Carrots in a Pot

I tried something new this year, growing my carrots in a pot. And it has worked, although they are tiny little things. I want to be a better gardener, and I'm getting a little bit better. I've been gardening since I was a kid, but I get overwhelmed easily, buy lots of things. In the case of the garden, lots of weeds, lots of plants. I have a natural propensity for saving. So if I came across a tomato plants that came up from seed, I'd want to nurture them along and then I'd have these extra tomatoes growing in the garden, smallish plants that never produce. But hey, here I am with carrots in a pot, nicely contained, not worm holes. Very exciting. Next year I'll add some manure so the soil is a little more nutricious. So I wonder how I can contain some of the things in my house, books in bookshelves, plants all in one grouping. Yes, I can get organized, eventually. I know I can.

Well I'm in the middle of getting dinner going. Soon my honey will be here. He's home from the Arctic, so I'm a happy camper. And he is too. He wants to do the entire garden ourselves next year. I like this idea. I've shared it this year, thinking it would help me get a handle on it. And it has. So with Honey's help next year, we'll have lots to eat, and perhaps some winter squash to put by. That would be nice.

Happy gardening,

Flower

Tomatoes Again

Well yes, I've told you the story of how I grew tomatoes as a kid. I planted them in the little triangle of dirt next to the pool. Mother had her petunias planted there. She grew petunias every year of our life together. Me, tomatoes. These are my neighbors tomatoes. This is the earliest year to have ripe tomatoes from a PNW coastal garden. They have a hard time ripening here and they get blight.

I have a ton of tomatoes this year. We had a slow start on warm weather, then a loong hot spell. It cooled again, but now it's warm again. Hopefully this will last late into fall. I've been swimming in the sound off and on. Yesterday I took a chilly dip. On a recent trip to the Nooksack River, I took a dip. Somehow I feel compelled right now to get into water, everywhere I can. My friend just returned from the Arctic. People do Polar Bear plunges in icy water there. Not me. I have my limits.

I'm d

airy intollerant and have recently discovered that goat cheese is okay for me. So I've been making that delicious dish: sliced suculent tomatoes with a bit of basil and a bit of goat cheese. Dribble with balsamic vinegar. Yum! Don't remember what it is called.

Okay, happy gardening and happy life to you all.

Flower

PS Tomorrow's the new moon. Make your wishes. You get 10 each full moon. Make them count, they come true.

Garden Decoration

Well, I've had to really admit to myself that I'm not great at follow through. Now we know that Aries has a bad wrap for starting and stopping things--it's the experience Aries wants. But it's hard to get anywhere if you stop things just as they get rolling. So I let half of my garden to Mike--his plot is in the shade--and now he's calling himself my serf. I tell you, having half the garden space has made it easier on me. I've been eating tomatoes like crazy and plenty of peas. I have beans and patty pan.

The other day I ran into Mike and he said you zuchinni isn't what you think. What? Well it wasn't coming up, so I replanted. You'll like it. It's patty pan. And sure enough, there's a little space ship, sort of grey green, hovering beneath the leaves.

The other day I was over there and there where two young bucks wandering through the garden. Most of the plots are fenced now, which makes mine the key dining place. You don't have to have a membership to get in and it doesn't matter if you are wearing shoes and shirt.

Blackberries are on and so are the plums and so are the yellow jackets, squashed fruit everywhere. Ate blackberries for breakfast this morning. They are getting sweet now. And tomatoes in the salad and tonight with the burritos.

My honey is home from the arctic now. He was gone for 9 weeks. It seemed terribly long to me, although I got a ton of work done. I'm working on a book about divorce, as you know, I was divorced last year. It was a grueling year, going through all the name change stuff, and all the pain. Pain with divorce is equal to pain of death, I'm sure of it.

Well, need to get on with my day. Hopefully you are all working hard and enjoying the harvests of your gardens.
Peace,
Flower

Tomato Plants

For some reason I woke at 3:30 this morning. It was noisy outside, stuff going on in the city and the birds calling. I laid here in bed and thought about the garden, and all the ripe tomatoes I've eaten, fresh from the garden; all the warm tomatoes I've eaten, sun heated, and I thought about myself as a child, standing there outside the hardware tore, you know, back when there were neighborhood hardware stores, with racks of plants on the sidewalk. I wanted a tomato plant and mother let me buy one. I was in gradschool, that was the beginning of my love of gardening.

My tomato plants are doing fairly well this year. Hopefully the deer won't eat them. I scattered coyote scat around the garden, which didn't do a heap of good, they still ate off the peas. And the small shaker of the stuff set me back 11 dollars. I think the hot pepper spray works better. Most of the gardeners are fencing their plots. It looks like a mishmash of net and wire and payer flags now, but it could work, or is, especially where the higheur fences are used. I think I might put fishing line around mine. It works, just three of for strands around corner poles. Can't hardly see it and they can't either, bump into it and move away. Okay then, have a happy day. Hope your garden is growing well.

