karl.tsakos.us/blog

It’s been a while since my last update. A lot has been going on outside of the garden that has distracted me from my reports. Things have slowed down now and I’m taking the time to enjoy having a yard. The sun has just gone down but the sky is still light. The birds are quietly chirping in the trees before they retire for the evening. And, I’m sitting in my backyard by the garden, watching the fireflies and enjoying a Rusty Nail.

The garden is quite lush thanks to all the rain we have had recently. It’s been nice not having to water every day. I don’t water the day after a good rain either, the roots need a little bit of a break. So, the garden has proved to be low maintenance for the most part.

I’ve been enjoying the sugar snap peas. I have been steaming them and then serving them with pasta, mint leaves, and feta cheese. Quite a delicious meal. The mustard greens, although gone to flower, are nice and spicy. My friends and I have discovered they go perfectly on a hamburger.

I’ve learned from the sad excuse for a frame I made to support the sugar snap peas that I really should get something a little better equipped to handle the wind for the beans I planted. I purchased a couple of 2-foot wide trellises at the home center and set them up leaning slightly out of the garden bed. The make a very nice addition to the garden. I’ve also started staking the tomato plants. That’s right, not only have the plants my mother gave me done well, but the plants I started which gave me such trouble for so long are now almost as big as hers.

Everything else is coming along quite nicely as well. I’ve stopped eating the first batch of lettuce as it’s bolted, but the next batch will ready for eating in about a week. My kale is healthy, but really is supposed to be best after a frost. I’m not entirely sure why I planted it so early. Just a miscalculation I guess. Hey, get off my back – first time gardener.

The only thing not working out so well are the pepper plants. The weather has been overcast or cool and the peppers are being overshadowed by the out of control potato plants. I think when all is said an done I will have just one pepper plant. The herbs are also doing, well, okay. They aren’t growing very fast and the yield seems to be less than I was hoping for. I think I need to give them their own bed next year and not keep them in planters. But then again, the weather may have a lot to do with it.
I was going to write about how I have spent several evenings in the back yard and haven’t seen any bats. Well, that would now be a lie. I’ve now seen at least two of them flying around as I write this. I love to watch their tortured flight paths as they try to catch their prey.

While I’ve spent so much of my time thinking about how great it is to have a yard to garden in, I’ve forgotten about it’s other pleasures. After work I’ve come out here with a drink and just sat quietly admiring my handy work and watching the slow progress of the garden. I’ve made myself breakfast and sat here eating it in the early morning sun. I’ve had friends and family here for grilled dinners and frivolities. In all, the enjoyment I’m reaping from this yard and garden is greater then the effort I have put in. Heck, the work I have put in is a pleasure too.

It’s been a rainy week. Some plants are going to flower, other are stupid annoying plants who refuse to grow beyond their cotyledon state.

I picked a not so great week to be on vacation. It’s rained almost every day and has been overcast ninety percent of the time. Temperatures have been lurking in the sixties. Not much inspiration for getting out and gardening or doing much else outside for that matter. I did go mountain biking with my friend one day. Hey, part of mountain biking is getting muddy. But at home, the rain and cool temperatures have lead to mushrooms growing on the lawn and in the garden. So, I haven’t been out in it much as it’s a less fun muddy.

On the other hand, the rain has been great for the garden. Most of my plants are growing like gang busters. My snap peas have started to flower. Good news since that means I will soon have snap peas to eat. Then again, the mustard greens have also gone to flower. I’m not sure what that means for mustard greens. When lettuce and spinach bolt and then flower, the leaves aren’t very tasty anymore. Mustard greens are already bitter; will have to investigate.

Speaking of mustard greens, they’re very good on a grilled burger. I’m just sayin’.

The lettuce has been bountiful and I’ve been enjoying fresh salads whenever the mood strikes me. The new lettuce plants have sprouted, but I think there will be a gap between their being edible and the others bolting. Ah well, there will be other vegetables to keep me occupied.

Pretty much any of the plants I started indoors have stalled at the cotyledon stage. I moved them all into the garden where some have died and others seem to have started growing, all be it slowly. I planted some beans about a week ago and they are already bigger than the indoor seeds. I’ve added some fresh chicken manure around the garden with hopes that it will help. It could just be that the potting soil I got is worse then crap (since I’m using crap for fertilizer and that does work).

My herbs are all doing fairly well, except of course for the ones I started indoors. I already gave up on the sage and bought some at the store. If I don’t see signs of improvement in the next few days, it will be the same fate for my basil and thyme. Coincidently, the herbs I started growing outdoors, such as the fennel and chives, are doing well.

