The Gift of Gardening

I was home in Florida this Christmas and made the mistake of casually pulling a few weeds from one of my Mom's flower beds in the back yard. The weeds were all dead (thank-you RoundUp!) but they were dry, tough, and knotted up like a 2-foot x 5-foot ball of twine. My hamstrings are still tight days later but it was a satisfying job. I'm sure I wouldn't have felt the accomplishment as much if I'd known that my mom owned a Garden Weasel. Ah well. The soreness has inspired me to start my new year's resolution to exercise early!

Anyhoo. After the weeding, it was too easy to move over to the next patch needing attention. And then on to pruning the shrubs-turned-small-motorcycle-death-cage. By this time, Dan and the sibs were committed to making another Eden in Mom's backyard. Dan was especially excited when Mom brought out the chainsaw and discovered it wasn't broken. (Men and their chainsaws. : )

A couple trips to Lowes for mulch, sand, annuals, gloves and sundry, plus a good day's work by a team of slightly hungover holiday-goers, produced a beautiful panorama for Mom to enjoy morning coffee and paper with.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Attacking the Cage of Doom:


You can see the deck!


Dog beach (sand not warm enough yet)

Taking Care of Cats, Part 2

Look who I saw peaking out this morning.


Callie ran out immediately on seeing me at the back door but when I put food in her dish, she looked at me with a morning face that begged for breakfast in bed. Not the most fun time to be a feral cat, I guess.

Though there was a little ice in the garden, the water dish hadn't frozen over so that's a good sign. I'll stuff a little more hay in the shelter when we warm back up to the 70's on Thursday. That's Austin winters for you. One day, high is 33 and the next day, high is 70. I wonder if cats know the difference between Austin winters and Springtime proper....

Taking Care of Cats

With the first hard freeze coming to Austin, I decided that I needed to take care of my adopted garden-mates, Callie and Eb.

Callie and Eb are a couple of feral cats that decided to make my back porch a permanent station in their daily rounds. In fact, I think Callie knows my truck now because I've seen her run from a neighbors yard when I pull into the driveway.

Anyways, I caught Callie this summer for the Austin Human Society's Trap/Neuter/Return program. (A story for another post!) And despite the nipped ear, she was back at my door within a couple hours and daily since then.

She loves to follow me as I go back into the house, but as soon as I turn around she runs away again. I really wish I could let her in the house, but she freaked out when I had her in the garage after the procedure. I've read that feral cats get really stressed when trapped in human surroundings. So I had to find another option.

Turns out, building winter shelter cats is a pretty common thing to do. (Hah! Crazy Cat Lady, indeed.) Since Austin winters aren't too bad, I built a simple one out of a Rubbermaid tub based on this idea. I couldn't find sheets of styrofoam so I used styrofoam plates. Then I went down to Callahan's General Store (same one Ann likes to stop by at when she comes to visit) and bought some honest-to-goodness hay. For good measure, I sprinkled some catnip in there, too.

Well, she checked it out immediately and walked right in. About 2 seconds later she jumped right out. I guess she still remembers the last time I trapped her in a box near my back porch.

I did my best. Do I feel guilty? Just a little...

Biodiversity

This morning I was digging up one of the squares in my garden box and building up the determination to yank out the pumpkin plant that, sadly, didn't manage to produce this season.

Trying to untangle the scratchy vines from the netting , I yelped when I suddenly noticed this guy staring at me.
He was pretty patient while I clumsily dug within inches of his face. He didn't move. I don't think he blinked. I'm so glad I saw him before plunging my trowel into his little bit of home (or worse). Now that he's uncovered, I'll give him some time to move on his own. Otherwise, I'll try relocating him to another shady part of the yard.

Hopefully a part of the yard unnoticed by the cats.

Pick-up Trucks Are Fun

Time again to top-dress the lawn so I headed down to my favorite nursery, the Natural Gardener, to get a cubic yard of compost. I love being able to drive out to the soil yard and play with the big trucks, like life-size Tonka toys.



