Open Garden Report

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

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Malabar spinach and other things to see

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

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Mammals, weeds, strawberries here!

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

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Houseplants, floating cover, and raspberries

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

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Plant-outs, bugs, and weeds

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

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Open Garden report

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

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What to see (and dig) in my Open Garden

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

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