Garden Tuesday - Garden Notebook!

Welcome to Garden Tuesday at It’s All Gouda. Today’s post is about starting and maintaining a garden notebook. Do you keep a gardening notebook? I’d love to hear about any type of gardening “record keeping” that you maintain.

I literally just started a garden notebook this week. In it, year after year, I plan to keep track of what I planted, how many I planted, where I planted them, the varieties that I liked, the ones that bombed, any soil amendments, diagrams of how-to’s, etc. My notebook is not fancy, but it will keep all my thoughts from jumbling around inside my brain. Plus, it will help me out as I slowly but surely become more and more forgetful! Another big bonus, at least I’d like to think it will be, is that I can pass this notebook onto my kids when they are gardening on their own.

I wish I had a gardening notebook from my grandma and mom, both of whom were amazing, amazing, AMAZING gardeners. Alas, I do not. The sad thing is that I know they would have written everything down for me, in deluxe detail, if I had shown interest when I was younger. Plus, in this day and age of electronic everything, I truly relish having things in their actual handwriting. But I digress ....So, all of you out there in garden land, let’s start keeping garden notebooks. To kick off this project, I simply drew a diagram of my garden, noting what I planted and where I planted it. That will help in several ways including planning “crop” rotation (ha, my little garden is hardly a crop, but you know what I mean) and staggered harvests as well as physical stuff like not planting tall bushy stuff in front of short hard to reach stuff.

I’m also just starting to save my own seeds. I openly admit that I don’t know what I’m doing. I am reading up on it, and am keeping notes on what I’ve done. Hopefully, when next spring comes around and I plant these saved seeds, I’ll be “wowed” that it worked. I. Hope.So far, I’ve only saved Bush Lake green bean seeds and curly leaf parsley seed. Oh, I was so excited when I shelled those dried beans. Did you ever see the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks? Do you remember the scene when he starts a fire for the first time, and thumping his chest and then raising his arms shouts out “I have made FIRE!!!”? Well, that’s how I felt when I shelled the beans. I mentally shouted out to all the neighborhood, “I have made beans!!!”I actually felt all warm and fuzzy inside, and my eyes might have teared up a bit. Yeah, I’m “special” that way.My favorite parsley plant took a beating this year when my hubby split it in half while yanking the hose to the other side of the yard. He duly apologized, and I did manage to keep the plant alive, but I knew it took a severe blow. I let it go to seed this summer, and thought I’d replant next spring. I basically just left it alone, letting it flower, and then dry up.Here I simply used my nail to “flick” out the seeds, and this is what I ended up with. I hope I did this correctly. I’ve got way more seeds than shown here.

The garden continues to do well. Many of the plants are now past their prime production days, but they are still producing food. It has been so wonderful to just step outside and gather what I need. I will miss seeing these things ...
Italia Sweet PepperZucchini BabeBusy Bee on BasilBaby Beans Keep on Comin’Year of the Sage

Garden Tuesday – 08/18/09 - Bean Bounty

Happy Garden Tuesday! I’ve seen a big shift in my garden this week. Some of my items are now past peak, such as the peas and the lettuce. Other items are just coming into their own, such as the zucchini and tomatoes. Mmm ... garden ripe tomatoes. And yet other items just keep on keeping on, such as the herbs and the beans.Lordly, do I have a boatload of beans in my garden. I planted only two varieties: Pole Beans and Bush Beans. I’m most familiar with pole bean varieties, so imagine my surprise when I discovered that I like the bush beans better! I’m making an assumption that bush beans get their name from their shape ... they spread out low in the garden vs. climbing up a trellis. The ones I grew have great flavor and they were, to my surprise, stringless! I staggered my plantings, just by a couple weeks, and I’m so glad that I did that. I’ve been enjoying their greenie goodness for a while now.So, when it comes to bean preparation, are you a tail kind of person? I’m a tail person. I leave them on.Off with their heads! Obviously, though, I do snap the heads off. I spent many an hour snapping beans when I was a kid. I actually like snapping beans. It’s quick, easy, and not messy at all. If I close my eyes, I can transport myself back in time to sitting in the back yard of my childhood home, sitting in a lawn chair, and snapping bean after bean with my mom. I used to make her laugh by belting out spiritual songs while we worked. I can still hear her laughter. Sure do miss her. Maybe that’s why I like beans so much.

Anyway, when it comes to beans, I like simple preparations best. A quick toss with olive oil and garlic is enough for me. My family, however, likes a bit of butter with theirs, so I’ve adapted my tastes for them.Gather a meals worth of beans. I just use my colander when I pick them ... makes prep and cleaning that much easier. Snap off the stems and rinse thoroughly.Add to a boiling pot of water, and boil for about 6 minutes. I always put a little dollop of olive oil after adding the beans. I don’t know why ... my mother did it so I do it. It does seem to keep the veggies bright green that way. Alternately, you could steam them.

