Breathing Room: What Are You Growing?
[NB: check the byline, thanks. /~Rayne]
It feels like we’ve been running a marathon since jury selection began for the Trump hush money fraud trial, even though this site hasn’t concentrated as much effort on this prosecution. Bravo to the folks who have kept us up to date with their daily reporting from the court room and aggregation of reports from outside the courtroom. They’re definitely recovering from a marathon.
All of which is a way of saying we could use a little breathing room before the next big thing comes along and occupies our energy.
~ ~ ~
Because it’s what I’m working on this weekend, I want to ask what it is you’re growing. It’s nearly summer, gardens are being planted if they aren’t already well established. What’s in yours this season?
If you don’t have a garden are you growing other plants indoors?
I harvested a crop of sprouts recently, started before my garden beds were ready for vegetable seedlings. I’ve had a hankering for spicy sukju namul, a salad-like dish made with mung bean sprouts. The local grocery stores have been out of bean sprouts and I really haven’t felt like going to the local Asian grocery because I end up buying far too many additional items besides what I need.
Left: mixed salad microgreens; right: mung bean sprouts. Sprouts are four days old grown in quart-sized large-mouth canning jars equipped with a stainless steel mesh lid beneath a screw-on jar ring.
It saves me a lot of time and money to simply grow my own sprouts. A couple tablespoons of seeds in a canning jar yields a tightly-packed quart of sprouts inside five days. They’re fresh and crunchy, have a slightly sweet taste missing in store-bought sprouts which have been stressed by packaging and shipment.
Ditto for microgreen sprouts – in fact two tablespoons of mixed salad seeds in a quart jar is a little too much, the jar is packed too tightly. I have enough for a week for myself and enough to give to a friend in just one jar.
Not gonna’ lie, you have to care for these several times a day. Each jar of sprout seeds must be rinsed with fresh cold water three times a day. It doesn’t take long but it’s more work than feeding a goldfish once a day (not that I raise goldfish to eat!).
At harvest time you’ll also need plenty of water to rinse away seed hulls. They won’t hurt you if you miss some, providing a little extra fiber and crunch if hulls remain in the harvested sprouts.
Bean sprouts are definitely more work depending on how fastidious you are about their appearance. To ensure a consistent pale appearance, the jar must be covered to prevent exposure to light which induces greening in the sprouts. The hulls are larger; many need to be picked off by hand. Many people also prefer to remove the long, thin root from the sprout.
Right: Jar of mung bean sprouts encased in a sleeve made of recycled navy blue jersey fabric scraps stitched into a tube. The “sock” blocks light from reaching the sprouts, maintaining their light to white color.
But bean sprouts being larger also don’t need the same kind of equipment microgreen salad sprouts need. You can grow them easily in recycled milk cartons.
Since my last harvest I’ve had sprouts in just about every dish I’ve prepared for myself, from salads to sandwiches and stir-fry. I’ve also enjoyed my sukju namul though I think it’s time to start the next batch of bean sprouts so I can have that spicy dish again next week.
Egg and tofu salad on a bed of mixed lettuces, topped with mixed salad microgreen sprouts and a sprinkle of sriracha seasoning.
I really wish I’d grown sprouts when my kids were younger. I think they would have enjoyed both the growing and harvesting process as much as eating them. It’s a great way to ensure the family is getting enough vitamins and minerals from fresh vegetables.
~ ~ ~
If you’re not gardening outdoors or indoors, where are you getting your vegetables and fruits? At a local farmers’ market? Ordered from a farm co-op? Or from the grocery store?
Are you experiencing problems getting the vegetables and fruits you want? Bean sprouts aren’t the only vegetable I have difficulty buying at the store here in the Midwest – some of the largest grocery chains here don’t carry Napa cabbage reliably. The pandemic caused disruption but then the weather in California two winters running has also disrupted supply. I may have to try growing this vegetable hydroponically using the Kratky method.
Share your experience in comments below.
Treat this thread as open EXCEPT FOR ALL THINGS TRUMP. No Trump-related anything in this thread because this is a Breathing Room and we could use a change in topics.
Feldsalat (Rapunzel lettuce) has seeded across our backyard, which is essentially a semi-wild garden, along with spearmint, and some other lettuce whose name escapes me. We have three dwarf apple trees (different varieties), and this year, we are starting three lime trees, along with an orange and a really big persimmon. Raspberries (several varieties; we get raspberries from one or the other for 2-3 months) and blackberries. There’s some kale in there too. Last year, we had two types of cherry tomatoes that grew really well, but we had to race the squirrels to get them – same with the persimmons, for that matter. We have a Meyer lemon, but our other lemon tree is doing poorly; we don’t know why. The garden’s 25 years in the making, and I’d better go water stuff and pull some weeds later today.
Hydroponics is great! My daughter has been a member of the Univ. of Washington hydroponics club for the last couple of years. They use a vertical system and get really impressive yields in not much floor space.
