I don’t fence my garden in. That’s because I am lazy and cheap. Also, most of my flora is left alone by the local fauna. Some of the little critters in the area bother my tomatoes or nibble on the occasional plant. But for the most part they leave them alone. They could climb over any fence I put in place anyhow.
No, the most destructive animals I have seem to be the odd dog which has escaped its leash and gone for a romp. A ROMP THROUGH MY SEEDLINGS! You know, the only bed I planted so far is now in the cotyledon stage, fresh green coming out of the earth. Which bed do you think the local dog decided to traipse through? The answer is the one out of four beds where it would make a difference. It kindly avoided the other three beds. Dogs, those S.O.B.s.
The other wondrous thing happening in the garden is the amazing health of my garlic. If you’ll recall, I planted the garlic two years ago from some cloves of store bought garlic which had begun to sprout. Last year I was tempted to dig one up and see what was happening under ground. They were growing, but didn’t seem super healthy. This year, there is strong evidence that they have formed new bulbs. This year will be the year for fresh, home grown garlic.
Indoors, I took a lead from both my mother and one of my favorite podcasts, Gardenfork.tv. Now is a good time to start my own seedlings inside and get them ready for the garden. You might have guessed from last year that I don’t like starting seedlings inside. Mostly because I have no place to setup the grow lights they will want. However, from past experience, I have discovered that even poorly started plants will take root rather well. So, I figured I would give mine a head start.
My mother started a bunch of plants indoors this year. A fact which is kind of funny as she doesn’t have a garden of her own. However, both my sister and I are sharing our gardens with her. I guess she will still have her hands full. Anyhow, She gave me a bunch of bronze fennel she started. I transplanted them from her beautiful celadon bowl into some cheap plastic cups I had laying around. Now they are sitting on a windowsill that gets sun most of the day.
Are you following the trends here? Cheap and lazy. One of the reasons I have a garden is because the price of produce is so high. Of course, it is incredibly satisfying s well. But really, when it came to transplanting the fennel what do you think I used? A store bought tool or dowel? A sharpened stick from outside? No, a Bic pen I found on the table next to me. It worked like a charm. Will it work as a pen again? I don’t know or care. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
April 9th, 2011
Posted by
Karl |
Garden, News, Non-Fiction |
one comment
It’s my fault, I realize that now. I thought it was safe to plant some seeds, that we were past another hard frost. It was over 70 degrees last week. I tempted fate and fate struck back with a vengeance.
Yesterday and last night we got snow. And not just a little snow, it’s sticking to the ground. The temperature is around freezing and will be dropping to the 20′s tonight. However, I didn’t just throw up my hands and surrender, I took action. Wether that action pays off in the long run is another thing all together.
One of the advantages of raised garden beds is that they have a lip above the ground to support my makeshift covers for the garden. The bed in the upper right of this photo is the bed I planted in last week. Yesterday morning I covered the bed with a couple of old storm windows stored in my basement. If they are enough to protect the seeds which were most likely just germinating when the cold hit is anybodies guess. Here’s hoping they work.
March 24th, 2011
Posted by
Karl |
Garden, Non-Fiction |
one comment
It’s just March and I’m already at work in the garden. I’m taking a cue from the plants budding all around that we will not have another hard frost and that it is in fact safe to plant. I could be wrong, but at $1.50 at most in seeds, it’s a risk I’m willing to take. The water came from my rain barrel, so really, I only spent about $1.50.
The bed was prepped by clearing out all the leftovers from last season. Then, I turned over the soil and amended it with chicken manure my mother gave me. This is chicken manure straight from a hen house complete with feathers. Hopefully the local animals will start collecting the feathers for nesting material as it makes my garden look a little, well, creepy.
I’m starting this year with a couple of varieties of spinach and some sugar snap peas. I planted them about an hour ago a and they haven’t done anything yet. This is the worst part of gardening, the waiting.