For the record, a cubic yard of Turkey Farm compost fills the bed of the truck up to the rim and weighs about 1,100 lbs. I could definitely feel a difference when driving the truck up the hills on Mopac, but I just tried to stay in the slow lane so as not to piss off the suburban-driving soccer moms.

It took a couple hours of shoveling by me and Dan to cover the lawn, but I needed the exercise. The weather was perfect, upper 70's, dry, and not too windy. I feel good about treating my lawn right, but I'm pooped right now. (Pun intended)

To Pick or Not to Pick

So after 2 months of a record-breaking summer heat, I have exactly one Small Wonder winter squash growing on the vine. It seems kinda lonely but otherwise in pretty good shape (the picture was taken this morning.)

I wasn't a perfect gardener so I didn't record when I planted the vine but I know it was sometime in July. The packets say that the fruit is ready to pick in 75-80 days when the skin is tough. What the heck does tough mean, anyway? I bet I could take it in a fair fight. Anyhoo, that puts pickin' time this weekend (when I'll be out of town.)

On the one hand, I want to pick the squash before a swarm of squash borers find it and go to town on the only squash in town. On the other hand, when this one's picked (or devoured by bugs) I'll have nothing else to look forward to. The vine will be empty. I've seen lots of flower buds on it but they are all male flowers. Maybe I need to look into a different kind of fertilizer next time. Or maybe it was just a bum seed. Or maybe gardening is a lonely life.

Apparently gardening is a nuanced science as well as philosophy....

Zucchini Pie

Besides using a lot of zucchini and basil, I'm not sure how exciting this recipe is going to be...On the other hand, it's got *two* kinds of cheese, so I've got to try it : >

Zucchini Pie
Real Simple
3 cups grated zucchini
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup grated provolone cheese
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, reserving 1 tablespoon of the Parmesan. Spoon the zucchini mixture into a 10-inch round glass pie plate or metal pie pan that has been coated with vegetable cooking spray. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with the reserved Parmesan. Cool 10 to 15 minutes before slicing.

Yeah! Fall!

Despite the fact that Fall is pumpkin season, most recipes with pumpkin call for canned pumpkin puree. Well I got a pumpkin from my CSA box last week and made my own puree, which I found out that I can freeze in pre-measured amounts. Haven't made anything with the puree yet, but it did taste yummy. Here's a pict of the pumpkin. Not sure what kind it is. It has a mellow flavor.



It took forever to steam. And I came closer to buying a honest-to-goodness food processor as my baby 5-in-1 mixer was really straining to mash all the pumpkin.

Squirrels: Crazy Cute Boogers

Well, they figured out what was in the hummingbird feeder.

Hummingbirds!

I've been lazy this summer not putting out the hummingbird feeder sooner. We just don't get hummingbirds here in Austin as much as they do in Southern California. And with the heat, the sparrows come and drink the 'moat' water and let the ants take over. That or the squirrels discover they like hummingbird food! (still looking for a shot of that from last year)
But I finally boiled my sugar water (1 part white table sugar, 4 parts water) and put some feed out. I hadn't seen any hummingbirds this summer so I wasn't sure if they'd find the feeder in my backyard. But a couple mornings later, my feeder was visited by a male ruby-throated hummingbird. The color on the throat was iridescent and striking. I ran to get my camera, but he was gone before I returned.

Fortunately, soon after came a couple of female hummingbirds that I did manage to catch on proverbial film. Here's a shot from the morning hours:

Here's a shot from the evening hours:

First Bug to Identify

I think this is a young assassin bug. At least I hope it is. I need more beneficial bugs in my garden!

How Does My Garden Grow, You Ask?

So we've got one of the hottest Austin summers on record happening here, and as I type this, the dark storm clouds seem to be happy just providing shade and not actually providing water. I feel like I'm living a Sting song.