I miss having spearmint around. My parents moved some with us, every time; it was very hardy and tough. And one large leaf would flavor a large mug of tea.
I have mostly succulents in my indoor garden. Mostly cactus, but also other stuff.
Greens, greens and more greens here in PDX. We have three raised beds that I keep protected with cloches to keep insects, slugs and dogs (mostly) at bay. Seeds planted earlier this year, overwintering hardy souls and early season starts all matured about the same time. GIGANTIC salads everyday. Sometimes twice! Love me a breakfast salad with eggs. Also mulching, pruning, staking berries, transplanting grasses and repairing fruit-gathering ladders. We’re big on gleaning in our neighborhood. Stealthily often, but we usually leave gifts in exchange when we do. Even when the bounty we gather is clearly destined for compost. Also just ordered a cheap ice cream maker in anticipation of a heavy berry and cherry yard harvest. Big yard work weekend until just now. Just got out of the cattle trough post-sauna where I lingered to admire natures’ handiwork. They sure do a nice job around here.
LOL I wish I had cloches big enough to keep out the critters who ate my entire garden last year. My spouse put out a trap cam to catch the culprit.
Rather large “rabbits.” And now one of last year’s yearlings has had a baby “rabbit” of their own, saw it running across the backyard two days ago, probably only 2 weeks old and still sporting white sports on its back.
RABBITS! Too urban for critters of that size here. Just actual rabbits, raccoons, squirrels and the occasional coyote. And dogs. Lots of dogs. They’ve been invited though. Mostly.
Plant some marigolds, in full bloom the critters can’t stand the pungent smell. I once had a deer bite into a cherry bomb plant and it woke us up in the middle of the night with its shrieking.
In the morning we saw a half eaten pepper. The deer never came back.
I wish that was the case here. Those “rabbits” ate every lick of my Early Red peppers, monster jalapenos, regular jalapenos, cayenne, Thai Dragon, and Hungarian Peppers, both mild and hot. It took them a few passes but they ate the fruits of the peppers first and then finally ate the plants.
I was told they don’t like lavender; it self sows and fills half of a bed it once shared with a collection of hostas. They ate all the hostas even surrounded by lavender.
I managed to get a half dozen cucumbers from what they left of six plants, and a couple zucchini from what was left of four plants.
The only thing they didn’t eat was pole beans because I plant them in pots on my deck.
We have neighbors half a block down the street who throw celery and lettuce out in their back yard, to entice the deer to come by in the morning so they can sit on their screened in back porch and watch the critters as they eat breakfast.
Until they stop doing that, it is damn near impossible to have any decent chance of getting a vegetable garden to work. You can plant right next to your back door, and the deer will get into it.
We are still going to try several varieties of grape and cherry tomatoes, as that seems not to get their attention. But our real effort goes into herbs and spices – cilantro, Italian parsley, two types of basil, oregano, thyme, three kinds of rosemary, chives, and savory. What grows beyond our immediate needs gets picked and dried, to get us through the winter.
Other veggies come from either our local farmer’s market (not yet producing the stuff we really want, like big tomatoes) or from Sprouts Farmer’s Market.
Fence in your plants. Poultry fencing and wire cloth are your main protections. And repellant will work, at least temporarily.
replying to Badger Robert
Sadly, our HOA has rules about such things. They’re unsightly, you know, and ruin property values . . .
Grrrrrrr . . .
Badger Robert says:
June 2, 2024 at 8:51 pm
You need a very tall fence, one that doesn’t allow for a running start from the inside.
6 – 8 foot fence, an investment worthy of only the most serious vegetable grower, will do.
Reply to Grain of Sand
June 3, 2024 at 10:59 am
By serious I’m sure you meant wealthy — wealthy enough to buy and install it, while overcoming obstacles like HOAs; codes, covenants, and restrictions; local building codes; or property somewhere the previous potential barriers won’t matter.
I can’t fence my yard because of an HOA and CCRs; I’ve also seen deer leap well over 6-foot fencing. I’m not certain they wouldn’t try an 8-foot leap.
Good thing I won’t starve for lack of a vegetable garden. Also a good thing I like venison.
What a neat thing, growing sprouts. I had no idea one could do that, so easily. Thank you for this.
Here, lots of yard work the last few weekends, weeding and mulching, planting astilbe and lilies and begonia to fill in the open spaces. Here’s hoping they will grow; we have way too many mice and deer here.
The other thing I’d like to grow is some new memory cells. I can’t remember what was for dinner two nights ago, but yesterday when my wife hit a stone with the shovel and said something that sounded like “flint”, my brain immediately rattled off the entire “Flintstones” theme song. Could well be half a century since I heard that last, but there it was, fresh as the day. And now it’s an earworm for me! Crap.
