Cauliflower, compost and water fights

After dinner most nights our family heads out to the backyard.  The girls play and we work on things in the backyard.  Tonight I needed to water everything, especially the rest of the new raised bed that I finally planted on Sunday, and the potatoes.  It seems like I always have to water the potatoes. As I was watering, I noticed that the cauliflower is forming heads on 3 of the 4 plants.  I'm really glad that it seems to be doing well, as last year my cauliflower left a lot to be desired. Actually, it was downright pathetic.  Of course I failed to save the plant tag or write down the information about what cauliflower I planted this year, and it's doing really well.  Go figure.  The leaves definitely have some damage - not sure what from as I've never actually seen anything on them, but the heads are looking good.  No spindly, tiny, oddly purple-streaked heads this year.  The one problem is that it is taking so long for the cauliflower to form heads, and the eggplants I put relatively close to them are having to compete quite hard for sun and water.  I thought the cauliflower would be out by now.  I was wrong. Thankfully I am used to being wrong (see the crazy pea trellis picture in my last post for further proof).

The aforementioned mystery variety of cauliflower.

The garden area, complete with the new raised bed and wood chips (chipped Japanese honeysuckle - yay!)  And Claire (heading over to play in the hose also).

I also worked until dark last night hauling compost.  I emptied the compost bin, or so I thought, earlier this year, about April or so.  I am really lazy with compost.  I don't analyze it, I just dump stuff in the bin (it's mostly "greens"- kitchen and yard scraps). I turn it infrequently and begrudgingly.  I have 2 large bins made of wire fencing that are about 4-5 ft in diameter.  One of these is new and one I've had for about 4 years.  The older one is around the south side yard near the air conditioner, and since we finally have a gate in the back fence, I want to move it back there - closer to the garden and not visible from the front yard.  So I am gradually starting to move the stuff out of it into the back bin.  In digging through things, I found an entire trug tub worth of mostly finished stuff in the bottom.  I was thrilled, as I still have a small area of the new raised bed to fill, and I want to put a bunch around the eggplant in front, as it is lagging significantly behind those in the garden.  My ribcage and stomach muscles are extremely sore today, and I think it's from pulling the stupid tub all the way around the house and into the backyard.

The compost I pulled out of the bin last night, minus what I already put around the onions which were peaking out of the dirt too much.  My stupid ribcage is sore just looking at this picture.  That tub holds a lot.  Why oh why did I not use the wheelbarrow??

Finally, I have to show some pictures of the fun we had this evening. When I was done watering, before I put the hose away, Kate was thirsty from playing soccer in the backyard with Daddy, and wanted a drink from the hose.  I was pulling weeds in the garden, and somehow missed the next few minutes, but a drink from the hose somehow degenerated rather quickly into Kate chasing Daddy around the yard trying to spray him with the hose and giggling so hard she could hardly catch her breath.  Then she decided to spray me, which was no big deal except for the small detail that I had the camera around my neck which is not cheap and not waterproof.  It came out unscathed, we all came out wet (Claire from playing in the water in the baby pool) and throughly happy. 

The Joyful Reluctance of Peas

I belong to a philanthropic, educational organization for women that I love from the bottom of my heart.  Our Ohio state convention was this weekend, about an hour from where I live.  My mom and I got to go for the weekend and my wonderful husband took care of the girls for two and a half days while I was gone.  It was great.  I came home today and went out to the garden, because Mark had not thought to water while I was gone (which I am not remotely complaining about, as he did a wonderful job taking care of the girls and even cleaned the kitchen and things before I got home!).  As I was out watering, I noticed... peas!  (As if this is a surprise from the title of my post.)

Let me start out by saying that I generally do not like peas. I tolerate snow peas in stir fry, but that is about it.  Apparently I loved them as a toddler (my mom always tells the story of me saying "But Mom, I need peas!" when she would not give me any more for dinner.  Since then, my love affair with peas has waned dramatically.  However, since I believe everything is better when grown fresh, and especially when it is the fruit of your own labor, I planted peas this year so that I could give them another shot.  Regular peas that you shell and eat.  So when I saw the peas tonight, I was torn between the joy of harvest and the realization that it is peas.  But I pulled a pod off the vine and shelled and ate it raw, right next to the garden.  And I didn't die.  Or choke.  Or turn green and swell up into a green ball, a la Violet Beauregaurd from Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.  In fact, it wasn't that bad.  Mind you, it wasn't necessarily good, but it wasn't as bad as I expected.  So I am now soliciting recipes for fresh shelled peas.  Send me something that will make me fall in love with the pea.  It's one of those foods (like rosemary and cucumbers) that I really want to like, but try as I might I just don't. 

