Even though the sun has been playing coy, and it sort of feels like Winter , things are happening in the garden. The best picks of today were the strawberries, the salad greens and the sweet peas. Who needs the 3 tenors, I have the three S’s! I know, I know, 7 strawberries is not a bounty, but there were only seven dwarves and look at all the attention they got....
Turns out that skipping yoga and not racing all over town has it’s benefits. Today, I took in the calming benefits of picking some things from the garden. The main things I picked were some mixed greens (left) mustard and arugula (center) and carrots (right). Sam loves to help pick things in the garden. He followed me along and we picked these goodies. That Sam loves to help slays me about as much as the gorgeous vegetables that we pulled from the soil. Soon we will have pears, strawberries, more greens,and green beans I hope. In even more time, we will hopefully...
As the half-time garden volunteer for Alex's first grade class, I am always interested in garden related ideas for the children. After a trip to the library, where I checked out a stack of books related to children and gardening -I unearthed the idea of leaf crowns. I thought the project was simple and perfect for Fall. This comes from a book I found online called Earthways . As explained in the link above, here is how you make these beautiful crowns. We also made a garland or leaf chain to decorate the classroom. Here is what you need and how to do it: You will need lots of recently fallen leaves...
One of the things I am volunteering to do at Alex's school this year, is take 10 first graders to the school garden every other week. This week, I took my group of first graders to the garden for the first time. The kids were so excited and engaged. I felt a little chaotic with ten kids all asking questions, wanting to explore the garden and, anxious with anticipation. Overall, I think it went well. Next time, I need to bring a watch. The most disarming thing, was I had no idea how much time we had or when I should be wrapping it up. Luckily we go right before school let's out, so when I see parents...
Something has gotten into my compost box and tossed all the dirt for three feet! I have been "cooking" that dirt for a couple years now. I have to say, it feels like the most personal of attacks. We diligently walk to the back yard daily with coffee grounds, carrot tops, banana peels, rotting lettuce and place them in the magic dirt making compost box. The bugs and the worms came and did their jobs. In one day, some critter just couldn't resist helping itself. Compost everywhere! I can't get it out of the gravel pathways. Then, I went out to survey my vegetable beds and found all my spinach has...
With all the chaos around here, I almost forgot about all the wondrous things happening in the back yard. This sunflower reached the second story window (20 feet?) and then bloomed. It was so heavy it promptly bent over. Before it keeled over toward the ground, it was sorta Jack and the Beanstalk like. I am getting excited to have bunches of tomatoes. As the photos show, they are still green, but a few more hot days and I think we will be ready to make sauce! I also just planted a bunch of Winter veggies like chard, mixed greens, and arugula....
Our pear tree is dripping with fruit. They are a little small but we are "harvesting" the first batches this week. There have been about about 3 paper grocery bags full so far. The plan is to let the remaining pears get a bit larger and then pick them later. Most of the pears (Bartlett), are still green. When they ripen, they turn yellow. This year, I finally got smart and decided it would be best to pick the pears instead of letting them fall. When you let them fall, they obviously get all smooshed and bruised. So, we pick them, and leave them in paper bags to ripen. At this point, there is such...
