An Organic Urban Yard in Less Time Than a Sit-Com

I did not start to garden as a consciously subversive act. It’s been a long time since we first dug up the grass and made a few vegetable beds, but I remember that some of my motivations were to grow some of our own food, to get outside more, and to “do something with the yard.”

In his TEDx Talk, Roger Doiron refers to his garden as a “subversive plot.” Puns aside, he makes the argument that people gain power from growing their own food– power over their diets, power of over their health, and power over their pocketbooks.

Have you discovered TED talks videos? Their tagline is “remarkable talks by remarkable people,” and they present speakers from all over the world passionately addressing important issues. It’s like youtube made by people who are smart and motivated for people who want to think and learn.

In his talk, Doiron further argues that gardening is a “gateway drug” to other forms of “food freedom.” People who learn to garden then become more interested in cooking and in their local farmers’ markets.

Doirin sees a place for kitchen gardens in a future that where, as a planet, we’ll have to do more with less. Right now, we spend 9 calories of fossil fuel to make 1 food calorie; that takes into account everything from the petroleum-based fertilizers to getting food to stores and then homes. That’s a lot of energy, and energy that we’re not guaranteed to have. In the future, it looks like we’ll have more people to feed, but less land and less water.

His solution is that we use the “gardens and gardeners that we have to inspire and grow even more” of our own foods. He is the founder of Kitchen Gardeners International, a nonprofit community of gardeners from over 100 countries.

You can view his Tedxtalk here:

One doesn’t have to agree with Doirin’s politics or all of his points to see that changes are taking place in the large area that is food.

I would not say that kitchen gardens alone are the answer to the food problems of the future. I would argue, however, that kitchen gardens are the answer to other questions, questions like How do we promote connections with nature, How do we get kids interested in healthy foods, or How do we make better use of our yards than growing lawns. Those are my topics, of course, for future Ted talks or garden blog posts.

Around this time last year, I wrote a couple of posts about gifts for gardeners, here and here. I have been pondering whether I had anything new to add to those pretty exhaustive lists.

So question I put to myself then was: what garden items gave me the most use and joy this past year? What new tools did I bring to the garden that never failed to please me?

If you are still shopping (or dropping hints), these items might work for the gardener in your life.

Good gloves. Good gloves make garden work easier and more fun.

To purchase gloves for another person, you need to have a good idea what size his or her hands are or a clear understanding of the store’s return policy.

I have two favorite kinds of gloves for the garden. I have a sturdy, now-well worn pair of leather gloves. These are especially nice for working with our thorny raspberries or roses.

New to me this year were plastic coated cloth gloves. I didn’t think I would like these gloves at all, but several gardener friends use them. When I was perusing the garden store, I inspected these gloves, and their reasonable price led to me to try them out. Now, I absolutely love them. They are snug but not tight. Dirt doesn’t trickle down the cuff (one of my pet peeves). They’ve proven to be durable and, wonder upon wonder, are machine-washable. I have a light-weight pair and a heavier knit pair, and I do love them both.

Groovy garden hat. A wide brimmed hat protects skin from getting too much sun.

I don’t think of myself as a hat person, so it took the persistent prodding of a concerned partner to get me to concede that wearing a hat when working in the garden would be a wise more. Further prodding led me to try on a series of hats and make a decision within a reasonable amount of time.

All in all, I’m glad I have a hat for gardening.

Gardening hats may in scarce supply in stores this time of year. Hats are difficult to purchase for another person, even at the plentiful times. A gift certificate for a hat, either homemade or store-purchased, is the obvious work-around.

Felco pruners. Great tools are wonderful.

I do believe these are the Cadillac of pruners. I reached for these pruners over and over all summer long. They made short work of every pruning and trimming job that cropped up during the season. They stayed sharp and dependable, and the bright red handle was easy to spot and keep track of.

Sometimes one hesitates to buy the top of the line but in this case I’m glad we did.

It’s impossible to please everyone, but these are some garden tools that made my life better this year. What would you like most to give or receive?