Kate and Mark are not vegetable people at all, so kid and husband friendly recipes are also welcome.  Kate did try one in the yard (which is absolutely wonderful simply because she was willing to try it), however she bit the pea in half, made faces as she swallowed the half in her mouth and threw the other half into the yard.  (Perhaps if it were doused in ranch dressing... In the fall we may do sugar snap so we can dip them in ranch dressing.  Mark hates ranch dressing though, so that does not help there...)

This is Claire in the swing while I was pea-picking. That is the remnants of a delicious vanilla milkshake from United Dairy Farmers.  That is not peas.  I will gladly accept any suggestions of how to make peas taste like a delicious UDF milkshake.  Gladly.

This is my crazy makeshift pea trellis.  I can't remember if I showed this before.  I originally just turned tomato cages upside-down for the peas to grow up.  They were not tall enough.  This is probably obvious to everyone but me.  I then rigged up the craziest looking trellis extension out of bamboo poles, twine and the existing tomato cages and plastic garden fence.  It works.  But it certainly isn't pretty.

The peas.  "Early Perfection".  The "early" part must be a misnomer. It couldn't be that I planted them late.... No way that would happen with 2 small children...

A close up of the peas I am trying to love.  I really am.

Another Trip to the Discovery Garden

I know I've posted before about the Highfield Discovery Garden at the Glenwood Gardens Metropark.  We went again today.  In the rain. Again.  I love going on rainy or almost rainy days because there is hardly anyone there.  I thought I'd post some pictures for those of you not familiar with the Discovery Garden so you can see why I love it so much (almost more than the kids).

This is their garden area - it's all square ft gardening in raised beds that are near "eye-height" for young children.  It's awesome.  They are made into these funky shapes so you can walk on paths in between the beds.  They grow all kinds of things from carrots and lettuce and tomatoes to things most kids have never seen before like kohlrabi.  They give all the harvest away to visitors to the garden (which are often urban kids who don't garden).  To the right, just out of the picture, is a cottage house that houses their bunny, Lulu.  Kate ADORES Lulu.

This is Kate checking out some marigolds growing underneath the cabbage leaves. This week's "lesson" was on planting and kids that visit get to plant marigold seeds in peat pellets in a dixie cup.  Kate was happy to plant Claire's.  Claire kept trying to eat the peat out of her cup. 

Claire checking out the ambient music speaker in the middle of the raised garden beds.  That's garlic growing behind her head. To the right may be collard greens, I can't remember for sure.

The "Cottage House" that houses the lesson area, and Lulu.  They teach kids about composting (I want their bins, they're so much nicer than mine).  You can see the garden beds in the back.

The fun whimsical "tea party house" as Kate calls it.  

Inside the tea party house, getting ready to have a tea party. Or play restaurant.

Their pump and rain barrel.  The dark area under the rain barrel is covered in rubber mulch, and I think there is a large drain under it, as the pump and the "rain feature" use recycled water for the most part.  Though the kids like to water the plants with water from the pump.  A lot of watering the plants.  The plants in this area need to be tolerant of overly wet conditions, I'm sure.  The rain feature is cool because kids can push a button and the fake cloud over the roof area "rains" and then the rain goes down the gutter and into the rain barrel.

The train area - they have about 3-4 electric trains that run around multiple tracks in this area, and a little walk-through path just for kids (the overhead bridges at either end of the path make it extremely hard for adults to walk in to the middle of the trains).  There is also a station house with buttons the kids can push to make train sounds.

One of the frogs we saw in the pond today - it was a cool overcast day and they were all over the banks.  On 90 degree days they are almost impossible to find.

The new feature for this year, the Fairy Garden.  Kate loves to stare at the garden and try to find every little fairy in it.

Apart from this, I haven't done much in the garden the past couple of days.  The second planting of beans is beginning to sprout, and I got the rest of the new raised bed filled.  Now I just need to get the peppers and tomatoes in it.  And I desperately need to get out and weed.  However, I have been spending so much time in the garden recently I am in danger of falling behind on the orders I have to sew for my business.  So since it's drizzly today, I will be in the basement with Kate (who is watching Barbie Princess & the Pauper - ugh) sewing up a storm.  Hopefully I will emerge at the end of Claire's nap with two almost totally finished pillowcase dresses.

The *#%@&^ Honeysuckle

You may remember that several weeks ago (May 12th, to be exact) I mentioned cutting down a bunch of honeysuckle at the back of our property.  Well, we are finally getting it chipped up, which I'm really glad for.  I was less than thrilled, however, to see the stumps with numerous new shoots that are about a foot high.  A foot.  In three weeks!  That's more growth than my sunflowers!  Is there any wonder why this stuff is invasive?!?!  So my task this week once we get the rest of the branches chipped is to start the tedious job of digging out the stumps.  "Yay - I mean boo!"  (If there are any fans of the NewsRadio TV show out there, can you tell me who said that quote?)  Unless someone has a better organic method of getting rid of it?  The only methods I have seen involve an add for some honeysuckle remover gadget, which I can't justify buying, or painting the freshly cut stumps with Roundup, which is hardly organic.  More ideas welcome.  Pretty please!

