Renee's Garden / More Starters!

Like I posted before, I started four Renee's Garden Spitfire Nasturtiums on February 26th. I planted these in roughly 2 in. x 2 in. x 4 in. (depth) pots using a mixture of Black Gold potting soil and cheaper, sandy garden soil. I left two seeds alone while nicking the other two. The ones that I nicked have each come up while only one of the others is barely poking out of the soil. The first one germinated in about 8 days, which would beat what it says on the back of the seed packet by one day (it says '9-12 days').

To the right, I have created a quick and easy reference point to when I started the Spitfires. Time permitting, I will plant these in several different ways, times, locations, and perhaps even different soils.

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More Starters! I went to work one day and came back to discover that Julia planted 7 (SEVEN!) egg cartons of seeds. This was probably two or three days ago.


Egg Carton #2 (as we already have a Egg Carton #1): Marigold, R.G. Rose Cosmos, Purple Dahlia Zinnia, Bright Lights Cosmos, Mixed Zinnia (two of each kind, four mixed zinnias)

Egg Carton #3: Cali Poppy Orange, Mikado Cali Poppy, Tall Shasta Daisy, Larkspur, Lobelia White Lady and Crystal Palace (two of each kind)

Egg Carton #4: Delphinium, Cosmos, Blue Love in a Mist, Snapdragons (multiples)

Egg Carton #5: Celeriac di Praga (celery root, the whole carton)

Egg Carton #6: Scented Basil Trio, Victorian Blue Sage, Lemon Bergamot

Egg Carton #7: Tomatoes, Bradywine, Yellow Taxi, Yellow Pear (2008), Yellow Pear (2009), Purple Cherokee

Egg Carton #8: Peppers,Criolla Sella, Aji Amarillo, Bolivian Rainbow, Tangerine Pimento

Some of the above seeds are from R.G., some from Abbo, and some (snaps, purple cherokee, some cosmos) were harvested by us.

The other egg carton (#1) is doing well. The snaps, basil, cosmos, blue love, morning glory, arugula, forellenschluss, swiss chard, and yellow pear are all coming up. The only ones not germinated yet are basil, lucullus chard, and aji amarillo. In the pots, everything is up except for one nasty, one chard, and the cilantro.

I have started to put the chard and some of the lettuce outside during the day to harden off. I would like to put these in the ground in a week or two. I know that I still will have to worry about a snow storm or two but perhaps I can figure out how to cover them quickly and easily if necessary. These plants should be okay outside in March in Colorado.

Expansion!

Our front yard garden just got a lot bigger. With help from Michael, we expanded the garden today. I am excited about the potential to grow lots more.

Also, I was looking at the Renee's Garden Media Kit and apparently, because I signed up for this nasturtium grow project, Renee is going to give me up to 18 packets of her seeds. That is pretty sweet!

Below are pictures of the expansion. Before, during and after. Estimated square footage added is approximately 120 square feet.

New Starters

Started more crops two days ago. I used an egg carton that we had around, poking holes in the bottom and using the lid as a water catcher. Twelve cells in all I planted: snapdragons (2), basil, R.G. double cosmos rose bon bon, nigella blue love in a mist, morning glory, arugula, lucullus chard, forellenschluss, bright lights swiss chard, aji amarillo pepper, and a yellow pear tomato.

I also planted twelve pots that are about 2 x 2 x 4. I planted four of the spitfire nastys (experimenting with clipping part of the seed in two (I will go in further detail about this later for the GROW project), four more chard, 2 more snaps, 1 cilantro, and one violet wave kale.

This brings me up to 50 cells/pots/containers of plants. All strategically located on the window sill.

Sunny Day / Renee's Garden

Pretty sunny morning as the snow continues to melt. Cold frame is already at 82 degrees. The top number is the other part of the temperture gauge (the 57.9 is apparently the temperature of some cold closet in my house). Also, check out the bulbs coming up. I have no idea what they are...



I got a package from Renee's Garden yesterday. In included seeds of cosmos and the spitfire nasturtiums. The nastys are a part of a garden blogger experiment, check it out --> http://grow.gardenbloggers.com/



As part of this experiment, I am encouraged to blog about my experiences, successes, and failures.From the grow.gardenbloggers.com website, the following are a few 'Ideas for topics after the 1st month: growth rate, what kinds of insects are visiting your plants, what kind of fertilizer are you using, how are you using the plant in your garden, what uses are you finding in the home and kitchen for the plants, photo essays, video reports, and an artist? show us your painting or crafts created from your plants and flowers.'

