Wednesday July 13, 2011
The last time my sister, Beth, was here she breezed through the door and said, “Well, it looks like your thumb turned a little bit green!” Best compliment I’d had all day.
I’m a far cry from a master gardener. More like a shoot-in-the-dark-hope-to-hit something kind of person with a hoe and a watering can. But this year, I have loved it more than I ever did before. I think I am *finally* learning a few of the hidden secrets. Did you ever notice that when you ask a gardener, “how do you do it?” they shrug their shoulders and say, “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t really do anything.”
Yeah right.
I can tell you what it looks like when I don’t do anything. Those people must have miracle gro breath. I don’t.
Here are my two secrets.
1. Good soil. Compost. Compost. Compost.
2. Be out there. A lot. I went to the garden a lot more often this year and discovered I spent way more time weeding, snipping, watering, fertilizing, pruning, spraying, and just coddling because of it. When you go out often, you see what needs to be done before the problems take over. Well sometimes.
Oh, and here’s the other secret.
3. Mulch. We put the grass clippings from the yard around the tomatoes and potatoes this Spring. I didn’t have too much faith in it because I thought we should have put newspaper down first. But let me tell you, it was awesome. If only we’d have done the entire garden. Because the rest of it I weeded and weeded and weeded. Good soil grows great plants but it also grows weeds like babies grow fingernails and ear wax.
I thought it was fun to see the progression and I am positively amazed at how much produce a teeny tiny garden can grow. People smile when they see my garden because it is so little! This year it was a lot larger because David picked up free landscaping block (from the same place we picked up brick) and made two raised beds.
Because it’s tiny, I plant everything close together. We don’t have a tiller anyway so whatever space is open, I have to hoe. Why have space? Beats me. We planted early stuff and as soon as the peas were out, replaced them with sweet potatoes. I just pulled the green beans out yesterday (all except for one little row) and I am honestly sighing with enormous relief to see space instead of more work. Truly I am still not a vegetable gardener at heart!
The garden in May:
Garden in June:
Garden in July:
I’d prefer Gloria not see this picture since she always thinks of me as a worker and I’d just as soon she keep that lovely disillusion. 
(as of this morning with most of the plants GONE! yippee kay yeah!)
So you saw how tiny that garden is?
Would you believe that I have canned:
31 pints of pickles (eight or so were from cucumbers from a friend’s garden)
9 pints of pickled red beets (We don’t even really like them but David loVes red beet eggs. I’ve never done them before and decided to try them only to discover I sort of like them after all so we’re both happy.)
and frozen:
79 1/2 pints of green beans
four quart size ziplock bags crammed full of green pepper wedges on top of all the peppers that went into 12 pints of zucchini relish (the zucchini was from a friend because the squash bug laughed at my organic spray)
Lying in the basement and being devoured rapidly:
Almost fifteen gallons of potatoes.
We are absolutely loving all the fresh cherry tomatoes and cucumbers with fresh mozarella and basil or feta and black olives. And if you have never tried Ryvietas you have missed out on the best part of summer food. Layer a ryvieta or wasa cracker with mayo, cheese (I like cojack, David loves feta), basil, green peppers, red onion, avocado, tomato or any combination of vegetables you like. love. love. love.
I walk to the garden and the freezer and just feel rich. The sweet potatoes are growing and growing. And just knowing that every single freezer box I own is full and in the freezer (thanks to nearly 70 pints of strawberries and all the beans) makes me feel virtuous.
The biggest sore spot in the garden (other than the first zucchini plant that died and the one cucumber that followed suit thanks to those bugs) is the tomatoes. They have horrible blight. I bring the orange ones in every day and let them ripen as much as they will then scald them and pop them in the freezer for a canning day later. They are disgusting. We’re getting a few that are nice enough to eat, but my tomato thumb is truly impaired.
I am still not convinced that it is cheaper to garden. At least not if you buy compost. And spray. And fertilizer. But I am convinced that the produce tastes better. My true garden fetish began twitching back in Ireland when I heard Darina Allen speak in 2005. That woman has no idea how she changed my life in that hour long session in a crowded tent surrounded by mud. And while our chickens do not wander through the garden at will or jump up on my kitchen table, we are at least raising chickens. It was my first introduction to Slow Food International. I savor flavors and think of her.
Liam’s issues and a stomach turning look at Food, Inc set the wheels in high gear. I don’t know if I’ll always do it. But for now, I am happily pretending to be a gardener. And not so secretly sighing with relief yelling with pleasure when every plant gets yanked out and loaded in the wheelbarrow.
I don’t read gardening blogs or books. Proof that my interest does not lie there. But I do love this blog and have learned so, SO much about gardening from her expertise. Every time I wonder over I get stuck reading another and another.
