Change of Plans

The height of our Summer garden.

The calendar suddenly says September, and that means it has been a whole year since we started this life altering project. In that time we've gotten to enjoy not only the many varieties of veggies that have graced our plates, but the intangible experiences of collaborating with some truly wonderful people and, of course, sowing, sprouting, loving, (writing about) and admiring a whole bunch of amazing plant friends. But we have some news that, depending on your opinion of change, may or may not sound so good to you.

At the remembered recommendation of our good friend and facilitator, Cheryl, that we give this project a year and see where we stand, we vacillated back and forth about whether or not to continue utilizing the space that has been so graciously lent to us and our growing purposes. We decided, after much deliberation, to conclude that part of our journey, and will no longer be growing our greens (and reds and yellows and aubergines) in those wonderful borrowed backyard beds.

Does this mean we will stop growing? Not a chance. Will we still grow food? Um...YEAH! 

In prior posts, I have mentioned that our apartment has a lovely, west facing balcony. Since our attentions had been so fondly focused on our garden space down the street, we found that the plants living just under our noses suffered from a certain degree of neglect, leaving us feeling like bad parents playing favorites. 

But never fear, we have a plan! 

For the garden grounds, we'll soon be clearing out the last of the Summer spring, and will prepare it for whatever its future may be. For one of the tiers, we sowed sage, rosemary, and thyme in trays just yesterday to be transplanted in a month or so (no parsley, for all you Simon & Garfunkel fans, because it is only an annual, and not on the hardy list). We chose those particular herbs for their water-wise, low maintenance and aromatic ways as a special gift to the home owner to show our appreciation for his year of generosity.

For our home space, we're going big. Well, as big as our suspended rectangle will allow, but you can be sure we're going to get creative. 

Have we mentioned the Growvo Box before? The grow box we designed with my dad for growing plants in small spaces? It, and my dad, are geniuses. What is so special about the boxes? Let me count the ways...

A sprouting "G-2"

• They're self contained, so there's no overflow when watering.
• They are water and temperature efficient, with minimal evaporation.
• Only need to be watered, at most, once a week because of the rad osmotic system my dad designed.
• They are so clean, and are easy to wipe down if necessary. 
• Great for growing smaller plants (herbs, lettuce, etc) in minimal space.
• Custom fit to suit any space challenges :)

Ok, so now, all of sudden, I'm selling something. How did that happen? Well, actually, we worked on this project in the Spring when we were thinking about our own limited growing space, and have since been doing a little research and development to see if this is something others could possibly benefit from. We concluded that anything that the Growvo box works, and that anything that facilitates growth must be a good thing and should, therefore, be shared.

We even made one for our friends to try out, Samara and Sonny, the chefs at Planet Earth Eco Cafe in Hermosa and at the Wolfgang Puck restaurant at the Hotel Bel Air, respectively. Samara is swearing by it after growing their Mesclun salad mix off the rail of their west facing balcony in Hermosa, and Sonny has requested a second one to hang next to their first. They were both impressed at the fact that while they were away from home for a few days, the greens in their "G-2" Box didn't look like they missed them in the least, while their others in regular planters looked mournful and wilty. Poor things. 

Anyway, let us know if you're interested and we'll chat sizes and and what it'll cost ya. Note that we couldn't find any of the pictures of our full grown greens in the Growvo boxes to share, but I assure you that grow they did!

G-1 affixed to our balcony railing, and our lovely apartment view :)

So, that is part of our plan to maximize our apartment growth potential. We started some new seeds in our "G-2" Box yesterday, and are looking forward to meeting our new edible friends Pac Choy, Asian Mesclun salad mix, and Chives. When it gets a little cooler, we're going to find some space to plant Butter Lettuce, good ol' Golden Beets, Brussels Sprouts and more Red Barron onions like last year.

Growing is just great, and I, for one, am ready for this next phase of homegrown fun.

Mid-Summer Salute!

After all this time, we return to you...bellies full and taste buds doing the happy dance. If there's one thing we've taken from the experience of growing our own delectable edibles, it is that there's nothing like home grown. 

Take, for instance, tonight's bill of fare:

Sputnik Cakes (aka, Kohlrabi patties) 

Sputniks in their natural orbit

• Shred 2-3 Kohlrabies
• Add 1 or 2 eggs in medium sized mixing bowl with the K-shreds
• Sprinkle with Seasoned Salt or just Sea Salt & Pepper
• Drop fist-full sized mounds onto an olive-oiled, medium high heated pan. 
• Press with a spatula and brown on each side. May need to add a little more oil when you flip'em.

