July 30, 2003 link
Apparently, the next-door neighbors have been hanging out in my garden while I’m not home. I’ve caught her prowling around several times, which isn’t a big deal. She’s just curious, and enjoys watching things grow. And she always has plenty of questions.
Like this morning—she asked me when I’m going to start harvesting the zucchini. Then she pointed out a couple of big zukes lurking underneath the leaves. I swear those were not there a few days ago. This lady knows more about what’s in my garden than I do.
She brings her five-year-old son to play in the garden. He especially likes the big sticks I use for edging. He likes to pull them up and play swords.
He also can’t resist eating my raspberries, and I’m nervous he might trample my other plants. In this situation, I suppose I could be a grumpy old man—but why bother? When I was a kid, I was always sneaking my neighbor’s berries (even though my family had our own patch) and taking “short-cuts” through their flower beds. I guess it’s just payback-time.
So at least the kid has a safe place to play, and gets to eat some fresh raspberries. Besides, he might turn out to be a gardener himself someday. That’s what happened to me.
July 28, 2003 link
Is it too early to start thinking about next year? My goal for the garden this year was simply to get the ball rolling. Sure—I wanted to grow as much food as possible. But more importantly, I wanted to lay down the basic framework, learn about the growing conditions and get an idea of what is possible. In the coming years, I hope to apply these lessons to make my gardening efforts more efficient and more productive.
Here are my thoughts for next year:
- Expand the raspberry patch: Encourage it outward, but keep it in easily-accessible rows or spirals of no more than 3-feet wide. I envision it as a maze-like shape. I do not want it to become a thorny thicket that cannot be picked or pruned effectively.
- Try some new plants: I would like to try corn, garlic, strawberries, cabbage and maybe even blueberries or grapes.
- Get an earlier start: This year, I spent all Spring clearing a forest of weeds from the land. Next year, I can start planting seeds immediately.
- Use the back-third of the property: There is a thick stand of weedy trees that casts shade on the back-third of the lot. I’m trying to grow beans and cucumbers back there, but they just don’t get enough sun. Those nasty trees need to go bye-bye. That area will be plenty sunny next year.
- Practice succession planting: This year, I planted entire seed-packets at once—which led to situations where I suddenly found myself with 7 pounds of radishes. If I had planted only a few radishes every week during the Spring, I would have had a steady flow of mature radishes. It would have been easier to handle them in small batches, rather than all at once.
- Rearrange the beds and paths: Some of the sunniest areas in my garden are currently occupied by paths. Meanwhile, a few of the veggie rows are partly shaded. I need to rearrange things.
- Build a compost pile: My current system of composting involves throwing stuff on the ground and letting it decompose where it lays. An actual compost pile would be a better way of distributing nutrients where I want them, instead of randomly.
- Live a balanced life: I think I do a good job of this already, but it’s always worth keeping in mind. The fundamental goal of my “growing experiment” is to integrate the garden into a normal, fun, healthy young-adult lifestyle. If the garden ever takes over my life, then I’ve failed. But so far, it has helped my life become more balanced, by feeding a fundamental human need to grow things, and by allowing me to participate in the cycles of life. I’m looking forward to next Spring.
July 23, 2003 link
Yesterday’s post got an enthusiastic response. Apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks gardening is being misrepresented in American culture. Here’s a great note I got from Chris:
I completely agree with your latest post. Great observation. To me gardening is a “fundamental act”. Creating food from dirt is the most basic way that we act upon nature and one of the most important for survival. I think that society tends to put gardening in the “cute” category. It is so much more raw and powerful even.
As an aside, when you hear a fair number of “housewife” gardeners talk, I think they know how big a deal gardening is too. But gardening products are marketed to non-gardeners as cute.
Also your comment that you get to eat stuff and it tastes good made me think that not only does it taste good, you can grow stuff that, basically, you could never buy in a store. I am experimenting with heirloom tomatoes. I will have Brandywines, which are supposedly amazing, and black tomatoes. How cool is that? I grew blue potatoes, which are hard to find, and you could choose from dozens of garlic varieties as opposed to the one variety that you find in grocery stores.
Ok, I will stop rambling, but you got me fired up today.
Thanks, Chris. Notes like yours keep me fired-up, too.
July 22, 2003 link
Ten Reasons Why Young Guys Should Grow Food:
- Competition: Man Against Nature is the ultimate test of endurance and will-power.
- Blood, Sweat and Tears: Spend a few hours in the hot sun with a shovel in your hands—tired yet? You’ve only tilled enough space for a few pepper plants. Keep going until those blisters on your hands become calluses.
- Personal Satisfaction: Beer tastes better when relaxing in the shade next to your garden.
- Chicks Dig It: Especially when you take your shirt off. Impress them with your giant zucchini.
