A few pictures from around the ranch...

...tomatoes and scallion flowers in the sun...




...grapes getting their leaves...




...kale covered in aphids. You can also see the seed pods...




...the massive stand of arugula flowers, shading out my radishes and spring kale...




...my best head of romaine. It's still the best one out there, even if it is a little nibbled on...





...slightly blurry pea flowers...

Enthusiastic Intermediate.

I just read this post from Northwest Edible Life and loved it. I heartily endorse you reading it. I had my first post on yogurt making last year. It's old hat to me now. I would like to see how the timeline of this journey goes. I've gotten past the yogurt and the jam making and I've fully moved into social critique mode. I wonder what's next? Denial, anger, acceptance.

The Pests.

Last year I didn't worry too much about pest control in the garden. I was too concerned with planning and harvesting and canning and all that business. I lost a few plants along the way, but it certainly wasn't anything I was too concerned about; I figured I could sacrifice a few plants to the insects and slugs if it meant I still had the majority for my own harvests. I do still feel this way; I know I will lose some of my plants to pests and that's just the nature of things. I began to get frustrated last fall when I lost my entire cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower crop to slugs eating up the baby plants before they had a chance.

Now that I have a little more of a handle of things I'm trying to focus more on pest control. I know that my kale is covered in aphids. And I know I have slugs nibbling at my transplants. I've already lost one lettuce to them.

The aphids are a relatively easy fix. A soapy water solution sprayed on the plants will help. Ladybugs are a beautiful fix. I've seen a couple ladybugs around, but in the future I may buy a bag of ladybugs and let them feast. The other option is to plant scapegoat plants. There are several flower types that aphids love and you can plant them away from the precious vegetables and direct the aphids to the lowly flowers. One of them is a hollyhock, which I wanted to plant in the yard at some point anyway. Bonus! However, right now the kale is functioning as a scapegoat plant. We aren't harvesting it anymore; we're just waiting for the seed pods to mature before we pull it out of the ground. So, I'm just going to let them be for now.

I read somewhere that coffee grounds are supposed to deter slugs. I started saving up our spent coffee grounds the last week and instead of putting them into the compost, I put them straight out into the garden. I put a thin layer of coffee grounds around several of my lettuces. Upon further research I found that it isn't actually the coffee that deters the slugs and coffee grounds applied directly to the soil will do little to keep them at bay. Apparently it's the caffeine they abhor. It seems the better option is a caffeine spray. Some people have had success putting their undrunk coffee in a spray bottle and applying it directly to the plants and soil. I might have to try this one.

Slugs also hate copper. Since my garden is all raised beds at this point I could get copper tape and cover the edges of my beds. The slugs won't cross them. Of course, that means the slugs that are already inside the beds are stuck in there. And I have to invest in copper tape and periodically clean it with vinegar to keep it from tarnishing, which sounds like a lot of work.

The other option that seems to be across the board well reviewed - Sluggo. It's an organic, non-toxic slug-killer made from iron phosphate. Next time I make it to the store this is going on the list.

The other major pest in the garden is the cats. Last fall we put a chicken wire netting over all the beds to keep the cats out. They thought the beds were all really big litter boxes. It's worked great since then, but now that larger transplants are going out and plants are starting to grow through the wire some of it is coming off the beds because we can't get it back on over the plants. So far, so good....(((knock on wood)))

While I was away...

While I've been sitting here in my computer cave, disseminating editorial information to a warehouse full of animators, making Quicktimes and burning DVDs, Mike has been busy at home staining and assembling our new table. He just sent me this picture:



I'm not sure what Lemon thinks about it. When we walk down the street and we pass a picnic table she will try to sit under it. She knows that's what she does at picnic tables, but she looks a little wary in this picture. Maybe she thinks since we put a table in her yard that means she is only allowed to sit under the table and can't play with her ball anymore. I'm sure she'll get used to it. I know we will! In 48 hours (when the stain is dry and set) we can start eating dinner out here. The days of garden-fresh summer meals outdoors are fast approaching...

Non-functional gardening.

This weekend I got the chance to participate in a plant swap. A friend of a friend is a master gardener (something I have my eye on to maybe try in the future) and holds an informal plant swap every Spring. You bring what you have of excess or unwanted plants and then you take what you like. I inadvertently had an excess of tomato starts caused primarily by tomato seeds surviving the winter in the compost and then sprouting in almost all of my veggie starts. I saved a lot of them and ended up with about two dozen tomatoes sitting in my windowsill. I gave some away and I kept eight for myself and took the rest to the swap. In exchange we came away with a bag full of purple irises, a couple strawberry starts, a mystery flowering clump of plant, a pile of succulents and a black eyed susan.

