Seed Saving

We had some left over parsnips in the garden that managed to survive the winter. Those whose roots we didn't use for pencils (Because they're woody, get it? Oh dag, that's entertaining.) were left in the ground to go to seed. From the looks of these heads, they should be going to flower within the next week. What we do after that, we're not quite sure, because we've never done this before. We'll be sure to let you know what's up as we find out.

Companion Planting and a Flashy New Trellis

The tomatoes are in. The bed in the photo is 4' by 18'. There are eight tomato plants (a little less than half our stock) in the bed, which I know isn't very many, but they will be sharing the space with four varieties of poling beans, red onions, leeks, and a shit load of basil. Well, maybe not a shit load, but a fare amount none the less.

We're really happy with how well our new trellis turned out. The design is mostly from something Meg found on the internet and in the latest issue of Organic Gardening. However, the modifications are all Future House. It did take us a few hours to build, but it's nothing more than bamboo from our property and salvaged string (the whole thing didn't cost a cent). I'm certain that by the end of this year I'll be able to tie knots like a sailor (which is fitting, because I tend to curse like one).

And then there was corn

Seeds are erupting everywhere in our garden. We could do a whole photo show of the various beans that sprouted since Monday. Two days ago we got our first signs of corn. I think we'll have no problem hitting knee high by the fourth of July.

Good fences make good neighbors, and all that.

This is a long one.

Our neighbor is crazy. And I'm not using that word in the colloquial sense, as when you sometimes describe a person as "crazy," when what you really mean is that the person is emotional, or passionate, or eccentric. No, our neighbor is crazy.

We have numerous stories to back this up, but one has been particularly enduring. Last summer, before the craziness had fully presented itself, she came to talk to us while we were working outside. She mentioned the pine trees that are on her property—but right up against our garden—and she asked if they blocked out our sun too much. They didn't block the sun much, but they did hang way over the garden and drop pine cones and crap all the time. She said she'd get her husband to cut them back so we didn't have to—but we could if we wanted to.

So, last October, I cut back the branches that were coming into the garden.

That was fine until one day in March when I went outside to feed the chickens and heard her screaming at our landlord, "This is all I have, Christopher! This. Is. ALL. I. HAAAAAAAVE!!" She was talking about the trees, of course, which she had just noticed. Needless to say, I got the hell out of there.

A few weeks later her husband cut back the trees even more than I did, and she came over while we were outside to shout, "Hey! You call that bein' a neighbor? 'Cause I call that NOT BEIN' a neighbor!" Oh, well then. Ever since, we've been privy to dirty looks and shouted conversations of, "Hey! When's that fence guy comin'?" Yesterday she stood on her porch in her pajamas and stared at me through a gap in the trees for ten minutes. It's been fun.

Today, though, the fence guys came. They were very nice and they loved our garden, but most importantly they put up a 7-foot tall privacy fence (which necessitated cutting back the trees even more, incidentally). Sadly, the fence obstructs our view of the old trampoline, the plastic tarp stuck up in a tree, the trash cans in the middle of the yard, and the neighbor sunbathing on the driveway. But that's the price we'll have to pay. For, you know, not bein' neighbors. At least we'll have the memories.

Diversity in salads

This year's first pea flower.

Sleepover Party!

We've been hardening off our tomatoes and tonight they're spending the night outdoors, under the row cover with the Brussels sprouts and purple cabbage. They'll be in the ground by the end of the week, and then we can officially begin the long wait for a ripe tomato.

Squash Beds

An executive decision was made last year that all of our squash and mellon type plants would be direct seeded this year. They are now all in. We spent the better part of the day clearing out all of the beds to hopefully get rid of any lingering squash bug larvae. The grass has been cut for the first time this year and we used the clippings for mulch. This photo gives a pretty good view of the five beds we planted (they're the green fuzzy ones). In each bed we also planted a few nasturtium seeds to help deter pests and eventually add some peppery zing to our salads. This now marks that 18 of our 22 beds are planted. All that's left are our peppers, tomatoes and some random last minute herbs.

