Friday Favorite: Motoring
Mr Chiots and I are very practical and frugal people. We’re also very busy. That means that we don’t make trips out very often, unless we’re in need of something. When we do head out we maximize our trip to get all of our errands done. This saves us lots of time and money. Every now and then however, we play hooky from gardening and work, throw caution and frugality to the wind, jump in our MINI Cooper and go motoring (when you own a MINI driving is called motoring). Wednesday evening was such a time.
We hopped in the MINI, rolled down the windows, opened the sunroof and motored into the setting sun. It was around 8 when we set off, the “golden hour”. That time of the evening when the sun is low in the sky and bathes everything in a golden glow. It was a beautiful evening!
We ended up in New Baltimore, OH at a small ice cream shop. It’s the most wonderful little dive, they make their own ice cream and they pile it high on the cones. I’ve blogged about this place before. This is one of Mr Chiot’s favorite things – good ice cream from little shops off the beaten path.
After savoring our ice cream we motored home, happy and relaxed after enjoying a beautiful summer evening!
Do you have any great little ice cream dives you like to frequent? (I’ll be sure to add them to my Google map so we can stop if in the area).
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Liberating Even More Front Lawn
In a 2003 study of the lawn-chemical industry, Paul Robbins and Julie Sharp, then of Ohio State University, drew a “fundamental lesson of the lawn” that “such self-evident and noncontroversial landscapes are the ones most configured by socioeconomic force relations.” Serving as familiar, marketable packaging for “homes,” front yards are best kept in a noncontroversial state because standardized commodities are the easiest to mass-market. Robbins and Sharp noted that “property values are clearly associated with high-input green lawn maintenance and use,” and “moreover, lawn-chemical uses typically associated moral character and social responsibility with the condition of the lawn.” To toss all that aside and grow food in the front yard is an announcement that one has bought a house in order to live in it, not to turn around and sell it at a profit in two years. In the housing economy, such an attitude qualifies as moral laxity.
Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn, 2nd Revised Edition
I started liberating portions of my front lawn a few years ago in order to grow vegetables. Our home is surrounded by woods and thus the back garden does not get enough sun. I can grow a few vegetables back there, but peppers, tomatoes and other sun loving crops languish. In order to fulfill my need for lots of tomatoes, I started slowly reducing the size of our front lawn and making the garden beds larger. These beds have been the home for a wide variety of vegetables like: peppers, onions, tomatoes, squash, leeks and many more. As I started growing food in my front yard my neighbors started coming over and asking questions. Soon they started adding vegetable gardens in their yards most of them in their front yards.
I’ve had this vision of how I wanted the edible borders to be since I started expanding them. With my limited time and budget, I only added a few extra feet each year. This year I’m finally going get the ones around the front yard to the size I’ve been dreaming of. Last week I laid out the new garden edge using a hose to figure out where the big sweeping curves would look best. Tuesday I spent the morning sweating it out digging out the sod in the new area. It’s probably 3-4 foot wide by about 60 feet long. I plan on installing a box hedge along the front edge and behind the box there will be a large asparagus bed, in which I’ll be growing four different kinds of asparagus. Behind the asparagus along the edge of the property there will be a mixed border of various fruit bearing shrubs, evergreens, and ornamental grasses.
When I liberate portions of lawn I usually dig up the sod, flip in over and then cover with shredded leaves. I’m fresh out of shredded leaves so I’ll probably buy some straw from a local farmer. I’ll amend the soil a bit by adding some greensand, gypsum and a few other things to help improve the soil. I think I’m to the point where I have reduced the lawn portion of our front yard by about 40%. With the areas that will be liberated next year for a walkway and a few more beds I’ll be up to about 50%. I’d much rather be harvesting heirloom tomatoes than mowing grass!
Do you grow any vegetables in your front yard? Have you noticed any in your area?
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A Taste of Summer
Yesterday we picked our first three strawberries. As you can imagine – we’re super excited about the flush that will follow most likely next week through the end of June. I see a lot of strawberry shortcake for dinner in the coming weeks!
I have five different kinds of strawberries growing in my edible gardens.