ROmanesco Broccoli

I've grown this broccoli and it is so beautiful and tasty. I have a neighbor in the garden who has broccoli ready to eat already. The problem with organic gardens and broccoli is the worms that get between the spears. It's hard to see them to pick them off, since they really blend in. My sister made me a big pot of vegetable soup after my daughter was born. She threw everything in it from the garden and it was pretty tasty. However, there were some worms in it from the broccoli. I lost my appetite and you know how it is, that weird thing with repulsion when you're pregnant and in this case, it lasted after I was pregnant too.

Anyway, if you miss some of the worms, they turn pale green when cooked and the broccoli turns dark green. So they are easy to find.

The weather has been great around here for gardening. My peas are about a foot high. The deer have been through, I've seen the muched pea tops. I bought some coyotee scat sprinkles and hope that will do the trick. They guy at the garden pet store said it would.

Today it is a little cloudy and they said it has almost been 30 days since it rainded. That's hard to believe, but I haven't been keeping track. I water my garden every three days or so. The roots grow deeper with fewer waterings and mulch helps keep the soil moist.

Have fun in the garden and believe in the lushness and goodness of life.
Flower

Sweet Peas

I was thinking about the vines, peas and beans that grew on the neighbor's fence in the first neighborhood I have clear memories of. It was during that period of my life that I had my tonsils out, my leg dislocated, and I jumped off the neighbor's garage. I was a fearless child and full of rebellion. And yes, I was only 5 or 6 years old. I'd eat the peas off the vines, the raspberries too, while the rest of the kids played in the back yard. I got caught, which wasn't unusally for the pranks I pulled, but there the mother of my firends was leaning out the kitchen window telling me not to pick the peas. It happened with the raspberries and rhubbarb.
Grow your own, I say. Yum.

Flower

Tomatoes

I've been growing tomatoes since I was in grade school. Then they grew next to the pool where my mother grew petunias. I lived in Spokane and frosts came early, so I pulled my plants and hung them in the garage. We frequently ate tomatoes with our meals, straight from my little plant.

Now I live in the pacific NW. Here, the rain and cooler marine air keeps the tomatoes from thriving in the same way they do in warm climents. You can make little hats for your plants or grown them under a plastic covered roof. Just fool around, remembering to plant in warmer parts of your yard, such as the south side of your house. I keep my under eaves--I have to water oftern, since the rain doesn't hit there--which is the point. Avoid blight!

Happy gardening! Flower

Sugar Snap Pea Flower

I've grown bush peas and climbing peas, sweet marvels and sugar snap peas. I like them all, but since I don't get to my garden as frequently as some, the sugar peas are better for me. They last longer before getting too starchy or stringy. I love them in salads, steamed with new potatoes, or just raw. The deer like them too, so I put a fence of clear fishing line around my garden. You can't see the line well, so it doesn't interfer with your landscaping. The deer bump against it and back away. Be sure to space the fishing line so the babies can't step under it. I anchor it at the corners onto bamboo poles. Enjoy your garden and the spring weather.
Best, Flower

Carrots

I could grow good carrots in Spokane. They'd grown long and fat and taste fantastic. And they'd winter over, covered with a pile of maple leaves, they wouldn't freeze. I'd get on my rubber boots and go to the garden in the winter, remove the snow, turn back the leaves and dig a bucket of carrots. Fresh and crisp and cold. Here in the PNW, carrots get a little fly worm in them, so there are these tunnels through the flesh and everything is ruined. This year I'm trying planting in a planter with cloth over the top--it's that cloth that breaths, light as a feather, lifts with the growth of the plant, and doesn't let the flies in. We'll see what happens, You seed rather heavilty, so the plants grow close together. Yeah, I have my peas and tomatoes in too.
Happy Gardening, Flower

Sweet 100s

There are many varieties of sweet cherry tomatoes fo choose from. Jolly Elf, Sweet Hearts, Flamingo, Sweet Pea, Red Currant to name a few. When my daughter was in grade school her granddad brought her regularly baggies of cherry tomatoes. She loved this ritual and loved to eat the tomatoes. Now I'm thinking about my grandson--perhaps this year I'll plant more cherry tomato plants than I generally do. I usually put in three plants, and because of the climate here in the Pacific NW, I use fast growing varieties--such as the Early Girl and Big Boy. There are others that you can find at farmers markets that are vintage--many people like the heavy fruit of the Brandywine. It's delicious, I must say, but around here, I have little luck with it since the growing season is long and we tend to blight easily from the rain. Have fun choosing your tomato plants, and put in more than you think you need. Even the deer like them.

