. They should have borne edible heads by now.

We gave lots more collards to Toni's Kitchen today. The woodchuck has nibbled at the chinese cabbage too, but not to devastate it. I think the same is true for lettuce, but I've been pretty greedy there too. The arugula is in, which will do for salads, but it's not like lettuce.

I heard an NPR feature on a basil disease that is plaguing NY. We should pick that and enjoy the flavoring and pesto now, and freeze as much of the latter as is available. The narrator said she picked hers in August last year instead of November to make pesto for winter. I can't imagine making a winter supply at one time. I've already begun, and will continue throughout the season, basil willing.

The early zucchini is wonderful. Win some, lose some.

Pat

Harvests: when, how, and preservation

2010-06-23T20:56:00.003-04:00

I've spent an amazing amount of time harvesting and preserving in the past 24 hours, and I thought my practices might be of interest to others. Beans, peas, and raspberries need to be harvest "now" when they are ready.

I froze my 12th serving of Roma bush beans of 2010 this morning. They are growing as they never have before -- like the weeds! But such nice weeds. I remove strings if there (not many), and par boil them for 3 minutes. This is supposed to preserve vitamins better. Then they don't need much cooking when you serve them in winter. When I pull them out of the boiling water in their strainer container, I run it under cold water and let it cool for a few minutes. Then I run it under cold water again. After the third time, they are ready to put in ziplock bags in my kitchen refrigerator's freezer.

It won't be too late to plant bush beans for a couple of months. I planted these after the April 24 Open Garden because I wanted to show visitors my cold frame and its contents then. I started harvesting the beans last week, an incredibly quick growing season.

It's pretty obvious when to harvest beans, and they wait a couple of days, but peas are more challenging. I try to harvest sugar snaps when they are bulging, but not withered or dry. It means checking them over at least once a day these days. As I harvest, I pull down on the strings to remove some of them. Removing the rest of the strings before par-boiling is a much bigger job than for beans. Then I precede as for beans.

Raspberries need to be harvested when they have turned dark and come off the plant easily, but not TOO dark. They last only two days in the refrigerator, so picking raspberries takes lots of my summer time -- pleasantly! One should always nibble as one goes, of course.

I've never frozen raspberries before, but this morning I put some rolling separately in a container in the kitchen frig freezer, as my 8th grade friend told me last month she does. I'll then put them in a ziplock bag and see how many I actually use this winter. They roll out of the bag separately, Ann says.

I also made my first batch of pesto this morning and froze it. Last evening when I harvested the basil, I was startled to see that the basil around my pea-tomato circular fence was dead and dying. This morning I was even more startled to see it had risen from the dead. I guess basil doesn't like heat. The basil not far from the neighbor's fence was wonderful to harvest last evening. I gather now that basil likes some shade. I'm not sure how much.

However, tomato plants have popped up on my compost heap and under my apple tree. I think I'll let them live and see how well they thrive. I know from the front yard that tomatoes don't need nearly as much sun as advertised. If the newcomers bear...

A garden is full of surprises.

Pat

Zucchini, collards, and NJ wind power

2010-06-10T16:12:00.005-04:00

Both sex therapies on my zucchini flowers were successful! I will harvest at least two zucchini in the next few days. Until two years ago I harvested my first zucchini on June 26, and last year I was surprised that it was June 21. This year I expect to have zucchini dinner on June 13.

Oddly enough, none of my broccolis are showing any signs of heading. Usually I harvest broccoli weeks before zucchini. Life is endlessly surprising.

We had our first full meal yesterday with snap peas as the vegetable. We're each eating a small tomato every day this week, which is early but pleasant. We have enormous quantities of collards, Chinese cabbage, and lettuce, so we're eating well. Other good news is that I still do have sugar snap vines.

I forward below first a message from Gray Russell, Montclair's Environmental Outreach Coordinator in response to my query about local wind power.

Pat

Montclair's Water Bureau employs two wind turbines which are small, helix-type generators. That means their blades look more like an egg-beater than a wind mill. They are really experimental, but serve as a good model for further wind technologies. Although these are small turbines, Montclair is one of the only towns in NJ with any wind power at all.

Of course, we have the beautiful 7.5-megawatt (MW) Jersey-Atlantic Wind Farm in Atlantic City - visible from the Atlantic City Expressway (more than 30 million visitors see it every year) - which is the first coastal wind farm in the United States. It consists of five (5) 397-foot-tall wind turbines, each generating 1.5 MW of electricity. The project produces approximately 19 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, which is enough emission-free energy to power over 2,000 homes. The electricity is used by both the Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA) Wastewater Treatment Plant, and delivered to the regional electric grid.

And the NJ BPU is studying plans for the nation's first off-shore wind farms, off the coast of NJ, which could host as many as 300 wind turbines and supply 3,000 megawatts - far more than a nuclear power plant - while helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent in the next decade.

Gray

Zucchini sex successful!

2010-06-06T17:27:00.000-04:00

Or at least I think it was. Read on!

Earlier this week I realize that both my lead zucchini plants had female buds. The books all say that male flowers come before females and drop off. I found that to be true until last year, when I had three females before any males. The morning that the third female blossomed, I wrote an email titled, "Zucchini male needed!" and Ranae wrote back offering me help. I went to her home, couldn't rouse a human, but found a male flower on a squash plant. I ruthlessly plucked it, took it home to please my female, and -- lo -- had an early zucchini! Later Ranae wrote that her plant was a yellow squash, but it seems that intermarriage is
fine for summer squash.

When I saw those females early this week, I emailed Ranae and the closer neighbor who had helped me last year and asked if I could have blanket permission this year to kidnap their males if I had early females. Both were obliging. However, yesterday morning I had BOTH males and females on both plants. I gave the needed help, and it seems that both are growing instead of falling off the plant.

Too fast? Perhaps I should explain zucchini biology and humans' contribution to it. Each plant grows both male and female flowers. You
can tell the females before they blossom because they look slightly pregnant -- a little (very little!) zucchini is behind the bud, bulging the stem. The males look like more typical buds. When they blossom, they do so for only a few hours each in the early morning. The challenge is to get some pollen from the male to the female orifice. Worker bees typically perform this service by visiting first the male to eat whatever he offers, incidentally getting some pollen on her body, and then flying to the female. The bee probably has other motives than delivering the pollen to her, but she does that too. This works fine in mid-summer, but the bees are just beginning to fly around now.

I have different skills than a bee, although I can use my finger like a bee body for short hauls. More certain is to clip the male flower from his moorings, and rub him affectionately over the female. I did this yesterday -- twice! Today I THINK the zucchini are growing, which bodes a good dinner within a week. If I failed, that baby zucchini will soon wither and die, but both look promising today. If you too are hoping to have zucchini soon, I thought you would enjoy this tale.

Better news, which everyone can appreciate without explanation, is that Fred and I each had one sun gold tomato for dinner. Yum! Summer has arrived early, and I like the tomato part of it. It's interesting to note that the sweet-100s were planted earlier and get more sun, but they also have been exposed to more wind and the sun golds are next to the south-facing wall of our house, which is warmer. Maybe tomatoes need heat more than light.

Pat

Energy Independence - Yes, we can!

2010-06-05T17:25:00.002-04:00

Last evening on Channel 13 I saw a feature on a town that decided in 1998 to become energy independent. Samso in Denmark has about 4000 residents and is on an island. It succeeded in a decade. Last evening's show pictured the many solar panels and wind mills.

I now want to share a paragraph I read this week:
Energy experts like physicist Daniel Goldstein (the former vice-provost of Caltech and author of "Out of Gas") tell us that within a decade all of energy for America's homes can be generated by solar power in an equivalent of the area of 80 square miles in our southwest deserts. Americans should be aware that the United States has been called, "the Persian Gulf of Wind." Two-thirds of our nation's needed electricity could be generated by the winds of North and South Dakota with the other third by the winds of Texas. But hydropower still accounts for the
majority of the so-called alternative energy today, with 7% of the energy produced.
["Tikkun" July-August, 2009, p. 56]

The article concludes with my sentiments: "As Amory Lovins famously says, "because saving energy is cheaper than making it, pollution is avoided not at a cost, but at a profit." It is time to create an electricity system for the United States that relies neither on fossil fuel nor nuclear power. We can do it starting now - yes we can!"

If Samso can generate all its power without fossil fuel or nuclear power, why not New Jersey? Our solar panels have been surprisingly financially satisfying. Does Montclair have any windmills nearby yet?

Pat

Tomatoes and coming open gardens

2010-06-04T17:23:00.002-04:00

Tomatoes are beginning gardeners' favorites. Garden tomatoes usually taste much better than those you buy, and they are preposterously easy to grow. One of you worried this week that a deer had come through for the first time (near the Upper Montclair shopping center!) and nipped off the tops of his tomatoes. Would they survive? I think so. Some books advocate actually "pinching off" tomatoes, because they grow back more fully. If someone removes your head, you won't grow a new one, but tomato plants are different. Eat their heads and they will grow more, probably more than one.

There is the tale that they need light. There must be truth to that, but I've had tomatoes volunteer on my compost heap and actually bear. More convincing is the tomato plant that volunteered in the front of my north-facing house. "You silly thing!" I said to it when I first saw it. "You won't get any decent sun here, and I've done nothing to enrich the soil." But it impudently kept growing, so I gave it a cage, and it bore tomatoes -- not as many as in the good soil of my garden in the sunny back yard, but nice.

This week I discovered it had more great-grandchildren (or were they great-great grandchildren?) than I had realized. I potted them up and put them on the right of my steps at 56 Gordonhurst Avenue. Jane brought some more, so if you are still tomato-plant-hungry, you can pick them up.

Are there any folks willing to open their gardens on the morning of July 10 or the afternoon of Sept. 11? First and second year gardens are especially welcome. We experienced gardens can be a bit intimidating, and people like to see what can be accomplished "soon."

I took off my floating cover this morning. The root crops are not germinating quickly where I reseeded, but they are thriving in the mini-plots where they did grow at the first sowing. Gardens are mysterious, like much of life.

Pat

Small gardens

2010-06-01T17:18:00.002-04:00

After attending a wonderful memorial service for a wonderful uncle who was born in 1920, I spent last night with my little brother (now 6'2") in Providence and his family. They served an amazing salad with lettuce and a PEPPER from their home garden. Last year I learned how early tomatoes can be grown; this year it is peppers I now learn I must start much earlier with hope. That pepper was unbelievably tasty.

Of course, I wanted to see his amazing garden. He kept saying modestly that it was "very small." It is that. It is between his driveway and a wall "next" to the driveway. It is about 10 feet long, a yard wide at the shortest distance fanning out to about two yards wide at the longest. It has, as he said, only one pepper plant, which he was able to buy individually from some garden center. Along with the delicious pepper he has already picked, it has one over 2" long and another over an inch long. The sunlight comes down the driveway since on the other side is the house. I didn't know peppers could grow in midsummer with such little light. He also has some tomatoes and squash plants, but they are only hopefuls.

His lettuce is in two rows. When I pointed out a semi-empty spot between his bean plants and commented that the next crop of lettuce could be planted there when this one ends, he said that last year this type of lettuce was harvested all season long, so he didn't expect to replant.
Here, I've been telling you falsely that you have to replant every few weeks for a continuous harvest!
I asked what kind they were, and he hesitated. "Butter..." he said of the one with roundish green leaves. "Red sails" I guessed for the red one that has ruffled leaves. Today I confirmed it is available in the current Gurneys catalog separately. For many years I've been buying just "blends" so I get lots of types, and have lost track of the names, which I knew better before blends were available.

As we were driving from his home toward the superhighway, we passed a tomato garden between the sidewalk and curb! I don't think I've ever seen that before. This one already had small green tomatoes on at least one plant, large enough to be seen from my car. It reminded me of the statistic I've heard often enough to believe that Havana raises half its vegetables without the city limits. Americans are beginning in our cities!

I arrived home to a garden that is growing nicely with no obvious pest damage. Whew! I'm paranoid this year after last year's woodchuck devastation.

Pat

25 Recommended local businesses

2010-05-26T16:02:00.003-04:00

It's the time of year when I advertise Bartlett's as a good source of seedlings. They are just north of Montclair on Grove Street on your left. You can see the greenhouses from the road. I've always been pleased with their seedlings. I have nothing against the other nearby garden centers.

My (environmentally aware) bike is serviced by Brookdale Cycle just on the other side of the park at 1292 Broad Street. Mark is the third generation to do this work, and I delight in his service. There are two bike stores in Montclair, but he is closest to me.

The Bread Company at 113 Walnut Street is another family-owned business. It provides fresh-baked baked goods with the best of ingredients - and taste. I make most of my own bread with my bread machine, but when we want a treat, we run to them. They take orders for special occasions, but when you just go in, the choice is wonderful.

Terra Tea Shop at 10 Church Street provides simple meals and a good conversation setting. It also sells a variety of fair trade products.

Go Lightly around the corner at 4 South Fullerton sells environmentally sensitive items.

Milk Money at 76 Church Street is a consignment shop for children's clothing and toys. This helps prevent waste ("There is no 'away.'") and surely saves money. My grandson's presents come from there.

Jose German started Green Harmony Now last year and now has 5 employees! He provides sustainable gardening and landscaping services and advice. greenharmonynow@ aol.com 973-233-1106

Lullaby Lawn Service is a group of enterprising high school students that provide responsible inexpensive landscaping service with no power machinery. Lullabylawns @gmail.com 973-716-1216

This is fun. Aren't we fortunate to have so many fine services nearby? I was unhappy to hear the president of Bolivia say last week both in public at the people's conference on climate change and then to an interviewer that democracy and capitalism are incompatible. I agree with him that trans-national corporations have done a lot of harm and need to be curbed. Indeed, corporations that are too big lose touch with the people they serve need to be made smaller, I think.

However, real capitalism, people helping others and getting paid for it, is certainly compatible with democracy and maybe essential to it. Small business run by people who want to help the people who pay them are healthy and a joy to do business with. Thus, in this season when there is a movement to ban banks with assets of more than $100 billion (hardly small, but dwarfed by some current banks), I hereby want to add to the list of small locally-owned businesses that Fred and I recommend.

Brantley's at 91 Maple Avenue sells used tires. This is really important for the environment (there is absolutely no "away" for old tires!), and we buy all our tires there. It's at least a second generation business in that location.

Mac Automotive at 7 South Willow Street is Fred's auto repair shop.

Tony's Autobody at 126 Washington Street in Nutley is his choice for reliable body work on his cars.

Saunder's Hardware at 627 Valley Road is under new management, but I find them as reliable as the earlier owners.

Aspen East is an exercise center at the end of the parking lot in Watchung Center (122). I prefer less formal forms of exercise, but I am very grateful to their friendly staff for providing a place for my tai chi group to meet when it's too cold in Edgemont Park.

"I've got a notion" is a sewing store with wonderful fabrics along with notions, just to the right of Aspen East (also listed at 122 Watchung).

Watchung Booksellers on Fairfield Street is where I buy books.

Keil's Contractors, led by Gordon Keil (973-746-0603) did a fine job replacing our garage floor last summer.

Joe the Plumber (973-226-6607) is local enough to come to our home -- not the famous one from the campaign!

Stephane Mortier stephane.mortier@designbcm.com is a fine handyman. (973) 873-4330

Years ago I started going to "Mario's" at 213 Bellevue Avenue for my shoe repair. One time I was startled that Mario had turned Korean and had Korean talk radio on. The service continued to be excellent. Recently it changed its name to Montclair Shoe Repair. It's between Valley Road and Norwood on the north side in the middle of a group of stores.

A massage therapist is not exactly a business, but they do support themselves without being attached to big business. I am extremely happy with mine, who keeps me in good health. Marie-Christine Lochot practices at 88 Park Street. Her telephone number is 973-746-7476 and her email is massageappt @ Verizon.net

Since I raise my own vegetables, I'm not as plugged into sources as I might be. The only CSA that I know still has a few memberships available is Genesis Farm. To contact the Community Supported Garden (CSG) at Genesis Farm, call 908 362-7486. The membership form for the CSG is at www/csgatgenesisfarm.org.

The Montclair Farmers' market officially opens on Saturday, June 5. It is held every Saturday through November in the Walnut Street Train Station parking lot, from 8:00 am - 2:00 pm, running all summer and fall into November. A few vendors are there already on Saturday mornings from 8:00am - noon.

Janit London sent me the following: Purple Dragon Co-op provides local organic fruits and vegetables year round supplemented by produce from outside the region, Florida and farther away when necessary. Five types of NJ honey, Blue Earth Local Natural Foods NJ organic blueberry butter, heirloom tomato sauce, heirloom tomato garlic ketchup, NY eco apple butter, organic sunset salsa and salsa verde concentrate, local eggs, meats and cheese, regionally roasted coffee, grains, nuts, beans, vitamins, natural cosmetics, veggie brushes. Janit London at (973) 429-0391 9 am-7 pm or janit@purpledragon.com.

Jane Califf writes, "I just had a few things dry cleaned the other day in an "organic dry cleaning" business: Brookdale Cleaners, 1294 Broad St., which is near Brookdale Shoprite in the north end of Bloomfield and next to a post office. It was amazing to go into such a store and smell no chemicals. My clothes were cleaned well, and I have the satisfaction of knowing that there are no dangerous chemical residues on my clothes. Their phone number is: 973-338-7900.

Aren't we lucky to have 25 local, family-owned businesses to enjoy!

Pat

Open Garden Report

2010-05-24T15:57:00.001-04:00

What a lovely Saturday morning! Both the weather and the guests were delightful. The Open Garden was a success for me in the (usual) sense that it made me feel both happy and useful. There were, as usual, a variety of questions.

"How do you pinch the tomato plants?"
"I don't."
"But they say you should pinch them."
"It takes time, and I don't see any reason for it."
"I'm with you!"

"How do you turn your compost heap?"
"I don't. I tried at first, but it's a lot of work, and doesn't seem to be worth the trouble. I layer green and brown at about four inches, but it doesn't have to be at all exact. That seems to mix it enough for composting to happen in a couple months in the summer."

"What is that pile?"
"That's wood. It takes about a decade to compost, so I keep it
separate from the regular compost pile. Every decade or so, I take the top off, put it somewhere else, and take the good compost from the bottom. The regular compost heap takes less than a year, so I don't want the slow-composting sticks in it."

"Do you put weeds in the compost?"
"Yes."
"But then don't you have weed seeds in the compost?"
"No, it heats up to about 160 degrees, and that kills the weeds."

"That's nightshade," pointing to the wood pile. "I've been told
it is poisonous."
"Is it? It's not poisonous to the touch," I said, stroking it.
"I pull it out occasionally. I wouldn't eat it."

"Why do you have soap around?"
"Irish Spring Soap keeps away deer. I had one visit from deer
last year, and it was disastrous. I haven't had any more since I put the
soap around." It's wedged in various fencing and tomato cages.

"Shouldn't you take the flowers off the greens to make them last
longer?"
"I've noticed that when flowers come, the plants are nearing the
end. I don't worry about them too much, except to remove them to get to
the leaves."

The group seemed tolerant of the fact that I have not planted out peppers and eggplant yet, for the first time in a May open garden. "It was below 50 degrees this week!" The group nodded. I've been cleaning out the mess (dominated by pretty white alyssum) where some of them will go, and discovered in the wilderness a remarkable number of tomato seedlings. Their location and appearance make me suspect they are children of last year's Burpees hybrid supersteak tomatoes. One never knows, of course, what children hybrids will have. However, I've potted up some and put them on the right side of my steps at 56 Gordonhurst Avenue.

I gave the last 3-pack of Saturday's Malabar spinach to a late leaver at the end, but since Saturday, seedlings have been proliferating in my garden. I potted up some today, which are on the left side of the aforementioned steps (alphabetic order). Help yourselves. I will try to keep up a supply in the next few days. Warning: Malabar needs to climb either a trellis or a fence. It tastes much like regular spinach, but is beautiful and last from mid-summer until frosty temperatures.

Today far too many arugula plants germinated. At least, I think they are arugula. The last packet turned out to be Chinese cabbage, but that's nice too. Management error, apparently - I save arugula seed. Are these worth potting up? I won't do it unless there are requests.

Happy gardening!

Pat

Malabar spinach and other things to see

2010-05-21T21:39:00.001-04:00

The Malabar spinach is up! Its usual abundance reminds me to pot up 3-packs, which are now on the left of the front steps at 56 Gordonhurst Avenue. There are more of them than tomatoes on the right. If you planted some last year, inspect your garden before you take mine.

Malabar spinach tastes very much like regular spinach, but it is a climbing plant, so you will need a fence or trellis if you are going to raise it successfully. It begins in mid-summer, so is a fine replacement for sugar snap peas, with the added advantage that woodchucks (aka groundhogs) don't like it. I froze lots of it last summer, but that takes discipline since it SEEMS to last forever, unlike most things I freeze, which if I don't do it "soon," will no longer be fit for picking. The "seem" is deceiving because it and basil are the first to be killed by the cold in the fall, before eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes, which go with the first "hard" frost.

I also have my first snap pea today! I am courageously not picking it until after the open garden tomorrow (from 9:00 - 11:00 AM) for some mixed motives of an urge to educate and to show off. I hope it's still there tomorrow. Something is nibbling my pea plants, but it isn't disaster yet.

I also have some green tomatoes about a half inch in diameter, which is early.
I'm delaying planting out most of my eggplant and peppers because the cold is intermittent. We haven't had a frost since March 26, but it was in the 40s this week. My basil plants provide a dramatic display of how much they prefer to stay inside.

I've left up one cold frame to protect the abundant lettuce within from rabbits. It also has the last of the winter Chinese cabbage, and you can see as well pak choi, collards, parsley strawberries, and Hakurei turnips that I am harvesting this week, along with promising bean, corn, celery, broccoli, cucumber, garlic, and zucchini plants.

Oh, yes, last evening's film "Dirt" reminds me that you can also run your fingers through good garden soil (not like Montclair's native clay) and compost.

Pat

Mammals, weeds, strawberries here!

2010-05-17T21:36:00.001-04:00

The capacity of the human mind to forget is amazing. All teachers can tell stories of their pearls just disappearing into the wind. Last week, as I lamented the gradual (not dramatic, so it couldn't be woodchucks) disappearance of my broccoli leaves, it suddenly occurred to me that I used to close the garden entrance with a one-foot chicken-wire fence because, as I have often said, "Rabbits can't get over a one-foot fence."

And this year I forgot! I did have it still in the garage after last year's great clean-up, so I humbly put it in place last Thursday afternoon. That seems to have ended the minor nibbling on my broccoli plants. How could I have forgotten?

Then I went inside for a while. When I came out, a woodchuck scampered across my garden! Oh, dear! How minor is rabbit damage! Just by luck, Stephane came by that evening. He blocked the new hole under the house, and I haven't seen any woodchuck damage since.

Maybe. We were away for the weekend and I came back full of garden anxiety. The pea plants have been nibbled. Nothing disastrous. Is this routine? I don't think I've studied my growing pea plants like this for many a year. My paranoia's worst fears have not been fulfilled, and I do have two small peas almost an inch long. Long live those peas!

Are other people finding weeds more prevalent this year than many? I keep weeding and weeding, and don't remember them being as persistent in earlier times.

The good news is that we are harvesting strawberries (early) and have some 1/2" tomatoes on the vine. So there will be things to see at the Open Garden this Saturday. About this time before each open garden I have those misgivings about whether it will be worth coming to. With luck, it will be.

Pat

Houseplants, floating cover, and raspberries

2010-05-05T21:33:00.001-04:00

One of you asked when compost is ready to be used. That's negotiable. I have so much now that is so far gone that I don't have to worry. However, a general rule is that when it smells good and feels nice to your fingers, it is fine. This can be long before it is truly "mature." My uncle used to bury his garbage every evening in the garden paths, and that seemed to nourish his excellent garden, so I guess composting itself is negotiable. The books say that you shouldn't put fresh garbage or weeds in the soil because they will steal nitrogen from it. I don't understand the chemistry of that, but I do know my uncle's garden was wonderful. Most of us don't want to dig every evening; composting is far more convenient. Remember the t-shirt, "Compost Happens."

Another asked if I put floating cover over all my spring plant-outs. Certainly not! I don't want them to burn. Once I didn't take the FC off the carrots soon enough, and the tops were badly singed. This year I'm a bit neurotic about the pests, so I've used more FC than most years, but each spring and fall, I "wing it."

I had an amazing experience this morning. My best friend from seventh grade visited! I was heartbroken when she moved away in eighth grade, and we corresponded into our college days. We actually spoke for the first time this week in over fifty years. Much of our deep sharing is not appropriate for an email list, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind my telling you that she freezes her extra raspberries on a sheet and then puts them, individually frozen, in a ziplock bag. In the winter she pours out just as many as she will use because raspberries don't refreeze. I didn't know until today that they freeze well, but she says she enjoys them in winter.

Pat

Plant-outs, bugs, and weeds

2010-05-01T21:30:00.002-04:00

What a glorious day! May is here indeed. Today I planted out two cucumber plants, two broccolis, two zucchini, one tomato, and 12 impatiens. It was a heart-warming way to celebrate the warm weather.