I bought a two-pack similar to this one at Amazon for sprouts: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092V7WGHF/ — this one includes a “sock”, wasn’t offered when I bought mine. So easy to do, 5-7 days to harvest.
WRT memory cells: try journaling daily. I have some very specific journals I think I need to expand; I’ve kept one on gardening, just making notes each season on what I grew and where it was planted and how well the plant performed. Wish I’d noted when climate change became obvious in that journal.
As Socrates is supposed to have said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Journaling is examining life as well as aiding memory.
I bought a couple of pint jars for sprouts at a local store, and mesh lids online. A jar of mung beans – I got those one time when I was at the dentist, as it’s an Asian area. Had to freeze the beans, though, to get rid of the weevils that came with. (Freezing will at least slow them down so you can pick them out. It takes a longish time to go through a pound of beans, a tablespoon at a time.)
Thanks for that website on the growing jars and seeds. Just ordered some. What a neat idea.
Growing bush beans, tomatoes and sweet potatoes in containers (anywhere from storage bins to 5-gallon buckets.) Melons, squash and tomatoes in the ground. Sprouted some ginger from a chunk bought at the store. Four pieces took and are growing quite well in 2 large pots.
One strawberry plant grew from the 100 seeds we planted, but it seems to be doing well.
We’ve also been rooting gardenias from the bushes we have growing all over our yard. This time of year it’s heavenly to walk out in the yard. 30 or so gardenia bushes all blooming at the same time produces quite a fragrance. Even some of the potted gardenias produced flowers.
In regards to your comment about climate change, I’ve noticed the gardenias blossoming much earlier than used to be. 10 years ago (and for years before that) our first flowers opened in the first week of June. The past 4 or 5 years the first blooms have appeared in mid-to-late May. First one opened this year on Mother’s Day, a pleasant if somewhat disturbing surprise.
I’ve tried rooting ginger from store-bought chunks but no luck.
WRT climate change: It’s not just that plants green and blossom earlier, but that it doesn’t freeze long and hard enough to assure certain plants and insects are killed over the winter. Vinca has become invasive in beds around my house; I need to spend a couple hours ripping some out in one bed, not looking forward to it. My spouse went to tend a grave last week, located north of Traverse City; he found when he went to swap last year’s pot of annuals with a new one that last year’s plants survived. Absolutely disturbing since some of the annuals could become invasive if he hadn’t been there to remove the pot.
I dread the idea of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes moving north, carrying diseases we don’t expect here.
The weather is cooperating so far here in NH, and the perennials (flowers, berries, bushes) are lush. We’ve been picking asparagus daily for a few weeks. Strawberries are starting to ripen. Tomatoes started in April went into the garden this week. A bunch of other stuff getting acclimated for transplanting, and many seed varieties yet to plant! I’m having the best greens ever – I finally got a soil test and followed the recommendations for amending and fertilizing the soil (organically). Looking forward to a good growing (and eating) season.
Thank you Rayne for sharing your growing adventures. Great idea about utilizing the sock to block the sun.
Growing flowers and herbs only on my garden balcony. This winter I covered my herbs – they survived! My rosemary is large and healthy which I use for many recipes. With lots of rain, so many flowers were waterlogged for a few days, however now perking up with the sun. Gardens provide so much happiness.
“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul.” Alfred Austin
I’ve got a large container in which I’ve planted herbs I use all year; I winter them over bringing them indoors. Last year for the first time my rosemary bloomed! Think it might have been the full spectrum LED light I used which did the trick. So good to have fresh rosemary through the winter.
Swiss chard. Rainbow Chard. Detroit red beets. Snow pea pods. String beans. Mustard greens. Arugula. Mixed greens. Cucumbers. Sungold tomatoes. Black cherry tomatoes. Carrots. Mizuna. Tatsoi. Borage. Dill. Cilantro. Parley.
I have tatsoi seeds, want to try that using Kratky method. Have you grown it through the winter?
This will be my first time growing tatsoi mizuna & borage. The local library offered them as part of a seed bank program for short season vegetables. They were novel and even looked tasty.
I wasn’t familiar with the Kratky method but it does look interesting to try some time.
Winter at 8k can be challenging but I’ll leave the tatsoi planted just to see.
growing .., tired.
Growing tired of the sense of imminent chaos and dystopia looming over the near future.
Yes, we’ll do what can to positively impact the election, but it’s so much more than that. This doesn’t really add to a constructive conversation, so I’ll just leave it at that.
It’s okay, punaise, I feel ya’. That’s why I felt a Breathing Room post was necessary.
I often think of a particular zen buddhist koan when I’m feeling anxious about our direction:
There are a lot of different interpretations of this koan, the most common IMO is that life goes on. I don’t think it’s quite as simple as that but it is the case that no matter if we reach enlightenment through hard labor or if we arrive at the apocalypse’s edge in spite of our efforts, we are still human and need to participate in human life.
