BloominThyme - Page 8

03 Mar 2012 No Comments

Progress Report for Spring!

The kids are almost fully planted now with an array of cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, black beans, potatoes, radish and soon to be herb garden. Still remaining in the previous garden are sweet onions and carrots. Brussels sprouts too, although we haven’t seen the first sign of a “sprout.” Oh well, yet another garden mystery for us to solve by mixing up a concoction of N-P-K!

As you see, our garden is covered in hay. This serves two purposes:

Number one, it makes for pretty lined walkways and number two? It makes great mulch. We do love a multi-tasker!

To the left, we are rebuilding our bean fort, but this time, no heavy roof material. As the polebeans climb, we’ll stretch twine overhead for them to wind around.

The middle schoolers worked hard on this project and lower elementary followed their lead by planting beans all around the base.

They worked in two shifts and the more the merrier! Remember, we’re using the harvest as sales product for our first garden fundraiser come May. Yipee!

As we planted our sunflowers this week, we paused to contemplate how truly wonderful these plants are. They attract aphids away from the more tender plants in our garden and the aphids attract ants. Big and sturdy, these flowers can handle the traffic the other plants cannot! But better yet, sunflowers are also said to improve the growth of corn. Now that’s what I call helpful companions in the garden

And for those of you worried about the recent cold snaps in our area, everything survived with nary a bruise. What didn’t survive so well? Our radish—but that had nothing to do with the temperature. We can chalk that up to overeager weeders and hay throwers!

Well…these bodies DO get busy when they’re in the garden. A good thing! And since we’re self-sustaining, we can always plant more seeds (not to mention brush up on our plant identification skills). Se pasa!

by gardenfrisk in School Garden - follow the kids as they grow! Tags: fun, kids, organic, planting, school garden, spring, students

28 Feb 2012 No Comments

Goodbye Mandy, Hello Tami!

No, this isn’t some kind of late night drama show—it’s garden coaching. And while Mandy has done a great job with her edible landscape, it’s time to take on a new garden enthusiast and this spring, Tami has signed on for the job. And this woman is gung-ho, let me tell you. She’s already bought her seeds, planned out her site, started her sprouts and decided on her summer crop—all in a week’s time.

Talk about enthusiasm, Tami has it coming out her eyes AND ears (we do like that in a garden gal, because enthusiasm is the name of the game). So where do we begin? We begin by taking one last look at Mandy’s garden. While Tami is all enthusiasm, Mandy is all progress. Her front porch is no longer “lounge only,” rather it’s become a veritable vegetable garden. Kohlrabi, cabbage and rosemary up above with carrots, beets, lettuce and radish down below. Did you notice Mother Nature’s layer of natural mulch? (She can be so helpful when she wants to be.)

How cool is that? No longer sitting, whittling the time away in her quaint old rocker—this woman is admiring her bounty. Just beyond the porch she has created a haven of fruit trees. From apple, peach and pear to olive and blueberry, she could conceivably claim her own orchard. Okay. Technically blueberries grow on bushes, but you get the point; this woman is growing some fruits, and lots of them!

And I find gazing upon the fruit blossoms to be very relaxing (more so than wasting time sitting idle in a chair, thinking about all the things I could or should be doing—I mean, who does that?).

Aahh… back to my lovely image. Remember the gorgeous peach blossom? Simply divine…hmmm.

Now, enough lolly-gagging, we’ve got work to do. Or Tami does and she’s been busy! She’s purchased the wood for her plant beds. Bought a couple of pavers to keep down the weeds and give her a nice space for tending her garden. It’s downright homey if you ask me. I use hay for such purposes but pavers? Jiminy Cricket, that’s a good idea.

Just to get a head start she’s filled seedling trays and placed them in a makeshift greenhouse (aka covered cake stand). Did I tell you she’s the creative type?

She is. And you can guarantee we’ll see more of this as the weeks progress. So hop to it and grab your garden bag (watch for great fashion bags set for Monday’s post) cause we’re going gardening! Share the adventure with a friend…

by gardenfrisk in Garden coaching - watch how easy you TOO can have your very own garden! Tags: garden coach, how to garden, how to start an organic garden, learn organic gardening, spring

25 Feb 2012 2 Comments

Kids and Cabbage

Both cute as buttons, we brought them together in the kitchen to eat what they grew! How fun is that? When kindergarteners are involved, believe me—it’s WAY fun. First we had to harvest the cabbage from our garden and these two girls really have it down to a team sport. When the cabbage is large and round, simply twist and pull. Twist and pull and snap to one side if necessary.

