Reprise of the Rehab

Almost a month. Of catch -up, of rehab. I have harvested greens and radishes. Almost all of the bok choy and several bags of peas.

The first crop of peas that I planted in March were almost a complete failure. I reseeded with cucumbers about two weeks ago. This week I added four sets of a pickling cuke I bought at the Coop. The seeds I planted were Marketmore, the cucumber my grandfather swore by. The cukes took their sweet time coming up - as did the squash and pumpkins planted several weeks back. The cool wet ( very wet!) weather really delayed their growth, although all the members of the cabbage family look happier than pigs in $%^&* The rain seems to have kept the flea beetles at bay.

The second crop of peas germinated better and have always outshone the earlier crop. Was it the timing, the variety, the seed? I suspect timing is the most important factor. Timing based on soil temperature. This fall I will decide where next year's peas will be planted and set up the pea fence and black plastic to warm the soil before winter sets in. Next March when planting peas I will be more than an impatient gardener going through the motions, I will be planning on peas by the end of May instead of mid-June.

Various friends have complained of aphids and other bugs in their gardens. I have been dismissive. How bad could they be? Really. Then I found what I swear are white flies on my tomatoes. White flies! That is a bug of greenhouses, not the great outdoors. I smashed what I could find and then noted my biggest ally was already on the job... The voracious lady bug nymph.

It goes after aphids and other soft-bodied bugs like a teenager at a burger stand.

I have planted quite a bit over the past few weeks. Tomato and pepper sets have gone in, as well as more Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and savoy cabbage. I planted another crop of beans Provider, and a row of Detroit golden beets on the 25th. On the 24th I planted a crop of lettuce next to the peas, where alas, my parsnoops failed to come up. I also planted Zinnia and sunflowers from seed to extend the season of bloom. I already have plants of both in the ground.

I continue to harvest greens, although my first crop of lettuce is getting close to being finished. The mache I planted this spring is huge and just beginning to flower - all of it is going to have to be harvested in the next day or two. The Really Red Deertongue lettuce has produced the most gorgeous heads I have ever grown. I will be sure to take a picture of it before I harvest the last one.

Mostly, I have tried to catch up with what went undone for six weeks, while I was gimping around on crutches. The almost constant rain of June has made it difficult to get work done and stay ahead of the weeds. The intense mulching I had planned to do this year has yet to happen, but I am getting after it bit by bit.

The potatoes have been hilled and are growing well, although I am going to have to find time between the raindrops to apply copper and Serenade to protect them and my tomatoes against Late Blight, which was reported in Tompkins County this week. Late blight is the disease that caused the potato famine. If it gets into the potatoes they are done. The only organic method of control is copper applied before infection. Serenade is a bacillus -based organic remedy which I have found to be a very effective fungicide and have read is useful against late blight, although it does not make that claim on its label.

Late blight is a scary creature. Its scientific name says it all: Phytopthora infestans. It sends uncounted spores far up into the air and has the ability to sweep over continents, leaving devastation and hunger in its wake. I want my potatoes to live! This continuous rain and humidity is not a good way to stop its spread.

Parsnoops

Some people call them Parsnips. A new crop for me this year, planted next to another - Celeriac. I planted both on Sunday. I also planted two types of winter squash: Kabucha and Butternut "Raritan," as well as a blend of yellow, green and white patty pan squashes, 'Sugar Pie' pumpkins and okra.

The parsnips and celeriac are planted next to "Mokum" carrots, which seem to have germinated erratically, which is probably related to the big footprint in the middle of the patch - I suspect someone retrieving a softball was a bit careless.

More potatoes were found sprouted in the cupboard - I thought I ordered more! So I planted French Fingerlings and La Ratte, another fingerling, alongside the other potatoes. I have set a few potatoes aside, because this week I plan to create my "Potato Box," which will theoretically allow me to grow a huge amount of potatoes in a small space. We shall see!

We also harvested a huge bag of greens- enough for two large salads a day for Tiz and I throughout the week. It consists of spinach, three types of lettuce, radicchio and red orach- along with dill and chives. Tiz has the first of her bouquets on the windowsill.

