Gardening

Bounty of bananas. We are about to have happy neighbors.

Now I need some bacon, shallots, and chicken broth.

Makes for a pretty fruit bowl.

Meet the Atemoya!

Just picked from a friend's tree.

Here's the inside. It has seeds about the size of kidney beans.

The texture: soft. I could scoop it out with a spoon once the seeds were removed. It reminds Mr. Logistical of honeydew melon; I get vanilla. Very sweet and delicious!

Bougainvillea blossoms

Meet Jewel the Blueberry Bush

"Jewel" Variety

Last Thursday, I thought it would be fun to bake blueberry muffins for my office group. Fresh berries? $6.39 a pint. Frozen? $5.79. I ended up buying a mix for $2.79. While it did have real blueberries in it, they were pretty tiny. So, today when we went out to Rozett's Nursery, I was really excited to see blueberry bushes! Turns out, the "Emerald" and "Jewel" varieties do well in tropical climates. One of the employees there shared that she bought several for herself, and is making a hedge of them. Hers are already producing. I came home and found this good ehow article that gave me even more tips. I am really excited about the prospect of having fresh berries. Besides being delicious, they are touted as a "superfood." I am already looking forward to blueberry pancakes!

Corn update! It's getting there. Apple Bananas in background.

Corn, Someday?

Pathetically small corn starts

One month ago, I bought corn starts. I couldn’t resist. There we were in the garden department of Home Depot, and they just beckoned to me. “Corn!” said I – and then I moved on. But I went back. A dozen starts, $6. Mr. Logistical said, “You know you can get a bag of 10 at the Kai store for $5, right?” Of course I know that. But I haven’t ever grown corn, myself. Could I? I had the clear advantage – they were started. No seeds. Six hours of sun a day, the plastic tag said. Hilo has fabulous corn. It’s cheap, sweet, and delicious. We went to a fun cocktail party a while back at the neighbors’. They had friends there from Portland. They had seen a stand with Hilo corn – in winter – and asked if we could have it for dinner. Sure! It was great, and fun, standing around with our buttered ears and parmesan shaker.

But again: I haven’t ever grown it myself. Mr. Logistical gave me a little bit of a hard time (just for fun – he knows I’m stubborn about trying new things) but he gave in and bought me the 12 corn starts. We had lunch and then I got those babies in the ground. They look sporty. I put out Bug-Geta – get away, you bastard slugs – no corn for you. Dutifully entered “planted corn starts” into my gardening journal. I hope I don’t look back on that and laugh. Believing that it’s important to have a goal, I am hoping to serve fresh corn at Thanksgiving. Or Christmas.

Avocado

Thoughts on Gardening

Gardening can hardly be considered a domestic chore, unless you really need to do it. I don’t – there are numerous supermarkets, grocery warehouses, and farmer’s markets in my area. If we had to live on what I successfully grow, we’d starve to death. So why do it? Well, a couple of reasons spring to mind.

1. Channeling my inner pioneer. I read all of the Laura Ingalls Wilder “Little House” series as an impressionable youngster, and that whole live-off-the-land-stuff stuck. Hard. One of my friends and her husband are doing just that, and frankly I am green with envy when we visit. Not only is there a large vegetable patch, but there are also dozens of fruit trees and several chickens. She roasts and grinds her own coffee. They shoot the occasional feral pig that threatens to dig up the garden, and eat it. The husband brews their beer. Soon to be added are goats for milk and cheese. The flooring of the house was from trees on their own property, which they milled. Of course, they built their own house. I think it’s all just incredibly impressive.

2. Home-grown vegetables are so good. Being able to pick fresh green beans or tomatoes right off the vine completely ruins you for anything else.

In the early 1970s, my parents and their best friends/neighbors decided to have a massive grow-it-yourself summer. The decision came about after drinking large quantities of Chianti one night. Besides planting an enormous garden, they bought pigs, sheep, cows and chickens to slaughter. Both families also had fruit orchards.

It was all idyllic until it came time to kill the chickens. Even more unpleasant: plucking chickens. Not only is it ridiculously messy, but getting the pinfeathers out was really difficult.

The mothers were by now regretting their Chianti-induced agreement to can tomatoes, green beans, and fruit. Giant dripping sacks of plum puree hung from the cupboard doors. Everything seemed hot and sticky.

Although the cupboards and freezers were brimming in September, they opted not to repeat the back-to-basics experiment again, unfortunately. I remember it very fondly, but that is because I didn’t have to do much work.

If you are going to garden, you had better enjoy it, because it creates its own sub-categories of additional chores: cooking, laundry, and preservation. Although you might be a generous soul who gives away some of your produce, odds are that you will be cooking some of it. Laundry is generated from the sweat and dirt you will get all over your clothes. I am not sure how I manage it, but when I garden I get dirt everywhere. I am a full body-contact gardener. After I garden, I look like I was making dirt angels and I smell strongly of chicken manure. It’s not pretty.

Although raised in eco-groovy Northern California, pesticides and fertilizers are now my friend. I get too dirty and sweaty to share with bugs. I patrol the perimeter of my tiny patch, zealously forming lines of Slug-Bait. I am not opposed to the occasional jolt of Miracle-Gro. I tried putting out dishes of beer to discourage slugs, but mine have apparently been to AA.

Even if you do not have a yard, you can still garden up a storm. Herbs are easy to grow and are handy to have around. A little bit of dill thrown into cooked carrots or potatoes adds loads of flavor. Snipped chives and melted butter perk up ordinary rolls. I keep cilantro around for Mexican dishes and can fake a Vietnamese Pho if I have some mint.

Containers are another easy way to garden, and they do not take up much space. They are particularly wonderful for lettuces and strawberries, where pesky bugs cannot get at them. Containers also look pretty sporty on a balcony or in a backyard patio area.

Hydroponic gardening may be in my future, just because I am dying to try lettuces with that method. No dirt is required, and you can bring your garden indoors.

Gardening Tips:

Start small.

Plant someplace where you have plenty of sunlight.

Do not assume that your dirt is full of the needed nutrients. Take a sample to your local agricultural extension or college to have it analyzed. Then, add nutrients as needed.

Weed regularly, so that the weeds don’t take over. Use weed mat between rows to cut down on new weeds.

Be realistic about what grows in your area. Although I would love to grow artichokes, it is too hot for them. You are wasting money if you try to grow the wrong things for your climate. If you aren’t sure about what works, talk to people at your local garden center.

Whether you go organic or use some chemicals, you have to be vigilant about it, either way.

Keep a journal of what worked, and didn’t.