My interest in saving seeds began with sunflowers. More than a decade back, we decided to fill the middle of the large round bed in our garden with sunflowers. Jim’s Grandma McGregor always had wonderful sunflowers in her garden so the blossoms remind both of us of her. We purchased four different varieties of seeds, which eventually filled the center of our garden with amazingly tall, sturdy and bright sunflowers.

At the end of the season, Jim harvested a dozen sunflower heads and brought them into the house to finish drying. When I asked if he were going to feed the birds later, he explained that he was planning to save the seeds.

The next summer, we planted a completely free sunflower bed, and the blooms were even prettier at that cost.

Seeds are not really all that expensive, however, saving seeds is an easy and satisfying way to step up one’s gardening practice. Saving seeds requires only a little knowledge and planning. More advanced resources are available in books and on the web, such as the group Seed Savers, but here’s a quick introduction to some easy seeds to save and a run-down on seed saving practices.

Sunflowers are fun to grow, and their seeds are very easy to save. In our neighborhood, the squirrels are extra vigilant in monitoring the area for edibles so in late summer we have to keep a close eye on our sunflowers too. When the heads are nearly spent and the seeds have formed, we cut them off and bring them into the house to finish drying. Once the heads have dried completely, the seeds can be very easy removed and stored.

Green beans are another seed that is easy to save. You can either allow some beans to remain on the plant past the best eating stage (the still-straight, not yet bumpy stage) or late in the season, look for the beans that you missed as you are taking down the plants. That worked for me. Select pods with many beans where the outside skin is dry or almost dry. Take these indoors and spread them out on a tray to finish drying. Then break open the pods and store the seeds.

Chives and garlic chives are another plant that makes saving seed easy. We wait until the end of the season, after plants have gone to flower and the flowers have dried. Watch for when the heads begin to open, and you’ll see the small round black seeds inside. You can snip off the heads with scissors and bring them indoors to finish drying. Shake the seeds out of the dry heads and store.

For the best outcome, store seeds that you harvest in a cool, dark place with little moisture. You can use jars if you wish. We’ve also used envelopes. Make sure to label and date your seeds.

Two words of warning require a little bit of plant knowledge to understand.

Hybrid seeds are probably not worth saving. Hybrid seeds have been crossbred for some particular aspect of the plant, like large fruit or all fruit ripening at the same time. The next generation of a hybrid seed may not germinate at all or the result could be significantly different than the plant it came from. The alternative to hybrid is open-pollinated or heirloom varieties. Seeds from reputable companies are clearly labeled. You can also ask when purchasing seeds or sets for your garden.

Another warning involves the cucurbit family, which includes squash, melons, pumpkins, and gourds. These plants are easily cross-pollinated while growing in the garden; in fact, they are sometimes described as being promiscuous. The cucumber plant you planted will produce true cucumbers perfectly fine when the bees mix its pollen with, say, a watermelon’s, but the resulting seeds inside the cucumber will be a watermelon/cucumber cross. There’s no telling what would result from that seed until it is grown. In 99% of the cases, it will be a disappointment.

There are ways around this dilemma, but they aren’t simple. One is to grow only one kind of cucurbit within a 1/4 mile radius. The other involves covering the blossoms and making sure that random cross-pollination does not occur. Both of those strategies are beyond my gardening abilities at the present time.

Many other seeds from vegetables and flowers can be saved by gardeners for future planting. These are just a few that we’ve had success with. I want to try saving tomato and pepper seeds, and maybe I’ll give that a try next year.

Have you had success with seed saving? What tips would you give to a beginning seed saver?

Gardening gives a person the chance to learn from his or her mistakes. A gardener who keeps notes or at least pays attention has the chance to do things better the next season.

That belief motivated me to give growing potatoes in buckets another chance. Given my lack of success in 2010, I had lots of room for improvement.

This summer, I was better prepared. I cut the seed potatoes into sections with at least 2 eyes per piece. The pieces were then left to callous over for a day or two before planting. This time, all of the 5 gallon buckets I planned to use had pre-drilled drainage holes in the bottoms so they were ready to go. I had a pile of compost, leaves, and soil to mix together on planting day. In comparison to last year, I was all set.

