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

trial, error and maggies

no maggies please

I will spare your eyes a photo to prove this, but I have a maggie infestation in my compost pile. EEEEWWWWWW!!! (I'm going to say maggie because maggots just make my skin craaaaawl. I had an unfortunate experience with rotting meat in a garbage can once, and I'm a veg so it was traumatic to say the least.)

Luckily, I have my new handy, dandy The Urban Homestead book (my new favorite go-to gardening book) and it tells me I don't have enough "brown" in my compost and it's probably too wet. So, I need to add some shredded paper/newspaper - aka things in my recycle and mix it up really good to cover the maggies. GAG. 

Now, instead of ignoring my compost and keeping multiple compost buckets on my porch, I can fix this little problem. I thinking a worm bin on my porch would be a nice addition...

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.

watermelon cinco de mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Ben, my wonderful neighbor, build our first planter box today. I am so excited!!

This holiday, while is often thought of as Mexico's Independence Day (which is September 16th) actually commemorates the victory over the French army at The Battle of Puebla in 1862. We think of it as a drinking holiday and a day that means summer is right around the corner! In honor of Mexico's victorious defeat, I made watermelon margaritas and guacamole. Ben was cutting wood by spotlight and we were joined by party crashers who tried to climb into the guac. Nice try. And no, we didn't give either one a salty margarita - I just peeled them off my plate and let them go their merry way.

the super simple compost

I started my first compost last fall. It's a super simple way to cut back on your waste and make your own nutrient-rich black gold. Dirt. Yum!

You can start with a plastic tub or a wooden box - I used a cheap ikea plastic bin because I'm not using it for the vegetable garden.

diy super simple compost

Things you will need: Container, organic food scraps, yard waste...

Step 1: Cut some little holes in the bottom (I made mine too big and something kept digging under the bin and up into the composting scraps to have a little snack.) So, I recommend worm size holes, not rat/squirrel sized holes!

Step 2: Dig a hole to submerge your bin in the ground.

Step 3: Fill with vegetable scraps, grass clippings, dry leaves, etc.

Step 4: Cover with a heavy board and top with a couple bricks to deter any animals from getting into it and you've got yourself a compost!

Things you can compost:
Browns (High Carbon)
Wood ashes
Shredded cardboard
Corn stalks
Fruit peels/rinds
Leaves
Shredded newspaper
Peanut shells
Pine needles
Sawdust
Wood Chips

Greens (High Nitrogen)
Coffee grounds
Eggshells (I have read to avoid eggshells in urban areas because they can attract rats)
Vegetable peels/rinds
Garden waste
Grass clippings
Manures
Seaweed

Tea bags

Weeds (that have not gone to seed) 

Things not to compost:

Meat scraps

Fatty food wastes

Milk products

Bones 

urban prayer flags

Flashback to Photography 101... shadows and prayer flags in the backyard perked my interest one morning and I snapped a few photos reminiscent of some early photo classes I took in high school. I have always loved photography. I especially miss developing black and white film - the darkroom and photo processing is so methodical and rewarding.

leach not

Leaching has been a topic of concern since I started planning the garden in my Crown Heights Brooklyn backyard. I am concerned with the possibility of leaching in the garden, which is why I am building planter boxes with legs - to deter any chemicals from seeping into the wood and roots of the plants. 

Buildings in Brooklyn are being renovated all the time and contractors throw everything into the backyard during demolition. Pictured above are pipes in my backyard as flowers were pushing to the surface after a long winter. I have since removed the pipes, but you can be certain those pipes and other rubbish have been a fixture in the backyard for many, many years. It's hard to know what dangerous chemicals are infiltrating into the soil, but you can be sure that lead poisoning is a real threat.

Lead Poisoning 

According to this article on lead poisoning, it is common in urban areas to have high levels of lead in the soil because of leaded gasoline and paint. Lead-based paint was banned in 1978 but Crown Heights Brooklyn was being developed in the early 1900's and a lot of buildings on my street were built in the 40's and 50's, preceding the ban.

Arsenic in Pressure Treated Wood?

Years ago, there was concern about using pressure treated wood to build planter boxes because it contained arsenic. In the research I have done, this isn't an issue since the use of this dangerous chemical in pressure treated wood was banned for consumer use by the EPA in 2003. (Any pressure treated lumber manufactured for consumer use after that date has no arsenic in it.)

Helpful articles to check out:

Does pressure treated wood belong in your garden? 

Using Pressure Treated Lumber in Raised Garden Beds 

Gardening Dangers: Brooklyn Soil May Have Lead

Brooklyn Ground Zero for Lead Soil Problems

diy garden bench

I spent a sunny afternoon making a diy bench a little prettier. Here are the before and after pictures.

How to create your own garden bench:

2 found cylinder blocks or some variation

Random sturdy piece of wood

Stack'em up and voila! You now have a place to park yer arse!

parsley root, park benches and fresh juice

I started my weekend with juicing delicious orange juice and getting dirty in the yard. I planted container vegetables including an eclectic mix of cosmic purple carrots, southern collard greens and bok choy. 

Being dedicated to cleaning up our urban yard, I decided all the cement slabs that make up the pseudo-mosaic around the slate square patio need to be removed. I also cleaned up more cigarette butts and garbage that has accumulated since my last clean-up effort a month ago. Oh the joys of urban living! Apparently neighbors who live on the floors above think whatever goes our the window magically disappears into the clouds.

I had my furry friend keeping me company. Mica loves to tear around the yard to help aerate our "lawn." I say "lawn" because it's really just moss and renegade herbs that have scattered throughout the yard. Every foot or so there's a little patch of parsley oregano or dill. If I wasn't so disgusted with the leaching from what is under our topsoil, it would be quite the herb garden already!

Also pictured is some tentacled, dusty weeds, including a good-sized parsley root and the site of a future planter box.