july

Progress is being made, even though I thought I lost the bok choy, collards and kale, all are coming back nicely!

two smoking barrels

Gardening is a little like a Guy Richie film...

Just kidding. But seriously, you've got to fight to keep your plants. Rose and Erin were in Brooklyn this weekend and Rose told me to spread ash around the base of my plants to keep the slugs and snails out. Good thing we have a double barrel smoker in the yard! I also made a perimeter around the base of the containers.... double security system. As you can see from the bottom picture, the collards were destroyed (again) recently.

fairgrounds

This past weekend was Independence Day weekend. Ethan, Mica and I spent a wonderful weekend on Cape Cod with my cousin Alycia, her wonderful husband Timmy and their two dogs Dixie and Willie. The perfect weekend!! (See photo above)

I went from beach to Brooklyn. Once home, I was surprised to find my lush green garden reduced to a lonely fairground. The neighbors had a fun cookout/party over the weekend and it took it's toll on our yard. Not to mention it was over 100 degrees in New York over the holiday weekend, so the yard suffered.

bzzzzzz plzzzzzz

My friend Viv gave me some gardening stuff that she can't utilize in her new apartment. I hung these little metal ikea "pots" from the edges of my planter boxes packed with wildflower and bee mixes to attract some honey beeeez.

You can tell from the pictures that the morning glories are loving the diy zig zag rope and have wound up the rope since last week. And in the last photograph you can see my cukes have sprouted kitty corner from the husky cherry tomato plant. (Which, by the way, is a midwestern way of saying "catercorner" but really, isn't it just diagonal?!)

buongiorno ziggy zag

 According to Wikipedia, morning glory is a common name for over 1,000 species of flowering plants. I was researching whether morning glories are native to New York because I see them everywhere. What I did find out about these Ipomoea purpurea (this might be what mine are, but there are numerous species) is that they reseed easily, so, although they are an annual they easily come back year after year.

This is my DIY planter box beautifier. Some zig-zaggy twines for my buongiorno glories to climb. You can easily make this yourself with some twine, wire nails, a hammer and scissors. Make fun shapes or spell a word... something creative. I think this will make my garden boxes pretty, but beware of the nail heads jutting out - I hammered mine flat against the wood but they are still a little dangerous. 

I just read a really intense thread on Morning Glories vs. Field Bindweed. Field bindweed is an invasive plant that hurts crops. "Biological controls" were used to combat this conceivably destructive plant, meaning a moth was imported and released to kill this invasive plant. What a horrible idea...We have a problem with a non-native plant so we bring in a non-native moth to make our problems down the road worse. Awesome planning guys.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that whatever is growing in my urban garden is a) not toxic to grazing animals (because I don't have any) and b) isn't affecting any farmers crops. Whew! So, I guess I don't have to worry too much. If you want to take a look at the thread, you can read it here.

herbal armor & dirt lines

I haven't been updating the urban garden blog as much as I would like, but it's growing like crazy! Ben (my neighbor) built 2 new boxes!! We are experimenting with sizes. The big one is split in half and really tall because I order sweet potato tubers and then like deep soil. We spit that in half to cut down the need for tons of dirt, but I think we are a little shallow on the non-potato planting side. Oh well, I threw in the "Husky Cherry Tomato" plant I picked up at Lowes and planted the parsley that I started indoors a couple weeks ago. The were living on the edge being outside while I was away camping over Memorial Day weekend. I'm glad they pulled through! 

Pictured above: My dirty-ass feet coming in from working in the garden - my all time FAVORITE thing about gardening is getting a little dirty!! Any excuse to get dirty is fine by me!; my best friend - bug repellent, this is not a sponsored post, but if you want to sponsor me I could buy this stuff by the gallon! We have an army of mosquitoes in the backyard; Shots of the garden from my porch.

thinning the herd

Babies Pak, Mustard, Kale & Escargot

Baby Pak, which sounds like a rapper name, was my very first mini harvest! I have been holding off thinning my pak choy because it seemed like such a waste to just toss little seedlings in the compost pile. Tonight I went out to look at the garden after being gone camping all weekend and the baby pak's looked like actual vegetables! I snipped a few, lightly sautéd and drizzled a little toasted sesame oil on top. Delish! 

I also have some chinese mustard greens that appear to be bolting. I tore some leaves and added that to my bean, kale and brown rice macrobiotic meal for some mustardy spice. Not sure what's up with the bolting, better do some research.

Pictured above is my first harvest of baby pak choy; the harvest of babies kale, mustard and pak; freshly rained on leaves, complete with fresh escargot; beautiful, artsy rain-makers that my cousin/big sister Alycia gave me for my birthday - a great way to water your plants while you're gone for a few days or a week depending on the plant's watering needs

bombs of love & green molotov cocktails

bombs of love

If May started to look bleak (too much time at work, not enough time in the garden) it turned around just as fast. And it's because I have the best friends in the whole world!! (And I did tell myself May was going to be great!!)

I got the BEST surprise package in the mail yesterday from one of my best friends and Glovebox partner, Jodie. She mailed me this great book The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City depicting Ethan and myself on the cover. Nice glasses! It's funny that last night, while reading through the first chapter, I found this interesting recipe for a seed balls. Just that name alone kept me reading - seed balls?!

The universe was up to something, because tonight I went to see another one of my best friends Viv, and she also had a present for me!! I don't know what I did to deserve so much kindness, but it made me feel very loved. Somehow between moving to a new apartment, helping me with my car and rescuing Mica from being home alone too long, Viv found time to grab the perfect gift. She gave me lovely seed bombs and a funky, graphic gardener's to-do list note pad!!

Not only did this make my work week feel a little lighter, but I now believe May is all about bombs of love. Go ahead, you know you want to drop one.

Thank you Jodie and Viv!!! 

xx

In case you are wondering was a seed bomb is, it's basically a clay ball mashed up with lots of seeds. You can throw it anywhere - like the lot behind my apartment that is basically a junk yard strewn with old car parts, bicycle skeletons and enough 40's to last this girl a lifetime. This little ball of fun is filled with wildflowers, the clay protects the seeds and helps stick them to the ground. 

Happy Birthday Mica!!

Mica is four years old today!! I adopted her when she was 4 months old from a foster/shelter in New Hampshire September 2006. Mica was born in the south and was in 3 different shelters in 3 different states before I brought her home. If you are thinking about getting a pet, check out Pet Finder first!

Mica and I spent time in the garden today filling up the first raised garden box. It took 8 bags of dirt! I put the planter box up on cement blocks to keep it off the ground, preventing leaching from toxic dirt. It also provides a way to reuse the slabs of cement I have been pulling out of the garden this spring! So far, all the materials we have used with the exception of the purchased dirt, have been reused and recycled materials. We even reused old rusty screws!

I also placed my new handy-dandy planter markers in their rightful home. See how to make some for your garden here.