I want to hear about your garden if you have one.
Your garden is breathtaking!! I know exactly what you mean about spending time in the garden… we (the children and I) are out there most evenings after dinner. Not to work laboriously but to walk around, look, talk about what’s growing, pick a handful of flowers… we love it š
I looked at each little picture for a long time. It all looks so fresh and lovely! I’m heading right over to check out your link.
I want to know about the gorgeous purple/bluish flowers lining your walk. Did they start with plants or seeds? Are they salvias? Love them.
I am privileged to be married to a gardener. He does most of the work, until it’s time to pick. And he helps with that when my back gives me grief. I’m spoiled. I think, down inside, he’d love me to love gardening like his mom…but it’s just not there. I love canning and making salsa, relish, etc, but being in the garden in sc in 95* heat?? Nope, not a love of mine. Maybe when I move to Va, I’ll love to garden. š
@inanorchard – Aw, thanks! I put them in tiny squares so the page wouldn’t take so long to load. If you click on the picture, you can see it in full size.
@Carsonsmom2 – They are purple salvia and I bought them as plants. If you click on the house picture in May you can see them very soon after I planted. Mom often does purple and pale pink and I always LOVE the combination! I think they are so pretty when the torches are lit in the evening. I’ll garden if you do the canning!!! I think most of the reason I hate to garden is b/c I hate to process the stuff.
I get the “walking to the garden and freezer and feeling rich” thing. I truly love to garden, but due to the fact that our outside land consists of a 15×15 concrete pad, the only gardening I”m doing this year is tomato plants in pots. Your garden looks like so much fun.
no…you don’t want me to start on gardening…i love it too much and would bore you to tears.
your garden looks AWESOME Michelle!! very lush and impressively productive!!
I’m no garden expert. I rely on my mom quite heavily with whom I garden with. When you said you scald your tomatoes before putting them in the freezer it reminded me of how mom does it. I thought I would share it with you if you want a short cut. She skips the scalding part. She cuts the stem and bad spots off and puts them in buckets to freeze. When the freezers are getting maxed out with buckets she gets them out a day before I come. We run them through the Victoria Strainer and if she making salsa she cooks it and adds the spices then. Maybe that wouldn’t work with what you do with them. But if you can skip one step…
This hit my funny bone “Good soil grows great plants but it also grows weeds like babies grow fingernails and ear wax.”
Everything is gorgeous! Something inside of me is dead if I don’t have flowers and a garden. I have lovely soil so if I have a nice garden it is not much of my doings… This year my petunias are dieing…looks like blight and I am sad.
Aww!! Your garden in May is so pretty!! You a.l.m.o.s.t. make me wish we had gotten one in. As it is.. I don’t have one for the first time in yeeeeears and I’m trying my hand at flowers and new beds instead and am enjoying it very much so far. How can you turn 34 and only now be feeling like you are slowly discovering who you are and that you really CAN do some of these things that always overwhelmed you just thinking about it? Ahh… another topic for another day. š
@foreveranoatneygirl_n2Hisown – yes I DO want to hear about it!
@msluz – Bummer. But pots means no weeding!
@liz324 – Actually there are two reasons I do it the hard way. 1. I have no victoria strainer. 2. Even more than I dislike canning, I HATE big splattery messes in the kitchen. So I started doing it this way. When I make pizza sauce, I will throw all the tomatoes and onions and peppers and stuff in a pot, cook, run a hand blender through it, and it’s done. One kettle. Little mess. Happy me.
@damys – I didn’t think it was legal for petunias to die. Seriously, they are like the tough stuff. Can I have your soil?
@ihavesix – Fantastic topic of discussion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am only 33, š but that is exACTly how I feel!
Beautiful garden! I have a smaller one than that. Three raised beds. I am liking gardening so much better this year, because I don’t have many weeds at all to pull, and it’s much more manageable having raised beds. However I am sure that I won’t be getting as much produce either. You are making me jealous, I have yet to have a ripe tomato or cucumber or green bean! I hate the mess of processing, too. I might have to try your method for pizza sauce, sounds easy.
You need to make your own compost š Its way way cheaper. We finally are using ours this year and I love it. My flowerbeds are so much better this year as well as the garden (what the deer haven’t eaten, those rascals) Your garden looks so weed free and beautiful….
I read your post with interest. Gardening in VA is so different than in Alberta and I’m slightly jealous of your July garden with so many plants pulled out. Our peas are only now blooming. I am so impressed with all the stuff you processed from your tiny garden. Ours is big but the heat you get must make those plants produce like crazy. Dan helps me a lot with the planting, I like weeding and tending and picking stuff, but like you, I really dislike processing food. The Mess! What I really love is flowers but don’t have time for them like I wish I did.
