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
Thursday, April 30, 2009
OG report, freebees, request
Monthly Garden Activities
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.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Gardens available, carrots, gooseberries? blog?
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
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Follow up, May list of events
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:
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.
Open Garden Tour, local food course, forest hearing
The next open garden tour will be a week from Saturday, April 25, from 2-4 PM at three locations: Pat Kenschaft, 56 Gordonhurst Ave. (with displays in the front yard), Renae Baker, 68 Beverly Rd. (one block away on the corner of Grove Street -- a front yard garden), and Mary Szumski, 166 Alexander Ave. (a first year garden) Next I forward an announcement for an ambitious course somewhat south of here that may be worth the travel for those wanting to learn lots this year about growing and preserving local food. Below that is an announcement of another hearing about cutting forests at Seton Hall next Thursday evening. Pat The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey (NOFA-NJ) will present a series of four workshops on organic vegetable gardening and how to preserve fresh ruits and vegetables. Participants in the workshop series will learn how, for a small capital investment, they can grow and store healthy, nutritious produce for an entire year while enjoying the fresh air, sunshine and good exercise! On Sunday, May 3, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm, NOFA-NJ Vice President Stephanie Harris and Pam Flory, farmer and educator, will present "Planning and Creating Your Organic Victory Garden" at Duke Farms, 80 Rt. 206 South, Hillsborough, N.J. The admission fee is $15 for NOFA-NJ members, $18 for non-members. Pre-registration by Tuesday, April 28 is required. To register, call NOFA-NJ at Princeton Day School, 650 Great Road, Princeton, NJ is sponsoring the remaining three workshops. All programs at Princeton Day School will begin at 1:00 and end at 3:00pm. Please come and show your love of trees to the West Orange Zoning Board on April 23rd. 66 Main Street, West Orange. Please take a look at the drawing attached. This is the latest proposal by SHP to the Zoning Board. Its oversized for the site and the school, cuts 1400 trees, and does not have enough parking as required for 700 cars, only 350 or so. Imagine the homeless 350 cars looking for parking spaces
This series is designed for novice and seasoned gardeners, as well as anyone who wants to learn more about how to preserve fresh produce, and offers a variety of discussions and demonstrations of interest.
(908) 371-1111 x 101, or send a check to NOFA-NJ, 334 River Road, Hillsborough, N.J, 08844. For directions to Duke Farms, visit their website at www.dukefarms.org.
Garden, will talk about Problem Solving in the Garden.
how to preserve fresh fruits by canning, freezing and
drying.
show participants how to preserve fresh vegetables by
canning, freezing, drying or creating a root cellar.
all around the neighborhood off of Prospect Ave? Come hear how SHP will try to explain away these problems with the plan and go for approval anyway. Our oversight will insure a fair hearing at the Zoning Board.
OG Saturday, more lilacs, revised further schedule
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-.
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.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Lilacs, lawns, onion grass, kiwi, etc.
I was sitting on my front steps this evening when a stranger walked by with his dog.
"Good evening," I said.
"I LOVE your lawn," was the response. "It looks great." I'm not one to let an opportunity like that slip by.
"We've lived here 33 years, and that lawn has never had any poisons, chemicals, power machinery, or watering." His jaw dropped. "This lawn has never been watered in 33 years!"
"It looks great. Just GREAT!"
I thought you might be interested in this interchange. (There is a moral to this tale.)
Lawns in the garden are less welcome than in the front yard. My late friend Tom Haas used to take such lawn and use it to repair places where it was better needed. I've been doing a bit of that this week, mostly where the irises, which I should have clipped last fall but didn't, have smothered the lawn.
One friend agreed this is a great year for onion grass (that scallion-type plant that pops up "everywhere"). She said her husband said it could be just mowed, but she thought that just postponed the problem.
I decided they were both right, but it started me thinking. To the extent that I have time and inclination to remove onion grass, I should give priority to places where it can't be mowed -- like in and around the garden, orchards, the garden paths, and the gravel driveway. I prefer using squat-time to plant peas or transplanting seedlings, but, oh well...
Someone telephoned me today wanting ideas on starting kiwi. Perhaps others are interested too. "Arctic kiwi" is the kind that grows here, and I bought it mail-order from Gurneys. The fruit has a smooth skin and is about twice the size of a grape. Best of all, it is ripe in late October. Last fall I was harvesting well into November, and kiwi taste wonderful!
The worst part is making a strong enough trellis. We did it about this time of year, and it reminded us of those constructions 2000 years ago. You need two sturdy wooden cross pieces about 6' high between which wires can be strung to hold the branches. Kiwi is HEAVY. A commercial pretty plastic trellis that I bought over 20 years ago for about $100 just plain blew over under kiwi weight.
However, after that the only care is pruning each February. The fruit come on last year's new growth, which is beginning to look promising by February. I recommend kiwi for all.
Yes, I'm putting out tomatoes now under wall-of-waters that I am taking off the brocolli. I'm thinning arugula and Hakurei turnips, and giving away some extras (not enough for a general advertisement). When I want a gentle activity standing, I cut away the dead parts of the raspberry plants, which are leafing out nicely. Soon we will eat the last of the Jeruselum artichokes, parsnips, and carrots, and start on the collards.
Lettuce is reasonably plentiful, and the Chinese cabbage in the cold frame is really showing off. I'll keep it for the April 25 Open Garden (2-4 PM at 45 Gordonhurst.
Isn't spring great?
Pat
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