Bamboo Pea Trellis

This year we got a little fancy with our pea trellis. We built a bit bamboo frame over the pea bed and tied cross pieces above each row of peas.

Then, we hung strings—one per pea sprout—from the cross piece and tied them loosely around the base of each pea.


It was labor-intensive, but worth it. So far the peas aren't trying to strangle each other like they normally do, since they all seem content to hang out on their own string. In the past, our peas have gotten all tangled and clumped together and it's was difficult to find and pick all the ripe pods. This method has been keeping them much more organized.

'Taters are in.

Our potatoes are off to a bit of a late start this year—we finally got them in the ground this afternoon after being stymied by a late delivery and then fifteen straight days of rain (sixteen, I guess, if you count the showers this afternoon). We've got All Blues, Yukon Golds, and some red variety that we picked up at the local co-op last week. The goal is around 50 pounds, and I think we've got enough planted to make it. In between the potatoes are rows of corn and beans, so we're hoping to squeeze a lot out of produce from those three beds.

Stay away bugs

Last year the cabbage worms made a mess of our brassicas. This year we made row covers. Since the brassica family produces without the assistance of pollinators, it is safe to keep them covered with a material that will only let in light, wind, and rain. We're using agribon.



The construction couldn't have been easier. We purchased one-foot sections of rebar and hammered them in around the perimeter of the beds in question. We left about three inches or so poking out and these little nubs then acted as anchors for the eventual ribbing for the structure.



The ribs are eight and ten foot lengths of recycled 3/4 inch PVC. Each end of the PVC slips over the rebar forming a frame that looks similar to that of an old covered wagon.



We couldn't find agribon wide enough to span the width of the beds with the ribs so we fastened two lengths together with clothes pins. After draping them over the ribs we weighed down the edges with strategically placed rocks. The whole shebang cost about $25. All that's left to do is keep our fingers crossed that no other mysterious pests materialize.

Back to the Future

I'm doing a major computer clean-up to make space for a new OS and a couple of programs, and I came across this top-of-the-coop photo from early July of last year:


Contrast that with this photo from a couple days ago:


Hard to believe that we'll be looking like that first photo in a month and a half.

Shout out and fun with parenthesis

Skrubtudsen at In the Toad's Garden recently put up a really cool post about mobile community gardens (Ørestad Mobile Eco-gardens). I'm not sure what his affiliation is with the project (I guess I could ask), but he has shared a few posts this past year on the development of the movement (yes I just called it a movement). Rob at One Straw Revolution does something similar, but I don't believe the garden containers he makes are transportable once they've been filled with dirt (again, I guess I could ask). I just want to give a "Hell Yes!" to these guys and any one else out there who brings gardening to those who live in communities where backyards aren't in surplus. I hope some day to do the same for some of the neighborhoods in the Philly area.

Thanks guys, you make change inspirational.

Off Saving Hyrule

You may have noticed that our blog has been a bit lacking lately. That's because a week ago I cajoled my brother into giving me our old Nintendo 64, and Kelly and I have been trying to defeat Zelda ever since.
Luckily for us, this latest obsession has coincided with lots of crazy rain and wind, so it hasn't been detracting from the garden too much.

Backyard Breakfast

This morning I went out back, gathered some eggs, harvested red oak leaf lettuce, picked some sage, and clipped a few leaves of chard. Fifteen minutes later they became breakfast. Other than the olive oil everything came from our garden/coop and it was delicious. This is one of the major reasons why we shop at home.

More Photos Coming

Our polling peas were in need of a place to climb. This is our third year gardening and every year we change the design of our trellises. This year's model is a little labor intensive, but all of the major materials are natural. We should be done with the whole thing tomorrow, weather permitting, and will share more photos with a more detailed description. Until then, here's a sneak peek.

New Shoots

Early May is when tons of little alien spiky things grow out of our yard and begin to turn into bamboo. Kelly likes to kick them over and our landlord likes to eat them, but I just think they're kind of nice looking.

