The Great Sunflower Project

I met a beekeeper at the nursery last summer. She didn't look like a beekeeper, but I don't really know what a beekeeper should look like. She was looking for Bee Balm (monarda didyma, also referred to as bergamot). Her -"My bees just love it!" Me - "Your bees?" She leaned in close and quietly shared her secret with me. She lives in an average suburban neighborhood yet has a bee hive tucked away in a hidden nook of her property. her neighbors are none the wiser.

The advantages? Well, fresh honey all year sounds pretty good to me, but the comment that stuck with me was, "My yard has never been so beautiful, and my garden has never been so fruitful." With a literal army of little pollinators dwelling amidst her flowers and vegetables, I am quite certain her yard was, in fact, amazing. This brief exchange over flats of perennials sparked my interest. I told my patient male counterpart that I would like to order some bees. He said no. But after a little research and a few weeks of pestering. .he still said no. So I settled for the next best thing and planted a gazillion sunflowers (which have now naturalized) all over the yard.

We put a great deal of time and effort into attracting pollinators to our garden. We planted wildflowers, nasturtiams, zinnias, cosmos, marigolds, bachelor buttons, and of course sunflowers. The flowers added a lot of color to our garden and effectively attracted our own little army of bees.

For more on pollination check this out! http://agricultureguide.org/natures-pollinators-whats-all-the-buzz-about/

I'm not terribly fond of flying insects but I recognize their cruciality to the success of a garden. As you know, bee populations are declining rapidly due to colony collapse disorder. In an effort to track bee populations across the country a team of scientists is enlisting the help of ordinary citizens like us. It's called the Great Sunflower Project! All you have to do is plant sunflowers and count your bees. This project is proof that little things can make a big difference. Click the title of this blog post to sign up.

Buy early! Transplant soon!

Yikes! It's almost planting time. If you planted your own babies this year, I hope your seeds are germinating well and your baby plants are thriving. If you didn't grow from seed this year, I recommend purchasing your seedlings soon. There are three advantages to doing so. 1) Most nurseries don't use organic growing practices. By purchasing your seedlings well before the planting date, you have a chance to 'rehab' (weening off heavy chemical fertilizers) your seedlings before planting them outside. You also have the advantage of transplanting them into larger pots so they have a more vigorous root system before going in the garden. 2) When you purchase your garden plants early, you have a much better selection. The cool heirloom varieties and popular stand-by's are long gone if you wait til mother's day weekend to purchase them; and the nursery isn't nearly as busy right now. 3) By hardening your seedlings off yourself, you can be sure your seedlings are effectively adapted to your yard's unique climate. When you purchase them the day you plant them you take them out of an artificial environment and plant them in the real world garden - Quite A Shock! We ended up with half nursery plants and half home grown seedlings this year. I had tremendous success germinating peppers and eggplants, but had a low germination rate for tomatoes ( I think I overwatered them.) Needless to say, we purchased a few tomato plants and a few interesting pepper varieties today. The babies went outside for the first time today! We transplanted our home grown seedlings as well as our nursery grown seedlings into four inch pots. They were all nearly root-bound so the timing was fantastic. The soil you choose is extremely important. In the past, we have had trouble with some potting soils being hydrophobic (not absorbing water), or drying out too quickly. Moisture is critical at this stage in the plants life and it's worth spending a little extra on a good potting soil to save yourself a headache (and heartache) later on. We are huge fans of coconut core. Coconut core retains moisture and releases it slowly into the soil - similar to peat moss. But coconut core is a sustainable product whereas peat is not. We have mixed coconut core into a quality potting mix in the past with great success, but this year we found a potting mix with coconut core already mixed in. Black Gold is our brand of choice. Once transplanted, we left the seedlings outside in the shade for about three hours. Today was a sunny breezy spring day. The natural breezes and fluctuating ambient temperatures were a good introduction to the wild outdoors. As temperatures dropped, the seedlings returned to their lights in thier new pots. One last thing. I know this is silly, but I beleive that plants with names have a better chance of survival. So, we officially named every seedling today. These names will stick with them until canning day and beyond. In January, pulling a can out of the pantry labeled, "Sun-Dried Norah" just brings a smile to my face. Happy Transplanting!

Happy Earth Day!!

Happy Earth Day!!