Also, I can report that my green beans, sown over two weeks ago in the hope of showing them off at last week's open garden, germinated late this week. The corn is beginning to appear among them. I don't remember them taking so long before, but then I haven't had many April open gardens. Carrots have germinated in only one week, but they are hardly noticeable compared to the sturdy bean plants! The winds this week have been very inconsiderate with their floating cover. I don't remember this problem before, but floating cover has floated entirely too much in this week's winds.

It's time to take off excess small apples from your apple tree. If you don't thin them to about 6", leaving at most one in each cluster, your apple tree will strike next year. Mine did last year, and I miss the apples on the off years. I'm trying to edit them appropriately, but it's a tedious job, and the pay-off is 16 months away. Lots of practice in delayed gratification there! I'd rather plant out tomatoes.

The sad news there is that at least one (and probably two) of my tomato plants died in the past week. It can't be the cold because most are fine. The Grim Reaper strikes oddly.

One of you asked about what to do about specific bugs. My basic answer is that I ignore them. I have been known to spray harshly water on aphids, but I prefer lady bugs. Oh! I did buy lady bugs once, mail order, and their descendants seem to be still around. I also bought praying mantis and I still occasionally see them.

Weeds are another matter. They sit still and wait to be pulled. I can see them, and I can get rid of them, trying not to think of Albert Schweitzer's admonition, "Reverence for Life." I've read that he carefully walked around ants in his African mission so he didn't kill any. I'm not THAT reverent toward life, but its miracle does seem amazing to me today.

Still, does anyone else think we have more dandelions than usual this year? They and the trees are the most urgent weeds to pull. If you don't pull the trees while they are tiny, they become much more difficult to remove, in contrast, say, to onion grass, which sits there patiently waiting to be pulled at my leisure. I like dandelions, but I know that if I am to tout a model organic lawn, I mustn't have them. So I pull them as soon as I notice something yellow so that they will not promulgate.

I left some perennial flowers on my front walk with invitations to take them, but nobody did except one family that I personally invited to. At this point there is one pot of Dutch iris (shorter and later than Siberian iris), one of chrysanthemum, and one of swan's neck. I hope they find a new home, but if not, the compost heap will take them cheerfully.

Pat

Open Garden report

2010-04-24T15:55:00.001-04:00

Yesterday's organic garden tour was a glorious affair with the best possible weather (remember?) and about 80 delightful people. There were almost a dozen violators of the nobody-under-36-months-old allowed, but they were the best behaved bunch of toddlers and two-year-olds I've ever seen. Even that stereotype can be wrong! When a dog showed up, however, I did set limits. Back to the front yard!

Questions were asked about the soap, to which I replied that Irish Spring soap keeps away deer. One set scatted among the fences last year seemed to work for the whole season. In response to questions, I said that Malabar spinach seeds are available from Park Seeds and the cold frame kit from Johnny Seeds. I take it apart each spring and put it back together each fall.

Yes, I put orange and grapefruit peels in the compost heap. I mentioned buying citrus from the Glen Ridge Band Parents' Association each November. I keep meaning to tell this list about this great opportunity, but don't seem to remember at the right time. They deliver in early December and again in early February, and we love our winter fruit.

The groups' appreciation for my baby strawberries was gratifying. I think they are early this year, but that's not surprising. Nobody noticed any baby tomatoes (nor have I), but they did notice the many tomato flowers.

Many people dug my five offered freebees, and I'm grateful to their help in removing invaders. I dug a few more strawberry plants today, which are on the right side of the steps. On the left is a pot with mystery plants apparently left unidentified. Also, nicely identified but not easy to read after the rain, are calendula plants left by Helen. She tells me people eat the flowers in salads, as one does with nasturtiums. (I also eat nasturtium leaves.) Help yourself to anything on the steps, but don't take my houseplants or paper weights on the side!

Pat

What to see (and dig) in my Open Garden

2010-04-17T20:47:00.003-04:00

Since people tend to see more when they know what they are looking for, and an April garden is a bit sparse, I thought I would suggest what you might look for next Saturday, April 24, from 9:00 to 11:00 AM at 56 Gordonhurst Avenue, Montclair.. If you want to "Oh, wow!"" come on July 10 and/or Sept. 11.

If you haven't been here before, be sure to notice the solar panels on the roof (which can be seen only in the back of the back yard) and the greenhouse window sticking out of our kitchen window. My brother-in-law installed it from a commercial kit 30 years ago, and I am very pleased with it. You may have a similarly talented relative, or I suspect handyman Stephane Mortier would be glad to help you install one.

A cold frame that you are not likely to miss holds Burpees 2-season Chinese cabbage, planted in August and harvested all winter, and lettuce at various stages. More lettuce has recently germinated in the opposite side of my garden, and mature lettuce can be seen in the greenhouse window, where it has been harvested all winter. More lettuce has volunteered near the entrance to the inner garden.

Floating cover that admits both light and water is over some crops. This is used to keep crops warm in colder weather, but is now being used as protection from pests. I am currently protecting mature collards that we are eating now in an effort to deter wayward woodchucks. There is also some over broccoli because apparently broccoli leaves have become rabbit food. I use it for a couple months each spring to keep more traditional pests (insects and birds) off the seeds and seedlings of root crops -- carrots, parsnips, and beets this year, all planted in April. That is my biggest FC.

Wall of waters (WOWs) are around at least one tomato plant. I would have taken these off, but I knew you were coming. You will see lots of tomato plants. I started the sweet-100s (red) in January and the sun golds (yellow) in February. They both have flowers! Can you see any little tomatoes?

Other veggies include: garlic in odd spots; one kale plant; hukarei turnips, both some of respectable size and some that just germinated; newly planted-out celery just inside the inner garden, abundant arugula that we do eat but are primarily there to keep woodchucks from broccoli, small pak choi plants inside the fence that were supposed to protect the climbing peas; sugar snap peas readying to climb the fence apparently faster than their protectors; and shorter, earlier peas next to the grape vine. With luck, some corn and beans seedlings will be popping up to their left, sown where I removed the primary cold frame. Celery seedlings coddled inside and not appetizing to woodchucks are along the inside of the fence, interspersed with parsley, which is woodchuck food.

Flowers include bulbs and (probably still blooming) and lilacs. Columbine volunteers at odd spots. Shakespeare wrote repeatedly of "sweet
columbine." Bulbs were not brought from the Middle East until after his death, so I suspect columbine was the first flower he saw each spring.
Most exciting to me are the small red primroses in front of the holly tree and near to the curb, descended from those of my great-grandfather.

The anti-woodchuck plant (name unknown - can anyone inform me?) has planted itself in seven spots around the garden. Here's hoping it's successful! The Irish Spring soap stuffed in the fences keep away deer. successful this year! Vacant spots are still available for supersteak tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, zucchini, cucumbers, and basil. Their seedlings are now in the greenhouse window, but if you come back Saturday, May 22, 9-11 AM, you can see them planted in the ground.

Bring bag(s) and/or pot(s) if you want to dig and take home some strawberries, oregano, Dutch iris, fern, and/or periwinkle (aka myrtle, vinca) plants. You may bring digging tools, but I probably have enough for you to borrow. There are a couple of baby lilac bushes for the first-comers.

Helen wrote me the following on April 15. "Accuweather.com has predictions for the next 15 days. The lowest they predict is 39 degrees on Sun 4/18 and Friday 4/23." I am getting nervy about planting things out!

Pat

Freebees, pests, frosts?

2010-04-11T20:43:00.002-04:00

"A weed is something growing where it isn't wanted," is an old saw that I've been rewording this week into, "One person's pest is another's freebee." Strawberries are beginning to become a pest in my yard, but I look at the flowers that blossomed today with mouth-watering anticipation. Several folks pulled some strawberry plants yesterday, but there are more in a pot on the right of my from steps at 56 Gordonhurst Ave. Helpyourself to its contents. On the left side of the steps are two 3-paks of impatiens with 6 seedlings in each.

A much more serious pest is the woodchuck that my next door neighbor saw in his back yard. If anyone wants to take him, please feel free to do so. I watch my inch-high pea seedlings with entirely different emotions this year than ever before. I used to look at them with unmitigated joy, anticipating their growth and my harvest. This year I find myself wondering if I have committed them to a sudden early death. It occurred to me today that I don't have to put as many peas as usual into the soil this year. I don't HAVE to freeze 70 servings of sugar snaps. Brilliant insight! It reminds me of that old Pennsylvania Dutch saying my grandfather liked so much. "Ve grow too soon alt und too late schmart."

I used my newfound freedom this afternoon to dig compost into a plot, sow new lettuce and Hakurei seeds there, rake them in, and water it with my watering can. Much more satisfying than planting more peas!
Alas, the lettuce can fall victim to the woodchuck (or even a rabbit), but it's only a few weeks' eating, not the whole season. The Hakurei has been, apparently, molested by the skunks which usually dig between plants for grubs at night. They are very considerate with the tomato plants, but don't seem to perceive that the Hakurei turnips are there. Oh, well, I can transplant the overabundant ones to the empty spots.

At least I think those holes that appear in the mornings are due to skunks searching for grubs, which my garden is better off not having, because my mentor Bob McLean tells me so. Some of you have visited his garden diagonally across the street from mine. If you want to see it, you can ask during Open Gardens (9-11 on April 24 and May 22) and sometimes it is available. Bob told me recently that he began gardening in 1930, so he has lots of experience. (No, that's not a typo!)

We have not had frost later than this the past five springs. Does that mean I can take of the WOWs and plant out my other tomato plants? How I wish I had a definitive answer to that question! Alas, human perception of the future is imperfect.

Pat

Patience and Death in the garden

2010-04-07T20:38:00.002-04:00

One of you wrote that the Malabar seeds she took from me seemed not to germinate. I should have mentioned that they take at least three weeks to germinate, and then sit at less than a half inch high for another three weeks. No wonder they aren't too popular with Americans! Delayed gratification is not our forte.

Actually, most seeds take more than a week to germinate. After my birthday week, I sowed quite a few varieties in my greenhouse window in my own potting soil (eschewing the commercial stuff this year) and was startled at how long they took to pop up. That email plus my potting soil insecurity had me worrying, but it seems all is well. The basil and impatiens seedlings are tiny and prolific, but took at least 10 days to
start. I found some 12-packs in my cellar, and filled 3 of them. 36 TINY seedlings in mighty small spaces!

Another wrote that her seedlings have germinated but then die. She didn't say whether some or all die, and I realize there is a big difference. I've decided there are at least four categories of death of plants, which is very different from death of a pet.
I remember a student of mine long ago who did terribly on a math test. Afterward he told me that his pet turtle had died that morning, and he was too emotional to think. The turtle had been given to him at birth and he was very attached to it. I've never been nearly that attached to a plant.

Some death in the garden is good. I'm busy now cutting down dead irises, astilbe, and autumn sedum from last year, and it feels good as I see the new life rising below.
Some death is just "Oh, that's too bad," like the two of the 14 tomato plants I put out last month that I pulled out this week and the pak choi that just disappeared. This happens so often I just take it in stride. This time of year I try to have back-up seedlings, or just decide I had more than I need, as in these two cases.
Some death of plants is upsetting, as when an animal or person uproots a mature plant. I've had remarkably little of that in my experience.

This year the Grim Reaper has taken on new meaning in the form of Fear of Woodchucks. For almost 30 years sugar snap peas and broccoli were essential of my all-year eating. Last spring the woodchucks decimated them. This is far worse than one plant! Two years ago I froze 72 servings of peas after given lots away and binging on them at home. Last year I froze 4 servings. Most years I harvest fresh broccoli almost until Christmas and then eat the frozen stuff in the winter. Garden broccoli, fresh or frozen, is an entirely different food than what you buy in a store or restaurant. When Marion Nestle said she had established that the freshest broccoli available in NYC stores was 10 days old, I understood why.
I discovered a generous patch of new strawberry plants where I planted zinnias in my front yard last year. If folks stop by between 9:30 and 10:30 this Saturday morning, you can dig them out and take them away. They won't bear this year, but you can have a steady supply once they start. Let me know if you are coming if you can.
I wish someone could tell me if we will again have frost. It doesn't seem likely today, does it? Still, the punishment could be high if I guess wrong.

Pat

My lawn

2010-04-02T15:49:00.002-04:00

When I was raising children (including teen-agers), lawn care seemed very unimportant. I mowed mine with a non-power mower, and that was that.
I thought it probably wasn't the worst in the neighborhood, a standard that was plenty good enough. My children and career were far more important.

The summer of 1987 was my empty nest summer. That August I took my garden cart to the front yard after dinner each evening and weeded. I got better acquainted with my neighbors and felt some zen. Each evening for about three weeks I filled the garden cart with weeds from my 20' x 45' lawn. After scattering a bit of compost on the bare spots, I sowed "Lawns Alive" seeds from Gardens Alive. The lawn has looked fine for 22.5 years. Some say it is the best in the neighborhood.

The reason I went through that trouble was that TWO landscapers had told me, "If you don't have weeds, you don't get any." I had been picking up grass clippings to mulch my garden and they had proudly said, "There are no poisons on those grass clippings." Their statement about weeds was in response to my question, "Why does the lawn look so good?"

That's when I learned that you don't have to use chemicals or pesticides to have a good lawn. If I once got the weeds out, I might have a model lawn without them.
Their promise wasn't quite true. I do spend five minutes weeding my lawn by hand about six times a year. I probably spend a total of a half hour a year weeding my lawn. That's not much more than some people spend putting down chemicals, including shopping time.

A passer-by who claimed to be a part-time landscaper said that landscapers hawk fertilizers because they can charge $40 an application, for which they pay only $20 and it takes them only a few minutes to put it down. I don't know how true that is, but I do know that if you don't have weeds, pesticides are a waste of money among other problems. They are also strongly associated with dog and child cancer. One study concluded that dogs who play on a lawn with pesticides develop seven times as much cancer as those who play on a pesticide-free lawn.

If a part of my lawn looks a bit tired, I put on gloves and hand-scatter compost on that part of the lawn. That's fine fertilizer and seems to cure diseases without asking questions.

I have never used any power machinery on my lawn, which maintains the micro and worm life. Folks who care about national security or climate change will abstain from power machinery. Many of us believe that person-power lawn mowers are just as fast (or faster) than machine power lawn mowers anyway. Leaf blowers are simply unspeakable today.

Today six people came and removed over a foot-wide strip of strawberry plants that were invading my lawn. One of them asked what seeds I would sow in the empty strip. I told him that I haven't sown lawn seed since 1987. After my helpers left, I dug up the grass in the back yard that was invading my garden and transplanted it to the newly empty spot in the front yard. I hope to finish the job tomorrow. Strawberries win over grass, but grass wins over vegetables, so it's important to move things around if we are to maintain a suburban look.

My other advice in maintaining a lawn is to never water it. This is remarkably easy. Try it! Then your lawn's roots will go down deep. Your lawn will stay green when others are withering in a drought, no matter how frantically they water. After the water ban is lifted, your lawn will green up faster than the neighbors'.

Trina has converted her front yard to flowers and fruit trees, and that is nice. Another friend has shrubs surrounded by wood chips. You don't HAVE to have a lawn. When my back yard was being converted to vegetables, my mother said I had to maintain the front yard for children to play in, which made sense. Now I like having a lawn for the party-like "fairs" in the front yard during my open gardens. (The next will be Saturdays April 24 and May 22 from 9:00 to 11:00 AM.)

Also, it appeals to my educator instinct to show the world that you can have a lovely lawn with no poisons, chemicals, power machinery, or watering. Once established, it doesn't take much time. And it's fun!

Pat

P.S. Debbie responded to this with an email including the following, which I find extremely interesting. Why in the world would homeowners object to their landscapers using push mowers?
"I live on a street (in Livingston) with a sandwich shop on the corner frequented by many landscapers. A few while passing have given me the thumbs up and a few have stopped and said they wished their clients would allow them to push mow. It's much better for the grass."

Spring has sprung! Freebee plants to dig

2010-04-01T15:43:00.001-04:00

Today I finished planting the peas around my circular pea fence surrounded by tomato plants. It's time to work hard this lovely weekend on getting all the peas planted. I hope I harvest many this year! (as I have every year except last year for decades... may the woodchucks spare us!)
The wall-of-waters around the tomato plants have withstood the winds remarkably well, but two fell over today! Fortunately the tomato plants, now about a foot high, are remarkably resilient to falling WOWs. Amazingly, I now have a tomato FLOWER!!! Can this survive? How early can fresh tomatoes be harvested in NJ these days?

The raspberry bushes are showing green tidbits, so it's time to cut off the rest, which has pronounced itself dead. The fruit trees are budding, and the Macintosh actually showed some red in its blossoms today. The fruits trees were pruned and sprayed in February, but picking up the fallen branches is a nice activity for these lovely days now that the snow is gone.

The strawberry plants inform me they think they will take over my front yard. I have other plans for the yard, and I need help in removing the strawberry plants. Digging them hurts my wrists, but last year I discovered that visitors are willing to dig strawberry plants for me if I will let them take them home. It seems like a good trade! They probably won't bear this year, but next year, if you put them in a not-totally-shady place, you will probably have the first of a mighty tasty crop. I discovered a couple years ago that if you pick them when they are just turning red-pink, they ripen almost overnight on the counter and are delicious -- and humans eat them instead of birds, slugs, and squirrels!

I plan to be available tomorrow morning from 9:30 to 10:30 AM at 56 Gordonhurst for visitors who want to take home strawberry plants. I will provide trowels and a shovel, but you should bring a container in which to take them home, either a pot or a plastic bag. There are some Dutch iris, given to me by Mrs. Stroili, in my back yard that can be dug up too if anyone wants them. They are much smaller than the big Siberian irises, but a pretty purple and a week earlier.

I still have five containers of celery seedlings on the left of the front steps that can be picked up at any time. I will probably put some garlic there again, if I get a chance to edit it. Someone told me that garlic would keep away woodchucks, so I scattered it around my garden. It didn't have the desired effect, but I do have lots of garlic descended from that one bulb I bought years ago! I suspect that each garlic taken may have similar potential for the future.

Alas, the leaf blowers are back, interfering with our beautiful spring. The users seem oblivious to the damage to the soil, the health and happiness of neighbors, or the future of the human race (pollution and climate change). As I try to enjoy this glorious weather despite them, I keep remembering Puck's observation, "Lord, what fools these mortals be!"

Pat

Seedling hiatus

2010-03-21T15:41:00.000-04:00

Business" was brisk yesterday. I believe about a hundred plants left my steps. There isn't much there now, and won't be for a few days. I'll let you know if more is available next weekend.

Pat

Freebees, Spring!, Open Gardens

2010-03-19T21:22:00.003-04:00

Gardening in shorts! Whoda thunkit a week or two ago? What will a week from now be like? Meanwhile, it's great for all sun worshipers. My daughter says everyone is a sun worshiper these days.

The lettuce I sowed in the cold frame in January has gone crazy. I'm potting it up in garden soil, just digging out whole patches of seedlings. The pots are now on the right side of my steps at 56 Gordonhurst Avenue, Montclair. Each pot contains enough seedlings for a decent lettuce patch. If you want maximum yield, place them at 6" apart. If you have limited space, they will bear okay at 4" apart. Remember that lettuce is good only for a few weeks, so if you want a continual harvest, sow seeds again every 3-4 weeks. Also, :( woodchucks love lettuce. These are "leaf lettuce," which means you cut only the leaves you are going to eat that day and let the others grow until they are too bitter to enjoy. These seedlings came from outdoors and I expect you to put them outdoors, but it isn't illegal to coddle them in your kitchen.

I will put celery seedlings on the left side of the steps tomorrow morning first thing. These hatched in my greenhouse window, and I'm carefully potting them in potting soil. I'd suggest letting them grow in a sunny window before putting them out. They are tinyly (is that a legit taking only the celery stalks I will eat "today" and letting the plant regenerate. Treated this way, each container will probably feed a family celery for some time, possibly the entire season.

I've decided to put things in alphabetical order: Celery on the left and Lettuce on the right since we read left to right. I'm going to do the same with Purple and Yellow irises, where you have no other way to tell them apart: purple on the left and yellow on the right side of the steps. They have been getting invasive into my vegetable garden, and I've decided they must go. The books say to transplant irises in July, but then the vegetables must be risked to do iris editing, so I'm digging
them today and tomorrow. They are in 6" pots, but you don't need to take the contents of an entire pot; please bring a bag to protect your vehicle. No guarantees on any porch offerings, of course.

There is also a black pot with a mystery plant. I think they are garlic, which are all over my back yard, but this is the first time they have appeared in the front yard. Why not? Anyway, they were cozying up to my great-grandfather's primrose plant, and I decided the plant needed to be relieved of the competition. If you put one back into your soil at about the same depth as it was before, I suspect you will have a garlic bulb late this spring. The alternative, I think, is that you will have a flower sooner or next spring. I bought one garlic bulb years ago, and these are the descendents. I have more than I can use, and give many away.

Necole offered to put her leftover seeds on my front steps for others to take, and I have accepted. I may put out some of my own if I get a round tuit. You are welcome to put your left-overs there, or take whatever you want. A friend brought weights, which are next to the steps, that we use for hand-outs at Open Gardens, and they can be used to keep seed packets from blowing away. I don't mind your putting LABELED seedlings (as well as seeds) on my front steps if you have some to share.

The next two open gardens will be Saturdays April 24 and May 22. My garden will be open from 9-11 AM those days with displays in the front yard. All humans over the age of three are welcome. There will be a tour both days from 9:00 AM to noon. If you want to open your garden at one or both of those times, let me know. Already I have two volunteers for both dates, but we are glad for many.

My Hakurei turnips have germinated. Spring is exciting! I doubt that we will have a blizzard again, but I do expect frost (incredible to contemplate today) so my dozen tomato plants are protected by
wall-of-waters. I have also planted out my pac choi along the fence to defend peas against woodchucks. I put arugula (which the woodchucks disdain) with my broccoli in the hope of harvesting some of the latter this year. Here's hoping we all have good harvests, eaten by humans!

Pat

Seedlings gone; collard plant-outs, toms

2010-03-11T15:39:00.001-05:00

About 40 arugula and pac choi seedlings were taken from my front steps before dinner time yesterday, and that is that. Next week it looks likely that IF I have time, there may be some celery seedlings, germinating inside, and lettuce -- that I sowed in the cold frame many weeks ago! I guess they liked the warmer weather. I had thought that the moisture there wasn't enough for seeds. I had never before tried sowing seeds in a cold frame, where I don't water from above, but it seems they were just waiting for a better time. There are an atrocious number popping up now. I am, apparently, very wasteful with seeds. :(

I have now put out all my collard plants. I put out two on Sunday, and one was missing two leaves Monday morning. So I've put a floating cover over the whole collards bed, and they seem to like it.
Less confidently, I now have three tomato plants outside in wall-of-waters. They look very happy now. I do hope that the second week of March is okay in this new climate.
One of you asked how I keep the wall-of-waters from falling over. I don't always, but the tomato plants are amazingly tolerant of being crushed by a WOW. I try to make the soil as level as I can before I put it into place, and I try to even it around the plant so it doesn't lean in one direction. If you can't visualize a WOW, there are photos of them on both my website and my blog. I may be overly bold this year, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Both early tomatoes and protected peas (because woodchucks don't like tomato plants and peas can climb up safely amid them) are worthy goals in my value system.

Pat

Freebees and planting out tomatoes

2010-03-10T15:34:00.002-05:00

I can't believe that only one person was interested in free arugula or pac choi seedings; probably burying the offer in the middle of a long email did me in. Anyway, there are now arugula seedlings on the LEFT side of the steps at 56 Gordonhurst Avenue, and pac choi seedlings on the right -- looking for a good home. Both are in containers that may last a while in a south-facing window.
It probably wouldn't be outrageous (or murderous) to put them outside now, but I recommend a window until the seedlings are as tall as their container if you do have a south or eastern facing window sill.

Yes, we surely will have more frost, and possibly more snow. Knowing that, I am "taken in" by this lovely spring weather, and this morning Fred and I put out the large pea fence. My plan this afternoon is to put out some senior tomato plants, started in January, under wall-of-waters so that they can be large enough to protect the peas, which I will plant later than usual, from roaming groundhog arms. Groundhogs (aka "woodchucks") don't seem to care for tomato PLANTS, although they are happy to take bites out of large tomatoes. The tomatoes on these plants will be tiny, beneath the dignity of a groundhog.
I've been scrambling to finish up my pruning, much too late. However, pruning in heavy snow on the ground was unappealing, not to mention on snow-laden trees. Here's hoping!

Pat

Mistake not punished

2010-03-02T20:32:00.002-05:00

I didn't believe last week that we were going to have a serious snow storm. After all, we had already had enough snow for one winter. Furthermore, "my" radio stations were predicting only a light dusting. I did have the foresight to dig enough carrots last Tuesday for several days, but I didn't bother to close the cold frames. My poor babies! How could I? How were they doing under this snow?