NOTE: Here’s an old wives tale tip for boiling veggies: If it grows above ground, add it to boiling water. If it grows below ground, add it to the water and then bring it to a boil! Works for me!While the beans are a’boilin’, in a sauté pan, sauté a thinly sliced, not minced, clove of garlic in a combo of olive oil and butter. Saute it just enough to take the bite out of the garlic.Remove from the heat, and toss in the cooked beans. Season with sea salt if desired.
Serve! Beans fresh out of the garden are a real treat. It goes without saying that these are gluten free (uh, I just said it though.) I could make an entire meal just out of beans! YUM!

Garden Tuesday - Neighborhood Garden!

Ain’t she sweet? This is Plot one of two in my minuscule suburbian back yard.

Happy Garden Tuesday! I fear that some of you may be under the impression that I sport garden-green thumbs and have successfully sown a huge garden. While I like that impression, it’s not quite, uh, accurate. Not even a teensy, weensy bit.. The only thing huge about my garden is my lack of knowledge about it. Granted, I have filled up some of the anti-matter spaces in my noggin since last gardening season to this one, yet there is soooo much more to learn. Reality shouts out that I have two 6 x 4 plots utilizing the square foot method that provide more than enough bounty for my family to enjoy fresh veggies all summer long.

Today’s entry will not, um, focus on my garden. I thought you’d might like to see what I drool over and covet: my neighborhood’s community garden. About 3 blocks from my house is a neighborhood garden.I hope I’m not breaking one of the ten commandments regarding coveting thy neighbors goods, ‘cuz I definitely feel some major coveting going on here. Maybe it’s more like garden envy. *sigh*Not too far from my house, there is a stretch of open land where enormous power-line towers reside. I’m talking behemoth sized power lines. The way those things hum, I keep expecting them to come alive and be part of the next Transformers movie. Anyway, this grassy track of land stretches over several blocks and is maintained by the Parks and Rec Department. For years now, the Parks and Rec folks have done a terrific job of manicuring the grass growing in this stretch of land, and they even turned a large section of it into a neighborhood park complete with swings, playstructures, picnic tables and a drinking fountain. Last year or maybe it was the year before, at the request of many citizens, they dedicated a portion of the large grassy area to be a neighborhood garden.Somebody is going to be enjoying some slaw soon!

The Parks and Rec folks generously plowed up the grass, hauled in additional soil, divided the area into about 10 large garden plots, hooked up a couple water spigots, and fenced the area in. All the plots were immediately snatched up and the project was deemed a success. So much so, that the powers that be expanded the garden this year, doubling it in size.Just look at this zucchini plant! Mine is about, oh, 6 inches high right now. I love walking through there, getting ideas on how to set up and maintain my own garden. I’m not certain, but I think folks pay a one time nominal fee reserving their specific plot, and I believe everyone needs to follow organic gardening methods. It’s a win-win for everbody.Anywho .... my little garden is just a wee pup compared to these well established gardens. By visiting the neighborhood garden, I’ve gotten loads of ideas on how to stake plants, plus I love taking my kids through there so they can guess what the different plants are. Hard to believe that as little as a century ago, most folks grew their own vegetables. Now, most folks get their veggies from a store provided by people they don’t know and even from a state different than their own! One of the things I like most about my garden is reconnecting my kids with their food.

See you next week when we will talk about the different ways to stake your veggies for not only providing support for your plant, but for ease in harvesting. Also, we’ll take a look at how to start growing your own peas and beans. Do you know that you can continuously plant your beans and peas to keep you going throughout the summer?

What’s new in your garden?

The garden of weedin - part 1

After four months of dropping subtle hints followed by 2 months of direct requests ... aka nagging, hubby man constructed two 4' x 6' x 12" raised garden beds for me. This was no small feat, as the drizzle only stopped for a couple of hours. So, after a couple trips to Home Depot and Lowes, the stage was set for construction. This was a manual labor intensive job, and with our hard as cement yard, this would have been near impossible for me. Of course, he made it look so easy cutting through the sod, sawing all the wood, hammering it all together (I could have done that part), hauling it around, etc. I did issue a *sigh* or two watching him looking manly doing all this stuff ... he'd have fit in just fine on the Oregon Trail. Plus, he gave up his parking spot in the garage so all the stuff needed to make this happen could be stored there. Giving up a garage spot is a big deal out here in drizzle city. ANYWAY ... he sawed, he hammered, and he conquered our backyard. I was a bbiigg help. I ordered the soil, shoveled in about 3 loads, provided sufficient oohs and ahhs at progress check points, made a run to Home Depot for more pea gravel, for which my youngest issued an "eewww" response to the name ... yeah, you are guessing correctly and yeah, I had to explain to her that a) its a size reference, and b) it's spelled differently than what she was thinking. All my kids are so literal it's scary.

Also, big kudos to my littlest gal who helped her daddy all weekend long set stuff up in the back yard. Once it stops raining, I'll move onto phase 2 - planting. Never mind the weeds in the background. They will be but a mere memory in a matter of days. Phase 2 is soon to follow. We'll be using the "Square Foot Gardening" method, so we have our square foot grids to put down, followed by planting the actual ... you know ... plants!