I'll volunteer Julia to tackle a few of those topics. I have only just begun to brainstorm about different ways I can experiment with seeds. (Obligatory end of blog post questioning) Do yoooouuu have any ideas?!

Squash 2 and GG

The first squash flower has come and gone (Taylor and I ate it). But, don't fret, the next flower will bloom tomorrow. Then, there are a half dozen more coming right after that one. Still no signs of any actual fruit, but like I said before, I'm sure when I plant it outside, it will go crazy.

I've been reading more about this guerrilla gardening idea. Who knew that the Boulder Public Library would have the book 'Guerrilla Gardening: A Manualfesto'? Anyways, I came up with a few possible locations. When I walk to work, I try to take the straightest route possible, cutting through alley ways and yards. It would be cool to scatter seeds (like snapdragons, hollyhocks, and nasturtiums) along the route.

I would also enjoy planting edibles (flowers, greens), specifically plants that are native to Colorado (and therefore need little human care) and that will blend in to the natural environment.

Thus, the GGs can be both visual appeasing and nutritional.

Squash

The squash bloomed this morning. Looks really cool but there are no signs of fruit yet. Perhaps when it is planted outside it will start doing it's thing.

The fence has held up nicely. No dog has taken the plunge over the fence and into the garden. Hopefully, this continues.

Guerilla Gardening

http://www.livingoffgrid.org/the-basics-of-guerrilla-gardening/

http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

I found two websites that I thought I would share. I like the concept of guerrilla gardening. At the very least, it creates a few more plants in the world. Flowers and plants are visually pleasing and are enjoyed by, not only the owner, but also to anyone passing by. Plants create an environment or habitat for animals and can even feed these animals.

At the very most, guerrilla gardening feeds people. Though Colorado is quite dry, I'm sure I could find a few plants that could thrive with little or no attention. I know I could not commit my time to going somewhere other than my front yard and plot to water plants.

However, if I could find a spot close by, I could easily visit once a week perhaps. For example, there is a trail head pretty close to my house. As you enter the trail, you pass over a farmer's ditch. All I would need is a cup if I wanted to water. I could find a little hidden corner, plant some lettuce or some plant that doesn't demand attention.

Like the article suggests, GGs are like Johnny Appleseeds of the urban landscape. I think there is a purpose in this idea as well: to grow something that is either visually pleasing or can feed somebody.

GG ties into rogue eating: the act of scavenging, either the cabinet or in the environment, to supplement a meal. Rather than go to the grocery store to get lunch, I can piece together a lunch with the food I already have. Similarly, like Brookstar knowing all the good apple trees in the neighborhood, one can find food by simply walking around. Native Americans are a great example of a group of people who were able to live off the land (they did this with very low impact to boot), eating roots, wild onions, and fruit.

Perhaps, when the weather turns warm, I will guerilla garden. Until then, I can walk around and have fun scoping out some potential spots.

How to spend an hour on a snowy day...

...creating a compost cocktail!

What I used:
cinderblocks, scrap wood (leftover from James' coldframe supply scavenge) and bamboo poles lying around the backyard
hands
shovel

What goes into the ultimate compost:
1. our old "special compost" pile, consisting of organic food scraps from Abbo, Builder and our own garden, mixed into the topsoil at the end of our lettuce bed
2. coffee grounds (most coffee shops or juice bars will give you these if you're not a coffee drinker at home)
3. organic veggie pulp obtained from a juice bar (you must sign a waiver to take it home - don't eat it!)
4. wheat grass mats, also from a juice bar

I started by building a little wall around the area I want to fill with compost cocktail. Always start with the perimeter and define your boundaries.

Then I turned over the soil and the old "special compost" pile that had been living in that spot since the fall. To my surprise, many of the veggie scraps still looked vibrant and green! They've been living in the cold, snowy ground like it's a refrigerator. I stabbed at it with the tip of the shovel almost parallel to the ground to aerate the soil and break up the scraps a little.

In went the veggie pulp and the mixing continued.