Speaking of herbs, I was finally able to find some marjoram, but I’m still unable to find any tarragon. Oh, there’s plenty of basil, oregano, sage, and thyme at the stores, but there seems to be a real lack of the less common herbs. I wonder why that is. No, really – I wonder.

Not much else is happening in the garden. Until next time then.

So much has happened. And yet, some things that should have happened didn’t happen.

First, I’ve been eating my lettuces and mustard greens. Both farm fresh and delicious. The radishes are all gone. They were eaten on french bread with butter or in a salad. They had very mild flavors for radishes and were fairly small in size. I will most likely plant some more since they should be able to grow most of the summer.

Good news, it’s finally rained. You’ll recall I purchased and installed a rain barrel. From the time I purchased it there has been no rain. At least two weeks without rain. My friends and family who live fifteen to thirty miles away from me had big thunderstorms with rain. I had thunder. When at last it did rain, the barrel filled right up and overflowed. So first, I didn’t have to water my garden because it was raining. Then I got to use free water from the barrel. And today, there is a chance of thunderstorms to refill the barrel. I’ve used very little of the water, but I’d rather it stay topped off.

Lets see, I’ve added some planters in the garden filled with herbs. I now have two types of parsley, sage, thyme, greek oregano, coriander, dill, chives, purple basil, and bronze fennel. Oh, and of course, the rosemary bush.

The volunteer plants are doing well. The garlic is still very strong and healthy. It’s nothing compared to the potato plants which are the fastest growing in my garden.

Speaking of fast growing, the poison ivy I poisoned; it didn’t act very poisoned. So today, I had round two of the rip the poison ivy out of the shrubs and ground festival. That went mostly well, although, I see there are still some spots I missed. Perhaps I will try the poison again. If not, it’s out with the hedge and see if removing it’s habitat doesn’t free me of the evil poison ivy. Of course, after the mighty battle I threw out the clothes, rubber gloves, and sneakers I was wearing. All old and ready to be sacrificed for the cause.

I also follow the theme of ripping things out by weeding the mulch around the garden. You’ll recall that I didn’t do a very good job of covering the grass when I mulched. Well,the good news is that grass growing through mulch can be torn out relatively easily.

On the lawn front — I gave in. I bought a power mower for the lawn. I just couldn’t keep mowing the lawn regularly enough to use the manual mower. However, I continue to fight the battle against neighborhood noise. I bought a battery powered electric mower. I makes a nice whirring noise, and is silent compared to a two-cylendar mower. Also, it’s not self propelled, so I can still get some exercise from pushing it. Just to be clear, I didn’t get the mower to save the environment, I got it because it fits my life style. Now, if everyone around me would take my lead and get quieter mowers I could actually enjoy sitting in my yard while writing this without the noise of the mowers and weed eaters down the street. (As I wrote that last sentence, a marching band started playing at the school a few blocks over. I guess I’ll have to move to Montana if I want real quiet.)

Lastly, the new additions to the garden. Under the category of things that should have happened but didn’t, my tomato seedlings just stopped growing. They got as far as the point where they grow real leaves and then stopped. So I said to heck with it, I’m going to plant them in the garden and see what happens. If they die then it’s off to the store to buy some new ones. If they grow then huzzah! I’m holding off a little longer on planting the peppers as they like very warm ground anyhow. We’ll see if they develop any more than the tomatoes did.

Finally, other additions to the garden are some beans and cucumbers. I also planted another bed of lettuces so when the current crop starts to bolt I’ll still have some growing to eat.

What’s old is new again. Especially if it’s poison ivy. Despite having been poisoned and then most of it’s roots ripped from the ground my poison ivy has started to grow again. Only a couple of small spots, but it’s still here. I will proceed with some surgical strikes (unlike the carpet bombing of last fall) where I carefully paint the herbicide onto it’s leaves. Let it die off gently, and then rip it’s roots from the ground. Again.

That’s item one in the list of things I don’t want growing in my yard and garden. The second is the abundance of maple sprouts. I have removed between two and six of them every day from the garden beds. That doesn’t include the small saplings I have mown over, or the larger saplings that will require clipping and forcible eviction from the yard.

On the wanted growth front, I’m getting to a point where I’m guessing more than I have been. Some plants seem to be done growing (the radishes) while others seem to be in need of thinning (lettuce) and others, well, I have no clue what stage they’re in or how I should be tending them. I’ll just let them be and see where things go.