Yay for greening thumbs and doing what we thought only our moms could do!
I hated gardening when I was single, but our garden was always HUGE and weedy! Since I am married, I love, love gardening. More than I thought possible. And I’m not very smart-you know, how deep, far apart to plant, etc. , but for the most part I have success and great JOY in my garden. My husband mulches 1/2 of it, at least, which is a tremendous time saver later on. And I continually surprise myself at my large garden…50# of Yukon Gold potatoes, 14 tomato plants, and lots of other goodies! But you don’t have to love to garden to be a godly woman! Amen and amen.
I garden, a big garden. Do I like it? I am really not sure. I should. My dad is a great gardener and my grandma on my mom’s side has one of the greenest of thumbs. I do like it more with age. But I do it for my family. I love what it produces. Do I like to can and process?? Actually, a lot of it I don’t mind. But get weary of the mess and the dishes! But good job Michelle, your thumb is def turning green!
your garden looks so green-thumbish. i am having a hard time believing otherwise.
i have a love/hate thing going on with mine. it IS alot smaller this year, and i’ve noticed that we are getting along better because of it! š
i just told The Farmer this week that this.right now. is when i love my garden the most.
it’s mulched. it looks great. and…i’m not doing corn or canning beans…yet!
You inspire me. I do love gardening, but my garden this year is awful. Factor in a move last fall, a new garden spot, no tiller, no mulch except cardboard, a new baby in April…let’s say that I won’t be posting pictures. But I’m trying the tiny, no space version again next year, thanks to you. It didn’t work so well this year, but maybe next.
@Lenni724 – Raised beds are the bomb. Did I just say that? I sound like I’m still living in the 90’s. š
@smuckers4jesus – Tell me more. Except, does that mean I have to stop chucking everything down the garbage disposal? š Your garden and flowerbeds looked awesome when I was there a few weeks ago to pick cucumbers! David is piling up all the chicken poop so I think we will have a lot of our own stuff next year. But oh, the weeds that come from chicken stuff. We had their pen on the garden all winter and I think that’s part of why the plants are doing so well …. and why I have thirty-five million weeds in two days time.
@quiet_hearts – So is gardening easier or harder there?
@lwstutz – 50 # of potatoes??????????? My goodness girl! I think I bought 3 or 4!!!!!!!! Do you plant a whole field??? š And amen and amen to your last sentence from me, too!
@Esther_lynn – Lucky you to inherit the genius. š
@down_onthefarm – Getting along better w/ pretty much anything is a good thing! Green beans coming? I do. not. envy. you!
@lazonya75 – No, you inspire me! I should have listed you right up there with Darina Allen! Your little carport garden in NYC was unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the factors stacked up against you this year? I don’t know that I’d have even tried. But there’s always next year!
your garden is a winner. I notice the beautiful hanging pot, the window box’s the manicured paths, well cared for pot’s and such a inviting sight around your place. Wow, I would be quite pleased with my garden if it looked like yours!
This year we made a small first time spot and the bunnies and deer and squirrels and odd creatures of every kind are making themselves at home to everything. My fresh pea’s are zero. Rabbits ate them as fast as they grew. I am content to gather what I can this summer, then I am building a FENCE!!!! Compost was something we did not apply (due to rushed lifestyle) and I am paying the price. Just sad, really. BUT it gives me a NICE canning/freezing break. š Pickles are doing well, peppers great, beans about ready, and tomatoes are untouched at this point yet.
Not a master gardener? Looks genius to me. Beautiful.
–Your garden looks very pretty
–You can’t fool anyone with one sitting down picture when you have tons of pictures of weed-free, lush growing plants and gobs of canned things. You are a worker.
–I am insanely jealous of how much your garden produces! All that rain is a blessing in disguise.
–I can only say this online, so you can’t gross out on the spot; but you should start your own compost pile. And then maybe you could progress to worm farming. Ha.ha.ha. And I would actually consider doing this if I’d have the space. How weird have I become?
–I still don’t feel like I’ve seen a fair picture of the saliva. I want to see the whole walk They look beautiful!
@Lenni724 – Are you doing SQG? How’s it going? Not too lush it sounds. š
Are garden didn’t do so well. Tomatoes got blight too so we didn’t get many. We had a really dry spring and I don’t think we kept it watered enough. My sister and I have different opinions about watering! š Anyway, we found out through the extension agent that the squash and zuchini have a male and female bloom. When we spray for ants, we were chasing away the bees that cross-polinate the said bloom. And all the plants energy went into growing viney plants. We had the same problem last year. So, now how to get rid of ants without using pesticides? The ants LOVED my baby okra plants. š Oh yeah, and I had watered the plants one night and added an organic liquid and the next morning we discovered the neighbor’s dogs had destroyed 1 of our cucumber plants and several of my freshly transplanted okras. Can you imagine how mad I was??? I think the organic feed had some fish juice or something similar smelling.
