Spring planting

You know, I always tried to restrain myself from too much "crop update"-style posts where I just listed everything that was happening in the garden - but in reality,  I just went back and read the late-May posts for the last two years, and it was really cool.   I really like having photographic evidence of what I have done each year, and feeling like I have some kind of record of the seasons.   For example, yes, this week it is rainy and not the warmest, but it seems like its been a whole lot warmer than it was in past years.  I already have tomatoes and eggplants in the ground, and my lettuce is straight-up edible size.

Also, although I notice that each year I do resolve to "tone it down," as of last May I was still calling for a "no ground left uncovered policy."   If I continue reading into June, however, I see all my frustration: peas that were just starting to bloom when it was time to plant the cucumbers, lettuce that was still producing (and stealing growing time) when I needed to plant the eggplant, etc.

This year I'm not only trying to "plant within my wants" (meaning planting only the things that we will truly eat and want), I"m also refining  from last year - no bean teepee, more eggplants, more arugula, no broccoli (which I don't think I could say no to last year!).   Furthermore, I'm also continuing to plant "within my means" - which means doing the work that feels right, not what "must be done."

Donating my windex to charity

My homemade cleaners &  ingredients.
 (I recycled the empty "Mrs. Myers" spray bottle for the "Fantastic")

ahh.   After a grueling semester and at the end of my first year teaching, I have a few days to relax and unwind.   There's something really special about being able to own your own time, at least for a little while.   I find I can keep my mind on the one task ahead of me, instead of always trying to see what I'll need to be doing two or three steps ahead, like I do when I am teaching a full schedule.

So what did I decide to do on my first day of total freedom?  Why, clean the house, of course!   No, seriously, there's something totally cleansing about having the time to take care of your space and return it to a condition that looks, feels, and, as of today, smells good.  For some reason it feels kind of luxurious, like taking a long bubble bath, to really be able to get in and clean all those cobwebs, crumbs, stains and streaks that have been subtly pissing you off/grossing you out for some time.   And living in a house that looks cared for makes me feel, well, pampered.   (Do you get the idea that deep cleaning is something that happens fairly rarely around here?   eep. )

So as I was cleaning today, I realized that I was running out of my $12-a-bottle all-natural cleaner.   And I hate to go to the store, so that's a bummer.   Then I remembered that I had a list of all-natural recipes from Vida Verde, an eco-friendly cleaning co-op started and run by Brazilian women.   These women came and spoke to our ESL students a few months ago about the dangers of chemical cleaners and handed out recipes.  They were friendly, charming, knowledgeable and totally rad.   (If you are looking for an earth-friendly and worker-friendly house cleaning service, for sure check them out!  http://verdeamarelo.org/vidaverde/ ).

http://walthamfieldscommunityfarm.blogspot.com/

Another cool local farm blog - they have excellent (-looking) local recipes...I'll let you know if/when I try some of them.

I really like the writing these farmers do about farming and the kind of more spiritual, reflective aspects of farming.

Of course, they are farmers, not gardeners, but you get the idea.

Pea pyramid

So, I know this looks like the back of  a drug den, or a burned out building, but it's actually my backyard and the wall of our garage.    This was my project for the day: putting up a "pea pyramid".   In the past few years, this has been my "bean teepee" where I grew pole beans.   Buuuut - the beans are always too many and too gigantic to actually eat all of them.  And the bush beans are more delicious.   And when I plant the peas behind the tomatoes, it stunts their growth.   Thus, the pea pyramid.   We'll see how they do.  

Bottom of the pyramid.  The strings are attached to tent stakes!

Need an online garden guru?

Wanna learn how to start your own garden?  How about a tomato in a pot?  A few years ago I tried to write down all the things I wish I'd known when I started....check it out!

https://sites.google.com/site/abbymachsoncarter/home/boston-backyard-gardener

Restraint.


So recently I say to my girlfriend, "I think this year I'm going to take it easy, you know, try to hold back a little and not go overboard with the garden,"  thinking, of course, that she'll understand my urge toward personal growth and maturity in this hobby of mine.

Lettuce seedlings - planted a healthy distance apart.   

Her reaction?   To fall off her chair laughing.   She starts trying to hide it, but she can't and it goes from giggles to chuckles to all-out uncontrollable laughter.   I really, honestly can't figure out what's so funny....at first.    Then she wipes her eyes and looks at me and says, "I'm sorry. I really am.   It's just that we've been doing this for five years.  And you've said  that ever year."

Sigh.   Maybe if some you are gardeners, you will understand.  It's a teensy bit addictive, you know, and sometimes it's really easy to "accidentally" bring home "extra" tomatoes, herbs, seeds, bulbs or whatever from the garden store.  (Barbara Kingsolver's husband, upon seeing her dog-eared and marked-up seed catalog, said, "why don't you just circle the ones you don't want?").   But apparently, not only am I easily enticed to overdo it in the garden, worse, I've known it and been resolving to cut back since year one.

Spring

The last posts on this blog seem one million miles away: beans, carrots, cucumbers, pickling as a way to deal with excess produce..... now, in April, we haven't harvested a fresh cucumber in months.   The last time we saw the bean plants they were brown, mildewed, frozen and rotten, waiting to get taken down.

In my head I know this happens every year.   Every year, we survive a winter (no matter how mild) where almost everything green turns brown and dies and flowers get destroyed by rain and frost.  If, like me, you have some interest in eating locally, you start in the fall excitedly carving up squash and carrots, roasting potatoes and beets and stretching out your cabbage, proud of your ability to change with the seasons.  It feels right - the weather is cold and I always crave soup and hearty things.

spring thyme and sage next with the garlic today

And then the winter wears on.