Value of harvest as of 9/22/10: $948

A kitchen gardener's blog

Summer is Over

November 06, 2010 - Even though we are half way through autumn, for me, summer officially ended last night, with the death of my four remaining tomato vines. Last night's lost was particularly hard because after a summer of almost no tomatoes, my few remaining plants were making up for lost time. In the last six weeks I have harvested 46 pounds of slicers and 16 pints of cherry tomatoes. Usually I see harvests like this in July and August, not October and November. I did not want it to end, but yesterday afternoon, as temps were falling, I quickly picked every remaining tomato and the stuffed the biggest, wate... MORE

Dirt Can Make You Happy

October 29, 2010 - A friend once told me, that all the gardeners she knew were happy people. Well it turns out there is scientific research to back her up. I just read in the Oct/Nov issue of Organic Gardening, that researchers have discovered a organism in soil that increases our serotonin levels, making us more relaxed, happier and smarter. The short article left me with more questions than answers, like should I garden gloveless? So I googled mycobacterium vaccae, and found tons of info.

It turns out that Mycobacterium vaccae is a natural, harmless soil bacterium. Researchers think we ingest... MORE

Live Seasonally

October 17, 2010 - This is a prairie sunflower. It is the last showy perennial to bloom in my garden every year. Because it's tall and bright, I can see it from almost anywhere in the garden right now, and from the kitchen window. I even have a vase of these cheerful flowers sitting in the entry hall.

The longer I'm on this journey to eat seasonally the more it spreads to other areas of my life, like the fresh flowers I keep in the house. I once read, where Dr. Andrew Weil suggests, that a lot of health issues might be triggered by our disconnect to nature. He recommends keeping fresh flowers around ... MORE

Lunch Time Surprise

October 05, 2010 - After a chilly start to the day, I decided to have lunch in a sunny spot near the pond. The pond that we built especially to attract frogs, who would keep the garden mosquito and slug free. While soaking up the warm sun, I noticed I was not alone. This Bird-voiced Tree Frog was also sunning himself. He is no bigger than a quarter, and blends so well with the cattail leaf he was perched on, that I almost missed him.

Last week I discovered tadpoles; I think they are Southern Leopard Frogs, but I have never heard of a Bird-voiced Frog until today, when I looked this guy up. So may... MORE

Bundle Up or Go Naked

October 04, 2010 - That is the question I pondered all day yesterday. The weather forecast was for overnight lows in the mid 30's and I was trying to decide what to do about my tomatoes. Like all gardeners, I have, at times, gone to heroic efforts to save tomato plants from the first frost. However several years ago, a friend explained to me that tomato flavor diminishes once nightly temps are below 50. That was the same year I had a bumper crop of tomatoes and the pantry shelves sagged under the weight of jars and jars of tomato and pizza sauce. I was tired of harvesting and processing tomatoes. So for th... MORE

More on Amaranth

October 02, 2010 - Andria asked that I expand on my experience harvesting amaranth. Mother Earth News has a wonderful article with great pictures explaining all the steps, so I am going to focus on what I learned.

• After my second round of winnowing I still had a ton of chaff, so I poured everything through my kitchen colander, which sifted out the bigger pieces. But I still had to winnow many more times. And I still did not get all the chaff out. In the MORE

Flying Flowers

September 25, 2010 - I'll admit it, I'm bug geek. I love insects of all kinds (except harlequin beetles, squash bugs, cucumber beetles and cabbage loopers). This fascination dates back to my childhood when I kept live butterflies in my bedroom. I have a real soft spot for butterflies (except for the cabbage butterfly). So last week, when I found this scary looking guy





munching on the purple passion vine flowers, draped over the shed door, I was curious. What was its adult form? My husband speculated it was a moth. He was wrong, MORE

Who ate my parsley?

September 24, 2010 - I know there has been a lot of complaining here, about all the critters eating my garden this summer. But these Black Swallowtail larvae don't count as pest, even though they have devoured all my parsley.