As usual, I was all excited about prepping and planting that I completely forgot to document my work in photos or video. Hopefully, that won’t be such an issue as I really do want to do more of this blog in video.
But Karl, what is it you want to video? Well, I’m glad I asked me that. I plan to expand the garden this year. I’m going to make a new 10 X 4 foot bed in which I will grow the tomatoes in a better, less cramped layout complete with integrated supports. I’ve got the plans all drawn up in my head. Hopefully, they will not stay there. I also plan to grow corn in the other half of the bed. I’ve never grown corn, so that will be this year’s big experiment.
Well, that’s all for now. More to come soon.
March 18th, 2011
Posted by
Karl |
Garden, Non-Fiction |
2 comments
Well, the blog redesign is coming along well. I have the bulk of it overhauled, now I just have to fine tune the bits and pieces.
Outside, it’s very white. White with snow that is. According to the weather channel, the greater NY area has had more snow so far this year than Anchorage, Alaska has. That’s a lot. We have had snow on the ground continuously since Christmas Day. I don’t recall there not being a rain or thaw that reveals the earth underneath for years.
Last night before I retired for the evening, about 11 PM, I glanced out a window and thought it was really foggy outside. When I took a closer look, it became clear there was a blizzard outside. This morning it was clear that the storm lasted the entire night and ended shortly before I woke up around 7:30 AM.
I love snow, I love to look at it, I love the sounds it makes and how it is always so quiet when it falls. Not just the snow falling is quiet, but it absorbs all other sound and creates that amazing winter stillness. I love when snow starts to get dirty and then it snows again, leaving a fresh coat of white.
Lately I have been thinking I was coming down with a virus. I have had weird aches and pains in my limbs. My arms have been aching in places they normally are painless. Muscles feel pulled when I haven’t done anything to harm them. Well, that’s not entirely true. I have been shoveling a lot. Every couple of days to be exact. It dawns on me the muscles that are hurting are the ones that never get used except when I shovel snow. Of course it could be worse, one of my friends got himself a hernia from all his shoveling.
There was so much snow last night that I gave up my pride and borrowed my neighbor’s snow blower this morning. There was no way I could clear all that snow. Especially at the end of my driveway where the plows have been busily piling up snow and slush.
All the whining aside, I love winter and I love snow.
January 27th, 2011
Posted by
Karl |
News, Site News |
no comments
What gives you query? I’ll tell you what gives. I’m mucking about with the look and functionality of this site. It will be changing and morphing into something that is better than this current look and feel. I’m doing it live because I don’t care what it looks like while I do it.
So there.
January 24th, 2011
Posted by
Karl |
News, Site News |
no comments
It’s 10:50 AM and I’m waiting for my brother to pick me up for our New Year’s Day hike. I’ve been up since 7:30 to let my Mom’s dog out. Yes, the two of us (the dog and me) spent a quiet evening together. After watching the ball drop at midnight, it was off to bed. My mother was of course off with her friends having a wonderful time I’m sure. I suspect they were all asleep by 9:30 PM.
The hike is a tradition I have held on and off for the past decade at least. Makes much more sense to me then partying all night with a bunch of acquaintances and strangers. As I am sure you know by now, I’m a big fan of the outdoors. It then follows starting the new year with a visit to the outdoors is in order.
To be clear, I am not going to commune with nature or to worship the earth goddess, I just like fresh air and beautiful scenery.
For me, this is a biggy of a hike even though it will be a short one. It’ll be my first hike in the woods since having my stroke. Even though I will most likely never have another one again, I haven’t gotten used to being removed from easy access to medical attention. Yes, even a trail in the woods in a populated part of the country is removed in my mind.
Anyhow, Yani is here, so we are off.
It’s now 1:45 PM and I’ve just returned from our hike and Mom was home. Can you believe she didn’t go to bed last night until 1 AM?! That’s unheard of.