I also threw in some old squash seeds as an experiment. If a few sprout when it gets warm, I'll let them be and see how they do. They are in an unobtrusive spot, but it may be too shady for them to thrive. We'll find out! I call this the Juliatific Method...not quite scientific, but experimenting and observing nonetheless.

Then I just covered it up with some boards and a plastic lid I found out back. As another experiment, I put one mat of wheat grass on a little patch to compare whether the compost underneath breaks down more quickly. The boards and wheat grass mat can all be easily lifted to add to the cocktail.

I plan to continue adding the aforementioned cocktail items and turning it over for the next few months. Hopefully it will result in delicious, black, nutritious garden food come summer!

Transplant

Did a little transplanting this morning. The chard and lettuce are looking good in their new homes. The anise looks a lot better too. We need to pinch off the tops so that it doesn't get too leggy.





Julia picked up a nice wooden box (originally for 125 lbs of kiwis) that is perfect for a raised bed. It is about 2 feet by 3 feet by 1 foot (depth). We still have left over windows from the materials I gathered when I was making the cold frame. I think one of the extra windows will fit perfectly on top. If we use it for cold tolerant plants like lettuce and chard, I think I will use the window as a top but not secure it onto the box so that it can easily be taken off. Also, our backyard has some trees and the house blocks the sun there as well. When it gets too hot, we could move this kiwi box to the back yard so that the lettuce can live in partial shade.



I read somewhere that chard is a good container crop. This made me start to think... I am too lazy (and I don't want to mess up too much of the yard) to expand the garden in the front yard. The wave and shark fin are fine. However, container growing is a great way for me to increase my gardening space. We have a nice flagstone patio that we could literally fill with container plants if we felt like it. We could even line the 'wave' with containers. Perhaps this can act as a buffer between the dogs and the garden.

Julia did some work on our compost heap as well. This is located close to our backyard at the end of the lettuce patch.



On a side note, the Russian women's curling team is really hot.

Milk! and Valentine's Dinner

Our hearts they beet as one.






















Julia and I lowered our carbon footprint by buying premium (priced and quality) local milk from Longmont Dairy Farm. Every Monday (that's today!) at 6:30am, the company will deliver the milk to our front doorstep, left in a cooler. If we wanted to, we could order cream, eggs, and cheese from this dairy as well.

Oh, how tasty it is!

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Because of work schedules, we had valentines dinner on Saturday. Yesterday, however, I cut back six (count 'em six!: green leaf, wild card, forellenschluss, 'rugy, hyper red rumble, merlot) kinds of lettuce. Just enough to make a small salad. I know it is nothing much; it is a sign of things to come.

For Valentine's Dinner:

-Our Daily Red organic California table wine
-Pomegranate Spritzers
-Beet Soup
-Grilled asparagus with a pomegranate cream sauce
-Ribs with NC style sauce (a la Pitmaster)
-Baked brie with a homemade red onion marmalade
-Cake - strawberry shortcake layers with fudge frosting and pomegranate soaked cake
-Homemade ice cream - vanilla bean custard with three different kinds of cookie dough marbled into tiny hearts

Needless to say, it was delicious.

Snow

Here are a few good ones from my hike around west and north Boulder this afternoon. One of the pictures is North Boulder Park; check out the ski tracks. There was a class going on in addition to about fifty other skiers. All of the other photos can be found at the bottom left of this screen. I walked about five miles in all.

Star of David

Check out the perfect snowflakes falling on our neighbor's dog.




Julia cooked a wonderful chicken last night for our friends. Lemon, apples, egg noodles, rosemary, onion, with a pomegranate cream sauce.

Fence

I built a fence yesterday out of bamboo sticks and garden netting. It is a little difficult to see from this photo, but the netting is there. Time will tell if it holds up against the dogs. But, for the time being, it was a quick and cheap way to keep them out of the onion and garlic patch.

The squash plant is loving life in the sunny corner, growing huge leaves and budding. The lettuce and chard are doing well, too.

Even some of the basil is starting to come back (a la 2nd edition). No sign of the onions yet, but it is too early.

Onions

Started two different kinds of onions yesterday, six cells. I hope they sprout... I read somewhere that onion seeds only last one year before the germination rate goes way down. I think one of the kinds of onions are valencia from Abbo and the other came from the seed pods harvested from our garden.