Ta da! Cabbage for coleslaw! And what a beauty!

So on the menu this week? Coleslaw: a mix of cabbage, cucumbers, sweet onions—all of which we are growing in our garden. Goodbye, grocery store! These kids are growing their own meals now.

And making coleslaw is EASY. Simply chop up a head of cabbage, 1 sweet onion and 1 cucumber then toss them together with a little bit of red wine vinegar, mayonnaise and salt and pepper to taste. And “to taste” is key, because as you know, taste buds run as different as kids on a playground—every which direction, to be exact.

So “add a little, taste a little, add a little, taste a little….” It’s how old southern women make their coleslaw (and this recipe came from my mother—an old southern woman). But the results? Just ask the kids—oh wait, their mouths are full!

For those who didn’t “prefer” the coleslaw, no worries! We’ll compost it and make dirt. Now that’s what I call self-sustaining! And totally organic. The plants love us for it.

So how about it? Follow our lead and plant cabbage, cucumbers and sweet onions in YOUR garden and you too, will have all the ingredients for the best coleslaw EVER.

by gardenfrisk in School Garden - follow the kids as they grow! Tags: cabbage, easy, how to make coleslaw, kids, organic, recipe, school garden, students

20 Feb 2012 No Comments

Woo-hoo–spring is practically here!

Already? Great beets alive, pull your heads out of the sand and get busy! There are seeds to buy, ground to prep, compost to turn—

Oops—did we forget to start the compost pile? Can’t find it under all the snow? Well, leave it be then, there are plenty of other things to keep us busy. Like gather the tools, plan for location, check the water supply… Now where did that sprinkler go?

So many things to think about could scare a gal clear out of the garden, but hold on to your tool belt, because we’re going to make this easy! As pie. (Because we all have time to bake pie, right?)

No, we don’t, but we DO have time for a garden. Whether you prefer flowers or vegetables, it all works the same. First we peruse the glorious pages of our seed and bulb catalogs, indulging in visions of beautifully lined walkways and patios bursting with bloom. Remember: edible landscape is all the rage now. Next we imagine the luxury of plucking fresh produce from our very own garden, our very own salad buffet just outside our front door, organic and healthy, host to a fiesta of ladybugs and bees.

Perfect. These babies love to mix and mingle with the butterflies and dragonflies hovering nearby. Are you with me? Can you feel the excitement, the powerful rejuvenation after a long and cold winter? It’s true. Springtime is the season of renewal. From the soft grass underfoot to the blossoms at our fingertips and the vegetables in our basket, spring is when we take heart in nature and plan for another harmonious year ahead.

A wonderful outlook to be sure, so don’t ruin it with angst or reluctance. And to keep your restless mind from wandering, here’s your short list for things to do:

1 – Figure out where you want (have space) to plant your flowers/vegetables.

2 – If this space is overgrown, cut everything back. “Hey, a little room here? We need room here!”

3 – Not enough seed catalogues? Break out the search engines type the keywords of your heart’s desire!

4 – Educate yourself on companion planting, ie. who likes who, who can’t be in the same row as who. (You know what I’m talking about. Sometimes plants can be so difficult.)

5 – Sharpen your tools. Or find them. Whichever works best. I suggest 3 to start: weeder, cultivator and hoe – if you’re serious about this, that is. Otherwise, ditch the hoe. It’s a back-breaker. Check my Prize Picks section for some of my favorites!

6 – Dirt check. Not all dirt is created equally so a soil test would be a good start. Give you an idea of how much work this garden thing will really entail.

7 – Gather your mulch. Newspapers, pine bark, old dead leaves… They’re all members of the organic mulch building blocks association and the make for the perfect weed prevention/fertilizer.

8 – Don’t forget to locate your hose. Plants won’t grow if you don’t water them. Genius!

9 – Buy a wind chime. Some birds need scaring and you need relaxing. Makes for nice ambiance, too. We do want to visit our garden, don’t we? Daily visits are one of the secrets to successful gardening. (Just ask Jax from my novel, Jennifer’s Garden – the man knows his business!)

10- Dream. Wistfully daydream and contemplate about the wonder your garden will become.