We planted the potatoes in early May and kept an eye on them to make sure they had enough water. It’s especially important to monitor the dampness of soil for plants growing in containers. Potatoes don’t like to dry out, but it’s also important that they don’t get over-watered or allowed to be soggy.

Another advantage to growing potatoes in containers was that we could move the containers around the garden. We had them in an empty bed early on. Later in the summer, we moved the containers to spots in between asparagus plants in a different bed.

When the foliage on the potatoes reached 4 – 6 inches, we added more compost and straw to to the buckets.

This year, we harvested almost 2 pounds of potatoes, and our harvest is significantly better than last year.

That success gives me hope for the future. If we can double our harvest next year too, we’ll be approaching the normal range!

My theory is that I may have planted too many potatoes per pot and so crowded the plants. Next year, I’ll plant fewer seed potatoes per pot and see if that helps.

I’m not ready to give up on growing potatoes in containers yet. For one thing, it’s extremely convenient for harvesting since we basically tipped over the buckets and sorted out the completely whole, completely undamaged potatoes. No potatoes lost or left behind in the ground. None were chopped by miss-digs with the shovel.

For next year, I’m a little tempted to set up an experiment and compare potatoes planted in the ground with potatoes grown in buckets. Planting potatoes in buckets is very easy and very neat so next year, we’ll do it again.

My personal analysis of holidays is that they are composed of essential and optional parts. For example, in our celebration of Christmas, the essential elements are a joyful time with family, exchanging gifts made or bought specifically for each member, and eating a special meal together. A full-size fresh Christmas tree is optional. When we haven’t had space or had travel plans, we’ve instead decorated a Norfolk Island pine, a small live potted pine, and — this year– a whimsical vintage table-top silver tree with tiny antique bulbs.

Another essential element is cookies. It isn’t Christmas without them.

Here are two upcoming local events where you can make or otherwise score some excellent Christmas cookies. Should you miss out on these, my easiest but best Christmas cookie recipe follows.

Bake-and-take holiday treats
This is a baking workshop hosted by Preserving Traditions at the Pittsfield Grange at 3337 Saline-Ann Arbor Road in Ann Arbor. The event will be on Sunday, December 11, 2011 from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Participants will work together to make three holiday treats: Triple Chocolate Bar Cookies, Gingersnaps, and Bourbon (or Vanilla) Balls. All ingredients will be provided, and you’ll go home with a nice selection of each item. The cost of this workshop is $15 ($10 for Grange members) and you need to register here. Act quickly as the workshop will likely fill up.

18th Annual Cookie Walk
This cookie sale event takes place at the First United Methodist Church at 120 South State Street in Ann Arbor. The sale runs from 9 until 11am– or until the cookies sell out, and that does happen! Prepacked or ‘select your own’ homemade cookies will be available for purchase. Choose from an array of decorated sugar cookies, Russian tea cakes, snicker doodles, peanut blossoms, and many, many more. The proceeds from the Cookie Walk benefit local, national, and international missions.

A family tradition
My dear grandmother was a loving and generous woman (trying to pass off liver as beef was the only unkind thing I ever knew her to do) and a wonderful cook. All of my memories of visiting her home are tinted with delicious scents. She didn’t cut corners or skimp on salt or fat. This cookie in no way qualifies as healthy, but, then again, that’s not the attraction of cookies.

She made these cookies. Actually, everyone in our family makes these cookies. They are easy, fast, and delicious.

Toffee Bars

1 cup margarine (2 sticks)
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
6 Hershey bars
Festive sprinkles or chopped nuts

1. Beat margarine, brown sugar, egg and vanilla.
2. Add flour and mix thoroughly.
3. Spread in a 9” x 13” pan. Bake at 350 F oven for 20 minutes.
4. Unwrap candy bars and have them ready. Now take the ban out of the oven and place candy bars on top of the hot cookie dough. Put the pan back in the oven for 60 seconds.
5. After you remove the pan from the oven, quickly spread the melty chocolate evenly over the top. I like to use the back of a spoon. (Let it cool before you attempt to lick it off).
6. If you like, sprinkle nuts or sprinkles over the chocolate.
7. Let the cookies cool slightly, and then cut into squares.

Do you have a favorite holiday cookie that you simply cannot do without?