No Mow

Our landlord has a keen interest in just letting things go. We won't mention the condition of the house (bad vibes), but outside there is an odd array of random volunteer trees and patches of grass a foot or so high. I don't know what it is, but he hates having the grass cut. We suffer our share of ticks through the year, nothing bad, and the chickens think it sucks. However, right now it's not so bad. The wildness of our yard has invited a shabby meadow. There is color everywhere.

Thinking Way Ahead

In the world of "What ifs," Meg and I have contemplated the possibility of renting for another year or two and what that would mean for the garden. The idea we are tossing around is joining the herb garden with the vegetable garden to create what would be a 3,000 square foot backyard market.

I took this photo from the far edge of the herb garden furthest away from the vegetable garden. If you look to the far right of the photo you can see a little concrete pillar (it's a stand for the birdbath), that marks where the herb garden ends. (I know it doesn't look like much of an herb garden now, but Meg, myself, and Steveo have big plans for it's rejuvenation later this month.) The grass area from the concrete pillar to the garden fence would be double dug and fenced in. It would be a shit load of work for someone else's property, so I hope we can get out of here before it gets to that. Like I said, it's a "What if."

Shady Grove

Not too long ago we erected a sunshade to protect the bed of greens and peas. When the rest of the garden fills in we won't have a need for the contraption, but for now the high-noon sun is just a bit too much.

The set up really is as easy as it looks; we just tied a sheet to one end of the fence and ran a line from the corners of the opposite end of the sheet to the fence on the other side. The string running on the left side of the photo is attached to the fence with loops as opposed to tying it on. The loops allow us to slide the string on and off the fence posts so we can pull the shade back on cloudy days.

The View From the Top

This photo was taken from Mt. Tammany, on the New Jersey side of the Delaware. The big road along the river is I-80, and through hikers on the Appalachian Trail have to climb down there and hike across the bridge on the road shoulder. Better than swimming, I suppose. On the left side of the river is Pennsylvania, and the small, two lane road down there is Route 611—if you drive down far enough, it turns into Broad Street in Philadelphia. Unfortunately the subway doesn't come this far north.

Eureka!

Some of our friends from grad school came along with us this weekend, and that meant we needed to rustle up some extra tents. Fortunately one of our friends, Large, comes from a family that's big on camping so she was able to borrow a couple of tents from her dad. Unfortunately, one of the tents was about 35 years old and either it had extra parts or it was missing pieces—it's hard to say exactly what was wrong with it, but something was definitely amiss.


Jeff and Jess, the two who would be using the ancient tent, started putting it together themselves but soon called for backup. Kelly and Large came in to help.*


Not much progress is made, so a strategy meeting is held.


Large quits, and the rest of the tent pieces are forced into place.


Jeff shoots the tent an angry look as he wonders why it is nearly as tall as him, but only half as long.


The fly is on. Wow, what a spiffing tent.


I wonder why this company isn't around anymore?


*As I was doing this post and talking about that sad tent, Kelly said, "Please do not put up any photos of that tent with me near it. I do not want to be associated with that catastrophe."

Over the River and Through the Woods

So, this weekend we headed up to the Delaware Water Gap to do some camping. The Water Gap is mostly reserved as park land, and it covers a huge area where the Appalachians cross the Delaware River from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. We camped right next to the river, which was nice. Here's the view from our tent:


That's New Jersey on the other side. From where we were, you couldn't even smell it.

The Eyes Have It

Our potatoes showed up today—a bit later than we'd have liked, but they're here all the same. We got some All Blues and Yukon Golds, and we'll pick up some kind of red variety to add to the mix.

We're off to northern PA for some (possibly cold, wet) camping this weekend, so expect some backdated posts to be thrown up hastily on Sunday night or Monday. Also, I have about twelve million unread garden blog posts hanging about in my Google reader, so I'll be making the rounds to see what all you folks have been up to.