Friday, May 30, 2008

Peat Moss, my new best friend!




Peat and I go way back. I remember as a kid being fascinated with peat bogs--all those farmers going out in the bogs in Ireland and hunking out bricks of the stuff with a shovel. How cool is that, all sweet and mealy and brown. Well, everyone is telling me that it will loosen my soil. One thing I'd like is for it to make it weigh less so when I'm turning it over, my back doesn't get so sore. My back got plenty sore just hauling the two bails into the back of my Subaru. I was going to haul it to the garden on my way home, but honestly, I was just too tired. I'd been on the shopping spree, picking up things I needed out on the Guide, one being a new table for my studio and when I got to Fairhaven, I stopped there first and hauled the thing up this massive flight of vintage stairs. I was done in after that. So tomorrow morning my plan is to haul Peat to the garden. I'll try to snap a shot or two of us getting chummy so you can see how hard I'm working—lazy gardener me. Ha!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Bugs, bugs, and more bugs.

My plot is in the foreground. See, what did I tell you? Now for my thoughts on bugs. There are bugs, and then there are bugs. This year there are a lot of ladybugs in the garden. This is good. Yesterday, I was down in bed most of the day with a stomach bug--ugh! Today, I'm mostly recovered and did get to the hardware/garden store and picked up two bags of peat moss. I really do have a bit of a job ahead of me, spreading it and turning it under. I read once that it is better to turn the soil by hand (well shovel), than to rototille. Now, I don't remember why. I think it had something to do with the tiller going too deeply into soil beyond the level of the top soil. My garden spot has already been scraped of some of its topsoil. They, the folks who once leveled out the site, did that in the beginning when the parcel of land was sectioned off for the plots. So my question is, can topsoil be rebuilt? My friend, Deb, author of Rainyside Gardeners web site says, you can do a wonderful job of rebuilding your soil by making a pizza of it in the fall, or is it lazagna? Which ever food group it is, at the end of the summer she piles on her garden beds: coffee grounds, table scraps, leaves, newspaper, and more leaves. She lets this food item compost over the winter and in the spring, plants right in to the newly built rich, worm laden soil. Whatever hasn't decomposed gets tossed back in the compost bin. Tons of wiggly worms are now part of your garden and the lovely rich soil is just a sniffable pleasure, what could be better?

All for now, gotta get some shuteye. N
P.S.
So I actually went home and stayed there after picking up the peat. I was beat, so I sat on the sofa and worked on my taxes (filed an extension with the ex). Hopefully it won't be raining tomorrow. We live in such a rainy climate that the minerals and salts wash out and up and every-which-way. The soil can easily get rinsed clean of what it needs--so amend, amend, amend, and praise the garden gods so it will be a good day to do so. Tomorrow--if the wind doesn't keep blowing and the rain doesn't come in during the night, I will be back at it.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

The Community Garden

I took this photo from the bottom of the garden near 10 th street. Everyone has it together, peas are up, so is the lettuce and onions. I'm slow, getting little bits of ground turned over now and then. I was going to get there today, but came down with a bug and stayed in bed. Sid accompanied me, such a loyal cat. I think he was happy to have me stay home for a change.

Anyway, tomorrow, back over there to turn a few more square feet and to plant something--lettuce, chard, kale. Kale winters over here quit nicely. I'd like to fill some pots with carrots--I heard they will do okay here if you cover them with netting. There the carrot worm, or whatever the devil is that drills into the nice orange flesh, that can't get in when the net is over the top. Sounds good to me. Okay then, back to bed for this sicky.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Day After Ski to Sea


In B'ham, when weather is great which it was yesterday, everyone and their dog, as my mother used to say, come out of the woodwork. In Fairhaven there was a mass of people on the streets eating icecream and pizza and chicken in peanut sauce. There were jugglers and acrobats and musicians. Down Harris at Marine Park, the kayaks came in after the big race. The canoe lag was canceled because the river rose a foot overnight. Smart. All the noise almost had me bowing out and spending the day in the garden. As it was, I spent the day with my friend wandering around town, perusing the car show down in Boulevard park, and sitting at the beach for awhile to watch the kayakers come in. We had a glass of wine later, outside of Purple Smiles, and then went to a movie. Afterwards I tried to get the peat, but Lowes was closed. Today it is raining, I may or may not go to the garden.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Another Hot Day




It's a beautiful sunny day, and that's a good thing here in the Pacific Northwest. We've had such a rainy long spring, and it snowed on the first day a spring. I think that was a record--we get unusual weather records. Some think it is global warming, others think it is just the way it is. Anyway, today is Ski to Sea. The skiers, downhill, then cross country start up on Mt. Baker, then there are road bikers and mtn. bikers, canoers and kayakers. All of it ends in Fairhaven where I live, down at the waterfront. In addition to all the athletic prowess, there is also ale prowess and yelling and cheering prowess, and guitar and vocal prowess. There is the typical celebration booths: clothing, food, jewelry, etc.