Disaster may be imminent but we still need to eat. I continue to garden.
Do your best to carry on, punaise, we’ll be here with you tending our gardens, carrying on our human lives alongside you. Hang in there.
Yes, Rayne. Yes.
I was watching a video and the person was talking about a friend dealing with cancer. The person remarked to the friend that the friend seemed pretty positive given all that they were dealing with. The friend said “It’s always raining somewhere. I’m just trying to find the umbrellas.” I know too much positivity can be problematic but I liked that take.
Merci, Rayne: wise words.
@Peterr: somehow we slogged through seafood, galettes (savory buckwheat crepes) and other fine fare in Brittany, augmented by a raid on our small wine cave that remains here.
We’re in Scotland now; didn’t come for the food but doing fine so far. May happen across a distillery on the Isle of Skye.
punaise, I am looking forward to your review of Haggis. That is the reason those distilleries exist !
I’ve always thought the reason for whisky was what Scots wore under their kilts.
So how is the food in France these days?
(wipes mouth)
Thanks for this much needed space, Rayne. And punaise, you are not alone…
Uncovered a favorite book this morning, The Sage’s Tao te Ching: A new interpretation, and opened to this poem (excerpt) by Wm. Martin. It helped me pay attention to what matters to me:
If you want a lasting legacy,
show how to be secure
without being wealthy,
show how to be safe
without owning an arsenal,
show how to be spiritual
without being religious,
show how to be serene
without controlling events,
and show how to die
without being disturbed.
I try to work the soil wherever I live, have built several hugelkultur
mounds in the last 15 years on my property (carbon sequestering,
green compost, moisture retention and erosion prevention among
other benefits). Have resorted to elevated beds (waist high) in my
older years, makes it much more enjoyable and more likely to stay
on top of the weeds. Mostly tomatoes, basic herbs for cooking, and
also medicinal herbs here and there. Yard & garden now is kind of
a ‘survival of the fittest’ – due to my uneven ability to attend to it in
these last years.
It’s time for sweet corn! I know that the sweet corn that is in the grocery stores right now is not local but it will do until the local stuff comes in. Or until sweet corn shows up at the farm stands.
A few weeks ago I was near one of my favorite greenhouses so I picked up 2 Night Sky petunia baskets (one for me, one for my mom). Then I saw they had baskets with my favorite lantana so I got one of those. Then grabbed 1 cherry tomato plant because I knew I had a waiting pot to put it in. I’m the only one in my house that likes fresh tomatoes so 1 plant is plenty. Very much looking forward to fresh cherry tomatoes.
The people who owned our house put in a nice little garden area on the south side. Last spring I realized that half of it was covered with strawberry plants. I need to get out there and weed like crazy and see what fruit I can get before the critters get it.
Due to circumstances seemingly beyond my control, two sunflowers. Other than that, not a lot.
Wow. That’s two more than I was able to keep last year. I had a couple show up, probably opportunistic plants courtesy of the neighbor’s bird feeder. I kept an eye on the flower buds and just before they had fully opened on one of the two plants, the “rabbits” ate them leaving a bare stem. It was at that point I was certain we had “rabbits” and not rabbits since the latter can’t reach nearly 3 feet to pick off buds.
My parents planted a sunflower one year. It reached about 9 feet before blooming. The jays enjoyed picking out the seeds, and were very acrobatic – aerobatic? – trying to get the ones in the middle of the head that couldn’t be reached from the edge. Then we had volunteers the next two years…
Sunflowers are worth it for the show the birds put on but unfortunately I don’t think I will grow any successfully to reach seed stage until I figure out how to protect them from the “rabbits.”
Hoping the netting “condoms” I’m making from recycled vegetable bags to shroud tomato cages will work to keep the deer out.
Yeah, they sure are persnickety plants, even when they’re volunteers. As PJ Evans aludes to, the jays love them and that’s likely where the seeds for the two this year comes from. I intentionally tried raising them awhile back and only got one plant to reach maturity. The two this year are doing okay. One I put a tomato cage around early so I wouldn’t accidentally weedwhack it, etc—that one has multiple flowers on it but doesn’t have a strong central stalk. The other one has a really beefy stalk on it now but only one huge flower so far.
Rayne,
Yikes—rabbits can mow down a lot given half a chance!
Most notably, I have a sweet pepper that opportunistically came up last year in a pot holding something else, I forget what, and survived the winter indoors while it grew more like a plant that was going to give up but didn’t. It was clearly still alive, so I put it back outdoors when it got warm enough late this spring, and now it’s showing new growth. It gave us a pepper last year, and whether it does or not this year, no problem. It is alive, and that is enough.