‘Yellow Wonder’ – a yellow alpine strawberry that produces small yellow pineapple flavored berries all summer long. Compact, about 8-10 inches tall and very lush, perfect for edging gardens. Do not produce runners. (source: started from seed a few years ago originally from Baker Creek)
‘Sparkle’ – The best berry for jam and freezing, Sparkle has been known for flavorful, high-quality, attractive fruit for over 60 years. Do not allow the bed to become too thick, and you’ll be rewarded with a nice crop of tasty, medium-sized berries. An extremely vigorous variety, Sparkle is an excellent choice for home gardeners and PYO operations in northern climates. (source: plants from Nourse Farms)
‘Allstar’ – Allstar produces a good crop of very large, light-colored, sweet berries. Glossy, firm fruit makes this variety excellent for fresh eating. This widely adapted variety has performed consistently well from the East to central Midwest. It is highly resistant to red stele, with intermediate resistance to Verticillium wilt. (source: plants from Nourse Farms)
‘Earliglow’ – “Wonderful strawberry flavor” is this variety’s trademark. Earliglow’s fruit has a very firm, glossy skin, firm flesh, and medium size. Its sweet flavor makes the variety excellent for fresh eating and freezing. Fruit size tends to decrease as the season progresses. Earliglow plants are very vigorous and runner well. This variety has good resistance to red stele and intermediate resistance to Verticillium wilt. Recommended for beginners. (source: plants from Nourse Farms)
‘Tarpan’ – Starts producing abundant, 1-1 1/2″, deep rose flowers in about 85 days. Plant in a hanging basket, container, or in the ground. The bright red, small to medium-sized fruit are plentiful, tasty, and will produce from midsummer to frost. Produces runners. (source: seeds from Johnny’s)
I’d also love to add some ‘Tri-Star’ berries to my gardens someday. I’ve heard good things about them and I like that they’re everbearing. I’d love to have a few strawberries to add to my salad every so often.
Have you been harvesting strawberries yet? Do you grow June bearing or ever bearing varieties?
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Inspired by Monticello
Last week I was getting ready to plant my cucumbers and was contemplating what kind of supports I wanted to use. The last two years I have used bamboo stakes and they have never been quite long enough or quite sturdy enough. As I was standing in the garden thinking, I remembered my visit to Monticello last summer. I took a lot of photos of the various forms of plant supports because I loved how they used natural materials.
Since we’re clearing out that new garden, I have more than enough saplings and small trees for using at plant supports. I cut 12 small trees and made 3 structures for my cucumbers. I planted one variety of cucumber on each trellis. I planted 4 seeds at the base of each leg and I will let the 3 best ones grow.
In previous years I’ve only grown one type of pickle ‘Boston Pickling’. I’ve always been happy with it, but this year I wanted to try a few others. The varieties of cucumbers I’m growing for the 2011 season:
Solly Beiler – This cucumber makes superior pickles when harvested at about the size of your thumb. Spectacularly productive in our trials, the plants yield very uniform fruits, which at full maturity are russeted like a Poona Kheera. Stays crisp and mild even at larger sizes. Developed in the 1930’s by Solomon “Solly” Beiler, then a bishop in the Beachy Amish Mennonite Church, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Our original seed was furnished by Martin J. Hughes, a present day member of the same church in Elmira, New York (source: Baker Creek)
Fin de Meaux – Slender, little green fruit are picked when 2 inches long and are used to make delicious cornichon pickles. A popular French variety that is hard to find. Very productive plants bear fruit that is darker green than most types. (source: Baker Creek)
Boston Pickling – Plant produces heavy yields of small 6″ long pickling type cucumbers. This variety has been grown by home gardeners for generations. Perfect for making pickles, but also good in salads. Harvest cucumbers when they are 2″ to 6″ long. (source: originally from Baker Creek but they longer carry them)
The square around the base of each trellis is probably about 4 foot by 4 foot. In the middle of each square I seeded a variety of lettuces in decorative squares. I thought the shade provided by the cucumber vines would help keep the lettuce a little cooler.
I don’t grow any eating cucumbers as neither Mr Chiots or I eat them. Cucumbers give me indigestion, even the burpless variety, so I’ve never really enjoyed eating them. I do make a variety of pickles, from sweet to fermented dill and I’m certainly looking forward to stashing lots of pickles in the pantry to winter eating!
Do you grow pickling cucumbers, regular cucumbers, or both? What varieties do you grow?
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Happy Memorial Day
I’ll be spending today in the garden, as many others will. Memorial is kind of the unofficial kick-off to the gardening season around here. Everyone uses this weekend to weed and mulch their flowerbeds. I’ll be working on that new garden area. Hopefully planting beets and carrots. I’m also liberating another large chunk of the front lawn.
I am very thankful for all of those who are currently serving and have served in our armed forces on this Memorial Day Weekend. I’ll be thinking about: my grandpa – who served in WWII, my brother – who spend a tour in Korea and two tours in Iraq and Mr Chiot’s cousin, who spent two tours in Afghanistan.
How will you be celebrating this Memorial Day weekend? Do you have any friends or family who are serving or who have served in the armed forces?