Now this brings us to a whole new chapter. Landscaping. Both Mike and myself are at a little of a loss of what to do with pretty plants. The working theory is that we are going to plant the irises along a not yet built fence, along a not yet built walkway, leading up the side of the driveway to the front door. We are thinking of making little patches of rock garden from some river rocks we unearthed when excavating the patio and place the succulents in there. The other must-have for the front walkway that we will have to buy - Daphne. It's Mike's favorite and it's one of the first flowers to bloom of the year and it smells absolutely amazing.

Hopefully there will be a lot of pretty-ing of the garden and surrounding yard space this summer. We've got plans to put in at least the front fence and a walkway leading from the street, to the door and then through the garden and around to the back. We just bought our picnic table for summer meals and gatherings in the backyard. Very exciting. It's going to start looking like a real garden with purpose! Not just a collection of dirt in boxes sitting on the front lawn.

Everybody's Doing It.

I've noticed as I try to get more involved in the local urban agriculture scene and as I am beginning to see a path of continuing education for myself in this realm that I am being more vocal about my plans and aspirations. By being more vocal I have discovered that I have a lot of friends with similar dreams. When possibly living off grid comes up in conversation it's not something crazy; it's something we have both given serious thought to. When the prospect of leaving the city comes up in conversation I discover my friends already have a small dream set aside in their minds of a half Christmas tree-half pumpkin patch farm.

It makes me happy that my friends don't think I'm crazy. But I have to wonder - is it that I surround myself with people who are of a similar mindset and temperment to myself and that's why we have these similar dreams, or is it that all people have that dream? Is it just human nature to want to live on land free from the constraints of the city? There must be people out there who love the city and would never dream of setting foot on bare dirt....but they certainly aren't in any sphere of people I know.

The more I research this next phase the more I find supporting people and organizations. I found a few university level certification programs for small-scale agriculture and gardening, local government run programs to train urban and small-scale farmers, community run organizations training people hands-on how to run and organize community gardens, job boards specifically geared to sustainable agriculture and food jobs, and organizations set up to pair retiring farmers with young apprentices to take over their land and knowledge. There are a ton of opportunities out there right now.

The whole urban agriculture/young people returning to the land thing is quite the fad. I think. Again, I'm not sure if it's actually a big "movement" or if I just read all the publications that tout it as that, so that's my perception. Either way, the more people who are interested in a different way of life, the more likely that life can become a reality.

Weekend Update.

We both got out in the garden this weekend and got a lot of work done:

• Yard got mowed and weed whacked.
• Chard got planted
• Carrots got planted
• Scallions got transplanted
• Raised beds got weeded (plus the pea bed)
• Raspberries got thinned
• And I gave away six tomato starts!

Walking past last year's scallion bed. We are waiting oh so patiently for these things to produce seed. Only a couple more weeks before I need this bed for summer tomatoes!




Scallion flower as seen from above.





Same goes for the kale. It must be getting close to seed...I need this bed for summer squashes soon.





Tim loves it when we work in the yard. He always comes to hang out and will follow us around.





The cherry tree has flowered and now it's getting its leaves.





The potatoes are sprouting! The potatoes are sprouting! They just about double in size everyday. By next weekend we'll need to cover the green with dirt to allow for vertical growth.

Back to Reality.

Life feels like it's getting increasingly busy. Busybusybusy. I'm on overtime at work now. Coupled with the commute I'm gone from the house from 7:30am until 7:30pm. I've been trying to wake up at 6am every morning to get 20 minutes of gardening in before I leave for the day. I'm starting to think I need to push that to 5:30am. I simply do not have the time to get everything done. By the time I get home, make dinner and clean up I have about 30 minutes of down time before I really should be going to bed. Combined with the fact that it's still 55 and raining outside and we are into the month of May is, well, pretty depressing.

I started all my squashes and cucrabits this morning - in the garage with an apron covering my slacks trying to squeeze in a little work with my 20 free minutes in the morning. I lamented to myself that I wished I had the whole day; there is so much work to be done in the garden.

Our vacation over the weekend was a wonderful respite. We got some sun, we got to explore a new place, sample some local brews, and daydream a little. It was nice to get out of the city for a few days. We even got to stop off in Hood River on our way back. I think I can now officially say it's my favorite town in Oregon. I was really happy to be there.

Here's a few shots from the trip:

Snow is still abundant coming over the mountain pass. The ski lifts are running. Base snow depth is still 144".




Into the high desert on the eastern side of Mt. Hood. You can see the next volcanic mountain down the way, Mt. Jefferson.




Clouds over Bend on my birthday morning run.



Barefoot running with my pooch!




Goslings in the park. They are so darn cute.




Mike in front of Smith Rock. We didn't get the chance to hike around and explore this time, but it's on our list now.