Keywords: tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, grand children snacks, childhood snacks, Early Girl, Big Boy, Brandywine

Egyptian Walking Onion

These are very cool. They spread beneath the ground and then at the tops of the stems, many little onions grow. They are a relative of the Catawissa onion. The topsets are a distinctive red color and are spicy in flavor. The bottom onions are hot and delicious in cooked foods. You can buy these specialty onions at www.territorialseed. com. I grew these onions in my garden in Kingston. The person who turned me on to them said, just bend the plant over and step on it, snub it around and it will plant the sets for you. I'd prefer to eat part and replant the other part. They are 250 days to harvest and are planted in the fall.

Keywords: Catawissa onion, Egyptian Walking Onion, Multiplier Onion

Broccoli & Broccoli raab

Both are easy to grow in your garden. Broccoli Raab takes only 40 days. I like it because you can sow all summer and pick greens when you want to have a little to stir in with a quick dish. I'm a single person, so I don't need to grow much of each plant. The down fall of any of the Brassica plants (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, pac choi, rutabagas and turnips is that they get aphids, cabbage worms, loopers and root maggots. If you are an organic gardener you will spray off these critters with a hard blast of water, you can also cover your plants with netting so the moths fluttering near your plants won't be able to lay their eggs. Also you can spray with Bacilus thuringiensis.

Keywords: broccoli, broccoli raab, brassicas, insect control, stir fry

Children's Garden

Children love to garden. I remember as a child planting beans at school in Dixie cups. It was always so exciting to see the bean sprout and begin to grow. I also recall growing many sweet potato plants in my bedroom. To do this, take a sweet potato and stick toothpicks around it about midway between top and bottom. Balance it in a canning jar of water and wait for the sprouts to grow beautiful vines. This is a great project. And don't forget the sunflower seed, a child's favorite.

Keywords: children gardening, child gardens, pea patch, my kid loves peas

Lettuce

Loose leaf lettuce. Plant continuously so you have salads all summer. There are many varieties to choose from. Try red leaf, butter lettuce, a mix of many greens is fun too. Cut them when they are small, this way you will avoid bolting greens. And the more you water the less likely they'll turn bitter. I love a salad of fresh greens mixed with flowers from the garden, pansies, calendula, rose petals. If your kale has wintered over, you might have white or yellow kale flowers. Other flowers work as well. Look them up in an herb book so you don't mistake a poisonous flower for an edible one. Remember to never eat potato flowers, tomato or pepper. They are all of the nightshade family. Happy Gardening, Flower

Spring Snowshoeing

This was early April, and now in late April we could begin to plant our gardens--and many have. I'll probably wait until May. Someone said the other day that she never plants until Mother's Day. I think that may be a good rule of thumb, since often I get too excited and plant early and seeds rot. I love spring peas, so that will be my first item I'll put in. My friend Mike said he thought he'd go over and start pulling weeds. We did have several days of 60-70 degree weather, but it's colder again and even a prediction of snow. My friend, who's in this picture, said he was in sleet the other day. That was nearer to the Olympics, but there you have it. Late spring coming.

Ciao! Flower

Sunshine at Last

Yesterday and the day before, nice weather--between 60 and 70 degrees. Now I can get to the garden. I always think I should go earlier, but seeds rot when planted too early. I've had to replant many times and interestly enough, plants that winter over seem to thrive early, but seeds planted early seem to be stunted and grow too slow. So if you can wait, wait. I'll be turning over the soil soon and getting my starts or seeds in. I live in an apartment, so not enough room to start plants inside, but I used to do this--either in the sunny kitchen window or in the little greenhouse. Lots of times I use the cold frame to start early greens, radishes, and other starts that like cool weather.

Once it turns nice, the contrast with cold gray weather is so obvious, I'm always surprised I've survived the winter. Perhaps I'll go to Arizona next winter, get out of the wind and snow.

Have fun, Flower

Tropical Plants on Your Patio

Well, we're a long way from warm weather plants, weatherwise that is, plants to sit on the porch and enjoy during the summer, and we're a long way from St. Vincent where my friend shot this lovely flower on a winter trip to warm weather and beautiful blue seas. My sister had a nice hibiscus plant she kept on the back porch and all summer it bloomed large orange blooms. Each day she had to pick off the withered flowers, as they come and go just like that.

Add to your vegetable garden with blooming plants.

Ciao, Flower

Romaine Lettuce

Romaine is easy to grow. And if you plant early and harvest early, it won't be bitter. It needs plenty of water to keep from bolting and if you have a hot spell, it will be good if it is growing in the shade of other plants. You can plant later in the season for a fall crop too.

I love the dish they serve at the Hearthfire here in Bellingham. Whole leaves of romaine drizzled with blue cheese dressing and sprinkled with filberts. For some reason the combination of filberts and blue cheese is fabulous.

The nutrition of romaine is better for us than say, iceberg. Anything really green, such as kale and chard, is full of calcium. More calcium than you can get from milk products. I'm dairy intolerant, so a good source of calcium is important.