*Note that the mixture may be runny, so let your portion drip off before panning it. In the end, we dump the liquid in the pan to make a bit of a scramble... 

Steamed Artichoke with Turmeric Dip

Prep your choker by rinsing with water, trimming the stem to about 1/2-1", cutting down the top of him again by about 1/2-1" with a knife, and cutting back each spiky leaf with scissors just so that the ends are no longer sharp.

You were just as tasty as you were pretty...

Steam, upside down so that the stem is sticking up, for about 30-40 minutes, or until plucking a petal is like pulling the perfect card from a deck. 

For a unique and yummy dip, get yourself a medium sized mixing bowl and combine the following:

• 2 dollops of Vegenaise (or straight up Mayo, if that's how you roll)
• About 3/4 tsp of Turmeric powder
• Couple squeezes of fresh lemon
• Fresh cracked pepper to taste 

Brilliant Bruschetta

Combine the following in yet another medium sized bowl, then chill:

• 2 good sized tomatoes, sans seeds, diced fairly small 
• 1-2 fresh garlic cloves, minced
• Fresh basil, about 6 leaves, sliced thinly
• Olive oil, about a tablespoon or so
• Balsamic Vinegar, same as the olive oil
• Fresh Sea Salt to taste

The Bruschetta will be topping Mediterranean flat bread, fresh from the farmer's market (not my oven). I plan to brush with a mix of olive oil, red wine vinegar, fresh garlic and dried herbs, then toast in my preheated to 375 degree oven for about 6 minutes...BRUSCHETTAMAZING!!!

Aside from the Kohlrabies, Artichokes, and Basil, we have a lovely array of veggies to choose from in the week ahead including Little Finger Eggplant, Yellow Squash, and the most vibrant color of green Chard I have yet to see come off any shelf...

What abundance the earth gives us, if only we are willing to get our hands a little dirty now and then...

Just to let you know, as if you had any doubts, dinner was awesome.

Special

Feed Me.

Has it really only been two weeks since our last post?! There’s so much dirt to fill you in on...

We’re now in our Spring transition phase, moving away from the generously rewarding picking time, to clearing out and starting over again. There are a number of processes in the works, and are all at varying stages. One of the most fun to witness are the seeds that were sown just a couple weeks ago in their cozy tray-nooks on our balcony that are already granting a robust preview of their miraculous evolutionary destinies. 

Our first pear tomato, sown a couple of months ago...

Amazing also the renewed energies in ourselves as we plot and plan, query and ponder.

Avocodo Sprouting!

Speaking of planning, have you ever heard of Mother Earth News Magazine? Well, it’s pretty great. We subscribed for something ridiculous like $10 a year, plus we signed up to use their garden planner. Ok, this thing is just cool. It helps plan out and design your garden with visual tools, but it also has helpful hints and details about what you’re planning on growing based on the exact area you live in. It even sends email reminders about when to sow what, etc. If you’re a geek like me, check out the site: www.motherearthnews.com 

Do you remember when I mentioned that after we got the regular compost bins (2 big’ns) we also got a worm bin going? Those little squirmy munchers are totally J’s territory, and he’s been doing a superb job of keeping them fed, fat, and happy (we can only assume since they keep eating, producing, and reproducing). He recently started it all over again, dumping the castings and many of the worms into the near-ready compost bin and collecting the “tea”, and one of the things we finally looked into is what to do with it now that we’ve got it. Well, we learned that it (the tea) can be mixed into the soil prior to planting, or used to spray on seeds/seedlings/plants to help nourish and protect them from pathogens and pests. Pretty nifty stuff! For some good info on worm composting, check out this site: http://www.allotment.org.uk/worm-composting/brewing-worm-tea-from-worm-compost.php

The weekend before last, we took a chance when the storm let up to drop by for a quick hello at the garden. We weren’t expecting much, considering that most of the life up there is coming to the end of their cycles. An hour later, we had 5 beautiful beets, a handful of shell peas, and…wait for it…a bouquet of those Cosmic Purple Carrots we’ve been waiting for! Here’s the story: J says, “Hey, should we pull one and just see how it looks?” Me, “Sure, why not?” Now, take a look at our first pull, and imagine a whole lot of hooting and jumping around by yours truly, “WE HAVE CARROTS! WE HAVE PURPLE CARROTS!”