But nonetheless, I continue to attempt to cultivate my small garden patch. Dan helped me create the vertical supports so that I could train my mini-pumpkin and winter squash vines to grow up. The pumpkin is on the left and the winter squash is on the right in this picture:

Despite it's smaller size, the winter squash is beginning to bloom. I think these flowers will eventually become squash, but I have no idea how long until that happens.

For the record, I did grow the squash from seed, but all the other plants in the garden were bought as fledglings. I tried starting an eggplant from seed this month, but it's been over 2 weeks and nothing has sprouted so I might have to cheat and check out the nursery offerings this weekend.

Oh yeah. And all the cups and trowels and junk in my garden is my white-trash way of trying to keep the neighborhood cats from using my garden as a litter box. Yuck!

Best Okra Recipe Yet!

Remember how I wondered what I was going to do with okra? Well by fortune, one of my coworkers had a recipe she really liked. I've tried it twice so far and loved it both times. Okra not noticeably slimy.

Don't skimp on the ginger-mango relish! Without it, the recipe would be a bit too 'earthy' for my taste.

Ingredients:

• 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1-inch piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1-2 fresh red chiles, seeded and chopped
• 3/4 cup cold water
• 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 green cardamom pods, remove and grind the seeds
• pinch of ground turmeric
• 14-ounce can chopped tomatoes
• 1 pound mushrooms, quartered if large
• 8 ounces okra, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch slices
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

For the mango relish:

• 1 large ripe mango about 1.25 pounds
• 1 small garlic clove, crushed
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons grade fresh ginger root
• 1 fresh red chile, seeded and finely chopped
• pinch of salt and sugar

1. To make the mango relish, peel the mango and cut off the flesh from the pit.
2. In a bowl, mash the mango flesh with a fork, or process in a food processor or blender. Mix in the rest of the relish ingredients. Set aside.
3. Place the garlic, ginger, chiles and 3 tablespoons of the water in a blender or food processor and process until smooth
4. Heat the sunflower oil in a large saucepan. Add the whole coriander and cumin seeds and allow them to sizzle for a few seconds. Add the ground cumin, ground cardamom seeds, and turmeric and cook about a minute
5. Add the garlic paste, tomatoes and remaining water. Stir to mix well, then add the mushrooms and okra. Stir again, then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
6. Remove the cover, turn up the heat slightly and cook for another 5-10 minutes, until the okra is tender but not too soft.
7. Stir in the chopped cilantro and serve with the mango relish and rice (like plain basmati)
   

Joining a CSA

I went ahead and joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) group here in Austin last month. I'll receive a box of produce every two weeks.

My first goal is to not let any of it go bad. Have no idea what I'm going to do with okra. I guess I'll think of the box like the secret ingredients in a really dull episode of Iron Chef.

One Summer I Started a Garden

So after reading In Defense of Food, I started talking to Mom about cooking and the idea of trying to grow my own vegetables even though I don't have the green thumb to tackled a 'real' garden. Then she mentioned that her mom's (?) generation had planted Victory Gardens during the war. And after I started searching on victory gardens, I thought. "Most gardens are too big. I should write a book on how to garden in smaller batches. I could name the book square-foot gardening." I went to Amazon.com and sure enough, there was already a book called square-foot gardening and also tons of blogs from people giving it a go.

So despite the fact that we've had 100 degree heat here in Austin, I decided to start my own small patch and start getting the mistakes out of the way so I could learn something about growing food. Here's what I've got so far:Luckily we have a great organic gardening center where I can bag my own garden soil for $3/25lb bag. I just filled the 3x3 foot box with that and a little compost. I also bought 2 pumpkin plants, basil, oregano, rosemary, and garlic chive plants to get a jump start. But for fun, I also bought winter squash seeds. I planted one seed in the corner last week and it already has 4 leaves. Yeah!

I'm still worried about bugs, birds, and the fact that it's just darn hot, but I'm looking at the whole endeavor as an experiment. So I can't fail as long as I log everything and figure out what went wrong, right? : >

ps July 2008 is when I set out to start learning by doing. What a time of year to be inspired to be outdoors!