Thursday Thirteen #22: Thinking Green

I have had a community garden for nearly 20 years. It's just a 15' x 15' plot, but I can produce a whole lot of goodies there.

Sadly, the Man and SC are not much for gardening. JR does like to help me occasionally, but generally on Sunday mornings it's just me out there in the garden.
Truthfully, I kind of like it that way. Sometimes I listen to the radio or my MP3 player. Other times I just enjoy the quiet. It's my time.

The garden is part of a city park and borders a steep wooded hill. Steps lead down the hill to a creek and people walk their dogs a lot there.  On hot days, I like to take a break sitting on the top step, looking down into the woods and enjoying the shade and the bird song.

Between the garden and the woods, there are lots of birds and other small animals. Bees and butterflies hover around the flowers in the summer.  Last year these zinnias grew to 6 feet and the bugs just loved them--I even had one large butterfly land on my back!

I used to be really afraid of bees when I was a kid. But now I find that if I am quiet and don't disturb them, they never bother me. If they're busy on my basil plants, I just move elsewhere to work and are grateful that they are there, helping to pollinate my tomatoes!

 I don't have a lot of time to garden, so I've developed various techniques, based largely on things from Mel Bartholomew's excellent book Square Foot Gardening. My garden is broken down into square beds, with wide paths, and the paths are covered with black plastic and bark mulch. I use black plastic on the beds too, so weeding is minimal.

A farmer  tilled the plot for me 19 years ago and taught me what I should add to the soil-- composted manure, green sand, gypsum and a bit of lime.  I still add most of them yearly, but I haven't tilled in years. And I use only natural fertilizers--I can't imagine using "Miracle Grow". What's the point of having a garden if you don't grow things organically?

Sometimes it's hot, sweaty work. I come home dirty and tired.
But when summer comes, and I'm coming home with baskets of wonderful goodies from my garden, it's all so worth it.

THIRTEEN THINGS I'M GOING TO PLANT IN MY GARDEN THIS YEAR: 

 1)Peas     I like both sugar snap peas and shelling types. They never get cooked--I eat them raw. JR loves them too and the Man and SC are known to sample a few!  They're one of the main reasons to garden. The only problem is getting them in the ground and growing fast enough to beat the summer heat!

2)Salad greens  I am going to try to plant a mix of lettuces--the sort called mesclun, because the Man and I eat Greek salad for lunch frequently year round and it would be nice to have our own. They grow quickly, so the heat shouldn't be an issue for a while.

 3)Spinach and Kale  The Man likes his spinach raw. I prefer mine Korean style , or in Spanakopita--Greek Spinach Pie. I'd like to do kale as well, because you can use it interchangably with spinach and we've really enjoyed it.

4)Pole Beans  The Man set up this bamboo tipi for beans last year and I grew the flat Romano kind (my favorite) on it. This year I am going to grow round beans as well. And I am going to make sure to put the insect netting over them so that I don't have to squish hundreds of nasty little Mexican bean beetle larvae again!

5)Zucchini  For all its reputation as the plant that never dies, over the last few years, my zucchini has not done that well. And I have a whole bunch of recipes that use it!

6)Eggplant  I use this and the zucchini to make crockpot ratatouille --SC loves it!

7)Peppers    Green peppers are unripe. I let my garden peppers color up. Usually I have red, orange and yellow peppers. We've grown hot types occasionally, but mostly I do sweet peppers--the girls love to eat them raw.

8)Tomatoes  I buy mine from the remarkable DeBaggio herb farm in Chantilly, VA, where they grow dozens of types. I always have to control how many I buy--there are so many I like!  Last year I grew big Brandywine tomatoes, sweet small Enchantment and at least 4 or 5 other kinds.
And one thing is certain. I will buy only ONE plant of the "Juliet" variety. They last until frost and are a little TOO prolific!:

9)Cherry Tomatoes  I am counting these separately, because I am going to grow them the same way I did last year, in these "topsy-turvy" planters. (Anyone recognize that name from "Mary Poppins", BTW?) The Man doesn't garden, but he's my master builder and he set up the frames to hang these on. They're set up along the edge of the garden, so they don't take up any bed space.
I am going to put "Sungold", sweet as sugar little orange tomatoes in one planter and probably put "Sweet 100" in the other. And I am so greedy for cherry tomatoes, I may set up two more planters!

10)Basil  For pesto , of course--the "Genoa Green" variety. There are few things better than a caprese salad sandwich--homegrown tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and pesto on a slice of crusty bread!

 11)Oregano Strong Greek oregano for our Greek salad dressing, spaghetti sauce and more.

12)Thyme  Two kinds--French Provencal and Green Lemon Thyme, which is wonderful with chicken.
(And rosemary and parsley, but no sage--though I do grow the ornamental kind at home!)

13)Flowers   Tall zinnias perhaps. Hopefully some gladiolas. Maybe some sunflowers--I grow them at the library, but I'd love to have more for cutting. Even if I don't cut a single stem, they make the garden beautiful and attract those butterflies!

Now if I can just get a dry Sunday and get out there!!!!

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