Yes, I really did say and do those things. There we were, all excited, as we started pulling some of the other ones, but guess what we found: we are the proud growers of some very special, very purple, multi-shaped, sized and LEGGED, root vegetables (are they still called carrots when they look like extraterrestrial beings?!).

 Oh well, they still taste like carrots...that's good, right?

The Reapers

My oh my, what a rewarding adventure this has been so far. Not a day - or meal - goes by that we don't recognize our good fortunes in having been open to the opportunity to build and tend this project. Seven months ago, we were your average urban consumers of all things store bought (and grown where and how?!).

Peas GALORE!

The last month has been abundantly overflowing with tasty rewards in the forms of the Lacinato kale, broccoli, golden beets, sage, spinach and Green Arrow shell peas. The carrots have formed a beautiful, dense canopy to cool their burrows, but aren't quite ready to show their lengths above ground; the onions are fattening up nicely; the Sugar Ann snap peas are still showing up in our salads but we can tell they've about run their course; and the Honey Butternut squashes have just barely begun to flower, so we'll be keeping a close eye on them.

A Carrot Canopy

Did we mention that 200+ square feet of raised beds just wasn't enough for us? Well, we decided we wanted to try a little something on our east facing patio that gets some pretty darn good morning sun. A few months ago, J and I were strolling down the street and found about ten or so of these great planters left for the taking outside of one of our local flower shops, Oop's A-Daisy. We're now host and hostess to a Stevia plant, chamomile, peppermint & spearmint, a couple kale plants, some Red Barron onions, and a view obstructing bush of soon to be cherry tomatoes. If you think you don't have anywhere or way to grow, I bet we could help you figure something out :)

Yesterday was a good one to enjoy the afternoon shade with a sweet iced tea, a fresh bag of organic potting soil (E. B. Stone's for flowers & veggies), and our new seed packets littering the little space left on our patio...

                  Summer's All-Organic Line-Up:
Yellow Straight-neck Squash
                    Tavor (globe) Artichoke
      Sweet Pearl Corn
                                 Florence Fennel
                Finger Eggplant
   Green Finger Cucumber
                            (More) Golden Beets
                                                        (More) Red Barron Onion

All of the above are ruminating over germinating as you read, and a few others are to be direct sown as soon as some of the old tenants have moved out of their beds.

Our Current Quandaries
A couple things we're pondering are how to save the seeds of our current harvest and what to do with all the worm tea we've got. J's been so good at feeding those squirmy little ingesting machines that we've got quite a bit of it - but how much water to dilute it with and how to apply; now those are our questions...

 

 

 

Our garden sanctuary

So grateful we are to live in a time when all we have to do is "search" and we find everything we need. 

The Return of the Peaceful Gardeners; alternatively, We Are the Champions

Yes, we are the Peaceful Gardener Champions. What is so very fabulous about this is that there are no losers to not have time for. What's even better than 'very fabulous' are the not-always tangible (or edible) rewards that continually have presented themselves.


Its been about 6 weeks or so since our last correspondence. In that time, we've learned the lesson that our little loves, although affected by our actions, do not require our constant attention (or watering) to blossom into what their genetic make-ups so effectively dictate. Its true.

Apparently, they thrived when the craze of the holidays, so inherent to the human condition, tethered our intentions. Meanwhile, the tikes grew to proportions we had no idea they could, baring in mind that prior to 5 months ago, yours trulies here assumed that the iceberg lettuce was grown alongside the peas and carrots in the back of supermarkets in the smelly place next to where the bathrooms are.

Alas, there are so many opportunities to learn. Hey, lets think about how far we've come in just 5 months! We started with an inspiration, a fabulous facilitator, and a willing homeowner with a tiered sandbox for a backyard; built deep, raised beds; studied then started our own composting system utilizing Planet Earth Cafe's nutrient-rich kitchen scraps; amended the soil with free Organic King Harbor (sardine suicide) blend compost, some of our homemade humus (not the kind you want to dip your pita chips in), and a heap of the "Special Garden Mix" from the local dirt yard; sowed, coaxed, chatted up, sang to, and loved seeds into seedlings; weeded, trellised, organically sprayed, thinned as needed, said sayonara to some and stuck with others; and have now come to the point of starting to look up recipes for the beautiful fruits of our fun.