I enjoyed the Holiday weekend with a bit of gardening, quite a bit actually, if time spent is the point of reference, not amount completed. I remain painfully slowed by my crutches, but I still managed to plant sets of Snow Crown cauliflower, Goliath and Waltham broccoli and Catskills Brussels sprouts.

I also got a nice patch of garden asters in the ground from some sets given to me by Susan. The work she and Mark did a few weeks back made it possible for me to finally get my potatoes in the ground, which included: Rose Finn Apple, Red Thumb and French fingerlings as well as a full row of Romanze, a red storage potato with gold flesh and a couple spuds of Carola. All of the potatoes were less than perfect, very sprouted and a little soft. Some of the Romanze even had mold on them, but I will hope for the best.

Perhaps I will get some more potatoes in, there are some (400 or 500 Lbs. !) at the main office that were donated by Fedco. A very generous gift to the gardeners of the region. Thank you Fedco and to all the big-hearted farmers and seed houses that donate to CDCG, making it possible for us to have access to seeds we otherwise would struggle to afford. These donations are varied enough to expose us to many unusual plants as well- last year I grew round black spanish radishes, an heirloom that isn't found in local stores that really changed my perception of what a radish was supposed to look like. They stored fabulously too, keeping well in the ground far into November and remaining sound in the crisper for nearly a month after that. I will plant more of them this year and see if by piling straw over them I can have them farther into the winter.

I have tried to remain cheerful in the face of my limitations, but I can't wait to get off crutches and really get busy in my garden. I'm a month behind where I would like to be and will have many gaps in my well-planned harvest calendar - I haven't planted lettuce in nearly a month- the cukes and squashes should have been in a while back and don't even get me started on the tomatoes! Of course we did have a frost last week so being late may just have spared me some heartache.

The race does not always go to the swift!

Fractured Fairy Tales

Gardening is difficult on crutches. Leeks made it into the garden on one visit. On the 17th I planted tomatoes my father had given me as well as a few I bought at Community Gardens' spring plant sale - a fundraiser I should have noted! I promise to be better about such things. The fall plant sale happens in mid-September. I will announce that before it happens.

Along those lines and fitting with my inability to feed myself - The Veggie Mobile has garnered some international attention and needs our support. From an email sent to me:

Subject: Community Gardens’ project nominated as worldwide finalist - vote now!

Capital District Community Gardens’ Veggie Mobile has been selected as one of ten finalists in a worldwide competition called “Designing for Better Health” sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Ashoka’s Changemakers.
Internet ballots will decide the three highest vote-getters by May 28th and winners will receive a $5,000 cash award and international recognition for their project. This is a tremendous opportunity for our organization, our mobile market – The Veggie Mobile, and for New York’s Capital Region!
Now we need your help. Please use this link to vote for our program and share this link with your personal networks (email, facebook, myspace, blogs, etc.). If everyone we know gets in touch with everyone they know we will win this award.
Every vote will make a difference - thanks for helping to spread the word! Please vote by May 28th.
http://www.changemakers.net/designingforbetterhealth/
More info on Capital District Community Gardens and The Veggie Mobile www.cdcg.org

The Veggie Mobile rocks! I buy great food at great prices and am charmed by the staff nearly every week. They have kept veggies in my life even when I can't grow them myself. As the corrupt politicos like to say: "Vote early and vote often."

Oh, I harvested Spinach and radishes on the 17th as well. Tizzy served them up as a lovely side salad to go with the grilled fish we had. The fish was topped with mango salsa - mango, peppers and limes off of the Veggie Mobile!

Planting

On 4/11 I planted a row of spinach Winter Bloomsdale, Three types of lettuce: Mint Fresh, Really Red Deer Tongue and Buttercrunch alongside two rows of radish: Champion and White Icicle.

I also lined out 24 sets of baby Bok Choy and planted two rows of Chiogga beets. In hopes of deterring the flea beetles I scattered mesclun mix between the Bok Choy.

Our Spring Cleanup was on the 17th. This is where all the gardeners get together to perform chores for the benefit of the garden as a whole, mulching paths, cleaning up the fence line, straightening up the shed, etc. I showed up late and was of little use, because I fractured my ankle earlier in the week. I plopped myself down though and spread some newspapers on an overgrown path, which Tiz brought wheelbarrows of mulch to cover.