It's a little breezy out there, hopefully our lovely weather won't turn south. I'm going to the park and participating today--probably won't get to the garden. And my back hurts a little from the shoveling yesterday. I'll get this entirely dug up by the end of the week. Yeah!

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Hot Day

Today I rode my bike to the garden. It's not far. Perhaps two blocks. I haven't ridden my bike maybe in two years. It killed my shoulders and neck to ride it because the fit was all wrong. So my son-in-law fixed it up, reworked it so I can sit more upright on the bike. And I must say, the fit is good. So there I am, my bag of seeds hooked over the left handle, zooming down the street past the Tennis Club to the interurban trail, and I had my reading glasses on. This is how I can tell I'm old. So I take them off and stick them down my shirt, which is where I keep many things, both large and small. I survived the few blocks to the garden, enthough though I potentially could have had a fatal accident when the furious mountain bikers passed me from the other direction, naming their numbers, two more, one more, last one, as they bolted past. They must be riding in tomorrow's Ski to Sea.

At the garden, I dug three digs and had to rest. It was much hotter outside than I realized. Who plans the weather? I do not know for sure. Anyway, a neighbor had found large bags of peat at Lowes, so I'll head there soon--perhaps Monday. I did manage to dig a few more square feet and rake things sooth. I planted some brocolli raab and some bok choy. Then I road back home, which was downhill all the way.

The Beginnings of My Community Garden

How It All Begain:
It was the first day of the 2007, gray and blowing sideways rain, when I climbed in my car and headed toward the Park’s Department headquarters. The wind had howled around my condo building all night, waking me frequently. I was tired when I arrived at the building at the required 8 a.m., that is if I wanted to possibly secure a garden plot in the local community garden. And I did want one, since the five-story brick building is surrounded with pavement and cement. My place is small and I don’t have a balcony. I’m happy living within walking distance of the grocery, pharmacy, doctor, library, bookstore, beauty shop, gift store, restaurants, and more, and I needed dirt beneath my fingernails in order to survive.

When I arrived at Cornwall Park, the doors to the tiny headquarters where locked and two folks sat on the bench on the porch waiting. I waited in the car for a few moments, yawning in the semi-light, watching the bending trees through a rain splattered windshield. As it turned out, by the time the doors opened, there were four of us greeted by the cheery woman who just happened to have four plots available for the much coveted community gardens in Fairhaven.
I paid my $18.00, which secured my plot for a year. I went home with a sheet of rules and waited out the rest of the rainy winter. The main rule for this community garden, is that it must be gardened. No over-grow patches with gnarly weeds. But who wouldn’t want to get their hands in the earth and raise up vegetables for their dinner table?

And it’s a nice piece of land set back in from the street. Plum trees edge one side of the garden and down the bank from those, runs a salmon stream. The property is divvied up into 34 plots, 10’ x 20’ each. Some folks have two plots. There is a garden shed outfitted with a wheel barrel, rakes, hoes, shovels, trowels, and claws. There are hoses and hose bibs conveniently located around the yard, although the hose closest to my plot is kinked in several places, and has already caused me enough frustration that I might consider donating a new hose to the project. The Parks and Rec pays for the water, mows the lawn surrounding the plots, and maintains a compost pile, rock pile, as well as empties trash. Another of the community garden is tilled by a park crew each spring. That didn’t happen in this garden, perhaps because many people have been working theirs plots for years. Some have built raised beds, others have made paths of bricks and added scrolled iron arbors strategically placed, other permanent structures for trailing plants would be difficult to maneuver around. Another reason for leaving the spring soil mixing to the renters, is a winter crop of barley and pea may be turned at the desired time. Or plastic milk-containers covering delicate plants line rows of cabbage plants before anyone has turned over a shovel full.