For the southern gardeners, here is a website I came across very recently that may have helpful tips. http://www.walterreeves.com/
@seekinHISwisdom – Argh. Animals wreak so much havoc. Do you see that little fence on the last picture? It is perfect for keeping rabbits out. It’s actually leftover chicken coop stuff David staked in around the sweet potato plants. But the deer? They’re another story. We have four or five electric wires around our garden at the other place! And YOU deserve a break from canning. I remember all those green beans on your shelves last summer!
@singingrachel – thanks!
@twofus_1 – Do you remember how much I hate slop buckets? I thought I’d improved hugely when I started saving a lot of produce junk for the chickens! Oh, and worm farming …. I might get there eventually. Right now I’m picking june bugs and feeding them to the chickens instead of spraying. WHO have I become? And yes, the rain gets incredible credit. Oh, and do you really want to see my saliva? š Glad you found the salvia picture!
@justcallmeM – After seeing how lush things stayed with the inches and inches and inches of rain we’ve had, I have come to the conclusion that it is almost impossible to water enough. Yuck on the ants! I’ll stop complaining about squash bugs. At least they don’t bite! And yes I can imagine how mad you were!!!!
@twofus_1 –
Yes I am do SFG. My garden is doing pretty well – it’s just later up here. I already got a bunch of lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, red beets. Something ate off the tops of my bean plants but they made a comeback and are almost ready. I just need more gardens if I want a lot of stuff to put up. I might have to add more next year. Maybe I should post a picture on my long neglected blog.
Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Your garden and grass look so lush, and make me wish I lived in the North! Ok, that sounded as if things just grow without work up there, and I know you put tons of work into all of it.(: I had a garden the first year we lived here, and to say it do poorly is an understatement. My hard work felt so worthless! Our sandy soil makes it really difficult, so I’ve been after Eric to make me a raised bed with top soil. We’ll see how that goes. Thank you for the gardening tips!
I have four little raised beds currently producing cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet and jalapeno peppers, zinnias, a few squash, fresh basil, oregano, parsley and dill, and soon to be okra. Raised beds have been my gardening deliverance here in the South, but I keep telling Burton that we have to figure something out for green beans and potatoes. Mulching is sooooo the way to go, for weed control and to help keep the moisture in. The squash bed has no mulch on it, and it’s been much much MUCH weedier, and also my squash plants keep succumbing to something. The heat? the drought? bugs? I don’t know.
Your garden is inspiring, if I can keep from being envious! I am so impressed that you froze that many green beans from that little of a space. So rewarding!
@smilesbymiles – Is gardening easier or harder here? i don’t know because I never gardened there :). It’s just different. While your top crops are probably your tomatoes and corn, ours are peas and sweet carrots and huge cabbages. Everything seems to come in a pile and August is so busy. I almost always pick my tomatoes green so they don’t get frost in September. They ripen in the house and are a far cry from those lovely sun-ripened ones. Don’t get me started on this topic again. I could go on for quite a while and could bore you to tears.
@quiet_hearts – Hmm, sounds like Ireland! They grow the. best. carrots. ever. They taste sweet like candy! Because of the shorter growing season, they built a small greenhouse (mini version of those round tunnel type at nurseries) and grow the tomatoes in there. I bet it would work for you, too! Then you actually get to pick red tomatoes!
I totally agree about Mulching with grass clippings. We use lots of it and it works well. I grew up with a mulching family… and my husband a tilling one. š So it took some discussion. š I tried the cardboard/newspaper idea last year but it was a pain and took really long. So this year only grass clippings. I just love it. But We put it on thick. Great Garden Pictures by the way. š
Pardon me, that comment was, “It looks as though your thumb turned green.”=)
WOW. Seriously. Your garden is so gorgeous!! So lush and vibrant green! And so so pretty! I love all the little squares and alternating rows, and it looks just beautiful from that high shot! I’m super impressed. š And with all the stuff you were able to put in the freezer from a small garden! How exciting! That means you’ve been working like crazy this summer though, wow again. š
We have a tiny little raised bed this year – the most we could do in the city. If we’d be in the country, my husband would probably try for an acre. š But gardening here in the sandy soil is so difficult, we’ve found. It’s so discouraging. So I’ll just look at gorgeous pictures of a garden in Virginia that is beyond beautiful. š
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