Friday I went out and tried to budge the lids. No way. They were frozen in the slightly open position. Some of the heads that I could see through the slit weren't too bad, but anything under the opening was, of course, completely snow-covered. I shoveled and pushed what snow I could off the top of the cold frame out of which I am regularly picking dinner.
It was tricky to do with the lid at a slant while trying to avoid pushing more snow into the garden below. After the other snow storms I've had a flat surface where it was much easier to first push the major snow off and then brush the remainder.

Saturday I could move the lids, and I saw that disaster had not hit. Even some of the 2" lettuce plants were still standing tall. Two heads of Chinese cabbage looked near dead, and I cut them for eating what was edible. However, the biggie in the back, hard to reach, was doing just fine. It would be okay to harvest Sunday morning and show off at the ethical eating fair, although to pick it I would have to walk inside the cold frame, which I don't do except on special occasions.
Meanwhile, inside during the snow I was having a remarkable case of potting soil lust. I need far more potting soil this winter than previously, partially because I've decided not to buy any this year, but mostly because I started seeds so early and now have tomato and collards plants outgrowing their homes. One can't get top soil or compost from under a foot of snow!

Yesterday, I dug more carrots, and then easily dug a lasagna pan of top soil from that bed. Getting compost was another matter. WHERE was it under the snow? Fortunately, I guessed right, and was able to dig a decent amount to take inside. Next year I must remember to put bags of leaves on top of easily diggable compost, both to mark the place and to keep it unfrozen. My new gardening patterns mean that I need potting soil when it isn't trivial to acquire.
Sunday morning I took my one-foot-plus Chinese cabbage and went off (with hand-outs) to the ethical food fair. It was a delightful, glorious fair with many congenial people, both old friends and new recruits to my message. One aspect made me uncomfortable, and I've decided to share my discomfort in my compulsive effort to improve the world. The children were wonderful. I met a surprising number of not-full-grown, respectful people with whom I had interesting conversations.
However, the full-sized people had an amazing predilection to try to touch my beautiful Chinese cabbage. I felt like I was fending off a group of oversized toddlers. "That's my food! Don't touch it!"
I mentioned the experience to a friend, and she said this is common behavior in supermarkets. People touch the vegetables, even those they won't buy! Since Fred and I don't buy groceries, we don't know present customs about such things.
My friend added that she had been upset this week by a related incident. A customer decided at the check-out counter that she did not want to buy a bagel she had put in her order. The clerk threw it into the garbage, saying it was illegal to do anything else with it. My friend thought of all the hungry people nearby who would have enjoyed that bagel.

I said, "You mean it is illegal to sell a bagel that someone has touched, but it is customary for people to paw over the vegetables?"
I find myself reflecting that the fact that neither Fred nor I have had a cold (or flu) in the past three years. It might not be entirely due to our healthy lifestyle, including fresh organic food. How much are widespread infectious diseases due to customs in our supermarkets? The sharing of germs on vegetables? Should we be rethinking such customs?
Thoughtfully yours,
Pat

Today's Open Garden (and pesticide action)

2010-02-20T21:55:00.002-05:00

It turns out I have just as much to say in February about my garden as in May. Hmm... Maybe I have much to say whenever I'm awake? Anyway, people kept asking questions for the whole half hour, and I enjoyed today's impromptu Open Garden very much. About a dozen people showed up, both old friends and some people I haven't met before.

I dug some carrots, and people commented about how soft and easy to dig the soil was. We observed the effectiveness of the bags of leaves in keeping it unfrozen, but afterward I realized that maybe they haven't seen soil so full of organic matter before. Unlike "natural" Montclair clay, it's easy to run your fingers through my garden soil, but that's because over all the years, it has absorbed LOTS of organic matter.

There were comments about the two different appearances of my Chinese cabbage this year. One group is dark green and spread out as it usually is. The other has been infected with some kind of disease or invader. I cut out the affected parts when I prepare it for stir fries, but the result is that I have cut off the outer leaves and the inner ones have "headed up." I so routinely cut off the outer leaves of the heads while harvesting that I hadn't really noticed the difference between the two types before my visitors commented on it.

Some people walked back in the yard in the snow to see our solar panels, and one hardy soul walked all the way back to inspect my compost heap, which I'm not sure she found worth the effort. It still grows these days, but less regularly. I keep a black 1' pot outside my kitchen door into which I put compostables, and then make the pilgrimage to the compost heap only every few days in the snow. The compostables cause no trouble in this weather; in warmer weather they would soon stink and probably attract unwanted visitors.

Someone asked about the practice of gardening only on top of one's native soil, buying soil ingredients. This sounds very expensive to me and unnecessarily consumptive of petroleum. I use only my own compost (from the garden and kitchen), the hundred bags of leaves that Fred brings me each autumn (as he drives around anyway, not using extra petroleum), and others' grass clippings that I use as mulch.

One person asked where I get the grass clippings. "From the neighbors." Nancy was next to me the first time this question was asked and observed with a twinkle in her eye that the gardeners on this block compete for the bags of grass clippings that appear on nearby curbs. I nodded, grinning back. It can become quite competitive, but we have several successful organic gardens on this block. Sometimes I wheel in grass clippings in my garden cart from nearby blocks.
Twice (the beginning and the end of the time) people asked, "Don't you care about the pesticides on the grass clippings that you pick up?" Yes, I care very much in the large, but in the small I figure that by the time the pesticide has been washed into my neighbor's lawn, and the residue into my garden, what grows in that soil is lots better than anything I can buy -- especially if freshness counts. "I live in the metropolitan New York area on planet earth. I'm not going to get perfection."

Both my parents were chemistry majors in college. Shortly before she died 25 years ago, my mother mused, "When we were young, we thought chemistry would save the world. Now we wonder if it has destroyed it." My father lived 14 more years and was less articulate, but he would occasionally blurt out, "These chemicals are dangerous! Dangerous! People don't realize it, but they are dangerous." Yes, I do care -- very much.

This afternoon my email included a message from the Pesticide Action Network of North America, and I signed their petition at http://www.panna.org because of the following statement.
"Thanks in part to our advocacy efforts with partners, EPA is currently considering three related actions that would go a long way towards addressing the realities of pesticide drift exposure in farming communities: stronger buffer zones, better drift labeling, and updated risk assessments. Arcane? Yes. And meaningful, too."

So my visitors' questions have caused me to mix the personal with the political. Yes, I use my neighbors' grass clippings, ignoring what was put on them and commenting that the perfect can be the enemy of the good. But yes, I care very much about the pesticide issue, and more generally the effects of chemicals on modern human life.

I enjoy showing how easy and pleasant it is to grow food without intentionally using any chemicals. And today was a fun time of sharing lots of ideas with great people!

Pat

Harvests

2010-02-14T22:14:00.002-05:00

The lettuce I sowed in my kitchen windowsill in January is now being harvested there, and yum! On Tuesday I had the foresight (snow being correctly predicted for Wednesday) to harvest lots of carrots, which I am now cleaning and eating, and to cover my Chinese cabbage cold frame with plastic, so we did indeed have fresh stir-fry for dinner Friday. I also planted out some of the smaller January lettuce seedlings into the other cold frame and they look happy there now. It's a good time to sow lettuce seeds either in the cold frame or under floating cover for an April harvest, so I did that too. For many years before I had cold frames I sowed lettuce seeds in January or February under floating cover for successful April harvests.

Ah! The peaches. Jerry wrote that I won't have mold disaster this summer if I spray them this month with either sulfur or copper spray. Skeptical, I checked with the Organic Consumer's Association, and they recommend these and say they are organic. Alas, I don't see either in the Garden's Alive catalog. Does anyone know where one can buy them either around here or from a catalog?

[2/18 comment: Helen pointed out Soap Shield "liquid copper fungicide" from Gardens Alive is available at http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=8066 I phoned 513-354-1482 this morning and ordered a pint of #8066 for $13.95. It claims to do all the things for fruit trees that my peaches need. We'll see if I get a peach harvest this summer!]

My pruning and spraying was coming along nicely until Wednesday's storm. Maybe I can do a bit more later today while wading in the snow. We'll see. We usually have more snow-free days in February for happier pruning.

I had an unprecedented event this week, a common occurrence for a gardener. My first full-sized daffodil appeared to be about to bloom, but only the top half was there when it did! It has only the tree top petals, and the cup looks as if someone cut off the bottom half with a razor. I'm innocent. Has anyone else seen anything like this? What causes it? Life is mysterious.

Pat

Seed ordering and starting

2010-02-14T22:02:00.002-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Isn't this a nice pick-me-up in mid-winter?

It's a good time for settling in with seed catalogs and deciding what your 2010 crop will be. Fedco, by far the cheapest source of seeds, will take orders only up to March 19 -- including mailing time. The sooner you get them ordered, the sooner the seeds will come.
Is there any hurry? It occurred to me that our last frost MIGHT be only about six weeks away. Last year's was about April 9, but the previous three years had no frost in April. The official frost-free day is May 15 in this region, and that was legitimate when I started gardening, but if you delay your planting until then, you're more of a climate-change-denier than I'm used to associating with.
That six week horizon makes it a good time to start broccoli and early tomatoes, which I did this week. The broccoli will do fine, woodchucks willing ( :( ), but the tomatoes will need serious protection or large pots indoors by early April.

Back to seed ordering...

From Johnny's Selected Seeds I recommend hakurei turnips, which are better than radishes and have much the same growing habits, and nufar basil, which claims to be wilt-free, and I have found it so. Three years ago all my basil wilted, but the past two years I've had great harvests. From Burpee's I recommend 2-season hybrid Chinese cabbage, which I have been eating this week from my cold frame, green goliath broccoli, which does better in my garden than other
varieties (woodchucks still willing), and Burpee's supersteak tomatoes, which I make into sauce and freeze and which had a glorious harvest last year. Enjoy those catalogs, and maybe some sowing of seeds!

Pat

Seedings and pruning

2010-01-30T18:07:00.002-05:00

My collard and tomato seedlings have germinated! Some of you ask how long seeds last, so this week's information is worth reporting. I collected the collard seeds from my own plants in 2005. The sweet-100 tomatoes came from a Fedco package dated 2007. Seeds last a while.

A less successful experiment this winter is parsley. It does grow in the window sill, but its yield is very sparse compared to lettuce, and I won't do this again, although I AM eating the yield now.

I'm relieved to say that the recent batch of carrots I pulled from the garden are MUCH larger than earlier ones. If there is a very high surface-area-to-volume ratio, it takes a long, long time to prepare the carrots for eating. These "new" ones are much less time-consuming and we're eating more carrots -- and lots of alfalfa sprouts.

It's the time of year to prune fruit trees and vines. My apples, pears,
peaches, plums, grapes, and kiwi keep me busy in nice days throughout February. I spray with dormant oil as I go, and this seems fine for the apples and pears. Jerry's wife told him that if he didn't have a better peach yield, she would insist they cut down the tree, and he managed to get a fine yield via a formidable regimen of spraying. I'm not that committed, and my peaches have been nothing to brag about in recent years.

Fred doesn't threaten my peach tree, so I think I'll try to be a BIT more conscientious with dormant oil this year. John, who sold me the tree, was sure we wouldn't get decent harvests without lots of spraying, but for several years we did. I wonder what happened since. I guess someone moved in and I haven't been able to get them out.

The written rules for pruning fruit trees are (1) remove any branch that grows upward because it won't yield and (2) remove branches that cross and interfere with other branches. I'm sure that professional tree growers have lots more knowledge than that, but I seem to be able to stumble along and get decent pear and apple yields with only these guidelines.

Grapevines can be cut all the way back to the sturdy pieces that sit on your supports. Kiwi fruit grows on first-year vines, so the challenge is to figure what bore last year and cut it off without removing next year's prospects. Apparently I did it right last year. I had an enormous kiwi yield this fall. Does that mean I can repeat that feat? We shall see.

Pat

Winter experiments

2010-01-19T18:05:00.001-05:00

I'm having several new ventures this winter. Most rewarding thus far has been the lettuce I'm raising in my kitchen greenhouse window. It tastes wonderful! I started a second crop a couple of weeks ago, and the window has an overabundance of lettuce, some tasty now and some with promise for the future.

The lettuce has germinated so well in my homemade potting soil, that I was contemplating using it in preference to the expensive potting soil, with which I have enriched Burpees in previous years. Then someone gave me a "salsa kit" with its own potting soil, which I just used to start collards and sweet-100 tomatoes. Usually I don't start collards in the winter because there are so many in the garden, but the woodchucks made them rather sparse, and this is my insurance for a decent greens March-April harvest.

Starting tomatoes in January is an activity I never did before. This time last year I "knew" that tomatoes started in January wouldn't live till maturity. However, in March Renae offered me some tomato plants, and I noticed they had "Jan. 9" scrawled on the pot. Yes, she told me, she had started them in January. They protected some of the few sugar snap pea plant to survive the woodchuck invasion last spring. So this year I'm starting tomatoes in January, intending to start more next month in case the books are right. Meanwhile, I'll put these around the circular pea climber under walls of water when they have outgrown their house-bound pots.

In today's warmer weather I dug lots of carrots. They're small this year because of being nipped repeatedly by woodchucks, but there are many of them. There was enough soft (non-frozen) soil for me to take some to put in my oven, where eventually I will bake it to make more potting soil.

The pak choi seems to be surviving these storms and cold. They look dead when it's appropriate, but in today's warmer weather they were telling me they think they have a future. They are lining my large fence to, hopefully, protect the peas next spring as their mother did a few pea plants last year.
The Chinese cabbage is as welcome as ever, not an experiment. It's good to have some old standbys to eat fresh every three dinners! The many new activities remind me that the more you learn about gardening, the more there is to learn -- like most of life.

Pat

Trees, kale, tomatoes

2010-01-06T18:02:00.003-05:00

I have cut up five of our neighbors' Christmas trees in the past three days, and put the branches under our blueberries. The neighbors put their trees out on the curb, where they are handy for Fred to drag home. Others are available, if you want to do likewise. I'm told azaleas and other acid-loving bushes appreciate them too.
I planted the blueberry bushes over 20 years ago. They came from a now-defunct mail order house and were a series of varieties that bear over a significant period. I planted them down the neighbors' driveway, and have told the neighbors (five families have lived there since they were planted) that they could pick any they could reach from their driveway. That leaves plenty for me.

Their only fertilizer over the past 20 years has been Christmas trees. They bear well, so that seems to be adequate. It's a bit of a project, but how many outside activities entice one on a sunny January day?

Blueberries require lots of picking time per calorie, so it helps to have children around the house to pick them. However, I can pick enough for a tasty addition to breakfast. Raspberries yield far more calories per fifteen minutes if filling your tummy is the goal.

On Monday I admired my single kale plant that had survived the autumn assault by predators. Today I noticed that only the stems are left. WHO would have done that?!!! It isn't insect damage. I haven't noticed any marauders around recently. Woodchucks should be deep into a long winter's sleep.
When my kids were here, our salad green in winter was kale, which grew abundantly in the fall and waited patiently to be picked in winter. I would break it off the stem, let it thaw in the kitchen, and wash it off for a very fresh salad. Now our winter salad green is primarily lettuce growing in the kitchen greenhouse window -- thank goodness!

The good (and amazing) news is that Fred and I shared a garden tomato last evening, January 5!!! We had another on New Year's Eve. These tomatoes are not imposing, but they are almost as big as plums -- and they are ripening in January. This is unprecedented. A garden is full of surprises, some much more pleasant than others -- like life.

Pat

Brrrr...

2009-12-19T17:58:00.004-05:00

I'm glad I started sprouting alfalfa indoors a couple of days ago. It's time for a winter diet!
This morning, having heard a snowy prediction, I harvested pac choi and chinese cabbage for tomorrow's dinner. I usually harvest just before eating, but one day in the frig will yield me more vitamins than most Americans get from their greens. The pac choi is looking ready to hibernate. They've had a good yield recently along the fence, but the past 48 hours have seen a major change in the garden. Their parent protected the vines that yielded some sugar snap peas last spring, so I'm hoping its many offspring will flourish again when the weather warms in time to give me a decent yield of peas even if the anti-woodchuck plants aren't as effective as promised. There are many more this year, scattered in sensible places, so they may be.
Meanwhile, it's time to start picking chinese cabbage from the cold frame for a dinner of fresh stir-fry greens every three evenings for the next three months. This morning I closed both cold frames and put a large plastic sheet over the one with the mature chinese cabbage. Chip suggested this, and it works. I remove (brush or shovel) the snow, and then can open the cold frame for Wednesday's dinner. Until he suggested the plastic, the frame would be frozen shut for days at a time. The plastic keeps out the snow and ice.

I also thoroughly picked the arugula. Much of it looks the way I would if I had spent the recent two nights as it did, but some is still edible. I picked that. I don't know whether it will revive in March, but I think I'll leave it undisturbed and find out. If I have the opportunity, I may cover some of it with floating cover.
I covered the meager senior collard plant with floating cover this morning. I thought I wouldn't be able to put the "fixers" in the ground, but I could. I hope the green worms that make lace of collards die over the winter, and the plants survive. They have survived without floating cover in the past, but usually from a stronger start.

Inside I still have tomatoes in the frig for salads. It looks like they will last beyond Christmas this year, which is unprecedented. When they are gone, I will begin harvesting carrots. A few days ago I covered the carrots, parsnips, and Jerusalem artichokes with plastic bags of leaves, so they will be available all winter.
I have lettuce growing in my green house window, so there will be some leafy green to supplement the bean sprouts and carrots for winter salads. I have one valiant kale plant that will provide greens for some salads. When I was raising kids, I had lots of kale (before those green worms found us!) and served it raw for salad greens all winter long. It is much sweeter fresh in the winter than you might think from summer
harvests or purchases. I'd break off leaves and let them thaw, of course, before serving them in a salad.

Guess what I ate in the garden today? Yup! One last raspberry. It wasn't sweet, but it was as red as a raspberry should be, and it was welcome in my mouth. Change is happening.

Pat

December surprises:

2009-12-04T17:52:00.002-05:00

Anyone who doubts climate change is not a gardener. Much of it is pleasant in NJ, but change is certainly afoot!
My tomato year is surely different. Four weeks ago today, when frost was correctly predicted for that night, I picked what I thought were all the tomatoes in the garden. As predicted, the vines were all black the next morning. But I kept finding tomatoes! Oddly enough, most were still edible, or at least were after they ripened. I conclude that the vines are killed before the fruit.
I have since determined that the same is true for peppers and eggplant. The peppers I missed on the drooping plants were fine for eating raw. We ate our last raw peppers this evening, despite my farmer-uncle's belief that they last only two weeks in the refrigerator.
Today AGAIN I found an eggplant on a hidden vine. It is soft, but judging by its predecessors in the past month, it will be a tasty addition to stir-fries. I never tried eating tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants picked after a killing frost before, but, in truth, I've never found so many before. Messy gardener!

In the front yard the chrysanthemums are no longer blooming, but the alyssm blooms on! I never thought of alyssm as an after-frost plant before. The zinnias, as expected, went black 4 weeks ago, both the plants and the flowers -- except for those I picked the day before the frost. I now have one last chrysanthemum in my table bouquet along with alyssm and azalea branches, which are a beautiful red and green now -- and need to be pruned. The holly berries are thriving, of course, but I can wait until next week and mix them with the white daffodils inside. I brought in some impatiens plants that tucked themselves near my chimney and were still alive two weeks ago after their friends were long frost-killed. They are now bearing flowers in my greenhouse window, as is a nasturtium plant I took in before frost.
Back inside, I covered my kitchen counter with tomatoes (only a slight exaggeration) four weeks ago, and then took two boxes of green tomatoes, wrapped in black and white newspaper, to the cold cellar. For the past four weeks we have eaten fresh tomatoes every evening from the counter. Some rot on one side and are fine on the other. We've eaten, therefore, lots of partial tomatoes, but one doesn't put an entire supersteak into one's mouth anyway. Tomatoes that turned red without any blemishes I put in a small container in the refrigerator. I have six such small containers now.
When I had no red tomatoes on the counter this week, I went to the cold cellar. Surprise! There were many that were red, and some that had rotted, making the box containing them fit only for the garbage. Now we have a whole new supply of to-be-edited tomatoes, and some green ones still in the cellar. It's been many years that I've eaten tomatoes well into December, and I like it.
Each day I pick a stalk of celery, and we share it in our dinner salad. The arugula is abundant still for a basic salad green, and some days we enjoy the lettuce from the plants that the woodchucks left behind. Salads are still good here.
The pac choi children of last year's volunteer plant that protected pea plants when it revived in the spring are doing well, and we're enjoying them in stir-fries. I hope they protect the peas next year if our abundant anti-woodchuck plants don't work any better next year than this.
I made a mistake in protecting my collards. I put floating cover over them, but it apparently kept the bad guys inside. I took it off and they are flourishing. David said they were victims of a green worm, and I confirmed that in my own mind when I found one in my pac choi harvest.
Alas, they have affected my Chinese cabbage in my cold frame, but I'm still hoping for good stir-fries in February. Much still looks good.
Would you believe I nibbled on sweet raspberries today? I harvested enough for breakfast toppings for days after the "killing" frost, but since then it's just been nibbles in the garden. I didn't count how many I harvested today, but it might have been enough for breakfast if I had engaged in delayed gratification. They were mighty good from the vine, and each one I found I thought was just one last treat. I don't remember such treats in December before. But, then, who ever heard of temperatures in the 60's in December before?

Pat

Flowers and bulbs for winter and early spring

2009-11-12T17:47:00.004-05:00

I haven't reviewed the history recently, but as I remember, bulbs were brought from the Middle East to Europe in the early 1600's and became wildly popular. The prices of tulip bulbs skyrocketed in the "tulip craze." However, in 1632 there were enough for all, and the prices crashed, losing many a fortune.
Since then those of us who experience winter can enjoy flowers all year round. I do, and some of you have asked for a more detailed description of what I do. First I buy bulbs, and I believe you still can from garden centers near here. If my act is together, I buy them from Fedco before their August deadline. They are much cheaper, but inconvenient and their catalog is black and white. If I miss that, Dutch Gardens takes orders much later. I've been completely satisfied with the quality of bulbs from both, and I haven't heard any bad reports from local garden centers.
The first bulbs to bloom are "paperwhites," a daffodil that grows in water. I have two ancient low glass vases in which I always keep gravel to hold the paperwhite bulbs. One on this year's ten began blossoming two weeks ago, which is a delightful addition to my kitchen, but they usually begin around Thanksgiving and continue through December, a lovely addition to a bouquet of holly.

All other bulbs for winter go into a pot with the homemade potting soil that I have described before. The others go into the ground before it freezes, but after the annuals have been killed off in the first frost (last Friday). Some of these "naturalize," which is a jargon word meaning that they will reproduce in situ and you don't have to replace them. Others must be replaced each year if you are to enjoy them in the early spring. All the bulbs for sale can go into our ground, but only some, they say, can be "forced," the word for growing them indoors in winter.
My house was built in 1925 and has a cold cellar, which is colder than the rest of the house but warmer than outside. This is what the bulbs need. In Florida people who want tulips dig theirs up each fall and put them in the refrigerator for winter because they don't perform if they have only Florida's "warm" winter weather. My daughter in MA puts them in the back of her attached garage, which seems to work. Most cellars in Montclair have a colder spot that would do.
The recommended crocus for forcing is "flower record," a beautiful purple crocus to enjoy in January. Tete-a-tete daffodils are a miniature daffodil that blooms shortly thereafter. Then delft hyacinths and many daffodils, including King Arthur, bloom. The last forced bulbs that I enjoy are triumph tulips. In truth, I have not tried many other bulbs since these bring me such pleasure. By the time the triumphs are finished indoors, I have a mass of daffodils at the back of my property, planted from bulbs of previous year that I can pick abundantly.
When I began gardening, I remembered Shakespeare's oft-used phrase, "sweet columbine." He wrote around 1600 in England, and I now suspect that columbine was the first flower he saw after a flower-less winter. No wonder it seemed so sweet! It still is, but it is just one more flower in my year-round supply.
Flowers are not as essential for life as vegetables, but if you like them, they are worth cultivating. European and North American flower shops are importing flowers from tropical regions, and their cultivation is doing some terrible damage to previously beautiful places. Furthermore, we computed in my math class last month that at present rates, the known supply of petroleum will be gone in 38 years. That will put a real crimp in transporting flowers (which also need refrigeration,
as well as transport fuel), and we might as well learn to grow them locally. Of course, my bulbs come from Holland, but they are much easier to transport than fragile flowers, and if Holland can grow bulbs, so can New Jersey, given an incentive.
Meanwhile, I enjoy watching the bulbs grow under my care. In the cellar I water all the pots (24 of them now!) once a week or so. When the plants grow to 2" high, I bring them to my greenhouse window (any old window will do), and start watering them (almost) every day. I can put them in a tray of water if I go away for a week or less in January, and they seem happy there. This year I also brought in a nasturtium and two impatiens plants that seem to be thriving in my greenhouse window, but it's probably too late for you to do that. However, life is surprising. My impatiens next to the road all crumbled last Friday, but those in the corner between the house and the chimney have happy blossoms today!