Corn growing in my sub-irrigated planters:
https://x.com/NASA_Gardens/status/1797398125813825759
Sweet potatoes growing over the sides of my raised bed.
https://x.com/NASA_Gardens/status/1797395177411162486
An unintended guest, a Trumpy mushroom:
https://x.com/NASA_Gardens/status/1797396631177818120
May 17th rain!
https://x.com/NASA_Gardens/status/1791440040117022786
What a great topic, Rayne. I’ve been wearied by all the stressful news lately.
1. Since becoming an adult, my gardening has been houseplants and small outdoor decorative plants. I recently received a couple of coleus cuttings, which I have just transplanted into a pot after rooting them in water. I’m keeping my fingers crossed — in the past I’ve been a DESTROYER OF COLEUS.
2. I’ve always wanted to try sprouting, but all the instructions I’ve seen include extra equipment to buy, which doesn’t help me — I’m trying to offload a lifetime of cooking supplies/gadgets/pots/utensils. Maybe if I truly empty out my kitchen cabinets, I’ll take up sprouting.
Oh, I hope you get all the coleus your heart desires from these cuttings. There were no coleus in the greenhouse here this year and I killed my coleus last year leaving them exposed to the first frost before I could get cuttings to winter over.
WRT reducing kitchen gadgets: you only need enough room for one or two quart jars. Maybe even just pint jars if you can restrain yourself to a teaspoon or two of sprout seeds at a time. Can use any old clear glass jars, just need something like a chunk of cheesecloth or a scrap of an old t-shirt big enough to cover the mouth of the jar and secure with a rubber band. Needs to be able to allow water to drain through while holding back seeds in jar. Super easy, no fuss. I suppose I should start another batch using a recycled/repurposed pasta sauce jar to demonstrate.
The rabbits just eat the plant leaves. But the squirrels dig up the soft soil to insert various food items. The squirrels also oddly redistribute the nasturtiums and sunflower seeds.
But, not to worry, the dahlias are blooming and the roses are about to bloom.
The Lowe’s distributor had semi-bare root roses. Not in a big pot, but with just enough soil to have some root growth, in three out of four items. All four are alive and growing.
Some tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, scallions, lettuce and arugula for a nice salad. Once they yield I will have salad until November. I won’t mention the marijuana plants even though they are legal in NYS.
Yellow Squash, Zucchini,, green beans, yellow beans, swiss chard, parsley, multiple types tomatoes, various hot peppers and some not so hot, basil, thai basil, thyme, marjoram, oregano, sage, tarragon, beets, arugula, endive, various lettuces, cukes….also growing older.
Yeah, sure, can’t tolerate one lick of sports, but are now big on growing vegetables. Good plan for what you now call a “political” blog. What a joke.
By the way, I did not start off doing Trash Talk, Marcy asked me to do it. And now it is dumped on here while vegetable talk thrives. Again, good plan.
WHY has it come to this? I did nothing but support and defend this blog only to be shit on by it.
The Yankees are hot. Judge and Soto are the next Ruth and Gehrig. Plus the Celtics are going to win the NBA championship.
Tissue?
I have no idea what that means, and have never heard of you in my life, but thanks for your informed support after 18 years.
I miss trash talk and sports. As with politics, sport is a central part of American life. I like gardening as much as sports, but I favor the ornamental side of things. I planted two round containers in your honor and the honor of my daughters’ in-laws who live out by Greyhawk: one container has haworthias and the other has cacti. I walk by them each morning, the cacti one reminding me of the sadness of the demises of your old man cacti and my sweet walks up and down Camelback Mountain. Go Celtics! Go Opuntia Cactus!
Where do tiny violins come from?
Lol.
Your attacks on me about trash talk are why I will not do trash talk, because I don’t need to put up with your carping.
In case a reminder is needed once again, see https://www.emptywheel.net/2024/05/25/jack-smith-invites-aileen-cannon-to-protect-the-country-rather-than-just-donald-trump/#comment-1052770
Now beat it. Leave this thread since you don’t appreciate vegetables and/or gardening discussion — about which, by the way, I have published more than once at this site. Other commenters who want to participate in this thread don’t need to steer around your vituperative remarks, either.
Yes. Thank you. I was dreading exactly this interjection. Your efforts in this regard are deeply appreciated.
Lol, okay hypocritical Judas. There might be a lot of people, longtime people that actually know, that would contradict you if they were not afraid you would unconscionably Rayne down on them too. What happened here? Why? 18 years down the rabbit hole, only to be punked by your baloney. Lol. There is no circumstance in which I would have ever done to you and this blog what you have done to me.
Please. I’m actually begging you- please give it a rest. Read the room and just chill.
Mind your own business. I put in 18 years here, what have YOU done? I “am begging you” to answer. If you don’t care what people here have done, then why do you now? I cannot respond any longer, as I should, but you think I should just go away? That is not the person asked to help start this blog. And it is lame to think it is.
bmaz used to be a much nicer person. Something happened, and he’s become bitter and a yeller at clouds.
Too bad. I miss the bmaz who used to be around here.
