Repurposing and Replanting

I have a plan. I plan to repurpose these drawers- old dresser drawers, not the other drawers. Quiet down, peanut gallery.

Drawers, ripe for repurposing

Drawers, ripe for repurposing

Here’s their eventual home: under the mock cherry tree. Before I set up the drawers and turn them to their new use as planters, I need to clean up the suckers beneath the tree. That’s really what they’re called, peoples. Really.

cherry underThe flats from Fleet Farm’s garden department, seen on the right, will eventually fill the drawers. That is, they’ll fill the drawers after I get the cherry garbage out of the way.

Eventually, folks, I’ll get there. And when I reach my destination, I’ll share.

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I’ll take Composting for 1000, Alex.

Imagine the scene. Daisy, the compostermom, guardian of all things family, school, garden, and coffee, passes the Jeopardy test and gets on the show. A leap of faith, maybe. I do very well in the privacy of my own den, I’ll have you know. 

The first commercial break is over, and Alex comes over to talk to the contestants.

“Daisy, it says on my card that you feed your family dandelions.”

“Yes, Alex, but only in season.”

Alex turns his patented reaction face toward the camera, which cues the audience to laugh.

“In season, Daisy? When are dandelions in season, and how do you serve them?”

“They’re in season in spring and early summer, and they’re good in salads, pesto, soups, stews, herb mixes…”

And Alex moves on.

 

It’s true, readers. Dandelion greens are edible and delicious. I had leftover pasta with dandelion pesto for my lunch at work today, and my coworkers were suitably curious. I was eating veggie today purely by accident (I wasn’t enthused about any of our leftover meat), with my pasta + pesto + leftover green beans. It was delicious.

As the dandelions fade away, there ought to be fresh lettuce and spinach in the garden.

Meanwhile, I’ll take Eating in the Wild, Alex, and I’ll make it a true daily double.

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Guerrilla Gardening

I do my gardening in the open, mainly. Tomatoes behind the garage, ever-growing raspberry patch nearby. Lettuce, spinach, dill, a few more herbs, and squash are all in place. Give it a few years, and we’ll have asparagus, too.

I enjoy hearing stories of unconventional gardening. My latest fun forays into serving dandelion dishes can be part of this. I don’t grow these greens on purpose, but they do come up in generous quantities.

The walking onion is its own guerrilla plant, too. This year’s crop is taller than ever, and I don’t know why. But anyway, when the onion reaches its full height, it develops a bulb. The weight of the bulb pulls the green stalk to the ground, where the bulb sends out roots into the soil and begins to grow again. I intentionally brought a few over to this corner of the garden, and the onions seem happy campers – or hikers – there.

Walking onion grounds

Walking onion grounds

Bulbous Entity

Bulbous Entity

And new guerrilla onions.

And new guerrilla onions.

I didn’t plant these! I may have planned them, though, I must admit.

Seed bombs are great fun if you’re really brave. According to The Maker Mom, a seed bomb is “a hard ball made up of seeds, compost and clay that can be tossed into a garden or, even better, a vacant lot to create green space.” Her son made many seed bombs to raise money for – well, here’s her post. She said it best. 

 

 

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Reduce and Recycle?

Our fair city made the transition to a city-owned, uniform, city-distributed recycling bin. Garbage already goes in a city-owned container and gets picked up by an automatic truck. It’s quick, the truck is run by one worker, and all is well with the trash world.

We opted for the smaller no-fee garbage bin. With our basic green living habits, we generate very little garbage. We take pride in the fact that the small bin is perfect and even saves us a few pennies.

Next to the little garbage can, the recycling container looks huge. It looks like it’ll hold three times the volume that the garbage bin does. Come to think of it, that’s about right. If our family misses a garbage collection day, it’s no problem. We don’t overflow. If we miss a recycling pick-up, however, it’s huge.

Reduce (small garbage bin), recycle, and repurpose - foreground

Reduce (small garbage bin), recycle, and repurpose – foreground

That could be my next project in green-living: minimize the cans and bottles we use and recycle. Let’s see. We already –

  • avoid plastic water bottles in favor of a filter pitcher
  • use and reuse jars for jam, pickles, applesauce, and other home-canned goodies
  • there’s more, I’m sure. I’ll think of it after I hit “Publish.”

We can improve by —

  • drinking less soda (that’ll be me, replacing it with water or iced tea from a reusable pitcher)
  • making juices from concentrate instead of buying them in bottles
  • what else? Suggestions, readers?

 

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At the root of the matter – this tree.

I told the committee. I told the council. I explained that narrowing the road wouldn’t help the tree in front of my home because it would damage the root system beyond repair. Behold.

roots

roots

 

roots

roots

 

and more roots

and more roots

How dare that crew park their instrument of mass destruction next to the tree they’ve destroyed!

And there’s more – the neighbor’s cable line was torn down by one of the crew. In the process of reconnecting it, the tree (now missing most of its roots system) lost a large branch.

branching out

branching out

I’m really resenting this road replacement project. It’s causing major amounts of trouble for the tree and for my home.

 

 

 

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To Be is To Do, To Do is To Be

Do Be Do Be Do!

Long ago, when Amigo was a baby, I had a sweatshirt that proclaimed to the world:

shirt

 

Mine was white, not black, and credited Plato rather than Sartre with the second form of To Be. And so it goes as I give away the source for my latest posts announcing what’s done and what’s still To Do (be do be do).

With the help of a rake and a light rain, I managed to get the stepping stones a.k.a. old boards out of the garden. Now I can turn the soil, if the weather will ever cooperate. If not, it may be another year to plant no-till style.