I planted some unexpected garlic and potatoes in the garden. Despite being planted in the wrong season, the garlic seems to be doing well. I haven’t yet had any signs of further growth from the potatoes. I say “unexpected” and “further growth” because they weren’t intended to be planted in the garden this year. The garlic came from a clove I bought in the store that started to sprout. I planted it in a window box and it took off. I moved it to the garden and it continues to thrive. The potatoes were from a bag my mother gave me. She had bought some bulk potatoes at Costco and gave me a bag. I put the bag at the top of the cellar stairs when I promptly forgot about them. When I rediscovered them they had constructed a rather impressive root system. So I planted them in the garden.

I also replanted my rosemary bush, which I’ve had for several years. It’s always lived in a window box in the kitchen. Now it’s in a large pot as the centerpiece of my garden. We’ll see if it likes being outdoors for the first time in it’s life. So far so good.

All the plants which were already here when I moved in are lush and green with the exception of the hedge upon which I sprayed poison ivy killer, but even that’s coming back. The lawn is lush and healthy. Too healthy as a matter of fact. I’m going to have to revisit the mulching around my garden as the grass is poking through in several spots. I guess I should have been more thorough in how I dealt with it.

My radishes are ready for harvest. Can’t wait to see what I do with them. If I follow the lead of one of my local squirrels , I will just dig them up and eat them raw. Or, just eat the skin off of them to be more exact. Also, my carrots and beets are starting to produce carrot and beet like leaves. The lettuce and mustard greens are almost ready to be eaten as baby greens. I will most likely have a baby lettuce salad in the near future. You know, to thin the lettuce patch.

In other news, I ordered and installed a rain barrel. I’ll expand on that in another entry. In a couple of weeks my seedlings will be ready to plant in the garden and the weather will be warm enough to do so. More on that story as it develops?

First, a little house keeping. I changed the title of this thread from “My Garden” to “Gardener’s Update.” It just sounds better. Also, I will use this forum for discussions of general gardening interest and not limit it to my vegetable garden.

That being said, last week I was on vacation. I focussed on doing work around the house. One of my projects was to trim my front hedge and see if I didn’t kill it completely with the poison ivy killer. No great loss if it doesn’t come back. I’m not very fond of it and would prefer a tree like a japanese maple or something in the front yard instead.

The poison ivy, although apparently dead, had an incredible network of roots intertwined around the bushes and under parts of my lawn. I donned two pairs of rubber gloves and went to work trying to pull up all the roots. My mother (who doesn’t get poison ivy) started to try removing the vines and actually got completely skeeved out by how extensive the roots were and gave up. That’s when I came in with the poison ivy-icide. Now, six months later, I went in to remove as much of the remaining plants as I could incase it survived my attempt at herbicide. I got a lot out. Something between twenty to forty feet of root. I did not get it all.

Even though I wore the gloves as mentioned, I was only wearing a short sleeved tee shirt as well as long pants and old sneakers. I’m sure despite my efforts to keep the roots off my skin and clothes, I don’t think I did. I also think I trod in the piles of root as I was pulling up some of the more determined bits. As a result of my zealous eradication of the poison ivy I have most likely exposed myself to the possibility of the worst rash I’ve ever had.

After the removal, I immediately washed my hands and arms with the anti poison ivy scrub you can get at the pharmacy. I then took a shower and washed with the scrub again. Now, I’ll wait. At the first sign of itching or a rash, I will scrub again and break out the calamine lotion. The anticipation of a poison ivy rash is enhanced by my just getting over a rash I think I got pruning my lilac bushes.
I find gardening quite enjoyable when the plants aren’t out to get me. The current state of my property isn’t quite at that utopian garden of Eden I’m striving for. Soon I hope.

Garden update: I decided to finish off the garden by putting in edging and mulching around the outsides of the beds. I used a wavy pattern to balance out the formal squares of the beds. I think it turned out okay. It’ll help keep the plants out of the lawn and visa versa.

All the seeds I sowed two weeks ago are showing signs of life. They sprouted quickly, but now I have to be patient as they grow to edible size. I know they won’t grow any faster if I keep peeking at them every time I go by the garden or past a window. Still, my first garden has me transfixed.

Since I haven’t received the seeds I ordered last month from one of the seed companies I broke down and purchased some cheap sugar snap peas and planted them. We’ll see how they do. I’m sure they’ll be fine. (Seed Update: The seeds arrived in the mail Friday afternoon. Planted some carrots and beets on Sunday.)

