Sunday, April 29, 2007

A Hard Day's Work

More species tulips are blooming in the garden now that we're back to spring. If you've never grown species tulips, you really should give them a try. They are much more satisfying than the big hybrids.

Species tulips will multiply and naturalize on their own, and come back beautifully year after year. They are little trouble and always give a good show.

One really nice thing about them is that they really catch the eye of people passing by. Like this little pink tulip, which always gets comments from visitors who are used to seeing the same old hybrids again and again.

So far I have five different varieties, one of which has yet to bloom this spring.

But the tulips aren't the only ones up. The peas and favas all sprouted this week. Carrots, radishes and various greens are all on their way too.

Early this afternoon, Abbey helped me plant bush beans and chard. I planted the mustard, as the seeds are far too small for little hands. I also planted some early basil in the cold frame, more cilantro, and some arugula seed that a woman shared that came directly from her father's garden in Italy.

After getting some of the beds at home dressed up, we all went out to Perkins to work on getting some more of the fence put up. During last weekend's work party, we sank more than a dozen posts and got a lot of things ready, but we still have to fence in the early spring beds.

It was a beautiful day for working in the garden... and also a good day for goofing of in a wheelbarrow. But Abbey didn't just goof off, she also explored the main garden with her mom and found some herbs struggling to grow in an abandoned plot from last year. They found some thyme, sage, parsley and one other unknown herb that I'll have to identify after it grows a bit.

After getting some of the fencing done, I double dug a section of the garden and put in two 4'x4' raised bed frames that were also abandoned last year. I filled the frames with a mix of vermiculite, compost and garden soil, then planted them with Allstar lettuce mix, Nancy buttercrunch lettuce, Space spinach, Bright Lights chard and broccoli raab.

We got done a little late, but here's a picture of Julie and Abbey surveying a hard day's work and hoping for a little rain.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Green Things

With the white stuff from last week gone, the green stuff is starting to perk up again and get serious about growing. The peas I planted three weeks ago are still pretty dormant (only an few have attempted to sprout) and the favas and carrots haven't done a thing. But I guess with temps in the 20's and 30's for most of the first week and a half, it's no surprise.

But this broccoli raab is getting serious about sprouting, as is the leaf lettuce, buttercrunch lettuce and spinach. The garlic is on the rebound too. The forecast for the next few days is calling for sun and more warm temps, so the bare beds of soil should really begin looking more like vegetable gardens soon.

Inside the gold frame, things are even happier. As I tend to the plants in there, I get to wondering what the sprouts talked about for the three or four days they were snuggled in the cold frame under a couple of inches of snow. Enough light must have filtered through to keep photosynthesis happening.

After last year's bumper crop of chard, I'm not sure why I planted more this year. Perhaps it was because I really wanted to see the beautiful mixed colors of this Bright Lights variety.

Leaf lettuce is also good for cold framing. This short row will be ready for trimming for baby greens by next weekend. Without the cold frame, I was harvesting my first greens around Memorial Day. This year they'll be consumed before April is over.

Outside the cold frame, the species tulips and early daffodils really took a hit from being under the snow for so long. But I have some miniature narcissus that took it all in stride and began popping open yesterday.


Big THREE!

Like in each of the three years preceding, Abbey's birthday came as Michigan moved firmly into spring. The snows of last week are gone, it's warm enough to sleep with the windows open a bit, and the grass is turning bright green again.

The years continue to march on and Abigail is growing incredibly quickly right before our eyes.

For her birthday, we had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Meatballs have become her favorite food--in a house that doesn't buy meat, no less. So don't tell her that the "meat" balls were made of mushrooms and soy.

After dinner, we went to her Grandma Barb and Grandpa Jack's for a party with two of her three-year-oldish friends. She asked for french bread and cheese for her party, so we spread that out along with strawberries, bananas and raspberries. Of course, Grandma found some melting chocolate for dipping.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Tao Te Ching

Browsing through Schuler Books the other day I came across a translation of the Tao Te Ching by one of my favorite translators of Chinese poetry, David Hinton. Mr. Hinton is a well regarded sinologist, which makes his translations of ancient Chinese texts stand out above many of the rest. Even his poetry translations, in my opinion, are better than poets like Pound, Rexroth, Snyder and Williams--all of whom studied Chinese and translated Chinese poetry.

Here's a poem from the Tao Te Ching as translated by Mr. Hinton.

Forcing it fuller and fuller
can't compare to just enough,
and honed sharper and sharper
means it won't keep for long.