- Macho Head-Games: Your jerk neighbor will look like an ass when his scruffy, unproductive backyard is compared to yours. You’ll be the talk of the neighborhood.
- Food: You get to eat stuff. It tastes really good.
- Hilarious Situations: Gardening is pretty funny sometimes, like when you accidentally step on a baby bean plant. Ha ha. This is an entirely untapped area for comedy.
- Connection to the Past: Think about “real men” from history. They worked outside, not in an office. They were cowboys and farmers.
- Sweet Garden Tools: You get to play with shovels, knives, shears, hoes, rototillers, etc.
- Get Dirty: Your mother never let you play in the mud. Now’s your chance.
Gardening culture tends to be either warm and fuzzy, or bland. Most garden magazines, books and web sites are targeted toward housewives or old folks. Very few resources have any sense of attitude or personality. Is this because gardening is naturally boring? Why has the popular conception of gardening evolved in this direction? My own personal experience points in the opposite direction: gardening is not for sissies.
I’m not hatin’ on the housewives. I think there’s room for everybody, and we all have the right to enjoy gardening in our own way. I’m certainly not wishing for an explosion of macho idiots running around with shovels. But right now, everything is one-dimensional; there is no balance. Gardening is cool as hell, but most people don’t see it that way—because the popular conception of it is formed by Martha Stewart and HGTV.
July 21, 2003 link
I constructed a boardwalk around the tomato bed. That’s right—I constructed a boardwalk. Well okay…I didn’t actually construct it. I found some flat boards in the trash, which I laid down on the ground. No actual construction was involved. But it looks pretty cool (I promise there will be a picture very soon), and makes the tomato bed into a garden centerpiece.
July 20, 2003 link
A few blocks from my apartment, the Chicago River traces its slow path toward the Loop. Here on the North Side, the river is surrounded on both sides by old industrial buildings, scrap yards, decaying railroad tracks and newer big-box discount stores. It is an ugly landscape—the few blocks on each side of the river are out of place among the gentrifying residential neighborhoods that cover much of the North Side.
I go walking often through this area. I’m attracted to the ugliness and neglect. Changes occur very slowly here—nobody bothers to dismantle the old rail drawbridges, blast away the graffiti, kill the giant weeds, or paint over the fading signage. Walking around here is a great way to spend some time alone. The traffic whizzes past, but the sidewalks—where they exist—are empty.
Today, while passing on a bridge over the river, I saw a huge stork sitting in a willow tree. I must have spooked it, because it took off flying across the water. It must have had a 7-8 foot wingspan, long legs and a bendy neck. I’ve never seen a bird that big around here before.
Then I came to a highway underpass. The hillside along the highway was covered in purple wildflowers, and I noticed a family of striped ground squirrels scurrying around their burrow. A few monarch butterflies hovered over the flowers. Meanwhile, the cars roared overhead less than 15 feet away.
There are natural wonders all over this city—if you keep your eyes open. Despite the grittiness of the industrial corridor, it provides an unlikely place where wildlife can thrive without being pestered by humans. It’s the urban equivalent of a wilderness preserve.
July 18, 2003 link
Today, Jes reported on City Farm, a non-profit organic farm on a vacant lot in Chicago near Cabrini Green. The city is letting the farmers use the land until the Planning Commission decides what to build there. Jes took some good photos of the City Farm tomatoes, and her enthusiasm about the project makes me want to visit.
I know what she means when she says: “Every vacant lot I see makes me wish it had more growing in it than weeds.” I’ve been eyeing the vacant lot next door to my garden—wondering how I can utilize it without bothering anyone else (like the owner, or the guy who lets his dog crap there). Obviously, I can’t start a full-fledged garden there. Maybe I can just encourage my raspberry patch to spread across the fence and into the adjacent lot…
City Farm is a cool and worthwhile project, but why do these things always have to be non-profit? Urban agriculture will always be a fringe movement unless it is economically viable. Is that impossible?
July 14, 2003 link
The chickpea plant is interesting. The leaves are very tiny, and the entire plant has a fern-like appearance. I expected them to have big heart-shaped leaves like most other bean plants.
I’ve discovered there isn’t much information out there about growing chickpeas, especially in the home garden. I guess it just isn’t very popular, but why not? It likes dry soil!
July 10, 2003 link
Time for a midsummer update on the growing experiment. Overall, things are looking good—but a few plants are off to a late start. We’ve been getting lots of rain recently, which saves me some effort on watering. But it’s been too wet to accomplish much weeding or other maintenance. Oh well…better to have a scruffy-looking garden than a wilting one.
- Tomatoes: The vines are strong and bushy, but starting to creep. I need to tie them to their support stakes, and prune off the side branches. This will produce a strong vertical vine.
- Zucchini: Lots of orange flowers opening up.