Yeah? Maybe you ought ponder what has been done to me. And you clearly have no idea about that. I always came to approve your comments and talk to you. Again, how amazing it is how quickly people turn on you. The bmaz you always knew is, and always has been, right here. Whether you understand the long term dynamics or not. I was always terse and sometimes harsh. I did so in service of this blog, for a decade and a half. And am now being castigated for the same. Am sad to see you piling on.
I have a herb garden, half or so are perennials, sage, tarragon, 2 types of oregano, parsley, savory, lavender, chives, mint (invasive!), some thyme that survives the winter, arugula. What I need and do have to plant annually- rosemary and more thyme. I use them all in my kitchen. I’ve had no luck with dill and cilantro, they go anemic looking and die, so I buy them. Aside from the herbs, lots of varieties of tomatoes, small hot peppers, chili’s and jalapeños, and a ton of basil. 5-6 radicchio. We used to grow more, pared it down the last few years since I stopped canning, lotta work. :-)
Too many things going on now to think about gardening. There was a time when I contemplated growing something that I like to eat. Unfortunately I couldn’t locate any bacon seeds.
12. Make eye contact and small talk. This is not just polite. It is part of being a citizen and a responsible member of society. It is also a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down social barriers, and understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life.
Normal life is the antidote to Trumpism.
This sentence has been cycling in my gardening chore-fatigued brain since you posted it Badger Robert. This strikes me as another simple, but equally profound way of saying “chop wood, carry water”. Thank you for this.
Ethno-psychologist Clarissa Pinkola-Estes prescribed gardening to patients who suffered from western society’s induced anxiety. Getting their hands into the dirt literally grounded them.
She prescribed that long before “touch grass” became an internet colloquialism encouraging escape to nature from technology.
I’m sure the same prescription works for toxic levels of exposure to MAGAcity.
Rayne, we’ve had so much rain. So I’m growing whatever rabbits don’t eat, aka weeds…then add some heat and voila! mosquitos…
Some weeds are yummy and worth fighting the rabbits for, like purslane. Makes a great salad green, good in a stir-fry.
Not so much the mosquitoes. I need to pour some old vegetable oil in a few drains to suffocate the larva this week once weather dries here.
Oh I have a kind of Stockholm syndrome when it comes to my weeds. Legit admiration, letting some of them get too big b/c I know the bees, butterflies, birds and toads like them too. Not to mention the irony of paying for nettle in a CSA share and then wacking them in the yard.
Nettle can be cut and beaten for the fibers in the stalk – make your own cords!
I have a small balcony but I have a couple of tomato plants going. I have never been able to harvest more than a small number of tomatoes but the sense of accomplishment is worth it! My cacti are doing fine, though. Southern California means year round there’s always something growing on my balcony!
My front lawn was full of weeds clover, spiderwort (never ever plant this unless you are ready for battle). All the doctors jog by frowning at my lawn blowing weed seeds everywhere, and twenty years ago, it was a zoysia lawn like a putting green. Anyway, I’m in my fifties and now I’ve got lawn pride all of the sudden. I’ve been letting down my part of the National Lawn. So I’ve been picking out weeds from the yard to get up and move around from my remote work, pulling these weird clover runners up, transplanting zoysia plugs, and whatever, and it’s starting to come together.
This morning I mowed with one of those old fangled manual mowers with the spinning blades. Everybody walking by was saying hello, which has never happened. The only place people in Atlanta are comfortable with each other is Plaza Fiesta Mall on Buford Hwy, and those people are all from Latin America. I don’t know they were saying hello because of my guitar playing and singing off the porch, and my songs are hits, or maybe it’s because my lawn is looking good! I was using quiet lawn mower early Sunday morning so maybe they’re thinking I was being considerate.
I haven’t had my giant 1,800 square foot Alaska garden since 2015. In that and my 12’x16’ greenhouse I provided a large percentage of vegetable food for a family of four for 19 years. After I gave up the house in divorce that year, I was only able to grow small crops of greens, tomatoes and herbs until I bought a house in 2019, where I put in three years of greenhouse crops of mostly tomatoes and basil, and grew a lot of greens. Made pestos from basil, arugula, spearmint, cilantro and nettles.
Last year, after I sold the house, I was on the road until my name came to the top of a waiting list for senior housing in Palmer, Alaska. This year, I’ve put in two raised beds of greens. Mostly arugula and meusclin. I’ve got two planters with herbs: lavender, spearmint, both kinds of parsley, oregano, thyme and rosemary. An experimental year, for sure. I also transplanted some Tibetan rhubarb and Siberian iris here from my old place.
Hi Phil, hope you have been well.
I am. I completely retired last year. Sold my house. Moved into senior housing in Palmer, Alaska. Traveling to see the kids a lot, and occasionally volunteering. Playing trombone and tuba in the Anchorage Civic Orchestra, and riding my bike a lot in the summer.
