May 26, 2005 link
The agony of thinning. For most gardeners, every moment in the garden is a joy. But there is one task which is exceedingly difficult. The time arrives, in late Spring, when we must thin our seedlings.
After weeks of nurturing our little plants from the ground, we now move down each row, pulling half (or more) of the seedlings from the ground. It seems so wrong to kill so many of our plants, but we remind ourselves that it is for the greater good.
My first few years of gardening, I could barely bring myself to do it. I left way too many plants, and they were always crowded and puny. I felt that the more plants I left in the ground, the greater the chances that some of them would survive and bear fruit.
I’ve finally come to appreciate the importance of thinning. This year, I am approaching it with relish. I imagine that the sooner I remove the competition, the sooner the chosen plants will be able to reach their full potential. If you love something, set it free. By thinning our rows, we are setting free the roots of the survivors so they may grow big and strong.
May 17, 2005 link
I added some photos to the 2005 Gallery.
May 12, 2005 link
I am now the proud owner of a container garden. On the front stairway of my apartment, I’ve got 12 medium-sized pots—filled with sun-loving fruit and vegetable plants. Their contents include: dwarf blueberries, tomatoes, peppers, bush cucumbers, pole apples, miniature dill, dwarf okra—plus some miscellaneous plantings of radishes, lettuce and cilantro underneath the larger plants.
Many of these varieties are also planted in the backyard, so I can compare the results of the sunny (yet shallow and prone to drying out) containers versus the shady (yet consistently moist and deep soiled) backyard. Which will produce better results?
Unfortunately for the heat-loving cukes, peppers and okra, our temps have been dipping into the forties (Fahrenheit) every night. Concerned for their well-being, I have been dragging the big heavy pots inside every night to fill up my tiny living room. Then, each morning, I set them out again.
May 9, 2005 link
I mentioned yesterday how I planted wildflowers and grasses to fill-in the gaps where veggies won’t grow. Catherine from Australia sent me a helpful note, in which she says:
That’s a good point. I’ve always avoided planting too many flowers, because I felt they were frivilous and took up valuable space that could be used for food production. But lately I’ve started to realize the benefits that flowers and ornamental plants can provide, by contributing to a varied backyard ecosystem.I reckon by planting flowers and grasses you’ll still be helping out the edible plants. They’ll attract (the right sort of) insects, bees and butterflies and keep the soil healthy which no doubt have indirect benefits. Well, the bees for pollinating anyway.
I’ve also heard that there may be a shortage of honeybees this year. I’m not sure if the bee parasites have spread to the Midwest, but if my wildflowers help attract pollinator bees to the veggies, then I will never diss them again.
May 8, 2005 link
Yesterday I planted a second batch of stuff, to go along with the first wave of planting.
- Cucumbers. I want to try growing them straight up vertical poles. I’ve never seen cukes grown this way, but it seems plausible. In my sun-challenged yard, this will help them reach upward toward the light.
- Zucchini. The past few years, I’ve had trouble with zuke plants catching a mildew fungus and dying before they bore much fruit. Not quite sure what to do about this, but I will keep trying.
- Pole Beans. Weak yields the past few years, but I keep trying like a stubborn son of a gun. The first year I grew beans, I had a bumper crop—so I keep hoping to do it again.
I also planted a bunch of native wildflowers and grasses to fill in the gaps. The ones I planted like the shade-dappled edges of forests, so I hope they will like my shade-dappled edge of brick wall.
Still need to plant tomato and pepper plants from the store. Overall, I’m very happy with the garden status this year. I got off to an earlier start and it gets easier each year.
May 4, 2005 link
The Great Growing Experiment Hits the Road. Are you a food grower in the Chicago area? Whether your garden is a patio full of pots or your own mini-farm, I am interested in seeing it. This summer I’ll be hitting the sidewalks, alleys, backyards and empty lots of Chicago in search of the amazing, the beautiful, the eccentric and the simply ordinary. If you’ve got fruit, vegetables, grains or herbs you qualify for a visit.
Here’s the idea: people are doing all sorts of cool stuff, but most of them don’t have their own web sites. Their “growing experiments” are personal pursuits, mostly unnoticed by their neighbors. But we can learn by sharing our ideas with one another. Those of us with a passion for urban agriculture need to start communicating with others in our city or neighborhood.
If you show me your garden, I will post an account of my visit—along with photos—on this web site. You’ll suddenly experience the fame and fortune that comes from being featured on a small special-interest blog. Or at least you can be proud of making a contribution to Chicago’s backyard agrarian community by sharing your challenges and successes with all of us. Plus, you can finally have something to show your relatives and neighbors who call you crazy for toiling away in your yard every weekend.
If you’d like to be featured, please let me know and we can arrange a good visiting time. I don’t have a car, so it’s best if your place is accessible by CTA or Metra.
Bonus points (but not required) for the following:
- Organic growing methods
- You are under 30 years old
- Living on a small city lot, or in an apartment
- Ingenious ways to maximize space
P.S. Don’t be embarrassed because you think your scrappy little garden is not worthy. Most urban food gardens are not works of beauty, and nobody knows this more than me—the guy who is trying to grow stuff in a shady weed-filled patch of unwanted ground.