Fortunately on the 18th some friends showed up to help me in the garden. I took up a spot on the ground of a long-abandoned plot and Marcus and Sue turned over the earth, while I cleaned out the roots of Jerusalem Artichoke and Road Lily (of which one is not an artichoke and the other has little in common with the true lilies) Actually both plants are edible, but the variety of artichoke wild in our garden has such small roots that its not worth the trouble. Neither of them make nice companions with other vegetables because they are so invasive. I separated out the daylily roots for Sue to take with her, because they do make a great ground cover and she needed them for a tough spot in her garden. Sue and Mark did great work and I will have them to thank when I plant potatoes there in a few weeks. 

Then I hobbled over to my plot and planted out hundreds of onions. I made a cooperative order with friends at work from an onion grower in Texas and we received bundles of little onion plants wrapped up in rubber bands in the mail. By combining our orders, we brought the cost down to about a nickel a plant. A good rain fell on Monday and Tuesday to settle them in so I assume they are doing well. I haven't made it back to the garden since. This is a bad time for a gardener to have a busted up ankle!

I planted two red onions and three yellow. Candy and Red Candy are two large varieties that are sweet summer onions, not meant for storage. Ailsa Craig is a very large onion also, but it is supposed to store alright. This onion is named for an island. After looking it up to check the spelling I can see why. My main storage onions will be Copra and Red Zeppelin. All together I planted about 180 plants. Sue came over to help me finish up and she planted about a pound of Yellow Moon shallot sets in the same section. This whole row of the garden is devoted to onions. I still have two types, maybe three, of leeks to plant out and red Prisma shallots that I have started from seed.

I am interested to compare my success with these tiny plants compared to the much larger sets I used last year, sets planted out about a week later on the 23rd. To make room for the onions Tess and I harvested the overwintered Mache, which she made a beautiful salad with. She included pears and nuts and a mild vinaigrette. Delicious.

Yesterday and today we are having nearly 90 degree temperatures. Much too hot for April. Yesterday was the hottest since 1915.  

Time and Making Timing

Went to the garden on Saturday with good intentions. But it was cold and the wind was blowing and the soil was wet from rain. 

In the upper right corner you can see my block of garlic. if there was a close up you would see that the late- planted Bavarian White had almost caught up to its peers.

The white blanket is remay. I use it to moderate temperatures and maintain moisture. During the summer I cover carrot plantings with it so they don't dry out before germination. In the fall it provides protection from frost and freezes.

Now, in the spring, it holds the day's warmth a little longer into the night and encourages the spinach to sprout.

I have been using this same piece of remay for two years now. I think it will last for several more.

I wish I had taken a thin strip of it and covered the peas. They are just barely above the ground. Both plantings, although made of different varieties, planted a week apart, are equally far along.

Timing is everything. 

 

First whole day of spring. Recovering from a brutal cold, I went out when the sun was well up and the frost gone from the soil. The ground that I worked last week was black and fine, warmed by a week of sun and a gentle rain.

No sign of the peas planted on Sunday, so I poked about at the beginning of the row. I turned up a pea all swollen and green just splitting open and sending out its root. I tucked it back in the ground.

In the prepared bed I planted two types of spinach, Bordeaux and Viroflay; mache Gala, a white bunching onion for scallions and a Treviso type of radicchio. After planting I covered the entire area with a doubled piece of remay.

I planted another patch of peas, this time in a double row. These are a later and taller variety called Oregon Sugar Pod. I will wait a few weeks to put up the pea trellis so that it doesn't create any more shade than necessary. I planted the double row closer than recommended, closer to one foot than two, in order to leave plenty of room in the rest of the bed. I will thin the peas and use the thinnings as pea shoots in my spring salads. As the peas begin to age I will plant cucumbers among them, so the trellis remains useful.