February Goals and Other Topics

I believe I successfully signed up for a garden blogger's project set up by Mr Brown Thumb (check out my blogroll if you want to read his blog). If I did, Renee's Garden will be sending me a packet of Spitfire Nasturtiums. I'm not quite sure if I signed up in time (they only take 50 and there may be a million garden bloggers), but it will be really cool if I get a packet of seeds in the mail some day soon.

To participate in this project, I will be blogging on the first Sunday of each month about the nasturtiums. It sounds like a great idea: have garden blogger's around the country share their experiences with the same seed. Education is a great thing.


I have some good news and some bad news about my starters. The good news is that the chard and lettuce are looking good. The first true leaves of the chard are coming in and you can see the growth with each passing day. The bad news is about the basil. I torched them. Trying to create a miniature greenhouse, they got too hot, shriveled up, and died. :( So sad. Oh well, I planted them again and they should start to come up in a couple of days.

I started thinking about planting an obnoxious (my sister's favorite word) amount of starters, so much more than I could ever use myself and giving them to friends. Kind of on the lines of Johnny Appleseed, I could have plants all over Boulder. I wish I could knock on everyone's door and ask them if I could dig up part of their yard and plant a few things. Who wouldn't want fresh produce in their yard that they could enjoy??? They world would be a better place if...

I read somewhere that 90% of the energy used to cultivate crops goes towards transportation and packaging. Only 10% goes to actually growing the crops. Think about that the next time you go to the store and buy something wrapped in plastic. Even Whole Foods will shrink wrap a couple ears of (local) corn because they have found that it sells better that way. Instead of having a marketing team figure out how to sell more produce, why doesn't Whole Foods spend that energy (money) elsewhere, perhaps trying to educate people NOT to buy food wrapped in plastic?

Anyways, its almost February. Some goals that I have for this month:
-build a fence around the garden so that the eight dogs who call my front yard their home do not completely destroy the onion and garlic crop
-start more plants inside
-figure out how to utilize the cold frame better (though the chocolate mint and strawberries are loving it right now)
-gain employment, perhaps on a local farm
-read and learn more about horticulture and sustainable agriculture
-spend the month of February eating everything in the cabinets. Julia completely organized our cabinets (labels and all) and we have challenged ourselves to eat what we already have.

Random Pictures

A funny picture and possible future cover to 'J & J Burrito Safari' as well as latest lettuce harvest that complimented our salad.

Julia's Photo Exhibit

Julia had an open reception for her photo exhibit. She made some awesome cupcake-cakes for the occassion. Check it out!







Her photos will be up until February 28th-ish! Stop by and see them! They are at the Whole Foods at the corner of Broadway and Arapahoe.

Peak Oil and the Disaster that is Industrial Agriculture

Richard Heinberg, Sharon Astyk, and Aaron Newton write a lot about the connection between peak oil and the disaster that is industrial agriculture. They write articles called 'Fifty Million Farmers' and books titled 'A Nation of Farmers.' The buzzword 'peak oil' makes people worried about the future of our planet, but it is too big of a subject for people to really grasp. There is too much information to absorb and too many opinions that it is difficult to figure out who is right and who is just writing a blog. Instead of trying to figure out this mess, perhaps it would be better for people to focus on a smaller, more specific matter: the petroleum based industrial agriculture and the negative affects that this 'advancement' has had on the world.

It is thought that about 17% of all fossil fuel consumption in the United Stated goes towards agriculture, the single largest consumer. Peak oil signals the climax of the industrial agricultural movement as it will be impossible to continue to produce food without soaring food prices. Soaring food prices come from soaring energy prices.

I have read that one day soon, most of the food that Americans eat will be grown overseas where labor and land costs are significantly cheaper. That means, our dependency on the rest of the world will only increase, something that we have fought wars to mitigate. However, I have also read that argument that rising energy costs will force agriculture back to America. So, which one is correct? I hope that most of our food will again be grown in our backyard.

Heinberg sites the Cuban Special Period as a specific example of how a nation can change it's food system when necessary. Below is what he wrote about this topic in his article 'Fifty Million Farmers':

"In some respects, the most relevant example is that of Cuba's Special Period. In the early 1990s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba lost its source of cheap oil. Its industrialized agricultural system, which was heavily fuel-dependent, immediately faltered. Very quickly, Cuban leaders abandoned the Soviet industrial model of production, changing from a fuel- and petrochemical-intensive farming method to a more localized, labor-intensive, organic mode of production.