Everyone has a different method, some tried and true, other’s obvious experimentations. A new gardener who signed up the day I did, said he bought plugs of lettuce from Joe’s Garden, a well known neighborhood garden that raises and sells vegetables locally. Already his garden has four-inch lettuce plants for .20 each, which I had to admit, was a good deal and looked impressive. However, I’m a bit of a die hard. Opening seed packages and wrangling little black and brown bits from my palm to soil gives me a surge of satisfaction I just don’t get from planting a dozen half-mature plants down the rows. It’s one of those amazing things in the universe—plants sprouting from hard little bits of seed. Just amazing.

My seeds are already up: bok choy, broccoli raab, sugar peas, lettuce, potatoes, and sweet peas, although the soil is in obvious need of amendment. I will add organic fertilizer and perhaps collect clean grass clippings to mulch with—that is if I can catch the park mower and finagle his clippings. Or like my neighbor to the north did last year, I could mulch with burlap bags. I need to mulch fairly soon, in fact the bok choy is large enough to thin. I had my first meal of chicken and stir fry greens just the other night.

I designed my plot a little differently from my usual gardens of the past, long parallel rows equally spaced, nicely mulched walking rows in between. First I made a teepee of ten-foot sticks in the center for the sweet peas to climb. I’ve begun to work on a little rock walkway leading to the flowers where I plan on sitting a chair for contemplative times on lazy summer afternoon.
At the front edge, the edge facing my neighbors, lettuce is planted in two semi-circles. At the center of the semi-circles, I will plant flowers. I don’t usually plant flowers in a vegetable garden, but my neighbor with the extra zucchini told me that everyone should plant flowers, since the overall affect of the gardens is so beautiful. I remember quite a few big dahlias or zinnias or filmy cosmos adding to the cacophony of color last summer.

The community idea of gardening is a good one, although I haven’t experienced yet how shareful or each-to-his-own the gardeners will be, besides my immediate neighbors that is. I came over and watered their gardens last fall while they were on a trip to the Caribbean. They left just as the tomatoes were coming on and I froze a lot of tomato soup, trying to keep up with their crop. I’ve planted one tomato plant this year, and am questioning whether or not to plant zucchini, since last year I had my fill of it

Since I’ve taken to living my life in a more European style, village living I could call it, where I can walk to most everything I need. Having this garden and the grounds surrounding it will not only be a haven for me to rest in, but listening to the stream running past and the birds singing, and watching an occasional deer wander though, will really complete the life I’ve built.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Friday--grandbaby day


A view south from my plot. The netting is to grow beans up--I first thought it was to keep out the deer. We have marauding deer here--people love them and hate them. They are beautiful, and usually this time of year, the two babies trail the doe. It's sweeter than sweet, until they eat the new pea shoots and bite off all the lettuce sprouts. In m y Kingston garden I put up fishing wire as a fence. I heard that if you run a few lines of it around your garden, they'll touch their legs or chest against it and back away. They can't really see it. My deer must have been exceptionally smart, as they touched it then hopped over. I strung more line, the babies ducked under. After a while, I'd look out the window and see a mom grazing on blackberries (that's okay) and the baby inside the fenced area eating peas (that's okay.) Funny, it goes back to my theory that I must relax and not try to control. Life will unfold as it will. It's really chaos in action, it has it's moments of order, and then back to non-order.
So today the grandbaby is coming and we'll go to the garden. I'm motivated now that the weather is nicer. Last two nights the sunset was fabulous. Today, it looks like it could rain--but maybe it will just sprinkle and we can work a little, dig a little more, spread a little compost--or we could check out some nurseries, see what kinds of deals they have on peat. My daughter will be here soon, so I must get my coffee polished off.
Looking south from my plot, rhubbarb, and to seed Russian Kale.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Nancy's Garden

I've always grown tomato plants. When I was a kid, I had one or two planted next to the pool. I constantly got swamped with chlorinated water, which didn't seem to hurt it any. The plants still produced great tomatoes. Of course that was in Spokane, where it is very hot in the summer and the tomatoe plants thrive on heat. Here in the Pacific Northwest, the dampness does them in. They can easily subcomb to the blight. I put in two plants just last week. It's been so cold, on of the other community gardeners said it was cruelty to plants. I however, lost 12 plants to frost once in Yakima. They just grew back stronger.

I am sort of a romantic when it comes to gardening and love the country garden look. I attempted to pull it off at my last house, but then I was in graduate school and my cat died. And then my marriage failed. Now I'm getting divorced and gardening by myself in Fairhaven. A woman I used to know might say about my state of affairs, I'm just having a streak of bad luck. But really, although it's been exceptionally hard for the last three years, so hard I could take up singing country music, I am sort of falling in love with my new life. I'm really feel so free. And my garden mirror's that freedom, don't you think? I think so.