- Sweet Peppers, Eggplant, Broccoli, Chickpeas, Chives, Basil:
- Lettuce: Still harvesting in small bunches. I’m amazed it hasn’t bolted yet (transferring energy into producing a flower stalk, rather than tender leaves). Enjoying it while I can—I think the rain really helps.
- Okra: Struggling, but still alive. I wonder if I will get any harvest from it.
- Collards: Some of them look nice; others are scrawny. I think one section gets slightly more sunlight than the other.
- Parsley: I have a forest of parsley, about 5 feet by 5 feet. It’s funny to see, because it is really an insane amount.
- Jalapeno Peppers: Most of them didn’t survive transplanting, but there are a few still alive.
- Green Beans, Cucumber, Pumpkin: Late start. I’m expecting the small seedlings to take-off any day now. Hopefully, they can catch up quickly.
- Onions: Looking good, but they have a tendency to flop into the paths. The tips of the green shoots are occassionally trampled.
- Arugula: I wasn’t totally prepared for eating it this spring, so I let it flower and produce seeds.
- Cilantro, Dill: Not so great.
- Raspberries: There is one really nice ripening berry that I’m watching carefully before the birds get it. The other berries will be ready soon, but the ones at the back are hard to reach.
- Radishes: Finished. I got seven pounds. I’m considering a fall crop.
The following plants died or never germinated: rhubarb, mint, thyme, nasturtium, sage.
The daylilies and marigolds are in bloom. The cosmos are on their way.
And for me, life is good.
July 9, 2003 link
I have raspberries! Until this morning, I did not know this. Imagine my shock…and awe.
I went outside to check on things after last night’s storm. And there it was: a single red berry gleaming in the morning sun. “What the—”, I exclaimed out loud. I reached out to touch it—not ripe yet, but close. I still couldn’t believe it was really there.
This land has been choked with weeds for years. While I was clearing the weeds this spring, I had the good sense to preserve a patch of native daylilies in the middle of the vegetable beds. Mixed in with the daylilies were some thorny things, which I assumed to be some kind of wild rose. I cleared some of them out, and left a few of the best looking plants.
In the process, I unwittingly rejuvenated the old raspberry patch. Of course the thorny things were not roses, but raspberry canes. By clearing out the surrounding weeds, they were able to get some sunlight and air circulation. Also, raspberries produce fruit only on second-year canes, not on older ones. All my chopping and uprooting gave the younger canes room to flourish.
So right now, I have an island of daylilies, mixed with raspberries. By pushing aside the daylilies, I can see fruits developing on most of the canes. Even in such a small patch, there are lots of baby raspberries. This is awesome. Instantly, I am a raspberry grower.
Over the next few years, I need to figure out how to manage and expand the berry patch. It would be nice to remove the competing daylilies, but I’m not sure I can do it without damaging the berry roots. This will require some thought. I might have to live with a daylily/raspberry jungle, which will make pruning and trellising difficult, and impede berry production. Even so, when you suddenly have raspberries, you can’t complain.
July 7, 2003 link
Thank you everybody who participated in my reader survey. The full results have been posted.
What did we learn from the survey? First of all, I learned that this web site is more popular than I expected it to be. Thank you for supporting my efforts. I will do my best to make your visits worthwhile…and the first thing I will do is buy a digital camera. Eighty-five percent of you want to see some photos, and I don’t blame you. They’re on their way.
I also learned that most of you only discovered my site last month (June 2003), and most of you found it through links on PathToFreedom and FuckCorporateGroceries. Hooray for weblogs!
Most of you are females in your twenties—some of whom have a crush on me. Many of you also sent personal notes in the comments box, which I greatly appreciate. I enjoyed hearing about your own gardens and suggestions for mine.
Back to the garden updates tomorrow, and photos are coming soon. Be sure to check out the full survey results, if you’re into that sort of thing.
July 2, 2003 link
I just discovered Don Engebretson’s Renegade Gardener web site. His irreverent ideas about gardening are very refreshing and funny. He has a section called “Don’t DO That”, which is hilarious, but useful at the same time. There are some funny pictures of really bad gardens (he drives around Minneapolis and takes pictures out the window), and tips to improve them. He also published a quirky gardening manifesto, and updates the site regularly. Props to Don for being a smart, cool guy who grows stuff.
July 1, 2003 link
The girl living in the apartment above me has caught “growing fever”. Last night, I discovered her new container garden on our back patio. She got a few big planters, some smaller pots and several hanging baskets. She didn’t plant any food or herbs (yet), but lots of blooming flowers.
She also trimmed the hedges, and cleaned up the back area significantly. I’ve been so focused on the veggie garden that I haven’t been maintaining the patio area very well. The upstairs girl has contributed some much-needed aesthetic assistance, and we’re building a nice little outdoor paradise.