We are growing normal stuff that does well here in the Great White North this season … no experimentation this year. Tomato, onions, cucumbers, potatoes.
A water use advisory in the cities and province due to drought concerns is in place but we actually have had a fair amount of rain this Spring.
Forest fire concern has decreased a bit as a result but there are still fires burning.
Just wanted to add that I miss the old trash talk, particularly the discussions around music.
Big fan of The Chicks but I also like a song that Tony Keith covered – White Rose.
It was actually written and originally performed by Fred Eaglesmith, a Canadian song writer.
I think the song may actually be about the highway between Calgary and Edmonton. In Canada, Alberta’s Queen Elizabeth II Hwy is the closest thing we have to America’s Route 66, IMHO, at least from a purely general ambience perspective and based on a lifetime of frequently driving it.
Hey UKStephen, tell me how to fix my song. Anything at all because the song is brand new. You have good taste, and the song needs fixing ten thousand ways. The lyric sheet is about a week old. This is Worktape V3 recorded yesterday. I’m still pushing the melody. It’s called “Jesus Was Not A Married Man”
https://soundcloud.com/pretzel-267082125/2024-june-1-jesus-was-not-a-married-man-worktape-version-3
I’m turning “pro” so don’t hold back. The level I’m at is Highwayman cover band (One of us played the Earl for years here in Atlanta in a Clash cover band (he’s Waylon), so he knows the ropes.) Also bunch of players also have a club coming together called Tucker Country Music Cooperative with half dozen venues. I’m not good enough for Moondance or El Coyote yet, who have real shows with a cover, but I can play and sing well enough Billy Bob’s Little Secret with a tip jar if it doesn’t keep me out too late, though I’ll need some comedy or some more songs to make 90 minutes, so that’s my music project. I love country songwriting.
If you want to grow fat bean sprouts like you see in the store, you have to put a weight on them while they are growing. I just made a special bean sprouter from terracotta; it’s basically just a dish with no gallery so that the lid fits inside to lay on the beans and I put a weight on it. I saw online someone made one out of two modified, stacked plastic take-out dishes, so anyone could make one even if they don’t play with clay.
If I knew how I would add a photo of the sprouter, and a five tier small-seed sprouter I also made. Red cabbage sprouts are my current favorite. Over the winter I also grew sunflower greens.
I’ve picked six quarts of early strawberries from my smaller patch; my Jewel will probably be ready in a week or so. Everything is early this year due to the unusually warm weather.
I don’t plant Tatsoi or other Asian greens until mid-August for my winter low tunnels, as they are better in cooler weather. I plant snap peas, radishes, beets and turnips late summer for the fall too, because the past few years my spring plantings didn’t reach maturity before they were ruined by one or more hot then cool cycles so I just said screw it on those for Spring (I live in the lower peninsula).
I’m not planting anything unusual this year, just the same ole stuff: corn, beans, peppers, tomatoes, cukes, melons, carrots, bunching onion, shallots, herbs, collards and kale (probably will eat these as baby-Johnny’s has a variety pack called “Kalebration” that is awesome).
I did plant a tayberry and loganberry this spring. I haven’t planted any (non-straw)berries before because I have alkaline soil and wild brambles near, but I decided to risk it.
Every year I buy 2 hanging pots of calibrachoa (3 colors) for the porch support columns. Instant curb appeal.
My garden is all containers on porch (no weeding required). Tomatoes in 5 gal plastic food buckets. Herbs in pots and window boxes. Some herbs I don’t eat, I just love to rub my fingers and smell (lavender, rosemary).
This is the year I’m gonna pick those lawn dandelions to try on my salad. My lawn is zoysia which chokes out most everything.
I buy my produce at a local produce chain. Huge bag of baby spinach only $5. Supermarkets charge about $3 for a wimpy 1 pound bag.
Generally, I’ve been a total failure with growing plants indoors, which is my only real choice. The one notable exception was growing -and blooming!- plumeria, which I was assured would Not bloom indoors. It does (nyah), if you use enough light, and I used several GE 30W LED plant lights. Those lamps emit a slightly pinkish white light that is Very Bright, pleasant, and they also make fabulous work lamps when put in photo-lamp stands and aimed at the ceiling. I use them for that now. I did eventually kill the plumeria by probably over-watering it. But it is doable. Now, if I could only grow paan indoors… Mmmm.
I’m gonna try plant-growing again soon, but I’d appreciate advice for people with non-green thumbs –I’ve done a lot of research, but no luck yet. We are part of nature, though we may forget, and I’m determined to have some in my apt.
Thanks for the plants-talk, Rayne. Cheers everyone!
… And just remember folks: “Illegitimi Non Carborundum”!