The last house I lived in overlooked the water. I had a wonderful Victorian garden, designed to hide the Glendon--waste disposal system-- with sprays of irises and daisies and glads and of course, wild blackberries. They grow all over the place here in the Pacific Northwest. Not part of our natural habitat, so they are considered a noxious weed list. Someone told me when I first moved from the East side of the state, to never cultivate them. I was just happy to pick them in the fall, giant blackberries, more than I'd seen in all my life. But the ones in my Victorian garden are the tiny indigenous blackberry. The are very delicious and good to find.

Today I dug up about 24 square feet of my garden. I was talking to my neighbor while I turned the soil over with a shovel. She was weeding and putting in a few pea transplants. We were discussing the community garden and how nice it was to have a place away from our homes to come. I live in a condo with cement all around, so this community garden really is my yard. It is lined with plum trees and rhubarb plants and peonies. There's a shared tool shed and a picnic table. It's a good place to come to play with my grandbaby. It's private on one street side, on the other, which is more like an alley, there are houses--where participating gardeners live. Some of the folks have been gardening in this community garden for 20 years or more--about the length of my marriage.


I'm the new comer to this community garden--my neighbor is actually newer than me, since I started last spring--and I'm perhaps one of the worse gardeners of all the 10x20 plots. Not that I want to be a bad gardener. But I probably garden like I do the rest of my life. I loose control of stuff, piles of papers, unfolded laundry, dirty dishes. I'm embarrassed to say this, but I'm messy. And so is my garden. But oh well. It is perhaps one of my lessons this life for me. Just let things be what they are. Don't try to control things too much--maybe I wouldn't have stayed in a bad marriage so long if I'd followed the garden's advice. Just be what I am--truly myself.



Monday, May 19, 2008

Peat Moss




Well, I stopped at Fred Meyers, imagining these huge bags of peat moss I could lug to the garden and work in to the hard pan, but they had nothing but bags of potting soil and fertilizer, etc. Nothing I could use, so today I went to Joe's Garden and picked up a head of lettuce--the vegie plugs aren't ready yet-- and two bags of compost.
Monday's and Fridays I keep my grandbaby, so today we went to the garden together. He carried the short bamboo sticks I use to mark rows through the fairly high grass. It rained a little, probably enough to not worry about watering in the tomato plants I got at the food co-op--cherry 100s and beef steak.

Tonight, I feel good I got something done, and overwhelmed--two bags of compost won't be enough--I'm sure of it. I'd still like some peat. I think it will loosen the soil. But getting out in the garden is a good thing to do in the evening. My life is so different now, without a husband. I like it in many ways, and in other ways, it is lonely. Not as much now--but still sometimes I pine for the way it was. Evenings in the garden together, walks at dusk. I just do it myself now. I'm better for it in many ways. Circling myself, instead of a husband.


Saturday, May 17, 2008

Community Garden




I'm a bad gardener. Well, actually, the way I see it, I always have lots to eat from my garden, but I'm a lazy weeder. My first father-in-law said, just do a little every day. He even set the hoe down on the soil and demonstrated how to use it. Who doesn't know how to use a hoe. No, it wasn't that. It's just that it's backbreaking and tedious. And the plot I have is in real need of amending. Not the kind of amend you do on your knees at bedtime, just the kind that takes several trips to the farm and garden store and hauling (without a husband strong like ox) just little old granny me. I'll survive. Don't worry.

My Garden Plot #18

Well, I have a garden plot. It's about 10 x 20 and has bad soil. Everyone gives me advice. Just do a little weeding at a time and you'll get it done. Another person said, oh, that plot has bad soil. You don't have to tell me. I water it and pull weeds and big hunks of soil comes out attached to the roots. It's clayish--devilish, plowed free of topsoil. All the stuff up top of the parcel next to Padden Creek was scraped downhill to level out the community gardne. Whatcom County Parks owns the place. It's cheap to rent, only $18.00 per year. And you have to do a good job or you'll be dinged. How you get dinged, I don't know. But someone was out there with a clipboard last year noting something on a sheet of paper. My neighbor defended me. "She's going through a divorce. She's in school. She's very busy right now. He nodded," she siad. I got a little miffed at the possiblity that I might get a letter shaming me for neglecting bad soil. The way I see it, it's already been neglected, I have a rescue mission that I must undertake. I'd like to improve it, so I'll add the peat for starters. I'll let you know how it goes.