Before long they will turn into beautiful butterflies, like the black one pictured here. And since parsley likes cool temps it will rebound with new leaves once the caterpillars are no longer active.... MORE

The Crazy Lady Can Winnow

September 19, 2010 - Every few years I entertain the idea of growing grain, but then I read about the harvesting process and decide otherwise. Winnowing the chaff from the seed is that part that I always find most overwhelming. Recently, when a friend asked how I planned to use all my amaranth, I was embarrassed to admit that I only grow it for its pretty seed heads. That was just the motivation I needed to make use of this year's crop of volunteer amaranth sprinkled throughout the garden.

All summer, as the seed heads matured I harvested and hung them from the rafters in the shed. Last night, after t... MORE

Swinging and Sipping with Morning Glories and Moonflowers

September 09, 2010 - Every spring I set gardening goals for the year. For many years, I only had one goal: food first. I know, it sounds more like a Mantra. Anyway, this year, after many years of "food first", the rest of the garden was looking neglected, so I set three goals:

Stay ahead of the weeds
Don't forget the ornamentals
Enjoy the garden



I now have weeder's elbow, same as tennis elbow. My flower beds are'nt as gorgeous as I imagined, and I still cannot sit and enjoy the garden without jumping up to pull a weed or deadhea... MORE

A Chipmunk Under the China Cabinet

September 04, 2010 - Sharing my Sungold tomatoes with chipmunks is bad enough, but I draw the line at sharing my dining room with them. For the past 24 hours we have had a chipmunk living under the china cabinet.

I have been doing a lot of moaning this summer about all the garden damage done by these rodents. Seems everyone in Nashville has an abundance of the little creatures this year. Usually they only damage a few strawberries, but this year they have sampled everything. They seem to especially love the Sungold cherry tomatoes, which happen to be my favorite. I thought the three foot tall chicken wir... MORE

Making Use of Every Inch

August 27, 2010 - One of my gardening goals this year (and I had many), was to make good use of every inch of space in the vegetable garden. To accomplish this I used techniques like intercropping and succession planting. When I did not have a food crop to fill an empty space, I planted flowers to attract beneficials or cover crops to improve the soil. Some combinations were more successful than others.

This bed, where walking onions recently sprouted, worked very well. In March... MORE

Shady Kale

August 23, 2010 - This year, I am experimenting with a new technique for planting fall greens. Looking for something less time consuming than starting transplants in the cooler-than-outside-house, I direct seeded kale and collards under a shade tunnel.



Half inch PVC pipe holds up green mesh shade cloth. Since the shade cloth also keeps flying insects out, I closed the ends of the tunnel with row covers, to make a totally pest proof enclosure. Now I don't have to fight off cabbage butterflies and their larvae, which can devour a small transplant in no ... MORE

Indulge me while I show off...

August 08, 2010 - Look at the melons I grew. The huge muskmelon, called Old Time Tennessee, is very tasty. And I think the little Emerald Gem is just the prettiest melon I have ever seen. I assume the name refers to it's unripe state.





While most things in my garden either failed to germinate, died or were eaten by pest this summer, the melons have thrived. Usually they do poorly for me, however, to date, I have harvested ten. The biggest problem I've had, is cracking, due to long dry spells followed by gully washer rains. I lo... MORE

Protecting Melons from Critters

July 17, 2010 - Recently I sent a morning wrapping my melons and pumpkins. No, I don't plan on giving them as gifts; I want to protect them from the critters. I used old pieces of floating row covers. These are the covers I occasionally spread over plants to protect them from insect damage. I loosely fold pieces of the covers around the fruit, so there is plenty of room to grow. Not only will it keep the cucumber beetles from chewing on the fruit, but I hope it will keep the raccoons and opossums from finding the melons. Last year they always munched on my melons a day of two before I planned on picking... MORE