I weeded last year's mache and am curious to see how the spring sown plants do in comparison. Where the mache et al was planted I left the very center of the bed clear. I hope to put out very early tomatoes in that row, with a bit of plastic over them to see if I can manage a tomato crop by July 15. I need to check my records, but I think that's when I got my first tomato last year. But it was only one, the rest of the crop was two-three weeks later.

Inside I have started leeks (3 types) and shallots, bok choy, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. I also started an early tomato variety and several types of lettuce. I will plant more lettuce and tomatoes this week

Yesterday we enjoyed the first blasts of spring. It was nearly 50 and sunny. The ball fields were full of anxious players and I was just as anxious to get started gardening. First I did some clean up, removing the last of the fall crops I hadn't harvested. The clean up turned into a gleaning as I managed to salvage leeks, turnips and carrots. I took them home and roasted them with herbs and some Veggie Mobile goodies I had in the fridge. After roasting they went in the blender with a bit of stock and Viola! a delicious soup. I had it for lunch today. My first harvest of the season on March 15th, substantial and delicious!

The Garlic is up. The Bavarian White, which was planted several weeks later than most, is barely above ground, the other varieties have several inches head start. Self-seeded mache is growing nicely where it was planted the fall before last.  

Before I went to the garden I looked for the planting plan I drew up a month back - of course I could not find it. So I relied on my memory as to where I meant to plant peas. I planted Sugar Daddy, a dwarf edible-podded pea that is supposed to bear in 45 days. If I am lucky I will have peas in May! It is supposed to remain warm this week, so its possible, doubtful, but possible. I prepped a bed for mache and spinach, which I hope to plant tomorrow. Hope springs eternal!

The Rest of the Story

With my respects to Paul Harvey. I thought you might appreciate a tour of the changing world. After so many years crying in the wilderness, it seems the powers that be are starting to hear our teeny-tiny voices of systemic and sustainable change.

Perhaps you heard the First Lady thinks local food is good tasting food, perfect for inspiring children to eat their veggies? She even took time to mention community gardens by name. It turns out the prez himself has been known to eat his veggies and the White house lawn may soon be a vegetable garden.

When chosen to head the USDA, Tom Vilsack, former governor of Iowa, was given some Bronx cheers by the sustainable agriculture folks, who called him the governor from Monsanto. But it turns out he may have a personal history that makes him very amenable to understanding the consequences of a food system based on corn syrup. In an interview for internal publication within the USDA Vilsack really spills his guts.

The praise for Vilsack has actually been coming in recent weeks from those who previously would have buried him. It seems he chose a woman of impeccable sustainable qualifications as his second in command, Kathleen Merrigan.

In a GMO update: Ag Giants are attempting to keep their hands firmly on the reins, trying to persuade the world that their genetically modified crops are essential to the future of the planet, but the scientists are no longer inclined to go along. Research is starting to indicate GMO foods may be dangerous not just for the people or animals that eat them, but for the earth itself.

I just thought you all might want to know!

As you may have gathered, I am a latecomer to the computer world. (hence the bold type on the last post. I really didn't mean for that to happen) For some time now I have been trying to get this blog to accept comments. All of the obvious steps have been taken, this problem should not be a problem - and yet it is. I think I must go deep into the Html code that supports this enterprise to resolve the issue. I wish I could ask you, dear reader for your advice - but, this blog does not seem to accept comments. The fact that I have even peered into the Html code - something I don't even know what the initials stand for - should strike fear into all of our hearts. If the Internet collapses suddenly......

Do Not Go Gentle

It has been a cold winter, with much more snow than we have become accustomed to. But it had not been one of our coldest nights. In the morning the snow was fresh and white. My eyes, narrowing against the brightness of the day, immediately were drawn to a glistening refuge of black. As I walked down the stairs my brain struggled to assemble the darkness into meaning. It was not until I was almost upon it that its form became understandable. I saw the cold glittering eye, the hairlike feathers gathered at the base of its beak. The crow's wings were not fully extended, but rather crooked, as if it were in mid dive and the force of rushing air was too great to permit complete extension. It was only

as I squatted beside it and saw the still,

half-clutch of its feet that I knew for certain it was dead.