Boards!

Boards!

More Boards!

More Boards!

Then the seeds will go in, and hopefully the seedlings will follow sooner rather than later.

Those patches of brown may look more like patches of growth soon.

 

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Save the Trees! Not.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but I don’t think our dear city council members would like the words my tree would say. Remember the Save the Trees movement? The Lorax reincarnated as my powerful neighbor panicked at the thought of losing the trees closest to the road. The alternative was narrowing the street and “saving” the trees.

People, you know I’m as green as green can be. I know the benefits of trees from both the aesthetic and scientific perspectives. I see my rain barrels as half full, not half empty. I make my own compost, for heaven’s sake! In addition:

  • I recognize that trees have a finite lifespan.
  • I know from my own classes and research that trees close to a street or (gulp) in a median strip live a severely shortened lifetime.
  • I know, and I told the Council, that the road work itself will damage the tree roots beyond repair. “Saving” is all rhetorical here. Hypothetical? Figurative? It’s sure not literal.

Off soapbox now. I’ll share the photo evidence with all who wish to see it. I must warn you; it’s not pretty. Do not let any baby trees see this.

This is what saving looks like?

This is what saving looks like?

a little closer, perhaps

a little closer, perhaps

Completely disconnected from the root system

Completely disconnected from the root syste

Sidewalk replacement starts later this week.

Guess what: that’s not sidewalk art by the neighborhood kids.

Sidewalks get repaired later this week.

 

 

 

 

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In Which Daisy’s Green Thumb Turns Brown

It was a gift – a gift from a generous and appreciative parent of a student. It’s a nice plant, supposedly one of the impossible to kill varieties. You guessed it, readers. I’m good at growing outdoors, but indoor plants tend to fade on me – fade to brown, not black. This one started looking really sad on its cubicle shelf, so I brought it home for some TLC.

This is embarrassing.

This is embarrassing.

It didn’t take long. A good watering, a little time with real sunshine, and there is recovery in the air – er, in the pot.

Now that's better.

Now that’s better.

The tiny tomato seedlings weren’t so lucky. Transplant shock plus a sudden transition to outdoors and the Romas and and a few Beefsteaks choked. I guess I’ll be a customer at the Memorial Gardens’ heirloom variety sale again.

RIP, tomatoes.

RIP, tomatoes. We hardly knew ye.

The pepper plants still look good. We’ll have a good variety of peppers, sweet and spicy, come September.

Peppers!

Peppers!

The scallions, on the other hand, have never really picked up. They are thin as embroidery thread and starting to lie down in their dirt.

Scallions - not stallions

Scallions – not stallions

I guess I should stick with what works – and that’s the wild walking onion crop that is already going strong.

These onions were made for walking!

These onions were made for walking!

As for the rest, it will wait until I’m a little more certain that spring is really here.

 

 

 

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Sowing Seeds in the Snow

The remnants of snow, I should add. We had a soggy inch or two on the deck and driveway a few days ago, followed by a little rain-mixed-with precipitation. Cold, damp, and just not feeling like spring, this weather.

I take a little encouragement from the green that’s popping up on my shelves. The seedlings are trying. They’re really trying.

Tomatoes, can't you tell?

Tomatoes, can’t you tell?

The others are struggling a little. They’re starting to get the typical indoor stems – weak and thin, that is – and leaning desperately toward the window in hopes of capturing a little sunlight.

Lean to the left!

Lean to the left!

I do have a few solutions to this problem. Watering takes place in the kitchen to minimize dripping on the wood floor. When I’m done watering, I rearrange the containers so they get a different angle at the available sunlight. Don’t laugh – it works, sort of.

As for the wimpy indoor stems, they’ll strengthen when the weather improves and the temperatures go up. The plants will take daily “field trips” outside to build strength and adjust to outdoor conditions, including developing stronger stems. Barring warmer temperatures, a fellow gardener recommended setting a fan to blow on the seedlings. I’ve never tried this, but it makes sense. The breeze will simulate outdoor conditions and stimulate thicker stem growth. Right? Maybe. I’ll try it.

For now, it’s watering time. Just think of those mouthwatering tomatoes that’ll be here in late summer.

 

 

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Is it Spring Yet?

Hearing this variation on “Are we there yet?” from my internal gardener, I wake up each morning and wonder when the snow will be gone. It’s been melting nicely, assisted by a light rain a few nights ago. The garden plots will be moist and well-watered before I even get the rain barrels set up.

A few days ago I announced to the family that I was going to play in the dirt. They looked outside at the still snow-covered backyard and expressed their disbelief. I tricked them; I was going down the basement where I had seeds, a package of potting soil, and a variety of containers. Now I have tiny, and I do mean tiny, tomato and pepper plants doing their best to reach for the sky. If we have decent temperatures, I can start putting the seedlings out on the deck by day and bring them in every night.

It’s a simple pleasure, really, this watching the plants grow. Every spring brings with it the potential for growth, literal and figurative. I watch the seedlings get taller and stronger and eventually put forth fruit. I see my own growth in planning, planting, and following through with the long-term process of watering, weeding, and caring for the plots. The personal growth also comes from the act of slowing down. Teaching is a fast paced, high stress job, and I enjoy every minute of it. When a school break arrives, I take the time to slow down physically and mentally. During summer, the longest break of our agrarian school calendar, the garden reminds me that some things can’t be rushed. These biological processes will happen, and they will happen at their own rates.

Meanwhile, I’ll relax with my laptop and blog about it. Okay? Okay.

Tomatoes, can't you tell?

Tomatoes, can’t you tell?

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