Pat

P.S. Another surprise is that I am still harvesting raspberries, but the kiwi vine became totally bare in Friday's frost.

After frost

2009-11-11T17:44:00.002-05:00

Last Friday night was one of the most emphatic "first frosts" that I can remember. Thursday "they" predicted frost Friday night. Friday the summer garden was there. Saturday black was the dominant color. Of course, we are all beginning gardeners in that we are all still learning and surprised. Overnight the tomato, eggplant, and zinnia plants went black, as expected. The pepper plants went limp, despite their burlap coverings, as did the nasturtiums (so beautiful the previous day!) and the Malabar spinach.
The pak choi, chinese cabbage, arugula, lettuce, carrots, parsnips, celery and parsley seem to revel in their newfound freedom, intense green amid the dead. I don't remember how beautiful the alyssm (sp?) looked after frost. Of course, I never allowed so many plants to live until I dug up this spring the lawn between the street and sidewalk. They are in beautiful contrast to what I called a mystery plant this spring, but seems to be "swan's neck." It has brilliant red leaves now in beautiful contrast to the white alyssm. Down the side of the property are chrysanthemums. Right now the front lawn is raked and mowed, and it's worth enjoying if you are nearby. Remember that I haven't used any poisons, chemicals, power machinery, or watered mylawn in the past 34 years. There are more important goals in life than a pretty front lawn, but those who think that it requires life-killing practices should
look at 56 Gordonhurst Avenue now.

Inside I have washed the peppers I picked last Friday, saved some for fresh salads, and chopped and froze the rest. We're enjoying eggplant parmesan M-W-F this week, as I use up the ones I picked Friday. Unlike peppers, even the very little eggplants taste just fine. I peel and slice eggplants, dip them in an egg-and-milk mixture, and then in flavored bread crumbs, and saut them in olive oil. Then in a casserole, I alternate a layer of eggplant, one of grated mozzarella cheese, and one of homemade
tomato sauce. Yum!
The many picked tomatoes do not need any preservation or refrigeration. The greenest I have layered in black-and-white newspaper in boxes and put in the cold cellar. Maybe they will last for weeks. Many grace my counters. This way I can keep an eye on them as they ripen or rot. As they ripen, I use them in salads. This year for the first time I saw some AFTER the frost that seemed worth picking. They don't seem to have rotted yet on my counter, so maybe the fruit survived what killed the rest of the plant.
One of you asked how much I eat tomatoes. We started with the little ones late this past June, and will have supersteaks for, I think, weeks yet. During those months homegrown tomatoes were always part of our dinners. I like this lifestyle! Unlike some other veggies, tomatoes are easy to grow in this climate, and homegrown are the best by far.
Soon I will begin sowing winter rye where crops have died, but first I have to remove those crops, which is no small task. Meanwhile, Fred brings home about a hundred bag of others' leaves, and I move them to the back yard for storage. "Gardening" continues!

Pat

Frost tomorrow night, two mistakes

2009-11-05T17:37:00.002-05:00

I'm quite sure now that I have heard TWO warnings that frost may hit our region tomorrow (Friday) night. Gardeners alert! Suggestions below.
Last evening I made two mistakes that may interest this list. One was that I "heard" at the 5:00 PM news that there would be a low of 33 degrees. I spent the next half hour doing what I describe below, only to hear a "low of 43 degrees" at the 5:30 news. I guess I heard wrong at 5:00.
About the same time Anita knocked at our door and told Fred that she had seen bales of straw on Broad Street near the Shoprite. He grabbed a shopping list and took off while I was frantic in the back yard. When he came back and told me he had brought home "a bale" of straw, I wasn't as grateful as I might have been. I reminded him that last year I used two bales. Obligingly, later in the evening he brought home another.
When I saw the bales this morning, I saw I had made mistake #2.

These bales are three times the size of any I've seen before! One of them covered all my strawberries more deeply today than they have ever been covered before.
Anyone want a big bale of straw? If so, we'll put it out for you. It will spend the night in our garage where it will stay dry. A soaked bale of that size could break a human back.
I've heard about "production" (actually of consumption) of a reported number of barrels of oil so much, that I assume "barrels" is a constant volume. Apparently bales of straw are not. Oh, well.
We all make mistakes. I tell my students that often. Internalizing it is important, I believe, for enjoying mathematics -- and accepting mistakes is not easy in their test-driven lives.
Back to my other mistake last evening. My basil and Malabar spinach had already succumbed to the cold, so I ran around tending to the peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes. Since the eggplants and tomatoes have been abundant this year and I have already frozen lots of them, I first concentrated on the peppers. I picked the large ones (some of which were turning reddish!) and covered those not ready to eat with burlap. I will cut up and freeze those that I don't think we can eat "fresh," having been stored in the refrigerator.
I then harvested enough eggplant for tomorrow's dinner and Monday's, and perhaps a few more. I wonder whether they can be eaten after spending a night frozen. I have tonight to decide whether I'll pick all the rest tomorrow -- and all day to do it if I decide to do so.
Earlier yesterday I looked at my brown tomato PLANTS, and thought that the tomatoes would be just as healthy inside -- and less vulnerable. So I had started picking during the day. I picked more in the evening, and will pick more tomorrow. I have put green ones in a box, separating them all with black and white newspaper. It's been years since I've had enough late tomatoes to hope some will still be ripening during the holidays, and I hadn't realized how much color has taken over newspapers since. I suspect that color wrappings for tomatoes is less healthy than black and white, so we've scrounged around for the old-fashioned type. The ones that have turned slightly red are abundant on my kitchen counter.
I picked a bouquet of annual flowers this afternoon, and will pick another tomorrow. I'm happy to report my first bulb is blooming, so we don't anticipate the end of flowers for the winter. But that's the topic of another email (as one of you requested)!

Pat

Kiwi, Malabar, leaves, straw?

2009-11-03T17:33:00.003-05:00

It's been week of surprises. The nicest was the discovery of an enormous crop of Arctic kiwi. They are scheduled to ripen in "late October." Last year they were later (which is nice!) and more abundant than I had ever had before. I harvested dozens of little fuzz-free, pit-free fruit that look like olives but taste and look inside like the kiwi you buy in the store. The disappointment was that, although the
books said they keep in the refrigerator for the winter, they developed unappetizing fuzz before too long.
This year there are hundreds! They are yummy, and I don't want them to develop fuzz. I soon found it is possible to eat too many in one day, so I now have the pleasant project of giving them away while they are still good. Of course, I am trying to balance my generosity with my own desire to eat them as long as possible myself with comfort. Is that a parable for the challenge of life? Anyway, it's fun to watch people's eyes pop.

I bought them mail order from Gurney's, two little plants less than 6" tall. One was tied in a pink ribbon and the other had a blue ribbon. The hard part of raising kiwi is constructing a sturdy enough frame for the weight of their vines. We were reminded of Biblical times. Each February I cut the vines that bore this year, and keep as much as I can of the other new vines. There isn't too much competition from other garden activities in February.

The big disappointment of the week is not finding straw after Halloween on curbs. Any suggestions of where we can scavenge it? Our strawberries have been much better since they spent their winters covered by straw. Fred suggested today maybe we could buy straw. What a profligate idea!
We are collecting leaves without trouble this week. We have to go to Glen Ridge for leaves in plastic bags, which are needed to cover carrots, parsnips, and Jerusalem artichokes so we can harvest them all winter. Paper bags, abundant now in Montclair and Bloomfield, are adequate for mulching and composting, although somewhat less convenient. They are MUCH better for the commercial composters who receive the Montclair leaves, so we understand why the cherished plastic bags are so
hard to find.
One of you asked if I shred leaves. No, they are fine "as is." Oak leaves compost less quickly than the others and so should be avoided by beginners if possible, but I don't mind them any more.

Someone who picked up some Malabar seeds from the left of my front porch wondered what you do with them. I just let them dry with no particular technique except removing them from the stems. Then I put them in potting soil next February or March. They take about 3 weeks to germinate and another 3 or more weeks to grow beyond an inch high. I suspect they are rare because they tax American ability to endure delayed gratification.
But they surely are good from mid-summer until the first cold. Mine died last week (in the sense of developing spots I don't want to eat), but this week they have started new, pretty leaves that are growing at a remarkable rate. We may even eat another fresh meal from them -- despite the fact that the moon is full this week. The hard part of Malabar is being sure they have a fence or trellis to climb when they take off. My peas leave the perfect fence when they die in mid-July, but there are many ways to provide for peas and Malabar. They won't knock over your trellis
as my kiwi vines did the first one I bought for them. (It was a gentle breeze and then "crack!" The $100 trellis was broken on the ground.)
There are plenty more Malabar seeds to give away. If you plan to come, let me know and I'll put still more to the left of my front door. Be sure to bring a plastic bag or baggie because they have a red "dye" that you don't want to get on your fingers or upholstery.

Pat

Potting soil

2009-10-26T17:30:00.002-04:00

One of you asked how I make homemade potting soil. I've written about this before, but even I can't find it on my blog, so I'll write it again and put it at the beginning of the title, so people can find it later.
In recent weeks I have put flower bulbs in 24 pots, 3-5 per pot. Lots of potting! This could be very expensive if I bought commercial potting soil -- or bought my own pots. Thank you to all who donated pots to me.

To make the soil I fill two large lasagna containers, one with compost and one with good garden soil. I put them in the kitchen oven, turn it to 250 degrees and leave it on for 2-3 hours. I did it last Wednesday while Fred and I taught our afternoon class. "Ugh," he said as he walked into the house. But the day was warm so we could leave open the windows both Wednesday and Thursday. By Thursday evening the odor was
completely gone.

Then I put the baked contents into a large bag and add about the same volume each (2-3 6" pots-worth) of sand and vermiculite. Stirring it together takes remarkably little time, primarily by "tossing" the bag, while leaving it on the cellar floor. Two such concoctions filled my 24 flower pots. I needed another (not all of it) for potting up the spider plants babies.
This year's tomato blight was blamed by many on some infected potting soil that was widely used for tomato seedlings, mass raised and shipped to many garden center outlets nationwide. Since both sand and vermiculite are sterile, I had no trouble. It's MUCH cheaper than commercial mix, of course. I've used commercial seedlings mixes before for starting spring seeds, but I tried using my own for about half this past spring with no obvious failures. Maybe I can give up on buying commercial growing mixes altogether.
I greatly enjoy having flowers to stare at and give away all winter long. I don't feel evangelistic about this as I do about home gardening and abstaining from power machinery, but flowers brings me innocent pleasure, as they have for many people over human history (and probably before). Innocent pleasures are not something to be taken lightly in this troubled world.

Happy potting!

Pat

Two surprises

2009-10-25T17:05:00.000-04:00

This afternoon I had two gardening surprises.
I went outside with two containers, a small one for raspberries and a large one for spinach. First I went to the raspberry patch(es), expecting to be disappointed. Friday I feared that there would not be many this week. But I picked a full cup!
This means I can offer some to my babysitter when she visits from CA on Tuesday. It's great to have lasting friendships, and mine with Hope Hoff Russell has been a jewel. I've visited her every time we go to the bay area (a favorite place for national math conferences) but this is the first time in a VERY long time she has been in NJ.
Elated, I went to the more mundane activity of picking Malabar spinach. Oops... Much of it was covered with spots. What, I thought, mischievous bug had gotten into it? Oops again. In protected places there were still some edible leaves. Apparently yesterday's chilly rain and winds had defeated the Malabar but the raspberries rose cheerfully to the challenge. I harvested enough spinach for one meal for two, but I doubt I'll be harvesting any more in 2009. Thank goodness, there is lots in the freezer.

Pat

False alarm, leaves, changing lawn care

2009-10-22T09:57:00.002-04:00

Last Thursday, the 5:00 PM news told me that the night's low would be 43 degrees "but it will feel like 24 degrees." Feel like to whom? My plants? I'd never heard anything like that before when I was worrying about frost warnings. Until three years ago we always had our first frost in mid-November, but both the past two years it was in mid-October, so I was worried.

Before I went to the excellent films at the library after dinner I went outside to protect my babies. The wind was blowing and it felt COLD.I realized it seemed that way partially because the previous day had been so warm,but the plants might have a similar reaction to the sudden cold. So I did a lot of protection (burlap, etc.) and picking.
All in vain. The next morning the temperature, said the news, was 38 degrees, but the Malabar was still perky. I emailed my aunt and uncle, whose 66th anniversary I helped celebrate last month and whose farm I loved to visit in my childhood, about what to do with those peppers I had picked. They don't think peppers turn red inside, and they think they last no more than two weeks in the refrigerator. Freeze those peppers!

I had picked most of the basil plants, which were on their last yellow legs anyway, and that has taken lots of my time this week. Today I noticed that the basil left behind has taken off nicely. Wasn't today lovely? I noticed that many of the big tomatoes have fallen to the ground; I pick them up and they seem to ripen inside. The tomato plants don't look much more nourishing than my kitchen counter. Eggplants keep growing. I keep picking the Malabar, and tomorrow I may pick my last zuchinni.
Today's "Montclair Times" tells about the township deciding to charge landscapers who dump leaves in our recycling center, since the township then pays to have them taken away. What a waste! I have used all my own leaves and Fred brings me about 100 bags of others' leaves each fall. At and average of 20 pounds per bag, this is about a ton of leaves that have nourished my property each year for decades. Why don't other residents recycle their own puny amount of leaves? The eating is good and the flowers flourishing. Leaves belong under raspberry and other bushes -- and in compost. American waste puzzles me.
Several of you responded to my question about how long it takes to convert a lawn from poison-dependent to organic. All but one said their was no serious transition problem, and that one seemed to feel it was worth it. Give up those poisons and chemicals! You will be glad you did -- and will save money.

Pat

Freebees, basil, question for you

2009-10-14T09:54:00.000-04:00

My Malabar spinach plants are loaded with seeds now. I have harvested many and put them in a container just to the left of my door at 56 Gordonhurst Avenue, Montclair. I don't really want to put Park Seeds, which sells them, out of business, but waste bothers me, and there may be some of you who would try them free but not pay money for the effort.
If you come, bring something plastic to take them away in, a bag or a baggie. You may not want your clothing and car uphostery to be dyed bright red. My container is open, so you won't want to take it away. Only take as many seeds as you might use.
They aren't the easiest thing to grow. They need a fence or trellis. If you are already growing climbing peas, they are a good companion because they begin to grow enthusiastically just as the peas are dying in mid-July. Meanwhile, they poke around and give an insecure gardener a feeling of non-achievement, which may be why they are no more popular.
I also had two plants volunteer under my bosque pear tree that look like baby pear trees. Succumbing to potting-up compulsion syndrome, I potted them up and put them on my front steps. Anyone is welcome to them. They are small and will take a long time to bear, if ever.

Hearing that the temp is to go down to 42F tonight and up to only 48F tomorrow, I brought in all my houseplants today. Is it worth my while to pot up all-green spider plants? They can be spectacular inside, but would be killed on the steps if there is a frost, so this will require someone saying, "I do (want one)" before I put them out.
A second "bulky waste" load was taken from my garage gleanings today, but I still have poles, boards, chicken wire, and windows left. Two people said they might use a window to make a cold frame. Anyone interest now? These things are along my driveway, but I would make them easier to take if someone wants them. Otherwise, they will gradually to to bulky waste.

People asked about my basil treatment. In general, I compost anything that dies from old age or insect or mammal damage, but illness sends them to the Essex County incinerator via the garbage. Yellowing basil is aging, so it is composted. Wilted basil is sick, so it goes to the garbage. Right now, my basil is yellowing quickly, so I'm making pesto as fast as my schedule and patience allow. It won't be with me much longer, but I want to keep it for salads as long as I can.
Now a question for you. A friend told me he suggested to his church's authorities that they abandon chemicals on the church lawn. One authority said that could be done, but for three years the lawn would look terrible. I sympathized with my friend, but didn't think until later to question the facts.
Has anyone changed from a poison and chemical lawn to a natural lawn? Was the transition ugly? There is a well-known "fact," which I believe, that a garden or farm transitioning from "traditional" methods to organic methods requires three years to get up to speed, but I wonder whether that applies to lawns. I remember long ago being told by TWO landscapers, "Once you get rid of the weeds, they don't come back." That's an overstatement, but largely true, so a newly organic lawn should not be overrun with weeds. Nor would I think it would be lacking nourishment. There would be some residual effect from the chemicals, and the lawn clippings would gradually
take over from them. Why should a transitioning lawn look bad?
Does anyone have experience who can speak with the authority that comes from one experiment? ("one data point" as the statisticians say) Several responses might be convincing.

Pat

Preparing for frost

2009-10-05T09:51:00.001-04:00

What a shocking title! With weather like today's? And such a gorgeous weekend? However, last week's weather reminded me that the past two years we've had our first frost in mid-October -- not far away.
Actually, last Friday we turned on the heat, using just the flick of a switch. I thought of my father's telling me how lucky I was to live in "modern times" as he shoveled coal into the furnace every day. I had central heating. His childhood nights in NJ were COLD, and he didn't get warm until his mother had lit the kitchen stove, around which the family would gather each morning to get warm again. I did revel in the easy warmth last Friday.
It will soon be colder, although maybe not next week. Until two years ago our first frost was in November. I think three years ago it was late November, and I thought we were going to have shorter winters. However, "climate change" is more than "warming," as anyone who has studied what is going on knows. It's CHANGE.

What won't change, I think, this year is a killing frost before too long. The tomatoes apparently think otherwise. Their babies are popping up all over. Do they think they have a future? Do they know something I don't know? This has never happened to me before in the autumn; I associate volunteer tomatoes with spring. Fred said today he can't wait for the killing frost; it's the end of his acute fall allergies. I have different emotions as I contemplate it.
If I hear that frost is predicted, I'll quickly email you before running to the garden. If you hear of it, do email me and if I am at the computer, I'll pass it on.
What will I do in the garden? I'll hasten to address the needs of five crops: basil, Malabar spinach, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. The first two die at the first touch of frost. I must pick like mad, and preserve or eat as much as possible.
The latter three can survive a light frost with a covering. If you want to try, get yourself some burlap now. I save some year to year, and throw it over any of these veggies that lives in a cage. This often keeps the tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers bearing after the basil and Malabar have succumbed. My small tomato plants are looking largely dead, although I still find tomatoes on the vines and on the ground. I think they've lived out their life expectancy, and this is to be expected.
Some basil is turning yellow, as it tends to do in fall. A few plants have wilted away, and I send those to the Essex County incinerator, not wanting to take chances with my compost pile. The leaves don't seem to be growing as large as earlier (3-4"), but that may be because I know the end is coming and am picking them more severely.
It may be worth pointing out that many crops survive the frost that kills tomatoes, including lettuce, arugula, parsley, celery, pak choi, chinese cabbage, carrots, and collards.
Light-bulb! I just realized that the first frost usually comes at full moon. We're through that for October, so maybe we can postpone that first frost to early November. Poor Fred. But who knows? With everything else changing, maybe frost will come with a half moon.

Pat

Early fall surprises

2009-09-29T09:48:00.002-04:00

Jose stopped by today with some wonderful, fresh grass clippings, always a way to make my heart leap. I used them first to finish mulching the Chinese cabbage, which looks promising for mid-winter. Then I noticed the nearby carrots had been neglected, and started mulching and thinning them.

Oh, dear! They have been nipped to the ground at least twice (I think three times) by woodchuck invaders, and although they appeared to be thriving, a close examination revealed sad non-developments. Apparently, I haven't thinned them recently enough, which is an opportunity for a mild guilt trip, but they haven't demanded attention compared to the rampant growth elsewhere in my yard. Carrots should be thinned to two inches in August, but I didn't get to it then. Alas, today it seemed like a July thinning. The best of the pulled carrots were "fingerlings," the size that we eat in July. Too many were the tiny things I usually see in June. None were the 4"-6" carrots that I am accustomed to in my August session. I hope that in the couple of months until the hard frost topples the carrot tops, the remaining roots will grow enough to provide the decent winter carrots to which I am accustomed. I had wonderful ones last year, so perhaps inferior ones this year are only fair.

Right in the middle of the carrot patch is a volunteer anti-woodchuck plant. At first I thought it had kindly popped itself down in a vacant spot in the patch. Then I wondered if it had killed the nearby carrots. Then I decided that if it did and it was the reason I now have growing carrots now, it was worth it. Then I decided to let it live. Then I reflected on the power that humans have over plants.

The good news is that as I approached the neighbor's fence, I noticed that the lettuce I planted in late summer is flourishing. Yum, yum for this evening's dinner!

Did any of you have success with the collard thinnings I gave out some weeks ago? My remaining ones have had a hard life, but I thought last week I had salvaged a decent number. However, then a few days later they had only stems! The leaves were gone. he healthy lettuce and carrot tops tell me it can't be woodchucks. At first I thought it was insects, but then I saw the largest wild rabbit I've ever seen in my yard. Has anyone let a pet rabbit loose near me? About the same time I noticed two clumps of volunteer collard plants among the tomato plants. Why would insects take the plants in the open but not fly through tomato cages? However, a rabbit.... I took some of that left-over chicken wire and put it around the collard stems. Today I saw new leaves on the plants. However, I noticed another collard plant whose leaves have turned to lace -- not likely the result of a hungry mammal.

A garden, like the rest of life, is full of surprises, both pleasant and unpleasant.

Pat

Winter, layout of garden

2009-09-24T09:42:00.003-04:00

What a glorious day! It was warm but not hot, and simply beautiful. I spent as much time outside as I could. Mowing the lawn was a delight.
I also planted out 18 Burpees two-season Chinese cabbage plants from my greenhouse window into the Johnny Seeds cold frame that some of you saw partially constructed on Saturday. Then I completed connecting the four sides of the cold frame. I hadn't noticed other years how unevenly it met the soil, but I did think about it this time and wondered if that was why the chipmunks last winter burrowed under the frame to eat some of MY food. Anyway, it seemed worth discouraging them this year. It was, of course, the soil's fault, not the cold frame's, that they didn't meet perfectly. I dug some compost from the compost pile and heaped it around the inside of the cold frame as a buffer. It almost seemed like a waste of compost, but I kept telling myself that keeping out those chipmunks is a worthy use of compost.

There has been no obvious mammal damage since the new garage floor was installed. I don't know whether it was taking away their adobe, or the sudden advent of many new anti-woodchuck plants that has made this great change, but I like it VERY MUCH. Last year after Jean gave me her anti-woodchuck plants, I had no woodchuck damage for eight months, and it may be that their offspring are now being effective. They have tucked themselves into a variety of imaginative spots, and I hope their effectiveness lasts longer than their parents'.
Before planting the Chinese cabbage but after taking out the bean plants that were there, I dug some of the top soil and put it in a well-used lasagne pan to bake for potting soil. This is the time of year to get ready to pot up the flower bulbs that will soon be arriving. It's too late to order from Fedco, but Dutch Gardens will still take your order if you want flowers this winter. You many remember that I bake one lasagne pan each of garden soil and compost and then mix them with about an equal amount of sand and vermiculite for my potting soil. It's much cheaper than the commercial stuff, and this year seems to avoid tomato blight.
One of you on Saturday observed that he liked my garden arrangement, "not in rows." I use the ancient Chinese method of intensive gardening, and have become so used to it, I don't even think to mention it these days. Rows are convenient for machinery, but they waste a lot of space, and don't preserve water the way wide beds do. John Jeavons, whose book I learned from, suggests 4' wide beds, but his arms are longer than mine. He also advocates never walking on the beds to keep the soil easy for the roots to penetrate, which I try to do. For more, consult his book, "How to Raise More Vegetables than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine."
The abundant growth makes the oxygen in the air luxurious, as one of my guests in July observed. Today was wonderful, and I kept trying to appreciate it while I can. One more week! Then the noise-makers will begin, and idyllic days like this will be a beautiful memory. I do wonder why anyone would want to use leaf blowers. Indeed, mowing the lawn today with a non-power mower was a lovely activity, but it will be a long time before I can convince others of that, despite evidence that it takes about the same amount of time and is easier.

Pat

What You Can See at Saturday's Open Garden

2009-09-15T00:00:00.000-04:00

This Saturday afternoon, Sept. 19, offers an Open Garden at 56 Gordonhurst Avenue, Montclair, with displays in the front yard. The displays will run from 2-5 PM, but my back yard vegetable garden will be open only from 2-4, with the last tour beginning at 3:30 PM. The major display will be a butterfly tent, where you can take charming photos, especially if you bring children. When many children are present, some butterflies will be released from the tent to begin their migration to Mexico. Several butterfly raisers will be available for questions.