Once it's full of jade and gold
your house will never be safe.
Proud of wealth and renown
you bring on your own ruin.

Just do what you do, and then leave:
such is the Way of heaven.
(9)

Hinton provides some helpful notes, key terms and introductory comments with his edition. In reading this poem, it is helpful to understand that "the Way" (Tao) can be conceived as the "generative ontological process through which all things arise and pass away." In the case of Lao Tzu (who is credited with writing the Tao Te Ching), "heaven" is a much more secular concept than in the Abrahamic faiths. A better understanding of the use of the word in this case would be a "natural process: the constant unfolding of things in the cosmological process."

In writing the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu is, among other thing, reacting to the Shang and Chou dynasties' appropriation of paleolithic Chinese concepts of God and heaven for the purpose of consolidating political and social power. That makes this an interesting read in today's world where global figures conveniently mix politics and ancient faiths.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Indoor Gardening

Our foretaste of spring flew the coop midweek last week and we returned to winter, complete with wind, subfreezing temperatures, and snow. While the cold frame has stayed above freezing inside thanks to the thermal mass and organic activity of the live soil, the rest of the garden is on hold.

To keep seedlings moving along, I took inside the flat of cold-weather crops I was starting in the cold frame.

  • Seeds of Change Red Drumhead cabbage (2006 seed)
  • Johnny's Early Green Lynx cabbage
  • Pinetree Cheddar cauliflower (2006 seed)
  • Pinetree Nutri-Bud broccoli (2006 seed)
  • Johnny's De Cicco broccoli
A trick I have learned in our cold house is to put the flats of seeds in the oven with the light bulb on to sprout the seeds. The oven light raises the temperature inside the oven 5-10ยบ over the air inside the house.

Now the seedlings are sitting in a south-facing window sill in a cool, upstairs room (yes, that is snow outside). The forecast calls for warmer temperatures this week, so they should be moving back to the cold frame by midweek.

Of note to Grand Rapids gardeners is my discovery of Growco Indoor Garden Supply, a supplier of hydroponic growing supplies in Grand Rapids. They have a great selection of organic controls, nutrients and growing medium, including great, fortified soil for seed starting. And as you might suspect of one who peddles in grow lights, hydroponics and the like, their main entry door is around back of the building and mail order is sent in plain, unmarked envelopes. For interested locals, they are located on the south side of Michigan Street, across from Rylee's Ace Hardware, just west of Fuller Ave. To the serious organic gardener, their products far exceed what is available from the big box guys and other garden supply stores.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Monday Night Planting

Yesterday's rain showers never ended until late in the night, so the peas had to go in today. I planted three seven foot rows of Caseload shell peas and two four and an half foot rows of snow peas. Suffice it to say that the peas went further than I expected.

Between the rows of shell peas, I planted:

  • a mix of Seeds of Change Bronze Arrow and Black-Seeded Simpson leaf lettuce.
  • Johnny's Scarlet Nantes carrots
  • Johnny's Cosmic Purple carrots (yes, they're really purple!)
  • two-year old leftover French Breakfast radish seeds from Pinetree Garden Seeds.
The monardia I planted from seed last year is coming back nicely. I planted this monardia specifically for tea, rather than for bloom. The picture above shows the new spring growth.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Seed Sowing

As she gets older, Abbey is becoming a bigger and bigger help in the garden.

This afternoon was warm and sunny, but windy. So Abbey helped out by holding onto my seed packets so that they would not blow away. She watched patiently as I planted the smaller seeds.

Today I planted:

  • Johnny's Allstar lettuce mix
  • Johnny's Space spinach
  • Johnny's Nancy butterhead lettuce (pelleted)
  • Johnny's broccoli raab
  • Johnny's Red Russian kale
  • Johnny's Windsor fava beans
When it came to the fava beans, Abbey wanted to help put the beans in the soil. So I hoed the furrows, Abbey helped my coat the beans with inoculant, and she helped me put them into place.

Fava beans are a good seed to plant with kids because they are so big, go in an obvious furrow, and are well spaced.

This afternoon, a few showers rolled in so I stopped planting, but I've got furrows ready to go for two rows of shell peas and my fist sowing of snow peas. If it stops raining, I'll get those in this evening too. The varieties I selected this year are:
  • Johnny's Caseload shell peas
  • Johnny's Snow Green snow peas
Between the rows of peas I'll plant carrots, lettuce and radishes so as to not waste the space. I hope to get to those tomorrow night.

Keeping us company as we planted were these wide-eyed species tulips. These are the same tulips as featured on March 27, just wide-open because of the bright sun.