My garden is citrus trees. The pride of the garden are my blood oranges, which need careful attention when the summer heat comes on. But the biggest issue right now is the leaf miner moths. They showed no sign during the spring before the trees flowered, but have now reared their ugly heads. I am trying to firm up the leaves with iron supplements in the hope that the larva find no purchase. They leave the lemon and grapefruit alone, but the oranges…the leaves are tender.
Do people with citrus trees have any luck with insecticidal soap spray? I have a hibiscus I winter indoors which is stubbornly attacked by all kinds of bugs including things that suck on the leaves. I’ve tried neem oil but it doesn’t seem to work as well as a simple combination of soap and water.
The only semi-edible thing we currently have in our backyard is mint. And even this was almost an accident. When we built a pond, the water attracted lots of wasps. We read online that wasps really don’t like mint and it would help us get rid of them. So we bought 5 different types of mint and planted them all around the pond. Foolishly enough, we planted it directly in the ground, not knowing that it’s really not recommended. So now we have mint everywhere, and plenty of mind for mint tea and salads etc.
In the meanwhile, we’ve found out wasps don’t read the internet and don’t know they are supposed to be repelled by mint. They seem to really love it too.
When I first retired to PR, I scored seeds from several sources, outside the USA… Hawaii, Africa, Portugal, Germany, and India to name a few. That was 15 years ago. Plus some locally sourced seeds. All in an attempt to foster fruit and nut varieties and a little bamboo that might thrive in our ever-changing environment. A less drought, more rain condition. There were many fails, but some have thrived. Though I keep telling myself, I need to slow down, parcha vines, pigeon peas, platano mafafo and papaya are still in the works. We have grown tomatoes and green peppers in giant pots made from cut-down plastic 55 gallon drums, as well.
I envy you the possibility of fresh papaya — can’t grow those here. I would love to grow guavas, too, but that’s not going to happen unless we truly do see the apocalypse.
My father planted fruit trees and a garden everywhere we lived. So: bush zucchini, pole beans, tomatoes (he made cages out of reinforcing mesh). Peaches, usually, and some places rhubarb. Lots of work (pruning grapes was something I could do), but the rewards were worth it.
(My mother had a brown thumb.)
Not much in the way of edible gardening. I do have a grapefruit tree that yields smallish sweet fruit that tastes like a ruby red but is pale yellow. They’re good for mimosas, greyhounds, even plain.
My garden project this year is to try wildflowers instead of a lawn in the backyard. I’m interested in as little maintenance as possible and want something that the pollinators like.
Last year I grew a small crop of wheat in a large porch planter with organic kernels from the coop food hopper. This year I have twelve little plantings from last years individual wheat heads planted in tiny patches in the same container. The kernels planted with a tiny bit of dirt in a shot glass will grow up to a foot tall with fertilization (bat guano my preferred). I live a few blocks from the Pacific and it reminds me of Kansas.
Herbs: Basil, Dill, Oregano, Parsley, Lavender, Rosemary’s, Cilantro, Curry. For some reason, Tarragon and Thyme were busts.
Greens: Brussels Sprouts, Dinosaur Kale, Chard (Swiss and Rainbow), Arugula (came back wild), Spinach, several kinds of lettuce.
Everything else: six different Kentucky heirloom tomato varieties plus Roma and cherry tomatoes, onions, and sugar snap peas (first time). My wife is growing corn.
No luck with any peppers so far this year, which is a bummer.
In more important, off-topic bummer news, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee announced that she has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer:
https://apnews.com/article/sheila-jackson-lee-texas-cancer-b8da6eeca46ea9b8ad05b5ba03679e1d
I just harvested my last cabbage and garlic. I may actually get some potatoes as the plants look healthy and some are starting to bloom. The thin onion starts are filling out. I am late getting in my summer veggies but have tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, kabocha and honeynut squash, green beans, okra, collards, sweet potatoes and basil. Tomorrow I hope to plant some corn and in a week or so the cucumber plants should be ready to go. I don’t have to worry about deer but have fenced my garden plots to keep out the rabbits and gophers.
I lucked out being born in Southern California zone 10, year round good eats from the garden.
Satsuma Plums
Blackberries grow wild over my back wooden fence. I cut them back each year so the only part that ends up overhanging the fence are the delicious berries. yum
Red Raspberries
Strawberries
tomatoes
Potatoes for my local food bank
Cannabis (limit for OMMP card holders) double yum
Thanks for this breath of fresh air!! Sorry to say I’ve not managed to plant this year (& last year) but I grew up picking vegs in the garden (tomatoes, beans, sweet corn, squashes, peas etc) and general Self-Sufficiency type endeavors in years past – hope to get back to that soon. I am in year 3 of growing a sugar maple seedling in a back-yard planter – she’s doing well as we’ve had a lot of rain this spring. We hope to buy a house and plant her in the back yard–!market sucks! .
Ref: Quicksilver Messenger Service – Have another hit of fresh air _ really, I will figure out links soon!!
:)