Raining hard here in Bellingham on Easter day. Can't wait to eat asparagus later with my daughter, son-in-law, and grandbaby. We'll have some ham and augratin potatoes too. Very good meal, and not one I have on a regular basis. The grandbaby is a little over two now, and has not a clue what the Easter bunny is, and what it has to do with the tradition makes little sense, but it's fun, I guess. And who doesn't like candy. Like my grandbaby says, "Canny, Mema, I love canny."

Best in lilles and Easter eggs, Flower

Time to Plant Potatoes

The old tradition is to plant potatoes on Good Friday, which is April 10th. April 10th is a big day for me, since I'll be reading poetry at Village Books in Bellingham. But that is neither here nor there when it comes to spuds. Spuds can be planted earlier than this, but this is a good time for us here in the Pacific Northwest as it has finally warmed up. We are expecting 70 degree weather in places. Here in Bellingham, maybe 62--I'm hoping for higher. It'll be a lovely day to cut the spuds so there are a couple of eyes on each piece and mound them in rows.

Some of the varieties you might try, yellow fin, russet, red potatoes. Buy them from you seed and feed store or do like I do and cut up the spuds that are going to seed in the cupboard or the fridge. The sprouts and the plant parts are poisonous, so don't eat them. I once thought the sprouts would be good to eat, so was ready to when I had a inner sense that it wasn't a good idea. I'm good at listening to my intuition, thank goodness.

Right now the grandbaby is banking on the brass bowl that I use for meditation and rituals. Perhaps a ritual in the garden is a good idea and we are close to the full moon. A ritual for the garden so it will grow well and the garden spirits will come and help the garden to thrive.

Spring Spirits,
Flower

Orange/White Narcissus

Here is a pretty spring flower and aren't we happy the bulbs are coming up, finally. And the flowering cherries are starting to bloom and even the wild cherries. The herons are nesting down by Post Point and everyone is out--because the sun is out. Now it is time to get to work, to turn the soil. I read once that it is better to not till too deep, you don't want to go beyond topsoil. If you have bad soil, like I do, just keep working on it. It will build with layers of leaves and food scraps, newpaper and manure. Be sure to bury the food scraps as the racoons and the rats will get in there and dig stuff up. I had a rat problem in the house I used to live in. And the racoons were out there every night trying to get in to the compost bucket.

Anyway, if you have crocuses and daffodils up, you'll be gardening soon. I have heard it is late for bulbs this year--still are having frost here in Bellingham. I haven't been to the garden lately, but will soon--with rubber boots so my feet dont' get too muddy. The soil is cold and wet still, not good for planting yet--but soon.

Have fun, Flower Power

Seed Starts

Well, we've had some nice sunny days which makes everyone want to get outside and play and maybe garden. The herons are making their nest down at the heronry at the slough and other birds too, getting ready for a new spring batch.

If you want to get some seeds started with your kids, you can buy these little peat pots that expand with water. A plastic greenhouse like storage pan you set in the window will make for a nice environment that will get the seeds to sprout. Once you have sprouts, you want them to have sun, but not too much heat. The temperature should be cooler so when they move outside, they'll be happy campers. Also if it's too warm they'll get leggy.

So put your peat pots in the flat container and then water them so they puff up. Then plant a couple of seeds in each pot. Your children will like to plant bigger seeds, such as sunflower seeds and beans. You might want to put in carrots and lettuce and onions and later transplant them to your garden. Later when there isn't a hail storm predicted or a new bout of rain showers--which is today. Ahhhh, spring--what a wondrous time of year.

Seed catalogues are a good place to look for new varieties and also just for inspiration.
Ciao! Flower

Spring Gardening

I suppose some gardeners have their plots ready to plant. They've added the chicken manure and had sifted out the roots clumps missed in the fall. I have done nothing--I admit it, I'm a bad gardener. I've been socializing, working on my writing and art, and learning to tango. But the truth is, when spring comes, the urge to get my hands in the soil becomes too strong to resist.

One of the first things to remember is, plant after the soil has warmed. If you plant too soon the seeds will rot in the cold, damp soil. You can plant indoors or in your cold frame. This will satisfy the early bird gardener. I've always found it interesting that the longer I wait, the faster the seeds sprout and the more quickly they grow.

Two early plants you might want to experiment with are peas and potatoes. Peas will need the soil to be warmed a bit too, as they also can rot. If you have trouble with birds nipping off the sprouts, cover your row with garden cloth, or you can cover the plants with upturned recycled plastic containers. I do this with zucchini so the plants aren't mowed down by slugs. The clear plastic makes like a little greenhouse for the plant to get off to a more flourishing start, too.

Okay, if you want to get out there--do. Have fun.