Anyhow, our hike took two hours and we only travelled about 2.2 miles. The slow pace was due to several factors. One was my stopping to take pictures on the way out. Then there was the snow all over and no trails for the most part. And the third was that we didn’t know where we were going so we had to stop continually to determine our position on my iPhone. Which reminds me, RunKeeper is a pretty nice piece of software for tracking your progress. One of the nice features is that you can choose the sort of activity you are doing. Other systems I have used only account for running, but this has everything from cycling to swimming.
The weather was beautiful. The temperature was around fifty degrees fahrenheit and the sun was out. Blue sky, white snow, grey and brown trees, grey rocks, and green and blue lichens made up the scenery.
So how did I fare? I had a great time. It felt wonderful to be out in the woods again. I think I am still going to want a hiking partner for some time to come, but I know I want to get out more. I’m sore from not having hiked in a long time and hungry because of the exertion (we may have moved slowly, but snow is slippery and there were hills to climb a plenty). This is great because I feel like I’ve done something and been somewhere and, okay, because I was out in nature. Not communing with nature, just enjoying being there.
So all in all, to me, it is a wonderful start to the new year. Happy New Year to all.
January 1st, 2011
Posted by
Karl |
News, Non-Fiction |
5 comments
Well, after spending the majority of my life playing either guitar or bass with friends I’m in what I would consider a real band. For the first time ever, we performed our original music before an audience. Mind you, it was in the basement of one of our band members at his birthday party, BUT THAT ISN’T IMPORTANT; WE PLAYED!
This song is truly a team effort. As with any band, everyone brought their style to the song and really wrote their own parts. But more then that, no one person is responsible for the entire song. I came up with the riff you hear at the beginning and the overall chord progression for the song. Independently, Shaun wrote lyrics and shared them with Dave. Dave modified the structure of the song and wrote a bridge while also modifying Shaun’s lyrics and then stuck them together. Along the way there were of course the suggestions from everyone that were either integrated or ignored as is the way these things happen.
Lilting, 2010 from Karl Tsakos on Vimeo.
First time ever performance by The Tappan Sea at Dave’s 40th birthday party. Band members include David Kopperman, Edz O’Leary, Amy Delia, Shaun Johnsen, and Karl Tsakos.
December 10th, 2010
Posted by
Karl |
Music, Video |
no comments
I don’t fence my garden in. That’s because I am lazy and cheap. Also, most of my flora is left alone by the local fauna. Some of the little critters in the area bother my tomatoes or nibble on the occasional plant. But for the most part they leave them alone. They could climb over any fence I put in place anyhow.
No, the most destructive animals I have seem to be the odd dog which has escaped its leash and gone for a romp. A ROMP THROUGH MY SEEDLINGS! You know, the only bed I planted so far is now in the cotyledon stage, fresh green coming out of the earth. Which bed do you think the local dog decided to traipse through? The answer is the one out of four beds where it would make a difference. It kindly avoided the other three beds. Dogs, those S.O.B.s.
The other wondrous thing happening in the garden is the amazing health of my garlic. If you’ll recall, I planted the garlic two years ago from some cloves of store bought garlic which had begun to sprout. Last year I was tempted to dig one up and see what was happening under ground. They were growing, but didn’t seem super healthy. This year, there is strong evidence that they have formed new bulbs. This year will be the year for fresh, home grown garlic.
Indoors, I took a lead from both my mother and one of my favorite podcasts, Gardenfork.tv. Now is a good time to start my own seedlings inside and get them ready for the garden. You might have guessed from last year that I don’t like starting seedlings inside. Mostly because I have no place to setup the grow lights they will want. However, from past experience, I have discovered that even poorly started plants will take root rather well. So, I figured I would give mine a head start.
My mother started a bunch of plants indoors this year. A fact which is kind of funny as she doesn’t have a garden of her own. However, both my sister and I are sharing our gardens with her. I guess she will still have her hands full. Anyhow, She gave me a bunch of bronze fennel she started. I transplanted them from her beautiful celadon bowl into some cheap plastic cups I had laying around. Now they are sitting on a windowsill that gets sun most of the day. 