I looked up into the Spruce above us, trying to imagine the bird's last perch. There was no branch that looked more likely than another. Each would have given protection against the snow. I wondered if it had spent a cold solitary night, without the comforting pressure of a companion, or if only in its falling was it single. I felt very alone, there, squatted next to a dead bird in the middle of a city. Although my wife was only moments behind me and cars hissed by on the boulevard, it seemed isolation was the only realistic sentiment. Still, I didn't move, I stayed to gaze at the metallic sheen of crow feathers, and to note the dull black of its lizard feet. Its eyes seemed yet to mimic the shimmering, mirror-like quality they held in life. Looking up again at the tree and then down, at the bird with its wings half spread, its breast cradled in the snow; I realized that the last action of its life had been flight.

Twenty minutes later I pulled into the parking lot at work. One pair of bootprints preceded mine to the front door. Alongside them, clearly marked on the fresh snow of the sidewalk, was the straightline track of a red fox. I knelt down again, noting how the fox had almost exactly superimposed the print of its hind foot onto its front, leaving the impression that it too, needed only two feet to navigate the streets of the city. I looked around at our neighborhood, its grey industrial shoulders covered by a mantle of snow. A truck rushed by.

Smiling, at the frozen reminders of a fox and a bird.

Damn, I just wanted to talk about crop rotations. But a friend said the other day, when I told him about the miles of fence being built on the Mexican Border, he said: "they're really doing that?" 

Like, maybe it's some thing that's not really happening.

But, Yeah.  We're building a fence. 

It's the same thing for me with GMO's - Genetically Modified Organisms. 

And so I forget. It slips my mind. But I need to bear witness, even to myself, I need to remember: The law does not require a company to tell us if their food has been created from the DNA of another plant or creature. In our law all corn is the same corn, whether made in the laboratory or in the field. Perhaps there is a place for genetic engineering - you would be surprised to know what role it already plays in your life, but not all corn is the same corn.

My grandfather was an early adapter of contour plowing. He was the first in his county to use a rubber-wheeled tractor. He said: "They all told me it would sink in the mud."

But he kept his horses. Down in a pasture by the river. He kept them long after most horses were replaced by tractors on other farms. He kept them as a precautionary measure, a hedge against technology. A horse does not run out of gas, not start in the cold. Grandpa was conservative by nature, not a fool.

I'm not a Luddite, but it is my right to know if my corn's genome has been infected with a bacteria. I want a hedge against technology, but currently the law doesn't give me the right to keep horses.

 

GMO crops should be listed as ingredients in the food we eat. It happens in other places.

Everyone talks about crop science and genetic engineering, But let's be honest, most GMO crops are designed for herbicide resistance. If GMO crops were so great for consumers the great agricultural technology companies would declaim their value to us, but they do not, they hide their product among golden mountains and silos of grain. If GMO's held some great advantage to the consumer then companies would promote them, but instead they hide. This advantage is not for us. It is for Monsanto.

Ronald Reagan said there would be no free lunch and I have heard, you can't get something for nothing. Because the impacts of our technological advancements are not immediately apparent, does not mean they are not significant. 

Studies continue to show the higher food and health values of organic meat and produce, but did you know that GMO's are actively bad for you? Here's some research, I will try to find more.

Science gives us a hundred cures for cancer, along with a thousand causes. 

Fight the power. Let the president know. Real food for Real people. 

Remember most GMO crops are either corn, soy or canola, avoid them or buy organic (organic rules do not allow GMO's)

The List

Leeks, Onions, garlic, shallots
Spinach, Lettuces, Perpetual Spinach, Radicchio, Sorrel, Mizuna, Beets, Arugula, Purslane
Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, Kale, Rapini, Rutabaga, Radish, Piracicaba, Turnip
Parsnips, Celeriac, Fennel, Carrots
Tomatoes, Potatoes
Okra
Cantaloupe, Winter Squash, Cucumber
Beans, Peas
Herbs
Flowers
Cover Crops

This is a list of my plant goals for the new year. It is roughly divided into plant families, except for the greens, which cover the waterfront. There are some additions and some subtractions from last year's garden list. I think I will pass on Chard in favor of the Perpetual Spinach. Peppers have been a bit of a disappointment in the past, because of a little bug that bores into the fruit and makes them rot from the inside out. Instead of fighting the bug, I'll try Okra, which is a beautiful plant and from a different family. I am determined to get Rutabagas to survive the depredations of the flea beetles this year and I am sick of not having Brussels Sprouts. This year's plan has a greater emphasis on storage vegetables. I am still enjoying my potatoes and garlic from the basement and wish I had even more stuff down there.