Ciao! Flower

Green Coral Lettuce

Section off part of your garden for greens. This might include spinach, mixed greens, lettuce, kale, chard, etc. I was always told not to use etc. in my writing, but hey, I don't recall all the names of greens and it's easy to look in the catalogue and pick out something new to try. Remember some are peppery and some are bitter. You could acquire a taste for bitter if you are a person who loves sweets. It's good to eat the bitter to counter the sweet--good for the body.

Well, my garden friend was heading toward the garden the other day and when I saw him I felt glad that he might do a little work on my plot--which he said he'd help with this year. I also felt the ongoing garden guilt I feel when I don't pay enough attention to my garden. My life is very full, as is yours, I'm sure. So unless gardening is something you spend all your time at, time in the yard may have to be scheduled. This seems ridiculous to say, but the weeks fly by with all the things on the list: groceries, work, kids, friends, husbands, lovers, etc. Oh, there's that etc. now. Yes, staying busy is good, but let's not forget how good it feels to get our hands in the soil. Grounding. And now, it may be even more important to substain ourselves at our own hands.

Order seeds now from seed catalogues and then, when the soil is warm, and/or when your newspaper pots or peat pots are lush with seedlings, go out there and plant. Preparation of the soil is hard if you're having lots of rain and the soil is cold and soggy. So don't get discouraged, just keep at it when you can. Happy spring--almost.

Ciao! Flower

Daylight Savings

Doesn't that just say spring? And how many of you are out there, probably more than I can imagine. Still cold here, and a prediction of snow--but hey, there are things to do. Clean up for one, stuff that's blown around in the community garden during the winter. Sometimes a neighbor's stakes or netting ends up in my garden. I'm hoping to do a better job this year with the weeding. And the dirt, well my friend Mike says he'll add chicken manure. I think that will be the ticket. Perhaps a little more roughage, leaves or something.

So imagine what you'd like to grow and plot it out on paper. Some folks like to keep a journal of the garden. This can be good later if you can't remember what you've planted. At the Kingston house we put in a lot of fruit trees, and later when we asked each other, now which one is this--we couldn't remember. So there was the journal I'd drawn out and everything in it was clearly marked. Remarkable feeling to be to be organized.

What do you want to grow this year. Try lots of easy things, and then maybe something exotic. Last year I grew a zebra stripped tomato. Interestingly, the strips went away as it grew. I was a little disappointed. The heirloom tomatoes don't grow well here in the PNW--just not a long enough season. They are so heavy with moisture and plump, they just get blight easily.

Well onward to dreaming with the seed catalogues.

Ciao! Flower

Early Garden Tricks

I like to plant early--in fact, everything I do I'm in a bit of a rush. I'm actually cutting out coffee for just that reason. Perhaps I could slow down a bit, have a little breathing time. Anyway, if you want to get a jump on spring, don't forget the coldframe. Perhaps it should be called a hotframe. What I mean is, you can put a piece of glass, an old window works well, up against a south facing wall and plant some greens or some radishes, or start something, like lettuce plants. If you block the ends with plastic, you'll get a nice little hothouse and you'll be surprised what happens. If it is against a cement foundation, the cement will heat up. You can put brick against the wall too, they will hold extra heat. Have some fun with this idea. And look at these simple instructions: Building a Garden Cold Frame

Ciao! Flower

Kale Seed

If you left you kale to seed last year you will have plants coming up in the spring. Weed them out except for the number you want to transplant into a row for this year. Kale has the highest calcium content of any green. I eat greens in the morning with my eggs. Lately it has been kale from the coop, organic. Lots of times it's spinach with goat cheese.

Try different types of kale in the garden, there are curlie types, red kales, purple kales. Kale is delicious sauteed with a little tamari and raisins. Very delicious.

Happy Gardening, Flower

Snow Pea Plant

If you like to eat peas, plant a mess of them in the early spring. I have a special planting method that works well. Dig a trench one inch deep and as long as your garden row and about 8 inches wide. Now broadcast plant a mess of peas, I mean pretty much cover the floor of the trench with pea seed. Now cover it and tamp it down.

Along this row insert the stakes you will string your climbing wire or string along. Sometimes I use sticks from the brush trimming in the yard. Just stick them along the row every six inches or so. The peas will grow up these sticks.

When the peas come up, there will be a lot of them, which you want. You can also stretch mess along the row. The peas can grow tall if supported correctly.

Peas and new potatoes, ahhhh, my favorite. Try it, you'll like the results. Lots of peas in the early spring. Plant again in late summer. I like the sugar peas, snow peas and little marvel.

Flower

Potato Lore

what came home
Originally uploaded by kingstongal

Growing potatoes in tires is something I've heard about doing, but have never tried. I've heard that you start with one tire--plant the spuds in nice soft soil in the center. The sun heats up the tire and the plants grow well. When the spuds come up, place another tire on top and add more soil. The potato plant has to grow up through the soil and all along the stems potatoes, producing a tremendous crop. I've also heard you can grow a mess of fingerling potatoes in a 5 gallon bucket. I'd be interested to hear if anyone has done either of these two potato growing things.