How they did this is itself an interesting story. Eco-agronomists at Cuban universities had already been advocating a transition somewhat along these lines. However, they were making little or no headway. When the crisis hit, they were given free rein to, in effect, redesign the entire Cuban food system. Had the academics not had a plan waiting in the wings, the nation's fate might have been sealed.

Heeding their advice, the Cuban government broke up large, state-owned farms and introduced private farms, farmer co-ops, and farmer markets. Cuban farmers began breeding oxen for animal traction. The Cuban people adopted a mainly vegetarian diet, mostly involuntarily (meat eating went from twice a day to twice a week). They increased their intake of vegetable sources of protein and farmers and decreased the growing of wheat and rice (Green Revolution crops that required too many inputs). Urban gardens (including rooftop gardens) were encouraged, and today they produce 50 to 80 percent of vegetables consumed in cities.

Early on, it was realized that more farmers were needed, and that this would require education. All of the nation's colleges and universities quickly added courses on agronomy. At the same time, wages for farmers were raised to be at parity with those for engineers and doctors. Many people moved from the cities to the country; in some cases their were incentives, in others the move was forced.

The result was survival. The average Cuban lost 20 pounds of body weight, but in the long run the overall health of the nation's people actually improved as a consequence. Today, Cuba has a stable, slowly growing economy. There are few if any luxuries, but everyone has enough to eat. Having seen the benefit of smaller-scale organic production, Cuba's leaders have decide that even if they find another source of cheap oil, they will maintain a commitment to their new, decentralized, low-energy methods.

I don't want to give the impression that Cubans sailed through the Special Period unscathed. Cuba was a grim place during these years, and to this day food is far from plentiful there by American standards. My point is not that Cuba is some sort of paradise, but simply that matters could have been far worse.'

'Urban gardens (including rooftop gardens) were encouraged and today they produce 50 to 80 percent of vegetable consumed in cities.' That is an amazing fact. What if that happened in America? Think about how much better this world would be if the government encouraged urban gardens. What if every university student had to take a course or two on 'how to farm?' Heinberg worries about the average age of most farmers (over 55) and how some practices and techniques of farming will simply be lost.

The Cuba example has happened in America: Victory Gardens. Thanks to Eleanor Roosevelt (or Michelle Obama, Sr), Victory Gardens produced about 40% of America's vegetables at the height of the movement!(Heinberg) Again, I ask, why was this abandoned. I assume people were caught up in the moment, they were excited about being patriotic and doing their part to help America win the war. And, when we actually did win the war, their gardens were forgotten and 'normal life' began again. Pitiful. Just like after 9/11, a major world event that put the lives and future of Americans at risk, patriotism was at an all-time high. The 'gardens' of freedom have once again been left behind for the desire to drive Hummers and shop at Wal-Mart.

Small-scale farming that relies on human labor rather than petroleum is one answer to the growing energy crisis. The local and organic movement will not only be looked at as a fad or something that hippies think about, but it will be seen as a way to change our food system. It will cut down on the transportation costs and encourage people to eat what is grown locally and to change their diet to coincide with what is in season. Of course, this won't be easy. Just last night I was eating the third or fourth helping of carrot ginger soup that Julia made. I wish she would make cucumber melon soup instead, but she reminded me that it was January.

Through government policies, education, a shift away from petroleum fueled agriculture and a push back towards small-scale organic farming, America can cut down their dependence on Middle East oil. By cutting up the huge agribusiness farms and returning the land to the hands of the people, America can change its food system. In Cuba's example, it was thrust upon the country by necessity. However, one could argue, that necessity has arrived to America as well.

Read Richard Heinberg's article 'Fifty Million Farmers' here: http://www.energybulletin.net/node/22584.

Sprouts and Side Garden

The sprouts are looking good. It is interesting that the chard and lettuce is twice as big as the basil already even though it is several days younger.



I also find it interesting that the lettuce we planted in August is still alive, even after all of the snow storms and cold, winter weather. They might actually make it through the winter. Yesterday, I got rid of the kale and turned the soil.