In the back yard you can see:
RASPBERRIES, and you can nibble on them if you come before they are all gone!
MALABAR SPINACH, and if you bring an envelope, you can take home seeds so you can raise it yourself next year. First time offer: If you bring a container, you can pick spinach to eat at home. I have so much this year, it seems silly not to share it.
SMALL TOMATOES: You may nibble on these too if you see tomatoes that are either bright red (sweet 100's) or bright yellow (sun gold). These are past their prime, but they are still respectable. They also have lots of dead branches, but I regard these as gray hair in humans.
BIG TOMATOES to be admired only. I have filled over 30 ziplock bags of tomato sauce made from Burpee's hybrid supersteak tomatoes. Each will provide a delicious dinner for two of lentil stew, spaghetti, or eggplant parmesan. These also provide tasty contributors to a pita dinner, or stirred in with zuchinni. I have been harvesting them as they turn color to keep the consumers human, but I may try to let some ripen on the vine to show off this Saturday. One plant under the peach tree with very little sun has borne six big tomatoes. One was 5" across. Yes, they are delicious.
EGGPLANTS I hope, critters willing.
BASIL
CELERY
ZUCCHINI They went two weeks with no females (in contrast to the beginning of the season!) but are now providing both sexes of flowers, and some nice zucchini.
PAK CHOI that promises to give me a good fall crop. Last year it survived the winter and protected nearby pea plants from the woodchucks, so I've planted many of that plant's seeds in auspicious places.
PEPPERS
ARUGULA
NASTURTIUMS Yes, I can eat them, and you may nibble.
LETTUCE, if I'm lucky.
Meager beans because the woodchucks ate them when they were vulnerable.

I mowed the lawn today because rain is predicted for the next three days. This means it will be more lush than ideal on Saturday, but I guess you can forgive that from a lawn that has had no poisons, chemicals, power machinery or watering for 34 years.

If you want to get more involved in the Cornucopia Network of NJ, the sponsoring organization that has promoted local, organic food since 1983, you can join a nearby potluck dinner after the garden and the CNNJ annual meeting afterward. All CNNJ events are free, but a can is available for donations.

I'm looking forward to enjoying a large crowd from 2-4!

Pat

Defensive Gardening and Freebees

2009-09-07T23:54:00.001-04:00

Let me be clear: I am eating wonderful dinners these days and have as many raspberries on my breakfast as I like. I really shouldn't complain. But being human, I will. I have the feeling that if I work hard to "raise" food in my backyard (with lots of help from Nature and God), then I should be able to decide who eats it, or most of it. I have long known that slugs, aphids, and grackles will take some, but they generally are moderate in their appetites.

This year's woodchucks are something else. They are hungry, destructive, and clever. I just about think I've outwitted them, and they bring me down to size. Last email I was pleased that using old onion bags over eggplants kept them away. Then one morning I got up to see all four of the bags on the eggplant plot next to the driveway were empty! Two of them were on the grass; the others were still hanging. Actually "empty" is an overstatement in two cases. The eggplants were chewed and eviscertated. In the other two cases the bags had been opened (!), and the contents removed. As I mourned, I noticed two other eggplants that I hadn't covered with the bags and they were still there. Apparently, I only had been bringing some to the attention of my adversary.

This will be the first winter I enter in over 25 years with no peas or brocolli in the freezer. Sob, sob. I don't know why I'm rebelling at the unfairness of it all; I know better. My kids remember my telling them repeatedly when they were children, "Life is not fair." Yet, I keep trying to make it so.

Anyway, my next strategy for ridding my garden of woodchucks will be an attack on their home. This year they have been digging through our 84-year-old cement garage floor. When we fill one hole, they dig another. My daughter pointed out that a floor that weak might be a hazard for humans; we might step through it with ill effects. So we hope to have a new garage floor before the Open Garden (on Saturday, Sept. 19, from 2-4 PM). Maybe I can get back to catching them in their entrances outside the garage, even thought I expect they will still live under it.

The goal of the next few days, of coures, is to clean out that garage so what's left of the current floor can be removed. I've put a LARGE shovel, larger than any senior citizen can use, to the left of my front door at 56 Gordonhurst Avenue, Montclair, for anyone who wants it. It may be joined by other goodies I unearth tomorrow. Please don't take my house plants that sit next to the steps!

Also on the porch are a stack of lawn refuse bags in which I picked up grass clippings to mulch my garden. Some may be from leaves, but most are from grass clippings. Since paper bags for lawn refuse came into fashion, I have tossed the left-overs into the back of the garage for future use. I use them for the dead raspberry bushes that I remove in July. (Composting raspberry bushes takes more finger-tip courage than I have.) This year's abundant growth meant that I used nine bags for that purpose! However, there are now more than a dozen bags on the porch to be picked up. Please don't take the weight that keeps them there.

Inside the garage I still have two wooden trellises. Prior arrangements will need to be made for these, since they are too big to put in the front yard for random pickup. They are each two feet wide, and six feet high with 28" wooden spikes below, apparently to go into the ground. If you are interested in these, let me know and we'll make arrangements for you to get them. Taking them away is a bit of a challenge, of course. I don't remember what their past life was, but I do have vague 30-year-old memories of thinking I might use them some time. It's not likely now.

Cleaning out one's garage has merit even if it doesn't improve my odds against woodchucks. Here's hoping!

Pat

Open Garden and Newsletter

2009-09-06T23:49:00.000-04:00

On Saturday afternoon, September 19 (two weeks from yesterday), the Cornucopia Network of New Jersey (CNNJ) will sponsor an event at 56 Gordonhurst Avenue to share raising butterflies and home gardening. From 2:00 to 4:00 PM I will take half hour tours through my organic vegetable garden. The last tour will begin at 3:30 PM.

In the front yard from 2:00 to 5:00 PM a butterfly tent and other displays will be available. Visitors are encouraged to enjoy close encounters with butterflies in the tent. Bring children and cameras! Trina Paulus, Nancy Taiani, and Bob Simpson, who raise monarch butterflies after finding their eggs on milkweed, will be available. When many children are present, some butterflies will be released to begin their flight to Mexico.

Afterward a potluck supper will be held nearby, followed by a meeting of CNNJ, and then conversation about our current concerns. All Cornucopia events are free and open to the public, but a can will be available for donations.

In preparation for this event, the CNNJ has "published" a beautiful color newsletter with photos of butterflies and articles about them and current food issues. Some of us are busy this weekend preparing the print black-and-white edition for snailmailing. However you can read the color edition at http://cornucopianetwork.org/newsletter.html At that page you can click to get to any of CNNJ's four most recent newsletters; the Sept. issue is the one I am advertising now.

If reading online or printing from the online version is satisfactory to you and you regularly get the print version, I'd appreciate a return email with "no print newsletter" in the subject line, and your name and (at lesat partial) address in the content of the email. It's easier for me if there is nothing else. This will save trees and CNNJ 44 cents for mailing.

Happy reading! and hoping to see you in two weeks.

Pat

Free collard seedlings, August sowings

2009-08-21T22:56:00.001-04:00

You may come to the right of my front steps at 56 Gordonhurst Montclair if you want some free collard seedlings. I did something silly, about which I might as well confess. Having made earlier collard sowings from years-old seeds with only a modicum of success, I decided after coming home from vacation last week that I must take firm action. I not only used recent seeds, but I scattered them MUCH too abundantly. I don't remember doing such a thing before, but in an earlier life I would have simply composted the extras and saved only enough for me. Fred likes to say, "Denial isn't just a river in Egypt." So I may have been similarly silly before.
This time, however, I couldn't bring myself to destroy THAT many seedlings, so I've have put at least two-families-worth of seedlings in each of six pots. If they are taken, I have more. I'm not sure how long they will last or how easily they will transplant, but I suspect that anyone who gets there today will get plenty of collard plants if they take ONE pot. I forgot to check how far apart they should be spaced, but it's at least a foot. You get a lot of collards from one plant. I usually eat a collards meal every three days from light frost until the end of December. Then they play dead. One year I didn't remove them and they revived in March. Now I tend to cover them with floating cover, and they don't look "as dead" during the winter. They are a great fresh veggie in late fall and early spring. Some years I eat them all summer, but this year the mold got to them, just about the time that summer crops were coming in.

Also in the past week I have sowed kale and lettuce (I'm "always" sowing lettuce), and both are peeping up above the soil. Today I sowed 2-season Chinese cabbage and pak choi in my greenhouse window. The former will grace my cold frame and yield delicious fresh dinners every three days in January and February. The latter are destined to line the pea fence and defend the baby pea plants next spring against woodchuck invaders. Oh, yes, pak choi is good to eat itself, but these seeds are taken from the plant that successfully defended some rare surviving pea plants this past spring.

Meanwhile, we're eating well. Zuchinni, cucumbers, and tomatoes (both large and small), and Malabar spinach are abundant, and there is LOTS of basil for pesto.
If it were a bit less humid, this human would be even happier. However, the
baby eggplants, barely perceptible early in the week, are growing furiously in this weather. "There is no accounting for taste," observed Julius Ceasar over 2000 years ago. Yesterday the eggplants almost doubled in length between early morning and mid-afternoon!

Pat

After 8 days away

2009-08-14T22:51:00.001-04:00

Returning from a summer vacation is always interesting for a gardener, but yesterday I was in absolute suspense as we drove home. What would I find? Would there still be a garden? What disasters would woodchucks have wrought?

Yes, there was still a garden. Yes, there were still carrot tops, although they had been nibbled. One could see where the lettuce should be, although nothing worth eating had been left. Oh, well. We had had two fine weeks of lettuce salads before we left, and we would soon show those woodchucks again whose territory this is. Last time it took about ten days until we had decent lettuce again.

Only two of the five "early" plants zuchinni had died, although August 8 is the traditional date of zucchini death. The other three are still bearing, as are the five that I started in June. We have plenty of zucchini.

The cucumbers are still doing their thing. Wow! What a year for cucumbers! They like this rain.

Our neighbors had been kindly picking our slightly red large tomatoes while we were gone at our request. I had lost too many to marauders earlier. We had a delicious large tomato with our zucchini the first dinner of our return.
Then I noticed disaster. The eggplants had been attacked! A huge waistline was chewed around one, and two others were shorted radically. I had been planning on lots of eggplant this winter to substitute for peas and beans, but... I must accelerate my freezing of the Malabar spinach and pesto, it seems. Both Malabar and basil are thriving. It then occurred to me that Fred and I could eat what was left of the three traumatized eggplants. I made homemade tomato sauce from the tomatoes the neighbors had preserved and cut out the surviving eggplant pieces. We agreed that dinner was delicious this evening. Eggplant won't be as plentiful this winter as I planned, but with renewed territory marking, we will have some. The little ones are trying.

We ate well on vacation (our hosts know our preferences), but it's good gastronomically to be home!

Pat

Benign power edgers

2009-08-02T21:15:00.006-04:00

Most of you know that I have never used poisons, chemicals or power machinery on my property for the 34 years that we've lived here. However, I discovered last year an edger -- one of those gadgets that trims the edges of your lawn -- that is incredibly quiet.

I concede that trimming edges by hand, as I do, takes considerably more time than using machinery (a concession I won't make for leaf blowers or power lawn mowers). One can ask why it is done at all. Back in those halcyon* days before power machinery, the edges were consistently messier and I'm not sure that compromised the quality of human life.

I hand-trim mine now strictly to conform to current social norms. My mother used to say, "You have to live within your own culture." I don't know how she would view this possible "waste of time" (wasting time was one of the greatest sins in her opinion), but if I'm to have a yard that shows how nice it can be without power machinery, I feel I should trim the edges several times a year with a hand tool, including the week before each open garden.
If you want to see what a non-trimmed edge looks like, come by surreptitiously about two weeks before an open garden. (The next will be Saturday, Sept. 19, from 2-4 and will feature a butterfly tent in the front yard.)

Anyway, last year when I was visiting my son, his neighbor came out with an edger, and I ran away fast from the expect noise. When it began,I was startled at how quiet it was. I then acquired the catalog; it is advertised as "pollution free" and "whisper quiet." The latter is an exageration, of course, but if the noise doesn't bother Pat Kenschaft, it is remarkable. If people would mow their own lawn, I would forgive them the use of Turnado edgers. It is item number F5-57337 from www.heartlandamerica.com or call 1 800-229-2901. It cost $39.99, including a battery recharger. It allegedly runs 40 minutes per charge.

I do not feel so benign toward power lawn mowers. When I was a child, lawn mowing time was Daddy time. My father worked at an exempted job during the war and loaded docks all day Saturday and Sunday. Evenings I enjoyed keeping him company in whatever he was doing, and lawn mowing has special happy memories. Many of us find they take no more time than power mowers, and one woman on this list with MS told me last year that she didn't have the strength to use a power mower, so she mows her lawn with a non-power mower.

Leaf blowers are totally unacceptable. Using them nearby makes my husband sick short-term, and some people suffer more than he does. Long-term they endanger the health of all of us by blowing around dust, pollen, and fecal matter. I'm not willing to concede that they take less time than rakes and brooms, but I realize this is controversial. The local health dangers and the contribution to climate change is undeniable. If I were queen, they would be illegal with major penalties.

Happy lawn care! If you want to find a landscaping service that restrains itself, I can give you contact information.

Pat

*"halcyon days" refers only to the lack of use of power lawn machinery, which DID make life more pleasant in my youth. I still remember the day I first heard a power lawn mower. I exclaimed to myself, "What! They are going to allow THAT in residential areas?"

I don't mean to imply that everything has gone downhill. In particular, when I was young only men could do lawn care. I'm really glad that women's lib has allowed me to enjoy this activity and some others that were forbidden then. Mowing lawns brings me (and quite a few others) significant pleasure.

2 woodchuck-free weeks and then...

2009-08-01T22:42:00.000-04:00

Tuesday marked two weeks without woodchucks in our garden, following a 3-day weekend vacation (3 weeks ago) when disaster hit: the lettuce and carrots were chewed to the ground, and no baby beans survived. Fred and I decided to take drastic action, and we were rewarded with abundant lettuce salads after the plants recuperated. The carrot tops grew back and look lush still; I must thin and mulch them again as soon as I get my hands on some fresh grass clipping.

Our drastic action was using inter-species communication to say, "This garden is human territory!" I kept a bedpan in the downstairs bathroom, and Fred used more direct action. This method of pest prevention is easier for men than women, but we both worked at it conscientiously. Several of you had advocated coyote or fox urine. I tried that years ago, but it is expensive and lasts only until the next rain. Our method is cheaper, and renewable after each rain.

Then Wednesday the rains struck. Two tomato cages were knocked over, and the remnant of a significant tomato was on the ground. We kept at it, as we had before, and the lettuce and carrots continue to thrive.

But last night we had another strong rain, and another cage was knocked over. Several tomatoes were on the ground. Even more interesting, one tomato with only a small part missing (where a jaw might have carried it) was just outside the woodchuck hole under the garage, as if woodchucks (like me) think of the future when they contemplate tomatoes. Since it was almost whole, I wondered if it would ripen indoors. I measured it -- six inches across! (Burpee's Supersteak Hybrid) It may or may not ripen on my counter, but the woodchuck's plans are thwarted. I would use it only for long-cooked sauce, of course, but that adds significantly to human pleasure.

A garden always provides many questions (like most of life). I wonder if the rains washed away our deterrent, or whether we just didn't use it close enough to the tomato plants. If the latter, a remedy will be soon applied.

Meanwhile, we continue to enjoy our lettuce salads and to coddle hope for winter carrots. I haven't been told of any other family trying our approach to woodchuck avoidance before. It's inconvenient, but one can get used to it. By Tuesday I was thinking of that old Pennsylvania Dutch saying that my mother's family liked to quote, "Ve grow too soon alt, and too late schmart."

Pat

Jose and Stephane: garden and businesses

2009-07-31T21:47:00.008-04:00

Jose German urged me to see his garden this week, and I did. It's a remarkable garden, very different from mine. He has LARGE pots in his macadam driveway in which he raises tomatoes, eggplant, and even collards, showing that a paved driveway need not prevent a gardener from raising vegetables. His three large raised beds next to the driveway have wooden enclosures, and they include many different types of edibles. Vegetables are tucked into a variety of other places among the flowers. He raises potatoes ably, an art I have not yet mastered. His pea vines are still up in many places, dead as is seasonably appropriate, but evidence of a good crop without woodchucks. Maybe the critters don't like Grove Street.

Jose's flowers are amazing and abundant. It is little wonder that his garden, at 69 Grove Street, and mine apparently had the most visitors in Saturday's CNNJ tour.

You may remember that Jose has started his own landscaping and gardening business this year, Green Harmony. (www. greenharmonynow.com 973-233-1106 josergerman@aol.com) It is thriving, and he has hired several employees. I keep getting praises from his customers both for his design and maintenance successes.

Jose is one of two of my friends who left a high-paying, money-centered career in NYC to work locally helping people live better lives. The other is Stephane Mortier, who is now a handyman. He writes the following about his current offerings:

"Creative handyman services:
Projects: I analyze problems and present clients with several creative solutions.
Fix/Setup: I also do the traditional fare around the house and outside (walls, doors, insulation, painting, carpentry, plumbing, electricity, landscaping, etc...).
Fix and maintain bikes: I extend the life of these wonderful method of transportation one way or another. I gave a class at the adult school of Montclair last spring, on bike maintenance and ride preparation.
Appliance repairs: Most problems are easily diagnosed with a little research, and fixing them often involves replacing a part, not the whole unit. Having a knowledgeable handyman do the job is a clever way around expensive repairmen (lots of whom end up recommending to buy a new unit for the cost of the repair).
Computer support, repair and maintenance: I've supported technology and users for a bank for 7 years, and still love to share my knowledge of computers to make people more proficient. I can recommend a plan of action to keep your computer humming along for over 5 years (the average life expectancy being less than 2 years). Mine is 7 years old and faster than so many of the computer I work on.

Graphic design: I design ads for stores participating in www.ShopLocalMontclair.com, business cards/logos and manage web sites design projects.

Voila! (Oh, I give French tutoring and conversational too) It is eclectic, as I follow what I love to do in order to provide the best service to my customers. I am meticulous, creative and naturally try to repair rather than replace."

You can reach Stephane at stephane.mortier@designbcm.com or 973-873-4330.

I have lots of faith in these two men, and I hope we can support them in their useful, local businesses.

Pat

Monthly Harvests, Catalogs, Books, and Hints for Beginners

2009-07-29T09:04:00.004-04:00

Winter: When the leaves look cold in December, I put neighbors' bagged leaves over carrots planted in April. Then all winter I brush snow off the bags and and pull the carrots. Similarly for parsnips, salsify (G), and Jeruselum artichokes, but there are fewer. Kale survives outside; just break off and thaw inside for February salads. Grow sprouts inside. Harvest Chinese cabbage from the cold frame every 3-5 days from January through March.

March: Collards may look dead during the winter, but revive and can be eaten again. Pak choi and lettuce planted in January may sometimes be taken from under the floating cover or cold frame, but may wait until April. Finish eating the carrots and parsnips before they become stringy. Harvest lettuce planted on a windowsill in January.

Mid-April: Fresh lettuce salad and stir-fry pak choi, both planted in a January warm spell under floating cover or overwintered in a cold frame. Gourmet Blend lettuce (B&F) planted every 3 weeks from April to Sept. yields a continuous varied harvest until December. Summer variety packets are more prolific in summer. Collards continue. Arugula can substitute for lettuce or complement it in a salad.

Late May: Hakurei turnips (F) and maybe some radishes. Sugar Ann Peas planted early in March. Also broccoli started indoors in February and planted out in April. Nursery broccoli plants are available too late, but nursery plants for tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and eggplants are fine. If I pick and discard bitter broccoli all summer, it becomes sweet again in the fall. It has a large yield for Thanksgiving, and typically some in December. Strawberries.

Early June: Sugar snap peas. In 1986 I froze 150 servings and served many, but most years provide a more modest yield. Peas freeze easily in the kitchen refrigerator. Peas, beans, spinach, and brocolli keep well frozen if you blanch them (that is, boil them for three minutes) before putting them in a zip-lock bag in the freezer. Labeling dates may help, but isn't essential.

Mid-June: Basil for pesto; pesto freezes well. Basil deters insects from tomatoes and pesto is delicious; I plant lots of basil! Nufar basil (J) resists wilt and is very large, so it is faster to clean. It tastes the same to me as standard basil.

Late June: Zucchini, usually beginning June 26! Since squash bugs destroy these by August 8, I plant new seeds in late June for a September crop. Sweet 100 and Early Girl tomatoes may begin in June. Blueberries begin and various varieties yield throughout the summer. Ancestral and heritage raspberries begin and are abundant in July.

Mid-July: Sun gold and jubilee yellow tomatoes (B). Roma bush beans freeze well. Successive plantings yield continuing crops. Concord seedless grapes. White peaches. Early corn (P) planted under floating cover in mid-April begins. Staggered plantings can yield until October, but the squirrels usually steal my corn after July. For more plentiful crops, fertilize it by hand (i.e. take some pollen and scatter it on the silks) and hide each fledgling ear with a paper bag if the animals are naughty. Arugula gives a fine salad if the heat or the woodchucks take the lettuce.

Late July: Peppers that I chop and freeze. Before freezing eggplant, I dip slices in an egg-milk mixture, then in Italian flavored bread crumbs, and fry so they come apart easily for eggplant parmesan. Climbing summer spinach (Malabar) is abundant now until frost. Plant kale, 2-season hybrid Chinese cabbage (B), and collards.

August: Burpee hybrid beefsteak tomatoes (B) make good sauce for freezing and provide ample eating while other tomatoes take a heat break. Abundant fall-crop heritage raspberries.

September: Frostbeater soybeans(B) (or bought ones) in whole wheat pita with fresh tomatoes, pepper, cucumbers, and lettuce. Pole Roma and/or lima beans grow where peas once climbed. Pears and then apples, first red delicious and then mackintosh, all on dwarf trees. Native plums (G) come about the same time as the pears.

October until below 20 degrees: Lutz or yellow beets, Chinese cabbage, collards, and rutabaga. Kiwi (G) Before the first mild frost I pick all the basil and Malabar spinach, gorge on it and freeze most.

November: Just before frost, pick, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. Freeze extras. Put unripe tomatoes in layered newspaper in the basement to ripen, sometimes into the holidays.

Free Catalogs
(F) Fedco Seeds is a cooperative that has no color in its catalog and no phone-ordering service. However, it offers enormous variety at phenomenal prices. Get a catalog at either 207-873-7333 or P.O. Box 520, Waterville, ME 04903-0520
(B) Burpee: 1-800-888-1447, the old stand-by with a glorious color catalog. Their telephone answerers assure me they do not carry any genetically engineered seeds;
(J) Johnny Seeds in Maine sells cold-season vegetables and cold frames.
(C) Cook's Garden 1-800-457-9703, a family-run newish establishment;
(G) Gurney's: 1-605-665-1930;
(P) Parks: 1-864-223-7333, the only source for Malabar spinach, which climbs gloriously all summer until frost, but they don't carry it every year;
(S) Stokes: 1-716-695-6980;
(-) Territorial Seed Company: 541-942-9547
(A) Gardens Alive: 812-537-8650;
(-) Gardener's Supply Company: 800-863-1700
The last two carry the extras for organic gardeners that make organic gardening successful

BOOKS
I especially recommend:
- John Jeavons' "How to Raise More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine,"
- Ruth Stout's "Gardening Without Work: for the Busy, the Aging, and the Indolent," and
- Eliot Coleman's "Four Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long."

Hints for beginners:
Plant tomatoes, beans, and peas. Double dig repeatedly, digging compost in deeply. If you don't have compost, use some other organic matter like dead leaves, but this is not as satisfactory because it takes good things from the soil as it decays. I did this spring and fall for three years, and my soil was indistinguishable from my current rich, friable soil.
Mulch profusely with grass-clippings, chopped leaves, wood chips, and partially rotted compost. If you have plenty of sunshine and compost, try zucchini.
The second year try lettuce, Chinese cabbage, chard, and other leafy vegetables, perhaps broccoli.
Wait until the third year for root crops. Keep frozen cooked soybeans in your freezer to mix with rice and stir-fries. Consult your local library for many good gardening books. Fine new books are appearing all the time. I learned by listening to old-timers and to my guests at my open gardens. No individual knows very much compared to what there is to know about growing food locally. Enjoy. And remember that a gardener can bury her mistakes without anyone caring!

Yesterday's Open Garden

2009-07-26T23:56:00.000-04:00

Yesterday's Open Garden was as wonderful for me as it has ever been. It wasn't just that I'm amazed at how many very nice people there are in this world; I have that feeling at and after every Open Garden. This one had exactly the right number of people for the hostess, enough to feel appreciated but not enough to be overwhelmed. The questions were interesting and the ambiance lovely.

It left me feeling so fortunate to have a garden. One person who claims to know about such things said there was an unusual amount of oxygen in the air, making it very relaxing. No wonder I love going outdoors! Today I think of her and take deep breaths and do feel like I'm breathing luxuriously.

The crop getting the most attention was probably... the Malabar spinach, which is now taking over the main garden fence where the peas should have been earlier. There was enough for every visitor to pick and eat one leaf, and the responses were gratifying. Those of you who can bring an envelope to the next Open Garden on Saturday, September 19 from 2-4 PM, can pick Malabar seeds and sow them again next year. Others can buy them from Park Seeds, who I'd like to keep in business.