When I lived in Yakima I experimented with growing potatoes under straw. They didn't do much--although I got the theory. And I tried digging trenches and putting the spuds in and covering them with a mounded dirt. They didn't grow much differently than the usual method: spread the spuds across the area you want to plant, remember to have at least one eye per plant, and mound the dirt over each tuber. There should be a foot between each plant. Then just keep weeding and mounding the soil over the spuds as they grow.

It's important it is to rotate your crops, because they'll get stuff if you don't, like potato beetles. It's no fun having potato beetles, believe you me. You can pick them off, but they are nasty and who wants to deal with that. You can throw them to the chickens, if you have chickens. If not put them in a sack and throw them away.

Okay, more potato lore forthcoming.

Flower Power

Potatoes

So Many Potatoes
Originally uploaded by Alexander Yates

Well, it's almost time to plant the potatoes. Every spring I've gone out and cut the potatoes sprouting in my cupboard and set them a foot apart on the newly warming soil. I was 19 when I first asked a woman who'd grown up on a farm, how do you grow potatoes. She said, cut the spud in pieces. Make sure there are one or two eyes per piece. Plant them and watch them grow. And be sure to continue to mound the dirt around the plants, as the ones exposed to the light will turn green. That green stuff is toxic you know, as is the plant itself. But the spud, oh my, so delicious. And when the plant gets it's pretty flowers, either white or purple, you can reach into the soil and feel around at the base of the plant for a sizable new potato. I like to cook these with the new peas that are on--so springy and wonderful.

If you want to follow tradition, plant your potatoes on Good Friday. It's a blessing.

Sweet Flower

Square Foot Gardening

My friend just built some boxes in her new back yard to do square foot gardening. The box is divided into 9 square feet and in each you plant something different. It is convenient to weed, since you can reach everything, you don't walk on the soil, so it never compresses, and you can manage it anywhere. The soil is a combination of peat and organic material and topsoil, so it is good and light and ready for healthy plants to grow. So much different than trying to improve hardpan or clayish soil. Look up the book, Square Foot Gardening All for now, running as usual.

Flower Power

PS Time to get out there--unless you plot is covered with snow and ice.

Tiny Vegetables

Do you need to grow tiny vegetables in a small plot? Or can you do your garden like you do your interiors. A large piece of furniture can act as a anchor in a living room. Could a large squash plant or giant cabbage be the anchor and around it tiny vegetables. Those little carrots, the tiny pumpkins, the baby cukes. Some things your pick little but grow more bushy or trailing, such as patty pan squash. Now that is a decent size plant. And the cherry tomatoes, 100 or 100000, aren't little plants, so how to get the most out of small gardens is my question this frosty morning in February.

Once the only garden I had in a yard was a three foot wide stretch along a fence next to the driveway. Along the chain link I planted a tomato plant and green beans that grew up the fence. I put in lettuce and carrots, basil, onions and zucchini. Really, my daughter and I had all the vegetables we needed in a very small sunny space. Of course, we didn't have extras to give away, we didn't have extras to can—just the stuff for our own table, the ingredients to make the sauce for the spaghetti we so frequently ate. The carrots for her to munch with her friends in the back yard. And we gardened together, so it was a bonding experience.

Since here in the PNW it isn't time to plant, it is time to plan. Perhaps draw out the shape of your space and grid it off in one foot squares. Try doing a little arranging with the things you'd like to grow. Get a Territorial Seed Company catalogue and plan ahead, order something new to grow. A new carrot, perhaps the multi-colored ones—or if you've never grown parsnips, try them. They are easy to grow and so delicious in parsnip potato soup.

Keep growing,

Flower

What's In Your Greenhouse?

I have been thinking about living in a house again. I've been in a condo since the fall of 2005. There have been a lot of good things about living in a condo--like outside doors locked at 5 pm. This has given me a feeling of safety as a newly single woman. And there are more conveniences: garbage pickup, recycling, ground maintenance, covered parking, cheap to heat, no yard care. The last one is a plus and a minus. Right now, if I still lived on the mini farm, I'd be checking out the green house on a sunny winter day. Here, a greenhouse would be pretty warm on a 50 degree day. If one had heated beds in the greenhouse, tomatoes could be growing, ready for a head start in the garden. I've also would start broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage in my green house. These plants all transplant fine. With the coldframe, I've started greens, radishes, onions. Even in Spokane when the temps are pretty low at night, I had early vegetables. It was an amazing thing to see, these little plants in a neighbors coldframe. I got excited and built my own. It's easy, just build a box with the back side taller than the front. Get a used window from the salvage store and hinge it to the top. Set it up next to the house on the south side. You'll be pleasantly surprised how much heat it generates. But a few bricks in there to hold the heat and night. Radishes in no time. Ciao, Flower

Terry Tempest Willimas

Last night Terry spoke in our little town of Bellingham and she had a fabulous turnout and was lovingly received. I had never heard her speak and was more than impressed. So much so that I was inspired to take my work in the direction I've been thinking about for some time. For a long time I've believed that doing your own thing, such as tending a garden or doing healing work, was enough to make change in the world. Changing oneself allows a space in everyone to change. And I still believe this is true. I've seen it work. Change my own behavior and my child changes, my grandchild changes.

