* SPRING IN A GARDEN – An Ode In Pictures

* Photos from our garden, including the pale pink peonies in full bloom, the compost pile, the mini-greenhouse, planting sunflower seeds, the Pesticide Free Sign, radishes, and mustard greens. *

 

THE HOT POTATO
Serving Up a Weekly Helping of
Sustainable & Organic Gardening, Food, Health, and Community

by Adam Brockman & Aireen Joven, June 2007, # 19

THIS WEEK’S DISH:
SPRING IN A GARDEN – An Ode In Pictures

 

“Almost any garden, if you see it at just the right moment, can be confused with paradise.” – Henry Mitchell, Famed Garden Writer

 

NOW THAT SUMMER is almost upon us, here is our ode to the fleeting perennial paradise that is Spring In A Garden. This is our second year growing food, and our first ever spring growing in our own garden. If you have never gardened before, or if you haven’t gotten around to planting those herbs, flowers, or tomatoes you’ve been thinking about, now is the time to get your hands dirty! As you can see in the photo of the mini-greenhouse, we’ve got lots of extra seedlings that we need to find homes for with friends and family. But, we still needed to purchase some things like a few flowers and herbs. We were happy to find organic herbs for sale at Pesche’s Garden Center, Greenhouse & Nursery, located at 170 S. River Rd. in Des Plaines, IL (www.pesches.com). Pesche’s also proudly carries a large selection of organic products like Back To Nature Compost, Wiggle Worm Soil Builder, and Pesche’s Potting Soil, all of which we’re trying out in the garden. Once we are more established as multi-season gardeners and composters, we hope to be able to produce all, not just some, of our own compost, fertilizer, and potting soil, in a full circle of self-sufficiency and sustainability.

Until next week, the Hot Potato is in your hands. Pass it on!

Adam tends the compost pile, which needs the right balance of nitrogen (such as kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, and grass clippings), carbon (such as dried leaves, straw, & corn stalks), moisture, air, temperature, soil, and soil life.

Adam shows the before and after assembly of our new seed flats made out of reclaimed redwood. Cedar is another good choice for outdoor wood. These easy to assemble flat kits are sold by Bountiful Gardens in Willits, CA (www.bountifulgardens.org), or you can build your own. Let us know if you know of a good, local source for untreated, outdoor-quality scrapwood!

Sitting in the garden, Aireen holds the first harvest of the osaka purple mustard greens, which are now thriving after their early struggle and subsequent helpings of our special spring tonic compost tea. More mild when cooked or steamed, these mustard greens can have as much bite as wasabi when eaten raw. Mustard greens are high in vitamins A and C, calcium, and iron, and are considered a cancer-preventative vegetable as well.

Aireen takes a closer look at the seedlings in the mini-greenhouse, which is manufactured by the company Flowerhouse, and sold online by Underwood Gardens in Woodstock, IL (www.underwoodgardens.com). The mini-greenhouse kept temperatures warm for the seedlings during cool spring nights and days. Now the sunflowers, quinoa, amaranth, alfalfa, and sugar pumpkins are ready to go in the garden! Aireen is holding a baby cinnamon vine (seeds also from Underwood Gardens), which will one day produce beautiful flowers that smell like cinnamon.

Black gold, otherwise known as compost, has been sifted through our makeshift compost sifter (a half-inch chicken wire screen attached to the handles of a galvanized steel tub by cutting a line in the screen wide enough for the handles to fit through). The sifted compost from a finished compost pile is now ready to be incorporated into the new garden beds, used in compost tea, and added to potting soil mix.

This bunch of french breakfast radishes, pink with white bottoms, is freshly pulled from the soil, has been rinsed in water, and is ready to eat. Each variety of radishes has its own distinct taste and level of crunchy spiceyness. The green radish tops are also edible in soup, stir-fries, or steamed. We got our seeds from Seeds of Change (www.seedsofchange.com), who sell 100% organic seeds. Side note: We recently learned that Seeds Of Change is now owned by M &M Mars. Yikes.

These gorgeous pale pink peonies planted by Aireen’s mother are in full bloom by Memorial Day every year.

The Pesticide Free Lawn and Garden Sign, designed by the Pesticide Action Network (www.panna.org), is available in the Syracuse Cultural Workers Catalog (www.syrculturalworkers.com) for $7.95, and comes with an informational sheet, screws, and the wood post. Plus the sign is made from recycled plastic by The Plastic Lumber Co. The bright yellow sign proclaims for all visitors, “PESTICIDE FREE: This area SAFE FOR CHILDREN pets and other living things.”

These potato pieces, which have been cut and cured for one day, are ready to be planted in the garden bed. Several eyes are already sprouting after being in room temperature for several days, which gives the potato plant a head start. When cutting the potatoes, we made sure to leave a good amount of potato around the eyes, which provides energy for the young potato plants.

These beautiful sunflower seeds got a head start in a flat, and were planted in a hexagonal pattern using 1-inch chicken wire screen as a spacing guide.

Bountiful and beautiful purple mustard greens are ready to be harvested behind the natural garden fence border, which Aireen homemade out of rose bush prunings, twigs, and branches.

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