I had lots of questions about my use of compost. In the last few years I merely rake it in the top of the soil as I plant a new crop. Recent anti-tilling movements to keep the carbon dioxide in the soil are consistent with this. Garden soil doesn't need to be dug after it becomes "mature," according to John Jeavons.

Sowing seeds attracted several questions. I had sown kale and the next crop of lettuce about a week ago, and the tiny seedlings were visible and interesting. Yes, I sow little seeds (like these) directly into the soil and rake them in. Then I keep the soil moist with my watering can until they are visible, at which point I assume they can fend for themselves. I haven't used a hose for over two years (or is it three?).

Kernels of corn are poked individually in appropriate places, like peas and beans. My corn received much attention yesterday since it is wonderful in late July. This evening was the fourth dinner we've had of corn recently, and there will be a few more. If I try to harvest corn in August, racoons eat the ears at night, but they don't interfere with the July crop. So I sow the seeds in April under floating cover of "early" corn, which is a bit smaller than the regular crop, but wonderful.

This evening's dinner also included lots of zuchinni, tomatoes, cucumber, and lettuce (!!! -- more on that tomorrow if I complete two woodchuck-free weeks that have revived my lettuce eating). The only food we ate for dinner this evening that had not grown on the property was the cheese I put on the zuchinni, and our drinks. This is living!

Near the end of the OG two little girls showed me raspberries they had in their pails that others had left after two hours of picking. I was impressed; I suspect their being so short helped them spot berries others had missed. They asked if they could pick tomatoes and I told them the same thing I had told others: they could pick bright red or bright yellow tomatoes. I was impressed again when later they brought me their pails for inspection. They had done just as instructed. I asked how old they were. "Four," said the big one. "Two," said the other. Some children these days are remarkably precocious.

Pat

What can we do about food?

2009-07-22T23:49:00.001-04:00

What should be our response to "Food, Inc."? Some of you have asked, and we did some brainstorming at the recent Cornucopia board meeting.
Of course, I'm partial to food from home gardens, as anyone on this email list knows. However, there are other possible actions at the family, community, and political levels. The Cornucopia Network of New Jersey, which sponsors my Open Gardens and has been promoting local organic food since 1983, has a newsletter that explores all of these. You can access the current issue and the immediate past three at http://cornucopianetwork.org/newsletter.html
Food from farmers' markets is fresher and keeps non-corporate farmers in business. Recently, someone posted a list of nearby farmers' markets on the Montclair Watercooler:
Monday: Linden near City Hall 3 p.m .- 7 p.m.
Tuesday: Springfield 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Wednesday: Rutherford 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Thursday: Livingston 12 noon - 6 p.m. at the new Livingston Ave. shopping center
Friday: West Orange 12 noon - 5 p.m. behind Town Hall
Friday: Caldwell: behind the Caldwell Movie Theatre on Bloomfield Avenue
Friday: Little Falls 11:00 AM, 225 Main Street, Little Falls Municipal Buildings Parking Lot
Saturday: Montclair 8:00 - 2:00, in the Walnut Street station parking lot

There are several CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) serving the Montclair area, but it's not a good time of year to join. As I remember, Genesis Farm has a winter program for which one pays in the fall.
You can speak to the manager of whatever store you are patronizing, and tell them that you want as much organic, local, and fair trade food as possible. Customer preferences matter to store and chain choices.

Then there is the matter of what you eat. I was very glad as I watched that movie that I'm already a vegetarian! We did it for our health, but now I know many more good reasons. Each quarter pound hamburger that is raised in the rain forests (as much of ours is) turns 55 square feet of rain forest to desert. If your body or taste resists foregoing meat altogether, you can introduce an occasional vegetarian meal into your diet and cut the size of your meat servings to what was standard when I was young. Today's restaurant servings suggest that destroying the planet's life is a major goal of this generation. Fortunately, most restaurants offer doggie bags, so your meat can be used for another meal at least.
At the community level, we could preserve the Wildwood plot for serving gardeners, as it was when I started gardening. The compost and wood chips always available there were invaluable to a beginner. We might even offer some community gardens there. When I checked with Home Corp last week at 973-744-4141, they told me that there were still three plots available at 15 Miller Street. They charge $10 a year.

Alice Waters' book "Edible Schoolyards: a Universal Idea" is an inspiring report about what can happen on public school grounds. Youngsters can enjoy the joy of helping things grow, of eating their own harvests, and the fun of cooking and learning new recipes.

Finally, much political action is needed. What? Right now Cornucopia is especially concerned about genetically engineered food, and we've written the letter below to the president about it. I have written many times to my legislators asking them to stop the food subsidies to corporate agriculture that have done so much harm to small farmers in this country and abroad. They have virtually destroyed the corn farmers in Mexico (hence our immigration problems) and cotton farmers in Africa (causing much hunger and starvation). Thus far this effort has been in vain, but U.S. taxpayers are beginning to look at subsidies with a new eye, and "Food, Inc." will help.

But there are many other political issues, and a variety of organizations that can keep you up to date and suggest when is a good time about what. Six of my favorites are the Organic Consumers' Association, the Center for Food Safety, Beyond Pesticides, Corporate Accountability, Food First, and the Union of Concerned Scientists. You can learn about them at their websites. There is much we can do.

Pat
------------

Dear President Obama,

At its July meeting, the board of the Cornucopia Network of New Jersey, an organization that promotes local, organic food, unanimously asked me to write to you on its behalf pleading with you to oppose Genetically Modified (GM) food in all its forms.
The ISIS report this spring concluded that we can conquer world hunger only if we support local farmers without GM products.
Generations of humans will be needed to determine whether these new forms of life are damaging to our health and survival. The companies that profit from them claim they are no different from previous life, but they also claim they are so distinctive that the companies have the right to prosecute those who "steal" them. Either they are different or they are not; we believe the former.
GM plants mate with others and are proliferating. GM weeds that resist all pesticides are already becoming a nuisance, and may become a serious menace to large scale agriculture. Meanwhile, farmers who are trying to maintain traditional crops and save their seeds, as farmers traditionally have done, are having their crops polluted by GM pollen. Some have even been sued by producers - after their crops were polluted!
It is basic to agriculture that farmers be allowed to save their seeds and that those seeds be true to those the farmers planted.
The Union of Concerned Scientist recently released its study of the yield of GM plants titled Failure to Yield: Evaluating the Performance of Genetically Engineered Crops. It concluded that yield increases were at most 0.3 percent per year, much less than the one percent per year that has been typical of corn increased production over recent decades using traditional breeding methods and "other sophisticated farming practices."

The Casey-Luger bill includes a provision that GM crops be forced on Africa. We urge you to veto this bill unless this provision is removed. It could destroy Africa's ability to feed itself.
Furthermore, the currently proposed USDA rules allow biotech companies to self-assess the safety of their own experimental GE crops to determine whether USDA should regulate them. This is preposterous. If GM crops are not prohibited (which is not politically probable at this time), they must be strictly controlled all the time.
And the public must have the right to know when it is eating GM food, whenever it can be identified. Labeling must be not only encouraged, but required.

Sincerely yours,

Frederick D. Chichester, Dr. Engrg. Sci.
President, Cornucopia Network of New Jersey

Local Farmer's Markets

2009-07-22T00:00:00.000-04:00

Food from farmers' markets is fresher and keeps non-corporate farmers in business. Recently, someone posted a list of nearby farmers' markets on the Montclair Watercooler:

Monday: Linden near City Hall 3 p.m.- 7 p.m.
Tuesday: Springfield 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Wednesday: Rutherford 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Thursday: Livingston 12 noon - 6 p.m. at the new Livingston Ave. shopping center
Friday: Caldwell: behind the Caldwell Movie Theatre on Bloomfield Avenue
Friday: Little Falls 11:00 AM, 225 Main Street, Little Falls Municipal Buildings Parking Lot
Saturday: Montclair 8:00 - 2:00, in the Walnut Street station parking lot

There are several CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) serving the Montclair area, but it's not a good time of year to join. As I remember, Genesis Farm has a winter program for which one pays in the fall.

You can speak to the manager of whatever store you are patronizing, and tell them that you want as much organic, local, and fair trade food as possible. Customer preferences matter to store and chain choices.

Preparing for an open garden

2009-07-18T23:44:00.000-04:00

A week from now my garden will be open to the public at 56 Gordonhurst Avenue, Montclair. Everyone over the age of three is welcome.

If you want to dig strawberry plants, vinca (aka: myrtle, periwinkle), or oregano, bring a bag. I will provide trowels. I'm pretty sure the strawberry and vinca will transplant fine, but the oregano may be at an inauspicious time of year. However, it too is invading my lawn, and I'm glad for others' wrist work in digging it out. Good news: my hands are giving me lots less pain this year than for some time. I'm sure your volunteer digging can take most, if not all, of the credit.

I'm hoping there will still be raspberries for eating on site. There were plenty last evening, but the first crop is diminishing, and the second is just tiny buds. Our July tour is later than usual this year, and the season is -- odd. I hope that children of all ages will enjoy roaming in my raspberry patch, but don't count on it too much.

It is definitly time to begin cutting out some dead raspberry bushes. Those who pick raspberries adventurously next week will appreciate this effort. The thorns are especially nasty this year. I've had three times when I saw blood running down an arm or leg, which I believe is unprecedented viciousness from raspberries. Some might claim I'm older and more vulnerable than before, but I blame it on the incredible growing season. Those thorns are BIG! Hint: Generally speaking, raspberry owners cut down lots of dead plants in mid-summer.

I'm also taking down dead pea vines. This is seasonably correct, but the lack of pea harvest was not, generating new emotions.

Years ago when I said to my visitors that my yard is neater when they come than usual, a mature man asked me why I don't let the yard just look the way it usually does for the Open Gardens. Pat Kenschaft is rarely speechless, but that was one of those moments. I've thought about it lots since. I don't want anyone to conclude, "If this is what a non-poisoned yard looks like, I'm going to keep poisoning mine." I do want people to be able to see what I am growing, undistracted. The weeds need to be pulled some time, and why not before Open Gardens? Everyone cleans up for guests. Why? I guess it's some crazy need to look good.

Anyway, I'm hard at it and enjoying it. Does anyone want tomato plants at this late date? I suppose I could be diagnosed with Compulsive Potting-up Disorder. Shall I pot up the late-comers or throw them into the compost heap? There are, by the way, three now on my front steps for takers, each at least six inches high, in separate pots. I've noticed the past two years that the volunteers in my own garden die later in the fall than the ones I started in February. However, the volunteers that I nurtured this spring already have healthy green tomatoes on them, so current volunteers are behind even that schedule.

Weeding the driveway is more challenging this rainy spring than ever before. As I do so, I remember my mother's horror that people were paving over gravel driveways. She died in 1985, when it was taking off. It seemed to her a terrible waste of resources and also a hazard to drainage. It's probably time for the decadely renewal of gravel on the driveway, but meanwhile the weeds are having fun.

I look forward to seeing lots of you next Saturday between 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM. My new regimen means I'll be starting my last tour at 10:30, but the displays in the front yard will stay until noon, as will the other open gardens in this tour sponsored by the Cornucopia Network of NJ. Oh! You can read the CNNJ recent newletter and three others at www.cornucopianetwork.org

Three other gardens in Montclair will be open from 9:00 to noon:
Bob McLean at 51 Gordonhurst was my mentor; he began gardening in 1930.
Nick Diminni began gardening at 2 Bruce Road three years ago, and actually harvested grapes last year.
Carole Lane at 176 Midland has a first year garden, made with the help of Jose German of Green Harmony. www.greenharmony.com
Jose German and David Wasmuth at 69 Grove Street will open their garden from 9:00 AM until 2:00 PM. Their beautiful property and vegetable garden are also party of the Montclair Backyard Habitat tour of properties certified by the National Wildlife Federation. A list of the other properties on that tour can be picked up at their yard.
Judy Hinds, with a square-foot garden at 156 Rhoda Avenue, NUTLEY, will also have her garden on the CNNJ tour. It will be open from 9:00 to noon.

See you next week!

Pat

A gardeners' worst pest

2009-07-01T23:33:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning I couldn't believe what I saw (more to the point, didn't see) in my garden. I will postpone the description to the end of this email since I wouldn't want to disturb your holiday joy.

Fortunately, last evening someone told me that deer have been seen on "my" end of Ridgewood Avenue recently, and a photo posted on Baristanet. Click! This morning first thing I went through the print-outs of old "beg. gardening" messages to prod my memory. It was two years ago that when I went to Barletts to fortify myself after some minor disappointment when I heard Skip Bartlett say to someone on the phone that he had lost 5,200 tulip plants to deer last night. Last year he told me that hanging Irish spring soap around his place had ended his deer problem.

So shortly after breakfast Fred went to Shoprite and bought an 8-pack of Irish spring soap. They are slightly smaller in the middle than the ends, so I was able to easily hang one from a commerical circular tomato cage. However, they squeeze even more easily on the top of my home-made tomato cages and the high pea fence, so quickly all eight were gracing my garden.

The odor is impressive even for a human. Surely no deer will enter my garden again! However, it's a nice scent, I think. It reminds Fred of his academic brother, who used that kind of soap in graduate school, and returned to Africa decades ago after they both earned their doctorates.

Before I tell you my sad tale, let me prevent any overwhelming pity for my condition. I harvested my first cucumber today, which is about two feet long. I harvested my first green bean today, which was delicious despite the leaves of its plant having been removed several weeks ago. It appears other beans will bravely grow to maturity. I finished harvesting my garlic today, and two of the cloves are 3" in diameter! We are enjoying celery and tomatoes at every dinner. Both the raspberries and blueberries are delightful.

Yesterday morning I first noticed that my cucumber plant had been nipped. Then I realized that quite a few basil plants had been shorn of most leaves. (I picked enough then to make a dinner-for-two of pesto, which I froze.) Then I noticed that the only pepper plant that had been sporting a flower the day before was naked except for the flower and one leaf. The flower dropped today, and that plant is going to have to be very determined if it is to revive. Most startling: ONE of my smallest tomato plants had been stripped of most of its leaves. The big plants look the way they did before, and I have enough that it's no great loss if this one dies, but what it portended left me breathless.

I immediately thought of the article I had just submitted for the upcoming CNNJ newsletter, "Gardening With Woodchucks." It claims that woodchucks (also called "ground hogs") don't eat basil, or pepper, cucumber or tomato plants. I felt a surge of guilt. Now that I've decided my new marauder is a deer, not a woodchuck, that emotion is at peace. There are others that aren't entirely positive, but the good news is that there is no sign today of either a woodchuck or a deer visitor.

Pat

Death, life, and other surprises in the garden

2009-07-01T23:30:00.001-04:00

The garlic plants are keeling over, as is the season. If you took one from me in May or acquired one otherwise, you might want to check its status. I try to dig them while there is still some green leaves that I can use to tie the clove up to dry. I have a convenient place in my kitchen, but the standard advice is to dry them in your attic.

Less cheerfully, most of my nasturtiums are succumbing to black aphids. We bought some lady bugs from Home Depot last week, but they don't seem to have done their job. Most of the pea plants are just plain dying, due to the woodchuck's assault. We do each get 2 or 3 peas each evening for dinner, but other years we have been eating and freezing abundant peas at this time of year.

On the happy side, the raspberries and blueberries are delicious -- and not illegal, immoral, or fattening. We get a few little tomatoes each for dinner. This is a big treat in June! I heard on NPR this evening that there is a Florida regulation that registered tomato packers may not pack any tomato less than 2 and 9/32 inches in diameter. How sad! (and odd)

I've been cleaning out the volunteers next to the fence, which went wild. Their chopped stems were unexpectedly tasty in last evening's stir fry. I thought they might be dying, but after editing them, I now I believe there will be many more good meals from there. Meanwhile, I sowed more lettuce and collards seeds.

We had for dinner this evening the 15th (!!!) zucchini that I've harvested
in 2009. Guessing that these five plants will die in another month or so (at which time I'll put collard plants where they are now), I have sowed some zucchini seeds where the Sugar Ann peas were in front of the grape vines. I want five new plants, so I sowed ten seeds in pairs. Nine germinated, and I dug out four today.

I put two each in two containers that are now on the right side of my steps, available for taking. Zucchini is not to be entered into lightly. The plants are BIG, at least a yard in diameter, and they need lots of sunlight. If you have that kind of space, the first two to get them are welcome to them. This crop may bear until frost.

There is also still one container of two tomato plants waiting patiently for a new home on the left of the steps at 56 Gordonhurst.

I have far more baby arugula than I need. Is it worth my time potting them up and putting them on the steps? Or do they go to the compost pile?

Pat

Berry picking places

2009-06-23T22:34:00.001-04:00

In answer to Bridget's question about where to pick berries with children, Amy writes:

We were told that this place (at least in the past) does not spray their berries, just the flowers (is that possible?). I'd call to clarify how ecologically gentle they are... http://www.sussexcountystrawberryfarm.com/home.asp
We love the fun of going to pick enough that I forgive any chemicals they might have on them, for one day... they're about 45 minutes from Caldwell.

And for real organic, just about 90 minutes from here there's Emery's Berry Patch is just 10 minutes down the road past the huge theme park Great Adventure-
http://www.netpie.com/
They have organic blueberries- wonderful! Love them! In July they come in...
It can be very warm, so we try to get there early in the morning, and then head over to the shore to swim for the afternoon... a long, but fun day.

1st tomatoes, raspberries, sad aphids

2009-06-19T22:52:00.002-04:00

I ate my first two fresh tomatoes of 2009 today! They were sun golds, started (I believe) at the same time as sweet 100's, which are slower this year. Renee's January tomato is turning red, so I suspect next year I will have earlier tomatoes, following her example of starting seeds in January.

I ate my first two raspberries yesterday, and 3.5 raspberries today. I'm not sure who ate the other half, but I doubt he has the flu. My human neighbor and I are beginning to nibble on blueberries, hoping to eat more than the birds. It looks like there will be enough for all.

When I surveyed my collards on Wednesday, I saw they had completely capitulated to the black aphids. I salvaged some leaves to be carefully washed when I'm listening to "Democracy Now," and pulled out the plants. This is early to give up on collards; I should have cut away the aphids earlier. Alas, now the woodchuck apparently has nibbled on the carrot tops and downright gobbled some volunteer greens, both of which apparently had been protected by the nearby collards.

On the other hand, the aphids were beginning to live on the tips of the grape vines, so maybe taking away the collards was prudent. Not to repeat my collards error, I clipped the aphid-ridden parts of the vines and took them to the compost heap.

Several of you observed that lady bugs eat aphids. Yes, I think that's true. Someone wrote they are available at Plochs. Good idea! One year not long ago I was almost overridden with ladybugs, but I haven't seen one this year. Maybe I didn't feed them enough aphids last year. I don't ever remember having so many aphids before. Their effects are not so dramatic as the woodchucks', but...

Think about tomatoes and raspberries, Pat!

Pat

Thinning, 2 questions, woodchucks again

2009-06-16T22:44:00.002-04:00

Someone asked, "What is thinning?" We all know there is jargon in every human endeavor, and I guess I assumed more than I should have. You have all heard of thick woods and thick hair. If you scatter carrot seeds, you may get a think crop of carrots. Then you need to "thin" the crop by pulling out the excess. We speak of "thinning to one inch" when we are pulling out enough carrots so that the remaining ones are all one inch from their nearest neighbor. The tradition was to thin to a half inch in June, to one inch in July, and to two inches in August. My tradition was to throw away or compost the thinnings, but this year I've been transplanting them to fill in the empty spots and to expand the carrot plot. The moist weather has been conducive to success in this project.

Someone asked what to do with aphids. Some folks suggest spraying soapy water on them,
and I've found plain water just as successful. It's a lot of time and effort, however, for each leaf, and this year I have settled with going on a guilt trip for not removing the aphid-ridden leaves from the plant before they spread. This is not a very useful approach. Any other suggestions? This tropical weather is good for aphids.

And for mushrooms. Several people have asked what I do about mushrooms. Don't eat them! They are probably deadly. My own approach has been to kick them in the lawn, and to mulch over them with grass clippings in the garden. I'm not sure I recommend either. Any other ideas? Most years they aren't a problem, but this year is surely "special."

When I first had woodchucks, we invested in an electric fence. This worked, but is expensive. Worse, the battery died over the winter, and we couldn't find any replacement battery the following spring. So that was one very expensive woodchuck-free year. An electric fence is less invasive in your yard than a "real" fence that goes a foot underground and four feet over. I put it about one foot above the ground so I could step over it easily. Our neighbor found it upsetting in the yard next to where he was raising children, but verified that electric fences are legal in Montclair. A friend told me her two sons liked to annoy her by touching the fence. One is now a professor of mathematics at Columbia University, so I gather this
repeated prank did him no short or longterm harm. I touched mine once by mistake, and wouldn't do that again just to annoy someone else! However, the discomfort stopped as soon as I jumped away from the wire, which was quickly. If anyone knows where they (or replacement batteries) are available nearby, that might be of interest to readers, perhaps even me. Yes, you can turn off the fence whenever you like.

Our woodchuck infestation continues. My main defense is to think of Marie-Antoinette as I say to myself, "Let them eat tomatoes." Thank you all for the cages. I am going hog-wild with supersteak tomatoes and eggplants. The woodchucks don't eat tomato plants, but they will take a bite out of a large tomato. I'm not above cutting around the bite and including the remainder in sauce. They don't seem to find tiny tomatoes worth their time. They take occasional bites off the tops of eggplants, peppers, and zinnias, but they aren't speciescidal with these, as they are with broccoli, and the plants seem to grow back or around the bite.

I ate my first sugar snap pea today. Yum, but sigh. There won't be many this year. The ones I have grew up in the protection of early tomatoes or overwintered volunteer pak choi. Pac choi (for the reader who asked) is a kind of chinese cabbage that does very well in the NJ climate. I think I may plant its seeds along the main fence this fall to protect more peas as they climb the fence next spring. Also, I'll follow Renae's lead in starting tomatoes for my circular fence in January, so they will protect the peas around that fence.

You can see I'm settling into the possibility of life with woodchucks. I hope Jean's plants will do their thing and evict them, or someone will find a battery that can reactivate my electric fence. No children live next to me now. However, I just harvested my fifth zucchini of 2009, the volunteer greens will provide stir-fries when the Hakurei turnips are finished, and the basil is almost ready to provide dinner pesto, so eating is still mighty good INSIDE the house here.

Pat

2009-06-06T23:35:00.000-04:00

It's fertilization time for corn -- in the sense of making sure male meets female. Corn in fields fertilizes by wind; the pollen drifts along and meets thejavascript:void(0) grain. In gardens it merits some human help. Those tufts at the top of the corn now have easily removed grains of pollen. The books say to collect it in a paper bag and carefully distribute it. I've found over the years that I get complete ears if I merely scoop it into my hand(s) and empty my hand on the silken threads that are on top of the incipient ears. I find myself remembering that old Thanksgiving hymn, which didn't make sense to me until I began raising corn.

"First the grain and then the ear,
Then the full corn shall appear.
Lord of Harvest, grant that we
Wholesome grain and full may be."

When I first learned that, my teachers and parents were busily cultivating me to be "full corn," as I did realize even in those days.

The actual corn ears are barely descernable now, but need the pollen on the silken threads before the full corn will appear.

Trina telephoned this morning to say that THREE stags were sighted on her property on Elm Street (across from Lexington Road) this morning. Each had three pointed antlers, indicating that it was three years old. Life must be getting tough in the "woodlands" for them for be foraging on Elm Street!

She also tells me she has caught fifteen (!) woodchucks this spring WITHOUT any bait in her cage. She merely puts the cage where a woodchuck has gone into a hole and plugs up all the other entrances. I found this technique fine until this year, although I always included bait before. This year the tops of my Jeruselum artichokes are gone, so I don't have good bait. Perhaps I don't have my hole accurately investigated, but it is also possible that "my" woodchucks live on nearby properties. Anyway, the only one to enter my cage was back in April. My raspberry plants are so thick around the garage that it is difficult to see where the woodchucks go as they scamper along the garage - right by the alleged anti-woodchuck plant!

I continue to eat very well. "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow..." oops, more reverently, "Give us our day our daily bread." Mine is abundant.

I keep finding amazing vegetative clutter in my back yard this year with goodies underneath. One young mother wrote apologetically that her garden has gotten very messy, but it's hard to believe that anyone's isn't in this year of continual rain!

Pat

Zucchini triumph!

2009-06-04T11:22:00.000-04:00

Would you believe? A few minutes after I sent my appeal Monday for a zucchini male, Renee, only a block away, made an offer. Some of you may remember visiting her open garden on April 25. She had one reservation. She has no zucchini, just yellow squash.

Oh, well. I'm not against mixed marriage. Off to Renee's garden I hurried. There was one lonely male with no female companionship. I picked him, and introduced him to both my females. I can now report that at least one of those unions was successful, possibly both, but the one he met second is not growing as fast. We will have a squash dinner this weekend (and maybe Renee's family too if the other continues to grow at an only slightly slower pace).