Now I'm wondering what it would be like to notch it up a step. What if it's not just a pea patch garden but a place where extra food is donated, where native plants are grown, where somehow an awareness comes from the efforts put toward tending dirt and seed and root and weed? Well, I have no answers here, since mission is personal, and may or may not be able to be decided. Perhaps it is given, like Terry's mosaic mission. The word mosaic became meaningful in a way that she had no idea it would, and it touched us all, 100s of folks sniffling in the audience. Excerpts from her new book where fabulous: Finding Beauty in a Broken World I'll be reading it, that is for sure. Perhaps you'd like to too.

So my suggestion: ask for a guiding word. See what comes.
Ciao, Flower

New Times

Well, here we are with a new president and the balls last night were fabulous for all. We'll be riding the high for awhile, then back to work, right? I went to a ball with my friend Brenda. We had our picture taken with the cardboard cutout of Barack. Very cute indeed. Folks dressed up in a blue velvet gown, Brenda in black. We both wore rhinestones and looked fabulous. The music was Cajun, the food home made, red, white and blue balloons and just so many smiles. Hope really has come with this election.

Today, although still giddy, I must get back to work. I have writing to do--as a novelist and memoir writer, I find scheduling time the most difficult. Since the divorce, all I've wanted to do is play. I guess all the pain needed to transform--play seems to be the answer. I also have a sweet man in my life now. This is new so don't have much to say about it yet.

Gardening is not far off. It's a given that we'll get the spuds in on Good Friday and peas are early too. You might do some planning now, drawings of where you will rotate your crops. Remember rotation is good for keeping pest invasions. And new plants add different things to the soil. So think about where you can add nitrogen by planting the pea crop this year. I had a lot of trouble with deer eating my peas. So I put a fence around the garden of fishing line. THey can't see it, and it isn't too obvious to you either, and when they bump into it, they feel it and back away. Works well. If you have the strands too far apart, the babies can step through.

Okay then, have a grand day--high from all our happiness right now. Hope and hard work. That's the answer. See Barak's book The Audacity of Hope

Ciao
Flower

New Thoughts

Here is what I've been pondering. What if we could let go of all our grievances. Perhaps this is called forgiveness, or maybe it's is something else, like the power of now. I've been pondering how my reactions made things worse in my last marriage. If had no reaction, or at least attached nothing to the things that came at me, perhaps I at least could have been calmer. Now I have a new friend, and for this friend I feel love. I'm wondering if I will be the same person I was before, or if I could muster myself to a place of peace. Perhaps just being an observer of what is happening. No judgment.

For many years I've been practicing no judgment in my writing and art. If one judges ones work, it is harder to be experimental and let things come as they will. But in relationship, if there is trust, and nonjudgment, perhaps things could be good that before were hostile. Or at least caused bickering.

Just a thought while the garden lies fallow. Some may be over there gardening still. But it has been raining hard and today cold again. I imagine even the grow boxes are doing little. I will go over and check to see if I have any chard left. The deer were getting pretty frisky when I last did any work over at the pea patch.

Okay, so check out the book The Power of Now for more thoughts on being with what is in the moment, rather than calling up all of tarnation for any little transaction.

Ciao,
Flower

Inner Gardens

During the dark winter months it is nice to have narcissus and paper whites, fragrant flowers blooming in your home. My daughter said she'd buy flowers all the time if she could afford them. I'm proposing flowers all the time, because really, they are no more expensive than the daily latte—perhaps less. I passed a little garden store on Harris yesterday and she had a bench outside her front door loaded with pots of paper whites and cyclamen. Cyclamen are known for their romantic nature and if purchased for the bride and groom they will bring good luck for a long marriage.

Speaking of marriage, I've been single now for three months. Seems longer, actually. And now I'm facing with a new set of dilemmas. Dating comes with mixed feelings, multiple courters, chemistry or no, jealousies, etc. Ah, what's a girl to do? Perhaps stay centered with nature and the garden, always coming back to check on the water level in the soil, the weeds, possible animal and insect infestations. All could be metaphors for life.