**I also solicited ideas from friends on my facebook account, and after doing so feel the need to clarify the fact that burning the honeysuckle and any forms of fire are out of the question, due to the honeysuckle's proximity to the wooden stockade fence which does not belong to us but rather to the property behind ours.  I would like to stay out of court and avoid criminal charges.  Thank you. 

I am extremely happy by all the wood chips though, which are providing a mow-free walkway around the gardens (Mark is also very happy about not having to use the string trimmer against the raised beds any more).  I put down a layer of newspaper (2 layers thick) under most of the chips and then about 3 inches of chips, which should keep the weeds and sod from growing through.  Depending on how many wood chips we actually end up with, it may be thicker in the end.

A Gate!

I am so happy I can hardly stand it.  I now have a gate in the back part of our fence!!!  For some reason, whatever previous owners of our house that built the fence in the backyard did not put a gate in the back of it.  The fence ended just before a small hill covered with honeysuckle, etc but our property line went partially up the hill.  Well, the commercial property behind our house sold several years ago now part of that hill is gone and there is a large stockade fence separating us from the "professional offices" that were built behind us.  Well, the part of our  property between the stockade fence and our fence has been totally useless to us before this, because we had basically no way to access it.  We've been saying we were going to put a gate in our fence since we moved in over 4 years ago.  It's now finally finished!  Plus, Mark is off to borrow a wood chipper and hopefully by this evening we'll have all the honeysuckle I cut down a month or so ago chipped up before the day is done (or at least before the weekend is done).  I am planning to move both compost bins to the area behind the fence, and once we get all the honeysuckle stumps out I'll see what things look like and go from there...

My new back gate!  Yay! (All the brown brush is the honeysuckle I cut down a month or so ago, and will be gone by the end of this weekend thanks to a wood chipper we're borrowing.)

The current view from my kitchen window

The view from my kitchen window in Fall 2006.  Pre-commercial development.  However, there is a billboard visible on the left side, so it's not like we were in pristine wilderness, but I still miss it....

More 2009 Plants

Here's an update of some things I have put in the garden in the past few weeks. I will try to get some photos of everything tomorrow afternoon:

Carrots: Danvers Half Long
Leeks: Pandora
Bush Beans: Blue Lake
Tomaotes: Amish Paste (3), San Marzano (1), Cherokee Purple (1), Mr. Stripey (1), unknown volunteer plants that germinated from the compost (5)
Peppers: Jalapeno, Red Beauty
Eggplants: Black Beauty, Ichiban
Cilantro
English Thyme
Basil: Genovese
Califlower: unknown variety (I didn't record it, and I'm kicking myself for it) - this was planted at the first update, but for some reason I didn't remember to list it.

I am also considering growing a squash if I can get a trellis for it built and grow it vertically. They had spaghetti squash at Varnau's last night, and I really like spaghetti squash, so I may try it.

The Feed Barn

After playgroup this morning with the girls at Sharon Woods Metropark, I realized two things:

1. I am out of eggs
   
2. I will be going right past The Feed Barn at Gravel Knoll Farms, which sells eggs from their organically raised chickens
   

So I thankfully remembered this on the way home, instead of once we were already home like I usually do, and stopped to get a dozen eggs.  I hadn't been to The Feed Barn in a couple of months (since I bought my seed potatoes there) and I had forgotten how much I love it.  Linda, one of the owners of Gravel Knoll Farms, which is also one of our local CSAs (community supported agriculture), was working and when she opened the egg carton to check on the eggs, she determined that they were "kind of small" (they didn't look that small to me) and so she took 50 cents off the dozen.  You don't get that kind of service at the grocery store!  I am now officially vowing to buy the majority of my eggs there, rather than the grocery store.  They're $3 a dozen, which for organic, cage-free eggs is cheaper than the grocery store.  Plus, you get spontaneous discounts occasionally like I did today, and you're supporting community agriculture and organic practices.

Plus, Linda and her husband Jim are the "founders" of the West Chester Farmer's Market, which I also love.  There are going to be a lot of booths this year, which is great (28 according to the website).  Plus, it is going to be set up right in the Square at Union Center, in the road in front of another awesome business The Learning Kitchen (a great place to learn some cooking skills for those veggies you're growing).  Hopefully some new people stumble into TLK and discover it - I discovered it last year when I poked my head in on the way back to my car from the farmer's market.  They have a homemade noodles and a pastry skills class, both of which I am dying to have come around on the calendar again so I can take them!