Judging by the responses, many of you don't know much about the sex life of zucchinis. I will now explain that titillating subject. Someone wrote regretfully he had "only one." I doubt this. Zucchinis don't have male plants and female plants like holly and kiwi. They don't even need two to tango, like earthworms, who must snuggle together in a symmetric way to generate babies. (Have I told this list my earthworm love story?)

Each zucchini plant has male flowers and female flowers. You can tell which are which when the buds are little. The buds with a tiny (quarter inch in diameter) zucchini fruit behind them are female. The ones with skinny stems are male. When the flowers open, it is more obvious which is which to anyone who knows the Facts of Life, as I suspect all readers do. Anyway, flowers open about sunrise (at least they are open by the time I get up and out in June), and they close about noon. All activity must happen during that brief time. I was overjoyed that Renee responded so quickly. If nothing happens, the small zucchini behind the female flower doesn't grow. We had the one who was not satisfied on Sunday with our salad this evening,
small but quite nice.

Nature's plan is for bees, as they accomplish their own purposes, to pick up some pollen from the male flowers, and rub it off on the female openings. The pollen has to reach the female in order for her to grow into a full-sized zucchini that a human would like for dinner. Suspecting that the bees aren't as motivated to accomplish this as I am, I often pick a male and make sure the females benefit from his services.

Most years the male flowers start in early June, followed by female flowers much later. Until two years ago, I ate my first zucchini on June 26; zucchini was the most punctual vegetable in the garden. Two years ago it was June 25 and last year June 24. This year's probable June 7 is a dramatic sign of climate change -- with its nice twists in the temperate region. Since the woodchucks have eaten the second crop of broccoli seedlings that we bought after devouring the ones I raised from seed, it is something of a consolation to have zucchini so early. Still...

I suspect that our dinner Sunday will be actually zucchini and the yellow squash would have had its impact only if we had allowed the seeds to germinate instead of being eaten. I'll let you know after it is picked.

Happily,
Pat

Male zucchini needed urgently

2009-06-01T11:20:00.000-04:00

I suspect you never received an email with that heading before. I have a gardening problem that is absolutely unprecendented in either my 34 previous years of gardening or my reading. My female zucchinis are thriving EARLY and my males appear to be... uhm... castrated.

Can anyone bring a healthy male zucchini flower to 56 Gordonhurst in the next couple of hours?

He will have TWO opportunities to promulgate his genes. Of course, humans will eat the product of his efforts, but who knows what will happen then? I habitually help my male flowers get acquainted with their female flower friends in case my bees don't notice the opportunity, but never (can that be?) have I had females with no healthy males having matured yet. One female was unsatisfied the day before yesterday, so this would be three if I get no help.

Pat

Woodchucks

2009-05-28T22:34:00.000-04:00

What do you do about woodchucks? The perennial question keeps coming. When I started gardening, woodchucks were only a part of a silly rhyme, and their lack certainly helped my prolific yield with so little time. However, they do visit me now. They are also called "ground hogs" and are a problem whatever you call them.

First, I discovered that human hair scattered around the garden really does work. Someone suggested that barber shops probably give fewer chemicals than beauty shops. Anyway, for a short-term fix, go to one or the other. Give them warning so they can sweep up the hair separate from other garbage. This deterrent will last until the next rain, and then you must do it again. I got tired of this activity, and the residue is truly ugly in the garden.

I'm told that coyote urine works for one gardener, but it too needs to be replaced after every rain. It and fox urine are commercially available. Some recommend fox urine, but it didn't work for me nearly as well as human hair.

Then I hired someone ($75, I think), who put a trap in my yard with store-bought broccoli in it. No results. The only success I've had with trapping is to put it just outside the hole after the woodchuck has gone in (could be late in the evening) with enticing goodies in the trap (leaves of Jeruselum artichoke works best for me) and clog up the sides of the trap to prevent an alternate escape. Then what? The NJ DEP forbids transferring wild animals to another location, and allows killing only by lethal injection. This seems more practical for woodchucks than squirrels, but they didn't tell me where to get the equipment for such injections.

Jose (josergerman@aol.com, 973-233-1106) tells me he can build a fence to keep them out of a garden, but this is a real project. The fence must be sturdy, at least 4' high and must extend at least a foot below the ground's surface. I'm not sure how this affects the resale value of a house, but it certainly affects the lifestyle of a gardener. My daughter and her husband installed one last month, a first-time adventure for both of them, but they had "had it" with invaders.

Early on in my woodchuck days I installed an electric fence. This worked, but a neighbor disapproved, and we couldn't find a replacement battery to make it work the following year. It was an expensive way to have one woodchuck-free year. A friend told me her children liked to touch her electric fence to annoy her. I accidentally touched it once, and wouldn't do that again just to annoy someone, but I didn't seem to suffer any adverse consequences after the brief encounter.

Last August I was given a plant that presumably keeps woodchucks off a property, and I had none for eight months. However, we now see them here repeatedly. The gifter assures me that when the plants get bigger and spread, my woodchuck problems will be over. I like that dream.

Meanwhile, my current coping mechanism is to work hard at rejoicing at what the woodchucks leave for me and other humans. (A neighbor told me recently she saw TWO cavorting on my next door neighbor's front lawn.) Fred and I each ate a half a pea yesterday, a big come-down for someone who froze dozens of servings of peas last year. But the Sugar Anns have revived admirably and the Sugar Snaps are sneaking up the fence wherever they are protected by tomato or pak choi plants. Incidentally, I don't perceive garlic as being a deterrent at all; woodchucks don't eat garlic, but they eat right around it. I planted four replacement broccoli, and one lost its head yesterday. Maybe some will last for humans! We are sharing the parsley. They have eaten lots of lettuce, but enough has burrowed itself in the pak choi and tomatoes for humans to have a decent salad each day thus far.

On the positive side, woodchucks don't eat tomato plants, although they will take a bite out of large tomatoes (and my prized 1" green tomato last month). They don't compete for Hakurai turnips, and I'm stirring lots of their greens into stir-fries these days as well as reveling in the roots. Collards are abundant and unmolested. Pak choi thrives. Radishes don't fill you much, but they are available now. Fred and I have had LOTS of strawberries on our breakfasts yesterday and today, and that is LIVING. It looks like strawberries will continue until the promising raspberries are available.

So life is still good, and the garden is satisfying, even though both can be frustrating.

Pat

Carrots

2009-05-25T22:24:00.004-04:00

The topic that received the most questions at my last week's Open Gardens was carrots. There were lots of things to tell about this year's crop, then and now, but I need to tell my historical pattern first.

Perhaps most important, carrots need a "mature" soil that is friable, rich in nutrients, and easy to penetrate. I recommend not trying during your first couple of years of gardening in any one plot.

When I reached carrot-promising stage, Bob McClean at 51 Gordonhurst, who started gardening in 1930, told me that he put plastic bags of leaves over his carrots in the winter so he could harvest them all winter without going to the trouble of storing them first. A yard-high bag of leaves insulates the carrots and keeps them from freezing.

He suggested I sow carrot seeds in April for harvest the following winter. Since then I've always scattered seeds in April. The first year or two I watched the birds nibble at my carrot patch, so since then I have covered the new bed with floating cover. Once I left it on until too late in June and the tops were burned; that winter I didn't get my fair share of carrots.

So since then I've been careful to take the floating cover off not too late in June. Then I thin the carrots to a half inch spacing, weeding and mulching in between the seedlings with fresh grass clippings as I go. This is a time-consuming task.

In July I have traditionally thinned to one inch spacing, again weeding a mulching as I go. This time the thinnings are big enough to eat; they are called "finger carrots." In August I then thin to two-inch spacing, weeding and mulching as I go. By now the thinnings qualify as "carrots."

Then the plot takes care of itself until some time in December when the tops fall in some frost. I take plastic bags of leaves that Fred has gathered from curbs in nearby towns (Montclair insists on paper bags, which are environmentally desirable, but not good for my purposes) and I have stowed nearby, and I put them over the entire carrot bed(s).

Throughout the winter, I remove the snow if needed (shoveling or brushing as appropriate) off one bag, put the bag aside, take out a week's worth of carrots, and put the bag back where it was. This year I was harvesting LOTS of carrots until April. We had an excellent season last year for raising carrots.

This year I had the misfortune of sowing my first crop of carrots (snax) the week before that very hot spell with temperatures in the 90's. This is bad for germinating carrots; they like April weather. I tried to water them, but... Anyway, when one of my first visitors last week asked to see under the floating cover, I removed one corner and was relieved that respectable carrots seedlings were there. What I discovered when I removed the entire cover on Monday was that were were large blank spots. This is very unusual, perhaps unprecedented. I wish I had watered more assiduously, or perhaps not sown the entire packet at once, but life is full of "wish I hads".

After the hot weather I sowed my nantes carrots in a nearby plot, and they have done better. I think it's the weather, not the seeds or my treatment of them. One guest insisted that a carrot plant was poking the floating cover high. I said it was just a weed, but she insisted. I
thought I'd show her she was mistaken, but I showed her she was right. The carrots have grown unprecedentedly fast this year!

So I took the floating covers off in mid-May, not in June as customary. When I get a round 'tuit, I may transplant some of the extra nantes carrots into the snax plot, thereby becoming unable to tell which is which. That's a silly consideration I tell myself, considering how little attention I paid to the difference last year. Both did well. I fear neither will this year, but they may. They are growing rapidly, and the total volume may make up for the non-carrots that didn't germinate. I'll know by March, maybe by February.

Anyway, carrots are mighty welcome as a fresh crop in winter, and pleasant in August. When your soil is ready, I recommend them as worth the effort. Admittedly, they aren't as MUCH better than store-bought as home-grown tomatoes, which often grow in any soil. I can easily taste the difference, however, between homegrown and commercial carrots.

Pat

PS: [from a related post]
Someone asked, "What is thinning?" We all know there is jargon in every human endeavor, and I guess I assumed more than I should have. You have all heard of thick woods and thick hair. If you scatter carrot seeds, you may get a think crop of carrots. Then you need to "thin" the crop by pulling out the excess. We speak of "thinning to one inch" when we are pulling out enough carrots so that the remaining ones are all at least one inch from their nearest neighbor. The tradition was to thin to a half inch in June, to one inch in July, and to two inches in August. My tradition was to throw away or compost the thinnings, but this year I've been transplanting them to fill in the empty spots and to expand the carrot plot. The moist weather has been conducive to success in this project.

Open Garden report

2009-05-20T22:15:00.005-04:00

We had a plant exchange on Saturday, and most seedlings were taken, but my mystery tomatoes were neglected. This surprised me since last year 200 tomato seedlings were taken from my front steps, 150 potted up by me and 50 donated by others. Perhaps this year people are collecting their own volunteers, or perhaps my publicity has been inadequate. Anyone still interested in volunteer mystery tomato seedlings?

At the OG I gave away lots of garlic plants. I realized Friday that I had far more than I can use, and the response to my offers to pull and give were enthusiastic. I bought one garlic years ago, and these are all descendants of that one. I have also eaten lots of garlic! If you took one, wait until the top looks dead, and then dig the garlic. The books say to hang it by the dead leaves for a while. I do that with good results,, but I have no idea how important it is. [P.S. on June 9: I pulled out two plants today to make room for eggplant plants, and -- voila -- there were "mature" cloves of garlic at the bottoms! So you don't HAVE to wait until they look dead.]

I collected lots of sympathy for my woodchuck-snipped peas and brocolli plants (as requested) and some admiration for my tomatoes that are almost the size of peas in mid-May. When I showed off my Hakurei turnips, one visitor said he likes to cook the greens. My Chinese cabbage that I eat fresh every three days in January-March is all gone, and I cooked the Hakurei greens with pak choi last evening. It was indeed delicious.

Many people helped me curb my overgrowing strawberry plants. Hopefully, they will get some berries from them. One person who took some last month said his already has berries! I have a good many green berries next to my driveway and the neighbors', and lots of pretty flowers in the back, where I encouraged people to "weed" them from the edge. Visitors commented about the straw that was visible around the strawberries. It is now easily available on curbs after Halloween, and I've had much better yields since I put about a 4" mulch of straw over the plants each November. The plants poke through in the spring, and obviously are happier than they were before I had easy access to straw. Strawberries like straw, the source of their English name.

People were interested in my four visible crops of lettuce. One commented that hers turns bitter and now she knows what to do about that: plant again about every three weeks, so there is more available when hers turns bitter.

The collards are impressive now, and we talked about them lots. I eat collards every three days at this season. The crop that got the most discussion was carrots, but that's worth an email of its own some day soon.

Pat

Raising fruit

2009-05-13T23:19:00.005-04:00

In 1997 Fred and I were fruit-self-sufficient from late May until late October. That was 12 years ago, and there hasn't been any great disaster in our yard since -- just squirrels. However, we do eat a lot of fresh, local fruit and enjoy it very much.
The strawberries are forming as I write this. I bought a few (three?) plants some years ago, and transplanted the daughters. I now have several plots, each with a substantial yield. Last year I discovered that if I pick them when they are just turning color, they ripen quickly, often overnight, and are delicious -- certainly much better than feeding the wildlife from a selfish point of view. My daughter says she learns that strawberry season is beginning when she discovers a half of a ripe strawberry on her back steps. She suspects chipmonks. Anyway, they alert her to the possibility of searching her yard for goodies, and soon she has enough for "them and us." For several weeks Fred and I have strawberries on our breakfast every day.
As they are ebbing, the raspberries begin. I recommend "Heritage," which are available in most garden centers. A friend told me this week that a young plant costs over $20 at Plochs. It is worth cultivating a raspberry rich friend, because, like strawberries, raspberries will take over your property if not curbed, which means owner can give the plants away. Heritage bear from late June into July, and then again late in the summer until frost -- on younger plants. Each plant lives only a year, bearing first in late summer and then an early crop, so the big nuisance of raspberry care is cutting out the dead wood in mid-summer from among the youngsters. Fortunately, the thorns on raspberries are mild compared to those on roses (which are mild compared to those on gooseberries). I fertilize them with the leaves that Fred brings me each fall, which I use for a generous mulch.
My white peaches bear about the time raspberries are fading, along with Concord seedless grapes (next to the house). The peaches take no care, and the grapes need only a pruning each February.
Blueberries down the neighbor's driveway bear sequentially through the summer. Long ago I bought a set of bushes that bear one after the other from a now-defunct mailorder source. You put a lot of labor into harvesting blueberries per mouthful, but the bushes are beautiful, and they stay put, unlike raspberries. Mine are over 20 years old, and have been fertilized only with other people's discarded Christmas trees, which Fred drags home for me each January. We put five trees, cut up, under our blueberry bushes each year. They smell very good!
In August we get delicious Bartlett pears. In 2004 we harvested 70 from our miniature tree, but usually the squirrels make sure we get only about 20. Still, that's wonderful eating! Next are red delicious apples and then macintosh apples. There are three other trees, but they give only a couple fruit at best -- so far. I bought these from John, who had a front-yard orchard on Grove Street until he died of cancer. He was appalled that I refuse to spray my fruit trees, but I do get decent harvests, although I donate some to mildew. The basic care of fruit trees is pruning in February and thinning the fruit to 6" spacing when they are between a quarter and a half inch in diameter. If you forget this service, the tree responds by having no fruit at all the following year; fruit trees don't like to be overworked.
About a decade ago the neighbor and I put in native plum trees alternately along the back line of our properties. They provide some visual privacy now. A later neighbor once made credible wine from the plums. They are good, but bear at the same time as the Bartlett pears, which is stiff competition.
By the time the tree fruit is fading the raspberries are bearing with enthusiasm. At least once a day I can gorge for 15 minutes. Once when my kids were home for college we all three harvested on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning and took what we hadn't eaten to chuch. Someone computed we brought 20 pints -- enough for everyone to eat plentifully after the service with some left over to be taken home. If you can tolerate some wildness, raspberries are a delight. During my July and September Open Gardens children roam through my raspberry patches and don't interfere with grownup conversation. There seems to be enough for 2-3 hours of entertainment.
In late October (?) Arctic kiwi are ripe. What a treat! The problem with kiwi is building a strong enough support. Our efforts seemed almost Biblical. Then, however, they are delicious and long-lasting. They taste like the kiwi in the stores, but have smooth skin that you eat and are smaller, like huge grapes. They also may be somewhat sweeter, but that's probably because you eat them totally fresh.
Raising fruit is much harder than raising vegetables, partially because it takes years to get it going, but it surely raises the quality of life once you enjoy the tasting.
Pat

Open Gardens this weekend and more

2009-05-12T23:18:00.001-04:00

Saturday, May 16: 2:00-5:00 PM (except Pat's) An Open Garden tour sponsored by the Cornucopia Network of NJ: Pat Kenschaft, 56 Gordonhurst Ave. 2:00 - 4:00 PM (last tour begins at 3:30) Displays in front yard will continue until 5:00 PM;Bob McLean, 51 Gordonhurst Avenue;Grace Grund, 3 Dodd Street (8 blocks away) She also raises chickens and will host a meeting at 5:00 PM for current and prospective chicken raisers.Kevin Fried, 19 Dodd Street (3 houses down);Anne Sailer, 223 Valley Road;Jose German and Dave Wasmuth, 69 Grove Street;Judy Hinds, 156 Rhoda Avenue, Nutley;Lulu Hicks, 32 Smith Street, Bloomfield (first year garden)
May 17, Sunday 2:00-5:00 PM (except Pat's): Pat Kenschaft, 56 Gordonhurst Ave. 2:00 - 4:00 PM (last tour begins at 3:30) Displays in front yard continue until 5:00 PM);Bob McLean, 51 Gordonhurst Avenue.;Scott Seale, 280 Upper Mountain Avenue (first year, front yard garden);Mary Szumski, 166 Alexander Ave. (first year garden);Necole Fabris, 8 Prospect Place, West Orange
May 19, 7:30: Gray Russell, the Environmental Affairs Coordinator of Montclair, and expert on global warming, will give a talk at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation on the environmental impact of coal mining and coal power plants.
June 6: Montclair's farmers' market begins for the season.
June 13: Montclair EcoFair: BlueWaveNJ and the Ecocrew (an amazing group of kids from MHS) aresponsoring our 3rd Annual ECOFAIR IN MONTCLAIR - How To Save The Planet in Your Own Backyard. It will be held Saturday, June 13th from 12:00 to 4:00 pm at Edgemont Park. We are looking for ecofriendly vendors,organizations and artists that may want to bring their wares and information to the Montclair community. There is a $35.00 erase your carbon footprint fee unless you are not for profit. We get a wonderful turn out - last year we had over 300 people before the rains came half way through! We have local student and parent bands, environmental speakers, and lots of games for tots and kids. This year we are hoping to find some finger food and drink/ices vendors aswell - as long as you don't need electricity! Please contact Claire Ciliotta at ccili@verizon.net.
June 20: Brookdale Park Rose Garden - Half a Century Celebration - 11am-4pm Come join The Essex County Master Gardeners and Essex County Parks and Recreation Department to celebrate the rose garden's 50 years of existence. The garden is on the right side as you enter the park via Grove St, Montclair. The parks department will provide refreshments and music. To sponsor a rose bed or to make a donation,

Garden sadnesses

2009-05-03T23:14:00.001-04:00

I've heard that something that seems too good to be true probably is.
Last July a visitor told me of an anti-woodchuck plant; she has had no woodchucks (also called "groundhogs") in her yard since she imported it for that purpose. I was overjoyed when she brought me some seedlings in August. Whew! Since then I had no woodchucks... until last week.
Last week my heart sank when I saw one through my kitchen door. I went out and it made a bee-line down the garage into the woodchuck hole under the garage. I burrowed in the garage for the 9-month neglected cage, and put it where it would do the most good in front of the hole. The next morning it had an occupant.
Story done? Yesterday morning Fred saw another woodchuck in the garden, but it didn't run into that hole. After lunch we saw a pile of dirt on the cement walk next to the house that obviously had come from a new hole under the house. I put the cage there, but observed no success this morning. We were away most of the time from mid-afternoon yesterday until mid-afternoon today.
As I meditated outdoors this afternoon, it seemed that the lettuce plants weren't complete. Looking more closely later, I saw signs of damage. I decided to pick lots of ready lettuce. I usually pick dinner late in the afternoon when it will be eaten, but now it seemed prudent to get there ahead of the thief. Most Americans eat food picked days earlier. (Marion Nestle computed that the minimum time for asparagus to travel from the farm to NYC store shelves is ten days.)
However, as my eyes scanned the pea vines, I saw something much sadder than missing lettuce. When a pea vine is nipped, that is many future peas that won't be harvested. :( There was one vine lying on the garden path, not even eaten by its murderer. Woodchucks are an egregiously wasteful pest. When they eat a pea vine, both they and we have much less food in the future.
Then I noticed that the brocolli plants are essentially all gone. I mourned for a while, and then realized I can buy replacements at Bartlett's when the culprit is captured. I like to raise my own seedlings, but Bartlett's (and others) do a fine job. The Bartletts have a stand on Grove Street just north of Montclair on the left before you reach Rt. 3. They support a 14-member, 4-generation family on three acres, and I like to give and send them business. Family businesses are the heart of healthy American capitalism.
Gone brocolli is easier to replace than gone pea vines, which take time to grow in place -- and should be planted in March or April.
The culminating experience of the afternoon came when I brushed the dirt from the new hole back into the hole. Amid the dirt was a half a tomato. My prize tomato! Started by Renae on January 11. It was almost the size of a golf ball, but it had been picked and half eaten. Those wasteful woodchucks. At least it could appreciate the whole thing! I was comforted to see another tomato below it, somewhat larger than a pea. I hope it's still there tomorrow. I put a cage around the plant, not because it needs one for support yet, but hoping...
I was beginning to plant out tender plants from my bulging greenhouse window. Thus far the zuchinni plants have not been nipped. Basil has been traditionally unappetizing to woodchucks. Anyone know whether they eat zinnia plants? I'm sufficiently dissatisfied with the crabgrass-like stuff the Belgian block installers put between the street and the sidewalk that I was considering digging it out and putting zinnias there. I have a bumper crop of zinnia seedlings now. I'm curious about others' experiences with woodchucks and zinnia plants. Crabgrass is better than feeding woodchucks.
Life isn't perfect, even in a home garden. But the spring has been lovely, hasn't it?
Pat

Garlic, skunks, and holly

2009-05-02T23:14:00.001-04:00

At the open garden a nice man asked what the bottom of my plentifulgarlic plants look like now. I pulled one up, and it looked like -- well,like one bulb with promise. I put it back, and almost immediately felt asense of guilt for not giving it to the nice man.
The guilt has grown (Fred says this is a middle class hazard), and now Iam facing up to the situation of having FAR more more garlic plants than I can possibly use. One "solution" is to put them in the holes that the skunks keep digging in my garden by night, having noticed that they don't seem to invade the places where the garlic is. It's nice to have skunks taking my grubs, but enough is enough! Surely they can find more useful places to dig than the place they dug last night.
This still leaves me with far more garlic than I can use. I suspect each needs a decent space to develop an entire garlic bulb like the ones in the stores. I had plenty last year and don't need more this year. So I've begun digging them out. They are in a bucket on my front steps at 56 Gordonhurst Avenue. You may take out as many as you can use. I doubt that anyone will want a garden full of garlic! They don't taste much different (if any) from bought garlic (unlike most fresh veggies), but they are reputed to deter woodchucks. All I have are descended from ONE bulb bought some years ago.
So if one of these survives in your yard, you too could be giving away garlic some day. I don't know how long they will survive in the bucket, but I'm sure the sooner they are replanted, the better.
I'm ashamed at how long it took me to realize I should be doing this. I should have given them away at last week's open garden. Enough! How much do guilt trips (and trying to repress them) explain human misinteractions?
Just this morning I notice some "small" holly trees under the mother holly in my front yard. Do anyone want to dig one or two out and take it to a more promising home? This can be done only by appointment, so if you are interested, let me know when you are available.
Pat