As the new year's first month comes to a mid-point, we're already considering what we dream of munching on this summer, along with renewing our efforts in the irrigation realm. We've come far, venturing with excitement to label ourselves "Successful Gardeners," and we sure have a long way still to go. But, in a good way.

Our 1st Golden Beet, picked on New Year's Eve, 2011

 

 

Filling Out Like a Pre-Teen...

We've decided on names. Ready for it? Primero, Gusty, Stretch, Missy Misfit, and Gordo, where many multi-fingered seekers of life now dwell.

You, me, and Gordo

Saturday was a hot one,  and the main objectives were 1) replacing a few of the greens that fell prey to some hungry neighbors - o' kale & broccoli, may you rest in peace - and 2) separating out the carrots so that they each have some personal space.

Jeff weeding Stretch

What we're doing about the voracious natives? Making sure to keep our organic homemade spray handy, and are planning to be more diligent, particularly after rains (which is when the "incident" occurred while we were snug as bugs visiting our fams out of town). Fortunately, we'd had kale & broccoli sprouts coming out our ears in trays, and were able to give ourselves another chance at parenthood...

The Carrot Ordeal..

If we thought for a moment that the carrots might not take, just one word comes to mind - WRONG. Around about 150 or so of those Cosmic-Purple-Compost-Eaters are now wriggling their little roots right down into Primero (the lower bed) and Gordo (the western-most spot with the view). We did have to lay to rest some of the uprooted unfortunates who we simply didn't have room for. We hope they don't think we didn't appreciate their efforts...really, it was us, not you....

Goldie Beets!

Everyone is growing great so far. The beets are absolutely b-e-e-tiful, the beans are beaming right up their teepees, the squashes have invaded the tree linings, the onions' stalks are fattening up, the new sweet peppers have found a sweet spot,  and the rest appear to be happily settling into their new abodes...

5 Beds. 4 Taken. 3 Ways. 2.5 Month Checkup. 1st Fruits Photoshoot.

Miss Sugar Ann (snap peas have arrived!!!)

Beauty on the decks. Love meandering the trails, breathing life into these new grounds.  I swear its like watching babies' first steps.

J and Tony (THANK YOU TONY!!!- yes, I'm shouting) got there hands on that garden mix I mentioned last time and filled the last 2 of the 5 beds...YIPPEEE!

 Um...so now what to do with all the extra space? We're thinking that one of them we might reserve for all the thinning we'll likely have to do once some of the seeds/seedlings get a little bigger. The other one? Well we dug new homes for a number of the kale & broccoli sprouts, and sowed more golden beet seeds and the last of the fancy signature lettuce mix from HighMowingSeeds.com. We consulted the "Seed to Seed" spreadsheet to be sure we planted everyone companionably so they all fall in love with each other and help fend off each others' undesirable, uninvited house guests. We also inadvertently "succession planted" too, due to the time delay in getting the beds filled. Perfection in timing, I must say, since we wouldn't want all our guests to arrive at the same time...

I think we may have forgotten to tell you about the fabulous ways we're learning to fend off some of the locals from bullying the new kids. From our "Growing Vegetables" book, we learned how to make an insect repellent by blending a whole garlic clove, 3 red peppers, plant based liquid soap (we use Seventh Generation), and about 12 cups of water. So far its kept our flying moochers, including fanged ones, out of our greens.

We got a tip that putting corn meal around the leafy plants will keep the hungry caterpillars from munching on your pretty, helpless, defenseless seedlings that you just let leave the safety of your nest...I mean balcony (how dare they???). Well, we showed them (hmmph).

Also, J put up a physical deterrent today around the perimeter of the upper beds that apparently like to attract creatures with rather large feet (prints). Its pretty spiffy looking - made of bamboo poles & twine. Take that!


Btw, J wants to emphasize the coolness of actually having detected the invaders' foot prints. It was pretty wild :)


J and I are so happy that a few of you made it for a visit today to share in the warmth and fun. Big hugs to my dad Michael (who will soon be revolutionizing the world of garden irrigation), Cheryl Cross (the Fabulous Facilitator), and Allie (who makes a mean fresh pumpkin & banana bread which I am currently crumbing down my front side). Happy November!

Lauren, Cheryl, and L's dad, Michael on the top deck :)