Here is a suggestions for winter reading: The Care and Feeding of the Soul
Peace, Flower

Flooding and Other Winter Troubles

You may know about the flooding here in the PNW. The stream that runs past the community garden has left it's banks. Fortunately, here in Fairhaven it isn't doing any damage. Other streams have gone from two feet wide to more than a football field wide. It truly is amazing all the water. Down on the Skagit flats, it looks like one continuous lake. The trumpeter swans are in the fields that are dry. This happens every year, these big white birds fly into the farmer's fields and create a little havoc.

The gardens right now are soggy and gardening seems so far off. What to do until potatoes and peas? Well, shop at your local garden stores. Plan what you will grow. Try doing a garden journal. I kept one for awhile, sketching the shapes of my beds and what perennials I'd planted. It was a new yard back then, so keeping track of the trees was a good idea--I couldn't remember all the apples trees I planted, let alone the unusual perennials I found at Heronswood Nursery.

So now, since the winter is keeping us all in a bit--so much rain--I was thinking of getting the inside work done. Cleaning out cupboards, discarding unneeded items. It won't be long before we'll all be back outside. Also being the beginning of the year, refining goals is important. I seem to have a goal of socializing. Hard to get much work done this way, but lots of fun. Especially after the nasty divorce and all the downer time I had. Well it's good for the soul.

Keep dreaming, Flower

Garden Goals

I was reading this morning from a little book called Gratitude: Affirming the GOod THings in Life about setting goals. Anything we want in life can be had by setting a goal toward reaching it. If we aren't supposed to have it, it won't come, but if we are, it gives us focus and clearity. It is exciting and life-affirming to make the steps toward something.

Now that I'm divorced, I have a new goal. It is to find a satisfying and healthy relationship. I beleive I've stepped into this territory a tiny bit and yikes, it's is very exciting surf. Anyway, I'll tell you more as I know more. For now I'll just say, I'm having some fun.

Now for the garden goal. My garden goal is to make the soil better. I have a friend who will help and I have some leaves to add--which you already know. I think blood meal might be good addition too. Perhaps chicken manure. As I've gotten to know the local neigbors around the pea patch, I've realized that chickens are also my neighbors. Since I now have a male gardener friend who can push a wheelbarrel better than me, I can get this work done.

So gardening as a single woman--this wouldn't be so hard if it were more of a social act. I really like to have someone working beside me.

Peace,
Flower

PS The snow is gone now! Oops, the floods are here.

Vegan Mix Fertilizer

Okay, now this makes sense. If you're not a meat or dairy eater, then why put something on your garden that comes from critters. So you can get it from Territorial Seed Company. It's not cheap, however, 12.95 per bag. 1 lb covers 20 sq. ft. and the bag is 6 lbs. Also I'm thinking that with no animal by-products there would be no potential source of something strange—like mad cow disease germs. Although I haven't a clue if disease would be transferrable in this manner. Anyone know the facts on this?

And Territorial Seed also sells a neat stackable turbo steamer for your vegetables. So grow them in your vegan fertilizer, bring them inside and steam away. The unit sits separate on the counter and has three tiers. Nice for getting the dinner down quickly. I have always steamed my vegetables in a pan with one of those little collapsible steamers. Or I put a tiny bit of water in the pan and when the veggies are done, eat the vegetables and drink the water--yum!

Speaking of vegetables, getting lots of greens this time of year is important for your health. I know it is easy to go for more of the starchy foods, but I feel better pretending it is spring and I'm exercising daily and eating my veggies. I was reading in the book The Right Questions by Debbie Ford, that if you want to do something, say eat more great vegetables, but you still go for the candy and cookies as snacks, look at your real thought. Perhaps you think you want to do a better job taking care of your health, but underlying that, your thought is you are always a little over weight and not feeling great about yourself. This is your actual motivating thought. I'm going through my thought wardrobe and clearing out. It is after all, a new year.

Love and light, Flower

Make Love, Not War in the New Year

I probably already wished you this, but happy, happy again. 2009 is a new beginning for all of us. I believe we will all be spending more time in our hearts. What else is there to do at this point? Fighting is just not the way to go—look how we've hurt each other through the years and still we continue. One of my main resolutions is to be less combative. I think the old hippy saying is a good one: Make Love, Not War. And with all the good that is available to us, this should be an easy choice. Although it has to be a conscious choice. In each moment there is the choice to react or to agree. This is the simplest way to not fight. A generous couple counselor in Seattle says to always make your partner right. There is a little truth in everything—right? Thich Nhat Hanh says to always clear things up on Fridays—so the weekend will go smoothly. Have a little chat with your lover—say what is bother you and be sure to own it—it isn't easy, but it is possible.

Okay, another snowy day and I'm going out for a walk. Time for the exercise routine to get in gear. Get off these extra pounds and get things cleaned up in the house, the greenhouse, the garden shed, the basement, the attic. You name it. All new.

Peace, Flower