May environmental schedule

2009-05-02T23:13:00.000-04:00

May 2 - Plant Sale 9am - 4 pm Annual Van Vleck House & Gardens Plant Sale offering unique and unusual shrubs, vines, perennials, tender perennials and trees. Many of the plants for sale are closely associated with the gardens, including plants favored by the late Howard Van Vleck. Experts will be on hand to answer questions and help visitors navigate the sale. Great Mother's Day gifts. 21 Van Vleck Street Montclair www.vanvleck.org
May 2, Saturday Bloomfield will have an Eco-Fair from 10-2 at Brookside Park on the corner of Bay and Broad Streets.
5/2 -- Rand (Montclair's Environmental Magnet) Annual Community Eco-Fair has a "Green Innovations" tour--a self-guided tour of several residences(includes green kitchen renovations, solar installations, and properties of note) and one commercial property, GreenWorks at 100 Grove--Montclair's first LEED certified commercial space. Tour hours are 12-4 and begin at 176 North Fullerton; tickets $15/person or $20/couple or family. Proceeds support environmental programming and other educational initiatives at Rand. At the Eco-Fair (hours 10-4; no charge): kid-friendly activities (Storytellers: Brian Fox Ellis at 11; Nia Gill at noon), music, vendors, plant sale, and educational workshops. Questions? Call Kelly McDonald at 973-655-0146
Sunday, May 3: West Orange Eco-Energy Fair, 12:00 - 4:00pm Rain or Shine Interactive Workshops & Green Vendor Demonstrations, Liberty Middle School, Kelly Drive20 & Mt. Pleasant Ave., DEP Acting Director Mark Mauriello Guest Speaker. Sponsored by the West Orange Energy Commission, For participation information: woedchair@gmail.com
Sunday, May 3, 12-5PM A Gloriously Green Festival will be held at Congregation Agudath Israel at 20 Academy Road in Caldwell, but is an interfaith, community-wide festival. (I, Pat Kenschaft, will be speaking at 2:30 on lawn care.)
Wednesday, May 6 @ 10am and 6pm - Presby Iris Gardens VolunteerDay at Presby Memorial Iris Gardens, 474 Upper Mountain Ave,Montclair. We need your energy and valuable time here at Presby. Whether you are an accomplished gardener or not a gardener at all, we have plenty for you to do. During the Bloom Season (May 10-June 7) we need cashiers for the gift shop and friendly faces to greet our thousands of visitors. In the off season, we are working to reclaim and replant the Victorian garden adjacent to the Walther house, as well as archiving our records and maintaining the Iris database. If you've been thinking about volunteering butdidn't think you had the time, this is the chance you've been looking for, volunteer opportunities are available on both a short term and long term basis - we will work with your schedule! Please come and be a part of the welcoming Presby Family. Call 973 783 5974 or email simonska@aol.com to learn how to volunteer.
Thursday, May 7, 2009 and Friday, May 8, 9:00am-5:00pm both daysAnnual Herb And Plant Sale sponsored by The Montclair Historical Society, 108 Orange Road, Montclair. 973-744-1796 http://montclairhistorical.org/
Saturday, May 9 Montclair Historical Society Museum Shop, Baked goods, Cooking with herbs program, Museum tours, AND MORE! Family Day FunAnnual Herb And Plant Sale - 9:00am-5:00pm
Friday, May 8 and Saturday, May 9 @ 10am-5pm - Garden Club ofMontclair / Presby Iris Gardens Mother's Day Weekend Plant Sale -located at Presby Memorial Iris Gardens, 474 Upper Mountain Ave,Upper Montclair.Two fabulous Plant Sales are being held at Presby Iris Gardens. The Garden Club of Montclair is sponsoring a Deer Resistant Plant Sale featuring a huge selection annuals and perennials, and a collector's corner, as well as deer sprays /repellents. The proceeds from the Garden Club Plant Sale will support the beautification of the Montclair Public Schools. The Presby Iris Gardens sale will feature Irises, Peonies, Daylilies and heirloom vegetables. This combined sale will offer thousands of plants all at very reasonable prices. Experienced gardeners are available for advice, as well as a kid's corner with art projects and light refreshments. Full list of plants available at: gardenclubmontclair.tripod.com www.presbyirisgarden.org
Saturday, May 9, 2009: HISTORIC WALKING TOUR OF ANDERSON PARK:Learn about the founding of Anderson Park a century ago and how itshaped Upper Montclair and led to the formation of other parks intown. Also hear about plans to restore the park's landscape,designed by John Charles Olmsted, and place the park on theNational Register of Historic Places. Free. Sponsored by Friendsof Anderson Park. Meet at the boulder at the park's northeastentrance, near Bellevue Avenue, east of North Mountain Avenue;10:30 a.m. Light rain does not cancel, but heavy rain reschedulesto May 16, same time. Information: (973) 744-8433, orlisanne@friendsofandersonpark.com orwww.FriendsOfAndersonPark.com.
May 9: Glen Ridge will have an Eco-Fair from 10-2 at the corner of Ridgewood Avenue and Bloomfield.
Saturday, May 16: 2:00-5:00 PM (except Pat's) An Open Garden tour sponsored by the Cornucopia Network of NJ: Pat Kenschaft, 56 Gordonhurst Ave. 2:00 - 4:00 PM (last tour begins at 3:30) Displays in front yard will continue until 5:00 PM;Bob McClean, 51 Gordonhurst AvenueGrace Grund, 3 Dodd Street (8 blocks away) She also raises chickens and will host a meeting at 5:00 PM for current and prospective chicken raisers.Kevin Fried, 19 Dodd Street (3 houses down);Anne Sailer, 223 Valley Road; Jose German and Dave Wasmuth, 69 Grove Street;Judy Hinds, 156 Rhoda Avenue, Nutley;Lulu Hicks, 32 Smith Street, Bloomfield (first year garden)
May 17, Sunday 2:00-5:00 PM (except Pat's): Pat Kenschaft, 56 Gordonhurst Ave. 2:00 - 4:00 PM (last tour begins at 3:30) Displays in front yard continue until 5:00 PM;Scott Seale, 280 Upper Mountain Avenue (first year garden);Mary Szumski, 166 Alexander Ave. (first year garden);Necole Fabris, 8 Prospect Place, West Orange
May 19, Gray Russell, the Environmental Affairs Coordinator of Montclair, and expert on global warming, will give a talk at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation on the environmental impact of coal mining and coal power plants.
June 30: Brookdale Park Rose Garden - Half a Century Celebration - 11am-4pm Come join The Essex County Master Gardeners and Essex County Parks and Recreation Department to celebrate the rose garden's 50 years of existence. The garden is on the right side as you enter the park via Grove St, Montclair. The parks department will provide refreshments and music. To sponsor a rose bed or to make a donation,email Master Gardener Susan Jankolovits at sjankolovits@hotmail.com.http://www.mgessex.org/cms/index.php?page=rose-garden
This schedule may be forwarded, reproduced, or posted without permission. The information has come from those sponsoring each event.

OG report, freebees, request

2009-04-30T23:12:00.001-04:00

We had a glorious (if somewhat hot!) Open Garden Saturday. Over 100 people signed in. Thanks to Nancy Taiani, William Pew, and Fred Chichester for collection those signatures! It seems that the other two gardens we busy too.
A new feature that seemed appreciated was digging your own strawberries, oregano, and vinca. Only one lily of the valley remained in that strange spot, but nobody seemed interested in ferns, as far as I could tell. This was good for me too. I'll have trowels out on May 16 and 17 for those who want to dig their own strawberries, oregano, and/or vinca.
The last is worth some commentary. Kathy Salisbury, Essex County Horiculturalist, spoke at the Brookdale Park Conservacy Tuesday evening about invasive species and good substitutes. Norway maples, burning bush, ivy, and vinca were four of the invasives that endanger our ecosystem. (NJ has 2100 natives, including half the native plants that can be found from PA to Maine.) I'm relieved that nobody picked up any of my ivy, but I asked Kathy in the question period how naughty is the vinca. She says as long as it is contained in a yard surrounded by other yards, it's not too bad because it spreads with runners. (In contrast to burning bush, where birds eat the berries and deposit them a considerable distance away.) Thus if you keep it from spreading where you don't want it, it's okay. It is pretty with little purple flowers blooming for weeks now, and it's easy to walk on.
On the taking end, feel free to leave LITTLE plastic seedling containers on the steps at 56 Gordonhurst Avenue. These are the items, usually black, in which you buy seedlings for your garden. Don't throw them away! I'm giving away enough seedlings now to be concerned about running out.
Back to the Open Garden, many were interested in my cold frames, that Johnny Seeds again sells. The Chinese cabbage was bursting out of one of them; this is the latest I've every let it stay in the cold frame and it was a mass of flowers. Since Saturday I have picked it all, removed the cold frame, dug some compost into the soil, and planted corn and bean seeds, which should be peeking through for the May 16 OG. Today I took the leftovers to Tony's Food Kitchen (which had a frighteningly long line) and received a touching thanks. I hardly felt I deserved it because the chipmonks' thievery meant I had considerably less than in previous years. If you are cleaning out unneeded harvests, I suggest taking them to St. Luke's Church late in the morning some Thursday, Friday, or Saturday.
Each visiting group also asked about my twig-and-wood pile, my compost heap that takes a decade to decay. It's unusually big this year, partly (I think) because growth has been abundant the past 12 months, and partly because I am doing more gardening than usual while I'm resting ("cutting back").
The mature winter rye plants also got considerable attention. People asked what I do with them. I cut off the tops and use them for mulch. Then I dig under (turn over) the roots. "When?" I confessed that I have read you are supposed to do it at least three weeks before planting in that spot, but I try for at least three... minutes. Some rules are not worth following. I never understood that one.
Someone asked what the garlic roots look like now, and I pulled one up. I wish now I had given it to the questioner. It's pretty clear I have far more garlic than I can use -- all descended from one clove I bought some time ago. Maybe I can give some away on May 16, if it's not too late.
I kept ONE parsnip plant, which was noticeable. We've since eaten the parsnip in stir-fries with the Chinese cabbage. Today I found a half carrot nearby while I was raking that spot! It was a nice touch with dinner this evening.
If you missed Saturday's tour, you have two more opportunities. If you were there, you will find quite a different garden on May 16. There will be ELEVEN gardens on tour that weekend. Along with Renae Baker's, which was open this past Saturday, that makes a dozen gardens open this spring, nine in Montclair, and one each in Nutley, Bloomfield, and West Orange. Home gardening is an idea whose time has come -- which even our president's family is embracing. And it's fun.
Pat

Monthly Garden Activities

2009-04-30T22:51:00.002-04:00

January: Drag home 5 neighbor's Christmas trees and cut them up as mulch for blueberries. If there is a thaw, dig the ground, plant more lettuce and pak choi, and cover with floating cover, a plastic sheet that admits light and water. Plant leaf lettuce in the greenhouse window. Order the year's seeds from catalogs.

February: Prune blueberry bushes, grape and kiwi vines, and fruit trees. Apply dormant oil spray as I go. Start brocolli, Sweet 100 and sun gold tomatoes, Nufar basil, parsley, celery, and Malabar spinach indoors.

March: Sow Sugar Ann peas early in the month and a half pound of sugar snap peas later. This is the year's most tedious job, but it feels great in the warming sun. Do it over many days, one "squat-worth" at a time. Knees can take just so much of this at once!
Indoors start pepper, eggplant, impatiens, and Burpee supersteak tomatoes. Sow lettuce and pak choi, Hakurei turnips and arugula seeds outdoors. Late in the month plant out parsley and celery seedlings.

April: Outdoors sow root crops (carrots, parsnips, and maybe salsify) under floating cover. Transplant brocolli and remaining lettuce outdoors. Then put out the first tomatoes under walls-of-water. Sow nasturtium seeds. The reputed frost free date here is May 15, but it's been years since we've had a late April or May frost. In 2005, 2006, and 2007 we had no frost in April or May. In 2008 the last frost was on April 10.
Sow more radish and lettuce seeds outdoors, and repeat sowing lettuce every three weeks until September. Sow leek seeds.
Indoors start various types of tomatoes and flowers. Buy eggplant, and pepper plugs and coddle them in larger pots than a nursery can provide. Throughout this month and until mid-May transplant plants to larger pots as soon as they are as tall as the pot they are in. Start zuchinni and cucumbers seeds inside.
Make the first planting of (early) corn and bush beans. Bush beans can be planted later, but racoons will eat any corn I plant later than April.

May: Traditional frost-free date is May 15, but we can push that for planting out tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, zuchinni, Malabar spinach and flowers. Mulch with grass clippings as soon as they are available, and continue this process until frost. Plant pole beans to climb where some of the pea vines will die in July.

June: Thin carrots to a half inch spacing and mulch with grass clippings as you go, partially to mark where you have been. This is the year's second most tedious job.
Late in the month start more zuchinni inside to plant out in July as a second crop. The squash borer usually kills the first crop, but it comes only once a year, so the second crop can be quite prolific in the fall.

July: Start collard, kale, and Burpee's two-season Chinese cabbage seeds either indoors or out. If indoors, plant the window starts out later in the month after clearing peas and first corn crops. Start lettuce seeds inside instead of outdoors so they are easy to keep moist.
Thin carrots to one inch spacing and eat the "finger carrots." (In 2001 there were two gallons of these delicious carrots!)
When the pea vines die, remove them and nurture Malabar spinach, State Farm zinnias, pole beans, and climbing tomatoes (Sweet 100 and sun gold) to replace them.

August: Start fall pak choi, perhaps where first crop of zuchinni collapsed. Thin carrots to two inch spacing, and eat the thinnings.

September: Sow lettuce seeds outside for the last time this year. Plant pak choi and lettuce in a cold frame for early spring harvest; recently I've been waiting until January for this.
Set up the cold frame into which I put the Burpee's two-season Chinese cabbage. This provides fresh greens for stir-fries twice a week throughout the winter.

October: Cover tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant with burlap if frost is predicted, usually about the time of the full moon. Remove when weather warms. Plant bulbs outside and in the root cellar (to force bulbs for
winter.) In recent years I have bought new bulbs only for forcing and have plenty of outdoor bulbs from previous years. Harvest basil and Malabar spinach if there is a hint of frost; they won't survive even the lightest frost.

November: Harvest last tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant just before the first frost, usually under a full moon. After cleaning away the debris, sow winter where these were. (Don't clear the Malabar spinach vines, and in the spring I have volunteer plants.)
Collect about 100 bags of leaves to compost. Put some over the root crops to keep them from freezing during the winter. Keep most of them for mulching raspberries and for alternating with live matter (primarily kitchen and yard waste) in next year's compost heaps.

December: Harvest the last pak choi, leeks, and collards before the temperature drops below 20 degrees and put them in the refrigerator to eat during the next few weeks. Do NOT pull out the collards and pak choi plants, however, because they only play dead during the winter and will revive in March or April. They do better under floating cover. In 2008-9 a celery plant survived under floating cover.

As needed: Weed and mulch with grass clippings (continually), wood chips as available, and chopped leaves when a neighbor kindly provides them. Keeping a heavy mulch minimizes (1) weeding and (2) watering and (3) adds organic matter to the soil. Heavily mulched organic soil does not need to be dug unless you want to; superficial raking will prepare it adequately for seeding. In my early years I double dug when convenient between crops. John Jeavons says not to dig a "mature" garden soil at all so it can keep its structure -- but mulch heavily.
Dig in compost or distribute it around plants as a mulch. I use the three-pile method of composting: one pile I am adding to, one I'm taking from, and one that is "cooking." Compost heaps decrease to about one fifth their size in a year, and are then ready in this climate if you alternate "green" (nitrogen-rich: mostly kitchen and lawn waste) and "brown" (carbon-rich, mostly dried leaves) matter at roughly four inch layers. My husband brings home about 100 bags of leaves each fall, about a ton. For over 20 years a ton of leaves have disappeared annually into our suburban
back yard!

Never water the lawn. Water the garden only (1) with a watering can after sowing seeds until they are viable or (2) in mid-summer if tomato plants look thirsty in the evening. (This never happens sometimes.) Then water deeply, for at least an hour of steady spray, or much longer if the source rotates. Encourage your plants' roots to grow deep; don't favor surface roots by light watering. I watered twice in 2001, and had a lush harvest. About half of my gardening years I haven't watered the garden at all, including 2008, which yielded one of the most abundant harvests. I have never watered more than three times in any one year.

Gardens available, carrots, gooseberries? blog?

2009-04-24T22:37:00.005-04:00

Those of you in apartments or totally shady properties have several offers of available gardens in Montclair. If you do the work, the landlord will take sharing the harvest as payment. Also, HomeCorps is planning to reopen its community gardens this year.

Has anyone been successful raising gooseberries? Fred's mother (b. 1910) grew up in Montclair and loved picking and eating them as a child. She said they were common here then. So I bought some mail order a decade or two ago, but have found narry a berry. What am I doing wrong? Can I take a shoot from a bush that actually bears? I guess I will cut out the imposter bushes because they don't do what gooseberries are suppose to and they have nasty thorns -- worse than my roses, which do bear flowers.

Jackee De Alejandro responded to my sad email two weeks ago by offering to help me with a blog, and she has done a wonderful job setting it up. She has arranged it so you can search via topic -- although blogs are organized primarily by date. We're about to announce it to the world. Meanwhile, are there any prior emails that you think should be posted? If you can give the approximate date along with the topic, I can probably find it. If you return it to me, that's really convenient -- but not what I'm expecting.

Yesterday was carrot day at 56 Gordonhurst. I sowed my first carrots of 2009. The packet says "rich soil." Don't try carrots your first two years of gardening! I dug the patch with my spade, and then worked out the soil balls with a garden shovel, making the top of the soil like powder. Then I scattered the seeds as evenly as I could over the plot. Then I gently raked the whole plot until the seeds we just a tiny bit covered. The rain is now soaking the seeds, getting them ready to germinate. Soon I will put a floating cover over the plot to keep out the bug and bird competition. This must be taken off before hot weather hits in June, or the tops will burn. By then they can fend for themselves and don't need protection.

I have a "new" rabbit this week. He was VERY scared of me at first, but is responding to my friendly conversation with curiosity now. I had no rabbits last year, but if you didn't read about my rabbit friends of two years ago, you want to seek them out on my blog. Soon I should put the fence to cover the entrance to my inner garden in difference to my newcomer. Rabbits can't get over a one-foot fence, which I can easily step over.

More sadly, last evening we ate our last "potato kugel" of the winter. (in "Recipes for a Small Planet") We had lots this winter, using big carrots from the garden. Last year's carrots are almost gone, but within a few days we'll be harvesting and eating collards. So goes the year's cycle!

Pat

Follow up, May list of events

2009-04-22T23:12:00.007-04:00

This coming Saturday, April 25, the Cornucopia Network of NJ will sponsor the first of three spring organic vegetables garden tours from 2-4 PM. This tour includes three gardens: mine at 56 Gordonhurst Ave. (with displays in the front yard), Renae Baker's at 68 Beverly Rd. (one block away), and Mary Szumski's at 166 Alexander Ave.

Mary's is a first year garden, begun with the help of Jose German of Green Harmony, Inc. It provides inspiration for prospective gardeners to see what can be done the first year. Jose is glad to help others get started. Renee's is a "front" yard garden that can be glimpsed over the hedge on the Grove Street side any time, but will be easily accessed with commentary on Saturday. It is on the southeast corner of Grove and Beverly.

I have raised almost all my family's vegetables for decades, but this is our first APRIL Open Garden, responding to requests for a tour while there is still time to start a main-season garden. Collards, lettuce, kale, and garlic are in full season. Chinese cabbage and pak choi are nearing their end, but I won't pick them all this week. You can see seedlings of (new) lettuce, arugula, celery, parsley, peas, and Hurakei turnips. Carrots and parsnips are under floating covers.

There are tomato plants under wall-of-waters. One, started by Renee on January 11, actually has a tomato today that is likely to be as large as a marble by Saturday!

While you visit, be sure to admire my lawn. I have never used poisons, chemicals, power machinery, or a watering hose. The same is true for the garden, except that I do water it during droughts. However, I have not watered my vegetable garden with a hose in the past two years. (I use a watering can for babies.)

Everyone over the age of three is welcome. Babes in arms are also acceptable. The event is free, but a can for donations will be available, as will literature on how to join Cornucopia. My tours last about a half hour and can be joined at any time; the last will begin at 3:30. There will be other garden tours on May 16 and 17, but mine will be the only garden open all three dates; there are ten in total.

Pat

Other events of interest follow:

May 1 - "Wellies & Jellies" Plant Sale Preview Party 6-9 pm A casual garden cocktail party. Celebrate spring, mingle, and of course shop our fabulous selection of plant offerings before anyone else in town! Advance Registration Required. Call 973-744-4752. Van Vleck House, 21 Van Vleck Street Montclair
May 2 - Plant Sale 9am - 4 pm Annual Van Vleck House & Gardens Plant Sale offering unique and unusual shrubs, vines, perennials, tender perennials and trees. Many of the plants for sale are closely associated with the gardens, including plants favored by the late Howard Van Vleck. Experts will be on hand to answer questions and help visitors navigate the sale. Great Mother's Day gifts. 21 Van Vleck Street Montclair www.vanvleck.org
May 2, Saturday Bloomfield will have an Eco-Fair from 10-2 at Brookside Park on the corner of Bay and Broad Streets.
5/2 -- Rand (Montclair's Environmental Magnet) Annual Community Eco-Fair has a "Green Innovations" tour--a self-guided tour of several residences (includes green kitchen renovations, solar installations, and properties of note) and one commercial property, GreenWorks at 100 Grove--Montclair's first LEED certified commercial space. Tour hours are 12-4 and begin at 176 North Fullerton; tickets $15/person or $20/couple or family. Proceeds support environmental programming and other educational initiatives at Rand. At the Eco-Fair (hours 10-4; no charge): kid-friendly activities (Storytellers: Brian Fox Ellis at 11; Nia Gill at noon), music, vendors, plant sale, and educational workshops. Questions? Call Kelly McDonald at 973-655-0146
Sunday, May 3: West Orange Eco-Energy Fair, 12:00 - 4:00pm Rain or Shine
Interactive Workshops & Green Vendor Demonstrations, Liberty Middle School, Kelly Drive20 & Mt. Pleasant Ave., DEP Acting Director Mark Mauriello Guest Speaker. Sponsored by the West Orange Energy Commission, For participation information: woedchair@gmail.com
Sunday, May 3, 12-5PM A Gloriously Green Festival will be held at Congregation Agudath Israel at 20 Academy Road in Caldwell, but is an interfaith, community-wide festival. (I, Pat Kenschaft, will be speaking at 2:30 on lawn care.)
Wednesday, May 6 @ 10am and 6pm - Presby Iris Gardens Volunteer Day at Presby Memorial Iris Gardens, 474 Upper Mountain Ave, Montclair. We need your energy and valuable time here at Presby.
Whether you are an accomplished gardener or not a gardener at all, we have plenty for you to do. During the Bloom Season (May 10-June 7) we need cashiers for the gift shop and friendly faces to greet our thousands of visitors. In the off season, we are working to reclaim and replant the Victorian garden adjacent to the Walther house, as well as archiving our records and maintaining the Iris database. If you've been thinking about volunteering but didn't think you had the time, this is the chance you've been looking for, volunteer opportunities are available on both a short term and long term basis - we will work with your schedule! Please come and be a part of the welcoming Presby Family. Call 973 783 5974 or email simonska@aol.com to learn how to volunteer.
Friday, May 8 and Saturday, May 9 @ 10am-5pm - Garden Club of Montclair / Presby Iris Gardens Mother's Day Weekend Plant Sale -located at Presby Memorial Iris Gardens, 474 Upper Mountain Ave,
Upper Montclair. Two fabulous Plant Sales are being held at Presby Iris Gardens. The Garden Club of Montclair is sponsoring a Deer Resistant Plant Sale featuring a huge selection of annuals and perennials, and a collector's corner, as well as deer sprays /repellents. The proceeds from the Garden Club Plant Sale will support the beautification of the Montclair Public Schools. The Presby Iris Gardens sale will feature Irises, Peonies, Daylilies and heirloom vegetables. This combined sale will offer thousands of plants all at very reasonable prices. Experienced gardeners are available for advice, as well as a kid's corner with art projects and light refreshments. Full list of plants available at: gardenclubmontclair.tripod.com www.presbyirisgarden.org
Saturday, May 9, 2009: HISTORIC WALKING TOUR OF ANDERSON PARK:
Learn about the founding of Anderson Park a century ago and how it shaped Upper Montclair and led to the formation of other parks in town. Also hear about plans to restore the park's landscape, designed by John Charles Olmsted, and place the park on the National Register of Historic Places. Free. Sponsored by Friends of Anderson Park. Meet at the boulder at the park's northeast entrance, near Bellevue Avenue, east of North Mountain Avenue; 10:30 a.m. Light rain does not cancel, but heavy rain reschedules to May 16, same time. Information: (973) 744-8433, or lisanne@friendsofandersonpark.com or www.FriendsOfAndersonPark.com.
May 9: Glen Ridge will have an Eco-Fair from 10-2 at the corner of Ridgewood Avenue and Bloomfield.
Saturday, May 16: 2:00-5:00 PM (except Pat's) An Open Garden tour sponsored by the Cornucopia Network of NJ: Pat Kenschaft, 56 Gordonhurst Ave. 2:00 - 4:00 PM (last tour begins at 3:30) Displays in front yard will continue until 5:00 PM; Grace Grund, 3 Dodd Street (8 blocks away) She also raises chickens and will host a meeting at 5:00 PM for current and prospective chicken raisers. Kevin Fried, 19 Dodd Street (3 houses down); Anne Sailer, 223 Valley Road; Jose German and Dave Wasmuth, 69 Grove Street; Judy Hinds, 156 Rhoda Avenue, Nutley; Lulu Hicks, 32 Smith Street, Bloomfield (first year garden)
May 17, Sunday 2:00-5:00 PM (except Pat's): Pat Kenschaft, 56 Gordonhurst Ave. 2:00 - 4:00 PM (last tour begins at 3:30) Displays in front yard continue until 5:00 PM; Renae Baker, 68 Beverly Rd. (one block away); Mary Szumski, 166 Alexander Ave. (first year garden); Necole Fabris, 8 Prospect Place, West Orange