Just Let a Few Weeds Grow

[Note the above pic is from the 2008 garden] The garden is already bursting with life. The mild Utah winter didn't force many perennials into dormancy, and a few tenders and annuals actually pulled through. If you read my entry, "January Broccolli" you have a general idea how alive our garden was all through the winter. To get you up to speed, allow me to offer a brief (potentially boring) synopsis of where the 2009 garden stands to date. Officially, Rainbow chard, sorrel, Chinese cabbage, and dandelions (one man's weed - another man's medicinal herb and delicious salad green) survived the winter and are already harvestable. Broccoli and brussel sprouts pulled through the winter and are setting fruit. Fall planted carrots and onions are doing great. the carrots are harvestable but not sweet enough to bother yet. Cilantro, chamomile, bachelor buttons, cosmos, and sunflowers reseeded and are popping up all over the garden. The last week in march, we seeded in new cold weather veggies and salad greens with the exception of peas, beets. turnips, and radishes. Little baby salad is popping up all over. On Sunday I planted turnips, beets, and radishes. Yesterday I planted peas. Today it snowed. Ah, spring in the rockies. Now for the gardening wisdom of the day: I am absolutely fascinated by the life in the garden (although I could do without the volunteer grass). If I did nothing but water the garden from here on out, I am certain it would be beautiful; full of wildflowers and volunteer crops. Last year a petunia volunteered on the edge of a bed. Somehow a little seed survived the winter and the decomposing power of the compost pile, was turned into the soil as compost in the spring and by mid summer was a proud and beautiful flower. Several fruit producing squash and the biggest cosmo I have ever seen sprung forth from compost crumbs around the bin. The year before a tomato volunteered in front of our mailbox and actually produced fruit despite our neglect. My devoted plant-loving counterpart transplanted a mystery weed all over the garden last year in hopes that it would bloom and attract pollinating insects. When plants volunteer I try to let them be. If they are in a really poor location, I try to transplant them to a more favorable spot, but I never assume a weed is a weed is a weed. People always comment on how beautiful our garden is. In truth, if we pulled everything that we didn't plant on purpose our garden would be very dull and very void of color. Our weeds are often wildflowers and wildflowers attract beneficial insects and guests with mojitos. The moral of todays blog post? I challenge you to let a few "weeds" grow. You may be pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

I Declare: It is Officially Gardening Season.

Ahhh. . A warm spring rain to liven things up a bit. Indeed it has been a long strange winter and the spring has tested my patience. But, today, today my friends, it is officially gardening season. Seed sales are up this year as people scramble to save on grocery bills. "recession gardens," are replacing 10x10 blocks of sod all over the U.S. Hooray! Gardening is therapy. It is a welcome respite from your stressful life. In the garden, everything is magical and life outside the garden is suddenly less earth-shattering. So, for those of you just starting out, I would like to first offer my congratulations; quickly followed by my condolences. My first garden flopped hard, but I learned from my mistakes and my second garden kicked ass! So, don't give up. The Green Dog Blog will follow my garden this year every step of the way: from seeds to canning. I will share with you my tips and tricks as well as the lessons learned the hard way. Gardening isn't just a hobby for me. The packaging and food miles involved in 'buying' food turns my stomach; and I am a huge proponent of knowing where my food came from. It doesn't get any closer than your own backyard. To all you new gardeners out there, welcome to a wonderful lifelong obsession. To all you seasoned gardeners out there, please share your knowledge, and GAME ON!

I enjoy a donut on a Sunday

So, I like to eat a plain cake doughnut on Sunday morning. It is part of my Sunday ritual. For the dogs, Sunday is egg day. For me it's doughnut day. As you know, I have been limiting my consumption of animal products of unknown origin (APUO). This has made the Sunday doughnut nearly impossible, and I have yet to find a suitable alternative. Last Saturday evening, I needed a few items at the store. "delicious Sunday donut," was on my list. I decided to have one this week despite the APUO. It was after midnight and the bakery was closed so there were no pretty pastries lined up in rows in the glass case. I would have to buy a package of doughnuts or no doughnut at all. So, I settled on a purchase of one dozen cake doughnuts. I figured I would freeze the rest and have them for several Sundays hence. The packaging was standard grocery store packaging: a hinged lid, a clear plastic box, a crooked sticker indicating the price. These familiar cues led the happy little child dwelling in the depths of my subconscious to believe those donuts had a wholesome past. I wanted to believe that at the end of the day, the same happy baker who made the donuts from scratch with wholesome ingredients right back there behind the counter; then packaged all the left over donuts into these little hinged boxes, and lovingly placed the stickers on each one. WRONG!! When I read the label in the morning over coffee, I realized I couldn't have been more wrong. My donuts came all the way from Cincinnati, Ohio! I had been deceived. One would think that baked goods purchased in the bakery are relatively fresh and packaged relatively recently. Nope! So, in order to keep my donuts tasting delicious between Cincinnati, Ohio and Ogden, Utah; they had to be made with 'pretend' food. The ingredient list boasted a litany of preservatives, additives, stabilizers, flavorings, colorings, etc. These weren't donuts. They just looked like donuts. So, I am on a quest, a quest not unlike the quest to meet the cheese cows, or the quest to meet the happy chickens. I am on a quest to find a doughnut in my own little town of Ogden, Utah. The perfect doughnut will meet the following specifications: 1) It must be a plain cake doughnut, although a sprinkling of cinnamon is nice. 2) It must be baked in Ogden less than 24 hours before purchase. 3) It must not contain any 'pretend' ingredients. i.e. 'flavor,' 'color,' 'preservative.' 4) The origins of all ingredients must be known. Local is a plus. Organic is a plus. 5) In regards to APUO, the doughnut must either contain no dairy or eggs, OR contain dairy and eggs of known responsible origins. There may be no such doughnut in my town, but I am about to find out.