Looking at this list, with its 36 entries, gives an idea of the range of what is possible in an intensively managed plot. For many of these plants there will be multiple plantings and multiple varieties. Figuring it out can be done on the fly - which is pretty much how I usually do it - but that often leaves me cramped for time and space on some crops. This year I am trying to work it out before hand. The first place to start was this wish list. Next comes the piece of paper, where I will attempt to make a "picture" of my garden plans and how they will evolve over the year.

Defender of Food

I just finished In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan's latest. I had been putting it off, since many of the articles it is based on I had already read when they were first published in the NY Times Magazine. A big improvement on The Omnivore's Dilemma, this book is much more of a rant, with back-up. It's more fun to read, with tasty nuggets of fact buried inside - kind of like some of our favorite adulterated food-like products.

Pollan is straight-up from the get-go. He says our food system is sick and its illness is reflected in our societal health. He recommends a simple solution: Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants. In 200 pages he presents a relatively plain-spoken argument of what our food mess is, how we got here and how to apply his simplistic (and common-sense,) solution.

Pollan points to two important events of the 70's, Nixon's expansion of farm subsidies, which massively increased corn and soy production, and a little noted "political dust up" that led the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs to change the recommendations they gave Americans about their diets. Rather than suggesting we "reduce consumption of meat," they instead told the public to "choose meats, poultry and fish that will reduce saturated fat intake."

Pollan does not imply that these events created the reductionist nightmare of "Nutritionism," where we talk not about food, but foodstuff's "nutritional value," but he connects them to the broader sweep of American Culture and the Western cult of Science that seems incapable of recognizing its methodology is not suited to understanding every problem.

Now who is ranting?

Anyway, back to the book. Have you ever wondered how to keep up with the changing health news? Eggs are bad - no maybe not. Meat is bad, or maybe just red meat - no its carbohydrates. Fat is bad -well only some fat - well maybe no fat is bad. Turns out all of this info is suspect, or just plain crap. It's all based on science that thinks you can know what food is by breaking it into its parts (and only those parts we have figured out how to measure) It turns out food is way more complicated, especially when its not just how food is prepared, or combined that gives it value, it also matters how it is eaten, or how it is grown. It also turns out there are some very powerful actors that find it useful to discuss food in this reductionist manner. How else can a new product be rolled out every year - or at least relabeled - to reflect the changing winds of "Healthy Eating" Pollan names some names and provides good sources, but this books strength is mostly what its subtitle suggests it is: "An Eater's Manifesto"

In its final section Pollan fleshes out his simple suggestion of eating food, explaining how to identify it, where to find it and some simple tips on how to afford it. You see, good food actually costs more than crap, both in terms of time and money, but it turns out that expense is not as straightforward as it may seem. In 1960 Americans spent 17.5% of their money on food and 5.2% on health care, today the numbers are nearly reversed; food expenses have declined to just 9.9% while health care eats up 16% of National income. Personally, I would rather spend time and money eating well with my friends, than cooling my heels alone in a Doctor's waiting room.

Which is why I already follow many of Pollan's practical food suggestions, such as growing a garden and eating free range organic eggs - because long ago it made sense to me that "You are what you eat eats too" Unfortunately, I can't afford organic, free range meats, so I just try to keep meat a small part of my diet and follow Thomas Jefferson's injunction that meat should be used to flavor vegetables and not the other way around. I have been telling Tiz I'm going to start hunting for a while now, although I'm sure she thinks I'm pulling her leg. But I have talked with enough forest experts to know that here in the Northeast at least, killing Bambie is an environmentally positive thing to do.

Anyway, it's a worthwhile read, even if you are a foodie like me you will surely get something out of it. This year, for example, I will finally order seeds for golden purslane and put a few more Omega-3's in my diet