I guess the garden seed supply business is one of those industries that does well in a down market. The reason I haven’t received my order according to the e-mail I received is that they have had such heavy demand they can’t keep up and had to hire thirty additional people to help fill their orders. I guess home gardens aren’t just hobbies anymore. Good to remember for next recession, buy stock in seed companies.

Karl, how does your garden grow?

Well, I don’t know. No one knows. It’s impossible to know. Technically, I don’t even know if it can be called a garden yet. There are the garden beds and the mulch, but no plants. It’s hasn’t had any plants in it’s entire existence. Give it a chance; it’s only one day old as I write this.

I started thinking about growing a garden as soon as I bought my house last August. I’d been living in an apartment with nowhere to grow anything. One of the things I really wanted in a house was a place to plant a vegetable garden. After I bought the house I was too busy prepping it and making it more hospitable. Then, it was winter (a very cold and snowy winter) so I never had a chance to prepare the beds last fall. As the weather warmed, I knew I had to get going on it or I would be too late for the early spring plantings.

My problem with home projects like the garden is I work them out in my head before I start. You’d think that would be a good thing but it’s not. I can’t start physically working until I’ve resolved certain design issues in my head. This is dumb, but I got stuck on which wood to get for the retaining walls of the raised beds. I know cedar is one of the preferred woods for gardens because it’s rot resistant. It’s also more expensive. I did go to an actual lumber yard (yes, they do still exist) but I got the measurement wrong when I asked them about the boards I thought I needed. They of course didn’t carry what I asked for so I went home frustrated thinking I will never get the wood I needed. (Upon reflection, I’m sure they would have had something in the dimensions I ultimately wound up with.) The most available alternative for a long lasting board is pressure treated wood. I know they no longer treat it with arsenic, but I still didn’t trust whatever they use from leaching into my garden and making me sick. I finally had the realization that whatever I was building didn’t have to last the ages. It only needed to last through one or two years to see if the garden works for me. I can always replace the side walls when they start to rot. So I bought some plain old pine planks.

Once the walls were decided upon, everything then started to move. I’ve been observing the backyard since I moved into the house for the best location for the garden. Last weekend I picked the part of my lawn that seems to catch the most sunlight throughout the day from spring through summer. There are a lot of tall trees around my yard that will block the sun, but I think I picked the best spot. Time will tell.

I purchased eight 1”x10”x8’ planks of raw pine. I cut them all in half so I had sixteen four foot boards. I then pre-drilled the wood to avoid splitting and screwed them together to form four boxes. I then measured about nine feet from the house (it looked like it would be the most attractive location) and lined up the first two boxes parallel to the house. I then spaced all four boxes two feet apart in a larger square so I could get to all sides of each bed.

If you haven’t been following my blog, the reason for the four beds is the design I choose for the garden is based on the French Kitchen Garden. The idea being the garden will produce vegetables from early spring to late fall. Theoretically it will provide most of my produce during that time.

Anyhow, I marked the edges of the frames and then moved them out of the way. I then started removing lawn where the beds were going to go. I stacked the turf upside down next to the concrete slab where my garage would have been if it hadn’t been torn down some time before I bought the house. Ultimately that will become another garden bed. Having gone for my first bike ride of the season the day before and my back questioning my decision to excavate the yard, I called it quits after one bed. The next day, I continued the process and removed the lawn from the other three beds.

This weekend I continued the process by turning over the soil in the beds and mixing in some of my almost compost from what is meant to be my compost pile. It’s okay that it still has twigs and some small sticks in it. The dirt under my lawn is pretty good but clearly leans toward the clay side of things. Not too bad, but I think the particulate will be good for it. I then topped the turned soil with four forty pound bags of topsoil in each bed. To that I added one half of a forty pound bag of manure in each bed. In between the beds I laid newspaper out to smother the lawn and topped it with pine bark mulch. Now I don’t have to worry about grass or weeds growing between the beds.

The last thing I did was to plant some of my spring vegetables. I started with a mix of green and red leafed lettuces. I also planted some radicchio, kale, and mustard greens. In another bed I planted a couple of varieties of radishes. I’m not entirely sure what to do with radishes, but I’m sure I’ll think of something.

So, there you have it. Garden things have begun. In about a week I should have some sort of progress. All the spring vegetables I planted have a germination period of three to five days. As long as things continue to go well, this garden thing might just work.